Headlines Wednesday 4th March 2009

Eight dead: Terrorists open fire on cricketers in Pakistan
Attackers armed with guns and grenades launched a brazen assault on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Pakistan on Tuesday, killing eight people and wounding seven members of the squad.... -This is an epic tragedy. However, a question that keeps popping up might be asked here too. What has Sri Lanka done to deserve such a hit? We are told that the US 'deserved' 911, England the London bombings, India the Mumbai assault and Israel their hits. What of poor, fractured Sri Lanka? Or, is it the case that no one deserves terrorism? - ed.
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Aussie umpires describe witnessing Pakistan terror ambush
Australian cricket umpire Steve Davis described hearing what he first thought were firecrackers as gunmen opened fire on his van, killing the driver and seriously wounding two others....
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Australian among 28 suspects in Ramos-Horta shooting trial
An Australian woman faces three years' jail for conspiracy over the assassination attempt on East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta last year.... - We still don't know about Rudd's links to this. This happened soon after Rudd was in office, and appeared to be a bungled black ops sting designed to capture the alleged assassin. We know more about what happens at Guantanamo Bay. - ed.
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Siddle, Hilfenhaus in doubt for second Test
Australia's euphoria over their big win in Monday's first Test against South Africa has faded with fast bowlers Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus in doubt for Friday's second Test because of injuries.... - I follow cricket, but I have no idea who these players are. Are they South African? - ed.
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Greg Bird granted French lifeline
Former Cronulla five-eighth Greg Bird signed with French club Catalan Dragons on Tuesday after being refused a visa by Great Britain to play for the Bradford Bulls.... - he doesn't have to play sport. There seems to be too much work available for those who beat up women. - ed.
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We have 'breathing space' on climate: Garnaut
The economic crisis has bought Australia at least two years of "breathing space" in the fight against climate change, according to climate adviser Ross Garnaut.... - spot on Ross, we can do nothing and still be ahead. - ed.
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Nicole impressed by Keith's Playgirl posing
Nicole Kidman was "impressed" by her husband Keith Urban's steamy Playgirl shoot....
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13-yr-old shoots little brother over movie fight
A 13-year-old boy has been charged with fatally shooting his 10-year-old brother after an argument over where to sit to watch a movie, authorities in the US state of South Carolina say.
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Rain a bonus for weary Vic fire crews
Rain - more than has fallen in most parts of Victoria since the beginning of 2009 - has put a significant dampener on major bushfires burning east of Melbourne.
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Surge in homelessness as jobs go
The number of homeless people in New South Wales has surged by more than 7600 in the past 12 months.
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Man arrested after multiple armed robberies
Police have travelled to western New South Wales to arrest a man wanted over a number of armed robberies in Sydney.
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Increase in serious falls for elderly
Lahore attack condemned around the world
Surfer loses hand after shark attack
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Miley Cyrus quits jogging to stop breast talk
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Woolies creating jobs? Don't believe it
Woolworths got a big pat on the back last week when it announced it was creating 7,000 jobs. But that's nothing compared to the jobs its cost. Alan Jones explains.
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How cricket failed its own stars
International cricket bodies are now paying the price for putting politics before the security of its players, according to Alan Jones.
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NOT NORMAL
Tim Blair
Former Pakistan cricket captain turned political weasel Imran Khan responds to murders in Lahore:
“These are not the normal terrorists who in desperation and anger are reacting against Pakistan forces [in the tribal areas].

“This was not a normal terrorist attack. This was to destablise the Pakistan economy and the country.”
As opposed to normal terrorist attacks, which only unleash clouds of cinnamon-scented butterflies aiming to improve childhood literacy rates.
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WEATHER DISOBEDIENT
Tim Blair
“You can’t say nobody saw it coming,” writes Jack Langer:
Global warmists, and particularly Al Gore, have developed an uncanny habit of choosing record-cold days to launch major initiatives and give high profile speeches against carbon emissions. In fact, back in mid-December, when environmental groups announced plans for “mass non-violent civil disobedience” on March 2 to shut down a Washington, D.C., coal plant, National Review Online blogger Greg Pollowitz predicted a snowstorm would hit the capital that day.
And it did:
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STRONG VIEWS DEVELOPED
Tim Blair
Leftist Pauline worries that her yet-unborn child may be exposed to bogans:
I catch public transport to and from work every day. I have developed strong views on bogans. And these have coalesced around the fear that if I do indeed require childcare at some point, my child may wind up at the mercy of those who I prefer not to sit next to, for around eight hours a day. And if that happens, my child may become a bogan. This is not a laughing matter.
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Costello: How Europe cheats on its emissions
Andrew Bolt
Peter Costello nails Europe’s great green con:

(Barack) Obama pledged… to introduce a federal cap and trade scheme (an ETS) with annual targets to “reduce emissions to their 1990 levels by 2020"… Another way of explaining that target is to say that by 2020 the US aims to make no reduction in the levels of emission measured against 1990.

Australia is pledging to cut 5 to 15 per cent depending on what happens in the rest of the world. Europe on the other hand is pledging a 20 per cent cut from 1990 levels.

Have you ever wondered why 1990 is the base year for measuring emission reductions? It sounds unlikely, but that’s the year communism collapsed. When communism collapsed, all those state-owned steel mills and other inefficient heavy manufacturing plants that were never economical were closed down in the former communist states of eastern Europe…

By choosing 1990 as the base year, Europe counts the emission reduction from closing all those factories. The fall of communism delivered an enormous environmental yield.

Or put it this way: the rest of the developed world is being punished by Europe for not having fallen under communist rule.

And Costello is not backing down on nuclear power:

When Australia’s environmental movement allows itself to admit this is an option we will know that they are really serious about reducing greenhouse emissions.
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Fake green power generated
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd’s target of 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020 is patently absurd, requiring the equivalent of building a new wind tower every 400 metres from Perth to Sydney, at the rate of two a day.

Given that, it’s no wonder Rudd is resorting to tricks to inch closer to his target - and the green activists are onto him:

From mid-year, households installing solar panels will receive “phantom” credits worth five times the amount of energy generated at home. If cashed in, the phantom certificates — those issued for energy that has not been generated — will be counted towards the Federal Government’s renewable energy target of 20 per cent of power coming from green sources by 2020..
But a Moreland Energy Foundation analysis found the phantom certificates ... found that by 2020 the 20 per cent target would in real terms equate to only 17 per cent of the nation’s energy coming from green sources.
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Let them eat carbon credits
Andrew Bolt
The Brotherhood of St Laurence says the middle-class climate change extremists of GetUp! are hurting the poor.
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Snow job
Andrew Bolt
Someone should fix the White House roof:

No sooner had the Prime Minister’s plane touched down at Andrews Air Force on Monday evening when word was passed to travelling Westminster correspondents that the press conference they’d been told to expect had been called off ”because of snow”.

Turns out, of course, that Barack Obama had just brushed off not snow, but Gordon Brown - and the media:

Downing Street was left scrambling to avoid a diplomatic embarrassment today after the White House ruled out a formal press conference to mark Gordon Brown’s first formal meeting with Barack Obama. Officials denied the Prime Minister was being snubbed after it emerged that the new president would not make himself available for the traditional joint appearance before the White House media.

Then again, Obama was terribly busy with commitments that precluded him from appearing at a formal press conference with the leader of the US’s most important ally:

The White House schedule tells us that he is delivering remarks at the Department of Transportation to deliver remarks about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is also speaking at the Department of Interior to mark its 160th anniversary… Oh, and Mr Obama will also meet “a delegation from the Boy Scouts of America and receive their 2008 Report to the Nation”...
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Obama hunts what he appoints
Andrew Bolt
Beyond paradoy:

Geithner: Obama to fight international tax dodgers

What, will Obama be appointing them to his Cabinet as he appointed Geithner?
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Mexican army recaptures town
Andrew Bolt
The astonishing size of the operation shows the size of the threat to Mexico’s civil authorities:

Nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers and armed federal police poured into the border town of Ciudad Juarez last weekend. The city - just across from El Paso in Texas - has been ravaged by drug gangs. Just this month 250 people were killed there by hitmen fighting for lucrative smuggling routes.
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Column - Critics’ hearts turn to Stone
Andrew Bolt

OUR arts community can’t tell a kiss from a kick - or not when the person being kicked is its pet target of group-hate.

Last year director Oliver Stone, with a straight face, claimed that W, his new film on George Bush, would treat the former president gently.

