=== Todays Toon ===
In The State Tinkers (1780), James Gillray caricatured North (on his knees) and his allies as incompetent tinkers of the National Kettle. George III cries out in rapture in the rear.
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, KG, PC (13 April 1732 – 5 August 1792), more often known by his courtesy title, Lord North, which he used from 1752 until 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence. He also held a number of other cabinet posts, including Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer. A kind of Tory, so liberal media can attack him.=== Bible Quote ===
“This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”- Romans 13:6-7=== Headlines ===
Marine whose Facebook posts ignited a debate about whether active duty troops are allowed to criticize president says he intends to keep posting his views on Web.Tea Party 'Blueprint' Drafted
Thousands descend on the nation's Capitol for tax day protests as activists offer up new 'Contract From America'
Human Smuggling Ring Busted
Federal agents raid shuttle van operators across Arizona in smuggling investigation of illegal immigrants
Obama's Military Remark Stirs Uproar
Remark suggesting the U.S. is burdened by its military might draws stern rebuke from all-too-familiar ex-foe
7,500 Online Shoppers Unknowingly Sold Their Souls
A computer game retailer revealed that it legally owns the souls of thousands of online shoppers, thanks to a clause in the terms and conditions agreed to by online shoppers. The retailer, British firm GameStation, added the "immortal soul clause" to the contract signed before making any online purchases earlier this month. It states that customers grant the company the right to claim their soul. "By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorised minions." GameStation's form also points out that "we reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction." The terms of service were updated on April Fool's Day as a gag, but the retailer did so to make a very real point: No one reads the online terms and conditions of shopping, and companies are free to insert whatever language they want into the documents. - many voters did the same in voting for Obama. - ed.Neil Armstrong, Obama Spar Over NASA's Future
The first man to walk on the moon has blasted off at the Obama administration's stripped-down space plans, describing the president's proposals as "devastating." But supporters of the president's latest plan, which will be unveiled on Thursday, insist all systems are go for an accelerated rocket program that sets new goals for the American effort in outer space. Moonwalk icon Neil Armstrong, in an open letter co-signed by Apollo Commanders James Lovell and Eugene Cernan, wrote on Tuesday that "The … decision to cancel the Constellation program, its Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, and the Orion spacecraft, is devastating. - Obama is spending a lot of money, but his plan lacks vision - ed.
Top Climate Scientist Under Fire for 'Exaggerating' Global Warming
Britain's top statistician absolved U.K. scientists following the climate-data scandal -- and blasted U.S. researcher Michael Mann for exaggerating the size of global warming. An inquiry by a panel of scientists into the behavior and methodologies of researchers at Britain's East Anglia University found Britain's climatologists scatterbrained and sloppy, but ultimately innocent of intentionally skewing climate data. But one of the top scientists selected for the panel slammed the methodologies used by Penn State climatologist Michael Mann to devise his infamous "Hockey Stick." "It was set up to be a total whitewash, and the panel made no effort to investigate," said Steven Milloy, publisher of Junk Science, a Web site that casts doubt on global-warming research. "They didn't even interview the recipients of the e-mails. It is ridiculous," he told FoxNews.com.- the panel was biased at the start and got it wrong. It is much worse than mere exaggeration -ed.
Travel plans of thousands of travellers sent into chaos after volcanic ash from Iceland swept across northern Europe, shutting down airports and grounding planes.Boat crisis forces visa-raid halt
IMMIGRATION stops visa checks on suspected illegal workers as detention centres overflow.
Tax break for savers to take to the bank
INVESTORS to get massive tax breaks if they put cash in a bank account - but there's a catch.
Mum broke baby's bones with back flips
A MUM who broke six bones in her baby's body after making her do back flips won't go to jail.
Shock jock's Got Talent to upset people
DEVASTATED talent show hopefuls tell of anguish at being humiliated by Kyle Sandilands.
