THEY were close friends looking forward to finishing school in a few weeks and exploring what opportunities life had to offer.
Rees apologises to those abused in state care
NSW PREMIER Nathan Rees and representatives of private institutions have delivered a formal apology to people who were abused in the state's orphanages and foster homes in past decades, at an emotional ceremony in Sydney. - they still haven't addressed any of those issues, and their apology does not include me. -ed
House of horrors death mystery
CLAIMS a brother of the woman allegedly abused for 30 years by her father died suspiciously.
'Holocaust a myth, Israel has no future'
IRANIAN President's latest tirade against Jews makes him "unworthy to be the leader of Iran".
Al-Qaeda tells Germany to change leaders
AL-Qaeda has warned Germans to change their government in the September 27 election, saying they will face a "bad awakening" if they do not, according to two intelligence monitoring services. Germany was also told to withdraw its 4200 troops from Afghanistan or face being attacked at home, the US-based groups said. In video footage a man identified as Abu Talha the German, and speaking in German, says that if Chancellor Angela Merkel is re-elected, "bitter times await the Germans," according to IntelCenter and the SITE Intelligence Group. - apparently AlQaeda agree with Obama. - ed.
Depression forces MP from frontbench
A DEPRESSIVE illness has forced a senior Coalition frontbencher to take leave.
'Change the way you use your energy'
FAMILIES told to rethink how they use appliances or face paying twice as much for power. - it isn't working. The newer bulbs are more expensive and don't last as long as advertised. Often they short due to power issues related to wiring. - ed.
Australian Idol winner Damien Leith struggled to pay the bills
AUSTRALIAN Idol survivor Damien Leith sold more than $5 million worth of records when he won the 2006 crown but had to sell his car to pay the rent.
The jobs that ate an Australian family
PARENTS so obsessed with work they don't know what their kids eat or where their school is.
Former Liberal trailblazer Chadwick dies
VIRGINIA Chadwick, a former Liberal Party minister and the first female president of the NSW Legislative Council, has died aged 64. Mrs Chadwick died in Lake Macquarie Private Hospital at Toronto, south of Newcastle, after battling cancer, The Newcastle Herald says on its website. Mrs Chadwick was a teacher before being elected to the NSW Legislative Council in 1978 at the age of 33. She retired from politics in 1999. In this time she was not only the first female president of the Legislative Council but the first female Opposition whip, first female Liberal minister and the first female education minister. - She was generous in her service to NSW. -ed.
US political writer Irving Kristol dies at 89
IRVING Kristol, the former Trotskyite who turned sharply anti-Communist and shaped modern US politics and foreign policy as the "godfather" of neoconservatism, has died aged 89.
I was a Fox at 12, says screen siren
SCREEN siren Megan Fox says she first realised her "supernatural" beauty gave her power over men when she was just 12 years old, a discovery that disturbed her at first.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Guest: Newt Gingrich
Both sides agree ...They hate Baucus' health care plan! So is the latest draft a dose of disaster? Newt Reacts 'On the Record'!
===
Health Care On The Hill
Will Capitol Hill ever come together on health care? Congressmen Michael Burgess and Charles Boustany have answers.
===
ACORN's Explosive Scandal!
ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis and Rep. Darrell Issa square off - Only Chris Wallace has the exclusive interview.
=== Comments ===
How Labor let a killer and torturer escape
ACCUSED East Timorese war criminal Guy Campos slipped out of Australia without fanfare on Monday morning, leaving in his wake an expensive if fruitless 12-month investigation by the Australian Federal Police War Crimes Unit and the stench of hypocrisy lingering over the Rudd Labor Government. - The ALP have long been supporters of regimes that torture. Their one eyed supporrters are firmly fixated on actions taken during the President Bush’s administration, or Mr Howard’s, but they don’t seem to notice atrocities if they are committed by friends of the ALP. The ALP get a free pass, while law abiding actions under conservatives are inflated and restated into unrecognizable dimensions. So that a tragedy not involving Australia, except as a destination with SIEV X is somehow said to be Mr Howard’s fault, while the political assassination of Timor’s Alfredo Reinado by a Rudd inspired bungled sting goes unexamined.
