Headlines Friday 12th February 2010

=== Todays Toon ===
An 1879 political cartoon. Democrats then seemed to voice their concerns as now.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”- 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
===

Former president Clinton in 'good spirits' after heart procedure at New York hospital, lawyer says

Taking Fight Into Pakistan?
U.S. military reportedly to set up training centers near Afghan-Pakistan border to work with Pakistani forces, gain closer access to insurgents

Iran Goes to War ... With Google
Iran's block on Gmail, talk of national e-mail service latest moves in battle sparked by launch of Google Farsi

Haiti Judge: Release U.S. Missionaries
The 10 Americans accused of trying to take a busload of kids out of Haiti should be freed, judge says

How Gay Uncles Pass Down Genes

A new study found that homosexual men may be predisposed to nurture their nieces and nephews as a way of helping to ensure their own genes get passed down to the next generation.

Scientists Freeze Water With Heat
Imagine water freezing solid even as it's heating up. Such are the bizarre tricks scientists now find water is capable of. Popular belief contends that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). Surprisingly, if water lies in a smooth bottle and is free of any dust, it can stay liquid down to minus 40 degrees F (minus 40 degrees C) in what's called "supercooled" form. The dust and rough surfaces that water is normally found in contact with in nature can serve as the kernels around which ice crystals form. Now researcher Igor Lubomirsky at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and his colleagues have discovered another way to control the freezing point of water — via what are called quasi-amorphous pyroelectric thin films. These surfaces change their electrical charge depending on their temperature. When pyroelectic surfaces are positively charged, water becomes easier to freeze, and when they have a negative charge, it becomes harder to freeze. The researchers saw that supercooled water could freeze as it's being heated, as long as the temperature changes the surface charge as well. For instance, when supercooled water is on a negatively charged lithium tantalate surface, it will freeze solid immediately when the surface is heated to 17.6 degrees F (minus 8 degrees C) and its charge switches to positive.


Bad boy of fashion found dead at home a week after his mum died and a month before unveiling his new collection.

'Garrett can't be in every roof'
PETER Garrett sets the standards and isn't to blame for them not being met, Julia Gillard says.

'Hundreds' of roofs electrified under government scheme, say Master Electricians
A BRISBANE home has been found with 80 volts of electricity running through foil insulation in its roof. The industry's peak body, Master Electricians Australia, said reports were emerging of hundreds of homes across Australia where the insulation has become live through contact with electrical fittings. Master Electricians Australia chief executive Malcolm Richards said an electrician found a Brisbane home's ceiling to be live with 80 volts running through the foil insulation. He said the foil had been stapled through electrical cables in a number of places. Incorrect installations have been blamed for causing deaths and injuries.

Man jailed for killing annoying flatmate
TRAUMATISED" man stabbed flatmate to death after he refused to move from the loungeroom.

Thousands of workplaces in bullying blitz
MORE than 40,000 workplaces will be subject to snap inspections and interviews into staff bullying.

John Mayer sobs on stage over race row
TEARFUL John Mayer broke down on stage following a global backlash over race comments.

World's fattest man to reveal diet tips
FORMER postman is writing autobiography to tell how he dropped from 444kg to 317kg.

Bikie link after men 'blew themselves up'
A MAN will appear in court today after police allegedly found an unexploded bomb during a search.

Headstone blank as Lin family struggles
THEIR murders shocked Sydney but seven months since the Lin family were slain in their beds in North Epping, their gravestones still remain blank.

Mum charged with son's bleach murder
AN English mother was today charged with murdering her 12-year-old autistic son by pouring bleach down his throat.

Catholic pupils 'behind' kill a hooker Facebook page
FACEBOOK has removed a page that appears to advocate killing prostitutes - but not before almost 18,000 people joined. The page, called "Killing your hooker so you don't have to pay her", is believed to have been set up by Catholic school pupils in Queensland. Similar pages, including one called "Killing hookers and doing coke off their ass", remain on the social networking site. All of them are open to Facebook members of any age to join.

