=== Todays Toon ===
May 1, 1924. After a divisive primary, a political party may be unable to unite voters behind the chosen candidate in the general election. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge, the incumbent President, breezed through the Republican primary unopposed. As the Republicans advanced unscathed to the "convention putting green," the Democratic candidates waged a hostile primary battle "off the fairway." Coolidge won the election.
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th President of the United States (1923–1929). A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. His actions during the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight. Soon after, he was elected as the 29th Vice President in 1920 and succeeded to the Presidency upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small-government conservative.
=== Bible Quote ===
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”- Galatians 5:22-23=== Headlines ===
The art of dealmaking is always a delicate dance on Capitol Hill, but if the health care debate is any gauge, lawmakers are getting pretty good at doing the 'twist.'
Win One, Lose One
Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. says 'No' on health care 'unless they fix this' after John Boccieri, D-Ohio, switches to 'Yes' — leaving Dems two short of passage, by whip estimates
Dems Blast 'Fake' Memo Urging Silence
Memo purports to show secret plan by House leaders, administration to cover up extra costs in health bill
Pathologist Calls for Holloway Probe
Forensic expert says Aruba has 'absolute obligation' to investigate photo that may show missing teen's remains
Inspired by Rudd, Venezuela Considers Internet Regulation as Opposition Groups Protest
Venezuelan lawmakers have begun debating ways to police the Internet at the urging of President Hugo Chavez, a firebrand socialist who has seen opposition groups increasingly use the Web to organize against him, Dow Jones Newswires reported Friday. Possible government meddling in the Internet drew immediate rebuke from the opposition, which is worried that policing of the Web would quickly lead to censorship or even government control of it. Chavez's government has already demonstrated its willingness to muzzle other communication outlets, especially television broadcasters. Chavez and allied lawmakers say the criticism regarding the Internet is unfair, and call it a knee-jerk response by an opposition that it says calls any government attempt to establish rules an attack on basic freedoms. "The Internet can't be something free from rules, where you do and say whatever you feel like," Chavez said on national television, adding that Germany's government feels the same way. "Each country needs to make its own rules and norms."
Hundreds of racing fans go on a rampage and trash a Bob Jane T-marts store after a race meet is cancelled
Labor bracing for state poll hit
ISOBEL Redmond is today on the cusp of one of the most remarkable election victories. - they still believe they can get away with it. -ed.
Cop under fire over ammo aboard a plane
A TOP cop has dodged a six-figure fine after being caught with live ammunition boarding a flight.
Big names help end indigenous suffering
A CAST of all-stars turned out to support GenerationOne, created to boost Aboriginal jobs and welfare.
Teenager's last words haunt his parents
SAXON Bird said "I really don't want to do this", just before drowning in an ironman event.
Michael Clarke applauds Lara's dignity
CRICKETER Michael Clarke thanks ex-fiancee Lara Bingle after blasting a century in New Zealand.
Kristina, get ready for a backlash
IF the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker in the Sydney electorate of Riverstone are right, Premier Kristina Keneally's Labor Government is finished.
Australian in Cambodia held for child sex
CAMBODIAN police have arrested an Australian man on suspicion of paying for sex with underage girls.
Police have Richard Buttrose's little black book of celebrity drug users
AT least one well-known fashion designer, an MP, a host of socialites, businessmen and lawyers are said to be clients of cocaine dealer Richard Buttrose. New South Wales police region enforcement squad commander Det-Insp Damian Beausils yesterday said police investigations into Buttrose's customers and suppliers were continuing after his jailing on Thursday.
=== Journalists Corner ===
As the health care debate comes to a head, Neil's getting answers and insight from some of the biggest names in politics, business and entertainment!
It's a Special Cost of Freedom:
Guest: Sarah PalinPlaying fair or going too far? Palin speaks out on the dems' strategy to pass health care!
===
Health Care Special
What's really in the bill, what will it cost taxpayers, and how will it impact you? Mike gets answers!
===
LIVE from D.C.!
As the fate of health care is decided, no one has you covered like Fox! Only one team has complete coverage as events unfold.
=== Comments ===
Obamacare Comes CloserBy Bill O'Reilly
With President Obama staking his future on passing universal health care reform, the end game has begun.
On Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office put forth that Obamacare would cost $940 billion over 10 years, but would actually bring down deficit spending over the same period of time because health care costs would decline.
Republicans don't believe those numbers, and point to the universal health care system in Massachusetts where costs have risen every year. In fact, the Bay State is now asking the feds for almost $500 million to bail out their health care programs.
