Fresh moves to oust embattled Premier Nathan Rees
There is new moves afoot to replace Nathan Rees as NSW Premier, with Frank Sartor looming as the man most likely to assume the top job as soon as April.
The Nine Network reports that Rees is rapidly losing the support required to stay in the job, as more disgruntled labor government members rally behind a push to see Sartor replace the embattled Premier.
The former Sydney Lord Mayor has reportedly been approached by Labor powerbroker on two occasions to gauge his level of interest, and has been promised a enough votes from right wing MP's to oust Rees when the time is right.
As a way of attempting to unify the deeply divided Labor right wing, Kristina Keneally would become the new deputy under Sartor.
Labor head office boss Matt Thistlethwaite is yet to rubber stamp the remove, and remains a Rees supporter.
The latest Labor power struggle took the gloss off today's swearing in ceremony for two new ministers, ex-union boss John Robertson and Monaro MP Steve Whan. - There was gloss at that event? - ed
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Victoria facing days without power after blackout bedlam
A huge power blackout has hit Victoria, leaving almost 350,000 residents and businesses without power.
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British man fined for riding horse while drunk
Using a 19th-century law, a British court has fined a man STG150 ($A330) after he admitted riding a horse while drunk.
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Rudd calls for new era of "social capitalism"
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has denounced the unfettered capitalism of the past three decades and called for a new era of "social capitalism". - that is a new phrase, like when he called himself an 'economic conservative.' One guesses Rudd is going through a new phrase. - ed.
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Mother urged daughter to hit girl harder, court told
A mother accused of filming a brutal attack by her daughter on a teenager shouted advice on how to land a good kick, with the footage later posted on MySpace, a court has been told.
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Police smash thieves 'Aladdin's Cave'
Redfern police say they have smashed an 'Aladdin's Cave' of suspected stolen goods, seizing up to five tonnes of cosmetics and toiletries.
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Move over Dick Tracy, now anyone can have a watch phone
KKK still alive and well...in New Zealand
Teenager jailed for killing mates in crash
Google Maps caught running down Bambi
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You are not safe anywhere
Andrew Bolt
Reader Andrew R. went to OPSM for new glasses this week and was asked to read this chart to check his eyesight:
In case you need glasses yourself, that newspaper extract reads as follows:
The planet’s rapid warming has pushed temperatures to their hottest level in nearly 12,000 years and within a hair’s breadth of a million years, a study by the US space agency showed yesterday.
Global warming, which has added 0.2C a decade over the past 30 years, has caused temperatures to reach and now pass through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period, which has lasted almost 12,000 years, according to the study led by James Hansen, a leading climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The nagging never stops, does it?
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Buy America, bye bye Europe
Andrew Bolt
Gee, weren’t nice Mr Obama and his Democrat mates going to make friends again with Europe after that awful George “unilateralist” Bush?
The EU trade commissioner vowed to fight back after the bill passed in the House of Representatives late on Wednesday included a ban on most purchases of foreign steel and iron used in infrastructure projects.
The Senate’s version of the legislation, which will be debated early next week, goes even further, requiring that any projects related to the stimulus use only American-made equipment and goods. The inclusion of protectionist measures has quickly raised hackles in Europe.
This kind of last-century protectionism should raise hackles within America, too.
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COMMENCE THE FETTERING
Tim Blair
Attention, robber barons, gold prospectors and fur trappers! Your days of unregulated freedom are over:
Kevin Rudd has denounced the unfettered capitalism of the past three decades and called for a new era of “social capitalism” in which government intervention and regulation feature heavily.
This’ll be hard to get used to. You know, after three decades of little or no government intervention or regulation.
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GET OFF MY LAWN
Tim Blair
Imagine pitching a movie like Gran Torino to one of Australia’s sheltered film-funding workshops: “It’s about an old guy who lives alone …”
“Why? Did his boyfriend leave him for another man after a disputed heroin deal?”
“No. His wife died. Anyway, he doesn’t like his neighbours …”
“Because they’re rich? Because they’re yuppies who work for banks?”
“No. Because they’re Asian. So one day this Asian kid tries to steal his …”
“His stash? His Aboriginal art collection? His Koran, autographed by David Hicks?”
