Thursday, January 28, 2010

Headlines Thursday 28th January 2010

=== Todays Toon ===

=== Bible Quote ===
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”- Ephesians 6:12-13
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President expected to focus State of the Union address on job creation, economic recovery — echoing tunes he sang last year before a joint session of Congress.


In his first State of the Union address, Obama says it's time for Dems and Republicans to start working through differences to 'overcome numbing weight of politics.' - he promised to break the deadlock before he was elected, whereupon he attempted to apply the deadlock. - ed.

White House to Outsource Space Flight

NASA's Constellation program should replace our aging fleet of space shuttles, which make their last flight in September. But reports indicate Obama may eliminate the program entirely, leaving the U.S. relying on Russian vehicles for space transportation. - showing the vision for which he is famous. - ed.

I won't serve two full terms - Clinton
US SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton says she will not serve a full eight years if President Barack Obama wins another term, hoping eventually to retire to writing and teaching. - those who love USA can breathe easier .. - ed

Health Care Out of Spotlight?
Facing a nation tired of health care debate, Obama to focus State of the Union address on jobs, education

No Place for Space in Obama Budget?
When 2010 budget is revealed, you might notice a hole where the next generation of spaceflight was to be

Apple: This iS iT

Rumors behind mysterious tablet computer device proven true as tech giant unveils iPad


Apple boss Steve Jobs shows off the new iPad tablet device

Failure for My School's first test
THE controversial My School site has good news for public school parents - if they can access it.

'Upgraders' push house prices higher
THE biggest jump in house prices in seven years makes buying a home more expensive than ever.

Jetstar tells mum she can't fly with twins
JETSTAR forced to issue a refund to a mum who booked a flight with her twins but wasn't allowed on it.

Man ran into knife seven times, court told
MURDER accused says stabbing was "assisted suicide" and prosecutors say it might be true.

Doherty carried 13 bags of heroin in court
BRITISH rocker Pete Doherty says he had simply forgotten the drugs were in one of his many coats.

Three families sue over deaths
THREE families plan to take legal action after their loved ones died falling from a high city bridge.

Father tells of hit-and-run-horror
A DISTRAUGHT father has told how he could only watch as his son was hit by a utility as he rode his bike and was dragged along the road before the driver fled.

Wage cuts for low paid

THOUSANDS of low-paid NSW workers face losing wages and employee conditions as part of a sweeping overhaul of workplace awards.

Va. Tech Student's Death Investigated as Homicide After Body Found at Farm

Police have confirmed that the human remains discovered Tuesday on a Virginia farm are those of missing Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, last seen attending a Metallica concert.
=== Journalists Corner ===

As the president speaks out on the country's key issues, watch our special State of the Union coverage.
Then, the GOP lays out their response and only Fox covers it all -- fair and balanced!
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Live from D.C.!
First, America on alert! John Ashcroft on our lax security. Then, the Thompsons expose more backroom health care deals!
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State of the Union Preview
Morris, Miller, and Trippi are talking politics! Plus - one year later, is Obama making the grade?
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Post-speech Analysis!
Join Bret Baier and Team Washington as they break down the president's address!

