Sen. Judd Gregg Continues to Bash Obama- Says He's Bankrupting US

Senator Judd Gregg responded to President Obama's second press conference last night in Washington. Judd still believes Obama is bankrupting the nation with his historic debt.

did you hurt your leg? plus a little snippet of earth hour

communitychannel
March 29, 2009
no, no i didn't :(
Sorry the sound was so noisy outside- there was a lot of traffic on the road nearby :(
See what I deal with because I love you all so much? SEE?
Hope you guys had a fantastic weekend by the way!
x

Headlines Tuesday 31st March 2009

Sydney’s mass blackout reveals flaw in city’s warning system
The mass blackout across Sydney appears to have exposed a major flaw with counter terrorism measures.

Stimulus bonus decision possible today
We're likely to hear today whether seven million Australians can bank on the government's promised $900 stimulus bonus, or whether it's being held up in the High Court.

Bomb found in Bandidos bikie’s garage
Neighbours of a Bandidos bikie at Merrylands had to be evacuated overnight after a home-made bomb was found in his garage.

Two men fighting for lives after Bondi gas blast
The majority of residents in a Bondi apartment building have returned home after a major gas explosion, but two plumbers injured in the blast are fighting for their lives.

Eight killed in Pakistan police school siege
Pakistan security forces on Monday overpowered gunmen who stormed a police academy in a spectacular commando-style raid in which eight police recruits and four attackers died.

Web filter won't stop child porn: Conroy

British govt praises Rudd the ‘roving ambassador’- as British press tear lackluster Rudd apart
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been praised for pursing a greater role for China by the British government's top money-man.
=== ===
Earth Hour of power in green ivory tower
Piers Akerman
EARTH Hour is just a waste of energy. It is not a passive symbolic gesture, it is a loss-leader in the green propaganda war against modernity. Environmental fear-monger Al Gore has a lot to answer for.
===
AND HIS HARLEY NEEDS WAXING
Tim Blair
Hardcore bikers aren’t usually so fussy about hygiene:
A barrister has accused police of drip feeding the release of evidence about Sydney airport’s fatal bikie brawl while his Comanchero client remains locked up without clean underwear.
===
ART LIFE
Tim Blair
“The Kingpins are four artists exploring ideas about identity,” explains the ABC’s Andrew Frost. Then again, Frost also believes “ambiguity is the natural by-product of art that mocks the whole idea of certainty,” so who knows what the hell he’s talking about.
===
WE ANSWER TO WARMING
Tim Blair
The Archbishop of Canterbury shuffles God down the spiritual order:
Dr Rowan Williams did not say there was no God. But he said that God is not a “safety net that guarantees a happy ending in this world.” He warned that the pillaging of the world’s resources meant it was facing a “whole range of doomsday prospects” that went far beyond the consequences of global warming. Humanity faced being “choked, drowned or starved” by its own stupidity, he said.
This man is out of his mind.
===
SNOWBANK MELTED, BANKERS BURNED
Tim Blair
A fine Earth Hour tactic:
“Turning off all the lights can save electricity,” said eight-year-old Samantha Stegmeier, as she stuck a candle in a snowbank. “And it’s fun.”
That’ll help get the Big Melt underway. In other progressive news, here’s the Guardian‘s April 1 protest schedule:
11am Groups will converge at London stations Moorgate, Liverpool Street, London Bridge and Cannon Street. Each group goes on a parade to the Bank of England.

Noon Carnival at the Bank of England with live music and street theatre, including the hanging of bankers’ effigies. Climate Camp will march on the European Climate Exchange, Bishopsgate.
The Guardian also reports:
Thousands of G20 Meltdown campaign posters show a mannequin wearing a suit being hanged, while an anarchist website has the slogan: “Burn a banker!”
London is full of bankers. Think of the carbon.
===
IT’S JUST SO OBVIOUS
Tim Blair
Marrying frogs was the solution all along.
===
EARTH HOUR II
Tim Blair
Much of central Sydney—including the Daily Telegraph‘s office—is without electricity. Traffic lights, street lights, everything’s out. Been like this for, oh, about 40 minutes.
===
WAGONER ROLLED
Tim Blair
This seems noteworthy:
The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.
===
AL LIGHTS UP
Tim Blair
Just like Times Square, Al Gore’s mansion displayed a planet-hating glow during Earth Hour.
===
Fear for Pakistan
Andrew Bolt
Pakistan is in deep, deep trouble when the attacks are as brazen as this:

TERRORISTS dressed as police and armed with machineguns and grenades launched a deadly attack on a police academy in Lahore yesterday, triggering an eight-hour gun battle that killed as many as 34 policemen and wounded 92 others.
===
G20 spin unspun
Andrew Bolt
Peter Wilson has had enough of the spinning, even before the G20 meeting starts:

The Prime Minister’s spin in Australia has largely been about his own role in shaping the summit, for instance offering some rather unnecessary advice to the Americans and others that they should deal with their toxic bank assets.

Mr Rudd said last night at a news conference with Mr Brown that the spending initiatives being taken by individual governments around the world to bail out their economies had actually been “in response to the call” by the last G20 summit for co-ordinated action.

There is no evidence of any such co-ordination, nor that any government has cut a tax or spent a dollar in response to the G20’s urgings.

Mr Rudd, we are told, has supposedly been in constant brain-storming contact with Mr Brown, a fact that has somehow eluded the notice of senior aides in Downing Street. When Mr Brown spoke last week about his contacts with foreign leaders he named Barack Obama, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and leaders from Europe, Latin America, India, Japan and China. There was no mention of Mr Rudd, although Mr Brown did add that he had consulted “all the members from the Asian countries”.
===
How the Defence Minister was groomed
Andrew Bolt
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s Chinese benefactor has an interest in military affairs:

THE wealthy Chinese businesswoman who befriended Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and showered him with gifts is a leading member of an organisation with strong ties to the Chinese military.

Helen Liu, who was born in the northeastern Chinese province of Shandong and is now an Australian citizen, is a member of the editorial committee of Shandong Ming Jia. The organisation, which translates as Shandong Celebrities Family, promotes the work of leading people from Shandong. It has extensive membership within the China’s military, the Peoples Liberation Army, especially its logistics division.

The woman who gave Fitzgibbon a $20,0000 donation, a suit (later returned), flights to China and other gifts also has high-level contacts within China’s communist party and foreign affairs establishment:

She is vice-chairwoman of the World Federation of Overseas Chinese Associations, which ... is linked to the Overseas Affairs office of the United Front Ministry of the State Council, China’s cabinet. Among its goals are to work towards China’s reunification.

Liu’s military links are confirmed by the company she introduced Fitzgibbon to when she flew him to China on Christmas Day 2002, away from his three young children:

Mr Fitzgibbon attended a Chinese military art exhibition with Ms Liu in Beijing on Boxing Day 2002 with six three-star generals, 60 lower-ranking generals and 700 Chinese VIPs....

At the function, held to commemorate chairman Mao Zedong’s birthday, Mr Fitzgibbon circulated with Li Jing, commander of China’s naval air force, Zhou Kegu, deputy chief of the People’s Liberation Army political department, Li Jingsong, president of China’s military science academy, and Zhou Tienong, vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Ms Liu played a key role in the event and was photographed at the centre of four document-signing ceremonies,

No doubt Fitzgerald just left the gift behind somewhere:

At the function Mr Fitzgibbon was presented with a large painting by artist Li Chengxiu, but the minister’s spokesman last night said he did not bring the artwork back to Australia with him. Mr Fitzgibbon did not declare the painting as a gift received in the Federal Parliament’s register of members of interests.

And no wonder Kevin Rudd - who kept secret from the Australian media his recent meeting with China’s propaganda chief - is fussy about who he sits next to in public:

The Prime Minister’s staff asked the BBC to move him from his position beside the Chinese ambassador to Britain, Madam Fu Ying, when the two appeared on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show at the weekend.
===
Obama now runs GM, too
Andrew Bolt
Former community organiser Barack Obama thinks he deserves a say now in how even a big manufacturing company should be run:

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said…

Obama and his aides may have honed in on Wagoner for two reasons. First, his company is asking for the most in total federal aid: $26 billion… Second, the GM chief ... is considered responsible for increasing GM’s focus on trucks and SUVs—at the expense of the hybrids and fuel efficient cars that have become more popular in the last couple of years.

If Obama is upset Wagoner didn’t focus more on his preferred green hybrids, what future will an Obama-bossed General Motors have, given this:

Although vehicle sales have declined across the board, sales of gas and electric-powered hybrids have fallen faster than most, dropping to only 15,144 nationwide last month...
===
Boycott these academics instead
Andrew Bolt
Here is a list of Australian academics who - from a world that includes tyrannies and sponsors of terrorism and genocide - have singled out just one state for collective punishment.

