Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will appear to attempt Malcolm Turnbull's compromise by agreeing to some opposition demands on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Mr Turnbull attacked from all sides as Media step up campaign
HE'S copping it in Canberra and now there's a new challenger in his blue ribbon electorate with extreme left-winger Kerryn Phelps taking up the cudgel.
Iran vote protesters 'tortured to death'
ANOTHER 25 people will go on trial in Iran, amid claims that several were killed in jail.
Teen caught faking emergency services
A teenager has been caught speeding while driving with fake emergency-style lights and sirens, which he used to frighten other motorists out of his way.
Helicopter crashes, pilot killed
A pilot has been killed in an ultra-light helicopter crash on a property in northwest Sydney.
Found remains confirmed as Chinese man
Human remains found in bushland near Wollongong are those of a Chinese man reported missing five months ago, police say.
Tough journey not over for PNG trekkers
Eight Australian trekkers have arrived safely in the Papua New Guinea town of Kokoda after seven days and 96 tough kilometres on the historic track, but their journey has not ended just yet.
Ballina's Big Prawn a raw point with townsfolk
THE Big Prawn is an icon of the NSW North Coast, but Ballina's fibreglass landmark is causing a big stink.
Cult leader unrepentant but ready to die
THE leader of Australia's most notorious cult still won't discuss claims she gave LSD to children.
Proof bridal bliss can be bought for $18
AN Aussie bride bought her wedding dress for $18, defying claims the price of an "average" wedding is $49,000.
Kyle' sex, drugs and stripper life
ON the eve of his return to radio, Kyle Sandilands has reminded us why he's King of Crass. In a magazine, he has detailed his sex life, masturbation, and strip parties.
Fairfield resident calls on government to recognise Assyrians
A Fairfield resident is calling on the NSW government to recognise the Assyrian genocide and its significance within the community. - It is significant that Australian parliaments reflect these political realities. When Rudd represents us he has substantial latitude and if such realities are not recognized by parliament then Rudd can ignore the issue in his dealings. So that when Rudd went to China he was able to tell the Chinese students in Mandarin that China owned Tibet.
Failure of parliament to recognize some issues has, in the past lead to such idiots as Reba Meagher to grandstand on the issue of Vietnam and abrogate her responsibility as trade minister. I think it significant that Australian Business Party luminaries like Joseph, and Liberal Party people like Rose should see the significance of this while elected officials of the ALP can ignore the plight of their constituents. - ed.
=== Comments ===
Labor stooges blow hot air on emissions
Piers Akerman
COURTESY of the ABC television program Q And A, I have been given a precious insight into the heart of the global warming scam and here’s how it works: lies and obfuscation and total confusion. -The Rudd government has yet to make a difficult decision. In policy terms, they followed the unions on Workchoices, They followed the cash on Education and spent up big on ALP supporting industry to little effect. They have failed to come up with answers on law and order or border or constitutional protection, but they have gotten rid of some effective operators like Keelty or GG Jefferies and replaced them with .. ?? They have an extensive cash for votes campaign.
Now, we don’t know what the transition arrangements are for when Rudd steps aside. He has to step aside before the bill comes in or he will never get the UN position he yearns for. Before interest rates skyrocket and unemployment shoots up. I note that I no longer need to wait in a dole queue each fortnight .. instead I phone in my details .. I work full time with no conditions for beneath the minimum wage.
I care about the environment. I want those in our future to enjoy what we have, and more. To that end, I think it important that industry (and small business) be strong and flexible. Something that will never happen so long as Rudd is PM and the ALP are in government. I note Mr Turnbull is doing a great job right now .. which is why so many ALP supporters are savaging him .. note the allegedly conservative writers who also savage him .. you can see their loyalties. - ed.
Tim replied to Sir RGM
The Greenhouse/Global Warming/Climate Change faithful have offered no falsifiable hypothesis. What they offer is not science. Their only defense to real questions seems to be repetitive chants.Tim, I appreciate the sentiments you express, but I respectfully disagree.
I see a big fat law suit launched by mining and other vested interests to clear this matter up once and for all. The liability claims will run into the hundreds of billions. As for the scientists who debauched their profession’s integrity for fame and a quick buck? They will be remembered for the scum that they are - Oh, and many of them will be brought to account for either negligence or outright fraud.