=== Comments ===
Shades of Hitler in Mahathir’s call for a ‘final victory;’over Jews
Piers Akerman
MALAYSIA’S former premier Mahathir Mohamad has joined those in the tinfoil-hat brigade who believe the US faked the September 11 terrorist attacks as an excuse to wage war on Muslims. His proof? Hollywood’s ability to make films such as the box-office record smasher Avatar. - Today the Australian government will release a small amount of information to parents regarding their children’s progress in schools. The Education departments know lots more information they are not releasing to parents. For example, they can profile the performance of classroom teachers to see what they have failed to teach kids. That is quite a useful tool which Gillard won’t let parents have. Even so the education unions do not seem to want even this small amount of information to dribble out. They would prefer it that parents operated solely on rumor.
There is a good reason why Gillard is working to prevent parents from working with schools to improve their children’s education. The reason is related to Mahathir’s ravings. Teachers in NSW teach students that such ravings are true. Some students don’t accept these beliefs, but many are of the disposition of feeling that the issue is too complicated for them.
I raised this issue on several occasions with several officers of the Education Department and have consistently received the same advice. It is valid for students to argue this way and wrong for a teachers to contradict it. So that students may proselytize on the issue and students who don’t share these beliefs are not allowed to say so, or put of competing theory. Some militant teachers agree with the students, and as with Fort Hood, those who know better are helpless.
Soon, the issue of Hamidur Rahman will explode, but that is one issue, and it is related to this issue, and many others. The ALP make for bad teacher supervisors. While teachers can tell students in NSW that Jews demolished the world trade centre on 9/11, and that they provoked Hitler in WW2, teachers do not have to tell students that why such beliefs are insane. But there is more. In order to justify their existence each year, some teacher support units in the poorest schools work very hard to make sure that year 7 results are poor in literacy and numeracy so as to register higher results down the track. The bonus being they can justify the work achievement of the support unit by showing the support unit’s work has effected positive change in the results of the students, and so justify the continued existence of the unit. Gillard’s school watch will not reveal this, but will celebrate it.
But it gets better. In some of the poorest schools in the state, English teachers do not have to teach English. Anything part of the literacy program is not taught so as to avoid the perception that teachers teach to a test. The result being that matching the results of high achieving numeracy students shows little correlation with their literacy scores. Gillard’s watch hides this from parents, but the education authorities can clearly see this.
Mahathir is not just a Malaysian tragedy, he is a tragedy of the NSW Education Department. - ed.

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President Obama Moves to the Right
By Bill O'Reilly
As we predicted, the president is feeling major heat and has begun to change his tone.

Monday night he announced he wants to freeze discretionary spending for three years. That, of course, is a good thing. Any restraint on government spending will help the economy.

But both conservatives and liberals are hammering Mr. Obama over the issue. Left-wing zealots don't want any limits on spending. They want social justice. That means they want big money given to less affluent Americans through a variety of programs. Fervent right-wingers simply don't like President Obama, so whatever he does will be criticized in those precincts.

"Talking Points" rejects all Kool-Aid drinking and wants the best for the country. If the president gets away from his liberal tendencies, it can only make America stronger.

By the way, we predicted this whole thing would happen:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY: If President Obama wants to make a comeback, he must simplify health care, he must cut spending, he must cut taxes to stimulate job creation, and he must get tough with Al Qaeda and other terrorists. If he does not do that, he will continue to lose power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

That prediction was simply common sense. Mr. Obama and his acolytes were stunned by Massachusetts. That's fairly obvious. The president's liberal policies have to be moderated.

Now on the right, the argument is being made the president has plenty of money to fund whatever he wants because he's already raised discretionary domestic spending 24 percent since President Bush's last fiscal year. He also has $522 billion in unspent stimulus money and about $240 billion more that's being paid back by American banks.

So it's clear the president isn't really biting the bullet here. He just wants Americans to think he's being fiscally responsible. If Mr. Obama is truly interested in shoring up the American economy in the long run, he would put at least $500 billion back into the U.S. Treasury to pay down the national debt. He can keep $250 billion if the economy needs to be propped up again. That would be quite a statement.

And then there's terrorism. What happened with the underwear bomber on Christmas Day was flat out embarrassing. The president's top national intelligence guy didn't even know the bomber was being interrogated. And the FBI doesn't even have a terror interrogation team in place, despite Mr. Obama ordering one last summer. I mean, come on. This is awful.

And on that front, Mr. Obama should immediately rescind the Khalid Sheikh Mohamed civilian trial the attorney general has ordered. $200 million a year for that dog and pony show? Disgraceful.

Summing up, restraining some spending is good for America, so the president should be praised. Ideologues on both sides won't do that, but "Talking Points" will.
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Why do we host parties for druggies?
Andrew Bolt
Explain to me why any responsible business or govenment would permit and even help stage a gathering which - utterly predictably - degenerates into a moshpit of druggies, barbarians and brainlessness?
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Crush crushed
Andrew Bolt

