Lawyer for Sept. 11 suspect Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali says his client will plead not guilty, but that he and the four other suspects will not deny role in attacks. - just guessing, but I think they felt they were at war with anyone who lead a good life. - ed.
GOP: Frauds in Health Bill
GOP senator compares health care bill to Ponzi scheme, says its long on promises, short on accounting - I guess the Democrats are keen to vote in a permanent pork barrel. - ed
Israel Close to Deal for Captive Soldier?
Prisoner exchange deal to release kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit takes important step forward
Radiation Leak at Three Mile Island
Employees checked for exposure after radiation detected at the central Pennsylvania nuclear facility
Premier claims there was no sex
MIKE Rann has put his wife on the phone to reporters to refute claims that he had an affair.
Rann denies sex with waitress
THE estranged husband of a woman who claims she had an affair with a premier speaks out.
South Australian Premier Mike Rann to take legal action against Channel 7
SOUTH Australian Premier Mike Rann will be taking legal action against Channel Seven and New Idea following allegations that he had sex with a former waitress at Parliament House. - now he is behaving like a guilty person. His problem was not having the affair, if he did, but in covering it up. - ed
ADHD guidelines pulled after drug scandal
CONTROVERSIAL guidelines on ADHD pulled after claims of drug company payments to a doctor.
Climate expert 'cheered' by Aussie's death
EMAILS leaked by hackers show a British climate change expert gloating about an Aussie's death.
Thousands caught cheating at universities
THE number of students caught cheating is on the rise, according to the results of an investigation.
Girl, 12, rescues drowning toddler brother
A 12-year-old girl has been praised for saving her toddler brother from nearly drowning in a pool after performing CPR she only learnt at school the week before.
Police arrests 30 schoolies overnight
POLICE have praised the behaviour of schoolies despite 30 arrests overnight.
Flooded Britain braces for more rain
BRITAIN'S flood-hit northwest is bracing for more devastation after river levels rose again and forecasters warned of more rain.
Bureaucrats pay 'a slap in face' to teachers
THE Queensland Government has defended paying $440,000 and more in salaries to Queensland Education bureaucrats at the same time it had a bitter pay dispute with teachers.
We had botox and Brazilians, cougars and Carrie. Name the top moment and see how we experimented more, but learned less.
Rann slams 'malicious' sex talk
PREMIER comes out fighting after "friend" tells of sex on his office desk in paid television interview
Island detention centre inmates run riot
ASYLUM-seekers attacked each other with broom handles during a bloody detention centre fight.
Gen Y buyers facing first home blockade
BABY Boomers and Gen Xers stay put, making it harder for Gen Y to get into the housing market.
Bouncer's foot almost severed by machete
A BOUNCER'S foot was almost cut off in a savage attack involving 10 men outside a nightclub.
New baby joy for mother of murdered trio
MOTHER of three children murdered by their dad finds love again and gives birth to a boy.
Katie lunged at me, Greg Bird says
THE rugby player who glassed his girlfriend wants to "set the story straight", a court hears. - what Bird fails to get is that it wasn't right for him to glass her .. there is no excuse. - ed.
=== Comments ===
'Factor' Debut, Part 2: Sarah Palin Discusses Obama, Iran, Afghanistan
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," November 20, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET!
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: President Obama, you said, somebody asked you give him a grade. You gave him a four out of 10.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS: Where do you rate Barack Obama?
PALIN: A four. A four. I think there are a lot of decisions being made that I and probably the majority of Americans are not impressed with right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: So you think that he's not doing a good job?
Click here to watch Sarah Palin in the No Spin Zone!
SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: No, I think in the two areas that I am most concerned about, national security, there's some questionable actions that he's taken so recently that I believe weakens our country and our security.
O'REILLY: Give me an example. I mean, what is he doing wrong?
PALIN: Gitmo. We decide we're going to close Gitmo without a security plan? We're going to bring Mohammed over here? And we're going to create this circus atmosphere here in New York and try this terrorist in our court system that is reserved under our Constitution for American citizens to be able to have their rights exercised. That's a problem.
