Headlines Saturday 2nd January 2010

NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas, left, and teammate Javaris Crittenton reportedly draw guns on each other in locker room during fight over gambling debt.


Boasting of 57 lifts, 1,044 apartments, 49 floors of office space and a hotel, the Burj Dubai tower opens Monday as the world's tallest building.

Global Concern Over Yemen
British PM Gordon Brown calls for high-level international meeting to devise ways to counter radicalization in Yemen

Obama Faces Reality Check in 2010
After pledging bipartisanship, world support, domestic reforms in '09, Obama lowering the bar for the new year

Limbaugh: I'm Fine
Conservative radio show host says tests show nothing wrong after being hospitalized for chest pains


Family and friends have paid tribute to 19-month-old Skye Sassine, who died after alleged armed robbers slammed into her parents' car during a pursuit, police claim

Rudd losing the fight on homeless
THE Government admits the homeless crisis, a "national obscenity", has worsened.

Outraged Brits say keep ex-criminals
BRITAIN calls for Australia to stop deporting British-born criminals back to its soils after their release.

Aussies urged to delay Bali travel
AUSTRALIANS are being urged don't go to Bali after a "very high threat" warning was issued.

83 drug busts at annual music festival
MORE than 80 people have been arrested for drug-related offences at a popular music festival.

$6.8m house trashed to make way for mega-mansion

ONE is a millionaire's mansion in Brisbane that apparently wasn't even worth renovating, ending up in a pile of rubble.

Cause close to sports couple's hearts
Lee Furlong's engaged to one of the nation's sporting stars, test century cricketer Shane Watson.

Artist's life now canvas for millionaire
A MILLIONAIRE art buyer has made the ultimate purchase - an artist's entire life until he dies.

New year democracy march
DEMOCRACY campaigners have marched calling for universal suffrage and the release of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Farmers stranded as Premier jet-sets
STRICKEN farmers have attacked the State Government for leaving it too late to declare parts of western NSW a natural disaster area. Farmers around the badly-flooded Brewarrina shire said yesterday that while Premier Kristina Keneally was taking "joyflights" over parts of Coonamble this week, property owners less than 200km away were struggling to save their livelihoods.

Death toll in volleyball bombing climbs
A BOMBER killed dozens when he blew up his vehicle during a volleyball game in Pakistan.

Soldiers lose $20,000 a year in super
HUNDREDS of military personnel will lose super benefits after their retirement age was extended.

Get ready for a sizzling year, say experts
AUSTRALIANS warned to expect record temperatures in 2010 and more extreme weather conditions
=== Comments ===
PM’s asylum insanity softens our borders
Piers Akerman
DEPENDING on who is counting, 59 or 61 people-smuggler boats were detected in Australian waters in 2009.
On the oceans however, there is literally a flotilla of more small boats making their way here, their passengers encouraged by the Rudd Government’s softening of Australia’s border protection regime. - I have substantial sympathy for refugees, and wish what is best for them. Rudd’s ego is not working in the interests of refugees anywhere. Some of my best friends are boat people, or refugees. They came to Australia enduring great hardship that was not necessary, but a result of ALP political posturing. Mr Ruddock had to fight Mr Whitlam to get Whitlam to accept these poor people. Refugees may spend a substantial amount of their lives in camps. This s because while their tens of millions of refugees there are few places for them worldwide. So a friend of mine who completed university did so without ever having had a primary education. So that a survivor of Khmer Rouge torture after three years being chained to a tree had to spend a further five years in a Thai refugee camp. It is perfectly reasonable to expect desperate people to be desperate. It is cruel, cold and unfair to mistreat people the way Rudd is. The truth is the entire world could live the Australian dream of a quarter acre block and a house for their family in Queensland. I’m not suggesting that happen, but Rudd’s stupid policy is clearly a sham based on a lie. - ed.

Tony replied to DD Ball
DD - you make a good point about refugee policy in this country.

To think that the Liberal Party went into bat for refugees against Whitlam, is just extraordinary - and no surprise that under Fraser eventually a quarter of a million vietnamese boat people were taken in - plus all those islamic lebanese just to be sure . This was just insane - and we are now paying the price.

Then Hawke came along and imported over One Million supposed Chinese refugees after Tianemen - through pathetic sobbing tears - and the Libs were silent.