'T-Rex' leech puts the bite on girl's nose
A LEECH found in the nostril of a girl, aged nine, has been dubbed "T-Rex" because of its giant teeth.
Obama praises 'humble' Rudd
US President Barack Obama says PM is the political leader he is closest to on the world stage.
Husband buried grief on holiday
FOUR days after his wife died in a cliff fall, Des Campbell sat browsing through holiday brochures featuring Hong Kong, Thailand and Manila, a court has heard.
=== Journalists Corner ===
In the true spirit of Thingyan, a celebration filled with fun, gifts of charity, and good deeds, sign up now to host an "Arrest Yourself" event!It is Thingyan time in Burma - a three-day water festival that marks the beginning of the Burmese New Year. People celebrate by splashing water on each other, an act that symbolizes washing away of the sins of the past year and readying oneself for a bountiful new year. But there is one big sin which still hasn't washed away - Burma's military regime.
With the upcoming sham elections designed with a highly undemocratic constitution, the regime is attempting to perpetuate its military occupation of the country, turning Burma's future into a nightmare. We must act now to stop the regime from silencing those who seek true democracy for Burma.
Join us in our "Arrest Yourself" campaign. During this global action campaign, supporters stay home for 24 hours under self-imposed house arrest in solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma. Given the urgency of the situation, we must magnify and project our unified voices calling on the international community to denounce the regime's political charade and reject the election results, which will be neither free nor fair. The world must know that Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent over 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest, is the legitimate leader of Burma, and the military regime must release her immediately and unconditionally.
On June 19, Aung San Suu Kyi will be turning 65. She will most likely spend her birthday under house arrest. Let us celebrate her infallible dedication and courage, as well as the determination of the people of Burma to free themselves from ruthless military rule. Even as the ruling junta continues its daily persecution of the Burmese people, through "Arrest Yourself" we will awaken the world's consciousness about Aung San Suu Kyi and the plight of the 55 million people of Burma and fight for their liberty.
Sign up now to host an "Arrest Yourself " event. Watch our video to learn how to "Arrest Yourself".
=== Comments ===
Big Battle Between Democrats and Republicans Over Your MoneyBy Bill O'Reilly
On the heels of the divisive health care debate, now comes proposed financial reform. I know it sounds boring, but it is important to your life, so let me break it down in terms that even I can understand.
Most Americans understand that the current vicious recession was caused in part by greedy Wall Street companies that trafficked in bad mortgage deals. That is they irresponsibly lent money in hopes of getting high interest payments back. As we all know, that caused Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions to collapse, and the economy went down with them.
Most Americans got hurt, some big time.
So now President Obama wants to regulate the financial industry. There are three big things the Democrats are trying to pass into law.
No. 1: Big financial companies would have to tell the feds about their investments. As the guy said in the movie "Jerry Maguire," show me the money. That way the feds can see if risky investments are being made.
No. 2: A new federal agency would be created to discipline private companies if the feds think they are not acting responsibly.
And No. 3: A $50 billion fund would be set up so the government could liquidate failing private financial companies. The feds would ask a bankruptcy court to make the call.
Most Republicans hate that. They don't want the federal government controlling the financial industry, and they don't want federal funds used to pay the debts of irresponsible companies.
"Talking Points" believes that new federal laws are needed to punish financial companies that take our money and invest it fraudulently. But we also do not want a $50 billion slush fund because it's not necessary. If new laws are passed, the feds can simply suspend a company's right to do financial business with a court's approval.
There is no question that President Obama and most Democrats believe the federal government must right wrongs in this country, while the GOP wants less of that, allowing the private sector to sort it out.
Thus, financial reform is the new health care. Let the battle begin.
===
BROKEN HILL, BUSTED MOVIE
Tim Blair
It’s the heartwarming story of Tommy McAlpine. He lives in the outback. His mother instilled in him a love of music. Tommy’s teacher is “an Aboriginal musical genius named Pindari”. A talented Australian Rules football player, Tommy really wants to study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Otherwise it’s the farm life for Tommy, who also spends time in jail, where he turns a bunch of tattooed goons into a lovely choir.