But with the cover the CBO is now providing, it looks like the Democrats may get the votes they need to pass Obamacare, and that could happen on Sunday.
"Talking Points" will say it again: Nobody knows if universal health care will work. The estimates of cost are just that: estimates. The Massachusetts model, passed in 2006 under Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, has not worked as expected.
But the president remains supremely confident that his vision will work and that 32 million currently uninsured folks will get health insurance, most of it subsidized by the federal government.
If it passes on Sunday, Obamacare will be the biggest entitlement since Medicare was passed in 1965.
The polls, however, continue to say most Americans do not want Obamacare: 52 percent oppose in Thursday's Rasmussen poll; 55 percent oppose in the brand-new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll.
But Mr. Obama believes that once health care costs begin to decline, he will be a hero. That is his calculation.
There is no question that the USA is embracing a more liberal philosophy, but that could change as early as next November.
But give the president this. He has our attention. This health care deal has galvanized the country and is forcing people to take sides.
Do you want big government to impose social justice? Or do you want a smaller Washington presence that regulates but does not mandate fair play in corporate America?
Remember, the big reason Barack Obama got elected is that Wall Street hustlers ruined the economy.
"Talking Points" was correct in predicting that a public option would not be a part of Obamacare, and we also might be right about the Democrats avoiding that sneaky "deem" vote in the house.
And even though it is still incredibly close, the odds are Obamacare will pass. The CBO report Thursday gives wavering Democrats an excuse. That's all they need.
===
COUNT BEGINS
Tim Blair
An early (very early) swing against Labor of 17.5 per cent in Tasmania and a similarly early 9.6 per cent swing against Labor in South Australia, where exit polls point to a possible hung parliament – as is also predicted for our non-mainland friends.
===
NAMES … AND THE UNNAMED
Tim Blair
The late Australian playwright Alex Buzo, in 1998: “Among the very small circle of literate literati in Sydney a mildly diverting parlour game consists of thinking up Adelaide names, like Bright Greene, Pullen Hare and Falkland Waugh.” Other Adelaide names either invented or adored by Buzo include Priestley Allsop, Randall Ashbourne, Clayvel Badcock, Baxter Wall, Harcourt Brace, Watson Dallymore and Steele Hall.
Buzo would have loved today’s South Australian election. Among the candidates:
• Kathy Brazher-de Laine
• Henk Bruins
• Andrew Castrique
• Brenton Chomel
• Howard Frayne Coombe
• Kerry Faggotter
• Darian Hiles
• Wilbur Klein
• Franz Knoll
• Cassandra Ludwig
• Duncan McFetridge
• Jasemin Rose
• Tauto Sansbury
• Ruben Anthony Sebben
• Walter Shigrov
• Max Van Dissel
• Dan Van Holst Pellekaan
• James Wangmann
In other stereotype-reinforcing Adelaide developments, Katelin Nelligan reports that Labor MP Chloë Fox won’t talk to the Sunday Mail because she remains offended by that paper’s coverage of boy-sex charges faced by her father. (Incidentally, locating Fox’s party affiliation at her official website is the best election-day challenge ever. Happy hunting!)
===
BETTER VERSE
Tim Blair
Inspired by banned British warmy poems, Richard Littlejohn tries his hand at verses for the modern era:
As I was going to St Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
He said he’d come from Somalia,
And was now living on benefits in a £2.5 million townhouse in Kensington.
Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
Have been taken of the shelves by the diversity department,
In case they offend Muslims.
Rub-a-dub-dub,
Three men in a tub,
And who do you think they be?
They’re all consenting adults and they got a grant for it from the council.
George Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
Now he’s on the sexual offenders’ register.
===
DEMOCRACYFEST
Tim Blair
Elections today in the picturesque comedy island of Tasmania – home to the cryptic and shy (and delicious) giant freshwater lobster – and also in South Australia, an experimental free-range prison located somewhere west of Horsham. Endangered SA leader Mike Rann is currently being pursued by panda bears. Updates to follow.
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ATTENTION SMOKERS
Tim Blair
You may want to stock up on your favourite brand this weekend:
There is a strong move towards manufacture and introduction of self-extinguishing ‘’fire safe’’ cigarettes. From Tuesday, all cigarettes manufactured in, or imported into, Australia will have to comply with the new standard.New York has had a similar law for several years, which is why discerning smokers used to buy their cigarettes in New Jersey – until that particular avenue of freedom was cut off in 2008.