O'REILLY: OK, so Gitmo and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are mistakes. And I agree on both of them. I put them — if you had to close Guantanamo Bay for PR purposes, which is, you know, what their argument is, I'd put them in Alaska. I'd put them away up in Alaska. I'd build a little prison up there way away from everybody and see how they like it up there.
PALIN: You know, we do have a vacated base up there.
O'REILLY: Sure.
PALIN: And that too, where perhaps…
O'REILLY: Let me…
PALIN: ...but hey, let's hear what Alaskans would say about that. Terrorists on our homeland.
O'REILLY: You know what I think Alaskans would say? Yeah, come on, bring them on up. Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 88, Alaska, minus 15. OK. Barack Obama, socialist?
PALIN: Scares me the road that he has us on, not seeming to understand what it is that built up America's economic system, the free enterprise principles, the shrinkage of government, not the expansion to allow the private sector to grow and to thrive and to do what it does best and our families keep more of what they earned, so that they can reinvest and prioritize instead of government doing it for them, which is a step towards socialism. So some of the steps we're taking economically right now scare the heck out of me.
O'REILLY: Do you think that he wants to change the country into an entitlement society?
PALIN: We're going to see, depending on his cap and tax bill that he will no doubt support coming out of Congress, that the health care bill, whatever that's going to cost us and whatever the answers are there to all of our questions about the health care, we're going to see, if he decides that he can kind of shift gears, change course, and move us back to more of a free enterprise, free market principles that built up this country, then my answer to you is going to be no, he's not hell-bent on changing the capitalist society that we are. But if he is stubborn about this, then my answer to you is going to be well, his actions speak louder than our words, and yes, he's going to change our capitalistic society.
O'REILLY: You ever talked to Obama? Have you ever spoken to him one-on-one to any extent?
PALIN: Not to any extent. I've met him twice, but...
O'REILLY: You've met him twice.
PALIN: Yes.
O'REILLY: But it's just hi, how are you?
PALIN: Yes.
O'REILLY: That kind of thing?
PALIN: Yes.
O'REILLY: You think he's smart?
PALIN: I think he's very smart.
O'REILLY: Honest, do you think he's honest?
PALIN: I think that he has told us some things in the campaign. I think that he's told us some things early on in his presidency that have not come to fruition. He was all about positive change, and I think a lot of Americans are believing that the change that he's ushering in isn't necessarily positive.
O'REILLY: Well, he says it is. I'm — you're a conservative, so you don't like it, but…
PALIN: How — positive in terms of creating debt for our children?
O'REILLY: No, but he says, you know what the arguments are. I mean, he says that, look, a lot of Americans can't afford health insurance, the insurance companies are out of control, I've got to get them under control. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. You know, that's his point of view.
PALIN: Let's get the health care problems under control then. But let's use free market, results-oriented, patient-centered solutions to do that. Tort reform, he's not embracing any of those ideas. Getting rid of the waste and fraud that he insists today, if we would just get a handle on that, we could pay for this one point.
O'REILLY: Well, he says he's going to get rid of the waste.
PALIN: Let's do it right now then.
O'REILLY: One of the amusing points of your book for me was that you wanted to do the Reverend Wright dance. You wanted to get Reverend Wright up there and ram it right down Barack Obama's throat. Why?
PALIN: Well, I believe that it's not negative campaigning or off-base to call someone out on their associations, and Reverend Wright was a close associate of Barack Obama's for 20 years. And...
O'REILLY: What's wrong with Reverend Wright?
PALIN: Any reverend who would say “God damn America,” there is something wrong with him and his beliefs.
O'REILLY: Do you believe Barack Obama when he said he didn't know Reverend Wright was that radical? Do you believe him?
PALIN: Over 20 years of being in the pew of Reverend Wright's church, surely you would think there would be something spewed from the pulpit that didn't quite sound right for America, over 20 years. Maybe he just happened to miss those particular sermons though.