MyZone train tickets 'need fixing'
THE Keneally Government's new MyZone ticketing system will need to be changed before its April launch because it remains in breach of the independent regulator's maximum prices. That warning came yesterday from IPART boss Jim Cox, who said Premier Kristina Keneally's failure to consult with the regulator would result in even more confusion for commuters. "We don't know how the Government is proposing to implement these fares (by April)," he said. "There still seems to be a potential problem with the IPART Act, and what we don't know is what they plan to do to address that (before April 18). "Our job is to set maximum fares for public transport services and that means both the level of fares and structure of fares."
=== Journalists Corner ===

Former Governor Rod Blagojevich sounds off!
The charges, the trial, and his plan to testify...
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Big Government Dangers!
More plans, bigger programs, endless handouts. What happened to hard work and free enterprise? Check your local listings for show times!
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Guest: Karl Rove
Does Obama still have the political muscle to get a health care deal done? Sharp political insight from Karl Rove!
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Obama Losing Steam?
Dana Perino on how deflating poll numbers could impact the president's plan!

=== Comments ===
Are You Scared of Al Qaeda?
By Bill O'Reilly
President Obama's top counter terrorism guy John Brennan wrote an op-ed Tuesday in USA Today. Mr. Brennan, a patriot and a serious man, puts forth that the Obama administration has done a good job in fighting terrorism, and critics of the president in this area are hurting America.

"Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of Al Qaeda. Terrorists are not 100 feet tall, nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill."

Now, "Talking Points" is a bit perplexed by Mr. Brennan's point of view. First of all, Al Qaeda has succeeded in killing thousands of Americans. So if we don't fear these killers, we're foolish.

Second, wanting an aggressive posture to neutralize Al Qaeda is not fear-mongering; it's good policy. Mr. Brennan is correct when he says some of the criticism directed toward the president is politically motivated. But come on, those who oppose Mr. Obama do so in part because they don't think he's tough enough. That can be a sincerely held belief.

Now, I think the president has been very effective using drone missiles to terrorize the terrorists. I like that policy. But I think it's insane to try captured overseas Al Qaedas in civilian court.

In 2006, Congress passed a law signed by President Bush authorizing trial by military commission for violations of "the law of war." Is there a problem with that law? When terrorists target or kill civilians, that is a violation of the law of war. I mean, a 6-year-old gets this.

So why are we messing around with Mirandizing the underwear bomber who targeted civilians on a plane? And trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City when he admits planning the killing of more than 3,000 innocent people on 9/11. There's no debate about this. The law clearly says military commissions can handle these thugs, and the majority of Americans support the law.

So President Obama made a big mistake with the Khalid policy, and criticism of it is not blowing Al Qaeda out of proportion.

Now, I would love to debate John Brennan on this, but so far he has not made himself available to "The Factor." We hope he will change his mind because this issue is vital to the nation, and it's hurting President Obama big-time.
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Is that an interview?
Andrew Bolt
Was Tony Jones interviewing shadow treasurer Joe Hockey on Lateline last night, or just venting and heckling?
===
It was Obama what won Iraq
Andrew Bolt
I’m speechless. Here’s US vice president Joe Biden claiming that now-democratic Iraq is a triumph of the Obama Administration:

I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer.

You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government… It’s impressed me. I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.

Utterly shameless. Here’s Biden on Iraq when George Bush actually secured that victory against the vicious opposition of Biden’s own party:

I want to make it clear that I totally oppose the surging of additional American troops into Baghdad... I think it is contrary to the overwhelming body of informed opinion… A surge of up to 30,000 American troops cannot have any positive effect except for only temporary.

Obama was just as opposed to Bush’s winning strategy in 2007:

I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.

The victor is vilified, and the jackals steal his laurels for their own.
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Snow job
Andrew Bolt
Never-say-die, turn-on-on-a-dime warmists now insist that the huge snows in the United States are just what they’d expect in a warming world.