(later)
Once again our central bank (the RBA) has been forced to clean up Labor’s mess. Labor’s fiscal insanity - the injection of 340 billion into the circular flow has forced our central to ‘mop up’ by raising rates. Its an old wealth redistribution scam Labor does. These idiots also want a capital gains tax increase on houses worth more than 2 million ...whats next ? Death duties?
JMK 101 even states that fiscal spends should only be initiated at the trough of a recession never in the beginning and NEVER before. Recessions (vile as they are) serve to remove dead wood, retire debt and reallocate resources to more efficient areas. Rudd blowing money now stops all the good bits and guarantees new businesses will have to pay higher interest rates.
Coupled with this fiscal/monetary insanity is the carbon tax...sorry trading scheme. Did these guys have a meeting in 07 and decide which was the best way to f_ck the economy? When Labor is booted from office they will have left us with a structurally uncompetitive economy with little or no hope of regeneration.
Turnbull must stop dithering and stand against the proponents of GH/GW/CC. His watered down option is merely a ‘me too’ effort - a compromise between the polls and sound economic management. What he does not realise is that clarity is the only thing that will win voters over. Arguing details just glazes over the eyes of voters.
“A question must be asked”
(later)
Tim replied to john allen
All the Libs have to do is run a campaign with the slogan “ A question must be asked” and they stand a good chance of winning.
The Greenhouse / Global Warming / Climate Change bubble is at the ‘blow off top’ phase. Like the dot.com era proponents were making silly statements just before it all collapsed. In dot.com’s final days brokers were saying things like ‘the stock market has reached a perpetual high and will never go down again.’ In GH/GW/CC’s case we have morons like Professor Will Steffen refusing to debate the matter on the premise that GH/GW/CC was a proved theory. As a rule you know a paradigm is in trouble when its supporters start making absolute statements. Poor Will you silly pill ....History is replete with fools making silly statements.
All the Libs have to do is run a campaign with the slogan “ A question must be asked” and they stand a good chance of winning.In fact, conservatives worldwide have campaigned in such a fashion at times, and the media have hurt them badly for daring to do so. Maybe this time it will be different, but I don’t think so. The truth is the liars have the purse strings and the media ear. Should the Libs attempt such a bald policy they would be decried as not caring, having no justification, being out of step etc etc.
The reason why conservative journalists have been able to criticize Mr Turnbull so effectively, recently, is because the media nerve has been hit by Mr Turnbull. Mr Rudd has been shown to be incompetent to a lot of people who previously had no idea .. people who don’t tend to listen to conservative commentators. Once Mr Costello left, Mr Turnbull was able to fully prosecute his agenda, and take risks. The Oz Car affair has been so damaging to Rudd that the media have had to go on the attack. Global Warming hysteria is too important to be a mere wedge issue .. too many voters will be left behind for ideology if the Lib party make it an issue of division. People have already voted on this issue many times, and it takes more than what has been shown to turn people around once they have made their decision. The big problem has been that the media in general have been too partisan with Global Warming hysteria, linking it to ALP bandwagon. The media would rather cut their own throats than admit that they made a mistake in endorsing the ALP.
===
HANDLER OF THE GREEN BALL
Tim Blair
“He’s the Juddster … I’m the Ruddster.” For lines like that, the Prime Minister should be suspended from Parliament:
===
THE GREAT CARBON ELECTION
Tim Blair
If everything goes to plan, within three months Australia will be on on course to host our first carbon election. For fans of the bizarre and pointless, it can’t get much better than this, unless the major parties somehow conspire to add an astrology element.
You wouldn’t put it past them. Tectonic plate movement may yet play a role, too. I hear Wilson Tuckey is against it. But let’s assume they stick with carbon. Under the government’s policy, our carbon output by 2020 will be 525,350,000 tonnes. Under Liberal policies, such as they are, our output will be 497,700,000 tonnes.
We’re going to an election over the difference: 27,650,000 tonnes. If you think that sounds like a lot, think again. It amounts to just 1.72 per cent of the amount generated by China in a in a single year. Mark Latham described the 2007 election as “about nothing”; as usual, he was one election premature.
===
CRIME AGAINST MACHINERY
Tim Blair
A sweet little turbo Maserati – with only 18,500 miles on the clock, although exhibiting unreliability typical of its kind – faces Clunkerdom:
You really don’t want to know what they’re going to do to it.
UPDATE. Oh, and a couple of stupid kittens almost got offed as well.
===
The artist needs coloring in
Andrew Bolt
Yet another white who chooses to be black:
THE winner of the 2009 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award has been announced and is set to be the most controversial in many years.