O'REILLY: You look a little skeptical.
PALIN: I don't know. But my point is in the campaign, I did. I wanted to talk about the associations and the past voting record, too, and the experience, the 150 days in the U.S. Senate, building a foundation of experience. I wanted to talk about things like that. But we didn't. And I think that there was some unfairness there again to the electorate.
O'REILLY: But again, you know, I'm sitting there and I'm going, they told you not to bring up Reverend Wright because McCain didn't want to do it. And you said to them what?
PALIN: Well, I said that I would want to talk about it.
O'REILLY: But you didn't make it a crushing point. See, I think I would maybe grabbed McCain's tie.
PALIN: No, no, no.
O'REILLY: And pulled him over, and said you got to do this.
PALIN: You know what? We did. And I'm going to give McCain some respect on this one, too. What I did in the rallies and up there at a podium, I put it — this empowerment in the hands of the voters, of the people who were there and were watching. And I said, it's not off-base to call a candidate out on their record and their associations, and it's not negative campaigning. In other words, hey you guys, if we're not going to do it, voters, you do it.
O'REILLY: But it's stunning that you wanted to do it and the McCain people said you couldn't do it. And you know, that might have, particularly in places like Pennsylvania, made a difference because Reverend Wright obviously is a very controversial guy.
One more question about President Obama. A lot of people are very nervous about him now. He's not having a good time in the White House now. You pointed out his lack of experience. You don't have that much experience. You walked away from the governorship after, what, two years, 2.5 years?
PALIN: Going into my lame duck session, my fourth legislative session deciding I wasn't going to run again and not wanting to put Alaskans through a lame duck session.
O'REILLY: OK, but is it fair for you to criticize Obama's lack of experience when somebody could make the same criticism about you on the national stage?
PALIN: If you're talking about executive experience, I would put my experience up against his any day of the week. I've been elected to a local office since 1992 and was the city manager, strong leader form of government, was a chief executive of the state, was an oil and gas regulator. There was some good experience there that could have been put to use in a vice presidential ticket. We have to remember, too, that I wasn't running for president.
O'REILLY: Now, but that's the key question because John McCain is up there in years. You had to be qualified to take that office over.
PALIN: Right, but I'm saying I was running for vice president just like Joe Biden in running for vice president. I've never once heard you or anybody else question Joe Biden and his experience. He…
O'REILLY: Well, he's got a lot of experience. Let me be very bold and fresh again. Do you believe that you are smart enough, incisive enough, intellectual enough to handle the most powerful job in the world?
PALIN: I believe that I am because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many other American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the kind of a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with some kind of elite Ivy League education and a fact resume that's based on anything but hard work and private sector, free enterprise principles. Americans could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I'm not saying that has to be me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: Well, after speaking with Governor Palin, I do believe she has huge political ambitions. As always, I could be wrong.
But coming next, there are grave threats against America, including Iran. Governor Palin will address those threats after these messages.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'REILLY: Continuing now with our lead story, a major policy interview with Sarah Palin. As you may know, Iran presents a very dangerous threat to the USA.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: Sarah Palin is called upon in 2012 to run for president whether it be in the Republican Party or in an Independent party. And I'm going to interview you then. And I'm going to say, look, Iran is this far away from getting a nuclear weapon, this far away. How are you going to stop them?
Click here to watch Sarah Palin in the No Spin Zone!
PALIN: Let's start considering the sanctions that we should have been applying already, especially in this past year. Let's start looking at cutting off their imports of refined petroleum products.
O'REILLY: Does that mean a blockade, a naval blockade?
PALIN: We need to at least be willing to do such a thing and discuss it with our allies. And we need to be working closely with France and Britain, or other allies whom we can count on even.
O'REILLY: But they're already onboard. The primary…
PALIN: They're on board with what though? What were…
O'REILLY: They're onboard with economic sanctions against Iran. Do you know the country that isn't onboard, that's causing all the trouble here?
