Sunday, February 28, 2010

Headlines Sunday 28th February 2010

=== Todays Toon ===

BOOM! Look at that, Henry Clay is trying to get in the door, but Tyler ain’t lettin’ him! Andrew Jackson’s there too! That’s a hoot! I wish we could modernize this thing and have ol’ Marmaduke in there, gnawing on a hunk of tariff legislation! If I saw that, I would slap my knee with delight!
John Tyler, Jr. (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845) and the first to succeed to the office following the death of a predecessor.
A longtime Democratic-Republican, Tyler was nonetheless elected Vice President on the Whig ticket. Upon the death of President William Henry Harrison on April 4, 1841, only a month after his inauguration, the nation was briefly in a state of confusion regarding the process of succession. Ultimately the situation was settled with Tyler becoming President both in name and in fact. Tyler took the oath of office on April 6, 1841, setting a precedent that would govern future successions and eventually be codified in the Twenty-fifth Amendment.
Once he became president, he stood against his party's platform and vetoed several of their proposals. In result, most of his cabinet resigned and the Whigs expelled him from their party.
Arguably the most famous and significant achievement of Tyler's administration was the annexation of the Republic of Texas in 1845. Tyler was the first president born after the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, the only president to have held the office of President pro tempore of the Senate, and the only former president elected to office in the government of the Confederacy during the Civil War (though he died before he assumed said office).
=== Bible Quote ===
“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”- 1 John 3:18
=== Headlines ===

Potential tsunami, triggered by major earthquake in Chile, approaching Hawaii faster than originally predicted.


The death toll is climbing after a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Chile buckling roads, tearing apart houses and triggering a world-wide tsunami alert / Reuters

Tsunami threatens Pacific Rim
COUNTRIES, including Australia, on alert for massive waves after quake strikes Chile.

Obama Nominee Under Fire for Political Connections, Lack of Experience
President Obama is facing sharp criticism for his decision to nominate Tim Purdon as U.S. attorney in North Dakota , a nominee who critics say lacks sufficient experience and owes the nod -- over more-qualified candidates -- to his political connections. Critics are also pointing to the nomination as evidence of Democratic hypocrisy for accusing the Bush administration, specifically his attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez, of politicizing the Justice Department in the firing of several attorneys.

Obama to Republicans on Health Reform: 'Let's Get This Done'

President Obama said Saturday he is ready to compromise with Republicans on health care if they are serious about it, but that an overhaul must go forward. "Let's get this done," he said. Obama's comments in his weekly Internet and radio address, two days after an all-day bipartisan summit across from the White House, were the latest sign that Democrats are getting set to try to pass health care legislation without any Republicans on board.

Northeast Storm's Wake: Nearly 600,000 Without Power

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Utility crews are making headway as they try to restore power following a winter storm that pounded the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and hurricane-force winds. More than 1 million homes and businesses lost power during Friday's storm. As of Saturday morning, nearly 600,000 customers were still without power. New Hampshire's electrical grid is the hardest hit, with more than a quarter million customers still without power. New York has more than 170,000 outages and Maine about 75,000. Gusting winds created near-blizzard conditions in some areas that have faced three strong storms this month. Parts of New York got more than two feet of snow, while Maine and Massachusetts got hit with wind and loads of rain. The highest wind reported was 91 mph off Portsmouth, N.H.

Wash. Teacher's Stalker Waited Outside School for Hours Before Shooting

TACOMA, Wash. — The stalking began with bursts of phone calls — 10 or 15 in a day, about once a year, from an old college acquaintance. Then, flowers and unwanted visits, an anti-harassment order, an arrest — and bail. Jennifer Paulson, a 30-year-old special education teacher at a Tacoma elementary school, knew she was in danger this week when her alleged stalker was released from the Pierce County Jail, three days after she had him arrested. She started staying away from her home in an attempt to avoid him.

Sexual misconduct reports rife in schools
OVER 150 teachers reported for sexual misconduct with students in two years, documents say.

Dejected Garrett 'won't quit politics'
A BAREFOOT and miserable Peter Garrett insists he will contest the next election despite demotion.

Massive crowds celebrate Mardi Gras
THOUSANDS turn out to party as revelers take in the colourful, raucous Mardi Gras parade.