At a ceremony in Darwin last night, the $40,000 Telstra Award was given to Canberra artist Danie Mellor for his work From Rite to Ritual, a large drawing on paper done with crayon, pencil and glitter pen.
The work is a dramatic departure from recent winners, which have had a style more readily identifiable as Aboriginal art.
It’s not just the art but the artist that isn’t “readily identifiable as Aboriginal”. (For a clearer shot of the startlingly white Mellor, without the gloomy lighting, go here.) Indeed, of all the racial identities open to him - “American”, Anglo-Australian, Irish and Aboriginal - Mellor seems to have chosen the most distant (when, of course, he need not have chosen any):
This raises the question of the point of such “Aboriginal” art prizes.
Are they racially segregated in order to preserve Aboriginal tradition? In which case, Mellor does not qualify.
Are they supposed to give a break to black artists who’d otherwise face discrimination? Mellor, again, would not qualify.
Are they meant to help artists who are badly in need of the cash? Once more, Mellor does not qualify.
If these prizes are for the likes of Mellor, what on earth is their (legitimate) purpose? Other than to enforce a preposterous and offensive “one-drop-of-blood” style of racism, I mean.
By way of contrast, this is a previous winner of the award, Dorothy Napangardi - the kind of artist elbowed aside now by a Mellor:
Napangardi was again an entrant in this year’s award, as was Mitjili Napanangka Gibson:
As was Walangkura Napanangka:
UPDATE
Artist Danie Mellor replies:
Hello, thanks everyone for writing in, and thanks Andrew for your introduction. (And I say that without a trace of irony.)It would be good to start with a couple of things you point out Andrew, and that is that I ‘elbowed other artists aside’ - actually, I made and then submitted the work; judging the winner is not something I have control over, and rightly so, as I am an entrant.
It’s possibly a little enthusiastic, Andrew to post pictures without acknowledging the photographer, or the web site or other source.
In response to denying other aspects of my heritage (95% according to one entry!), I am quite open about the fact my family comes from many different cultures, so I am not particularly sure of how to answer that accusation. I have worked almost every day of my adult life, rarely (not in the last 7 years) take holidays, end enjoy every minute of being productively active. I worked hard through university - I had help, and I also worked up to three jobs for a time there to support myself, the same as many other students. I graduated from a degree, a Masters, and a PhD, and now lecture in art theory and history and the University of Sydney.
I don’t scream and shout about my Aboriginal ancestry, nor do I jump up and down and demand your respect or my advantage because of it, and hysteria is definitely not my style. I prefer to work, mostly in the background, and achieve positive outcomes for me and other people - there’s no poor me, and to characterise me as a victim is really a little short sighted. I am immensely privileged to have Aboriginal ancestry, and it is active in the sense that I maintain my family ties with relations in a very real way.
It’s a fundamental error(usually a non-Indigenous one) to mistake colour being a qualifier of Aboriginality (it’s a little 1950’s to be honest). Aboriginality or Indigeneity is actually one of the more complex personal challenges for someone in my position at this time and in our country, and it’s one I am happy to be involved with.
In my mind it’s more important to share knowledge and cultural and historical perspectives than it is to become a shrinking violet and hide, simply because someone has a go at your position. It would be far easier to walk away from criticism and even attitudes that talk of racial stereotyping and band wagons and government grants etc - who wouldn’t want a life free of that sort of challenge? It would be relatively easy to apply the skills I have in another area or career that is entirely free of this particular type of tension. I’d prefer to stick around and work with certain issues though, and speaking very publicly about a shared history, and my place in that is a potentially very uncomfortable space to be in given the responses that do surface from time to time, but it’s something I choose work with.
(Mr Bolt is certainly contentious in the eyes of many, but as yet I am not sure he’s backed away from what he believes in, and I’m certain many of you who follow his writing and agree with his views would expect no less. Sometimes going along with what people expect of you just doesn’t help progress in any field.)
People are interested, obviously, as many of you are writing in, and hopefully this will have helped explain the position and direction I choose to pursue. (BTW, I am competent in media other than crayon and glitter pens - ie oil and water colour, and have won national awards for drawing and ceramics. Google has some sites).
Regards, Danie
UPDATE 2
Reconciliation Australia comes to the aid of white Aborigines, oppressed not because they are black, but because they are ...er, not black enough.