But these academics haven’t just singled out Israel for a demonisation it has spared countries with infinitely worse records of abuses against human rights, including neighbors of Israel who demand and seek its annihilation. They have also signed a petition demanding a collective punishment of all who live within Israel, regardless of their personal views and merits.

Further, the punishment they demand is a crime against reason and the exchange of ideas - a severing of academic ties. They seek thereby to ban the currency of the civilised.

For these reasons, I regard the following academics as insults to their profession. If I were a student, I would question their judgment in even small matters, when their judgment on such a big one is so profoundly wrong. I would not trust them to teach me anything worth knowing, unless it was through learning from their mistakes.

Here are the academics I would avoid:

Dr. Anthony Ashbolt, University of Wollongong; Jumana Bayeh, Macquarie University; Professor Ann Curthoys, The University of Sydney; Dr Ned Curthoys, Australian National University; Professor John Docker, The University of Sydney; Ann El Khoury, Macquarie University; Professor Heather Goodall, University of Technology, Sydney; Laila Hafez, University of Wollongong; Professor Terry Irving, University of Wollongong; Dr Evan Jones, The University of Sydney; Dr Jon Jureidini, University of Adelaide; Dr Ray Jureidini, American University in Cairo, Egypt; Professor Peter Manning, University of Technology, Sydney; Dr Morris Morley, Macquarie University; Dr David Palmer, University of Adelaide; Rosemary Pringle; Professor Lyndall Ryan, University of Newcastle; Dr Ron Witton, University of Wollongong.
===
Jobless? Blame the infidel
Andrew Bolt
Islamic philosopher and sociologist Hossein Adibi knows why so many Muslims are unemployed here:

Muslim people already suffer twice the unemployment rate of other workers in Queensland and the global economic crisis is likely to make matters worse, research shows.

A study undertaken by Queensland University of Technology researcher Dr Hossein Adibi found there was a huge gap between the level of unemployment in the general population and Muslims, something that was likely to worsen in the declining economic climate… Dr Adibi found that Muslims were disadvantaged due to four main factors: racism, discrimination, media bias and the lack of Muslim representation in decision-making bodies.

That’s odd: The four main reasons Dr Adibi gives for very high rates of unemployment among Muslims all involve them being picked on or ignored by non-Muslims. Talk about feeding a nasty culture of victimhood. Isn’t is likely that Muslim unemployment might be better explained by poor English, poor skills, poor assimilation, poor education of women and a culture among some of rejection of our wider society?
===
37 people vanish
Andrew Bolt
Good news, of course, but very curious:

THE death toll from the Black Saturday bushfires has been downgraded to 173 - 37 fewer than previously estimated by authorities.
===
Obama’s warming isn’t
Andrew Bolt
Barack Obama does a Tim Flannery, implicitly blaming the North Dakota floods on global warming:

I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating. … If you look at the flooding that’s going on right now in North Dakota, and you say to yourself, ‘If you see an increase of 2 degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there,’ that indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously.

Watts Up With That checks the NOAA temperature records:

In fact, temperatures in North Dakota have been running about 5-10 degrees below normal for the entire winter and spring.

Again I ask: if the evidence for apocalyptic man-made global warming is so overwhelming, why do the believers need to tell so many porkies?
===
Stolen from what?
Andrew Bolt
The “stolen generations” farce exposed:

ALMOST two-thirds of Aboriginal children in Victoria who have been removed from their homes are placed with non-Aboriginal carers, raising the spectre of another stolen generation.

Despite legislation stating that every Aboriginal child in out-of-home care must have a cultural support plan to keep them connected with their community, fewer than 10 per cent of children have one.

Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency chief executive Muriel Bamblett warned the state could face class actions in the future for failing to comply with the legislation.

So the state could be sued because too many Aboriginal parents were bad, and too few other Aboriginal adults could be found to look after their children for them. Exactly why should the children rescued from this dysfunctional culture be kept plugged into it?

PS

The legal action is being threatened by Muriel Bamblett. Could she not do more good by fostering some Aboriginal children herself, rather than attacking the whites who do it instead?

And a question for The Age: Does “stolen generation” now actually mean children who were rescued from harm, and who have no Aborigines prepared to look after them? If so, isn’t that - as I’ve said from the start - a deceitful use of the word “stolen”?
===
It’s now global yawning
Andrew Bolt
The doom-mongering finally met consumer resistance during Earth Hour, even in post-heat-wave Melbourne:

Electricity consumption in the city centre fell by 2 per cent from 8.30pm on Saturday, when people were encouraged to switch off their lights in a united call for political leadership on climate change. This was down markedly on a year ago, when electricity use for the hour plunged 10.1 per cent.

Obama to Release Gitmo Detainees in US Who Trained with Al-Qaeda & Are Linked to Bus Bombers

The Obama Administration announced on Friday March 27, 2009 that they are considering releasing Gitmo detainees in the US and giving them financial assistance. The 17 Uighur terrorists in Gitmo trained with Al-Qaeda and are linked to the group that blew up buses in China.

I saw a squirrel!!!!!! and my doorknobs.sorry about this one

communitychannel
June 11, 2008
if you couldn't sit through my housekeeping, you won't be able to sit through this.
Sorry guys, it got so boring at the end i had to cut it. I love you guys too much to make you sit through all of it but i mentioned how your coins all look the same AND WHAT IS A DIME? WHAT THE HELL DO I DO WITH A DIME. it's name hardly indicates it's worth in any way. ALso, your food is huge. Sorry i just went on SO MUCH oh well.
I'll make a new blog blog blog blog

Headlines Monday 30th March 2009

Zervas's brother gunned down as bikie war escalates
The brother of Hells Angel Anthony Zervas has been gunned down in Lakemba overnight, with police now concerned an innocent life could be lost in an all out bikie war. Laura Tunstall is at the crime scene.

Rudd rivals Hawke as most popular PM: poll
A new poll shows Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is rivalling Bob Hawke as Australia's most popular prime minister, while support for Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has slumped dramatically.

Logie nominees announced: Mark Priestley nominated for posthumous Logie
All Saints star Mark Priestley, who passed away last year at the age of 32, has been nominated for a posthumous award at this year's Logies.

Shots fired at business near Kings Cross
Two men are being sought after shots were fired at a business near Kings Cross in Sydney's east.

$900 stimulus handout challenged today in court
Families anticipating the proposed $900 tax bonus will have those payments challenged by a legal academic in the High Court over the next two days.

Girl, five, decapitated at birthday party
A MAN kills his two sisters at a party - decapitating the birthday girl - before he's gunned down.

Girl 'bashed' at elite school's dance
A 13-YEAR-old has allegedly been hit 40 times by an older girl at a prestigious school's dance.

I feared for my son's life - D'Arcy's dad
NICK D'Arcy's father thought his son might end his own life while suffering deep depression. - how about when he was so drunk he didn'ty know who or how he was hitting people. - ed

Public 'need not fear' new bikie laws NSW Government pleads to public to understand

'Geeky' Rudd ridiculed by Brit press
KEVIN Rudd dubbed a "boot-wearing geek from Down Under" and a "charisma-free zone".

UK interior minister, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, in 'adult film' row before G20 summit
A SENIOR minister, who is in charge of British security, was forced to apologise today for using public money to pay for adult films, an embarrassment for Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he prepares to host a G20 summit.

In the latest in a series of political rows over lawmakers' expenses, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, already under investigation over her housing allowance, said she mistakenly claimed for pay-per-view television when she submitted a bill for her internet connection.
=== ===
A IS FOR ACTIVISM
Tim Blair
Highlights from Matthew Weaver’s coverage of London’s latest complain-about-everything rally:
• A Turkish workers group in Trafalgar Square is chanting about jobs and justice.

• There are lots of old fashioned banners and placards. The most bizarre I’ve spotted so far include, “Obama is a muppet” and “A is for Autism”.

• A few thousand people have gathered in the wind and rain at the start of the march near Temple station. They are making a lot of noise and protesting about everything from war, poverty, unemployment and global warming to disability rights and housing insulation.
Somewhere in that crowd is a crippled Taliban supporter who lost a low-paying job because hot weather made her oversleep inside an uninsulated house. She is the Perfect Protester. And here’s the perfect protest sign:
===
PLANETARY CRISIS ELUSIVE
Tim Blair
Time magazine science expert Bryan Walsh wonders if Earth Hour might become environmentalism’s defining image:
===
SHEILA AND ALI
Tim Blair
Romance in New Delhi:
A rape victim has told a city court that she wants to marry her violator. Almost four years after Sheila was allegedly raped by Ali (both names changed), she has converted to Islam and is ready to accept him as her husband.

