Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Headlines Tuesday 23rd December

The twin scourge of racism and cholera
Piers Akerman
JUST to show the Christmas spirit can touch the most unlikely in the most mystical manner, Malcolm Fraser, the former prime minister directly involved in ensuring Robert Mugabe would rise to ultimate power in Zimbabwe, now believes the dictator’s time has come. - I agree. It is tragic that those who might act to help those in need don’t because of how such aid may appear. The average war lasts months. Some last longer, like WW1, WW2, US Civil War, Vietnam War and the US war of independence, to name a few. But even short wars like that in Afghanistan or Iraq can have extended peace time issues.
A major problem for Australia in Iraq and Afghanistan was that the left did not have any ownership of responsible positions. In UK, where Labor held office, the Blair government was dragged into doing the responsible thing .. the Blair government split but the opposition conservatives supported the effort.
Should the Rudd government find a responsible course of action, they would undoubtedly have conservative support, but can they find a responsible course of action? Rudd’s preference, as with Burma, would be to give money directly to bloodthirsty killers. US Democrats have a history of using bombs in lieu of the republican preference for troops - which worked at the end of WW2, but not very well in Yugoslavia, Korea or Sudan.
Something must be done now, before Obama makes the Presidential executive decision to leave it to the UN. Fraser's call may not be timely, and might even seem to be timeless.
Maybe it is time for African nations to act responsibly .. and not be misled by China into ignoring the issue at hand. - ed

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Inexperience OK in a Princess of the Left
Andrew Bolt
Yesterday I contrasted the media’s treatment of Sarah Palin’s clothing allowance with its treatment of Quentin Bryce’s. Jonah Goldberg now draws another contrast:

For people who think there’s no cultural divide in this country, consider the treatment of two women much in the news in 2008.
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Another smear of Andrews disproved
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Andrews, the Howard Government’s Immigration Minister, was accused of peddling false statistics on African crime to whip up racist votes. It turned out that Andrews was right, and his critics were peddling falsehoods.

Andrews was also accused of peddling a fake terrorism scare over Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef to whip up anti-Muslim votes. It turns out that Andrews was right again:

FORMER Howard Government immigration minister Kevin Andrews has been cleared of improper behaviour in cancelling the visa of Indian doctor Mohamed Haneef.
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Rudd’s cars run on grants
Andrew Bolt
The figures for Kevin Rudd’s latest bail-out to Holden - ostensibly to make a new “green” car - are even worse than were first reported:

Holden said the new model would “support” 600 workers, but this may not translate into 600 new jobs because it could include some existing employees.
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Athens is burning
Andrew Bolt
For two weeks the barbarians of the Left and the anarchist movement have torn Greece to pieces. The latest:

HUNDREDS of rioters battled police in central Athens, fire-bombing finance offices and attacking the city’s Christmas tree two weeks after the police shooting of a teenager set off Greece’s worst unrest in decades.
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More from the European front
Andrew Bolt
Reuters reports:

Police extinguish burning barricades on the main road in the immigrant-dominated suburb of Rosengard in Malmo in southern Sweden, early December 19, 2008. The fire department considered the area to be too risky to enter with their personnel. Clashes in the Malmo suburb Rosengard have escalated after the police in the beginning of the week cleared out and closed a basement facility in a rental building that was occupied after a dispute between the real estate owner and the Islamic cultural society in the neighborhood, local media reported
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Scepticism grows
Andrew Bolt
There is a boom in interest in the blog of Anthony Watts, man-made global warming sceptic, Rightly so. Bookmark it, too.

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