Saturday, October 31, 2009

Headlines Saturday 31st October 2009

Halloween.

Snap-Apple Night, painted by Irish artist Daniel Maclise in 1833. It was inspired by a Halloween party he attended in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The caption in the first exhibit catalogue:
There Peggy was dancing with Dan
While Maureen the lead was melting,
To prove how their fortunes ran
With the Cards ould Nancy dealt in;
There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will,
In nuts their true-love burning,
And poor Norah, though smiling still
She'd missed the snap-apple turning.
On the Festival of Hallow Eve.
===

Swine flu has caused at least 19 more children's deaths — the largest one-week increase since the pandemic started in April, health officials say.

Island asylum centre to double
KEVIN Rudd is ready to double the size of Australia's Christmas Island detention centre.

Wife's plea to jail all cop bashers
THE wife of a bashed cop has called for mandatory sentences for people who assault police.

U.S.: Iran's Time Is Ticking
Iran's refusal to come clean on nuclear program has U.S. considering new sanctions — even if it must act alone

Give 'Em Hell, Hillary
Secretary of state's remarks give Pakistan much-needed dose of reality: relationship with U.S. isn't a 1-way street ...And Take a Little Heat, Too

Supergrass begged for death

A SUPERGRASS whose evidence had put a gangster away for conspiracy to murder said he was sorry and begged: "Execute me." Why did he want to die?

NASA space ace denies selling secrets
A SCIENTIST who helped find water on the moon accused of selling information to a fake spy.

'Obama Song' Program Released
N.J. school turns over notices for assembly where students sang Obama's praises, says lyrics 'unavailable'

Abandoned baby Sunday finds a family
SHE was left on a stranger's doorstep, but six months later she has a loving, caring home.

Holiday homes to let: just $20,000 a week
HOLIDAY home owners are asking - and getting - up to $20,000 a week rent.
=== Comments ===
Sarah Palin Re-entering National Arena
By Bill O'Reilly
A new CNN poll says that 71 percent of Americans do not believe Sarah Palin is qualified to be president. Just 29 percent say she is qualified. Even among Republicans, 47 percent do not think Gov. Palin should be president.

Certainly the media is driving that opinion:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE COURIC, CBS NEWS: As Politico reported, there's growing concern among some GOP leaders that controversial commentators and far-right conservatives have hijacked the message. People like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin appeal to the base, and you certainly need that base to win elections. But in an age when 42 percent of Americans call themselves independents, you can't win with just the base either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

"Talking Points" believes this is a fascinating story. There is no question that Mrs. Palin is a star, and her upcoming book will be a No. 1 best-seller.

To promote the book, she is going on "Oprah" and other high-profile programs, and it is here where the governor has a huge opportunity. If Sarah Palin comes across as a problem solver, a sincere conservative and a person who looks out for the folks, she can begin to turn the credibility issue around.

There is no question that Mrs. Palin did a good job running the state of Alaska. We've examined her record up there and found she lowered taxes, challenged the good ol' boy network and generally ran the state responsibly. So the woman does have political skills.

The problem is she did not come across well with Ms. Couric and with ABC News anchor Charles Gibson. She looked tentative and did not assert herself in those interviews. So now she has a second chance.

I am hoping Gov. Palin will come on "The Factor." We will put her in a position of directly addressing you. No sleight of hand. No gotcha agenda.

But even if she doesn't appear here, the governor must put forth her philosophy in vivid terms and be able to come up with solutions to complicated problems. I hope she does because this country needs charismatic politicians and new voices. Mrs. Palin is a working mother, a regular person and someone who has tremendous potential.

This is not a party play. I couldn't care less about the GOP. We are not in the ideological business on "The Factor." But I am concerned because America needs more leadership. There are simply not enough people looking out for the folks.

Sarah Palin has captured America's attention. It will be interesting to see if she can turn the credibility factor around.
===
RUDD WAITS AND WAITS
Tim Blair
J.F. Beck observes puzzling activity at government websites dealing with the current Oceanic Viking standoff. More from Laurie Oakes:
If the asylum seekers ultimately succeed and the Oceanic Viking is forced to take them to Christmas Island, it will be a political disaster for the Rudd Government – a massive admission of failure after all the big talk.

Also, the case has attained such symbolic importance that, if Australia now buckles, the encouraging message to people smugglers will be clear. In the words of a Labor heavy: “This lot can’t be allowed to win. It’s as simple as that.”

The strategy for the moment seems to be to wait the stubborn Sri Lankans out.
Judging by past performances, this could take a while.
===
MYSTERY BOULDER
Tim Blair
What do we have here …

• It’s just some oldtimer in front of a rock.
• Maybe it’s like a famous meteorite or something?
• It’s a “before” picture. That rock will later be sculpted into something artistic.
• It’s an “after” picture. The rock is already art.
• It’s an Aboriginal sacred site, guarded by a local elder.
• It’s a protest about rising sea levels.
• It’s a protest against the Sydney Telstra 500 motor race, which will require that the rock be moved.

The answer will be posted later in comments.

UPDATE. In other cultural developments …
===
WARMING IS GOOD
Tim Blair
“Finally,” writes Michael. “The credulous dupes in the AGW gaggle make an appeal which is worth our attention.” This is true:

Almost as entertaining, the commies at Adbusters – posing as “The Canadian Tourism Federation” – try to come up with a video shaming Canadians for not doing enough about global warming, but instead produce something that looks like anti-warmy mockery:

Great work. But greater still is the same crowd’s brilliant poley bear colouring contest – just lookit them babies scream!
===
SPEAKING TRUTH TO HORSEPOWER
Tim Blair
Fresh from a war against Fox News that catapulted the network to its highest ratings ever and during running battles with powerful sign-carriers, the White House opens fire on … a car website.
===
CRASHING DOWN
Tim Blair
Views on climate change from Rod Liddle:
One is no longer allowed even to question climate change: it is a fact, and there’s an end to it. This seems to me a little unscientific …

And all the while you feel that these people actually want the earth to be heating up, the polar bears to die and the floods to engulf so that we will all burn, starve or drown. If somehow it could be proved tomorrow that climate change was a huge con, these people wouldn’t be relieved — they’d feel robbed of something intrinsic to themselves.
Like funding, for example. And from Bernard Ingham:
The whole tawdry climate game, with its carbon pricing, capping and offset scams, needs to be brought crashing down about the ears of the fanatics running it so that common sense is at last brought to bear on the problem …

Never in the field of human endeavour did so many need so few to see sense to prevent the world bankrupting itself again to no purpose.
Happily, local conservatives are now inclining towards common sense:
Liberal Party frontbenchers have begun to dump their support for carbon emissions trading after receiving party research showing voters are increasingly skittish about putting a price on carbon.

Despite Malcolm Turnbull’s ongoing attempts to broker a deal with Labor that would clear the way for Kevin Rudd’s proposed ETS, political hardheads among the Liberals are moving closer to the Nationals’ view that endorsing carbon trading is political poison.
UPDATE. Imre in comments:
Ask yourself this: if an instant technical solution to accumulated carbon in the atmosphere were discovered tomorrow, would they be happy or sad? Would they support or oppose it?

Well, obviously, sad and opposed: first, because their own power and influence would dissolve along with the carbon; and second, because capitalism and growth would not be destroyed in the process of solving “climate change”.

If it were a choice between fixing “climate change” without ending capitalism, or sticking with “climate change,” they’d choose “climate change” any day.

Same thing with the GM foods issue: they have decided to oppose a scientific solution to hunger, because they will stick with hunger if the solution does not involve . . . you join the dots.

The reason this second example is so tragic is that hunger exists.
===
LUQY DAY
Tim Blair
Luqman Ameen Abdullah gets his wish.

Luqman’s son, Mujahid Carswell, was subsequently arrested in Ontario. More on this intriguing case from Christie Blatchford, who begins with a line for the ages: “Imam my arse.”