Yet we know Rudd policy has led to the deaths of asylum seekers.
So a faked photo of a broken ambulance leads to calls around the world for atrocities to be committed in payback as the press inflate the forgery beyond all recognition because it looks bad for President Bush or Mr Howard, but an actual atrocity known to be committed gets ignored if it seems to embarrass an indulgent Rudd.
Campos is neither the first nor the last torturer the ALP have given free passes to. Australians tortured by the Khmer Rouge, Vietnam, North Koreans or Japanese have all been given special privileges under ALP government. - ed.
Jack replied to DD Ball----
Let’s not forget that couldn’t wait to welcome Che Gueverra to Australia so he couild tall us how murder, kidnap execution without trial, prison without trial, inflation at 200%, reneging on intertnational debts, drug running etc would improve Australia.
These left wing types are seriously stupid
sasha replied
Quite ironic then, given that your spelling and grammar is no better than a 10 year olds, and the rest of your reply made no sense whatsoever.
Marie replied
Sasha, Sasha, Sasha,
How I hate you pedants. Though I do need to mention that:
“.....your spelling and grammar is no better than a 10 year olds.” really should have read as:
“....your spelling and grammar are no better than a ten year old’s.”
I would never belittle a person’s message by picking on their grammar. DD Ball has many fine points and you seek to make him look foolish by nit-picking. AND THEN you do exactly what you purport to laugh at.
Seriously you left wing types are stupid.
DD Ball replied
Sasha, stop trying to prove Jack’s valid point. What Jack wrote made sense, taken within the thread. You do get the idea of a thread?
reply to Gandalf,
The report issued by the OECD praises the package and estimates the jobs saved as between 150,000 and 200,000. Not a biased journalist(there are clear examples of bias much closer), but the OECD. Sorry the facts dont fit your dismissal, but never let the absence of facts prevent an answer eh?
Mickey of Sydney DD Ball replied to Mickey
$66 Billion divided by 200 000 jobs gives $330k each job. I would do the job I’m doing now for 11 years to be paid that. Note, my estimates have been generous. The real cost is $300 billion for 150 000 jobs, or $2 million a job, which I would need to work for nearly 67 years at my current pay to earn the equivalent. Note well, under Rudd I get no sick leave or conditions. Maybe I’ll be able to retire when I’m done? -
dave replied
DD ball,
I think that you are being very generous don`t forget the $22 billion surplus, Rudd said there could be more, Swan`s going for $315 billion, average unenployment under Rudd labor is about 4.8%, i think a mountain of cash is being saved to buy the next election.
$22 billion surplus plus $44 billion of debt = stimulas package over 4 years, Australia should have no more debt than $44 billion (thats being generous).
No other PM in Australian history has enjoyed such a mountain of money,
and squandered so much.
===
BOOKED
Tim Blair
This site occasionally highlights stories of hero old-timers who dole out the harshness to unruly youngsters – but nothing is ever likely to top the story of a 101-year-old former librarian who took on and beat an intruder less than half his age:
“I struggled with him. I shouted ‘stop’ and ‘give back my wallet’, but he defended himself,” said Mr Michalski …
“I am not as quick and decisive these days but I was much stronger physically than him.
“I used to be a boxer and I wish I was few years younger and quicker, then things would have been very different.
“I would have massacred his face.”
Instead, Michalski grabbed the burglar in a bear-hug and applied the squeeze of justice. His opponent was subsequently jailed for three years.
===
FACE CONCEALED, BIGOTRY REVEALED
Tim Blair
A British citizen’s religious headwear leads to accusations of discrimination:
“They said: ‘Take it off’, and I said: ‘No, its part of my religion. It’s part of my religious right’ … They weren’t listening to me and were rude. They had three people around me. It was intimidating.”