Airports 'wide open' to terrorist attack
GAPING holes have left airplanes and iconic public places wide open to terror attacks, security experts and former airline staff claim.

Labor's 'sweet face' kicks off campaign
KRISTINA Keneally will begin the fight of her political life with a personal plea to voters to give her a chance in an unprecedentedly early election campaign. - I will oppose her corruption - ed.

Trainer 'to blame' for her own death
A KILLER whale was just "curious" about a trainer's pony tail and wanted to play with the "new toy", a former head trainer says.

NSW Fire Brigades brutality claims continue

A VETERAN firefighter who witnessed bastardisation rituals in the NSW Fire Brigades has stepped forward to demand a royal commission as a woman contractor contradicted official claims violence was a thing of the distant past, claiming she was assaulted by a senior fireman in 2000. Bob Fletcher - who retired in 2004 after 35 years at stations in Sydney and Newcastle - is the first whistleblower to publicly speak out about the bastardisation culture which existed in the NSWFB in the 1970s and '80s.

Kids healthiest when mum works part-time

MOTHERS who work part-time raise healthier children than stay-at-home mums or those with full-time jobs, new research has revealed. A study of more than 4,500 Australian pre-schoolers found kids of part-time mums eat less junk food, watch less television and are less likely to be overweight or obese. The researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with mothers and measured their child's height and weight at ages four to five, and again two years later, at ages six to seven. The discovery has renewed calls for more flexible and family-friendly work programs as a means to promoting healthier lifestyles and early childhood wellbeing.

Intruders hold sword to teen's throat
INTRUDERS have forced their way into a home in southern NSW, holding a sword against the throat of an 18-year-old and knocking another teenager unconscious with an iron bar, police say. Two men knocked at a house at Griffith in the state's Riverina about 12.45am (AEDT) on Saturday, police said. Three males and a female, all aged around 18, were inside the home at Nichols Place at the time. Police allege the intruders held a sword or machete to one of the teenagers' throat as they tried to force their way inside.

'Secret diaries' expose ecstasy buyers
DIARIES allegedly containing key details of people believed to have purchased drugs from a large Sydney drug dealer are in the hands of police. Shahn Leslie Baker, 31, was refused bail yesterday in Parramatta Local Court after police allegedly found 440 ecstasy tablets worth $11,000, cocaine, ice and cannabis at his Edgcliffe home.
=== Comments ===
Talking Points: 2/26
President Obama's shoes

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Time to Get Real About What Is -- And Isn't -- Terrorism
By Mohamed Elibiary
After every major act of domestic violence we need to stop debating whether or not it qualifies as “terrorism.” We need to recognize who our enemy is and that our country’s counterterrorism resources are finite.

A middle aged white guy with tax problems recently flew a small plane into the I.R.S. building in Austin, Texas. That sad episode triggered a public discussion on whether to classify this cowardly criminal act as “terrorism” or not. Austin’s Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett and Republican Rep. Michael McCall both labeled it a case of domestic terrorism, but President Obama’s Special Counter-Terrorism Assistant John Brennan didn’t deem it worthy of the designation.

Glenn Greenwald wrote recently that not designating the Austin incident a “terrorist attack” simply highlights a bigoted reality that only Muslim perpetuated violence is worthy of such designation. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), held a national press conference on February 22 to highlight “a double standard on the use of the label “terrorism” as it relates to acts of violence committed by people who are not Muslims.” CAIR quoted U.S. Code Section 2656f(d) of Title 22 defining “terrorism” as: “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets.”

They further quoted from the Federal Code of Regulations defining the terrorism crime as involving, “the unlawful use of force against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

Having an argument about whether or not to call specific attacks “terrorism” misses the point and indicates a misunderstanding of how counterterrorism policymaking works.

Everyone, lawyers included, would agree that “terrorism” is essentially politically motivated violence. There might be a United Nations north-south split over whether targeting militaries should be included in the definition, but when targeting civilian populations through terrorist acts as a means to achieve political objectives a global consensus exists that this is “terrorism.”