She told the court that her marriage to Ali was necessary to end the social stigma she faced since 2005.
This storyline is unlikely to feature in any sitcoms.
===
SHOULD BE EASY ENOUGH
Tim Blair
Note to self: avoid any social occasions where rapper Mos Def and writer Christopher Hitchens are both present.

Here’s a highly entertaining segment of Bill Maher’s show, with Salman Rushdie and Christopher Hitchens squaring off against ... rapper Mos Def, who gives new meaning to the word “incoherent.” - well, Mos sounds like a Democrat supporter -ed.

===
REGULATION ON THE MARCH
Tim Blair
When black cars are banned in California, only criminals will have black cars. Which they prefer, as it happens. Also in California:
The California Energy Commission is considering a proposal that would ban California retailers from selling all but the most energy-efficient televisions. Critics say the new standards could take 25 percent of televisions off the market — most of them 40 inches or larger.
Even by Californian standards, the place is in a regulation frenzy:
An issue that briefly brought President Barack Obama ridicule on the campaign trail last year is gaining traction in California, where air regulators are seeking to mandate proper tire inflation as a way to reduce fuel consumption.
===
VIDEO EMERGES
Tim Blair
The New York Daily News reports:
The White House was plunged into turmoil Saturday as an explosive video emerged allegedly showing Vice President Biden’s daughter snorting cocaine at a Delaware house party.

The shocking video of Ashley Biden, 27, was shot this year and is being peddled for $250,000, a lawyer representing the seller told RadarOnline.com.
The News is getting ahead of events in that second paragraph; the video is still only alleged to be of Biden. Either way, expect various privacy concerns to be raised over this – “she didn’t run for office, she isn’t a public figure, the media shouldn’t cover it”, and so on. You know, the same way concerns were raised in the case of the mother of the boyfriend of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter.
===
GABBIN’ ABOUT GAIA
Tim Blair
Queensland journalist Derek Barry subjects me to a friendly Earth Hour Q&A:

Derek: UN Gen Sec Ban-Ki Moon calls the 2009 version “the largest demonstration of public concern about climate change ever attempted” and a “clear message” that people want action on climate change.

Tim: UN Gen Sec Ban-Ki Moon at least has the right name for a lights-out enthusiast. But if he thinks that middle-class slumber parties and candlelit dinners are a “clear message” for action on climate change, he’s mentally ill. It’s interesting, too, that Moon is able to see a “clear message” while everybody else involved in this can barely make out the wine labels and ends up drinking accidental chardonnay/riesling/sauvignon blanc combos.
===
Fitzgibbon’s unbelievable “mistake”
Andrew Bolt
Julia Gillard yesterday used the ”Einfeld defence” to excuse her little mate, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, who “forgot” to mention he’d received valuable gifts from a Chinese businesswoman who’d groomed him, almost literally:

Well I think it’s just an innocent lapse which occurred.

An honest mistake? Let’s check what exactly happened, and see how un-innocent it actually was.

First, Fitzgibbon as an Opposition spokesman accepts a $20,000 donation from Helen Liu, a woman with high-level connections in China’s communist party. He also accepts from her two business-class trips to China, although he returns to her a new suit.

Somehow Fitzgibbon, who rents from Liu’s sister a house in Canberra (has it been checked for bugs?), contracts an obligation to Liu so powerful that he flies to China with her over Christmas, missing not just Christmas with his children but his wife’s birthday.

Fitzgibbon somehow fails to list the gifts in his Parliamentary register of interests, despite being obliged to. And last week there’s this exchange, after the newspapers have already reported that his relationship to Liu is under scrutiny:

REPORTER: Have any of your trips to Beijing been paid by Ms Liu? Or any of her companies?

JOEL FITZGIBBON, DEFENCE MINISTER: I’ve said on a number of occasions I’ve had a close, personal relationship for the Lius and the family for 16 years now. And over that period of time there has been an exchange of a number of small gifts, for example on birthdays etc. No-one has ever raised concern…

REPORTER: Can you give an example of those gifts?

JOEL FITZGIBBON: No, very small gifts.

I have trouble believing Fitzgibbon “accidently” misled the reporter. And I want to know what Liu saw in this man that persuaded her to give him gifts and cultivate a close relationship with him. Excuse me if I doubt she simply found his conversation stimulating. More likely, especially given China’s efforts to gather intelligence here, is this explanation, admittedly not from a reliable source:
A website for expatriate Chinese reported that Ms Liu also kept good relations with Australian politicians and “accurately passed new Australian policies and moves towards China to relevant domestic parties”.

Remember: Fitzgibbon is the Minister in charge of our defence. This issue is big.

UPDATE

Julia Gillard yesterday dismissed concerns about China’s reach and influence with this wave-away:
But this is all, it seems to me Barrie, if I can make a point, all getting a little bit absurd. We now have the Opposition carrying on as if there is some huge conspiracy here that if you ever met a Chinese person, that if you’ve ever discussed an issue in relation to China, that you’ve ever spoken a word of Mandarin, apparently this is all some huge conspiracy against Australia’s national interest. Well, the reverse is actually true.

Here’s today’s “absurd” news about China’s reach and influence:

A CYBER spy network based mainly in China has tapped into classified documents from government and private organisations in 103 countries, including the computers of Tibetan exiles, according to Canadian researchers.

Which puts in context former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s point:

According to Downer, (Defence Signals Directorate) and Defence set up secure communications systems for ... central government players from their Blackberries to their personal laptops. In Fitzgibbon’s case the allegation is that DSD was spying on him potentially illegally when it discovered Helen Liu’s bank account details…

In our conversation Downer invited everyone feverishly scrutinsing Fitzgibbon to reverse their order of thinking. According to the former foreign minister, it is an ongoing duty of Defence to protect their minister from anyone hacking into their computer. In other words, it may be that the information DSD discovered about Liu was a duty of care, not a case of unauthorised spying.

Relieved of the constraints of office, Downer was explicit. The major culprit, when it comes to hacking into the computers of foreign governments, is China: not the Yanks, the Brits or even the Russians…
===
It’s now global yawning
Andrew Bolt
The doom-mongering finally met consumer resistance during Earth Hour, even in post-heat-wave Melbourne:

Electricity consumption in the city centre fell by 2 per cent from 8.30pm on Saturday, when people were encouraged to switch off their lights in a united call for political leadership on climate change. This was down markedly on a year ago, when electricity use for the hour plunged 10.1 per cent.
===
Brawling, bawling, touring
Andrew Bolt
Cheaper to scream for the Gov’mint than to take out insurance:

WHINGEING, irresponsible, cut-rate Australian tourists abroad are costing those who stay home millions of dollars and are being arrested more than ever.

The latest figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs show that 2009 is set to become the first year when more than 1000 Australians are arrested and when more than 1000 Australians are expected to die overseas.

Investigations on cost recovery also disclose huge outstanding losses when those helped in emergencies refuse to contribute to emergency services and flights.

Up until last week, Foreign Affairs has only been able to recover $55,462 of the $32.4million Australian taxpayers paid in 2006 to evacuate 6500 Australian citizens from Lebanon during the Israeli bombing.

On that last point, it seems to me someone in Government is really not trying hard. And I’m with Downer:

Yesterday, the Foreign Minister at the time of the Lebanon crisis, Alexander Downer, told The Australian he was bitterly disappointed at how Australians were abusing consular services overseas, refusing to take responsibility for their own care, ignoring travel advice and complaining about embassy staff.
===
Money gone, soldiers sacked
Andrew Bolt
The Rudd Government has spent so much money on pink batts, free cash and public housing that it has none left to hire soldiers:

(T)he Government is looking to wind back a promised 3 per cent increase in military spending as it seeks billions of dollars in budget savings… Defence will also be asked to find savings by...achieving savings of almost half a billion via job cuts.

Sacking soldiers to pay for a “stimulus” package that didn’t work. That’s how debased the Government’s policies now are.
===
Not the faith but the violence
Andrew Bolt
Paul Sheehan says it’s not “Islamophobic” to be worried by violence:

Given the abundant evidence of violent cause and fearful effect, involving a small percentage of antagonists, the general charge of Islamophobia is an ideological fabrication.... Consider the series of blows to the image of Muslims in just the past three weeks, where the everyday decency of the majority have been collaterally damaged by the antics of the few.

A long and disturbing list follows.
===
Rudd-style spending too much even for Europe
Andrew Bolt
The reckless Ruddernomics of fellow Leftists Barack Obama, Gordon Brown and Kevin Rudd has been rejected by Europe:

GORDON BROWN’S carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, last night led the assault on the prime minister’s “global new deal” for a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus to end the recession.

“I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money,” she said.

The Spanish finance minister, Pedro Solbes, also dismissed new cash being pledged at Thursday’s London summit.

