Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Headlines Tuesday 22nd September 2009

Lawyers in ICAC bribe claim
By Justin Vallejo A SENIOR Crown prosecutor has been named in an ICAC investigation of the NSW judicial system, by a barrister who allegedly took a bribe.

Centrelink helped fiends reunite
CENTRELINK sends Dennis Ferguson's phone number to his ex-accomplice, in parole breach.

'Hillbilly heroin' becoming drug of choice
PRESCRIPTION drugs are being abused and doctors need to stop being "naive", experts warn.

Sex act on phone at school
SECONDARY students were caught at school watching mobile phone video of a teenage boy and girl having sex, with students trying to blame each other for the incident.

Pregnant woman bashed for car
AN eight-months-pregnant woman was pushed to the ground during a car-jacking. She had just emerged from her car at a busy suburban intersection.

Airport caterers on drugs charges
THREE current and former workers with the country's largest airline catering firm are accused of using their access to Sydney Airport to smuggle cocaine.

Dad 'showing off' with $5m birthday yacht
ONE of Australia's richest men is under fire for buying a yacht for his 15-year-old daughter's birthday.

Fortune hunters try to cash in on $100,000
POLICE are finding an awful lot of people seem to have lost $100,000 in a river recently.

Legendary Soviet spy dies aged 97
ELIZAVETA Mukasei, a Soviet spy who formed half of one of the most famous husband-and-wife duos in the history of espionage, has died aged 97, the Foreign Intelligence Service says. Mukasei worked in tandem with her husband Mikhail on string of undercover operations abroad in a career that spanned the 1940s under Joseph Stalin to the late 1970s. The pair operated under the codenames "Zephyr" and "Elza" and such was the sensitivity of their work that the modern successor to the KGB has yet to disclose full details of their operations.

Sydney's worst traffic jam
FACED with a daily traffic jam, drivers in Sydney are illegally using the median strip to get to work.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Less Doctors, Less Medicine ... Less Coverage

Some say a government takeover will lead to a rationing of health care!
So, is it time to scrap ALL the reform plans and start from scratch?
===

Guest: Daniel Hannan
The European Parliament member says "stop the spending!" So, what's his strategy for the economy?
===
Body Language Investigation
From Kanye's outburst to Joaquin Phoenix fighting with fans - Body Language investigates!
===
Obama's Debut at the U.N.
With the likes of Ahmadinejad and Gaddafi - How will the president handle his first United Nations summit?
=== Comments ===

Two years ago this week, thousands of monks and citizens flooded the streets of Burma protesting against military rule. The courage of the initial protesters spurred over 100,000 more to participate in the largest demonstrations to take place in Burma in 20 years.

Dubbed the Saffron Revolution, this event inspired many around the globe, and people staged solidarity protests in countries such as: Malaysia, Thailand, Czech Republic, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In the aftermath of the Saffron Revolution, the world community renewed interest in Burma and governments began to increase pressure on the regime. Since the uprising, the UN has increased its pressure on the military junta, with last November's call by Ban Ki-moon's "Friends of Myanmar" group to free all political prisoners, including Nobel Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Here in the United Sates, grassroots activism helped pass the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act which prevents millions of US dollars from flowing into the hands of the regime.

Though the uprising was brutally suppressed, the movement continues around the world today. At USCB we are working with our partners thoughout the world to press the UN Security Council to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes that the regime has committed against ethnic minorities in Burma, as well as continuing our work in solidarity with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all those unjustly imprisoned in Burma.

Below is a time line of major events taking place around the country to pay tribute to those who stood up for freedom during the Saffron Revolution. Please take a look at these events and see if there are any in your area. We hope you can join us in remembering these courageous men, women, and children.

Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma:

Become a member of the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

Or, make a tax-deductible donation today.
===
NO BLOOD FOR CARBON
Tim Blair
Having successfully predicted the tragic dehydration of Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, Tim Flannery now forecasts a global warmy war:
If the world fails to reach agreement on tackling climate change soon then it could end in war, climate scientist Tim Flannery has warned.

Like many others, he is concerned at a lack of progress ahead of a crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

If there is no deal some time in the next year then there is a risk of momentum fading and the problem getting beyond the reach of world leaders, said Prof Flannery, who is in New York for climate talks.
And to once again enjoy those famous Buick-sized refrigerators. Keep ramping up the politics of fear, Perfesser:
“My greatest fear is that once people stop negotiating, once diplomacy fails, that’s potentially a prelude for war.”
Between who, exactly? China and Tuvalu? India and Canada? Might it be prudent to launch a pre-emptive strike against Greenpeace?
That could mean conflict over carbon tariffs, over the mass migration of climate-affected people or over serious water shortages, Prof Flannery said.
A war over carbon tariffs would be easily averted by not introducing them. And who will start a war over water shortages? The terrorist organisation Al Wader?
It might not happen for decades but it was a real threat if Copenhagen failed.