Time Magazine:

There is some evidence that climate change could in fact make such massive snowstorms more common, even as the world continues to warm.

Keith Olbermann on MSNBC slaps down “deniers” and “idiots” who don’t realise climate change will bring exactly more such “extreme events”:

Oh, and the fury at the “climate lies” in this mocking attack ad from the Republicans in Virginia:

But Joseph D’Aleo says the warmists are wrong to now pretend they always knew global warming would bring more snow:

So to try and save their agenda, the green media and alarmists spin the tale that these storms are what you expect during global warming. Actually friends they conflict with statements from the IPCC and EPA Technical Support Document that drew on the NOAA CCSP.

EPA TSD ES3 “Rising temperatures have generally resulted in rain rather than snow in locations and seasons where climatological average (1961-1990) temperatures were close to 0C. (32F).”
IPCC FAQ 3.2 Observations show that changes are occurring in the amount, intensity, frequency and type of precipitation. More precipitation now falls as rain rather than snow in northern regions. For a future warmer climate, models project a 50 to 100% decline in the frequency of cold air outbreaks relative to the present in NH winters in most areas.

“The 2009 U.S. Climate Impacts Report found that large-scale cold-weather storm systems have gradually tracked to the north in the U.S. over the past 50 years.” ...

We are also told “The extent of NH snow cover has declined”. (IPCC4.2) They go on to say it will decline so much as to endanger the winter sports industry. Well two years ago, Michael Berry, President of the National Ski Areas Association told the AP that “This could very well be the record year”. Across almost all of North America, 2007/08 was the best, or one of the best seasons ever for those who enjoy winter sports. Practically every ski area from Alaska across Canada in the Western U.S. - the Midwest and New England saw plenty of snow; many places reporting all-time record snow.

And January in 2008, a new record for snowcover was set for the hemisphere.

UPDATE

From Andrew Breitbart, this compilation of clips of Democrats in the US Senate - Barbara Boxer, Robert Byrd, Amy Klobuchar and Jay Inslee - all blaming global warming for a lack of snow:

More snow, less snow - it’s all global warming to these frauds.
===
Making Australia hotter
Andrew Bolt
Ken Stewart says the James Hansen-run Goddard Institute for Space Studies has adjusted temperature measurements in Australia to exaggerate the warming trend:

Despite its assurances, GISS has adjusted the temperature records of two sites at Mackay to reverse a cooling trend in one and increase a warming trend in another. This study presents evidence that this is not supportable and is in fact an instance of manipulation of data....

So: The GISS adjustments result in increasing the warming trend in Mackay, and introducing a non-existent warming at Te Kowai. Te Kowai and Mackay both end up with warming trends of 1 degree and 2 degrees per century. Now, GISS probably have a perfectly satisfactory algorithm which applies over most of the world, which averages the data of nearby stations to correct UHI effects in urban areas. However, only ONE “neighbouring” station has a warming trend of over 1 degree per 100 years, and it has a noticeable UHI effect of its own and in my opinion shouldn’t be relied on, (and another is hundreds of km inland.) All of the other nearby sites with long records have much less than 1 degree warming, and most have noticeable UHI effects. Most, like Te Kowai, show a warm period in the early 20th Century. The mean of the trends of all neighbouring long term stations (0.77 degree Celsius approximately per 100 years) does not warrant these adjustments.
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But people died, and someone must pay
Andrew Bolt
I really don’t know how Peter Garrett can survive this:

ELECTRICIANS formally warned Environment Minister Peter Garrett that metal roof insulation could cost lives months before he banned it.
By the time he acted, two installers had been electrocuted.

The Federal Government’s $3.7 billion roof insulation program is in crisis as electricians scramble to check almost 50,000 homes which could have “live” roofs…

In his speech to parliament today, Mr Garrett also detailed a series of warnings, dating back to February 2009, that mandatory training of installers was needed to ensure safety.