“In these conditions I and the rest of my colleagues from the eurozone believe there is no room for new fiscal stimulus plans,” he said.
===
Not quite Playschool
Andrew Bolt
Al-Jazeera broadcasts an inspiring lecture to children from Saudi cleric Khaled Al-Khlewi. Some highlights:

Khaled Al-Khlewi: How old are you, Omar?

Omar: Eight years old.

Khaled Al-Khlewi: Do you like the Jews?

Omar: No.

Khaled Al-Khlewi: You hate them. Why do you hate them? What did the Jews do?

Omar: They wanted to kill the Prophet Muhammad.

Khaled Al-Khlewi: Well done. They wanted to kill the Prophet Muhammad. And what are they doing to our Muslim brothers now? They are killing them. When you curse them, what do you say? “Oh God…”?

Omar: Oh God, destroy the Jews.

Khaled Al-Khlewi: Well done.

Meanwhile in Finland:
Helsinki city councilman, Jussi Halla-aho was charged with blasphemy and incitement of an ethnic-group in the Helsinki district court today, and ordered to stand trial for publishing on his blog that Islam’s prophet was a pedophile.

The councillor’s blog post here.

Jihad Watch wonders what else you’d call the Prophet by today’s standards:

The collection of traditions of Muhammad that Muslims consider most reliable, Sahih Bukhari, affirms in no less than five places that Aisha was six when Muhammad took her and nine when he consummated the marriage (vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 234; vol. 5 bk. 58 no. 236; vol. 7 bk. 62 no. 64; vol. 7 bk. 62 no. 65; and vol. 7 bk. 62 no. 88). It is also in Sunan Abu Dawud (bk. 41 no. 4915), another of the Sahih Sittah, the six hadith collections Muslims accept as most reliable.

I agree it’s offensive to Muslims to mention such facts and especially to use the word “pedophile”, which is why I rarely do the former and never the latter. But to make illegal the expression of such opinions, which are at the very least arguably well-based, is absurd. The second charge against Jussi Halla-aho, if reported correctly, is even more absurd, suggesting that the prosecutor too stupid to understand irony, analogy or logic.

Meanwhile in Britain, police are trying to cope with hate preaching that’s far more lethal:

Two hundred schoolchildren in Britain, some as young as 13, have been identified as potential terrorists by a police scheme that aims to spot youngsters who are “vulnerable” to Islamic radicalisation.
===
Not pious enough for Prius
Andrew Bolt
The hype is receding; the hybrid isn’t selling - at least in the US:

Last month, only 15,144 hybrids sold nationwide, down almost two-thirds from April, when the segment’s sales peaked and gas averaged $3.57 a gallon. That’s far larger than the drop in industry sales for the period and scarcely a better showing than January, when hybrid sales were at their lowest since early 2005.

Eric Holder Proposes Assault Weapons Ban

Attorney General Eric Holder was officially installed into office today. He has already said that he wants to disarm Americans. He has proposed an assault weapons ban. Obama said during his campaign that he would not take away American's guns.
It looks like he lied.

dodgy photos

communitychannel
June 08, 2008
lol every video. First ten ratings, always a one. Why do you subscribe? haha

www.gardenpartymovie

Sorry, sorry "dodgy" means "shady".

Yes, i know, the irony. My last video was asking people to come to a photoshoot. OH i got some models so thanks so much for all the offers. You guys rock.

I'll do another b log within the next two days with footage i managed to sc rape together from n ew york including t he squirell footage!

Headlines Sunday 29th March 2009

Rees to propose tough new bikie laws
NSW Premier Nathan Rees is considering draconian new laws that would make it illegal for criminal bikies to associate with one another. - of course enforcing current laws might work too. - ed.

Rudd arrives in London for G20 summit
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has arrived in London ahead of a second busy week of meetings leading up to Thursday's G20 summit of leaders of the world's largest economies.

Police monitor bikies convoy to Canberra
NSW Police have been monitoring a convoy of Rebels bikie gang members travelling from Sydney to Canberra for the funeral of a colleague murdered last week.

Over 830 landmarks to join Earth Hour
The Vatican is one of more than 830 landmarks around the world that will be plunged into darkness for Earth Hour, organisers have learnt overnight.

Pakistan Military supporting al-Qaeda, Taliban
There are "indications" that elements of Pakistan's intelligence service are lending support to al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, the top US military officer said.
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Labor’s Chinese whispering
Piers Akerman
THERE are some 1338 million people in China, give or take a million or so. Businesswoman Helen Liu is but one of them. - There is an excellent reason why China would wish to engage the ALP and not the conservatives. The conservatives would stand up for Australian interests. On the other hand, the ALP can be bought for a high price .. and compromised in many ways.
The idea that China bought the ALP by campaigning in Bennelong and compromising the leaders is not remarkable. The fact that mainstream media won’t report it is disappointing, but par for the course. That the defense minister could be caught red handed and excused his untidiness is unforgivable. Rudd had an opportunity to show some action when he was talking about Fitzgibbon, but he is lauded for doing nothing. I notice that the calm and assertive Turnbull was dismissed by Lateline as being desperate .. completely at odds with the picture evidence being shown .. Rudd was lip licking and furtive.
China want the same thing now that they wanted when they employed my ancestor Mak Sai Ying. Influence. The manufactured GFC is an opportunity .. there will be more. - ed.
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JOURNALISTS KILLED JESUS
Tim Blair
Charles Waterstreet calls for a “sense of proportion” over his friend Marcus Einfeld’s crime. Then, fewer than 80 words later:
Has there ever been a more pernicious avalanche of bile and hate by the press directed at a man who spent the previous 70 years of his life attempting to build a better Australia, a better world? A less circumspect man than myself might have written that he is not the first Jew they have crucified.
Nice sense of proportion you’ve got there, Chuck.
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HOUR OF POWER 2009
Tim Blair
Click! Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.

As an ultra-orthodox Hour of Power participant, I’m required to turn on every single light in the house. We’re glowing like irradiated lab mice here. A text message arrived earlier from a Daily Telegraph colleague:
Just preparing for earth hour. Max is loving running through the house turning all our switches on. We think he’s really learning something important!
Knowledge is power, Max. And so is beautiful coal-fired electricity.
===

For Human achievement hour ..
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SAVINGS NOT SO GREAT
Tim Blair
The UN’s Vannina Maestracci attempts – several times – to work out how much money will be saved by turning off the lights at UN headquarters:
Maestracci initially estimated the savings would be $81,000 before revising it to $24,300. She ultimately estimated the savings would be just $102 for the darkened hour.
Meanwhile, a Lileks reader will rely on an alternative illumination source:
I won’t need lights because of the glow of the burning tires I plan to ignite.
===
GANGS FIXED
Tim Blair
A future Parliamentary speech from Police Minister Tony Kelly:

Mr Speaker, I respond to Opposition claims that the Government of NSW is not doing enough to combat violent bikie gangs. In fact, my department has done a great deal of work in this area.

Obviously, some avenues have not been productive. Banning or outlawing bikie gangs is difficult.

Yet other measures are available, Mr Speaker. I refer to the Government’s innovative new “Collective Nomenclature Bill (Motorcycles)”. Under legislation provided by this Bill, motorcycle gangs may freely assemble and ride only if they do so while prominently displaying the particular name of their gang.

As I understand it, bikie gangs – including the Bandidos, the Hells Angels, Notorious, the Rebels and so on – enjoy this sort of thing. Under new legislation, however, bikie gangs will only be assigned names from the following government-approved list:

* We Met at a Recital
* I Have Two Daddies
* You Must Try My Homemade Risotto
* Hell’s Netballers
* The Petersham Power Lispers
* Lilith Fair
* Cuter in Chiffon
* The Uniting Church
* Earth Hour
* Trinny and Susannah
* We Do Pedicures
* Jane Austen Reading Society
* Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
* The Guildford Salad Riders
* Roland’s Bath Toys
* The Slim-Hipped Bachelors
* Cirque du Soleil
* The Cloth Napkins
* Plus-Sized Lingerie
* Dancing With Quentin
* The Pedestrian Council of Australia
* Hair by Eduardo
* The Crystal Street Lycra and Lace Cuddle Fellowship
* On Our Way to Jenny Craig
* The Tanty Chuckers
* Really Getting Into Slow Food
* The Fabric Softeners
* Pass The Chafing Gel
* The Sous Chefs
* Dunny Boyz

It’s important to note, Mr Speaker, that even in cases where gangs refuse to ride under their new names, courts and the media will be obliged to use the mandatory government-appointed titles.

For example, reports of bikie violence will read: “Members of I Have Two Daddies today attacked rival gang The Cloth Napkins in a bloody confrontation at Sydney airport.”

I feel confident that these changes will reduce the attraction of gang membership to many violent young men in our community, Mr Speaker, particularly when combined with the latest all-pastel colour range now compulsory for bikie-Australians.