===
Only friendly peers may review
Andrew Bolt
Claims that man is heating the world to hell are based in part on data that the scientists won’t let others check:
The world’s source for global temperature record admits it’s lost or destroyed all the original data that would allow a third party to construct a global temperature record. The destruction (or loss) of the data comes at a convenient time for the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) in East Anglia - permitting it to snub FoIA requests to see the data.
The CRU has refused to release the raw weather station data and its processing methods for inspection - except to hand-picked academics - for several years. Instead, it releases a processed version, in gridded form. NASA maintains its own (GISSTEMP), but the CRU Global Climate Dataset, is the most cited surface temperature record by the UN IPCC. So any errors in CRU cascade around the world, and become part of “the science”.
Professor Phil Jones, the activist-scientist who maintains the data set, has cited various reasons for refusing to release the raw data. Most famously, Jones told an Australian climate scientist in 2004:
Even if WMO agrees, I will still not pass on the data. We have 25 or so years invested in the work. Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it.
The same stonewalling is occuring with requests for tree-ring data, used to guess the temperatures of times when temperatures were not taken by checking which years were good for tree growth. Mathemetician Doug Keenan explains:
One of the world’s leading centers for tree-ring work is at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), in Northern Ireland. The tree-ring data that QUB has gathered is valuable for studying the global climate during the past 7000 years: for a brief explanation of this, see here.
Most of the tree-ring data held by QUB was gathered decades ago; yet it has never been published. There is a standard place on the internet to publish such data: the International Tree-Ring Data Bank (ITRDB), which currently holds tree-ring data from over 1500 sites around the world. QUB refuses to publish or otherwise release most of its data, though. So I have tried to obtain the data by applying under the UK Freedom of Information Act (FoI Act).
I have submitted three separate requests for the data.....All three requests were refused in whole, even though the university is required to make partial fulfillment when that is practicable.
===
How much is free speech worth in dollars?
Andrew Bolt
So why did Yale University refuse to publish not only the Danish cartoons, but famous historial images of Muhammad, even when Muslim scholars gave it the go-ahead?
The suspicion was at first the normal one - that the university was simply too scared to stand up for free speech. But Roger Kimball digs deeper and smells money....
===
Barnaby for PM
Andrew Bolt
He’s right, of course - both schemes to cut our gases are pretend fixes to a pretend problem, sure to cause us far more pain than either can even hope to prevent, just to set an example no one will follow:
The Nationals leader in the Senate, Barnaby Joyce, said that ‘’if it’s a choice between Rudd’s scheme and Malcolm’s scheme, I will prefer the latter.
‘’But please don’t take that as an endorsement of the argument - they are both full of shit.’’
===
Only believers need apply
Andrew Bolt
Religious discrimination is becoming intolerable, so where is the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission when you finally need it?
I mean, it says it’s against religious discrimination in the workplace:
Attorney-General Rob Hulls is under pressure to make reforms after the Law Institute of Victoria, community legal advocates and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission recommended narrowing religious groups’ discrimination rights. They say existing exemptions are too broad and allow widespread discrimination, particularly against people such as gay teachers in religious schools, and female teachers and staff members who become pregnant out of wedlock.
But it’s turned a blind eye to this:
Greenpeace Australia Pacific is seeking a Senior Online Producer to spearhead the design and delivery of our online communications – inspiring and motivating the public, and giving a powerful voice to our fragile earth… To apply for this position you should have at least five years’ experience in the project management of dynamic interactive web sites and an understanding of branding, online design and usability issues. You will also need a commitment to the Greenpeace ideals...
And ignored this:
The Rudd Government warns job applicants in an ad for staff in today’s Australian:
Think career, think climate change.
Or: think scepticism, go work somewhere else.
And any chance that it will at least act on this?
NAB had an internal goal of becoming carbon neutral by next year and, although the activities of lawyers were unlikely to impede that goal, it was a topic on which the bank needed an assurance.
“So we asked for considerable detail about their environmental policies, their sustainability activities and what footprint they may have,” Mr Butler said.
It seems the only religious discrimination our human rights police hate is the kind that has bosses asking: “But you do believe Christ died for our sins, don’t you?” When an even more evangelical boss leans across and asks the job applicant, “But you do believe in our warming doom?” - well, that’s not just fine, but noble.
Bigots.