He has an American girlfriend. And Timothy Hutton is his Aussie dad. Broken Hill might just be the worst Australian movie ever made:
Although set in New South Wales, Broken Hill was shot in ... South Australia.
(Via Tim Train)
UPDATE. The sequel sounds even better. “Wait until you cast your peepers on BH2,” comments Victoria Wood-Kent:
Heartbroken by the death of his American wife, Tommy cuts short his triumphant world tour to return to Australia only to find that the country he loves has been unrecognisably transformed by a cruel right-wing government. Non-existent funding for the arts and widespread racism forces Tommy to seek exile in a small township in far northern Western Australia. There, Tommy becomes drawn into a battle to curb the indiscriminate cruelty of the newly formed Australian Border Protection Army.
For the crime of falling in love with a newly arrived refugee, Tommy is locked up in a small local detention compound. Unable to directly battle their brutality, Tommy decides to dismantle the enemy from within.
Over time, Tommy convinces the guards one by one to replace their guns with guitars and nightsticks with turn-tables.
Discovering a new love of life and humanity, the guards, along with Tommy, ignite a powder keg of rap, rock, funk and dance with the final notes of Tommy’s squealing guitar echoing through the halls of Parliament House.
The whole thing is shot in Glenorchy.
===
KEYSAR DON’T SURF
Tim Blair
Keysar Trad – responding to reports of a particular Islamic extremist speaking to Australian Muslims – reveals his internet limitations.
(Via J.F. Beck)
===
BEVERLY BINGLE
Tim Blair
When in Los Angeles, I choose to stay at the Beverly Laurel. Not the fanciest of hotels, yet far from the shabbiest, it has a lively and raffish aspect.
Young Daily Telegraph reporter Chelsea White is also a fan of the Beverly Laurel. Last week she arrived there for a few days of rest. Then Chelsea discovered that Australian model and media magnet Lara Bingle was staying at the same hotel. No holiday for you, Chelsea.
===
Is Rann fighting Brumby for his new patron?
Andrew Bolt
Rumours in Adelaide grow stronger that Kevin Rudd will appoint South Australian Premier Mike Rann has Ambassador to Italy.
He would replace Amanda Vanstone, whose term ends this year. Rann will need a new job, being damaged goods, and his wife, Sasha Carruozzo, has Italian parents.
This, of course, may help explain to some why Rann right now is fighting not for the interests of his state, but the interests of the man about to give him this lovely gift. Guess who got wheeled out to attack the strongest critic of Rudd’s controversial revolution in hospital spending, which experts warm could hurt the states:
SA Premier Mike Rann this morning criticised the Victorian Premier as the ”patron saint of lost causes”, noting Mr Brumby was also opposed to a federal takeover of the ailing Murray Darling Basin water system.Good doggie. Have an Italian biscuit.
“This is a once in a generation opportunity, for future growth in our hospitals, we do not want to see it aborted by John Brumby or anybody else,” Mr Rann said.
===
Nixon dictates her memoirs as the state burns
Andrew Bolt
My tip: Christine Nixon is about to resign today after confessing to what she really did in the morning of Black Saturday, and in her office that afternoon. Polishing her image as the state burned will be just too much. And The Age may have a big question put to it: how much of this did at least one its reporters know, and why was it not reported?
UPDATE
Nixon confirms she was at the hairdresser on the morning of Black Saturday, after being warned the fires had jumped containment lines. Has not said she’ll quit.
She says being at the hairdresser from 9.30 am did not affect her duties. She had her phone.
At the afternoon at 1.30pm she did “some work” and met with her biographer. She claims she only spent a few minutes with her before going back to work. In fact, she’d told the royal commission she was in her officer for 90 minutes, not making calls or receiving any.