PALIN: Well, we have to question Russia's commitment to all this also.
O'REILLY: Excellent. Russia is the problem.
PALIN: Right.
O'REILLY: Russia will not stop gas going in. The embargo means nothing. Putin's saying look, I'm not helping you out unless you give me sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. And Sarah Palin running for president says what?
PALIN: Well, we need to send that message that we are the superpower of the world and it's not a…
O'REILLY: How do you do that?
PALIN: By working closely with our other allies also, so that Putin...
O'REILLY: He doesn't care.
PALIN: ...heeds what we're doing. He's got to care.
O'REILLY: Why?
PALIN: Because he's got relationships with these other countries also. We have to show the support for each one of our allies. With Israel, we cannot get into Israel, for instance, and say we're going to tell you whether the Jewish community can expand or not expand within your borders. Instead, what we need to do is tell Israel that we will — we'll go to bat for them.
O'REILLY: Well, what does that mean though? Look, say Israel, say Netanyahu says — calls you up and says, I'm bombing them, I'm bombing Iran, they're too close, I'm not going to let it happen. What do you say? You say go ahead, Netanyahu, go bomb them? What do you say?
PALIN: Oh my gosh, any kind of war strike is the absolute last option.
O'REILLY: All right, so you, you say no.
PALIN: That anybody would…
O'REILLY: But he's saying to you, you guys aren't going to be able to stop him.
PALIN: That's why we cannot let the world get to the place that you're talking about right now.
O'REILLY: Well, we're already there.
PALIN: No, we're not. We're not quite there yet. There is still hope. But what we have to do is exert the pressure that America can put on our allies and on those who are not so friendly.
O'REILLY: Obama says he's doing all that.
PALIN: He's bowing to world leaders and I think any other president in our country…
O'REILLY: Do you mean that literally, the Japanese emperor?
PALIN: I mean that literally.
O'REILLY: Do you think Obama's weak abroad?
PALIN: I believe that his approach to diplomacy is not what history has shown us works. What works in my mind, reading the history book, is what Reagan did. And that was to let the rest of the world know that America can be independent in a sense that we have the resources so that we won't be reliant on other countries to feed us and to feed our economy. But what Reagan did, I think what was the right thing, he boiled it all down to this. He looked at our enemies, enemies around the world, and he said, we win, you lose. That's what I want to see and feel and hear from our new administration, from President Obama.
O'REILLY: But that's what Bush did, and it got him into all kinds of trouble because the world didn't like the Bush doctrine, unilateral action, OK? He crippled Al Qaeda. Bush crippled Al Qaeda, but in the process got us bogged down in Iraq and got world opinion against the USA.
PALIN: President Bush and his policies kept our homeland safe for those years after 9/11.
O'REILLY: No doubt.
PALIN: And I think we need to learn from some of the policies that he implemented there, too. And I would like to see President Obama acknowledge that Bush was successful in that arena.
O'REILLY: He's never going to do that.
PALIN: What I'd like to see is a shift from this 9/10 policy that it seems that Obama perhaps is embracing, and we start looking more at the 9/12 policies. And that…
O'REILLY: Well, that's what you would do.
PALIN: That's what I would do.
O'REILLY: But Obama isn't going to do that unless he's forced to it.
Afghanistan, the U.S. ambassador says don't send in the 40,000 troops, this is such a corrupt place. Obama doesn't really know what to do at this point. We think he's going to send troops in, but he's been, what, 16, 17 weeks now. A lot of people think you cannot win in Afghanistan, you cannot impose democracy on that nation.
PALIN: It's going to be so tough. It's going to be so tough but Iraq was tough, too. And when that surge strategy was finally implemented, we started to see the victorious steps taken in Iraq. Let's repeat that in Afghanistan. Granted conditions are different, geographical conditions are different than Afghanistan. But Obama asked back in March a new strategy. He tasked McChrystal with coming up with something. McChrystal then found the strategy, and now all these months later, Obama still hasn't been able to make up his mind in terms of our commitment to victory in Afghanistan. I think…
O'REILLY: Do you think it's possible for victory in Afghanistan? Is it possible?