“The triggers are there for conflict,” the former Australian of the year said.
Prepare for battle, young people!
===
DRINK WITH DOOMERS
Tim Blair
“GreenUps” sound like something that happens the morning after St Patrick’s Day, but they’re actually a form of alcohol-based eco-bonding:
Sydney’s Green Drinks is up and running again. In fact we’ve revamped it and are flying under the banner of GreenUps! (We’re trying to up the green thinking in this city.)

We’re getting good turn-outs. Check out photos of GreenUps people in action.
Yes … in action. Such action you would not believe. The next drinky night for “people with an interest/passion/concern for the environment and sustainability” is on October 6 at Darlinghurst’s Beauchamp Hotel. I might send a spy.
===
DANCE! DANCE FOR GAIA
Tim Blair

Australia’s carbon youth dancers – we’ve enjoyed their earlier routines – now perform with an apparently hydrocephalic Prime Minister. This is the creepiest image involving a local politician since Stalky the Clown first appeared two years ago, and in our nightmares evermore.
===
UNITED IN FORGETTERY
Tim Blair
Therese Rein, wife of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, explains how she deals with negative press:
“All that stuff goes straight to the Forgettery,” says Rein. The Forgettery is, apparently, something of a family tradition.

“My mother has one. I think her mother had one. Stuff that actually doesn’t matter goes in there. Stuff that’s not important, stuff that if you carried it with you would be a burden.”
This seems a very sensible coping device, and charming with it (Rein previously mentioned the “forgettery” in a 2007 book). Oddly, however, Kevin Rudd recently claimed to share his wife’s family tradition:
He says that he inherited from his mother her “enormous ability not to take things too personally. If people slighted her she’d feel it but she wouldn’t take it in. There’s a family term we used – she had a very good ‘forgettery.’”
Must be a Queensland thing. Rudd also has an exceptional remembery.
===
ONWARDS TO YESTERDAY
Tim Blair
Some energy perspective from Stephen F. Hayward:
To meet the target the climate campaigners have set, the U.S., Europe and Japan will have to replace virtually their entire fossil-fuel energy infrastructure. For the U.S., the 80% target means reducing fossil-fuel greenhouse-gas emissions to a level the nation last experienced in 1910. On a per-capita basis, we’d have to go back to the level of about 1875.
Which would be a win/win for your greenists. Imagine how much better life must have been before all this carbon.
===
RESTRAINED IN SPAIN
Tim Blair
“This is what the police of non-violent, pomo 21st-century Europe looks like,” writes Jose M. Garcia. “See how three officers of the Guardia Civil (a Spanish law enforcement body known until recently for its brutality or its bravery, depending who you ask) actually flee, scared, from the individual that they were trying to catch. It took three cruisers, nine officers in total, to arrest the guy.”

Old-fashioned methods eventually prevail.
===
Covering President Obama, Fair and Balanced
By Bill O'Reilly
As you know, the FOX News motto is fair and balanced coverage of hard news, and we do that. Commentary, however, can never be balanced because it requires a strong point of view. It should, however, be fair.

Enter President Obama, who is emerging as a divisive leader, much like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were. The problem with analyzing President Obama is that many of you don't like him and don't want to hear much good about him.

In fact, some folks get angry if you say positive things about Mr. Obama. That can complicate matters. Let's take the European missile deal. Here's what Barack Obama told me last September:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The Russians are playing a game when they pretend that this missile shield is directed against all their ICBMs.

O'REILLY: Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's a defensive thing.

OBAMA: It's a defensive thing, and we…

O'REILLY: So you're going to keep it there then?

OBAMA: And given what has happened in Georgia, I think that we have to send a clear signal that Poland and other countries in that region are not going to be subject to intimidation and aggression.

O'REILLY: OK, so I just want to get this on the record. You're elected president, you're keeping the missile shield in Poland?

OBAMA: I believe that the missile shield is appropriate. I want to make sure it works though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

But now the president has changed his mind and will move defensive missiles away from Russia and closer to Iran:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I believe this new approach provides a better missile defense capability for our forces in Europe, for our European allies, and eventually for our homeland than the program I recommended almost three years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

That was when Defense Secretary Gates was working for President Bush.

So I could easily make the argument that President Obama folded to the Russians, as some critics are saying. But what about Robert Gates? He's an honest guy. Do I ignore his expertise?

President Obama may be making a mistake with his new missile strategy. It's certainly possible, but I don't know for sure. I also don't know what the Russians are going to give the USA in return. They're already meeting with American CEOs like GE's Jeffrey Immelt, an Obama friend, so you've got to figure some deal has been made.

But the cold truth is I just don't know what's best for the country in this case. That admission separates us from those who always promote their ideological side.

For example, the far left is putting out that I am now supporting a public option in health care. That's all over the net. But that's not true. Here's the truth:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: The public option now is done. It's — we discussed this. It's not going to happen. If the government can come up with a marketplace where a bunch of insurance companies come together to offer lower premiums, that's a good thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

So I support a marketplace for private insurance companies overseen by the feds. Left-wing zealots distorted my remarks, like they usually do.

There are few places Americans can go these days for honest reporting and analysis. I believe FOX News is one of those places, and our ratings prove it.

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