And she is her biographer? Nixon did not say, by it was Age journalist and global warming roundsman Jo Chandler:
That book now needs a new chapter: How I told my biographer of my greatness, while the state burned around me.After all, this blurb doesn’t quite seem to cover the main points:
Her eight-year tenure has been characterised by her tough anti-corruption stance, her frequently acrimonious relationship with the Police Association and her high approval ratings with the Victorian public. In this frank and engaging memoir, Christine Nixon opens up about the pressures of life in the public eye and working in one of the toughest jobs in the country. She also explains her early resignation as Chief Commissioner, to tackle an equally formidable role as head of Victoria’s bushfire taskforce.(Headline has been updated.)
===
Obama’s brand new best friend
Andrew Bolt
Obama last night tells the ABC that he’s closest to Rudd, at least in thinking:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I really do think there is, you know Kevin is somebody who I probably share as much of a world view as any world leader out there, I find him smart but humble..
Last month Rudd didn’t actually figure, when Jackson Diehl went asking:
I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office. A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.
One official mentioned French president Nicolas Sarkozy.. But in France, Sarkozy’s bitterness toward Obama, the product of several perceived snubs, is an open secret..
Angela Merkel’s name also came up… But Merkel, too, has been conspicuously cool toward Obama…
No one named Gordon Brown… Finally, I was offered a name I didn’t expect: Dmitry Medvedev.
===
What will Rudd try next?
Andrew Bolt
Undetected and of course undeterred by Rudd’s changes, being neither Afghani nor Sri Lankan:
ANOTHER boatload of about 80 asylum-seekers, thought to be Iraqis, has sailed close to Christmas Island undetected overnight.
===
Brumby vs Rudd: It’s personal
Andrew Bolt
John Brumby privately despises Kevin Rudd and publicly doesn’t think much of his desperate tactics to at least get one policy success. Hear it from Barrie Cassidy:
Victorian Premier John Brumby has no real respect for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd or the way that he practices politics…(Thanks to reader Max.) - It isn't either/or, but both. Rudd is an inept PM, aand Brumby is an inept Premier. Maybe Rudd is worse, but that doesn't make Brumby competent.
His resolute opposition to the Federal Government’s hospital package is deep-seated and genuine,.. But a transcript of (a radio) interview (this week) reveals the full extent to which Brumby was prepared to attack Rudd’s jugular.
He said, quoting Rudd: “… if you don’t do things the way I tell you, I am going to take money off you.”Neil Mitchell: “What are the implications of that? ... “Wouldn’t that mean sick people would suffer?”The Victorian Premier was suggesting that Kevin Rudd plays his politics so hard, that he is prepared to make conditions for sick people even worse to get his own way…
Brumby: “Yeah ..."…
Mitchell: “But that’s obscene."…
Furthermore, if Monday’s talks fail, and if Rudd takes the issue to a referendum, they will take opposite sides on that important and divisive debate. Brumby will have no choice but to run the line that given Rudd’s form on insulation you could not possibly trust him to run the hospitals.
Those around him already argue that Rudd’s devotion to hospital reform is partly a latter-day cover for policy failings in other areas. Poke him with a big enough stick, and Brumby could well say that, or something similar, on the record…
On the other hand, the downside for Rudd is obvious. He desperately needs a policy breakthrough...
===
Bang go the savings
Andrew Bolt
Would Kevin Rudd’s great green tax on everything offset the effects of a single eruption in Iceland?(Thanks to reader Andrew.)
===
Maybe it’s healthy TV for society, after all
Andrew Bolt
Darwinian principles at work:
A QUEENSLAND man bitten by a deadly snake sat down to watch Underbelly rather than seek medical aid.(Thanks to reader John.)
===
You may be dead before Rudd’s plan makes money. Maybe
Andrew Bolt
Good God. The Building the Education Revolution debacle could now look like mere small change compared to Rudd $43 billion broadband plan:
THE head of the government company established to build the national broadband network admits it could be 20 to 30 years before the project makes a satisfactory return, threatening Rudd government attempts to lure investors.(Thanks to reader Robert.)