‘’Reduced ignition propensity’’ cigarettes are designed to self-extinguish when the smoker is not puffing, minimising the risk of a discarded butt starting a fire. By September 23, all cigarettes sold in Australia will comply.
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Rann goes
Andrew Bolt
Sky News’ exit poll is foul news for Mike Rann. Liberals 53 per cent, Labor 47.
LABOR in South Australia could lose at least six seats and a hung parliament is the most likely outcome in the state election, an exit poll is showing.
”Our prediction is Labor has lost its majority and it’s a hung parliament,” Tim Gartrell from Auspoll said half an hour before the close of Saturday’s state election.
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Yet another, and one of the biggest
Andrew Bolt
The 25th boat already this year:
A boat with 92 asylum seekers on board has been intercepted off the coast of Western Australia.Again that deceitful word “intercepted”.
===
Who are these savages?
Andrew Bolt
The anarchy we like to deplore in Third World countries is barely kept under control in our own:
HUNDREDS of revheads trashed a Bob Jane T-marts store and brought a major highway to a standstill for hours last night… The commotion started after the EasterNats race meet at Calder Park Raceway was cancelled earlier this week, and the crowds last night decided to vent their anger on the sponsor’s store, on the corner of Princes Highway and Warrigal Road in Victoria.UPDATE
Police said more than 2000 people gathered at the intersection, which forced police to stop traffic along the busy Princes Highway, Australia’s No. 1 highway.
As the angry fans trashed the store, breaking windows and stealing car parts from inside, witnesses and bystanders were forced to take shelter in their cars and nearby restaurants.
Take a look at the barbarians now sharing your city:
===
Talents thrown away… and dignity, too
Andrew Bolt
Autism Spectrum Australia is right - there must be better ways to harness such remarkable talents, and to make such people feel worthy:
JAMES RUSSELL has a truly remarkable knowledge of train timetables.(Thanks to reader Baden.)
He was diagnosed with high-functioning autism as a child. Off the top of his head, the 20-year-old can tell you just about every Sydney train line affected by track work for the past two years, and the date it happened.
Yet the only work Mr Russell can get is filling envelopes and lugging boxes… Now he is unemployed and it is taking a toll…
The solution, according to ASPECT and the Russells, may lie in a revolutionary employment model developed by the Danish company Specialisterne.
Its founder, Thorkil Sonne, has started a computer software business where 80 per cent of the employees are autistic, with hugely successful results.
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Weather has a mind that’s not the bureau’s own
Andrew Bolt
But they are sure global warming will make Australia hotter and largely drier 100 years from now:
Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:18am AEDT(Thanks to reader Leigh.)
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says a cyclone in the Coral Sea is unlikely to reach the Queensland coast.
March 20, 2010 - 9:29AM
Tropical cyclone Ului is heading towards Queensland’s northern and central coasts with destructive winds of up to 140 kilometres an hour.
UPDATE
Reader Lance wonders how the Bureau cab be so definite about 2100, but not 2010:
A spokeswoman for the Bureau of Meterology...said it was too early to predict whether it will be a wet or a dry winter.
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Rudd stimulates the unions instead
Andrew Bolt
The head of a big building company tells me this is true of not just Victoria, and helps to explain the huge cost of what should be small projects:
UNIONS have exploited a loophole to have almost all schools stimulus upgrades in Victoria declared “major projects” in order to pocket site allowances estimated to total at least $80 million.So rush-rush-Rudd’s stimulus package is snatching your cash and handing it to union heavies and their mates. And schools must miss out on some of the cash they thought was theirs.
The Master Builders Association of Victoria said the allowances - supposed to account for harsh conditions on large buildings - were an “abomination” and should never have applied to most education revolution projects…
The main building union, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, won the right to site allowances of between $2.40 and $4.60 per worker per hour through a series of cases at the Victorian Building Industry Disputes Panel… In Victoria, a “major project” is defined as anything above $2.4m. Once that threshold is reached, the sliding scale of allowances applies. Many schools stimulus projects fell short of the $2.4m mark, so the CFMEU sought to “bundle” together all projects undertaken by individual builders to get over the threshold.
(Thanks to reader Dominic.)
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Just tell ‘em not to use their lights
Andrew Bolt
The fear unleashed by the Rudd Government’s insulation fiasco is exrtraodinary, and the slowness to reassure the vulnerable is more extraordinary still:
A PENSIONER was advised to climb into her roof gap to check potentially deadly insulation problems.This single government program could cost Kevin Rudd the next election. A few more fires, God forbid, may prove fatal not just to some homeowners.