UPDATE. In a related development:
===
THE DAVIES CODE
Tim Blair
A guest post from blogger-at-rest Currency Lad:
The Age‘s Washington correspondent, Anne Davies, senses that Everything Is Seemingly Spinning Out of Control thanks to “right wing” protesters and – of course – racists. Her sources are impeccable: Maureen Dowd and Jimmy Carter. And, strangely, another of her sources only remembers Democrat presidents being loathed. Plus, conservatives are now using a secret language, like Masonic aliens with a dastardly agenda:
In the land that reveres free speech in its constitution, debate can be raucous, rancorous, crude and boisterous; Americans expect that. But the Tea Party movement, born out of anger at Obama’s economic direction, now seems to have tapped into something more ugly in American society.Remember, abuse of a president is new and disturbing. Movies and video games fantasising about the assassination of a GOP president, daily protests and marches comparing him to Hitler and calling openly for his murder? All forgotten.
Norm Ornstein, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, says Obama is not the first president to draw such intensity of opposition and that others with broad agendas, such as Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton, also inspired strong reactions, even hate. But he says the fear generated by the economic downturn has provided a rich vein for partisans, and, with that, racist fears are undeniably playing a part.
The question is whether those organising the rallies, and even some elected leaders, are deliberately using coded words to incite a very dangerous and potent force within US society.
Australians are used to their politicians name-calling and interjecting, but in the US the presidency is revered. Calling out ‘’You lie’’ during Obama’s nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress as Joe Wilson, a little-known congressman, did 10 days ago, was truly shocking to Americans.Hey, remember Robert Byrd, Anne? No, thought not:
It might have passed as rudeness if he had apologised to the House, but his refusal led to the Democratic Black Caucus insisting to Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Wilson be rebuked, because even if not motivated by Obama’s skin colour, such a lack of decorum should not be tolerated.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, typically, was more blunt. What Wilson had really meant to say, she alleged, was: ‘’You lie … boy.’’ The congressman, who hails from South Carolina, had form as an apologist for Senator Strom Thurmond, a long-time segregationist as well as being a supporter of flying the Confederate flag over the state House.And on it goes: “The other unbridled force is the right-wing media ...” This is easily the worst and most disgracefully biased article on US politics I’ve read in months.
===
SISTER TROUBLE
Tim Blair
I found out earlier tonight that my sister is on drugs. She was placed in care earlier this week following a violent incident. Police were involved. It is understood that she was armed at the time.
NOTE: The above claims, while all true, are rendered slightly less fascinating by the fact that my sister – a police officer – is on standard hospital-supplied painkillers after injuring her leg in an accident. She should be better soon. Much thanks to her fellow officers for their swift help.
===
ACORN Scandal Rises to the White House
By Bill O'Reilly
It is all over for ACORN, as liberal politicians are running away from the activist group as fast as they can.
On Wednesday, Speaker Pelosi said she did not understand what all the fuss was about. Well, apparently she found out:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Any group that receives any funds from the federal government needs to have tough scrutiny applied to it. A few individuals at ACORN did what I think is — what would be the appropriate word, some have said despicable. But in any event, totally unacceptable and in my view, inexcusable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Over at the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs also address the ACORN scandal:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Obviously, the conduct that you see on those tapes is completely unacceptable. I think everyone would agree with that. The administration takes accountability extremely seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
As the White House should. But here's the interesting thing. The ACORN leadership remains unrepentant:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERTHA LEWIS, ACORN CEO: We are not going to take this lying down. We believe that — in fact, we know, that this was a form of entrapment. And, yes, we're going to go after this videographer and FOX.
FOX, because they run with things without checking and using any journalistic standards, they got kind of caught up and got duped themselves. For FOX and the right wing to have to stoop to a made-up scenario is one thing, but, as you know, and as I have said over and over again, those people were reprehensible.
I think they're, you know, basically saying, these people shouldn't be trusted. How could they be trusted? You know, they're all poor, black and brown people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
You may remember that Bertha Lewis came on "The Factor" last May and we had a respectful discussion. She declined our invitations this week because she knows it is all over and the FOX News Channel drove the story. Simply put, she's angry. But she should be angry at herself, not us.
When any group gets millions of taxpayer dollars, there is an obligation to hire honest folks and represent all the American people. ACORN did neither, and so it is toast, burnt, finished, kaput.
Will you miss them?
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