Also, Mr Speaker, may I mention the Harley-Davidson buy-back now under way. You possibly noticed Dancing With Quentin protesting outside Parliament today aboard their replacement Honda 110 step-throughs.

I’m happy to report that they all went home after a friendly visit from The Crystal Street Lycra And Lace Cuddle Fellowship. At least, I think they all went home.
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SUDDEN GLOOM
Tim Blair
A pre-emptive Earth Hour in Johannesburg:
We have a problem here. One of the floodlight towers has gone off and there is a sudden gloom around the ground. Play has stopped, understandably so, and the umpires consult each other. Hopefully, whoever’s in charge, will get it fixed asap.
It’s only a few hours until all the Earth Hour excitement begins. Prepare your lights.
===
Bringing Beirut to NSW
Andrew Bolt
How charmingly our new arrivals are fitting in at their new Sydney home. A little bit of Beirut, circa 1975, is just what the joint needed:

THEY call themselves MBM - the Muslim Brotherhood Movement - a gang of 600 men who boast they are the toughest and best young street fighters of Middle Eastern descent in Sydney. MBM claims to be the biggest of four new gangs to emerge on Sydney streets in the past year…

Even hardened private security guards have expressed concern to police about the indiscriminate “punch and run” tactics of MBM members… Police say that a fortnight ago MBM members embarked upon a campaign of random assaults on men who crossed the path of a mob of about 100 toughs stalking Darlinghurst and Kings Cross during the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. A week ago about 30 MBM members intimidated private security guards at government car auctions at Smithfield.

The emergence of MBM also coincides with the rise of two other urban Sydney gangs - the Parra Boyz or Asesinoz MC and Brothers For Life or BFL.

Police say BFL - with a logo featuring crossed machine-guns - is not dissimilar to MBM in its extremist views, but membership numbers are unknown. Police describe Asesinoz, comprising teenagers of Middle Eastern decent, as “tough kids” who use the video-sharing website YouTube to promote Islamic extremism and anti-Australian actions…

Its creation follows that of the Notorious bikie gang, comprising members of Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander extraction, more than a year ago after a split in the membership of the Nomads motorcycle club.
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Save water. Die of thirst
Andrew Bolt
The Age reports this insanity as if it were a serious option:

THE controversial $750 million north-south pipeline is unnecessary and the desalination plant could have been avoided with greater efforts to cut water use, according to top-level advice delivered to the State Government just weeks before both projects were announced… If the water crisis deepened, the consultants suggested going to level 4 restrictions and “rationing" water to 130 litres a day for each person. This would save about 30 to 36 billion litres a year.

And cutting rations to none would save even more.

Memo to consultants: People already struggle to meet the Government’s 155 litres a day target, even with gardens left to die and ovals left to burn. The dams are now down to 30 per cent of capacity, with water restrictions now likely to last for years, if not forever, especially with Melbourne growing so fast. People want water, people like water, and people like the gardens that water produces. Simply denying them this stuff of civilisation is the recommendation of green zealots.
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Frozen scientists in the dark over Earth Hour
Andrew Bolt
From the Twitter page of the troubled three-man Arctic Survey of global warming believers:

Temperatures of -39’C are being experienced once again, as the team continue to travel north for day 28 of the expedition.

about 1 hour ago from web
Today the Catlin Arctic Survey team are switching off their lights to support Earth Hour.

about 5 hours ago from web

Temperatures have dropped off the thermometer once again, reaching lows of -40 and lower!

10:43 AM Mar 27th from web

It’s hard to believe how many ways reality is being denied by these frostbitten scientists, sitting in the dark on an ice floe, turning off a torch to stop a warming when it’s 39 degrees below freezing. Meanwhile the expendition’s sponsor, Prince Charles, blew all the saved emissions and more of this shivering crew, lightless on the dark ice, just by driving to the jet that’s blasted him from country to country on his grandly gassy global warming tour of South America:
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Warming worriers burn with indignation
Andrew Bolt
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald sponsored last night’s Earth Hour, in which warming worriers demanded we turn off lights and stop burning stuff to save the world from our nasty gases. But the papers’ gallery of pictures of the event shows that none of the believers seemed to think the message applied actually to them:

The Age detects some apathy:

However, while the world embraced the third annual Earth Hour, only 500 Victorian businesses signed up to last night’s event online, a third of last year’s total. Australia-wide, there were 2,500 businesses against last year’s 7230. Apathy, financial woes and the whine of the Grand Prix were among reasons cited by Melburnians for staying alight amid so much darkness.

Pardon? Melburnians say they’d cut their emissions, if it wasn’t that the sound of fast cars stopped them? We can’t be bothered now even trying to make a good excuse.
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Rudd can’t dine out on Obama
Andrew Bolt
Greg Sheridan says Kevin Rudd got a far cooler reception from Barack Obama than reported:

At one point the US President was supposed to host our Prime Minister for lunch during his Washington visit. The President was too busy, so the lunch duties went instead to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.... Rudd travelled 10,000km to see Obama but Obama chose to spend no more than the more or less minimum time that any Australian prime minister would get with the President.

This is actually a significant setback for Rudd.... (I)t is hard to imagine any US president cancelling a lunch with John Howard and this not being reported as a serious snub.

And there’s this wise warning:
Rudd is also in very grave danger of making a fatal miscalculation in the way he handles China. Everyone knows Rudd speaks Mandarin and knows quite a lot about China. But he is seriously overdoing it. He looks obsessive and a bit plaintive in the way he is always promoting China internationally. It is Rudd’s job to talk up Australia, not to talk up China.
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Can’t take the lad out of lady
Andrew Bolt
Miranda Devine is wondering what “graduation” actually occurred:

It’s a pity some of the ladettes from Channel Nine’s fairytale reality show, Ladette To Lady, chose to celebrate their graduation from a posh British finishing school by stripping for lads’ magazine Zoo Weekly.

The serious point, though, is that the culture in which we find ourselves can profoundly influence behaviour, especially of the weak and vulnerable. The winner of the show, a former stripper who didn’t bare it later for Zoo Weekly, shows how a toxic culture of family disintegration affected her, at first, too:

The root of her troubles lay in her troubled childhood, shunted between foster homes after being removed from her mother at age seven.
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Facts punished
Andrew Bolt
A frustrated parent (name withheld) writes:

I attended a school debate on Thursday night, at which my year 11 son participated. The topic involved the question of pre-ordained seats for Aboriginals. My son was part of the negative side’s team, who were not from the hosting school (name of school withheld).

The adjudicator was from the hosting school. As anticipated, the affirmative side raised the issue of the ”Stolen Generation” as part of their argument in support of such a move. Naturally, the negative side was well-prepared for that argument, and to be sure, I had suggested some points to consider as part of my son’s preparation.

The affirmative side won the case by 2 points. However, during the delivery of the negative side’s case, whenever the point was made denying the validity of the Stolen Generation on racist grounds, the Adjudicator displayed a reaction indicating the point caused him some distress. Further, during his delivery of the adjudication, he said that ”he disagreed with the argument that there was no Stolen Generation based on racist grounds.” I believe on that basis he immediately disqualified himself from any claim to objectivity, and thus should have been denied the right to adjudicate.

Afterwards, even before I opened my mouth, the three boys on the negative side were all over his lack of impartiality. They wanted to complain, however, I suggested they take counsel from their teacher the next day who was, unfortunately, unable to attend on the night. She subsequently, as I understand, suggested they not pursue it, due to the unlikely “return on investment” . I feel this sort of outright unfairness AND downright bias, all in the name of PC, is pretty intolerable. And, not to mention, the 2 point loss.

Next step? Complain or stay silent?
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Dying for Gaia
Andrew Bolt
Big Green Brother will soon be able to kill the frail at the flick of a remote:

ELECTRICITY companies could soon ration power by remotely turning off your television or air-conditioner… Electrical Transmitters South Australia (ETSA) Utilities wants to install a new electronic control box in every Adelaide home, starting in 2011.

ETSA chief executive Lew Owens said the device could prevent the kind of suburban blackouts that Adelaide experienced in January, by reducing demand across the city…

It is operated by FM radio signal and can be controlled house by house. It follows successful trials by ETSA of a less sophisticated “peak breaker” box attached to air-conditioners in Mawson Lakes and Glenelg, and used to turn off compressors in periods of peak demand in heatwaves.

Why is this scheme so deadly to the poor and frail? Just check what happened during Adelaide’s last heat wave:
Health Minister John Hill last night told The Advertiser he was concerned there had been 22 sudden deaths in yesterday’s 43.1C heat – the third consecutive day above 40C. Today there have been eleven sudden deaths across metropolitan Adelaide and country SA…

“There is a high probability that a number of the deaths are associated with the hot weather,” he said."About 14 of (the 22) deaths were elderly....”