UPDATE. “As stunned Muslims tried to make sense of the shooting death of a Detroit imam,” reports the Free Press, “some sought to tell a different story about the life of Luqman Ameen Abdullah.” Apparently he was “a modest, reserved man.” He’s a lot more reserved now. Also:
His death was probably the first time the U.S. government has killed a religious leader since the 1993 death of David Koresh at the Branch Davidian ranch in Waco, Texas, religious leaders said.
I blame the Democrats. Further background here, and a video report:

UPDATE II. There is also a sad side to this story.

UPDATE III. An interview with the ex-Imam (from 4.40):

===
Prince Charles knows best
Andrew Bolt
David Marr detects a sinister pattern:
The leading monarchists left in Canberra are Tony Abbott and senators Nick Minchin, Connie Fierravanti-Wells, Cory Bernardi and George Brandis. Here’s something strange: Brandis to one side, they are all global-warming sceptics.
Wow. Four out of five politicians picked by Marr are sceptics of two Leftist theories they suspect may, on the evidence, leave us worse off.

But then Marr immediately ruins his own conspiracy:
This puts them seriously out of sync with the Mountbatten-Windsors who are as green as royal families get. In Brazil in March, the Prince of Wales declared global warming the “greatest and most critical challenge” facing the world.
Er, so Marr, the virulent republican, now suggests Prince Charles, the frequent-flyer hypocrite, as the source of wisdom? I mean, if Charles wants us to cut emissions, why was he in Brazil?

But let me offer Marr a rival conspiracy:

The strongest global-warming sceptics in the Rudd Government are reputedly Martin Ferguson, Craig Emerson, Stephen Conroy and Gary Gray. Here’s something strange: they are all republicans.
===
Gore’s Apocalypse delayed yet again
Andrew Bolt
The Arctic has stopped melting away, which forces Al Gore into several readjustments.

In December 2008, he says the Arctic ice could vanish by 2013:

In April 2009, after a big refreeze, Gore pushes out his prediction of a possible ice-free Arctic to 2014:
(R)esearchers at the Naval Postgraduate School have told us that the entire Arctic ice cap may totally disappear in summer in as little as five years if nothing is done to curb emissions of greenhouse gas pollution.
In October 2009, after a summer in which the Arctic ice hung around as per recent usual, Gore adjusts again, extending his prediction to 2019:
The North Pole ice cap is 40 percent gone already and could be completely and totally gone in the winter months in the next 5 to 10 years.
And surely the reporter misheard Gore, because this is cartoonishly false, especially given Gore is talking about sea ice:

If the North Pole were to melt it could increase sea levels by 67 metres, Gore said...
===
Can Obama do a Bush?
Andrew Bolt
Charles Krauthammer:
Obama is facing the same decision on Afghanistan that Bush faced in late 2006 in deciding to surge in Iraq.
Difference is that Bush acted, and sent in more troops to win a war. - Bolt is reaching there. There were many other differences between the two leaders, but it is true that US troops were safer and better led by President Bush. - ed.
===
Easy from outside
Andrew Bolt
It’s so easy to say “let them in” when you’re not in power:
Then Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten tells The Age newspaper on February 4, 2006:
OUR country is the loser when we reject people who want to make a home and a contribution here. The success of many recent asylum-seekers in becoming productive members of our communities shows the potential for expanding the humanitarian migrant intake as well as our skills-based program. Anyway, other than indigenous Australians, we’re all descended from immigrants so I’m dead against the Howard government’s anti-immigration style.
Shorten is now in the Rudd Government, backing its anti-boat people line. And replacing him at the AWU is Paul Howes:
The Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes tells the ABC on Thursday we must take in the Sri Lankan boat people:

PAUL HOWES: Let’s get some reality put into this about process. You know, I mean these words like queue jumping and choice of country. What are these people fleeing?… They’re fleeing chaos, they’re fleeing war, there is no orderly queue in concentration camps ... What we need to actually do here is inject some reality into this debate. There is no crisis.

KERRY O’BRIEN: But ...isn’t it inevitable that if Australia adopts a more compassionate, dare I say, humane approach to asylum seekers, that is allowing more of them to come to Australia to be processed, that the numbers coming will increase significantly if your policy approach was adopted?

PAUL HOWES: I think the numbers would increase, yes. I don’t know how dramatically they would, but I don’t have an issue with that. As I said, I believe in a large immigration intake… I would bring them onshore straightaway and process them. If they are refugees, I’d let them stay and afford them the rights they are entitled to.
Just what Bill would have said, before he joined the Government.

UPDATE 1

His policies are working beautifully:
KEVIN Rudd is preparing to double the size of Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre in a stark confirmation that his government expects a continuing flood of asylum-seekers from Sri Lanka. The multi-million-dollar upgrade, sparked by a sharp increase in boatpeople arrivals in the past month, is expected to lift the facility’s capacity to as much as 2300.
UPDATE 2

Red marks August 2008, when Kevin Rudd weakened our laws against boat people. The immediate leap in the number of people in immigration detention says everything. So does the sudden rise in the number of boats.

Source: The Department of Immigration.
===
Alarmist denounces alarmism
Andrew Bolt
David King was once one of the most notorious of global warming alarmists:
“Antarctica is likely to be the world’s only habitable continent by the end of this century if global warming remains unchecked, the (British) government’s chief scientist, Professor Sir David King said last week. He said the Earth was entering the ‘first hot period’ for 60 million years when there was no ice on the plane and “the rest of the globe could not sustain human life”.
That was just five years ago, when alarmism was all the rage. (Certainly King didn’t feel any need to dispute then the accuracy of that report. Indeed, he even preached the falsehood that global warming was melting the snows of Kilimanjaro.)

But since then, the planet has cooled and so has the public to such scaremongering. Now King worries that this kind of frantic exaggeration - by others, of course - is staining his credibility:
Exaggerated and inaccurate claims about the threat from global warming risk undermining efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and contain climate change, senior scientists have told The Times.

Environmental lobbyists, politicians, researchers and journalists who distort climate science to support an agenda erode public understanding and play into the hands of sceptics, according to experts including a former government chief scientist…

“I worry a lot that NGOs [non=governmental organisations] are very much in the habit of doing exactly that,” said Professor Sir David King, director of the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, and a former government chief scientific adviser.

“...The danger is they can be accused of scaremongering. Also, we can all become described as kind of left-wing greens.”
King seems to have tried to distance himself from the greens even more than he did last year, when he said:
There is a suspicion, and I have that suspicion myself, that a large number of people who label themselves are actually keen to take us back to the 18th or even the 17th century. [Their argument is] ‘Let’s get away from all the technological gizmos and developments of the 20th century’,..
I think King is finally cooling, too.

UPDATE

Benny Peiser notes it was only a year ago that King was still up for some alarmism himself. claiming:
If all the ice on Greenland were to melt, sea level would rise by seven metres. Is that likely to happen? Well I was saying six years ago unlikely [but] I’m afraid that that’s having to be revised… 80 percent of our human population lives within less than a one metre rise of sea level so imagine the destabilisation of our geopolitical system with a sea level rise of the order of one or two metres. And that is on the cards I’m afraid.
===
Vote for the planet with the half-naked bimbos
Andrew Bolt

Models say they’ll strip if global warming isn’t stopped. This is a promise that turns warming from a threat into a hope.

In fact the whole ad seems the work of airheads. We see the models strip off more as carbon dioxide levels fall. Now their fans really won’t know what cue they’ve been given. Will their heavy breathing help?
===
What executions? What genocide?
Andrew Bolt
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young immediately assumes the Tamils in boats must be nice people fleeing massacres:
The point is these people are desperate. If you listen to the stories of the conditions in the camps in Sri Lanka, where people are fearful even to say that they want to leave, the stories of people being persecuted and executed simply because they say, “We don’t want to be here anymore”; “I want some future for my family.”
I’ve heard of no credible evidence of Sri Lankan forces executing displaced Tamils being held in camps, where they await resettlement. Indeed, far from shooting Tamils wanting to leave the camps, the Government is releasing them:
“The US welcomes Sri Lanka’s acceleration of the voluntary return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their villages,” the US embassy said in a statement.