Appearing before a Senate inquiry into the broadband network, NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley said he believed financial returns for ‘’nation-building infrastructure’’ such as the $43 billion broadband product needed to be considered over several decades.
===
Oil catastrophe: a sight to shock you
Andrew Bolt
As you can see above, the devastation caused to the Great Barrier Reef by the Shen Neng 1 is as shocking as green groups warned:
OIL slicks have been found on two islands northeast of Gladstone since Tuesday afternoon.(Thanks to reader Blair Bartholomew.)
===
We’ll say what our critics won’t
Andrew Bolt
THERE’S two strange things about the articles and letters The Age is running to warn people against MTR, the new radio station starting next week.
And, no, one of them isn’t that some Age journalists, editors and readers would try so hard to get people not to listen. Or warn so frantically that if they do tune in on 1377, they’re bound to be on their own.
Oh, you missed those warnings?
Here’s one: “Redneck radio has never worked in Melbourne. And never will.”
Here’s another: “Unfortunately, MTR has done little to improve the diversity on our airwaves ... All its presenters are men (apart from Women’s Weekly editorial director Deborah Thomas).”
Yet one more: “MTR is just ... more ranting, Right-wing rabble rousers.”
And then there’s the gleeful report that some main-chancer tried to register MTR’s name first, and so on.
The first strange thing is that these attacks actually prove the need for the new station, if it indeed delivers what it’s promised - or what its critics fear.
===
The truth went up in flames, too
Andrew Bolt
THE question now is not whether Christine Nixon deserted her post as head of the emergency response on Black Saturday.
It’s whether the now-retired police chief is a perjurer as well.
Did she have her cake, down at the pub while the state burned, and eat the evidence too?
And once more we see it’s the cover-up that gets you every time.
Media reports so far have contrasted the damning differences between what Nixon told the bushfires royal commission last week and what she confessed to this week when dragged back for a humiliating please-explain.
But what will put her at greater risk of repercussions is the even more startling differences between her earlier sworn statement to the commission and the truth that’s since emerged, not least the fact that our disaster chief knocked off at 6pm to go to dinner at a pub with mates, despite knowing people were about to die.
No one can prove - at least not yet - that Nixon lied in that written statement, prepared with the help of state government lawyers. But it is beyond dispute that she misled the commission. On oath.
I repeat, she may well have done so inadvertently, yet almost all her untruths tended to mask how completely she’d abandoned her responsibilities on the weekend 173 Victorians were killed.
Indeed, near the end of Nixon’s cross-examination this week, the commission’s counsel assisting, Rachel Doyle, felt the need to ask if she knew she was on oath and that it “entails an obligation to tell the whole truth”.
That was not just an insult but a warning.
Let’s now check key parts of the sworn statement Nixon gave to the commission, which wanted to know what she’d done on that dreadful day, not just as head of our police but as the co-ordinator of emergency responses under the state’s disaster plan.
Her first “mistake” was to swear to this:
===
A witchhunt if it stops at Nixon
Andrew Bolt
IT’S true, Christine Nixon does seem to be the victim now of a witchhunt.
In fact, that’s the fervent belief of many who share her politics - feminists, The Age and ABC presenters.
It’s because she’s a woman, they cry. Or because we need a scapegoat that people persecute her so.
I’d have said the hounding of Nixon owed more to the fact that going to a pub when you should be fighting a disaster is a contrast so vivid that a moron couldn’t miss it.
Nixon’s build, and her cry of “I had to eat!” made it even worse, turning an indictment into a thousand jokes.
Only CFA chief Russell Rees has come close to getting the same flogging, and, in part, for the same reason - that he knocked off early, albeit much later and after working much longer.
I do not for a moment think Nixon should be spared this criticism (although I abhor the abuse).