Those deaths, especially among the elderly, led to this appeal, backed even by the green-mad State Government:

Health officials are asking all GPs to contact vulnerable patients to ensure they are coping… Council on the Ageing chief executive John Yates yesterday told the elderly: “If you have airconditioning, use it.

“Many older South Australians were brought up in an era before airconditioning and some of them are reluctant to use it, partly from anxiety about the cost of running their system, given electricity costs have just been increased,” he said. “In the extreme weather conditions we are currently experiencing, it could literally be fatal for older people not to use it.”

Yes, it can be fatal to the elderly not to use airconditioning in a heat-wave. But now that airconditioning can be switched off by remote control. And who is most likely to opt in to such a scheme, which promises to save them a few dollars? Precisely the kind of people most in danger of dying in a heat wave.

A word to the green politicians pushing this mad plan. The answer to not having enough power in a heat wave is to install more generators, not bump off more people.
===
The Chief Justice of White Australia
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd picked his perfect Chief Justice - a man who believes we should formally divide ourselves by race, with different laws for each:

THE Chief Justice of the High Court, Robert French, has dismissed the legal argument used by the former prime minister John Howard against the reaching of a treaty with indigenous Australia.

Justice French disagreed with the view that a treaty was impossible because Aboriginal Australia was not a sovereign nation… The Mabo decisions and the Native Title Act recognised indigenous rights without undermining Australia’s sovereignty and could provide the basis for an agreement, Justice French said in a speech at the University of Melbourne Law School.

”Such an agreement could recognise and acknowledge traditional law and custom of indigenous communities across Australia, their historical relationship with their country, their prior occupancy of the continent and that there are those who have maintained and asserted their traditional rights to the present time,” he said.

Who’d have thought the Left would one day actually promote apartheid, and have the legal and political clout to consider imposing it? Witness the cultural suicide of the West.

UPDATE

Remember when Attorney General Robert McClelland foolishly tried to reassure us that his new Chief Justice was actually a “black-letter lawyer” and no creature of the Left? What is now more worthless: McClelland’s word or judgement?

choices and wisdom teeth

communitychannel
March 27, 2009
yo. sorry this one is a little more of a personal vid what with the teeth talk etc. kind of needed to take it easy for this one. Let me know about earth hour
Hope you're all well and hope you've all plans to have smashing weekends.
x
n
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If you get that photo, Nat the bright light splashed in the middle of your neighborhood is mine :grin:

Headlines Saturday 28th March 2009

Nick D'Arcy escapes jail sentence
Nick D'Arcy will be handed a suspended sentence of 14 months and 12 days for attacking fellow swimmer Simon Cowley.
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Notorious president disputes drugs links
The head of the feared Notorious bikie gang has disputed claims they are involved a drug war with other bikies, saying the club has a strict no-drugs policy.
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Hells Angels join Bandidos to farewell Anthony Zervas
Anthony Zervas, the victim of Sunday's terrifying bikie brawl, has been laid to rest, with dozens of Hells Angels gang members donning their ‘colours’ to pay their respects.
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Defence formally denies spying on Fitzgibbon
The Defence Department has formally denied ever spying on its own minister over his relationship with a Chinese-born friend.
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Screaming, bum-flashing lecturer jailed
A Japanese law lecturer who bared her bottom to a judge and had to be removed from her own trial for incessant screaming has been jailed for contempt.
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Sydney tree loses the shirt off its bark
A giant t-shirt fitted to a tree in Sydney parklands to promote Earth Hour has disappeared, leaving park staff and police baffled.
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Power company could switch off TV, aircon
AN electricity company plans to install a device to switch off appliances and ration power use. - in NSW we call them the 'Government.' - ed.
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'Italy's Fritzl' held for rape, incest
POLICE say they have arrested a man for holding his daughter captive and raping her and his son faces similar charges.
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Strike Force Raptor launched as back-up bikies are called in
Strike Force Raptor has been officially launched today to crack down on outlaw bikie gangs, with......
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Financial crisis caused by "people with blue eyes": Brazilian President
The global financial crisis was caused by "white people with blue eyes", says Brazilian President......
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DNA test proves 13-year-old Alfie's not a dad
A DNA test has proven baby-faced Alfie Patten, who supposedly impregnated his girlfriend at the age......
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Pakistan bleeding
Andrew Bolt
Pakistan may soon make Iraq seem a picnic:

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a packed mosque in northwest Pakistan at Friday prayers, killing 48 people and wounding dozens in one of the deadliest attacks in the nuclear-armed nation… A spate of militant attacks across Pakistan from extremists opposed to the Government’s decision to join the US-led war on terror after the September 11, 2001, attacks, has killed more than 1600 people in less than two years.

Note AFP’s spin, twice inserted in its report, that the Islamist challenged to secular rule is in fact no more than another protest against US foreign policy.
===

How much influence does China have on Rudd’s team?
Andrew Bolt
Did the Chinese Government ultimately pay for Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s free - and undisclosed - travel?

THE Chinese businesswoman who paid for trips to China by Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon accompanied him on the visits and introduced him to political officials.

Mr Fitzgibbon yesterday confirmed that Helen Liu had played a central role during two China trips, after he was forced to apologise for failing to declare that they had been paid for by the businesswoman...Her role in introducing Mr Fitzgibbon to Chinese political officials, as well as paying for his trips, indicates she is well-connected to the Chinese Government.

Indeed, did the Chinese Government also ultimately pay for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s many free trips?

To summarise - a Chinese Government-owned company shares the address, phone number and line of business of a company which in turn runs the website of the mysterious company which sponsored Kevin Rudd’s trips.

Meanwhile, more covert lobbying by China:

THE propaganda chief of the Chinese Communist Party visited the country farm of ABC chairman Maurice Newman during his mysterious visit to Australia. The next day, Li Changchun lobbied ABC managing director Mark Scott over the broadcaster’s coverage of Tibet, saying he wanted the Chinese Government’s views fully represented.

However, Kevin Rudd’s office yesterday moved to shut down any further disclosures about the movements of China’s fifth-most powerful man during his Australian visit this week… Mr Rudd’s office last night refused The Weekend Australian’s request that it release the full itinerary of Mr Li’s five-day, taxpayer-funded official visit, which ended on Tuesday.

Rudd is now spinning frantically in reverse to avoid the Manchurian Candidate tag:
CHINESE-OWNED Minmetals has been blocked from acquiring the key asset in its $2.6 billion bid for OZ Minerals because the South Australian gold and copper mine was too close to a sensitive Australian defence facility.

But Dennis Shanahan urges caution:

But ill-timed bumbling doesn’t mean Labor is handing over Australian sovereignty to China nor that Rudd is the Manchurian candidate with a Chinese chip in his neck and Harold Holt in the backyard of The Lodge…

As China undoubtedly becomes more aggressive economically and militarily in a world it is increasingly going to influence, there are legitimate concerns about putting Australia’s security - national, resource or economic - at Beijing’s beck and call.

The Prime Minister and Wayne Swan both know they face a diabolical dilemma in choosing to accept much-needed Chinese investment while trying to keep China from controlling resource production in Australia and, hence, prices for our exports through state-owned companies or investment funds.

But I’m concerned that to the Chinese, silence from potential partners on some issues is golden. And I’m also concerned that Rudd is personally very ambitious to be such a partner, for political and post-politics positioning, as much as for any consideration of the national interest.

UPDATE

Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey attacks:

I’m concerned about, you know, the pattern of behaviour at the moment. Kevin Rudd received free trips when he was in Opposition, from Chinese interests. Wayne Swan the Treasurer received these trips; Tony Burke the Agriculture Minister. Now we hear about the Defence Minister receiving free trips from China.

At the same time, we learn today that the Australian Government is borrowing around $500 million a week from the Chinese Government… And you know, then we discover that Kevin Rudd had a meeting with the Chinese Propaganda Minister and didn’t tell the Australian media. I mean, what’s going on?

Reporter Lenore Taylor’s verdict?

...dog whistling to the xenophobics among us. - Lateline's reporting was typically one sided. Turnbull's picture was calm and assured as he called for the sacking of Fitzgibbon and gave valid, cogent reasons. The voice over described it as 'desperate.' Preceding that image was a sweating spinning Rudd furtively licking lips and looking for all the world out of his depth saying he was disappointed, but would do nothing. The voice over assured us things were happening, but the infringement was minor. Then, in an interview with Alexander Downer, the interviewer interrupted him and demanded he address a false dichotomy suggesting Turnbull's leadership was in trouble. The masterful Downer calmly handled that lousy interviewer. The issue, as I see it, is that the ABC is so partisan that the threat of a failing government covering up international indiscretions goes unexamined. - ed.
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Jail, Einfeld style
Andrew Bolt
Porridge is for the poor:

THE former judge Marcus Einfeld requested a private psychologist and masseuse during his first week in jail - and that his cell door be left open at night.
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Their new Australian home
Andrew Bolt
As I said:

THE head of Sydney’s newest and most-feared bikie gang last night revealed membership is growing rapidly - mainly young men of Middle Eastern heritage who don’t all ride motorbikes.

