Rudd's support slumps after weak Budget
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's approval rating has slumped by 10 points in a new opinion poll taken after the federal budget last week.
Sydney swamped with illegal brothels
There are claims the state government is not interested in shutting down illegal brothels, which are proving a haven for illegal immigrants and sex slaves.
Sri Lanka fighting ends as Tamil Tigers admit defeat
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers have admitted defeat in their decades-old battle for an independent ethnic homeland, with the remnants of their rebel army encircled by advancing government forces.
Acid victims 'minded their own business'
Police are searching for a group of men - believed to be Tamil Tigers supporters - who doused two men in acid at Westmead overnight.
Skills shortage likely as jobs tumble
There will be a severe skills shortage in Australia when the economic downturn subsides, an employment services group says.
40 arrested at Obama abortion protest
Police say nearly 40 people were arrested on trespassing charges during protests of US President Barack Obama's commencement address at the University of Notre Dame.
China thinks Rudd is all talk: analyst
Chinese leaders are disappointed with Kevin Rudd, saying he has not followed through on any of his......
Woman killed and eaten by PNG cult
A woman was killed and parts of her body eaten by a Papua New Guinean cult, local media reports....
EnergyAustralia buries $10m machine
EnergyAustralia is defending its decision to leave a $10 million tunnel boring machine buried......
AIR's Diary: What to expect this week
In Australia, the week sees minutes from the RBA's last rate setting meeting released, along with a speech by Governor Glenn Stevens: both on Tuesday.
Mad Max to return to silver screen, minus Mel Gibson
Mad Max may be roaring back onto the silver screen nearly 25 years after the third in the iconic series was released.
=== Comments ===
GREENMANTLE
Tim Blair
If Greens love nature so much, why don’t they live anywhere other than Australia’s most urban areas?
===
FUTURE FROZEN
Tim Blair
A shrine to global warming is closed and cold:
It was supposed to be a shining example of the green movement – a completely independent solar-powered house with no gas or electrical hookups.
Seven months ago, officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the $900,000 house owned by the city of Troy that was to be used as an educational tool and meeting spot.
But it never opened to the public. And it remains closed.
But why?
Frozen pipes during the winter caused $16,000 in damage to floors, and city officials aren’t sure when the house at the Troy Community Center will open.
===
POLE REPOSITIONED
Tim Blair
The Guardian reports:
After 73 days, the Catlin Arctic Survey has come to an end. Pen Hadow’s team of British Arctic explorers have battled to the North Pole through freezing conditions collecting data about the ice en route.
But have they?
===
RUSTY DEMON
Tim Blair
Possibly the most embarrassing video ever shot. Starring me, of course. I’ll get the associated print story up online later today. By the way, Saturday’s column didn’t run online because it dealt with a certain Western Australian legal matter, and therefore could not be published outside of NSW. - you must click on that link - ed.
===
COBWEBDIARY
Tim Blair
Slightly past its glory days, Webdiary still maintains near-viability:
Cash income in March was a $10 donation, versus expenditure of $13 for bank fees.
===
BOOK REVIEWED
Tim Blair
More of the usual in London:
A radical Muslim who dressed his baby daughter in a hat with “I love al-Qaeda” on it tried to firebomb the home of the publisher of a controversial novel about the Prophet Mohammed.
It’s this sort of thing that gives peaceful Islam a bad name.
===
REWRITE REQUIRED
Tim Blair
Seems to have been some trouble recently over at Intellectual Dishonesty HQ. J.F. Beck is on the case.
UPDATE. A legal opinion arising from matters discussed within the above links.
===
HOPE
Tim Blair
What if Obama had a sense of humour?