PALIN: I do. It has to be. We have got to be victorious in Afghanistan or the terror cells are going to grow. And what is Al Qaeda's goal? What is Al Qaeda's goal? Growing those terror cells so they can come and destroy America. That's what Al Qaeda is for, is for that.
O'REILLY: But if you have a corrupt Afghan government, that the people don't support, no matter how many troops you send in there, it isn't going to work. That's the problem in Afghanistan.
PALIN: Well.
O'REILLY: The Karzai government is a bunch of corrupt people.
PALIN: Karzai is an imperfect leader. Every world leader is. We need to be working with him. We have no choice. We have got to win in Afghanistan. We have to send in the reinforcements, and I say this as a mom of an infantryman who could ultimately end up over there, which scares me. Of course I know that for the future of our world, we have got to — we've got to get rid of the terrorists over there and not allow those cells to grow.
O'REILLY: On that note, the Al Qaeda leadership's still hiding in Pakistan. Do you go in and get them?
PALIN: There's some encouraging steps taken there in Pakistan, where internally they're cracking down on the terrorists within. That's some progress that we had been hoping for for quite some time. So that's encouraging.
O'REILLY: China? We can't do anything to China because they prop up our economy. They yelled at Obama when he went over there. The U.S. dollar going down the drain. Are you comfortable with China owning a trillion dollars worth of U.S. currency? Are you comfortable with that?
PALIN: I'm not comfortable with U.S. policy today that is allowing China to own so much of America.
O'REILLY: It's free enterprise. They have the money. They can buy it.
PALIN: With our debt — what isn't right about this though is that we're continuing to grow our debt, continuing for allow this situation that we're in, where we're beholden to China and to others. We can't look at China and be blaming them right now for problems that we're causing ourselves by spending too much money and growing government.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: Now on Monday, Sarah Palin will tell us whether she will lead a populist movement in America, perhaps a third party in 2012.
===
GOOD GROUPING
Tim Blair
Massive respect for the shooters of Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hasan:
Hasan has been told he has permanent paralysis … Hasan has no feeling from the chest down and has limited movement in his arms.Imagine being such a good shot that you’re able to hit the spine of someone who is spineless. In other good news, Hasan is no longer considered a flight risk.
===
SARAHPHOBIA II
Tim Blair
Adrienne Ross reports an egg attack following a Sarah Palin book signing in New York:
Crazy man just walked in, thru eggs at a stack of Sarah’s books, said ‘sorry I missed her!’ & left.He had to get home in time to feed the beagles.
===
BUCKET MAN
Tim Blair
To hell with mere starvation quests. Business activist (and celebrated bikini entrepreneur) Peter Gifford – the former Midnight Oil member who should be in government – has a much clearer analysis of climate change protests:
Step 1: Raise awareness by wearing the green bucket.How easy is that?
Step 2: Give the government bucketloads of money (this happens automatically via new taxes so we really don’t have to do anything).
Step 3: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stops climate change by giving our money to the United Nations.
Giffo’s strategy is based around very serious bucket-based economic and philosophical principles. As he explains, “the bucket is the standard measure of money for government and UN projects”. Lately, Giffo – a businessman and employer now driven to mock excessive regulation and financial penalties after decades of both – has taken his campaign to Sydney bars, where the Green Bucket of Awareness is delightfully prominent:
Future Green Bucket Days will be announced here. Other businesses should join in. Oh, and if you’re a leftoid who thrills to Midnight Oil tunes recorded from 1980-87, do continue enjoying arch-capitalist Gifford’s excellent bass lines. Or just check out his website … also featuring excellent lines.
===
CRU RUDD
Tim Blair
Displaying his usual keen grasp of science, and not in any way seeking a distraction from events involving certain Sri Lankan boating enthusiasts, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week addressed the Parliament.