It would not be yet another such wild-eyed rant as his JFK, which claimed John F Kennedy was killed by the CIA and Right-wing gays.

It would instead be “a fair, true portrait of the man that asks the question: how did Bush go from being an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world”.

The very denial confirmed the lie, and in case you’d missed his joke, Stone went on to contrast Bush with the “very moral” and “selfless” Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who has jailed his political opponents, killed his rivals and beggared his country.

“Castro will talk to you. He’s a real human being. But I see George Bush as a synthetic person. As I once said, he’s an ex-alcoholic who believes in Jesus. What could be more dangerous?”

You mean, other than Castro?

Ridiculous, but see how Stone’s wink-wink be-fair-to-the-bum line is now echoed by our caste of reviewers, who took it up as if a prayer for communion.
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Column - Admiring Comrade Julia
Andrew Bolt
JULIA Gillard, our beloved Deputy Prime Minister, is to be admired. And that’s now official.

Every school in the country has been ordered to put up plaques in praise of Gillard and her wise generosity.

And not just plaques. They must also put up road signs in her honour, send out gushing emails and tell their local papers what a benefactor she is.

A whole team of bureaucrats has even been charged with ensuring the Gillard worship is done in the correct style.

They are especially adamant that every one of our 9540 schools also hold Julia Gillard parties, at which she, or a deputy, is given the prime speaking role—until the whole nation rises as one and roars: “Julia for Prime Minister!”

Total cost of this Gillard worship? I’d guess anywhere between $2 million and $4 million. And much of it to be paid for by schools.

Wait. You think I’m exaggerating. Joking. This isn’t North Korea, right?
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End the excess
Andrew Bolt
Time to slash the pay of CEOs, says Terry McCrann:

The big dollars supposedly had to be paid to match those in the US. Now we should match the small dollars that will be paid over there.
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Armageddon postponed
Andrew Bolt
If the warmists didn’t predict this flatlining, why would they be right about a renewed warming 30 years hence?

Earth’s climate continues to confound scientists. Following a 30-year trend of warming, global temperatures have flatlined since 2001 despite rising greenhouse gas concentrations, and a heat surplus that should have cranked up the planetary thermostat…

But just what’s causing the cooling is a mystery. Sinking water currents in the north Atlantic Ocean could be sucking heat down into the depths. Or an overabundance of tropical clouds may be reflecting more of the sun’s energy than usual back out into space.

“It is possible that a fraction of the most recent rapid warming since the 1970’s was due to a free variation in climate,” Isaac Held of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Princeton, New Jersey wrote in an email to Discovery News. “Suggesting that the warming might possibly slow down or even stagnate for a few years before rapid warming commences again.”

Swanson thinks the trend could continue for up to 30 years. But he warned that it’s just a hiccup, and that humans’ penchant for spewing greenhouse gases will certainly come back to haunt us.
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The price of those damn pink batts
Andrew Bolt
Rats. Kevin Rudd’s reckless cash splash may have cost me a rate cut. Check the Reserve Banks’s reasons for not lowering official interest rates again:

Together with the substantial fiscal initiatives, the cumulative decline in interest rates will provide significant support to domestic demand over the period ahead.
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Cricketers shot
Andrew Bolt
This changes plenty in world cricket - and probably not just there:

UP to six players in the Sri Lankan national cricket team have been hurt in a shooting in Lahore. They were while being driven to the Lahore cricket stadium in Pakistan, Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge said…

The shooting took place near the Gaddafi stadium gate when the team was heading for the third day’s play in the second Test against Pakistan… Lokuge said two players, Tharanga Paranavitana and Thilan Samaraweera, had been taken to hospital in the city. Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardena was slightly wounded in the foot, his father told a local television station after speaking with him by telephone.

Pakistan is being lost. Pray that its nuclear weapons will be ferried into safety if it goes.
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Odds rise on bankruptcy under Obama
Andrew Bolt
Economist Phil Levy explains one reason why the Dow Jones Index is flatlining under Barack Obama: this spend-happy president might actually drive the US broke:

An even clearer negative verdict on Obama’s approach comes from the much-maligned market for credit default swaps… The idea of a U.S. government default has recently gone from “unthinkable” to close to 10 percent over the next five years.