Headlines Wednesday 5th November

Labor loses its grip
Andrew Bolt
State Labor is on the skids, even in Victoria, says Newspoll:

In NSW, the Coalition has a massive two-party-preferred lead over Labor of 56 per cent to 44per cent, while Victoria is too close to call, with Labor leading the Coalition by 51 per cent to 49per cent…

The Newspolls follow Labor’s defeat at the West Australian election in September, its near-death experience at the Northern Territory election in August and the loss of its parliamentary majority at last month’s ACT election…

A Newspoll conducted in South Australia between July and September found the Labor Government of Mike Rann in a dead heat with the Opposition, led by Martin Hamilton-Smith. A Newspoll in Queensland in August and September was also too close to call, with the Labor Government of Anna Bligh leading the newly merged Liberal National Party, led by Lawrence Springborg, by 51 per cent to 49per cent. - Bolt puts his own spin as to why, being very generous to the ALP. - ed.
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Viewed claims the Melbourne Cup... by a nostril
The Bart Cummings trained Viewed has claimed the 2008 Melbourne Cup, in a thrilling photo finish from the overseas raider Bauer and local hope Cést La Guerre.
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Polls show Obama lead, hope for McCain
Last-minute opinion polls confirm Democratic Barack Obama is leading across the US, but offers slivers of hope for rival John McCain in some key states.
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Forty die as ferry sinks in Philippines
A ferry packed with commuters overturned while being buffeted by sudden monsoon winds south-east of Manila, killing at least 40 people, officials said.
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Indonesian police probe online assassination threat
A website that published a letter purportedly written by the Bali bombers on death row urging Muslims to kill the Indonesian president is under investigation, police said today.
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Peter Lloyd still facing 10 years in Singapore prison
Singapore's attorney-general has withdrawn a drug trafficking charge against ABC reporter Peter Lloyd, but he still faces four lesser charges, his lawyer says.
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Petrol prices fall to 2008 low
Fuel prices across NSW today fell to levels not seen in a year, with new figures showing prices were slashed by an average of eight cents a litre across the country. - yet Rudd has not done a single thing to meet his election pledge for low priced petrol. - ed.
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Chris Smith fires back at Fairfax
After being outraged by a Fairfax article sympathising with the goons who habitually harassed him, Chris Smith thought it was time to set the record straight. - here at The Weasel's Headquarters we got a letter too, possibly from those same jokers. - ed.
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Palin cleared. But too late
Andrew Bolt
How convenient. Sarah Palin is now cleared, but not until the damage of the first, dodgy report is done:

A new report just released—hours before the polls open on Election Day—exonerates Gov. Sarah Palin in the Troopergate controversy.

The state Personnel Board-sanctioned investigation is the second into whether Palin violated state ethics law in firing her public safety commissioner, and it contradicts the earlier findings by a special counsel hired by the state Legislature.

Both investigations found that Palin was within her rights to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

But the new report says the Legislature’s investigator was wrong to conclude that Palin abused her power by allowing aides and her husband, Todd, to pressure Monegan and others to dismiss her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten. Palin was accused of firing Monegan after Wooten stayed on the job.

The Palins have argued that Wooten was a loose cannon who had tasered his stepson, drank beer in his patrol car, and threatened Palin’s father, and that their complaints that he shouldn’t be on the force were justified.
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In decline
Andrew Bolt
It’s like a metaphor:

A SNAPSHOT of aviation safety since 2003 shows a significant increase in mechanical and operational problems on Australian aircraft, defying official claims that the recent spate of mid-air incidents and light plane crashes do not reflect a broader problem.
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Diplomats gape
Andrew Bolt
Bruce Haig is no Liberal shill:

THE Rudd Government has been amateurish in its handling of the G20 phone call incident between the Prime Minister and President George Bush, a retired diplomat says.

Bruce Haig said that while there was unlikely to be any long-term damage, the Government had been slow to manage the ”diplomatic disaster”.
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Casting a character in the White House
Andrew Bolt
SOME character will today be named the next president of the United States.

I mean no disrespect there. But the fact is, this election has been like trying to pick pantomime characters for a melodrama not yet written.

It’s not really a choice between policies. Quick: name the promise that made you decide for Barack Obama or John McCain.

I doubt you could name one specific, substantial policy difference between the two - and, no, Iraq isn’t it.

Obama, the Democrat, will pull out troops because the war was wrong. McCain, the Republican, will pull out troops because the war is won.

Big deal.
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Rudd runs out of excuses
Andrew Bolt
KEVIN Rudd has at last given three defences to having leaked, and offensively twisted, details of a private chat with George Bush.

All are preposterous. Laughable.

Few voters will care, and most of the sky won’t fall in. What’s a few skiting sneers about a dud US president just two months from retirement?

Yet the Prime Minister’s blunder and lame excuses tell us a lot about his great weakness and greater ambition.

To recap: The Australian last month ran a gushing “insider story” about Rudd taking a call from the US President on October 10 while having dinner with guests, including the paper’s editor-in-chief.

The piece, quoting unnamed sources, claimed Bush asked Rudd: “What’s the G20?” and that Rudd was “stunned” at such ignorance.
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Er, what consensus?
Andrew Bolt
The tide is slowly turning:

The [physics and society forum of the] American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming…

In a posting to the APS forum, editor Jeffrey Marque explains,"There is a considerable presence within the scientific community of people who do not agree with the IPCC conclusion that anthropogenic CO2 emissions are very probably likely to be primarily responsible for global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution.”
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Please don’t help us any more
Andrew Bolt
Paul Kelly wonders just what made excitable Kevin Rudd decide to guarantee all bank deposits - triggering a disastrous run on non-guaranteed institutions:

None of the big four Australian banks—NAB, Westpac, Commonwealth and ANZ—requested or lobbied for the unlimited deposit guarantee. Three of the majors confirmed this to The Australian yesterday while the fourth declined to rebut the point that no such request was made…