This method of defining all politically motivated violence as an equal threat is a defensive approach to counter-terrorism policy making. This model doesn’t allow a focus on the perpetrator profile likely to cause the next severely damaging attack. And without a focused profile law enforcement, with limited resources, has a lesser chance of preempting future major attacks. Often preventative analysis in the defensive model is too heavily influenced by sociological/environmental considerations such as poverty reduction, but this analysis has been proven inadequate and, since 9/11, also politically impractical.

The offensive posture to fighting terrorism recognizes the socio-political factors driving “violent extremism,” but it also recognizes that the main thrust of counter-terrorism resources must be allocated to the following two areas: First, there needs to be a focus on the type of threats that are most likely to repeat themselves in the near term, and second threat assessments must incorporate the attack’s psychological impact on society and its way of life.

We need to ask ourselves two key questions concerning the Austin-IRS office plane attack before designating it a terrorist attack: First, was it a psychologically traumatizing act of violence with societal-level impact? The fact of the matter is that while this was a very cowardly criminal act, society is not fearful of the middle-aged white guys with IRS issues massacring civilians.

Second, is the profile of this attack one likely to reoccur in the near term and thus carries a “terrorizing” impact upon society; or is it simply an infrequent/one-off event?

Two critical factors worthy of consideration here are whether there’s an ideological movement inciting folks to conduct violent acts against the IRS, and second whether the IRS is systemically -- as a matter of policy -- pushing taxpayers to a critical pressure point. While anti-taxation beliefs are as American as the original Boston Tea Party and much activism exists around the topic, no “ideology” or “movement” infrastructure exists that would radicalize our citizenry to systematically murder federal employees. When it comes to the IRS abusing taxpayers to the point where, for example, one percent of them might snap every year, that’s obviously not true and is not supported by any empirical data.

In September 1986 Christopher Hitchens wrote a column in Harpers magazine called “Wanton acts of usage. Terrorism: A cliché in search of a meaning.” In that article he explained how the word “terrorism” has lost all practical usefulness due to its misuse in political discourse.

Almost 25 years later it’s time for us to get off the proverbial hamster wheel. After every major act of domestic violence it’s time for us to stop debating whether or not it qualifies as “terrorism.” We need to recognize that our country’s counterterrorism resources are finite. We simply can’t target all sources of violence equally. We must prioritize our efforts and focus our attention and resources on combating violent extremism. We need to be aware of the psychological impact that comes from the reasonable fear in our society of an on-going and future terror threat. We also need to fight back against a militant ideological movement or movements with the capacity to consistently target civilians as a means to achieving their political goals.

The public is largely focused on what is known about previous terror attacks, to the extent it’s reported in the media, so that it can learn from them how to gauge future violent threats. While understandable, it’s not an effective way to anticipate and prevent future attacks. In fact, it’s like driving your car down the road by only looking through the rear view mirror. That might work as long as the road is straight but when the road curves or something changes, it’s easy to wind up in the ditch.

Although it might appear counter-intuitive, our public discourse needs to shift from debating labels to prioritizing efforts to identify and combat violent extremism threats. Only then can we objectively assess our efforts to prevent them.

Mohamed Elibiary is a National Security Policy Analyst advising several Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies and serves as one of three appointed civilians to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Advisory Board. He can be reached at melibiary@texasintel.org.
===
POLLS NOT APART
Tim Blair
Entertaining poll results:
The Rudd Government’s bungled home insulation program is costing it crucial support among NSW voters, who are turning to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

An exclusive Sun-Herald/Taverner poll shows Labor is now level-pegging with the Coalition.
Lenore Taylor:
Abbott’s Coalition is getting real political traction with the accusation that Labor is “out of touch”. It’s not that hard to see why.
===
RUDD’S RUBBISH
Tim Blair
Once they were the government’s weapons against climate change. But now:
An eagle-eyed Banner reader alerted us to these bags of insulation which she found dumped along Hoppers Lane in Werribee last week. Wyndham Council acting chief executive Bernie Cronin said it had collected 80 from numerous locations around the city on Friday. On the same day, the Federal Government announced it had scrapped its home insulation rebate scheme. Mr Cronin said those caught illegally dumping rubbish could face fines of up to $4000.
Unless they dumped it in people’s roofs as part of the Rudd government’s insulation scheme. Then they actually got paid.
===
ICE RAGE
Tim Blair
Islamic Rage Boy has won an Olympic gold medal. Good for him.
===
8.8 QUAKE
Tim Blair
Massive earthquake hits Chile:

Six people are confirmed killed (in 1960, more than 1,700 died in a similarly-large quake.) Australia’s east coast is on tsunami watch: “NSW could be hit after 8:45am …”

UPDATE. Ed Driscoll has further news and links.