How can we tolerate such failures of leadership, and still hope that those below will do their duty - and more than their duty, should disaster strike? The flight from responsibility that’s such a sign of our times has to be halted.
===
Tasmanian has two faces
Andrew Bolt
Complete liar, of course:
Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett on The 7.30 Report, February 24:===A BACKROOM deal with the Greens is a deal with the devil, and I’m not going to sell my soul for the sake of remaining in power.Hobart’s The Mercury, Wednesday:TASMANIA is poised to have a Labor minority government that includes Greens ministers within cabinet for the first time. Early discussions were held on Monday night between Premier David Bartlett and Greens leader Nick McKim after both their parties backed the start of negotiations over possible senior portfolios for the Greens.
All clear, expect for one or two big exaggerations
Andrew Bolt
After incompletely whitewashing the Climategate scandal, a member of the Oxburgh committee mentions in passing that the notorious “hockey stick” may have been a crock:A member of the inquiry, chaired by Ronald Oxburgh, a former British government advisor, said a well-known graphic used to illustrate rising temperatures was “exaggerated.”Surely Oxburgh’s choice of transport to the press conference on his Climategate findings should have made some journalists there wonder about his impartiality:
David Hand, head of the Royal Statistical Society, said the “hockey stick” that became emblematic of the threat posed by climate change exaggerated the rise in temperature because it was created using “inappropriate” methods.
The research, led by U.S. scientist Michael Mann, would have shown less dramatic results if more reliable techniques had been used to analyse the data....
”The change in temperature is not as great over the 20th century compared to the past as suggested by the Mann paper.”
RON OXBURGH, breezily pushing his bicycle through a clot of journalists outside the press briefing he had just given, is a busy man happy to hurry.You see…
Lord Oxburgh is so concerned at the potential destruction from globalwarming that he wants to devote more of his time to cutting greenhouse gas emissions and the use of fossil fuels…Exactly what do you think he was likely to conclude about Climategate?
At home, Oxburgh has persuaded his wife and son to use bicycles and abandon the car ”except for trips to the supermarket”. For those, he uses a diesel capable of 60 miles to the gallon.
“‘Domestically we all ride bicycles and use the car as little as we can,’ he said. The family has also abandoned air travel for holidays – though Oxburgh still regularly has to fly on business matters.
(Graphic from Watts Up With That.)
===
Economical with truth while overseeing unforseen contingencies
Andrew Bolt
Even Michelle Grattan admits gently - too, too gently - that the Rudd Government doesn’t just stuff things up, but lies about it, too:
One characteristic of this government is a tendency to deny difficulties - or at least to refuse to properly acknowledge them - until they become so obvious that they have to be recognised and addressed.I think I said it more crisply, but, then, I don’t care if Rudd won’t speak to me.
The boats were one example, the administration of the stimulus programs another. The insulation debacle was the standout. This week, Education Minister Julia Gillard, announcing a taskforce to investigate allegations, finally and belatedly admitted that more had to be done on claims of waste and rorting in the school building program
UPDATE
From the people who now want to run the hospitals:
In a further embarrassment for the Australian Tax Office, it has been confirmed that 140,000 assessments were sent to taxpayers this week without refund cheques....That media management seems a near copy of the one I’ve blogged on below:
And on Wednesday the ATO issued a note to tax agents only, not publicly, that 140,000 notices had gone out without their cheques.
IMMIGRATION Department officials have been ordered to back off all non-essential visa checking, such as raids on brothels and illegal fruit pickers, as mainland detention centres are at risk of overflowing… The instructions, which were issued verbally, not in writing...UPDATE 2
Dennis Shanahan detects more failure and deceit in Rudd’s boat people backflip:
In the week since the announcement the policy and justifications have been shredded and exposed as a cynical and deceitful political exercise. What’s more, it’s a policy that is unlikely to achieve what it is intended to achieve because the government continues to attempt to please everyone and put politics ahead of policy…UPDATE 3
Last year, the initial reaction to the first “irregular maritime arrivals” was to deride the opposition’s claims, discount projections as being fanciful and point to illegal boat arrivals during the Howard years.... But cracking a century of boat arrivals also cracked the government’s nerve and the decision was made to dump all the compassionate rhetoric made before and after the election.