===
Hello from Costello
Andrew Bolt
Peter Costello pops up on Jon Faine’s show on ABC Melbourne 774 and:
- says hello to anyone who might have forgotten he’s there, and flogs his new website
- reminds voters who it was as Treasurer that left Labor so much cash, since thrown away
- says if he’d left even more, Rudd would have run through that, too
- points out that the $22 billion Rudd wasted on cash giveaways could have been “spent on dams, power stations...” - even on a channel to bring water from the far North to drought-proof Victoria
- predicts Labor Treasurer Wayne Swan will never deliver a budget surplus
- puts up his record as Treasurer against Swan’s.
I rather think that a powerful message to sell, and Costello sells it well.
===
60 Minutes of fake scares
Andrew Bolt
Liz Hayes of 60 Minutes flies to the Maldives to film yet another scare story about global warming:
Fact is, the Maldives are in for a thorough dunking. Sitting ducks when global warming really hits its stride. Yes, gonsky, kaput… no more paradise… The Maldives underwater. Lost at sea. Now that would be a bad day.
To scare viewers, Hayes had to ignore three critical facts. First, there’s been no warming for a decade:
Second, the slow, slow rise of sea levels that long predates any human caused warming has actually paused for the past three years:
Third, the most comprehensive study of sea levels at the Maldives, conducted by one of the world’s greatest experts, concluded:
In the last decade, there are no signs of any rise in sea level. Hence, we are able to free the islands from the condemnation to become flooded in the 21st century.
UPDATE
Warming is the first major faith led entirely by sinners - people who demand everyone else emit less of the gases that they themselves just blew out the back of their jet. Latest examples include Peter Garrett:
About $2 million was spent by the Government on ministers’ travel expenses during the eight weeks of the parliamentary winter break last year. The biggest spender was Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who spent $226,000 on an 11-day trip to the US and Chile.
And add Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, complaining about China:
… much of my time was spent viewing the Great Wall of Traffic — are byproducts of the nation’s economic success. But China cannot continue along its current path because the planet can’t handle the strain.
This in a column last week by a Princeton academic whose article is written from:
Taipei
And which contains this line:
Like every visitor to China...
===
And the pain hasn’t yet been felt
Andrew Bolt
The Rudd Government’s popularity takes another hit:
THE Coalition has slashed Labor’s lead and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s popularity has fallen 10 points in an Age/Nielsen poll that also finds people don’t like the budget plan to raise the pension age…
Labor’s two-party vote has fallen five points since March to 53 per cent, while the Opposition has risen five points to 47...The Coalition’s primary vote has jumped six points in the past two months, with Labor falling three points… Mr Rudd has fallen five points to 64 per cent as preferred PM and Mr Turnbull is up four points to 28 per cent.
===
Sin punished
Andrew Bolt
More boofs behaving badly:
A FOOTBALL club is under investigation after a stripper was hired to perform for the team minutes before a game… Prahran Club XVIII coach Craig Berger said a former player organised the stripper to perform about 30 minutes before a night match against St Bernard’s on May 1.
This report fails to mention the up side of the story - and maybe even the moral:
PRAHRAN 9.9-63 Vs ST BERNARDS 18.6-114
The club inspired by a saint trounced the one inspired by a stripper.
UPDATE
It’s Willie Mason this time, but the stench in railway underpasses, city alleys and even, the other day, on Swanston St Bridge itself seems to be getting worse - and a measure of a growing barbarity:
UPDATE
Yet another measure:
Dutch promoter Q-Dance has pulled the plug on the Defqon Festival on the banks of the Yarra, saying overdoses at last year’s event had marred its international reputation… “There are just too many people who take GHB at hard music events in Melbourne, and it’s detrimental to (our) brand,” Q-Dance spokesman Simon Coffey said.
===
What’s Mandarin for “spin”?
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd’s most characteristic weakness undermines even his greatest claim to expertise:
INTERNATIONAL analysts in China are starting to claim that Beijing is finding it difficult to deal with Kevin Rudd, and the Chinese leadership was more comfortable with John Howard than the current Prime Minister…
Zhu Feng, deputy director of the School of International Studies at Beijing University and a frequent consultant to the Chinese Government and corporate sector, said: “When Mr Rudd was elected, there was an expectation that a more intimate relationship between the countries would result, because he knows China so well and speaks Chinese.