Obamagirl wowed 16 million viewers with her pre-election crush on Barack Obama. But now…
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Two a week now
Andrew Bolt
Last year we had 60 boats arrive after Kevin Rudd softened our laws on boat people. This year is already likely to break that record:
AUTHORITIES have intercepted another boatload of suspected asylum-seekers in Australian waters—the eighth this year. Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said the boat, carrying 48 passengers and three crew, was intercepted by HMAS Launceston just before midnight on Tuesday, 12 nautical miles northeast of Ashmore Reef.
Working beautifully. But shouldn’t the Government just cut the pretence and employ not a warship but a tug?
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How many jobs will your great green tax cost, Mr Rudd?
Andrew Bolt
The Rudd Government will do what most of the world won’t and hit us with a giant green tax on everything:
Penny Wong yesterday revealed Australia’s target for greenhouse gas emissions cuts by 2020 under the Copenhagen Accord would be an unconditional, minimum of 5 per cent and a possible maximum of 25 per cent… The Climate Change Minister said the government was committed to starting an emissions trading scheme next year with a fixed price for a year, and would not be deterred from introducing a market price for carbon if the rest of the world failed to act on greenhouse gas emissions.
How much will this cost?

Here’s the bizarre truth: going it alone like this is the one option that Treasury has not yet costed. Kevin Rudd is inflicting on us a giant tax without knowing how many jobs and how much or your wealth it will cost.

The one thing we do know is what difference it will make to global warming. Answer: zero.
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Alarmist Sackett poses as the sceptics’ friend
Andrew Bolt
Last month Australia’s Chief Scientist Penny Sackett claimed we had just five years to save the world from global warming . The seas would otherwise rise nearly two metres this century and already cyclones were worsening and the Great Barrier Reef was in “grave danger”.

Now, with the intellectual climate changing, she’s posing as a critic of alarmists and a defender of sceptics:
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Which country’s chief scientist defends science?
Andrew Bolt
Draw your own conclusions about which chief scientist is best defending science against dogma and politics.
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It’s over. Even The Age is crumbling
Andrew Bolt
The ultimate sign that the tide is turning agains the great global warming scare: The Age publishes an opinion piece by a sceptic.
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A picture of Obama’s problem
Andrew Bolt

Astonishing. It’s actually the lack of self-reflection that caused the White House to release this picture of Barack Obama, thinking it would do him good. If ever you needed an illustration of his self-absorption…
Barack Obama apparently thinks his excellence is what’s costing him, and is defiant:
I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.
Charles Krauthammer suggests the third option is more likely:

On the Left, Jon Stewart seems of a mind to agree with Krauthammer on the monumental self-regard - and mediocrity - of the President:
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NOBODY CARES
Tim Blair
The numbers keep cooling. According to the latest Pew Research Center survey:
Dealing with global warming ranks at the bottom of the public’s list of priorities; just 28% consider this a top priority, the lowest measure for any issue tested in the survey.

Since 2007, when the item was first included on the priorities list, dealing with global warming has consistently ranked at or near the bottom. Even so, the percentage that now says addressing global warming should be a top priority has fallen 10 points from 2007, when 38% considered it a top priority.
There are one or two further signs that the old warmy magic is almost played out.
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NOW IT CAN BE TOLD
Tim Blair
Handy Hondas, awful Alfas, massive AMG Mercs, not-of-this-world Nissan GT-Rs … and victorious Volkswagens. You can read all about my secret driving mission in the latest Car of the Year edition of Wheels magazine, currently on sale. There was a certain incident involving the GT-R, for which your guest judge claims total responsibility.

UPDATE. On the subject of cars, Daily Telegraph cartoonist Warren Brown has just bought one of these.
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FOX ROCKS
Tim Blair
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Paul Sheehan celebrates diversity:
Last Monday this column noted that the Democratic Party was facing the prospect of an electoral disaster in a Senate byelection in Massachusetts, one of the most Democratic states in the nation. I would not have had a clue about this story had I relied on the usual suspects, CNN, the BBC, the ABC or The New York Times. Only by having Fox News Channel in the mix was I alerted to the story.
Media diversity isn’t merely useful in news analysis; as well, it’s important in basic news delivery. Other networks offer further points of difference.
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D-D-D-DEADLY THREAT
Tim Blair
Current issues elegantly explained by means of cinematic comparison:
This is just like ‘Jaws‘. On the one hand we have the shark-like deniers, who can smell blood in the water and attack from behind and below, they are primordial beasts driven by instinct, they believe they are at the top of the food chain and should not compromise their beastly behaviour for the greater good. On the other hand we have the greenies, represented by the police chief of Amity trying to valiantly save his community from a deadly threat …
Cast Simple Jack as the police chief and we’d be good to go.

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