There had been, Rudd revealed, a crucial incident in Melbourne.
It was an incident that would shape our national future and determine core government policy. An incident pivotal in Australia’s history. An incident that, were it not for Rudd’s insight, may have passed with little notice.
Melbourne, he told Parliament, had experienced a hot November evening.
===
POLEY POSITION
Tim Blair
Australian Marcos Ambrose shortly begins the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway …
… but it won’t be long before he’s back to being a regular bloke – if a 30-hour plane flight from Miami to Tasmania isn’t considered long. After being away from his native Australia for the past 10 months, Ambrose is more than excited to know he’ll soon be home.A 30-hour flight? Prepare for poley bear precipitation of profound proportions.
===
Money talks: The Age is wrong
Andrew Bolt
The Age reports that buyers of beachside Melbourne properties don’t believe the paper’s spin on global warming:
HOUSE prices in bayside communities vulnerable to the impact of climate change continue to soar, with residents expecting the Government to protect communities against any threat of inundation.Ah, and more spin right there. The Age explains it away by claiming people simply expect the government to protect it from the great seas to be unleashed by global warming.
Here’s another explanation - albeit one not canvassed by The Age. Maybe these people just think the talk of fast-rising seas is pure bull.
===
Catastrophe, or nothing to detect: pick which study to believe
Andrew Bolt
Two questions, as you read the news release from Bristol University.
First, which of the two contrasting conclusions - that the world is choking on our gases, and that it’s not - do you think got the big media treatment? Second, which of the two was written by someone from the Climatic Research Unit of Professor Phil Jones at East Anglia University?
First, the way The Australian reported the latest of these two papers:
THE world is spinning toward a catastrophic climate change scenario, with temperatures now far more likely to rise by 6C by the end of the century, a leading international team of scientists has warned. The study by Professor Corinne Le Quere, from the British Antarctic Survey and East Anglia University,Next, the Bristol University release, noting the contrast to a paper just 10 days earlier:
According to research published this week in Nature Geoscience, emissions of carbon dioxide continue to outstrip the ability of the world’s natural ‘sinks’ to absorb carbon.And all this does not resolve the central question, of course: would increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, even if they were occuring, warm the world dangerously, anyway?
The new report follows another study published only ten days earlier by Dr Wolfgang Knorr in Geophysical Research Letters, which concludes that a decline in the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans to absorb CO2 cannot be detected within the available data.
Both studies involved researchers from the University of Bristol’s QUEST programme on climate change and earth system modelling.
About two thirds of the carbon dioxide we emit into the atmosphere is taken up by natural sinks on land and in the ocean. An important issue for policymakers in Copenhagen next month will be whether or not the ability of these natural sinks to absorb emissions is declining.
The Nature Geoscience team, under the umbrella of the Global Carbon Project, found that over the past 50 years the average fraction of global CO2 emissions that remained in the atmosphere each year has likely increased from 40 per cent to 45 per cent, suggesting a decrease in the efficiency of the natural sinks such as the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. The team brings evidence that the sinks are responding to climate change and variability.
Dr Wolfgang Knorr’s study on the other hand found no increase in the airborne fraction during the past 50 years and that the trend was in fact negative at -0.2 ± 1.7% per decade, which is essentially zero. He therefore concluded that the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems and the oceans to absorb CO2 has not diminished.
Both studies are based on atmospheric composition data and statistical data on energy use and land use change, but differ in the way they calculate the trend, how they treat uncertainties in atmospheric concentrations, and how they account for confounding climatic variability.
Knorr explains: “Our apparently conflicting results demonstrate what doing cutting-edge science is really like and just how difficult it is to accurately quantify such data. We are just at the very edge of being able to detect a trend in the airborne fraction.
Thing is, of course, that one of these papers seems to rule out any increase that we can blame for the warming up to 2001.