Then Howard came in, and he and Vanstone set about importing the entire African population as refugees (including hordes of illustrious islamic somalis - you know the pirate kind), and inflicting them, under threat to Aussies, onto communities across Australia.

And now Rudd has just opened the borders to anyone who wants free housing , health care, and a free ride on welfare for their entire lives.

There should be no refugee policy (except to ban them as a United nations stunt)) - since all the refugees who have come here, have predictably set about destroying OUR country- to make it just like their own hell- holes - and where are we going to go?.

And then we get the legal migrants from hellholes like the Philippines and India who then ruthlessly set about destroying Australian neighbourhoods.

These people are not worth the trouble.

No more refugees - we don’t want or need them - and no more immigration either.

Australians will only obey the law so far, while these ethnic groups are allowed to destroy our community standards

- Tony, you are wrong as to numbers of Chinese peoples or Africans. You remind me of Pauline Hanson’s maiden speech to parliament in which the records were modified to correct the numbers she spoke about populations in Asia. Australia benefits from migrants and refugees. Australia rarely benefits but gives to those she gave rise to. This is largely because Australia is an island and her migrant population tend to her exports as well. I have no preference for skin color or culture. The reality is we live in the world, and must be part of it .. I despise the implied racism of those who would close the border based on language or race .. as the ALP did in formulating and maintaining the white Australia policy. I am proud the conservative party I support tore down that policy. I do not despise the needs of needy people. I despise those rapacious few who would profit from misery, as the ALP have a long standing commitment to do. - ed.

Cuppa replied to DD Ball
Well said Tony.I couldnt agree more.
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Tony replied to DD Ball
DD - I didn’t expect you would agree with me - I was commenting on the concept of ‘refugee policy’ you raised.

On the numbers, I am not wrong - in fact the Chinese from Hawkes day are STILL being procesed by the immigration department - how’s that for a legacy.

And yes we live in a world and we are part of it. Japan is also part of it - and it doesn’t have a refugee or immigration program - and it is the second largest economy in the World after the USA - Australia is just a stupid willing dupe.

Not only does Australia have a stupid immigration policy - we then destroy the value of Australians votes, by giving these refugees and migrant a vote in OUR elections - it is outrageous.

There are plenty of needy Australians who are being shafted by politicians to make way for illegal wannabe refugees and the free ride. Many Australians would be better off as refugees in their own country.

The ‘White Australia’ policy is what built this nation - multiculuralism and non-discriminatory immigration is /has destroyed it. BTW, the so-called ‘White Australia’ policy was only ever a program where Australia sensibly chose who we wanted to be part of our society - on the basis of compatability. The current policy whereby we pretend to be non-dicriminatory by ploncking somali muslims in city suburbs is just ludicrous and bizarre - but sets a precedent for letting anyone in - which is what is happening.

In fact it is so bad, that the actual immigration department is now refusing (unofficially) to employ white Aussies because they are automatically deemed to be racist.

Thank you Cuppa.

- Tony, you are wrong about the number of Chinese migrants too. According to the CIA factbook, the percentage of ethnically Asian peoples is 7%. and this would include Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Indian. Your number of 1 million due to Hawke is simply wrong. My great great great great Grandfather was ethnically Chinese and came to Australia in 1818. He legally owned and ran a pub when a number of whites missed out, partly, I suspect to service others of his own peoples. He also opened an undertakers so as to sensitively deal with deaths as well .. no true Chinese person would want to be buried away from their family.
Australia was built with Chinese hands and these were significantly active before the gold rush.
When Hawke asked if Australia could host some more chinese peoples to releive China of the population pressures engendered by communism and bad management, Deng Xiaoping asked “How many million do you want?” but he didn’t actually deliver. Today, Chinese migration is largely due to business and education .. the problem the chinese peoples have with their evil government stems from one child policy, rampant corruption and a brutal dictatorship to which Obama thinks it good too owe money.
Cuppa may agree with you, but they didn’t say how .. are you and cuppa the same person?
I am not so much worried by ethnic crime as I am by the organized crime of the thirties which seems to have merged with the ALP.
Getting back to the original argument, you denounce current migrants and the freedoms they allegedly enjoy of Australia. You are wrong to do so, and you have not backed up your arguments with substance. Merely saying racism is good and plurality is bad doesn’t make it so. Even if you agree with yourself. - ed.