UPDATE II. The death toll has already reached 47.

UPDATE III. Pictures.

UPDATE IV. 40-metre wave said to have struck a Pacific island.

UPDATE V. Tsunami alerts for Easter Island, Peru, Hawaii and New Zealand; death toll in Chile now 78.

UPDATE VI. Toll up to 122. In Hawaii: “Even before daybreak, lines formed at supermarkets with residents stocking up on water, canned food and batteries. Cars lined up 15 deep at several gas stations.”

UPDATE VII: “People on Australia’s east coast are being warned to stay away from beaches this morning after warnings of a possible tsunami.” Fifty countries are currently on tsunami alert.

UPDATE VIII. It’s because of global warming.
===
HOCKEY MOCKY
Tim Blair
Using the very latest science, Zombie creates a compelling (and accurate) new hockey stick:

Guaranteed to contain at least 80 per cent fewer lies than the market leader. Click for a larger, more readable version.

UPDATE. 65 million years of temperature swings. You can get any trend you want!
===
Pakistan hits wicket
Andrew Bolt

Just to further muddy Pakistan’s already grimy reputation:
(The Pakistan Cricket Board’s) 76-year-old chairman Ijaz Butt on Friday put Pakistan cricket into a new storm when he announced at a press conference that the board suspected two national team players were involved in match-fixing even though he did not disclose their identity…

“We are waiting for a report from an inquiry committee we have set up to probe into the team’s poor performances in Australia,” he said.

Confused Ijaz, initially, indicated that two players from the current squad were involved in match-fixing but later insisted that the players, cases and incidents were old ones and that nobody from the current squad was involved…

Speculation has since continued, centering more often than not around the Sydney Test loss in January and a few other performances in Australia.
Denials:
Senior Pakistan players Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved have reacted strongly to the reports, which said they were under investigation by Pakistan Cricket Board for their alleged involvement in match-fixing.

Both Akmal and Naved denied they had any link with the bookmakers or were involved in match-fixing.

===
Choked with love
Andrew Bolt
I hope she feels half this sorry for the murdered victim and her relatives, too:
THE actress portraying Tania Herman, the woman jailed for strangling Maria Korp, says she feels for the former mistress.

Maya Elliott had no preconceptions about Herman when she took on the role in the Nine Network’s controversial telemovie Wicked Love.

But after extensive research, trawling court documents and newspaper articles, Elliott says her heart broke thinking of Herman, who is serving 12 years in jail for the attempted murder of her former lover’s wife....

Elliott has not been allowed to meet Herman, but hopes she approves of the production.

“I thought a lot about her when we were making it obviously and I would love to meet her,” Elliott says.

“I just hope she’s not offended by what we’ve done.”
So many such shows - Underbelly, for instance - inevitably invite the audience, or even the stars themselves, to sympathise with the villains they claim to expose. Another example:
Or check what Channel 9 screens in Underbelly. Is it scenes of (underwold figure Mick) Gatto walking the straight and narrow, or of Gatto billowing through a world of fast money and big-breasted women - a world that must wow every gimme-cash loser?

I’ve been dismayed that this deification of a man gleefully assumed to be a crook and a thug is the work of so many people who should know better…

For former policeman Simon Westaway, playing Gatto in Underbelly has brought him such fame - and cash - that it’s little surprise he now babbles of being “proud to be associated” with a man so “charming, charismatic, intelligent, interested and interesting”.
(Thanks to reader David.)
===
Rudd on Insiders, by forgiving Bolt
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd ends his ban on Insiders.

First question from Barrie Cassidy is on whether Peter Garrett is now just a vice-minister.

The answer is pure spin about Garrett needing to concentrate on his core responsibilities. Making Garrett seem like he’s got bigger fish fo fry is not the message he needs to send, when his spinning and lack of accountability are the issues.