“But it has remained just at the commercial level. Bilateral relations as a whole are still far from intimate; they are undeveloped....
“I think Mr Rudd’s proposal for an Asia-Pacific community is brilliant, and has earned solid support from China. But there has been no follow-up. Nothing substantial is happening to take it further....
”He offers words that can be very touching, but may not be taken too seriously,” he said… Mr Rudd “came up with a lot of thoughts”.
“But how to put them into effect? ...”
Interesting that an academic over in Beijing can see through Rudd more easily than can a giant of the Canberra press gallery.
===
Monbiot says whoops
Andrew Bolt
Global warming zealot George Monbiot was absolutely sure this claim from rationalist Christopher Booker could not be right:
..the world’s polar sea ice is in fact slightly above its average extent for early May since satellite records began in 1979.
And so Monbiot published on his Guardian site this sneering gotcha:
I set the stopwatch running, pasted “National Snow and Ice Data Center” into Google, found the site, clicked on News and Events > Press room > Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis and discovered that Booker’s claim was nonsense. It took me 26 seconds.
Turns out it took Monbiot 26 seconds to beclown himself. Hours later came a Monbiot post which started:
Whoops...
===
Didn’t he even check?
Andrew Bolt
Something’s sick when even an honest minister does something so against the public interest:
The opposition has demanded Victoria’s Planning Minister Justin Madden resign or be sacked over allegations he signed documents allowing a then staffer to become a justice of the peace despite the staff member having a conviction for assault.
That said:
Mr Madden ... repeated he was unaware of Mr Suleyman’s criminal history
UPDATE
But what’s the Attorney General’s excuse?
In December 2007, (Rob) Hulls granted Mr Suleyman’s application to become a justice of the peace… In line with the process, Victoria Police conducted a background check and interview of Mr Suleyman and the advisory panel considered Mr Suleyman’s criminal record before nominating him for approval by Mr Hulls.
===
Wishing no arm to Madonna
Andrew Bolt
Some people don’t see the world as others do, which is why they succeed - or eat themselves alive.
===
Greenpeace in red
Andrew Bolt
Christopher Webb says Greenpeace is now struggling to make a buck from eco-scares:
The latest accounts of Greenpeace Australia Pacific show it has slumped into the red after a big jump in personnel expenses. The company suffered a $1.5 million turnaround, losing $193,992 and ringing up a $438,475 deficit on the operating cash-flow front…
The personnel costs take a decent chunk of money raised from Greenpeace’s supporter base, which, over time, has been falling alarmingly. Six years ago the outfit had nearly 130,000 supporters but the latest accounts said the base was “approximately” 100,000.
The organisation has tried the Left’s typical we-know-best-how-to-spend-your-cash approach to meet the bill for the kind of over-manning you also expect from the Left:
Greenpeace recently copped flak for “auto-upgrading” some regular donations, without specific permission from contributors.
One reason expenses are so high is that Greenpeace is simply burning too much oil in trying to tell the rest of us to use less:
Travel looked to have soaked up a pretty penny, with Greenpeace personnel visiting Tokyo, Niue, Pohnpei, South Korea, Poland and Papua New Guinea, while Greenpeace vessel MV Esperanza toured seven east-coast Australian cities and treated more than 5000 visitors to its take on climate change.
Add this to other signs that stocks in Green Inc are falling.
===
Queen to Labour: get real
Andrew Bolt
Labour’s poll rating is now down to just 20 per cent, and even the Queen is protesting:
The Queen has told Gordon Brown she is worried that the scandalous revelations about MPs’ expenses could damage Parliament.
Nice turn of the historical screw, for the Queen to tell the Left it’s out of touch and living too high on the hog.
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