Headlines Thursday 1st October 2009

Earthquake hits Indonesia's Sumatra island

AT least 75 people have been killed and thousands are trapped, feared dead, underneath rubble after a major earthquake hit Indonesia's Sumatra island last night.

One in five cloned by ID hackers
DESPERATE times have created desperate people, with credit cards and bank accounts hacked.

'Jilted lover stalked ex with GPS'
A FORMER teacher placed a tracking device on a car belonging to his ex-girlfriend's family to monitor her movements, police allege.

Komodo dragon's really the lizard of Oz
INDONESIA may lay claim to the komodo, but scientists say lethal lizard is 100 per cent Aussie.

Aussie population to hit milestone
AUSTRALIA'S population will reach 22 million today - and the lucky baby is most likely to be called Jack or Ella.

Rush to defend Roman Polanski sparks backlash
A HIGH-profile rush to defend Roman Polanski after the film director's arrest sparked a backlash today, as a growing number of politicians called for him to face justice over a three-decade-old child sex case.

Secret Sydney police force pursues Ibrahim clan
IT goes by the name Strike Force Bellwood but in reality it is Strike Force Ibrahim The 20-officer team was a secret, set up with one aim in mind: Investigating one of Sydney's most well-known Middle Eastern clans, the head of which is Sydney nightclub entrepreneur John Ibrahim.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Am I Wrong?
First a note ... I really like First Ladies. They work really hard for us. ... They do things others simply cannot. I like to see them use their platform for our nation and each does in her own way. Second, hosting the Olympics is great for the United States -- it gives us a chance to show [...]
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Iran's Nuclear Threat!
How much danger is the world really in, and what should be done now to prevent disaster?
Henry Kissinger speaks out!
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Another Bill to Foot?
First health care, now climate change. As the Senate introduces another legislation, how much should you expect to fork over?
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Guest: Dennis Miller
Was it time well spent? Miller reacts on Obama's recent travels to Denmark!
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Bringing Home the Gold?
Are Obama's Chicago buddies banking on a successful bid coming to town? Michele Malkin exposes the truth!
=== Comments ===
A playground for the vile and dangerous

Piers Akerman
SEARCHING for truth at the United Nations is like looking for kernels of wheat in a mountain of horse dung.

From the unscientific blather about global warming from our own Kevin Rudd and meaningless posturing by Barack Obama to Libya’s President for Life and Eternity Muammar Gaddafi and his Iranian colleague-in-evil President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the nuggets are rare and, when they fall, they do so largely unheard.

In the ridiculous non-judgmental process of giving all national leaders - dictators and democratically-elected figures alike - some freakish semblance of equal moral statue, the UN’s unelected bureaucracy provides a ritual soap box for the grotesqueries of the world to parade their fantasies.

But Rudd’s boring lecture was not in the same league as the performances delivered by Gaddafi and Ahmadinejad, two monsters of truly global scale. - Rudd's dumb performance is very dangerous to Australians and those reliant on Australia's economic success. The loss of Australia from a leadership position among the world's governments to a palsied economic basket case which supports terrorist regimes either directly or through neglect should not be diminished because of the criminal activity of those in the UN. As brilliant as Netanyahu's words and actions, it must be remembered both Rudd and Obama have spoken against Netanyahu. As deranged and destructive, it must be remembered both Rudd and Obama have spoken in support of Iran, Libya, China and so on. I believe in peace and security for all, but I recognize that socialists around the world do not have the answer for that issue. - ed

Indeed. To deny what happened to the Jews in WW2 is to be an accomplice after the fact. It should never be forgotten. However, I have serious reservations about the 6 million figure. I also think the suffering and murder of other non Jewish groups in the camps has been radically understated. Does this make the holocaust any less significant? NOPE! Because it is not about numbers. If even one Jew or Christian or Muslim was killed for their beliefs then that is an atrocity.

The real atrocity is judging people on a collective basis. We should really be judging individuals.

As for the loonies of the middle east - It is no coincidence that our civilisation has flourished while theirs has atrophied. A mere glance at countries like Pakistan and Lebanon can attest to the superiority of our belief structure over theirs:

We encourage debate we revel in difference and we marvel at the new. The prime driver of our civilisation is truth. Our growth engine science would collapse without critical reviews. While most of us don’t like the gay lifestyle we are happy to let them exist in peace and prosperity. Most of us loath dance shows yet we don’t go around imprisoning dancers....as much as we would want to.

The Western Alliance is built on individual rights and equality under the law. It values an open market where ideas are free to compete. What do our detractors value? The misogynistic and subjective views of a few old farts who are content to live in a static 7th century reenactment.