===
Bringing the trouble they fled from
Andrew Bolt
That’s 150 applications for asylum here that we no longer need to consider:
A BRAWL on Christmas Island involving 150 detainees has injured 37 Afghans and Sri Lankans, several of them seriously.UPDATE
Fairfax and News Ltd newspapers say 10 of the detainees were taken to the island’s hospital and three of the more seriously hurt – one with a broken leg, one with a broken jaw and one with a broken nose – were flown to Perth for treatment.
It’s bad new for Australia, of course. It was bad enough when Indians were being bashed here, causing us to be accused of racism - even by Eddie McGuire. Now that Sri Lankans and Afghans are being bashed as well, our shame is complete.
===
Do you feel lucky, warmist punk?
Andrew Bolt
The Rudd Government had better pray that this is a bluff they can afford to ignore, because the consequences could be lethal to it:
COAL-FIRED power companies are warning of price volatility, threats to future power supply, a collapse in the electricity market and even a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the government unless they win a big increase in compensation under the emissions trading scheme—one of the final sticking points in negotiations between the Rudd government and Malcolm Turnbull’s divided Coalition.===
Free cash down the school drain
Andrew Bolt
Free money is splashed so easily:
A MELBOURNE school principal has accused government-appointed consultants of overquoting for a project funded by federal stimulus cash.===
The case has renewed concerns about alleged waste and lack of transparency in the $14.7 billion Building the Education Revolution program.
Berwick Lodge Primary has been told by a project manager acting on behalf of the state Education Department that it would cost more than $200,000 to relocate a sewer and stormwater drain to enable a new library and six classrooms to be built.
But school principal Henry Grossek has obtained independent quotes that put the cost as low as $60,000.
What will hurt Rann most
Andrew Bolt
I doubt many people watching Sunday Night would doubt that Michelle Chantelois had sex with Premier Mike Rann when she worked as a barmaid in Parliament:
THERE was sex involved. There was sexual contact and intimacy involved .... both at the Parliament House in his room....Of course, there will be plenty of people, perhaps rightly, that all this is trivial and nobody else’s business. Excluding her husband, that is.
”He had me on his desk, his Parliament house desk, in his office… We would go parking at the North Adelaide golf course. It was always late in the evenings, dark, nobody could see us. I’m ashamed to say it but yes intimacy was involved.
But Rann apparently deceiving voters about this - and political reporters - will hurt him most, especially when he went to these lengths:
Labor figures said yesterday that privately Mr Rann was “quite emphatic” there was no sex. But senior party sources said this may be because the Premier had told his second wife, Sasha Carruozzo, and her conservative Italian family that the relationship was platonic.UPDATE
Mr Rann has telephoned selected Adelaide political reporters and put his wife on the phone to tell them she believed her husband’s version of events.
Note that the denial made by Rann were made by “Labor figures” and “his office” - but not by the Premier in public. In fact, in his statement today, he does not specifically deny the sex at all:
South Australian Premier Mike Rann says the interview confession of a married waitress alleging they had a sexual affair contained some ‘‘totally false’’ allegations.Some people have had their credibility severely burned by the Premier, and may not like it.
But the Premier, in his first public comment on the controversy, did not deny he had a sexual relationship with the woman, Michelle Chantelois.
It’s the cover-up that gets you, every time.
===
Climategate latest
Andrew Bolt
Slowly seeping into the local media.
The Australian:
COMPUTER hackers have broken into Britain’s leading climate science research centre, making public thousands of private emails between top climate change scientists and, in the process, laying bare their bitter disagreements about the cause of climate change.Tim Blair in the Daily Telegraph:
Should they be proved genuine, which is looking likely at this point, in the absence of any denials, these emails are absolute dynamite.Sydney Morning Herald (devoting an entire artice to the defence):
A leading climate change scientist whose private emails are included in thousands of documents stolen by hackers and posted online says the leaks may have been aimed at undermining next month’s global climate summit in Denmark.Prominent climate scientist Roger Pielke Sr says we now need to review the extent of the hijacking of the IPCC:
The challenge to the IPCC community, now that their duplicity has been exposed, is to communicate to all of us why the peer-reviewed papers that we documented, and that were available in time for the IPCC review process, were considered “bad papers” and thus ignored in the IPCC report. A balanced assessment would comment on these papers, and provide the reason they disagree with their results.===
WONG DODGES
Tim Blair
Barnaby Joyce just raised the CRU email scandal in the Senate. In response, Penny Wong characterised the emails as a “free exchange of views on climate change” then spent the remainder of her answer talking about the 2007 election.