===
Scoop! Paper obtains press release
Andrew Bolt
The Sun-Herald publishes a very deliberate piece of Labor spin, aimed at destabilising Malcolm Turnbull, but presents it as leak it cleverely managed to “obtain”:
THE Labor Government is preparing to fight an election against Tony Abbott or Joe Hockey and has bluntly warned senior political advisers to get ready or go home.
With an early election still a possibility, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s chief of staff, Alister Jordan, yesterday summoned 30 ministerial chiefs of staff to Parliament House for a secret election planning meeting.
In a strongly worded introductory speech - part of which has been obtained by The Sun-Herald - Mr Jordan warned ‘’complacency is death in politics’’.
===
Subeditor sees only hugs and blisses
Andrew Bolt
The Age publishes a cheery headline:
Dutch embrace Islamic name
They do? So Henk and Aagje now call their son Mohammed? Jan and Truus have chosen Muhammad for theirs, rather than Piet?
The report under that headline is rather more accurate, suggesting not a Kumbayah “embrace” of Islamic names, but a displacement by:
MOHAMMED, or other variations of the name of Islam’s founding prophet, has become the most popular name choice for baby boys in the four biggest cities of Holland. The country’s social security agency found that traditional Dutch names have been displaced in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht as the country’s Muslim population grows.
===
Poor dumb, defenceless creatures
Andrew Bolt
A human right protest I most certainly do support - against PETA and the cruelty of stunts like this:
===
He really, really does believe this
Andrew Bolt
My god. I thought at first that Rod Quantock would at any time stop mid-rant and wink - his manic global warming alarmism is actually a joke. A spoof. A caricature.
Instead, he is the joke. Only we’re still not laughing.
===
Trad’s greatest hit
Andrew Bolt
Keysar Trad, the Muslim radical damned by a judge this month as a man who ” “incites acts of violence, incites racist attitudes, is dangerous and, perhaps most significantly, is a disgraceful individual’’, takes his act to the Sydney Opera House:
Presented By Sydney Opera House & St James EthicsVenue…
Polygamy and Other Islamic Values are Good for Australia
I’m not so sure that polygamy would be good for the country, given what misery even thinking of another woman has inflicted on Trad’s own family:
It has not been easy and (Trad and his wife Hanifeh, mother of his nine children) remember 1998 as their worst year when Trad fell in love - “became obsessed”, his wife says - with another woman. In desperation, Hanifeh proposed marriage on her husband’s behalf to the other woman. “We were having a terrible time. He fell in love and I wasn’t thinking about myself,” she says. But his obsession passed. “He became more compassionate after it,” Hanifeh says. “God meant for him to go through this experience and it made him a better person and more emotionally aware. It knocked him off his perch.”
Hanifeh was not heartbroken. A second wife would have meant divorce (though he was against it) or living under the same roof as her husband’s mistress.
Of course, while she’s not against it, being a devout Muslim, she’s somehow never agreed to it, either, being only human:
Whether a second wife would work in the Trad household remains another issue. The Trads say they have discussed the idea only in principle. Trad’s wife, Hanifeh, is not against the idea of having another woman in her husband’s life. She says she has enough confidence in herself not to let it affect her ego. However, she’s concerned of the effect it might have on her children and how they would be affected by the stigma.
===
Big surprise
Andrew Bolt
Aah, the wonderful sight of taxpayers gathering for their share of the free money:
ALMOST 600 home buyers who received first-home grants and stamp duty exemptions last financial year were forced to pay back more than $5 million in grants and penalties.
It’s what you inevitably get with free money:
THOUSANDS of Victorians spared the worst of the bushfire disaster have claimed compo. About 7000 people have received Centrelink disaster recovery payments despite suffering no material loss or injury.
And:
RICH taxpayers are rorting Kevin Rudd’s $8 billion cash splash by claiming up to six of the $900 bonus payments. Angry accountants say they have clients on $5 million a year who have legally received multiple cheques.
===
Batty scheme
Andrew Bolt
Another great stimulus package - for foreigners:
THE Rudd Government’s valuable stimulus dollars meant to shield battling Australians from the global recession are ending up in the pockets of Chinese and US workers.
The Courier-Mail can reveal the $3.9 billion home insulation subsidy scheme is leaking taxpayer-funded cash offshore in the latest controversy to plague Labor’s big spending recession-busting measures…
Fletcher Insulation, one of Australia’s biggest players in the market and the maker of Pink Batts, is importing about a third of its product from its Ohio-based partner, Owens Corning. It is understood its main rival, Bradford Insulation, is also importing batts.
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