“We are encouraged by the government’s announcement that it intends, in the next few weeks, to facilitate the voluntary return of over 40,000 of the approximately 250,000 IDPs in the camps,” it said. “We understand that thousands have already been released....
Indeed, could Sri Lanka really be the genocidal hellhole that some of the Tamils on the boats and many ill-informed compassion contestants such as the Greens claim, when even former members of the Tamil terrorist movement are being resettled there?
The United States on Friday announced funding for up to 1,000 former Tamil guerrillas to reintegrate in society by starting their own businesses or learning new skills.The US embassy here said they were giving equipment and supplies to ex-fighters while vocational training was also being made available to help them start small enterprises in the island’s east.Government forces crushed the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May after killing the group’s top leadership in the island’s north. The LTTE was driven out of the east of the island in mid-2007.Sri Lanka’s government is also launching an ambitious rehabilitation program for thousands of rebels who surrendered during the final stages of fighting that ended nearly 37-years of bloodshed...
Hanson-Young, on this evidence, cannot be trusted to tell the facts.
===
Heretic defends heresy at the ABC
Andrew Bolt
Several readers have rightly urged me to post a link to ABC political editor Chris Uhlmann’s nice defence of global warming sceptics.
===
Look, Mr Rudd. Terrorists on boats
Andrew Bolt
Will Kevin Rudd denounce Tom Quiggin as “disgusting” and “divisive”, too, and demand he be thrown out of the Liberal Party?

Oh, wait. Quiggin is in fact not a Liberal like Wilson Tuckey but just a senior research fellow at the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies - and he warns of a danger that Rudd last week pretended was too racist to even discuss:

The successful interdiction of the Merchant Vessel Ocean Lady by the Canadian Forces was based on advanced intelligence, most probably aided by law enforcement agencies in Toronto. This has no doubt helped Canada prevent a major terrorist infiltration. When the ship attempted to enter Canadian territory on 16 October 2009, the Canadian Navy patrol frigate HMCS Regina was working with law enforcement and intelligence agencies to interdict the ship. Investigations to date have revealed that Ocean Lady is a ship owned and operated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE)…

More than a dozen men from a ship now docked in British Columbia have already been identified as members of the terrorist group…

It has emerged that the militarily defeated LTTE have not disappeared, but rather they are dispersing. The most popular destination areas for their fighters and supporters will be well known terrorist safe havens such as Canada. Other target areas for their fighters will be Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and other European countries. According to figures from Sri Lanka, 10,000 or more LTTE fighters and supporters have been identified and are being held, but a few thousand have escaped. As such, we can expect that literally hundreds of individuals will want to escape to countries such as Canada.

Can you do this?


What's your party trick?
Hope you guys have a fantastic weekend and that you're all well.
x
n
===

A reply to Natalie Tran's I Can Do This.
I am double jointed in the thumbs .. or, it is because I have an older brother .. peace man.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Headlines Friday 30th October 2009


Passports of people possibly tied to NYC attacks found along Afghan border following battle against Taliban.

Man, 112, 'realises dream' to marry teen

A SOMALI man who claims to be 112 years old has married a 17-year old girl."Today God helped me realise my dream," Ahmed Mohamed Dhore said, after the wedding in the region of Galguduud. Bride Safiya Abdulle's family said she was "happy with her new husband". Mr Dhore says he wanted to marry Safiya for a long time but waited for her to grow up. "I didn't force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love; and then we agreed to marry," he was quoted by the BBC as saying.


Eggs and sperm cells have been grown in a lab, paving the way for infertile people to have their own biological children. There's also hope for a pill to stave off menopause for late conception.


No room at the median? Michigan man claims his civil rights were violated after he was ordered to remove his family's Nativity scene — which had stood on a public road for 63 Christmases.

Hostage tells of pirate capture
A BRITISH man being held by Somali pirates today spoke to British TV by telephone.

Police close in on body-in-barrel killer
THE net is tightening on the body-in-the barrel murderer, homicide squad detectives say.

More asylum seekers intercepted

ANOTHER boatload of asylum seekers has been intercepted off the northern Australian coast.

Kayla's dad's heartfelt apology
THE father of teenager Kayla Green choked back tears as he issued an apology to the driver injured in the horror crash that claimed his young daughter's life this week.

Routine cab ride takes hellish turn
THE decision to take a taxi across town almost cost a woman her life and that of her unborn baby.

Satanist's online world lures teen girls

A SATANIST with an eye for teen girls built a gothic society to groom them for sex in a cemetery.

Dozy playboy annoys judge with no-show
PRINCESS Beatrice's ex-boyfriend failed to show up for court because he was sleeping.

Mum's coffin coup takes caskets online
A MUM aims to break into the tight funeral casket industry, setting up an online shop.
=== Journalists Corner ===

Rush Limbaugh speaks out on Republican strategy for the upcoming elections!
Plus -- the radio host talks tough on the future of the GOP.
===

Critical Decision!
Will passing an expensive health care bill cripple our economy? We expose the financial impact & tell you what the experts say!
===
The Adventures of ... Manbat?
Pulling pranks in a bat suit! But, what happens when it goes too far? Bill gets answers on the next 'Factor'!
===
Taxes, Health Care or Economy?
Which issues will matter the most to voters on Election Day? Frank Luntz's focus group reveals the deciding factors!
=== Comments ===
Will Afghanistan Be President Obama's Waterloo?
By Bill O'Reilly
October is now the deadliest month ever in Afghanistan for U.S. troops, with 55 killed so far. And it has now been 59 days since commanding General McChrystal asked for 40,000 more troops to provide security in that theatre.

The request hangs in the air because President Obama says he is continuing to assess the situation:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: While I will never hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests, I also promise you this, and this is very important as we consider our next steps in Afghanistan. I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm's way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Because "Talking Points" does not have the information the president has, it would be unfair for us to second guess Mr. Obama. However, John McCain does have that information and says this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: It's time to make a decision and send those troops there. And the longer we delay, the more they're in harm's way and in danger. And the time is up. It's time to act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now there are some people who believe President Obama is waiting until after next Tuesday's election to make a decision. That is speculation, but it does make some sense. Many liberals do not support the Afghan war and angering them before the vote could cause them to stay home.

Again, that's speculation.

What is fact is that the Taliban is growing bolder. On Wednesday they attacked a building in Kabul which was considered to be relatively secure. There is no question the Taliban is making a statement, throwing violence right into the president's face.

There are people on both the left and the right who feel the Afghan war is un-winnable, and that may be true. Col. Ralph Peters doesn't support more troops, nor does New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

Writing Wednesday, Friedman says it is impossible to nation-build Afghanistan. But he also says he's not sure if the Taliban would take over should the USA pull back.

"Talking Points" believes that's nuts. What do you think the Taliban is fighting for? They want to regain power, and if the USA pulls back, who's going to stop them? The Italian forces?

This whole situation is very dangerous to Barack Obama, who is perceived in some quarters as being timid. If Afghanistan goes south on his watch, he will get the loss. Terrorism will achieve a great victory and America will be embarrassed. That's why you have to send the 40,000 troops.

Like Iraq, you give it one more push to stabilize the situation. With the stakes so high, you have to try.
===
LIFE NEGOTIATED
Tim Blair
Mark Steyn picks up on a telling comment from our favourite alarmist:
I’m always appreciative when a fellow says what he really means. Tim Flannery, the jet-setting doomsaying global warm-monger from down under, was in Ottawa the other day promoting his latest eco-tract, and offered a few thoughts on “Copenhagen"—which is transnational-speak for December’s UN Convention on Climate Change. “We all too often mistake the nature of those negotiations in Copenhagen,” remarked professor Flannery. “We think of them as being concerned with some sort of environmental treaty. That is far from the case. The negotiations now ongoing toward the Copenhagen agreement are in effect diplomacy at the most profound global level. They deal with every aspect of our life and they will in?uence every aspect of our life, our economy, our society.”