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SMOKE NEAR YOUR CHILDREN INSTEAD
Tim Blair
Smoking near your Apple computer may void its warranty.
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Rudd’s a liar if he doesn’t give Alex his deal
Andrew Bolt
You know that “non-extraordinary” offer to the Oceanic Viking passengers that Kevin Rudd claimed wasn’t a ”special deal” at all?
Now 250 other Tamil asylum seekers are refusing to get off another ship in Indonesia unless they get this non-special deal, too:
Although the Indonesians have withdrawn the threat of deporting them back to Sri Lanka, the Tamils are now demanding to be fast-tracked for resettlement in the same way as the 78 asylum-seekers who were last week lured off the Oceanic Viking.What, are they calling Rudd a liar, too?
”We want to be treated the same,” Alex said.
Of course, if the Oceanic Viking deal really is as unspecial as Rudd claims, he’ll have no problem telling Alex he can have it, too, right? Problem solved
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Re-dividing Australia by race
Andrew Bolt
And the racist gravy train resumes, five years after the utter failure and scandalous rorting of ATSIC:
ALMOST five years after the abolition of ATSIC, the Rudd government has announced details of a new national indigenous representative body, which will receive $30 million in funding.That’s $30 million almost certainly wasted. And that’s a racial division once more formalised by a new Aboriginal parliament and a racist deceit made law. The people on this committee are not “first peoples”, but people of mixed ancestry who were born no earlier than many other Australians without Aboriginal ancestry. The “first” are long dead.
Members of the new National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples will be subject to unprecedented probity checks to avoid the corruption problems that besieged ATSIC, and will be made up equally of men and women…
The committee had said $200m was needed over 10 years from government, corporate and philanthropic sources.
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So little said of so much interest
Andrew Bolt
The refusal of the mainstream media to properly cover the great global warming conspiracy revealed in the CRU’s leaked emails is in marked contrast to their readers’ interest in hearing more. Check the most-viewed counters of those papers and sites that have at least mentioned it:
Most viewed on guardian.co.uk:
1. Gang ‘killed victims to extract their fat’Most viewed on news.com.au:
2. Climate sceptics claim leaked emails are evidence of collusion among scientists
3. Calls from Angela Merkel told Tony Blair he would not get EU’s top job
4. Kate Moss’s motto gives comfort to ‘pro-anorexic’ community
Climate expert ‘cheered’ by Aussie’s deathMost view on The Australian:
Facebook bikini photo ‘cut insurance’
Rann slams ‘malicious’ sex talk
Australian Idol winner announced
Bouncer’s foot almost severed by machete
Waitress tells of sex with PremierMost viewed on the Los Angeles Times:
Hackers expose climate brawl
Deans reaches rock bottom
Sceptic shows his true colours
1. Iran begins air-defense drills to protect nuclear sitesMost viewed on London’s Daily Telegraph website:
2. Centrist senators say healthcare bill needs major changes
3. Bishop asked Kennedy to stop taking Communion
4. Reaction to Senate healthcare vote offers a preview of 2010 campaigns
5. Understanding China
6. Sports books lose some juice
7. Golf courses suffer as recession deals a bogey
8. Fox News rolls wrong video of Palin crowds
9. Lean years require a shift in how you give to charity
10. A climate change dust-up
Societe Generale tells clients how to prepare for potential ‘global collapse’
Iraq report: Secret papers reveal blunders and concealment
Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming’?
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