“No. His car. Then the kid’s parents make him regain family honour by …”
“Killing the old guy! Yes! At last! Now we’re getting somewhere. Take that, property-owning, carbon-emitting white oppressor!”
“No. They make him work for the old guy, to redeem their shame.”
Somehow, you can’t really picture Gran Torino getting very far as a project financed by Australian film tsars. Given the values on display in Gran Torino – in fact, given that it has actual values – it’s likely local film folk would wonder if it had any audience at all.
You’d have to bow to their superior insight. If there’s one thing that local film folk know all about, it’s films that nobody wants to see.
Yet Gran Torino, directed by and starring 78-year-old Clint Eastwood as retired factory worker Walt Kowalski, has a very large audience indeed. In the US it generated $44 million over its first weekend of release – the most for any Eastwood movie, ever. It took only three days for the film to earn in sales what it cost to make (for the record, $53 million).
Analysts expect Gran Torino will earn more than $228 million before it closes in cinemas, meaning it will be Eastwood’s most successful film.- I think you are being a little unfair on local film makers. There is definitely a problem, as you correctly note, but it isn't entirely that good films are not being made. The problem, imho is that good films are not being picked up by the promoters and industry insiders, so that when a good film is made (like Maximum Choppage 2) then it isn't promoted and the cast and crew remain unpaid .. meanwhile reall dog films like Australia are promoted for their virtues which have nothing to do with good cinema. Delightfully (not), community Channel Natalie has already said she is looking forward to the film because that scene where a neighbor tells their asian neigbors to go home is so much part of her life .. - ed.
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JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!
Tim Blair
“The Science is screaming at us,” claims newbie warming alarmist John Kerry, who evidently thinks “Science” is a specific and malevolent entity, like “Teresa”. Al Gore takes Kerry’s screamin’ science concept and kicks it up a notch:
“The scientists are practically screaming from the rooftops. This is a planetary emergency. It’s outside the scale we’re used to dealing with,” Gore told the senators.
Let’s wait until they’re literally screaming from the rooftops. Which they’ll probably only do if their grants are withdrawn.
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HE’S GOT THE SKILLS
Tim Blair
One day, Ryan Seacrest might become the Vice President of the United States:
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IT HAPPENED
Tim Blair
Barack Obama before his election:
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.
“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.
And now:
The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.
“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”
He’s killing the planet.
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FORESTS FULL
Tim Blair
Environmentalist Jill Redwood explains why East Gippsland logging should be halted:
“The place is literally teeming with endangered species,” Ms Redwood said.
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FUTURE COORDINATED
Tim Blair
An internal ABC memo arrives via our Ultimo mole, who emails: “Note the mock-cheerful tone and bubbly enthusiasm for a purely voluntary program, offset by the casual revelation halfway through that it actually doesn’t matter what the hell you think, it’s going to be compulsory soon anyway.” The message was sent in green typeface:
Hi All,
I’m Kirileigh, the Green Futures Coordinator of the ABC (I also answer to Green Queen and that-chick-who-is-always-telling-me-to-recycle)
It’s my job to make the ABC a more environmentally friendly and aware corporation. It’s a big job and I’d like to ask for your help.
At the moment we send out paper payslips to all of our employees nationwide. It uses thousands of sheets of paper a fortnight, as well as the ink and water required to print them. As the payslips are shipped to Ultimo and then freighted to other areas it also adds carbon to the environment through road and air travel. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Did you know you can now receive your payslip by email? Or use ESS? It’s more environmentally friendly and it is also more secure than receiving a paper payslip. And of course if you need to print your payslip out you can. Eventually email/ESS payslips will be mandatory, at the moment it is voluntary …
Swapping to electronic payslips is an easy and painless way to help the environment so please make the change. If only so that you don’t have to put up with me harassing you ever again!
Thanks and have a great day
Kirileigh
You too, Kirileigh. The surprise is that the ABC hasn’t already changed to email payslips, which the private sector mostly shifted to some time ago for the simple reason of reduced cost.
UPDATE. Kirileigh flew to Las Vegas for a low-carbon wedding in 2007.
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