Hold that thought: “They deal with every aspect of our life.” Did you know every aspect of your life was being negotiated at Copenhagen?
This will now guarantee Kevin Rudd’s attendance.
===
ABC SEXISM
Tim Blair
Fired for being male: “In the meeting where I was told I would be replaced, the reason given was they wanted a girl on the show.”

UPDATE. In other sexism news …
===
AISLES OF RACISM
Tim Blair
Following Australia’s Nazi biscuit scandal, Joe Hildebrand scans supermarket shelves in search of other racist products – and finds them!
===
Speaking for the belittled….
Andrew Bolt
Anne Davies, the Age’s Washington correspondent, demonstrates the bias that she professes to abhor:
Fox dominated the news channel ratings. Its top host, Bill O’Reilly, who offers right-wing ideology and belittles liberals, attracted an average 881,000 viewers, while CNN’s award-winning Anderson Cooper, who bills himself as a serious journalist who actually goes to war zones, rated only 211,000 viewers.
It’s precisely because of failures from journalists like Davies that explains the success of a Fox News.
===
Don’t exploit Deveny
Andrew Bolt
Catherine Deveny strikes me as a deeply unhappy and angry woman who seeks affirmation by shocking, as if begging forgiveness. I’ve said before I think she needs help, not exploitation by media outlets. I’d say that opinion is shared even by many ABC viewers who watched Q&A last night, and saw her demean a debate.
===
Praying to Gaia for pay
Andrew Bolt
Take away all the free money, and who’d be left to believe in a man-made climate catastrophe?
Europe is to breathe life into the faltering search for a new global deal on climate change by pledging billions of pounds in financial support for poor countries, the Guardian can reveal. European heads of state will formally recommend this week that rich countries should hand over around EUR100bn (£90bn) a year to nations such as India and Vietnam by 2020 to help them cope with the impact of global warming… Such a move would leave the US with a bill running to tens of billions a year, unlikely to go down well in Washington.
How much will Kevin Rudd hand over from Australian taxpayers?
===
A climate of fast money
Andrew Bolt
PSST. Want a surefire way to get a grant - maybe $300,000, or even more - for your university research?

Then gather around, my dear professors, and say these magic words.

Climate change.

You scoff? You say it’s too crazy to work, given that your expertise is actually in Bible studies, Aboriginal history, ceramics or sorghum?

More fool you. Just check the 1136 grants of the Australian Research Council that were approved this week by Science Minister Senator Kim Carr.

That’s $392 million Carr has splashed out in this year’s funding round for university research into everything from history and anthropology to physics and genetic engineering.

Yet with so much to choose from, an astonishing 10 per cent of that entire budget for ARC Discovery and Linkage grants went on projects submitted by academics who’d squeezed in some reference to “climate change”, no matter how preposterous.

Ten per cent! Oh, those cunning academics. Those wind-sniffers.

How well they understand the far-Left Kim “Il” Carr’s fierce need to have all scientists sing the Rudd Government’s hymn of global warming doom. How closely they heeded his decision to make climate change research this year a “priority”.

Still, I must laugh at the inventiveness some showed to scramble on to this greatest of gravy trains.

My favourite? It’s the proposal from two Australian Catholic University academics to study “Crisis management in late antiquity: the evidence of Episcopal letters”.
===
The great Australian smear
Andrew Bolt
JILL Singer yesterday used on this page a form of argument that now perverts almost every big debate.

“It takes a certain person to rejoice in the suffering of others. In the real world they’re called sociopaths - in politics, they’re called conservatives.”

Jill, of course, is of the Left, and was denouncing conservatives for “rejoicing” in the suffering of boat people to attack poor Kevin Rudd.

Nowhere in her column did she try to counter what really bugged her - conservative arguments for stopping the boats.

I’d shown that Rudd’s weakening of our laws had helped lure 42 boat people to their deaths. I’d also shown the evidence that the boats from Sri Lanka could well contain former Tamil Tigers.

I’d further said that not stemming the boats would invite more, so that people already assessed as refugees and waiting years to get here would be pushed further down the queue.

I’m not asking you to agree with my arguments, but to note that Jill did not counter them with reason. She just called conservatives “sociopaths”.

It’s true, Jill represents no one but herself. But her abuse is representative - of a form of argument now typically unleashed in all our most value-loaded political debates. Some examples?

If you point out the world has in fact cooled since 2001, you are to be called a “denier”, which warming believer Prof Robert Manne admitted in September he meant as a slur to liken you to those who “claimed that the Holocaust was a fraud”.
===
Rather be in Nauru
Andrew Bolt
Peter van Onselen, although playing the tired “we’re racist” card, says John Howard’s Pacific Solution was better:
KEVIN Rudd should ask himself one simple question - would he rather be locked up in a detention centre in Nauru run by Australia or one in Indonesia run by the Indonesians?

If his answer is the latter then he can go on believing he has improved the humanitarian standards of Australia’s approach to border protection. Otherwise, he should drop the moral superiority act lest he be embarrassed by the emptiness of his rhetoric.
UPDATE

And another:
Another boatload of asylum seekers has been intercepted off the northern Australian coast. The vessel is the 37th intercepted by Australian authorities this year.... Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said the vessel, thought to have 34 passengers and four crew members on board, was first spotted by a surveillance aircraft crew.
Meanwhile, Rudd is so desperate to avoid looking bad that he’ll pay the Sri Lankans still on our patrol boat Oceanic Viking to act nicely:
Rudd has not ruled out using cash payments to entice them to disembark.
UPDATE 2

I’ll repeat, Rudd’s Government is the most spin-mad and deceptive in my memory:
SENIOR Indonesian officials have rejected outright a claim by Kevin Rudd that women and children asylum-seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking could be accommodated in regular housing, rather than behind razor wire in an Australian-funded detention centre.

“We’ve already got a detention centre (at Tanjung Pinang) and in it we already separate men and women,” the Foreign Ministry’s most senior official for international security, Sujatmiko, told The Australian…

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s most senior adviser on international affairs, Dino Patti Djalal, also refused to confirm claims made by Mr Rudd in parliament that the women and children among the 78 Sri Lankans would be housed separately.
UPDATE 3

How to solve the Oceanic Viking standoff:

Dear passengers, this ship’s next stop is Sri Lanka. Those passengers wishing to get off should do so now.
===
IPCC author warns: going it alone will kill the economy
Andrew Bolt
If this is true for the giant US economy, how much crazier is it for small Australia, with its tiny emissions, to rush through an emissions trading scheme now:

Dr. Steve Running ... is a co-author of the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and founder of the Climate Change Studies program at the University of Montana.

He added, ”If the US passed a cap and trade and other countries did not, it wouldn’t work. It would ruin the US economy and it wouldn’t save the climate either. ..”
===
Billions gambled
Andrew Bolt
This is no way to run the country - or blow a Budget:
THE Rudd government has failed its own test for assessing major infrastructure projects, according to a new Productivity Commission analysis.

The nation’s key economic advisory body says the government has not “universally applied” its own promise to subject all major infrastructure spending to detailed and transparent cost-benefit analysis.

It cites the controversial $43billion national broadband network announcement, which was not subject to a cost-benefit analysis, and several projects in the $22bn “nation-building” infrastructure plan that formed the centrepiece of the May budget, which had either not been evaluated by Infrastructure Australia or had not been deemed “ready to proceed” but had been funded anyway.

The criticism of infrastructure decision-making comes after similar concerns were raised in a recent report to the Business Council of Australia
..
It strikes me as a deeply characteristic failing of Rudd’s - and one for which he will become infamous - to be so sure of his intuitive wisdom that he will command into being things he does not properly understand, and which he lacks the patience to see through.

UPDATE

Yet so convinced is Rudd, against the evidence, that he can do it better:

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is testing public support for an outright federal takeover of hospitals, even though his expert advisers recommended only a partial takeover or a slow transfer of power in stages.

