Headlines Thursday 31st December 2009

While Time magazine called it the 'decade from hell,' it wasn't all bad. 'The aughts' saw broken glass ceilings and the fall of Saddam Hussein — take a look at the best and worst in politics at the start of the 21st century.

Obituary

Abdurrahman ad-Dakhil Wahid (7 September 1940 – 30 December 2009), colloquially known as Gus Dur, was an Indonesian Muslim religious and political leader who served as the President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. The long-time president of the Nahdlatul Ulama and the founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Wahid was the first elected president of Indonesia after the resignation of Suharto in 1998. Like many Indonesian names, "Abdurrahman Wahid", does not contain a family name. The name "Wahid" is patronymic.

Intel Agencies On Defensive
Defense officials, lawmakers start to point fingers after failed terror attack amid demands for 'accountability'

Terror Plot Smoking Gun?
CIA had detailed report on Nigerian man well before attempted plane bombing, but report's distribution was held up over lack of photo, source tells Fox News

Defense Bill Pays for Sprinkler System
Obama goes against promise to veto pork-barrel bills with $636 billion defense behemoth carrying $4.2 billion of pork

Abuse Claims Down College Coach
Texas Tech football coach fired as team prepares for Alamo Bowl after injured player alleges abuse

State Attorneys: Health Deal Illegal
13 GOP attorney generals threaten legal action if Congress doesn't remove Nebraska deal from health bill


Residents have questioned why they only received text alerts about the devastating Toodyay fire more than two hours after it started. The blaze eventually destroyed 37 homes. - the ALP govt left a mess. - ed.

Turn the boats away, says Abbott
TONY Abbott says he's got the guts to turn asylum boat people away, unlike the Prime Minister.

Party hard but safe this New Year's Eve
NEW Year's Eve revellers are being told to stay off the booze and play it safe, but still have fun.

Jessica battles her toughest time yet
JESSICA Watson says the Southern Ocean's been the worst part of her round the world sail.

How your life changes from tomorrow
WORKERS will get more rights, the first-home boost will end and IVF will cost more from midnight.

Where the bloody hell is my $250K car?
LARA Bingle's $250,000 Aston Martin has been stolen in what appears to be a targeted attack.

Barman sacked for pokie 'tip-off' scam
POLICE will investigate a Sydney barman who was sacked for selling "useless" information to hotel patrons revealing the payout history of poker machines.

Creepy crawlies hit Sydney

THEY are heavily armed and efficient predators _ and they're on the move. Weeks of hot, dry weather followed by recent rain has brought creepy crawlies out to invade backyards, laundries and pools in Sydney and regional centres. The conditions, and factors such as urban development and lots of pollen, has snakes, spiders, stinging caterdhpillars, bees, paper wasps and other bities looking for food or a mate.

Civilians die in suicide attack at US base
EIGHT American civilians have been killed in a suicide attack on a US military base in Afghanistan.
=== Journalists Corner ===

All American New Year
Celebrate our nation, our troops, and some of the hottest musical guests!
Plus, your texts and shouts outs could be on the air!
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Sarah Palin Sounds Off!
Don't miss this encore presentation of the interview that had America talking!
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Terror on Trial
Al Qaeda terrorists to stand trial steps from Ground Zero! Now, the victim's families speak out!
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Countdown to New Year's
Glenn reflects on his first year at Fox and looks back at the show's best moments.
=== Comments ===
Gen. Clark: Time to Play Defense and Offense on Terror Threat in Yemen
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," December 29, 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!

ERIC BOLLING, FOX NEWS GUEST HOST: Hi, I'm Eric Bolling reporting for Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us. We'll get to our top story, because we've got the new information about the attempted Christmas Day massacre, when 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly tried to set off a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. We're now getting our first look at the explosive packed underwear the suspect wore. He claims he got the material from al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.

Meanwhile, late this afternoon, the president blamed the incident on a combination of bureaucratic breakdowns and human failure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: When our government has information on a known extremist, and that information is not shared and acted upon as it should have been, so that this extremist boards a plane with dangerous explosives that could have cost nearly 300 lives, a systemic failure has occurred. And I consider that totally unacceptable. The reviews I've ordered will surely tell us more. But what already is apparent is that there was a mix of human and systemic failures that contributed to this catastrophic breach of security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: And yesterday, as the president detailed the list of investigations he's ordered into the incident from airport security, to no fly lists, it was this part of his Hawaiian statement that caught our attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Those plotting against us seek not only to undermine our security, but also the open society and the values that we cherish as Americans. This incident, like several that have preceded it, demonstrates that an alert and courageous citizenry are far more resilient that an isolated extremist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLLING: But all evidence points to the fact that this was not an isolated extremist. Two former Gitmo detainees may have been involved in the Christmas Day plot. They were reportedly released from U.S. custody and sent to Saudi Arabia in 2007 after ending up in Yemen, in which - which is now evidently becoming a breeding ground for terrorists. In fact, a Yemeni foreign minister claims that hundreds of al Qaeda extremists are planning terror attacks from his country.

Joining us now from Little Rock, Arkansas, General Wesley Clark, the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and former Democratic presidential candidate.
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THINGS SCIENTISTS SAY III
Tim Blair
The latest in a series of scientific reviews drawn from the New York Times archives:

• 1948: ”Scientists took stock here today of what science had wrought in the past hundred years and visioned a dark outlook for the human race in the next century. They linked this outlook to overpopulation and the dwindling of natural resources, both of which are the direct consequences of progress in science and technology.”

Bad science. Bad, bad science.

• 1955: “Three top scientists called today for a halt in the mass vaccination of children against poliomyelitis with Salk vaccine. They urged an immediate concentrated effort on producing a ‘safer’ vaccine …”

In the case of Salk, the science was definitely settled.

• 1963: “A team of three Australian scientists has concluded, with reservations, that their continent has moved some 3,400 miles, with respect to North America, during the last 100 million years.”

You can’t really blame us. We were trying to get away from all those Salk denialists and their polio germs.
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BRO DO
Tim Blair
Maureen Dowd’s brother Kevin seems like a sensible fellow.
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INDLISH LOVED
Tim Blair
An Australian tourist in India mocks the locals:

As we drove though a mid-sized village I noticed a petrol tanker at a service station bearing a hand-painted sign on the back: “Highly inflammable”. I love Indlish.

It isn’t “Indlish”. The locals are correct.
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SEAL WHEELS
Tim Blair
It’s the 2009 Ford Multifont:

This impressively-decorated sedan is a massive step up from last year’s lowly Ford Chomsky.

UPDATE. In other motoring news:

A shopping centre in China’s Hebei province has built a car park with wider spaces that it says is designed especially to suit women drivers …

Official Wang Zheng told AFP news agency the car park was meant to cater to women’s “strong sense of colour and different sense of distance”.

The parking bays are one metre (3ft) wider than normal spaces, he said …

The Global Times website says female parking attendants have been trained to help guide women drivers into their parking spaces. The bays also have extra lighting.

Seems expensive. Why not just leave the bays as they were and hire some male valets?