Headlines Sunday 4th April 2010

=== Todays Toon ===

Rubens painted this moral and political allegory for the Guild of St George, the Antwerp archers' company, in the period of the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648).
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628) was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated. He was one of the most rewarded royal courtiers in all history.

=== Bible Quote ===

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”- Hebrews 12:2

=== Headlines ===

Easter is a time for hope and forgiveness, Christian leaders say
PRACTISE forgiveness, live with hope and give thanks for life are the key Easter messages from Sydney's Christian leaders today. Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell said this Easter was an opportunity to remember the contribution Christianity made to the way of life Australians enjoyed. He said the early Christians showed goodness was contagious and spread their religion by the example of the way they lived. "Community life was revolutionised. Marriage was for life, abortion and infanticide were forbidden, husbands had to love their wives as they loved themselves," he writes in today's Sunday Telegraph. "The suffering were to be helped, not ignored or exterminated. Indeed, Christians taught that good could come from suffering." Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen said people should strengthen their relationships with family and friends this Easter.

Rep. Alan Grayson, who riled Republicans by saying they wanted sick Americans to 'die quickly,' to file complaint against doctor who posted anti-Obamacare sign.

Super Tuesday Polls Preview
May races may forecast pivotal midterm elections in November in which Dems hope to fend off GOP surge

Lawmaker Defends Constitution Flap
Illinois congressman says his comments that Constitution didn't matter in health overhaul were taken out of context

Gadget fans line up overnight to get their hands on Apple's highly-anticipated new touchscreen device / AFP

Murder accused shot trying to flee officers
THE man accused of murdering Michelle Morrissey, 19, was shot trying to flee while being moved.

Less women in banks 'aided global crisis'
A LACK of women on bank boards aided the GFC because men weren't "challenged, scrutinised".

Cyclists need to follow the road rules
BUSINESS group wants cyclists to be licenced, to pay registration and to learn the road rules.

Underbelly star befriends his alter ego
NOTORIOUS nightclub boss John Ibrahim has taken the actor who plays him in the new Underbelly under his wing, introducing him to the Kings Cross nightlife.

Archbishop 'regrets' Catholic comments
ANGLICAN leader expresses regret after declaring the Catholic Church had lost "all credibility" over the child abuse scandal.

Still room on Christmas Island, says Rudd
AUSTRALIA'S immigration facility on Christmas Island still has room for more asylum seekers, says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Mr Rudd said he had been advised by the Department of Immigration that there was still room on the island, despite reports it had exceeded its official capacity of 2040 people. "The advice I have received this morning is that capacity remains," he said.

Gunmen in army uniforms massacre 25 people in Iraqi village
GUNMEN in army uniforms swooped on a village south of Baghdad, stormed three houses and massacred 25 people from families linked to an anti al-Qaeda militia before dawn on Saturday, Iraqi officials say. Among the dead were 20 men and five women, an interior ministry official said, while a security spokesman blamed al-Qaeda and said that 17 people had been arrested in connection with the murders. The victims were found with either broken arms or legs, indicating they were tortured, according to a medical official at Al-Yarmuk hospital in west Baghdad with knowledge of police reports of the killings.

This is the future of sport in schools - Wii instead of PE
VIDEO games are replacing sport in NSW schools under new government policy allowing children to play virtual tennis, baseball and boxing on Wii consoles during physical education. Despite growing levels of child obesity, the NSW Department of Education and the Australian Sports Commission have put Nintendo's Wii Fit on the PE curriculum. - ridiculous criticism. This is a good move for many kids who are largely sedentary in the clasrooms today. -ed.

Union members turn on Labor
BLUE-COLLAR Labor voters have deserted the Keneally Government with a shock new poll showing more union members plan to vote for the Coalition than the ALP at next year's State election. Secret internal polling, commissioned by Unions NSW, shows Ms Keneally has failed to repair the rift between union members and the Government that opened up over energy privatisation two years ago.

=== Comments ===

Rudd ups the ante in self-promotion
Piers Akerman
WITH Canberra all but closed for Easter, the Rudd administration stealthily changed the rules on government campaign advertising, making it easier for public funds to be diverted to political ends. - I don’t think that the previous legislation would prevent the Rudd government from doing something corrupt, so the reason for this new legislation isn’t related to that. The reason for this new legislation is that it means the allegation of corruption can’t be made on legitimate grounds. It is an attempt to bind potential whistleblowers.
The underhanded tactic is not new to the ALP. As with the Rancid Turd, it has numerous similar examples of previous application. Recently, councillor Zaya Toma of Fairfield has been slimed for .. no reason. The South Australian Government has been re elected despite abysmal performance and a good opposition candidate and clear issues of apparent corruption.
My own issue regarding school boy Hamidur Rahman is related to such machinations.
The press club won’t welcome looking stupid, so this is a good excuse for them to say that it happened when they were looking the other way. - ed.
===
EUGENE NOT SUPREME
Tim Blair
South African white supremacist Eugene Terreblanche – a frequent presence on Australian television during the 80s via foreign current affairs coverage – has been hacked to death by black employees, apparently following a pay dispute. Meanwhile, another supremacist (bearing a perfectly apposite name) is shut down more peacefully:

US-born Muslim preacher Abdullah Hakim Quick, who has described Jews as “filthy” and advocates the execution of homosexuals, will not be participating in a Swedish young Muslim conference he was scheduled to speak at over Easter weekend.