Bill O'Reilly: I'm Starting to Lose Confidence In Obama


Bill O'Reilly admitted tonight that he's starting to lose confidence in the Obama Administration. He also said the White House lacks blod confidence in its decisions. There's a lot of confusion in the White House.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Newt Gingrich Doubles Down - Attacks Conservative Doug Hoffman & Defends D-Kos Candidate Scozzafava


Newt, Newt, Newt...
Newt Gingrich disappointed national conservatives again tonight by his continued support for pro-abortion, pro-Stimulus, Daily Kos candidate Dede Scozzafava. Newt also scolded national conservatives and attacked conservative candidate Doug Hoffman.

Headlines Thursday 29th October 2009


Leaked footage from an upcoming video game shows terrorists shooting wounded civilians, sparking classifications controversy


Florida police urge public to be suspicious of changes in behavior, appearance of people they know — because one of them could be Somer Thompson's killer.

Teacher banned for kissing student, 12
A QUEENSLAND teacher who groomed 12-year-old students on social networking sites before kissing one in front of his class has been deregistered for the maximum five years. - he should have been banned forever for sending them the messages he sent. - ed.

Barrel twist in hunt for gran
POLICE probe links between the discovery of a body in a barrel and a missing grandmother.

Mum 'admitted' chopping baby
A WOMAN accused of murdering her baby confessed to cutting him in half, a court has heard.

Army 'knew of' armour risk to Diggers
DEFENCE chiefs were told last year about armour flaws worn by Diggers in Afghanistan.

$9m payout for boy sucked down drain
A DEAL looms for a boy who suffered horrific injuries when sucked down a school drain. - yet nothing for the parents of Hamidur Rahman .. ed

Carnage in Pakistan
Hillary Clinton vows U.S. support for Pakistan as car bomb strikes a busy market, killing at least 100

'Vulnerable woman slept with 14-year-old'
A 41-year-old woman allegedly drunk 18 cans of alcopop before having sex with teen boys.

Lost legal letter costs company $1.4bn
A FORGETFUL employee has cost a beverage giant big time in a battle over bottled water.

Hot pie advice turns cop into internet star
A KIWI cop's sage advice on "thermo-nuclear" pies has become a hit on the internet.

Boozy holiday behind footy pack-rape
A party-filled weekend led to the alleged pack rape of two women at a Phillip Island house.

Hollywood star 'burglary ring busted'
TEENS studied magazines, TV, before stealing luxury goods from the homes of Lohan, Fox, Hilton.


Is Harry in Retreat Mode?
Resistance to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's health care bill raises possibility that he'll scrap proposal

Boy 'stabbed brother over too loud music'
A REFUSAL to turn down music left a teen dead and his brother on a possible murder charge.

Sad home for state's first father

COVERED in a dirty tarp and surrounded by rubbish in Parliament House's basement, this is how the Government is treating one of the nation's great figures. The removal of Governor Macquarie has caused outrage in his homeland of Scotland and it has been raised at clan meetings and with Scottish politicians.

Merkel kicks off second term
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel has formally embarked on a second term at the head of a new coalition pledging to make Europe's biggest economy emerge stronger from the financial crisis.

HBO Calls Jesus Joke 'Playful'
Larry David, HBO find humor in urinating on painting of Jesus in episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

Australia's best property bargains named
HERE are the cheapest suburbs tipped for the strongest capital growth over the next year.


The late Thriller singer - who died on June 25 - came third in Forbes.com's annual Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list.
=== Journalists Corner ===

Chaos in Afghanistan!
Is the increasingly violent war becoming a quagmire? Dennis Miller has reaction!
===
Grayson's Outburst
You won't believe the congressman's most recent controversial remark! Plus, why is he receiving praise from the White House? Michelle Malkin lets loose.
===
Guest: Rep. Mike Pence
How do Republicans plan to derail the Dems' latest push? Plus, what's their alternative for your cost and care?
=== Comments ===
Watch this space, Rudd’s plan will leave us all in a jam
Piers Akerman
FOLLOWING GroceryWatch, FuelWatch and RefugeeWatch, the Rudd Labor Government intends to launch CityWatch - a centralised city planning operation to develop state capitals.- The ALP will not do anything unless it is to line their pockets with cash or appear popular .. usually both. In Victoria, the ALP once ran with an election promise not to build a freeway "People, not houses, are important" said the premier wannabe. When elected, the wannabe built the road, but placed a traffic light in the middle, pointing out that the traffic light meant it wasn't a freeway. And the press bought it.
The press applauded Carr's vision of the future of Sydney, it didn't matter that that vision failed to account for the fact that no space had been allocated to burial space for dead people. But every single dollar spent would reward a developer who would kick back to the ALP. So that when one such developer was challenged regarding their links to the ALP, they claimed they had been a great benefactor of the Liberal party, having donated some $2.5k. To the ALP the same developer had given some $230k. Of course the difference could be explained, 'The ALP were in government.'- ed

===
What Do You Do With a Crazy Congressman?
By Bill O'Reilly
Last year, the good people of Orlando, Florida, elected Democrat Alan Grayson to serve them in Congress. Since that time, Mr. Grayson has developed a reputation as a nut. N-u-t, nut.

Here's why: The guy is simply out of control. We begin with Grayson calling Linda Robertson, an aide to Ben Bernanke, a whore:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALAN GRAYSON, D-FLA.: Here I am the only member of Congress who actually worked as an economist, and this lobbyist, this K Street whore, is trying to teach me about economics.

The Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That's right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.

What the Republicans have been doing is an insult to America. They've been dragging their feet. These are foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who think they can dictate policy to America by being stubborn.

I call upon all of us to do our jobs for the sake of America, for the sake of those dying people and their families. I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this Holocaust in America.

Fox News and the Republican collaborators are the enemy of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Grayson's spokesman told Politico the whore remark simply reflected the congressman's opinion that Ms. Robertson had sold her soul for financial gain. A lame excuse.

Monday night in Florida, President Obama said this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We've got some wonderful other elected officials that I want to acknowledge very briefly. Three outstanding members of Congress from Florida who are here: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kendrick Meek, Alan Grayson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now, the president was playing politics, but Grayson is not an outstanding member of Congress; he's an embarrassment.

And this is the problem. The president doesn't seem to understand that radical people are not acceptable to most Americans. Paging Rev. Wright.

Judge Edward Chen, nominated for a lifetime federal judgeship by the president, is a far-left guy who has said some amazing things. Here's a sample.

After hearing the song "America the Beautiful," Chen said:

"Sometimes I cannot help but feel that there are too much (sic) injustice and too many inequalities that prevent far too many Americans from enjoying the beauty extolled in that anthem."

So maybe we should rename the song "America, the Unfair."

By the way, Judge Chen is a former staff attorney for the ACLU, an excellent credit in the age of Obama.

The White House gets furious with Fox News for reporting on far-left guys like Congressman Grayson and Judge Chen. We get it. They don't like it.

But radicalism seems to be acceptable to the president, and that is becoming a major problem.
===
'Special Report' Panel on U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan

This is a rush transcript of "Special Report With Bret Baier" from October 27, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We are finally getting Afghan policy right after long years of drift.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.: The events of the last couple of days, I believe, lend some urgency to this process, and so I hope that the president will make the decision as rapidly as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, HOST: More U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan and there you see the numbers adding up — October, 55 deaths. This is now the deadliest month in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war in 2001.

And there you see 2009, 277 [deaths] so far. We're not even through November and December, as the president decides on whether he will answer the request of General Stanley McChrystal, the commander on the ground in Afghanistan.

Let's bring in the panel: Jeff Birnbaum, managing editor digital of The Washington Times; A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of The Hill, and syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer.

Charles, this decision, as we've talked about, has been portrayed by the White House as thoughtful and not making the wrong decision at the wrong time to rush it. However, when days like today add up, you hear Senator John McCain and others speaking out.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: It does, of course, impress us with the urgency of the matter and how it has to be decided.

But I want to point out one thing about what Obama had said when he talked about the long years of drift. There is something truly disgusting about the way he cannot refrain from attacking Bush when he is being defensive about himself. I mean, it is beyond disgraceful here.