Not only was 90 days no longer the maximum period for processing on Christmas Island, as Evans had aimed for, it was now the minimum time in detention for Sri Lankans - 180 days for Afghans. Also, the detention is effectively indefinite…
The government’s justification for these actions is risible. Why doesn’t the Rudd government just live up to the Prime Minister’s election promise to “turn back the boats”, buy a fight with the human rights and refugee groups and appeal to voters who want some real action?
Meanwhile, one of the many Rudd ex-staffers describes working for such a bully:
(Thanks to readers CA and Sherro.)
===
And where was the police minister?
Andrew Bolt
Good question, and why should it be asked only of Christine Nixon:
POLICE Minister Bob Cameron has been caught up in the growing controversy over who was in charge of Victoria’s emergency services on Black Saturday.
A day after Mr Cameron’s official deputy on February 7, then Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon, was forced to reveal she had no contact with emergency services for three critical hours, the minister has been criticised for not arriving at the central fire control centre until 8pm.
In his first detailed account of his movements on Black Saturday, Mr Cameron also said he did not think to ask where Ms Nixon was that night.
Yesterday, the opposition used question time to attack Mr Cameron - who was co-ordinator-in-chief of emergency management on Black Saturday - for not being at the control centre late that day…
Earlier, Mr Cameron said he spent Black Saturday at his Bendigo home before Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin called him at 5.45pm, warning of a ‘’very dire’’ fire situation and telling him to travel to the emergency control centre
===
Don’t ask if they’re illegal
Andrew Bolt
Sneaky, weak and irresponsible:
IMMIGRATION Department officials have been ordered to back off all non-essential visa checking, such as raids on brothels and illegal fruit pickers, as mainland detention centres are at risk of overflowing because of the constant transfer of asylum-seekers from Christmas Island. The Australian has learnt that Immigration Department compliance officers were told late last week to detain people only where necessary, because of the space pressure inside detention centres.And so to cover up the consequences of weakness, the Government weakens even further. And see once more how the guiding operational principle is Seeming.
The instructions, which were issued verbally, not in writing, are understood to have been handed down last Thursday and Friday.
It is believed compliance officers were told to ease off all non-essential work and to detain people at airports only when absolutely necessary…
“Compliance officers have been asked to consider the impact of current detention capacity when planning their field operations, including looking at alternatives to detention,” (a) spokesman said.
(Thanks to reader Yankeebravo.)
===
Shock: Labor MPs would rather live somewhere nicer
Andrew Bolt
I’d rather live in Black Rock, too:
FOURTEEN Labor MPs live up to 40km from their electorates and offices in a trend that will anger voters in the run-up to the election.I can’t get outraged. If they can do their jobs by their electorate, and, even more importantly, by the rest of us, I don’t care if they live in Potts Point. But how further, how harder.
Premier John Brumby is among a growing number of MPs living outside their seats, with one former minister almost 40km from her constituents.
A Herald Sun analysis of where state MPs live shows Labor MPs dominate the politicians who don’t reside in their own electorates…
Transport Minister Martin Pakula lives in the upmarket bayside suburb of Black Rock - more than 20km from his western suburbs electorate office.
===
As long as the killers didn’t have fake Australian passports…
Andrew Bolt
Will the world outrage be a tenth of what we’d hear if the executioners had been Israelis?
THE Hamas rulers of Gaza have executed two Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel despite objections from human rights groups.,,
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Gaza’s Islamist rulers of killing at least 32 political opponents and suspected informers during and after the war, and of maiming dozens of others.
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