Georjean Mills, 77, was also told by Federal Government hotline workers she would have to wait behind 12,000 people before she could get her roof checked by experts.
The Hastings resident was worried that her insulation, installed this year, was a fire hazard after hearing stories about poorly installed batts.
Mrs Mills, who was “apprehensive” about possible fires, notified her federal MP (and Opposition environment spokesman) Greg Hunt, who formed an unlikely partnership with Electrical Trades Union secretary Dean Mighell to get some help.
Mr Mighell sent electricians to check the batts, and found new insulation laid over old batts was covering exposed wires and was near downlights.
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Facebook must know how to shut their faces
Andrew Bolt
Facebook is out of control:
A MALICIOUS website has launched an outrageous attack on a former Tasmania Police officer, claiming he was a gunman in the Port Arthur massacre.If Facebook can’t maintin an instant-response, 24-hour hotline to remove pages like this one or foul ones like this, then it deserves to be sued for plenty.
The Facebook hate page claims convicted mass murderer Martin Bryant is an innocent man and long-serving former Special Operations Group member Michael Dyson is responsible.
Mr Dyson, who assisted investigations into the 1996 massacre when 35 people were killed, has shrugged off the allegations but says the internet is out of control and accountability is needed. He said despite attempts to contact Facebook administrators since finding the site this week, nothing had been done to remove the defamatory page.
Mr Dyson, 52, said he had also contacted Tasmania Police and Australian Federal Police because the site includes his photo and contact details, but was told they were powerless.
(Thanks to several readers.)
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Why hand them your money, though?
Andrew Bolt
The insult is that they make it with the money of the people they set out to offend:
A TELEVISION comedy series about a bong-smoking dog that has sex with a cat and a teddy bear has received $1.5 million of federal and state taxpayers’ money.(Thanks to reader CA.)
The cult SBS series Wilfred is also peppered with profanity, full-frontal nudity and jokes about rape. The award-winning show centers on Adam, played by former journalist Adam Zwar, and his straight-talking dog Wilfred - played by comic Jason Gann (of The Wedge fame) in a dog suit and drawn-on black nose…
As Wilfred, Gann chain-smokes and talks about his penchant for having sex with dead animals, a stuffed bear and the neighbour’s cat.
“It’s like I want to r--t her but not by rape - it’s like I’m in love,” he says of the cat played by Underbelly’s Kestie Morassi.
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Four Corners burns Abbott for his faith
Andrew Bolt
The Catholic-raised Paul Kelly has convinced me I was far too generous to Four Corners this week over its program on Tony Abbott:
The truth, however, is that in hard policy terms the guise of “Abbott as Christian crusader” is overdone, exhausted and marginal. Abbott does not seek to qualify the secular state…Read on, especially for a dissection of Four Corners’ ludicrous support for Rudd’s setting of “targets” for cutting homelessness - which then actually gets worse. One of Kelly’s best.
The real objection to Abbott is that he refuses to disguise his muscular, conservative Christianity. The Australian people will pass their own judgment on muscular, conservative Christianity but it is manifestly offensive to our progressive media.
There are numerous examples but the most recent was the Four Corners program last Monday on The Authentic Mr Abbott. The unifying theme was Abbott’s religion… It was a sustained exercise in reinforcing stereotypes where, for the umpteenth time, Abbott was portrayed as patronising about women, reactionary on abortion, prone to impose his moral beliefs and unsympathetic to the poor and homeless…
This program magnified out of proportion and distorted the policy significance of Abbott’s religion as distinct from Abbott’s views on economics, finance, foreign policy, welfare, education, health, parental leave, industrial relations and so on that will bear directly on what an Abbott prime ministership would mean for Australians.
The more challenging and worthwhile media approach was to discover the “authentic Mr Abbott” by contesting caricature and stereotype. What, for example, is the most obvious political example of Abbott’s Christianity?
It is surely his personal commitment to and visits to remote indigenous communities during his entire career...With more time after the Coalition’s 2007 defeat, Abbott spent three weeks in 2008 as a teacher’s aide working in the classroom from 9am to 3pm at Coen in north Queensland, assisting Aboriginal youngsters with their literacy, and has since followed the progress of some of these children.
Last year he spent 10 days at Aurukun in Queensland assisting the truancy team. Frankly, this shows a rare personal commitment not duplicated by any other national party leader.... Such commitment is integral to Abbott’s Christianity and Catholic background. Yet it violates the stereotype of his Christianity as a negative repressive factor, which is the ABC’s dominant ideological mindset.