He won election a year ago. He became commander in chief two months later. He announced his own strategy, not the Bush strategy, his strategy six months ago, and it wasn't offhanded. It was in a major address with the secretary of defense and the secretary of state standing with him. And now he is still talking about the drift in the Bush years.

What is happening today is not as a result of the drift so-called in the Bush years. It is because of the drift in his years. It is because of the flaws in his own strategy, which is what he is now reexamining.

He has every right as commander in chief to reexamine his own strategy, but he ought to be honest, forthright and courageous enough as the president to simply say I'm rethinking the strategy I adopted six months ago and not, once again, in a child-like way, attack his predecessor.

BAIER: A.B., I talked to General Bob Scales earlier in the show about the effect on military families who, some of them, have now been through five, six, even seven deployments. We are not just talking about a war-weary public but a war-weary military.

A.B. STODDARD, THE HILL: And a military that wants to give their soldiers more time off, a military that is depleted and strained and really may not be up to 44,000 or more troops in Afghanistan and additional commitments elsewhere and we don't know what could pop up.

But there is a very compelling case to not escalate in Afghanistan and increase our troop presence there, and there is a very compelling case for why we have to do so.

President Obama is going to make a decision. He is not going — it won't be an easy one. He will try to split the loaf, I believe. I believe that he is going to come out in early November, and I think he is going to make that troop request.

But I think he is going to try to make it somehow a new strategy by presenting some sort of end game. The left is demanding an end game. Everyone — the public is demanding an end game.

I think he is going to fulfill the recommendation of General McChrystal, but I think he is going to come out with something that looks slightly different and try to assuage Americans so concerned, from the military families to the members of his party to members of Congress in both parties, everyone across the spectrum, by saying we are going to see the end of this tunnel.

BAIER: Jeff, military folks — commanders, soldiers — they all say once the president comes out with a decision, they're going to obviously fall in line and they can handle anything that they're given. They just don't like the uncertainty.

Is this military a little different than it was three to four years ago when the Iraq surge first started?

JEFF BIRNBAUM, MANAGING EDITOR DIGITAL, THE WASHINGTON TIMES: That's right. And that is the way military people live, that is their credo, and it is important for them to follow their commander in chief.

If you speak though privately or off in a corner with military leaders in the Pentagon, you can hear the anguish. They are upset that the president is not moving quickly enough and they worry that the delay is really giving the president time to reduce the request that the commander that he put on the ground in Afghanistan, McChrystal, may not be fulfilled.

And also, interviews with rank and file soldiers from Afghanistan reveals more unease than we're used to hearing from military officials — military troops. That is, they are saying that they are worried that unless the president comes through that their actions and sacrifice may be in vain, and that is a very serious word.

BAIER: In fact, Charles, the front page of The Washington Post today had an article about a former Marine captain, Matthew Hough. He joined the foreign service earlier this year. He was actually stationed in a Taliban hotbed.

And here is what he said: "I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan." He wrote this in a letter. "I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation," he resigned from his post, "is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end?"

And in this article, Charles, I was surprised to see officials like Richard Holbrooke says that letter really is affecting the internal debate, at least somewhat.

KRAUTHAMMER: And in fact, according to The Post, Holbrooke tried to recruit him to work on his staff.

And this is a man obviously of principle and courage, who's really sacrificed a lot. He has a perspective on Afghanistan, which is a significant one — he's been there; he was also in Iraq. And I can understand why Holbrooke would want someone like that on his team, with a lot of skepticism.

But if the skepticism is about why, I'm not sure that that is as mysterious as the how. "How" is the really difficult issue. The why is rather obvious: It is in the neighborhood with a nuclear Pakistan. If Afghanistan goes the fight is going to be in Pakistan. The stakes are going to be enormous. And Al Qaeda will be resurgent and their allies might get their hands on nukes. That is a strategic catastrophe. That's the why.

I think the real question is how and I'm not sure that Obama or his team have an answer to that yet.

BAIER: We will take a look at how next week's election is shaping up and what it means for President Obama when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Opportunity in every corner of Virginia, that's what matters to Creigh Deeds. That's what he will keep fighting for, for the people of Virginia, if you give him a chance.

LARRY SABATO, POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think the Obama visit today is going to make the slightest difference. I think it's pretty much perfunctory. The White House has all but written-off Creigh Deeds.

And to be blunt about it, and I never like to call races before the voters do it on election day, but I suspect this will be not just a Republican victory but a Republican landslide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: A big statement from Larry Sabato one week from election day, 2009. We will focus on a couple of races here with the panel.

First, as you heard there, the Virginia race. The latest polls, The Washington Post has the race at 55 percent for Republican Bob McDonnell and 44 percent for Creigh Deeds. Then you take the Real Clear Politics average and it is 50.8 to 40 — that's the average of all the polls on Real Clear Politics.

We're back with the panel, first about Virginia — A.B.?

STODDARD: You can see it in the candidate's face today in the open race in Virginia as the president came to try to give an 11th-hour boost. The White House last Friday in The Washington Post wrote this race off in what can only be called a "pre-mortem" descriptions of why —

BAIER: Anonymous officials quoted...

STODDARD: Exactly. No one went on the record, but they certainly gave their analysis of why Creigh Deeds made a mistake in not taking their recommendations about the kind of campaign that Barack Obama was able to wage in Virginia, turning it Democratic for the first time in a presidential race since 1964, and how he excited northern Virginia, got out the black vote.

Creigh Deeds is from rural Virginia and has failed to make inroads in rural communities in addition to exciting the liberal base in northern Virginia. He has run a poor campaign. It is very unusual for the White House to come out this early and dump him before the race. He is 11 points or more, as you pointed out, behind. You could just see it in his face for a while. Even two weeks ago, Deeds gave an interview describing why the national environment made it so tough for him. And I think they have known for some time it was over.

BIRNBAUM: That leak and others like it, statements, that's damage control from the White House because they know a defeat of Deeds in a state that Obama won notably last year will reflect badly on Obama and the Democrats, because the gubernatorial election in Virginia and also in New Jersey are kind of referendums on Obama. That's the way they will be looked at.

And so Deeds' loss will be Obama's loss and so the White House is trying to distance themselves from Deeds.

BAIER: Let's turn to the other big race, the governor's race in New Jersey. Take a listen to the two candidates there:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JON CORZINE, D-N.J.: Well, I think it's very helpful that a popular president believes that I can be a better partner with him than the other candidates in the race.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, REPUBLICAN N.J. GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It is great to have the president here and the former president here, but in the end, it's me or Jon Corzine, and with his failed record as governor, I think people will turn and vote for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Here is one of the latest polls, the Suffolk University poll. This has Jon Corzine up 42-33 percent over Republican Chris Christie. And there you see the independent Chris Daggett is at 7 percent.

Again, there are a number of other polls, the Real Clear Politics average includes a Rasmussen poll that shows Chris Christie ahead, but this is the average, Corzine up just slightly.

What about this race — Charles?

KRAUTHAMMER: I think the wild difference, even in the latest polls, as you say, this one from Suffolk showing a 9-point lead for Corzine, the last two on Real Clear Politics showing that Christie is surging into the lead, is because no one knows what is really happening with Daggett, which is the third party vote.

If he polls high, the presumption is that it pulls away from the Republicans, and the Democrats win. But usually what happens when you have a third party, people will tell a pollster, I support him, but in the booth when it is about electing a governor and not stating a protest, the numbers will shrink.

And since nobody knows how that will end up, this is extremely hard to call.

BAIER: Speaking of third party candidates, A.B., you have New York's 23, the congressional race. And as this stacks up, the Republican Dede Scozzafava looks like she is trailing now Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party. The polls are all over the place, the Democrats up in one. Doug Hoffman is up in a couple lately.

Now you have the Democratic Campaign Committee coming out and saying this race, they believe, is a vote of confidence or would be a vote of confidence for President Obama and somehow a referendum, which is never what the White House says in these off-year elections.