In one example, the National Electrical and Communications Association wrote to Mr Garrett in March 2009 asking that installers be formally trained. Despite this, until today, anyone could install insulation. There was no requirement to have training or work experience. A trained supervisor just had to be present.

Mind you, this reckless rush to spend without crossing t’s or dotting i’s is a hallmark of the entire Rudd Government, and the defining characteristic of the Prime Minister. Examples: the massive spending on school halls, even for schools that did not need them; the announcement of a planned new Asian forum without sounding out our (now offended) Asian partners; the announcement of a dubious $43 billion broadband plan without even a cost-benefit analysis; and the promise of an emissions trading scheme for 2010 (since delayed) without even a Treasury costing of the loss of jobs or the rise in prices should we go it alone like this.

In other words, in this scandal the buck ultimately stops with Rudd.
===
It’s not Rudd’s spin that’s torching homes
Andrew Bolt
IF he hasn’t yet burned down your house, lost your cash or fried the guy in your roof, you might laugh at Kevin Rudd’s latest joke.

He’s come up with this excuse for the drop in his support: that he still hasn’t sold you enough spin.

Swear to God! That’s what he said, this man who once swore his FuelWatch would cut petrol prices, his GroceryWatch would cut your shopping bills and he’d make sure “this sort of reckless spending” would stop.

Here are his exact words: “I think our challenge is to communicate more effectively that which we have done.”

You reckon, Prime Minister? Let me show you why you’re kidding yourself if you think your problem is your words, not your deeds.

Let me prove it by communicating more effectively that which you have done - done with, say, your $3.9 billion scheme to use any fly-by-nighter to stuff free insulation into 2.7 million homes of people who never thought it was worth doing with their own good money.

Mister Rudd, this mad plan has torched houses, turned homes into wired-up death traps and killed four installers, two of whom were untrained teenagers lured by your no-strings fast cash.

Have I communicated effectively? If not, here’s the longer version.

You have all but ignored warnings since March last year that you were sending into millions of Australian homes an army of backpackers and off-the-street installers who had no idea what damage they could do.

You have since caused dozens of homes in NSW to catch fire from insulation jammed over light fittings.

The Master Electricians Association now estimates you have electrified the ceilings of another 1000 homes, thanks to untrained and clueless installers laying foil insulation over exposed wiring, or even tacking the foil into it.

And you have had four installers die, including a mentally disabled 19-year-old in Sydney who died from the heat of a roofspace on his first day at work, and a 16-year-old boy electrocuted while working on a house near Rockhampton.

But let no one accuse Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner of not communicating effectively that which they have done.

Here he is explaining why the Government could not be expected to have made sure its scheme wasn’t going to hotwire your home or kill someone’s disabled son: “I don’t think it’s right to say we should have sat back ... dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s because we were in a crisis situation.”
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Bryce back in her box
Andrew Bolt
Feeling their oats:

FOLLOWING the triumphant tour of Australia by its potential future king, Prince William, the Queen has reasserted her claim on the title “head of state” of Australia by using it in the announcement of her address to the UN in July.

Despite the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, being dispatched to Africa by the Rudd government last year under the description “Australia’s head of state”, yesterday a spokesman for Kevin Rudd avowed that the Queen held that position…

Canberra’s bureaucratic and political officials were jolted out of the capital’s summer haze on Australia Day by a cable from New York headed: “United Nations: General Assembly—Address by Australian Head of State.”.. The cable outlined the Queen’s schedule and the response of key UN figures to the news of what will be her first address to the multilateral forum since 1957.

Prince William’s rock-star tour last month suggests the monarchy still has a future here, and they may well know it.
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Kicking the wrecker only when he’s going down
Andrew Bolt
These guys only find their voice when the battle’s half won already, and even then they are half-hearted in opposing what will hurt us all:

BIG business has openly criticised the Rudd government, questioning its approach to tax reform and infrastructure policy and urging a rethink of the controversial economic stimulus package.