UPDATE

Cassidy is right: the problem isn’t just some failing by a bureacrat but the very notion that the Federal Government should be running such a program at all. As he says:

If you can’t run an insulation program you certainly should not be thinking of running the hospitals.

Rudd’s response? He’s backpedalling now on that bold threat to take over hospitals by this year. Now he stresses that he really wants local control of hospitals.

Barrie: Was last year’s deadline of July for a hospital takeover “ridiculous”?

Rudd: Didn’t realise how hard it was to get things delivered. Offers the excuse of the financial crisis, and says that’s not an excuse (sic).

Barrie: Why did you underestimate how hard it was?

Rudd: ???? Blather.

Barrie: 600 promises was surely too many.

Rudd: But we delivered on many (oh yes?). Says will take a pounding on non-delivery of promises, and admits they deserve it.

UPDATE 2

Rudd again uses the excuse of the financial crisis for the slowness of delivery, and says it’s not an excuse.

Barrie: Is Rudd still as committed to an emissions trading scheme as was before?

Rudd: Still thinks ETS is the most effective and efficient way to deal with climate change. Can’t “walk away” from an ETS, which he later adds has to be “core, front and centre” of any response.

Rudd ducks the question on whether he’ll call a double dissolution election on a GTS.

Barrie gets his first “mate”.

UPDATE 3

Barrie: If this is the “greatest moral challenge” for our generation, shouldn’t he call a double dissolution election to get his ETS through?

Rudd won’t say yes or no, hints that the Greens may offer a deal and insists climate change is “the greatest economic and moral challenge” for our future. He has nailed himself to the ETS, not junked it to save himself.

UPDATE 4

Rudd denies any memory of telling a woman that doing a PhD was an excuse not to go on and have children. Not his view of the world, he insists, and can’t understand how someone would say it was.

Barrie gets his second “mate”.

UPDATE 5

And it’s over. Rudd escapes without many fresh wounds, but has done little to change the atmospherics.

Rather, he’s renewed his commitment to the ETS that could kill him, and backed off the hospitals threat that he’d used as a potent image of his decisiveness. Those are two issues that could really hurt him.
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Voters want to do a Chantelois to the Premier
Andrew Bolt
South Australian Premier Mike Rann is in strife:
LABOR is in deep trouble in the marginal suburban Hills seat of Morialta, according to a Sunday Mail poll showing a dramatic 10 per cent swing to the Liberal Party on a two-party preferred basis.

If such a swing was mirrored in other comparable seats, Labor would lose seven seats and its majority in Parliament. Such a result opens the prospect of independent MPs such as Bob Such, Kris Hanna and Geoff Brock holding the balance of power to decide who forms government - provided they hold their own seats.
His spin-heavy style makes him the premier most like Kevin Rudd.

And I’m not surprised by women turning on Rann, after his treatment of Michelle Chantelois, his former lover:

Female voters in particular put their support behind the Liberals, with 47 per cent giving their first preference to Mr Gardner.
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Australia to hunt down the wicked killers of a terrorist
Andrew Bolt
Let me get this right. Australia won’t help in the hunt for a terrorist group’s weapons procurer, but will join the lynch party trying to find his killers:
AUSTRALIAN authorities are working in an international team to track down the killers of a top Hamas militant who are suspected of being Israeli agents.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed Australian officials were ‘’co-operating’’ with the investigation being run by Dubai authorities, although he declined to discuss what that involved…

But Dubai’s police chief Dhahi Khalfan was reported in the government-owned Al-Bayan daily as saying Australia would be part of an international police unit along with officers from at least seven other countries. The unit would seek to track down those responsible for the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, whose body was found in a Dubai hotel room on January 20.
UPDATE

A saner reaction:

Would you be prepared to cross-dress? And kill a guest in an adjacent hotel room? If the answer to these questions is a resounding “yes”, and you can also act, enjoy luxury international travel with a twist and can carry off a convincing Irish or Australian accent, then the job could be yours.

The Israeli spy agency Mossad may be the target of international reproach since it allegedly killed the Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel this month, but at home emerging details of the operation have generated Mossad mania.