STODDARD: I think they are ahead of themselves on this one, but certainly a Republican has held that territory since something like 1870. And if Bill Owens, the Democrat, pulls this out, you will hear much leaping up and down from the Democrats about why it was a referendum and a big stamp of approval for President Obama.

It might happen for Bill Owens if there is enough vote-splitting between the two Republican or conservative candidates.

But this race is a real trend to watch for next year, because it shows that if the establishment loses, that you can get — like Doug Hoffman has done as an outsider candidate — you can go to national party leaders like Governor Pawlenty and Governor Sarah Palin and Senator Fred Thompson and everyone, get their endorsements and take over.

BIRNBAUM: I think that's right. This could show a real problem for the GOP. Hoffman says he is fighting for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. He may actually be pulling out the heart of the Republican Party.
===
HOT CHUCKS
Tim Blair
Jo Blogs covers all the thrulls ind spulls of New Zealand’s Next Top Model:
The lesson this week? Densung! The style? Hup Hop! The level of ability? Shut!
For previous NZNTM reviews – and much else, including the magic of office face – please click.
===
PEOPLE WITH SIGNS = POWER
Tim Blair
White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett declares:
We’re going to speak truth to power.
The power to which she refers – a power more powerful, apparently, than the power of a US President:
People were coming down to town hall meetings and putting up signs … commercials go up on television …
Video here.
===
COLONELS EVERYWHERE
Tim Blair
First they let Colonel Gaddafi address the general assembly, and now:
Red-faced United Nations officials on Monday admitted to a major security lapse after a UN guard helped Kentucky Fried Chicken’s “Colonel Sanders” gain access to restricted areas.

The guard escorted the white-suited intruder past security barriers, where he got a handshake from the UN General Assembly president, Dr. Ali A. Treki of Libya.

The faux fast food chain founder also posed for a picture beneath the assembly’s giant UN logo, which overlooks the spot where world leaders address their international counterparts.

“It should not have happened – that I will stress, and very strongly,” said Michele Montas, spokeswoman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
This bogus Sanders better watch out. They don’t take kindly to outsiders round those parts.
===
EQUAL RIGHTS
Tim Blair
Oxford scholarships for Aboriginal students: a good thing. Oxford scholarships for Aboriginal students that require those students to meet Oxford’s own entry standards: an even better thing. As Helen Dale writes: “The people who take up these awards will be very talented individuals indeed.”
===
FROM “NO NUKES!” TO “WHY NO NUKES?”
Tim Blair
Steve Lewis confesses:
As a blindly naive 24-year-old in 1984, I cheerfully handed out how-to-votes for a neophyte Senate candidate running on an anti-nuclear ticket.

His name was Peter Garrett and, like thousands of others, I was swept up in the mania of his candidacy for the Nuclear Disarmament Party.

I outed myself as an ex-campaigner for the NDP on Tuesday afternoon, as Garrett addressed the National Press Club in his current guise as Minister for the Environment and the Arts.

“And look at us both now,” Garrett retorted, to much laughter.

But here’s the serious point, folks. I am happy to admit I got it wrong.

Like countless others, I have changed my views on nuclear power.
Read on. In the same year that Steve was campaigning for Garrett, I think I went on my only protest march; from memory, it was about something nuclear. The point eluded me even at the time, as Australia – regrettably – has no nuclear power plants or weapons. Possibly a girl was involved.
===
DOUBLE DAFFYDS
Tim Blair
Daffyd lives in Wales.

The real-life Daffyd lives in New South Wales.

UPDATE. On kind-of-related themes, Claudia Rosett reports:
It’s bad enough that the War on Terror has been reduced to “Overseas Contingency Operations.” Now the UN has come up with a report urging us to fight terrorists with Overseas Gender Operations …

The author of this UN report, Finnish law professor Martin Scheinin, wants counter-terrorism policies replaced with gender-equality policies at all costs, such as loosening terror-financing restrictions to help organizations that promote gender equality. In Afghanistan, he wants an end to force and a new policy responsive to the concerns of “women, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex individuals in local contexts.”
===
IS IT COLD OUTSIDE? ASK A STATISTICIAN
Tim Blair
This is cute. All manner of claims have been made by warmenists over the years, yet few have ever been subject to serious media investigation. But when sceptics note a temperature decline, Associated Press calls in the statisticians:
The Earth is still warming, not cooling as some global warming skeptics are claiming, according to an analysis of global temperatures by independent statistics experts.

The review of years of temperature data was conducted at the request of The Associated Press. Talk of a cooling trend has been spreading on the Internet, fueled by some news reports, a new book and temperatures that have been cooler in a few recent years.

The statisticians, reviewing two sets of temperature data, found no trend of falling temperatures over time.
Except that, as noted, it was hotter in 1998 than it is now – despite all the carbon. A longer AP piece on this is here.

UPDATE. Beyond temperature disputes, Jonah Goldberg asks:
What possible price would warmists agree is just too high? Right now, greens want to spend trillions of dollars and export our manufacturing base to China and India in a foolish attempt to slightly ameliorate global warming. But it certainly seems that that’s just the opening bid. If democracy is worth sacrificing, and dogs, cats, and unborn children are up for discussion, where is the line we will not cross?

What is the price we can all agree just isn’t worth paying?

For eight years during the war on terror liberals routinely argued that if we made even the slightest changes to our lifestyles in response to a very real terror threat, “the terrorists will have won.” But altering or outright chucking overboard the core of our liberties and lives to fight global warming is progressive, smart and right. I find that baffling.
Not really. Both responses are driven by the same anti-Western impulse.
===
Of course there’s a link
Andrew Bolt
Greg Sheridan takes a deep breath, and begins:
A FEW weeks ago in London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told me that 75 per cent of the terrorist plots aimed at Britain originated in the federally administered tribal areas of Pakistan. Some 800,000 Pakistanis live in Britain.

The vast majority, it goes without saying, are law-abiding citizens. But there is a link between uncontrolled Muslim immigration and terrorism.

The real historic significance of the illegal immigration crisis in our northern waters is that this could, if things go wrong, be the moment Australia loses control of our immigration program, and that would be a disaster.

It is extremely difficult to talk honestly about Muslim immigration...
No wonder. Yet it may need to be done, even if I suspect Kevin Rudd is actually very keen to somehow regain control over this “immigration crisis” he so foolishly unleashed, and will in time stop the boats.

(Note to readers. Keep comments below civil. Do not engage in unfair stereotyping. Argue with reason. Do NOT refer to any cases before the courts. Our moderators are fed up with haters of both sides and have long scissors.)

UPDATE

Former Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews agrees:
LIBERAL MP Kevin Andrews has called for a debate on Muslim “enclaves” in parts of Australia, blaming political correctness for a failure to discuss the issue.

Mr Andrews, a former immigration minister who is heading the Coalition’s policy unit in the lead-up to the next election, told radio broadcaster Alan Jones this morning that to “have a concentration of one ethnic or one particular group that remains in an enclave for a long period of time is not good”.

And Mr Andrews told The Australian Online that it was clear that some Muslims were not “dispersing” into the community as other ethnic groups had in the past.

“ I don’t think it’s happening as rapidly as with other communities in the past. I think it’s desirable,” he said.
UPDATE 2

In Britain, even a former head of the Anglican Church now is worried:
In what will be seen as a very unhelpful intervention to the debate on immigration by many church campaigners for the rights of migrants and refugees, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has called for a “clear cap” on population growth.

In comments given to today’s News of the World he blamed an “open door policy on immigration” for the rise of the British National Party.

He also blamed a failure to “absorb” new communities and called for immigration to take centre stage at the next general election…
.
Carey told the News of the World: “The cowardly failure of successive governments to address our open borders is the reason the BNP has gained admittance to the political mainstream…

“It is asking a huge amount of the British public to accept an open-door policy on immigration. They have seen a massive influx of newcomers, they have seen their jobs hit, and they feel ignored. There have not been adequate resources to help [the] community adapt to these massive changes.