Allan Sarkis, named publicly yesterday as the president of Notorious, made no apologies for his gang’s reputation and said they would not be dictated to by traditional bikies.

“We’re not following anybody’s existing rules,” Sarkis said.

But they say they’re not breaking those rules.

UPDATE

Academics challenge the stereotype of the bikies’ moll:

Studies conducted between 1980 and 1992 concluded that women who associated with outlaw motorcycle clubs believed they “deserved to be treated as people of little worth"… In recent years though, bikie experts have begun questioning the validity of previous research...

The Daily Telegraph does up-to-date research among the women in a court-room hearing of their bikie partners, dropping in on their conversation:
“I want a cigarette, but I’m too scared to go outside because I don’t want my face on TV,” she whispers. “He said he’d kill me, my grandmother, everyone.”
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Earth Hour starts early
Andrew Bolt
I’m guessing the gases saved will match those saved in Sydney on Earth Hour itself.

A fault at a sub-station has cut power to about 50,000 homes and businesses in southern Sydney.
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Her lectures would be interesting
Andrew Bolt
Southern Cross University thought Megumi Ogawa had just the talents to be an associate lecturer in its School of Law and Justice. Yesterday she demonstrated some of her skills in a courtroom:

A JAPANESE law lecturer who bared her bottom to a judge and had to be removed from her own trial for incessant screaming has been jailed for contempt....Judge Durward charged Ogawa with contempt just moments after a jury found her guilty of two counts of each of using a carriage service to harass and using a carriage service to threaten to kill Australian Federal Court officials in 2006… Ogawa had to be carried into the dock by three corrective services officers who had to hold her down as she was sentenced.
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UN declares: don’t criticise Muslims
Andrew Bolt
The United Nations has confirmed it is now a threat to your rights, not a safeguard of them:

The U.N.’s top human-rights body approved a proposal by Muslims nations Thursday urging passage of laws around the world to protect religion from criticism.

The proposal put forward by Pakistan on behalf of Islamic countries - with the backing of Belarus and Venezuela - had drawn strong criticism from free-speech campaigners and liberal democracies.

A simple majority of 23 members of the 47-nation Human Rights Council voted in favor of the resolution. Eleven nations, mostly Western, opposed the resolution, and 13 countries abstained.

That joke of a council is chaired by Nigeria. A list of its members - including Cuba, China, Djibouti, Egypt and Saudi Arabia - is here. The resolution it approved associates criticism of religion with violence:

The resolution urges states to provide “protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred in general.”

“Defamation of religions is the cause that leads to incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence toward their followers,” Pakistan’s ambassador Zamir Akram said.

But which one faith is actually responsible for so much of that violence, and therefore in most need of criticism? Which one faith is instead singled out as needing this protection? And if violence is the problem, why attack free speech instead?

Muslim nations have argued that religions, in particular Islam, must be shielded from criticism in the media and other areas of public life. They cited cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as an example of unacceptable free speech.

“Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism,” the resolution said.

Cartoons are more of a threat to Islam’s image than is the terrorism waged in response? And so the UN brings us one more step to self-destruction - silencing our protests as some militant followers of a new faith seek our destruction. And that’s just the kind of free speech the UN’s Human Rights Council seems now eager to ban.

No doubt Kevin Rudd will stand up to the UN and Africa on this issue. Any day now.

MEANWHILE in other terrorism-related news today:

Corporal Mathew Hopkins, the ninth Australian soldier to be killed in Afghanistan, has been described at his funeral in Newcastle as a lovable larrikin and devoted family man.

Are we allowed now to mention the faith of the terrorists who killed him?
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Louise addled
Andrew Bolt
There seemed on Q&A last night a great eagerness - especially from Louise Adler, the Melbourne University Press publisher - to condemn Israel for war crimes in Gaza, on the basis of allegations which seemed at least questionable, as I tried to point out:

LOUISE ADLER: I think they are devastating and testimonies and I think it’s quite interesting that those testimonies were delivered in the context of returning Gazan - soldiers from Gaza to new recruits in a military college called Oranim in Israel… I think they’re devastating reports and they speak to the dehumanising kind of atmosphere that I think we get from years of occupation… So they are symptoms, if you like, of people, 18 year old children, being sent to monitor, man checkpoints, go into Gaza, and those kids are then - how on earth is one to empathise? How on earth is one to feel a sense of humanity in relation to those people that you’re meant to protect and control and repress from your society?...

SUSAN CARLAND: I agree. I think obviously these images, these words, the t-shirts are horrendous and very distressing but, honestly, they’re not surprising. I think we’re seeing ugly things like that coming from both sides. It’s a really ugly situation and the t-shirts and the comments are simply a manifestation of exactly what’s going on over there…

ANDREW BOLT:...Tony, as you know there are so many allegations made against Israel and then treated as fact, like the Jenin Massacre. You remember that. You know the bombed ambulance. You remember that. And again and again - the bombed school in the last offensive… You remember that. And then we later find out the facts are slightly different. Let’s wait for the facts.

Now those facts are indeed starting to emerge, and it seems Adler was far, far too eager to believe the worst. Melanie Phillips unpicks the allegations at length, and concludes:

There are precisely two charges of gratuitous killing of Palestinian civilians under allegedly explicit orders to do so. One is what even Ha’aretz made clear was an accidental killing, when two women misunderstood the evacuation route the Israeli soldiers had given them and walked into a sniper’s gunsights as a result. Moreover, the soldier who said this has subsequently admitted he didn’t see this incident - he wasn’t even in Gaza at the time - and had merely reported rumour and hearsay.

The second charge is based on a supposedly real incident in which, when an elderly woman came close to an IDF unit, an officer ordered that they shoot her because she was approaching the line and might have been a suicide bomber. The soldier relating this story did not say whether or not the woman in this story actually was shot. Indeed, since he says ‘from the description of what happened’ it would appear this was merely hearsay once again.

Herb Keinon notes in the Jerusalem Post:

It is important to note that none of the testimony was about what the soldiers did themselves, but rather of what they heard or saw other soldiers do. It is also important that what was reported seems to fall within the realm of aberrations by individuals during war against a cruel enemy hiding behind civilians, not a systematic loss by the army of its moral compass.

More from Honest Reporting UK.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv interviews soldiers who deny the allegations that Adler seemed to eagerly believe (translation by CAMERA):

Two central incidents that came up in the testimony, which Danny Zamir, the head of the Rabin pre-military academy presented to Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi, focus on one infantry brigade. The brigade’s commander today will present to Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg, commander of the Gaza division, the findings of his personal investigation about the matter which he undertook in the last few days, and after approval, he will present his findings to the head of the Southern Command, Major General Yoav Gallant.

Regarding the incident in which it was claimed that a sniper fired at a Palestinian woman and her two daughters, the brigade commander’s investigation cites the sniper: “I saw the woman and her daughters and I shot warning shots. The section commander came up to the roof and shouted at me, ‘Why did you shoot at them?’ I explained that I did not shoot at them, but I fired warning shots.”

Officers from the brigade surmise that fighters that stayed in the bottom floor of the Palestinian house thought that he hit them, and from here the rumor that a sniper killed a mother and her two daughters spread.

The other claim, that a sniper killed an elderly woman, may also be untrue:

Regarding the second incident, in which it was claimed that soldiers went up to the roof to entertain themselves with firing and killed an elderly Palestinian woman, the brigade commander investigation found that there was no such incident.
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Did Carland come clean on Q&A?
Andrew Bolt
On Q&A last night I challenged Muslim convert and academic Susan Carland when she claimed Muslims were just being “demonised” as Italian and Greek immigrants had been before, and for just as little reason.

“It’s just the Muslims’ turn now,’’ she claimed. No different.

I said there was indeed something very different this time around with Muslim immigrants - a “rejectionist strand” - and I noted that she’d conceded herself in an interview in Malaysia’s Star newspaper that she’d come under a lot of pressure from the community to cut off non-Muslim friends and withdraw from society and all that was haram. This wasn’t something she’d shared with the ABC audience.

Caught off guard, Carland replied:

There is a very small minority of people within the Muslim community that are reluctant to engage with the wider community.

And when I pointed out that in her interview she’d actually spoken not of a “very small minority”, but a majority, she denied having suggested any such thing:

Maybe your translation from the Malay...