Such a depiction of Abbott would be contentious because it would mean his Christianity leads to something worthwhile. By the way, have you ever heard on any ABC current affairs program any suggestion that Abbott’s Christianity has positive as opposed to negative implications? If so, you are a privileged person.
(Thanks to reader CA.)
===
Degrees of Aboriginal
Andrew Bolt
I’m very glad indeed we now have Aborigines given grants to study at Oxford. But I’m not sure these are the Aboriginal faces you’d expect to be in most need of special race-based help:
Christian Thompson, 32, and Paul Gray, 26, were announced this week as the inaugural recipients of the Charlie Perkins Scholarships to attend Oxford University.That’s Gray, left, and Thompson with Perkins’ daughter Rachel, the talented filmmaker.
Mr Gray will develop research into the neurobiological processes in children as a result of traumatic events in early life as part of a postgraduate degree in experimental psychology.
Mr Thompson will undertake doctoral studies in fine art at the Ruskin School of Art where he will conduct research on the Indigenous Australian artefacts at the Pitt Rivers Museum’s Collection.
Mr Thompson, an acclaimed artist who is currently studying at the Amsterdam School of Fine Arts in the Netherlands, described it as a “life changing opportunity”.
“To be one of the first two Aboriginals to ever go to Oxford is pretty wild,” he told The Times.
Still, maybe those Aborigines students will become role models to these other Aboriginal students. needing someone with whom to identify:
(Thanks to reader anon.)
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Paying greens to be smug
Andrew Bolt
Reader Ian is as stunned as I am by this green rort - which, thankfully, has at least not yet spread to Victoria:
No wonder NSW electricity prices are going to sky rocket. The regulations for the selling of solar generated power in NSW lets home owners sell back to the grid not just the excess power they generate but the entire gross amount.The rest of us subsidise these solar panels AND pay exorbitant prices for the power they produce. Not only that, we pay for the coal-fired stations which must operate through the day, ready to give these rorters the cheap power they need when the sun goes down or they turn on the heating.
So what I hear you say, but here is the kicker, power generated from solar can be sold at 60 cents a kilowatt hour - nearly 3 times the retail price. Then those with solar cells simply purchase the power they require at approximately 20 cents per kWh. So basically taxpayers pay people rebates to install these solar panels and then give them the right to sell back the power generated at 3 times the market rate.As it’s the NSW government that is carrying the can for this insanity is it any wonder that power prices are going to go through the roof.
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Real estate shonks must take the BoM’s pictures
Andrew Bolt
How much faith can we put in the Bureau of Metreorology’s measurements of the heating it’s detected in Australia?
The Bureau says plenty, because its Reference Climate Station Network is made up of 100 measuring stations it’s carefully selected for “long-term climate monitoring, particularly with regard to climate change analysis”:
Preference was given to stations withIts aim is to avoid contamination of records by the urban heat island effect - an artificial warming caused by the growth of buildings, concrete, cars, lights and like things such as great swathes of asphalt and heat-belching machines.high quality and long climate records,
a location in an area away from large urban centres, and
a reasonable likelihood of continued, long-term operation.
So far good.
This would justify the American NOAA/NCDC, which works out global temperatures, putting much of the Australian data in its top class of data ratings, or at least the second:
Class 1 (CRN1)- Flat and horizontal ground surrounded by a clear surface with a slope below 1/3 (<19deg).>3 degrees.But reader Eloi has noticed something very dubious about at least six of the BoM’s stations - the six air bases it lists
Class 2 (CRN2) - Same as Class 1 with the following differences. Surrounding Vegetation <25>5deg.
014932 - Tindal RAAF (NT)Take Tindal.
040004 - Amberley RAAF (Qld)
061078 - Williamtown RAAF (NSW)
067105 - Richmond RAAF (NSW)
068072 - Nowra RAN (NSW)
087031 - Laverton (Vic)
The picture on the BoM wesbite would make you think the weather station is far out in the bush, miles from any source of artificial warmth:
But Eloi checks the station’s coordinates on Google Earth and finds something quite different:
Says Eloi:
This image provides a vastly different aspect. As can be seen, the weather station is located adjacent to the runway and taxi-lane. Nothing in the BoM image indicates any of this environment. In fact, it provides a very misleading view of the situation of the station, IMHO.Read on at Eloi’s sites for the links and for similar telling comparisons for the other five stations - especially that for Amberley, which the BoM pictures as a rural heaven:
In fact, Google Earth shows the station actually lies between a runway and air base and the encroaching suburbs of Ipswich:
(UPDATE. Second paragraph expanded for clarity.)