“Yet it is not only a question of resources but the failure to absorb and integrate new communities. The discredited policy of multiculturalism must be abandoned once and for all. Now a controlled approach to immigration is needed with clear caps set on population growth...”
I can understand why the long overdue debate on immigration is now raging in Britain, which is what I guess has triggered calls here for the same. But I’m a bit puzzled why it needs such urgent attention now in Australia, when it strikes me that prominent Muslim radicals are in retreat here, Muslim immigration has indeed been quietly reduced, and the media is now a lot less willing to give a pulpit to Muslim extremists such as Keysar Trad. No longer do we have a council of Muslim leaders advising the Prime Minister, let alone a council with the links of the pro-jihadist Sheik Hilali. How could John Howard have been so dumb?

I’m in favor of open debate, but still need persuading that we must all join in now - and urgently. I’d say one terror trial after another has sobered up plenty of people even of the Left that were only too likely before to scream “racist”, and what’s needed now is not this kind of shouty “consciousness raising”, but a calm discussion of what actually needs doing that isn’t already being done.

You want the borders kept tight? So does Rudd, who’s trying frantically to undo his mischief. You want Muslim immigration cut further? Tell us by how much more, and do you really mean to include Indonesian businessmen and Turkish academics?

But if you want a debate on multiculturalism, then bring it on. That truly is unfinished business.
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No he can’t
Andrew Bolt
Ouch. It seems Americans need more from their president than some symbolism and talk:

While the stock market has picked up and the country appears to be pulling out of the recession, a majority of Americans - for the first time in the Obama presidency - says the U.S. is headed down the wrong track, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted Oct. 22-25. Fifty-two percent say the country is on the wrong track compared to 36 percent who say it is headed in the right direction ...
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Singer’s sociopaths
Andrew Bolt

In a post below, I noted this bizarre abuse in a column today by Jill Singer:
IT takes a certain person to rejoice in the suffering of others. In the real world they’re called sociopaths - in politics, they’re called conservatives.
As I said, the odd thing was that this comment actually appeared on top of a column which then railed at “Ruthless Rudd”. Apparently it is Singer’s argument that a nice man of the Left is merely forced to do evil by sociopathic conservatives.

Let’s leave aside Singer’s complete failure to produce a single example of a conservative “rejoicing” at someone’s suffering. And also leave aside for now this kind of argument-by-abuse - or, rather, this typically Australian argument-by-moral-grandstanding.

I have instead a little quiz. Regarding a rejoicing in the suffering of others to make a political point, guess - without clicking the links - which sociopath wrote this:
On the subject of Iraq, isn’t it time that Bush, Howard, Blair and their merry band of media propagandists get down on their knees and beg forgiveness?… America has lost 3000 soldiers, with many more maimed. Iraq has seen countless thousands of innocent citizens killed, injured and displaced.
And this:
(Mexicans have) just elected a new conservative president and the burgeoning uber-rich of Mexico City are still celebrating with Moet, while the poor in states such as Oaxaca are screaming about increasing social inequity.... Apart from seeing at least 15 protesters killed, the Government clampdown has radicalised the teachers and seen various dissident groups join the protest. Never a dull moment here, I can tell you.
And this:
DING dong, the witch is dead.... I’m not sure which I’d rather be now (after John Howard’s defeat), a fly on the wall at Kirribilli when Janette is forced to remove her clutches from the drapes, or over at the Liberals’ post-mortem. What a bloodbath that will be, full of recriminations and battles for supremacy.
Here’s a hint. It’s the same person who wrote this:
The Vietnamese have discovered for themselves the advantages of capitalism and democracy.
And this:
And why the relentless hubbub about Cuba’s refusal to embrace democracy and the rule of law when the US itself is imprisoning hundreds of men, including Australia’s David Hicks, at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba?
And this:
(H)ow about the conservatives start asking why Cuba can deliver a good public health system.
And this:
As for press freedom, the Vietnamese could show the West a thing or two.
Or do all these comments actually belong in the category of ignoring the suffering of others to make a political point? Of ignoring the terrible consequences of your noble ideology, so better to parade your loudly beating heart?

Singer simply wants an excuse not to deal with arguments she has trouble dismissing with reason. Damning opponents as evil, on the basis of evidence she simply fabricates, suits not just her convenience, but her vanity.

UPDATE

Schopenhauer famously described the 38 best ways to win an argument when reason was not on your side. Guess where he ranked Singer’s tactic?

Read on for his acute analysis of the trick, and those who employ it:
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Arctic refuses to behave; predictions adjusted
Andrew Bolt
Two years ago Californian researchers warned the ice in the Arctic could vanish in 2012. Or thereabouts, agreed a NASA scientist. The US National Snow and Ice Data Centre claimed it could even be ice-free in 2008.

The Arctic ice in 2008 increased.

Oh. All right, so Al Gore in December 2008 adjusted his prediction of an ice-free Arctic to 2013:

Except the Arctic refreeze that winter was remarkably strong.

So early this year, Al Gore predicted the ice could vanish by 2014.

Yet the ice this year increased again.

Hmm. Britain’s Met Office now puts this catastrophism on ice - just for now:
Modelling of Arctic sea ice by the Met Office Hadley Centre climate model shows that ice invariably recovers from extreme events, and that the long-term trend of reduction is robust — with the first ice-free summer expected to occur between 2060 and 2080.
UPDATE

Could the ABC’s Four Corners now update this scaremongering it perpetrated last year, when it warned “in 2012/13 we could have an ice-free Arctic”?

Reporter Marian Wilkinson then claimed:
If you want to see climate change happening before your eyes, scientists will tell you: “Go to the end of the earth”, and that’s why we’re here, in the Arctic Circle.
Could you go back, then, Marian, and tell us what your eyes now tell you about climate change?
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More pain than they thought
Andrew Bolt
The clean coal dream is looking more like an expensive - and never-never - nightmare:

CLEAN coal power stations are not viable until the carbon price reaches a minimum of $60 a tonne - a level the Australian government does not anticipate until almost 2030 - according to an audit by the Rudd government’s own global carbon capture and storage institute.

The new $100million-a-year institute found the business case for clean coal technology could only work if governments helped build the first commercial-size CCS power plants on a “field of dreams”, or “build it and they will come”, basis…

The technology is central to the government’s plans to meet its emission reduction targets. In a recent speech, Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said it was “becoming increasingly clear that no serious response to climate change can ignore the need to accept fossil fuels as part of our shared future”.
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A bastard or the people smugglers’ friend?
Andrew Bolt
This farce is reaching a climax:
THE Federal Government is not ruling out the forced removal of the 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers from the Oceanic Viking to end a politically damaging stand-off off the coast of Indonesia.

However, the likelihood the Australian Customs ship and its human cargo would be redirected to Australia rose dramatically yesterday when Indonesian authorities said they would not force the asylum seekers to disembark in Tanjung Pinang.
Kevin Rudd’s dilemma is this: he must order the Sri Lankans to be forcibly evicted off the ship and into Indonesian jails, thereby looking the utter bastard and hypocrite. Or he must relent and bring the asylum seekers to Christmas Island, signally to people smugglers everywhere that all they need do now to get here is to do as these boat people did - send out a distress signal when near some Australian ship, after first disabling their own boat.

Your predictions, please, both of the outcome and the spin Rudd will put on it.

UPDATE

The handicappers announce a relevant fact:
But it emerged yesterday that only 22 of the Oceanic Viking’s 41 crew were Customs staff - the rest being contracted civilians who could not rely on Australian Federal Police or Defence back-up in the event of a forced removal of asylum-seekers from the ship.
UPDATE 2

Jill Singer lends her forensic skills as a political analyst:
IT takes a certain person to rejoice in the suffering of others. In the real world they’re called sociopaths - in politics, they’re called conservatives.
Oddly, this comment appears on top of a column which then rails at “Ruthless Rudd”.
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Next week’s story is on Rudd, healer of the sick
Andrew Bolt
The 7.30 Report’s Kerry O’Brien gives Therese Rein the treatment he would have given Janette Howard, too. He files his report under this headline:

Therese Rein - passionate advocate for the disabled