It has never been more popular in Israel, with stores selling out of Mossad memorabilia and its official website reporting a soaring number of visitors interested in applying to become agents. “Mossad has been restored to its glory days,” said Ilan Mizrahi, a former deputy director of the agency, which is located in the affluent beach town of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

===
Would you buy a used temperature record from these guys?
Andrew Bolt
The university which tried to trick us on temperature records now tries to trick the parliamentary committee investigating its deceits:

The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails has been accused of making a misleading statement to Parliament.

The University of East Anglia wrote this week to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee giving the impression that it had been exonerated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). However, the university failed to disclose that the ICO had expressed serious concerns that one of its professors had proposed deleting information to avoid complying with the Freedom of Information Act.

Professor Phil Jones, director of the university’s Climatic Research Unit, has stepped down while an inquiry takes place into allegations that he manipulated data to avoid scrutiny of his claims that manmade emissions were causing global warming. Professor Edward Acton, the university’s vice-chancellor, published a statement he sent to the committee before giving evidence to MPs at a public hearing on Monday. He said a letter from the ICO “indicated that no breach of the law has been established [and] that the evidence the ICO had in mind about whether there was a breach was no more than prima facie”.

But the ICO’s letter said: “The prima facie evidence from the published e-mails indicate an attempt to defeat disclosure by deleting information. It is hard to imagine more cogent prima facie evidence.”

The letter also confirmed the ICO’s previous statement that the university had failed in its duties under the Freedom of Information Act by rejecting requests for data. The university had demanded that the ICO withdraw this statement.

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Rudd’s school of waste
Andrew Bolt
Next topic: how many more billions did the rush-rush-Rudd Government waste on overpriced and unsafe school buildings?
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott launched a stinging attack on the $16.1 billion (Building the Edcuation Revolution) program, the most expensive element of the government’s economic rescue package....’’This hurried $16 billion program will end up delivering only $7 billion in value...”

At Berridale Public School in southern NSW, children are unable to use their newly installed $908,000 library as parents believe the building poses a safety risk. While the library, the same model of which is going into hundreds of NSW schools, complies with building codes, it has only one door. Parents say the building needs an emergency exit.

Students and staff at Tyalgum Public School in the state’s north can’t use their $850,000 library and office block as it doesn’t fit its foundations. The building is on temporary footings until the local contractor can rectify the work.... And parents at other schools have been told they will not get items they were promised such as solar panels and rainwater tanks because their projects are over budget.

Original costings by the BER office 12 months ago show significant price discrepancies. Small libraries originally costed at $285,000 are now costing triple that amount. Covered outdoor learning areas have more than doubled in price. (The original costings excluded GST, site works, professional fees and cost escalation beyond February 2009.)

The program is the subject of an Australian National Audit Office investigation, the results of which are due to be tabled this autumn.
The audit may prove deadly to the Government.
===
Gillard looking better in contrast
Andrew Bolt
The good news for Kevin Rudd is the same as the bad: that he has no stronger supporter in the party than his deputy:
The poll of 609 NSW voters commissioned by Fairfax’s Sun Herald found 36 per cent backed Ms Gillard as a better prime minister than Mr Rudd. Although 49 per cent still favoured Mr Rudd over Ms Gillard, the result suggests unusually strong popularity for a deputy leader on the question of who would make a better prime minister…

The poll also confirmed the attacks (over the insuilation fiasco) have cost Mr Rudd significantly, with support for Labor plunging to 50 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis, compared with 53 per cent at the 2007 election…

Mr Rudd retained a significant lead as preferred prime minister, ahead of opposition Leader Tony Abbott by 53 per cent to 40 per cent. That was still a good result for Mr Abbott, given his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull rarely rated above 20 per cent as preferred prime minister.
All the signs are that Rudd is on a slide with little to rescue him, including little affection within his own government.

That said, the Liberals could very well still implode - and still lack a positive vision. Moreover, this is also a small poll, conducted at the very worst time for Rudd and in Abbott’s home state. But with Rudd’s spin now a public joke, and with so little to deliver over the next year and so many bills to pay, he’s in very, very deep strife - like a magician who’s let the public see how he does his one trick. Oh, and I didn’t even mention the emissions trading scheme that’s chained to his neck.

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