===
Rann belted with a newspaper poll
Andrew Bolt
Today could see one shameless spinner spun out:
Today’s Newspoll shows virtually no chance of Mike Rann’s government retaining the numbers to rule in its own right, despite Labor’s record 10-seat majority.UPDATE
Taken exclusively for The Weekend Australian during the final week of the campaign, the poll found the Liberals ahead of Labor on a two-party-preferred basis by 52 per cent to 48 per cent…
The Newspoll indicates a swing against Labor of up to 9 per cent across the state.
David Penberthy measures the extraordinary effect of the Chantelois factor, above all:
In less than 12 months, Rann’s approval rating has plummeted from a stunning 75 per cent. It was once as high as 80 per cent, yet he now trails Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond, who is just eight months in the job compared with his eight years as Premier.
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Pope Nazi and his atheist clone
Andrew Bolt
Final thought on professional atheist Richard Dawkins, who last week called Pope Pius XII “Pope Nazi”. Please tell me the moral difference here.
First, here’s the petition Richard Dawkins promotes damning the “Pope Nazi” for not being braver and speaking out more against the fascists of his time:
We ask the Prime Minister to express his disagreement with (Pope Benedict’s) ... decree paving the way for the beatification and sainthood of the war-time Pope, Pius XII, who stands accused of failing to speak out against the Holocaust.Now here’s Dawkins explaining why he won’t be braver and speak out more against the fascists of his time:
When asked when he would be willing to criticise Islam as he did Christianity, the response was pragmatic. ”I personally believe we shouldn’t go out of our way to do things that will get our heads cut off.” To the Islamist he would make it clear that this reticence is “because I fear you. Don’t think for one moment it’s because I respect you.”Does that make Dawkins the “Atheist al Qaeda”?
UPDATE
I agree with reader Geccko:
The best I can come up with is this and it doesn’t fall in Dawkins favour: Dawkin’s preocupation is for his personal self preservation. Pope Pius XII was almost certainly concerned about the potential ramifications for others.
===
How Greenpeace and Philips stole your nice bulbs
Andrew Bolt
Joost van Kasteren and engineer Henk Tennekes on the unholy alliance between Philips and the Greens:
Come to think of it, banning incandescent bulbs makes only marginal sense. The energy savings of CFL’s are small. They are somewhat more efficient when you take into account only the number of lumens per watt of electrical power, but they cost a lot more to produce. Also, their real life expectancy often is much less than the 7,000 hours promised in the ads. And don’t forget that they contain a few milligrams of mercury, which contaminates the environment when they are not disposed of properly. Most of them aren’t – a scary thought.
Is it fair to judge light bulbs on the efficiency with which they convert watts into lumens? The combined lobby from Big Business and Big Environment has attempted to convince us that old-fashioned bulbs waste a lot of energy. They ignore the inconvenient truth that the efficiency of common light bulbs is in fact a full 100%. All the “waste heat” helps to heat the house. In wintertime, when days are short and cold, every contribution to home heating is welcome. In summertime the days are long and there is hardly any need for artificial lights. The incandescent bulb may give only a little bit of light, but it also produces a lot of useful heating.
There is yet another problem: the quality of the light produced by CFL’s and LED’s. Their light is unnatural; it is unsuitable for an atmosphere of coziness in living rooms, not to mention bedrooms.
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Neither petting nor a pet
Andrew Bolt
Jeff Corbett:
Opposition leader Tony Abbott says the obligatory acknowledgement of traditional owners is paternalistic tokenism and a genuflection to political correctness, and as an Australian of both Aboriginal and European descent I can tell you that he is right. The ode read out by rote at council meetings, civic and government functions, and at schools run by the silliest principals offends my European and Aboriginal parts equally - as a white Australian I don’t want to pat anyone, let alone an adult, on the head, and as a black Australian I don’t want to be patted on the head....(Thanks to reader Marcus.)
The respect I want as a person of Aboriginal descent is the same respect, no more and no less, awarded to every Australian. I don’t want to be insulted by being labelled as special, separate and in need of an excuse. What happened 200 years ago has no more to do with me as a person of Aboriginal descent as it has with me as a person of European descent, so let’s renounce the paternalism and get on with our lives as Australians together.
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