The Star is in fact an English-language paper, and I’ll let you judge now from its report who best summed up what Carland in fact said - and whether she did admit to a Malay audience (but not an ABC one) that there is a strong rejectionist strand in our Muslim community:
Speaking at a dinner talk during the conference, organised by the Muslim Professionals Forum and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, Carland, who was named Australian Muslim of the Year in 2004, was brutally honest about the treatment of converts at the hands of “born” Muslims.

“Lifting the Veil” (as her talk was aptly titled), what she had to say certainly made many cringe.

Barely have the last words of the shahada (proclamation of faith) left the lips of new converts, she said, they find themselves bombarded with rules to adhere to.

“Never mind that the sister doesn’t know how to pray. She is told she must get rid of all her old clothing, because it is too Western and thus unIslamic and put on the hijab (head scarf) immediately.

“Don’t worry that our new brother has only been a Muslim for three minutes. He’s already been told that he has to throw out all his music and get rid of his dog or he’d be committing a big sin.”

The list of unreasonable pressures on converts includes telling converts to leave their so-called haram jobs immediately, even if the person had no other source of income.

The newbies are asked to give up hobbies like painting, photography, dancing or playing instruments. They’re advised to move out and sever ties with their kafir (infidel) family and non-Muslim friends, while female converts are urged to get married as soon as possible. They are often expected to give up their own cultures and take on Arab, sub-continental, Malay or other cultures because these are deemed to be more “Islamic”. ...

Carland also takes the Muslim community to task for having an almost schizophrenic attitude towards converts.

On one hand, she pointed out, Muslims liked converts because they made them (the Muslims) feel good about themselves and their faith. But on the flip side, converts were often made to feel inferior by those born Muslims…

On mosques, Carland said these institutions were just not supportive enough of new converts.

”Female converts report being shouted out, criticised and, worse, simply ignored by both other women and men, the first time they nervously enter a mosque. Often they report leaving in tears,” she disclosed… She cited an incident in which the father of her close Chinese friend in Malaysia had gone to a mosque here to convert, but was told to leave instead....

UPDATE

Susan Carland’s Facebook community isn’t doing much to prove me wrong, or her the face of a religion of peace:

12:31pm ... did you just wana punch his face in?

10:50pm ... next time could you just smack Bolt in the face? What a tool!

8:55pm ... susan, that was awesome. Still can’t quite grasp the concept of you not reaching a mere foot to throttle the idiot - but all props to you! The part where he pretty much debased your being a Muslim and wouldn’t let the ‘recently converted’ (note dear shitty Bolt, it is revert you islamophobe rag columnist) thing go near drove me to tears.

8:44pm ...Susan that was funny, I thought you were going to thump mr Bolt.

8:37pm ... Andrew Bolt is an Islamophobic biggot that needs to face his own racism, he was so intimidated by you, I found his performance pathetic. You have support from all round Susan, good work!
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Blaming whitey
Andrew Bolt
Racism is fine, as long as the Brazilian president directs it at whites:

Standing next to British prime Minister Gordon Brown at a news conference in Brasilia, Silva again pointed a finger, saying the financial crisis was caused by ”white people with blue eyes” - and that the world’s poorest nations should not have to pay for a crisis they did not create.

Fine, but only if we extend this principle. The world’s poorest nations should also not have to accept aid money they did not earn, medicines they did not invent, computers they did not build, cars they did not design, science they did not work out....
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Hillary Clinton Blames America for Some of Mexican Drug Chaos
By Bill O'Reilly
Speaking to the press in Mexico, Secretary Clinton said this:
HILLARY CLINTON, SEC'Y OF STATE: It is drug demand in the United States which drives the drugs north across our border. If there were not such a high level of demand, it wouldn't be so profitable and you wouldn't have these drug gangs fighting for territory because they make so much money selling drugs to Americans.

And you know what? Mrs. Clinton is mostly correct. Without the American drug market, the cartels would be far less powerful.

However, Mexico would still be corrupt because that country has never been able to develop a vibrant middle class or build a solid economic base, and that's all on Mexico. We have nothing to do with that failure.

But back to the drugs. The baby boomers are mostly responsible for the drug problem in the USA. The Woodstock generation thought it was cool to get stoned, and that has carried over and gotten even worse in our permissive society.

The far left wants to legalize drugs, even though that policy has failed everywhere it's been tried. Go visit Holland and find out. The far left also wants to allow many drug criminals to evade prison. They consider selling heroin, cocaine and meth a "non-violent crime," even though those drugs enslave and kill.

So there are very mixed messages on the drug front in America, and millions of folks buy and use illegal narcotics, a selfish act that helps killers.

Secretary Clinton also mentioned gun smuggling from the USA to Mexico. There are about nine guns for every 10 people in this country because of our tradition of self-reliance. The Second Amendment rightly gives Americans the right to defend themselves.

Take it from me: The authorities cannot protect you from harm. Just look at what happened in New Orleans after Katrina. Anyone caught in that town without a weapon was in grave danger from roving criminals.

And there is no question that thugs are using guns to do an enormous amount of damage, so here is the solution that Hillary Clinton should embrace:

1: All gun crimes should be federal. Anyone committing a crime with a gun or smuggling guns faces a minimum 20 years in prison. That will make the risk-reward on gun crimes very tough.

2: The National Guard should finally be stationed on the Mexican border in force to assist the Border Patrol. That would immediately make it far more difficult to smuggle drugs in and guns out.

3: A national media campaign using President Obama as a spokesperson should inform Americans that buying illegal drugs is self-destructive and un-American. Since President Obama has some drug experience, he is the right person to get this message across, especially to young people.

As for Mexico, President Calderon is a brave man who is trying to defeat these vicious drug lords. The USA should stand with him.
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Outcry Against U.S. Budget Heard Around Globe
from interview. This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," March 26, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Mr. President, while you are answering questions about marijuana on the Internet, and your treasury secretary is busy devaluating the dollar, people are suffering both here and abroad. And that is our headline this Thursday night, day number 66 of false hope, loose change, "The World is Watching."

They are watching as your Cabinet can't get your policy straight. They're watching while members of your party dismember your own budget. They're watching as you continue to push for the greatest expansion of government that this nation has ever seen. And they're watching, Mr. President, and they don't necessarily like what they are seeing. Now just ask our first guest tonight.

He is a British member of the European parliament who turned heads when he excoriated Prime Gordon Brown and his economic agenda that is very similar to what is happening right here in our country.
----

DANIEL HANNAN, MEMBER OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: The truth, Prime Minister, is that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity. Every British child is born owing around 20,000 pounds. Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.

Now once again today you tried to spread the blame around. You spoke about an international recession, international crisis. We are now running a deficit that touches 10 percent of GDP in almost unbelievable figure.

Now, it's not that you're not apologizing. Like everyone else I've long accepted that you're pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility for these things. It's that you're carrying on willfully, worsening our situation, wantonly spending what little we have left.

Last year, in the last 12 months, 100,000 private-sector jobs have been lost, and yet, you created 30,000 public sector jobs.

Prime Minister, you cannot carry on forever squeezing the productive bit of the economy in order to fund an unprecedented engorgement of the unproductive bit. You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt, and when you repeat in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we're well placed to weather the storm, I have to tell you, you sound like Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line.

You know and we know and you know that we know that it's nonsense. Everyone knows that Britain is worse off than any other country as we go into these hard times.
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HANNITY: And Mr. Hannan, he joins us tonight from London.

Mr. Hannan, thank you for being with us. I got to — do you realize how your message is resonating loudly and clearly in American tonight and how inspired people are by your words?

HANNAN: And you say the nicest things. Listen, I'm happy to come on this show anytime you want me. I'm pretty perplexed by the whole thing. I'm trying to think of, if you could come up with the most boring phrase to enter into a Google search engine, and I thought, speech to the European parliament, so I am completely bowled over by what you said.

HANNITY: Yes, well — look, go over every line. We now are adding, by the year 2019, we're going to have nearly $900 billions just on interest on the debt with what Obama is spending. He's spending more than every president from George Washington to George W. Bush in terms of the debt he's accumulated here.

And as you point out, you can't spend your way out of recession, borrow your way out of debt. Do you think the world is making a mistake and that we're really all collectively going to suffer these consequences?

HANNAN: We're all collectively going to suffer the consequences. I mean it's not our mistake. The mistake is being made by a small number of political leaders and the small number of their advisers. You know it's a common sense that when you're in debt, you spend less. Now anybody except a politician can see that. Anyone can see that in their private life.

You've run up too big a debt, you've run up too big a mortgage which you try and sort it out, because if you're either a banker or a politician, you have a different take on these things. Because, of course, it isn't your money.

You know, that great phrase of Milton Friedman. There's only two kinds of money in this world, it's your money and it's my money, in a way. We're very careful about the second of those. But of course, for politicians, it's all your money.
(Interview continues at link, above)