The Business Council of Australia has also warned the Prime Minister not to get ahead of the international community on climate change, condemned his refusal to consider increasing the rate of the goods and services tax and urged him to get cracking on delivering promised infrastructure investment.
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I couldn’t stop these sceptics
Andrew Bolt
JONATHAN Holmes, the ABC’s official judge of “good” journalism, is cross that the sceptics are winning.

Or one sceptic, I should proudly say.

Holmes, host of Media Watch, cannot understand why the public is no longer buying the sermon preached so hard and long by good journalists: that the world is heating to hell and it’s our fault.

On the ABC’s new blog site, Holmes, a warming worrier himself, claims “the vast majority” of scientists are warmists, but are suddenly too intimidated to argue their case publicly.

As a result, “the most compelling public arguments for the reality of global warming have been made by people who aren’t themselves climate scientists: people like former US vice-president Al Gore, or mammal palaeontologist Tim Flannery, or public intellectuals like Robert Manne.

“But Al Gore is a long way away, and Flannery’s been pretty quiet of late.”

Holmes mourns that Leftist writers have the right attitude but no facts to inform it: “Our Left-wing columnists, like Phillip Adams and Mike Carlton, have no pretensions to detailed knowledge of the science. Our environmental and science journalists largely stick to news reporting and avoid advocacy (sic!).

“What we don’t have in Australia - have never had - is ... a journalist with the same access to the mainstream as Andrew Bolt, who has made it his or her business to be as thoroughly on top of climate change science ... “

I’m flattered, but Holmes is kidding himself.
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Fingered Marxists vanish from Governor’s side
Andrew Bolt

There has been a cleansing of the Marxists from the membership list of the Climate Emergency Network since I noted their involvement in a political rally foolishly being addressed by the Governor, David de Kretser. Now you see them, now you don’t.
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Rupert, can we have our own Fox News?
Andrew Bolt


Rupert Murdoch may or may not be town today, and may or may not even look at this blog.

Give him - on that off-chance - some idea of what a service he’d do this country if he spent some of the chump change from Avatar on creating an Australian Fox News. Sure, it would earn peanuts, but think of the good it would do…

So sign up below. Show you care. Give us our Fox.
===
For your diary…
Andrew Bolt
If you’re in Sydney:
Next Quadrant dinner: Wednesday February 24
Launch of The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, Volume 3,
The Stolen Generations, by Keith Windschuttle
Guest speaker: Andrew Bolt

Details follow:
===
The navy finally admits to bias - but still no sorry
Andrew Bolt

You may remember the astonishing witchhunt last year that had three sailors driven from their ship, HMS Success. As I wrote then:

Even worse was to follow, in an extraordinary saga that shows how some allegations are too politically loaded now for even sensible people to question, let alone laugh off.

For weeks the Navy would not tell the men their alleged crimes. But in July, and to the trio’s astonishment, Channel 7, clearly briefed by a Navy source, announced they’d run a “sex ledger”.

The allegation ran around the world. It was claimed the men had put a price on the head of every female sailor on board the Success - extra for lesbians and officers - with the money paid out to any man who could bed them.

The Navy, asked to comment, refused to confirm or deny the allegation, but gave the media all that was needed to assume the story was spot on.

What a pile-on it became:

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd then bought into the “scandal”, saying these “alleged behaviours” were “disturbing”.

His deputy, Julia Gillard, said she feared such alleged behaviour would stop women joining the Navy.

But as I wrote, the allegations were ridiculous and the investigation a joke. These men’s careers were being ruined, and their reputations trashed, because no one dared to seem sexist by calling this nonsense for what it was. The investigation soon deteriorated into what seemed an attempt to find a crime to fit the punishment.

You may also remember that Russell Crane, Head of Navy, then attacked me for being ”misleading, emotive and inaccurate”, without actually getting around to explaining what I’d got wrong.

But today comes this media release:

HMAS Success Inquiry

The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, has today directed that a fresh inquiry into a range of matters arising from equity and diversity issues on board HMAS Success be conducted.

“I have taken this decision following legal advice that the initial administrative inquiry is flawed due to bias.