Party on

Tim of PrideVille

The holocaust has not been overstated and the 6 million figure is conservative. It is also true that others made up the lion share of those killed, but Jews were more than decimated, they were reduced by over a third and this is a verifiable figure having been arrived at by much study. Nazis were mechanical in their bureaucracy and before they began killing Jews, they identified them by making them answer questions on Census documents after each part of Europe fell. They not only identified Jewish peoples who identified as Jewish, but Jewish peoples who were related to those identifying as Jewish.
For some, self identifying was a source of pride. Rweports indicate that when the killings commenced, rumors spread and many did not believe them. I lost relatives in Holland. My Grandmother's aunty was placed in a concentration camp, and she had medical issues. The Nazis sent requests for medication for years after she was thought to have died. The family supplied the Nazis in the vein hope of helping her. One relative of mine, a male, survived, but became a recluse and is said to have spoken to himself in the years following, and was subject to sudden outbursts of anger.
You are correct, Tim, to say that "The real atrocity is judging people on a collective basis." - ed
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Liberal One-Two Punch: Education and Media
By Bill O'Reilly
Yet another tape has surfaced showing schoolchildren reciting political words, this one in North Carolina:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHILDREN: Change has come.

UNIDENETIFIED MALE: Hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uniting blacks and whites.

CHILDREN: Hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being both Obama cannot take sides.

CHILDREN: Hope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I make America better?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I make America better?

CHILDREN: Can we make America better? Yes, yes, we can. Yes, yes, we can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Now there is nothing wrong with the message there. Kids should be encouraged to make America better. But it is quite clear that in this case — and the New Jersey case where kids sang about Obama making America strong again — that the teachers involved are indoctrinating their students to approve of President Obama.

That's wrong. No public school should be injecting politics into the lesson plan. Respecting the president is fine; endorsing policy is not.

According to the largest teachers union in the country, the National Education Association, donations by teachers to the Democratic Party were ten times those to the Republican Party. Ten to one.

In 2008, the American Federation of Teachers union says just one percent of political donations went to the GOP; 99 percent to the Democrats. So there is no question that America's teachers are solidly liberal, and the kids have to be picking that up.

Then they come home and turn on the media where liberalism runs wild, both in news and entertainment. According to a Pew Research study, 32 percent of national newspeople say they are liberal; just 8 percent describe themselves as conservative. The rest say they are moderate.

So this is some one-two punch for the left. They control the classrooms and the media, so young Americans basically are hearing liberal philosophy all day long.

The attacks on the FOX News Channel bear this out. FNC is the only TV news organization in the country where traditional/conservative voices are given a prominent role. The left hates that, and the attacks on me, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are unrelenting, personal and hateful.

But back to the kids. If the educational system and the media industry are both dedicated to promoting liberal beliefs, how long will it be before the USA becomes a secular-progressive country? Peer pressure is a powerful force among young Americans. It's a lot easier to get along if you go along. This is indeed a very dangerous situation.
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FIRE LIT
Tim Blair
Long-awaited news on a certain maritime incident:
At least one asylum seeker intentionally set fire to a boat that exploded off Ashmore Reef, a Northern Territory Police investigation has found …

The boat, known as SIEV 36, was carrying 47 asylum seekers and two Indonesian crew when it exploded while being escorted by the Australian Navy in April, leaving five people dead and injuring dozens more.
Kevin Rudd is yet to comment. Meanwhile:
Two navy vessels have intercepted another suspected asylum seeker boat off Australia’s north-west coast.

It is the fourth boat to be intercepted this week …

More than 1500 people have arrived on 30 unauthorised vessels so far this year.
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DUST SPEAKS
Tim Blair
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Elizabeth Farrelly on the meaning of dust:

Talk about a cry for help. French farmers have to make do with blockading the Champs Elysees or whatever. But our plucky paysannes can now send their dust to speak for them.

And speak it does, in great billowing gobbets. Not just to Macquarie Street, either …

The country flexes its muscle, and its message is this: dust can steal Sydney’s éclat, its very Sydney-ness.

Elizabeth may have been thinking about this a little too much. Although it seems she was pretty much losing it even on the very day of Sydney’s dust storm:
Stop! I wanted to yell. Don’t you get it? This is the very solipsism that brought us here.
When you’re inclined to yell at people in the street about solipsism, it’s time to take a step back and reconsider matters.
If, however, you’re a whale …
Talk about a cry for help.

UPDATE. A BBC report from earlier this week:

Environmentalists have raised concerns that another giant dust storm blowing its way across eastern Australia may contain radioactive particles.

It is argued that sediment whipped up from Australia’s centre may be laced with material from a uranium mine …

David Bradbury, a renowned filmmaker and activist, claims the haze that engulfed some of the country’s biggest cities in the past week contains radioactive grains - or tailings - carried on gale force winds from a mine in the South Australian desert.

“Given the dust storms… which [the] news said originated from Woomera, and which is right next door to the Olympic Dam mine at Roxby Downs, these [storms] could blow those tailings across the face of Australia,” Mr Bradbury asserted.

According to this fear-mongering idiocy, “some environmental campaigners believe that the dry, metallic-tasting sediment could threaten the health of millions of other Australians.”
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CHANGE
Tim Blair
Then.

Now.

UPDATE:

Then. Then. Then.

Now. Now. Now.

UPDATE II. And now I’m blocked:
Forbidden

You don’t have permission to access this server.
Oh well.

UPDATE III. Jim Treacher’s view.

UPDATE IV. “I see LGF is accusing you of cherry-picking and hyperbole,” emails CL. “Remember when lying liar Obama was best buddies with Louis Farrakhan because they were on the same magazine cover?” Of course, that was then. This is now.