The decision to remove the controversial cleric from the conference schedule was based on a number of factors and made in consultation with Quick, according to the organisation.

“We have made what we believe to be the best decision – for us, for him and for society in general,” said Mohammed Amin Kharraki, chairman of Sveriges Unga Muslimer (’Sweden’s Young Muslims’).

Terreblanche’s assailants were possibly thinking along similar lines.
===
NEXT: KEVIN’S DARING SLEEVELESS LOOK
Tim Blair
Want to be like Michelle Obama? Kevin Rudd sure does. Here’s an item from the White House blog, back in March last year:

“This is a big day. We’ve been talking it since the day we moved in,” said the First Lady as she and two dozen local students broke ground on the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House.

Now let’s see what our Prime Minister is up to:

Spent arvo with T & Jess at garden centre buying seedlings & planting in new Kitchen Garden at the Lodge. I just followed instructions …

Yes, he did. Australia’s Prime Minister First Lady even used uppercase K and G, just like they do at the White House. You go, girlfriend!

(Via KP)

UPDATE. The First Lady appoints a new minister:

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has appointed Tony Burke as the nation’s first population minister, amid growing concerns the number of Australians will rise to unsustainable levels.

Mr Burke will be responsible for drawing up a national population strategy and will retain his other portfolio of agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

So now Burke is the Minister for Cows, Fish, Trees and People. Who’ll get Insects? Maybe that responsibility will fall to the underemployed bureaucrats previously involved in emissions trading.
===
NO NANNY NEEDED
Tim Blair
Australian F1 driver and enemy of the nanny state Mark Webber stands on it in sodden, slippery Malaysia:

David Croft on BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra: “How can Webber swim through these conditions? Is that the Australian in the cockpit or is it Ian Thorpe? That is a truly sensational effort from Webber, who is on pole by an absolutely massive margin.”

That margin: 1.346 seconds. It’ll be interesting to learn which Grand Prix last featured such a gap between first and second qualifiers. Webber got there by gambling on tyre selection, as his team boss explains:

“It was something Mark wanted to have a crack at (to use the intermediate tyres). There was a lot of risk involved …”

But … but … risk is baaaad! Nanny statists Peter FitzSimons, Chalpat Sonti, Neil Mitchell and Greg Baum will be appalled. Webber could have hurt himself.

UPDATE. Giancarlo Fisichella qualified on pole in Melbourne five years ago by a margin of 2.969 seconds, but that was under an unusual and quickly-abandoned aggregate timing system. The last time anyone held a qualifying margin as big as Webber’s in comparable circumstances was ten years ago, when David Coulthard qualified 1.366 seconds clear of Michael Schumacher in rainy Germany.

UPDATE II. Webber hits the wall – a full day before the race begins.
===
INBOX OF LOVE
Tim Blair
A friendly note from reader Wayne:

You really are a spineless, gormless, glass-jawed bully of the highest order. Hope you don’t have a high-speed car accident.

Well, if I do, at least I’ll avoid any spinal injuries. And from Roger of Scoresby:

Weren’t you meant to kill yourself in a high speed crash in an over-powered car in South America Timbo?

No, I was meant to kill myself in a high-speed crash in North America – Mexico, to be precise. But thanks for asking.

Similar death-wishy emails have been rolling in over the past few days. Something seems to have upset these people.
===
Michelle plants a PR seed in Rudd’s brain
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd knows good spin when he sees one growing in Michelle Obama’s garden.
===
I’d trust these boys more than I’d trust Gillard
Andrew Bolt
Two teenagers with more sense than the Government which has nannied them out a job - and more integrity, too:

TWO teenagers who lost their after-school jobs at a Victorian hardware store have appealed to Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard for their jobs back, after their employer was required to pay $3000 in back pay.

Matthew Spencer and Leticia Harrison said the part-time work had given them independence and confidence, and they would not accept back pay “for work we have not done”, The Weekend Australian reported.

The duo were among six youths who lost after-school work at the Terang and District Co-operative because their new award stipulated they had to be employed for a minimum of three hours a day, compared with the previous state award that had a two-hour minimum.

However, the youths were engaged after school for 90 minutes, with their employer arguing that was the only amount of work available before the store, located 210km southwest of Melbourne, closed at 5.30pm.

(Thanks to reader Chris.)
===
Rudd’s dud team redeploys
Andrew Bolt
From one dud to the next:

THE Rudd Government has transferred its entire emissions trading team into the strife-prone household insulation program, putting plans for carbon trading this year on the backburner.

The team of 154, which has been costing taxpayers an average of $370,000 each planning for the non-existent emissions trading scheme, will be put to work on sorting out the problems with the $2.45 billion home insulation program that left four people dead and has been implicated in 120 house fires up to March 24.

(Thanks to reader John.)
===
Thick head flaunts thin body to help fat girls
Andrew Bolt
I know Kate Ellis didn’t get her job thanks to her brains, but surely even she couldn’t believe that strapping on eight-inch stillettos and squeezing into a leather sheath is a great way to promote a better body image among the chubby:

IN KILLER heels and a tight leather dress, federal minister Kate Ellis is taking a bold new approach to her campaign to improve young women’s body image.

The last federal politician to model eight-inch stilettos was Alexander Downer, but Ms Ellis, 32, wears her strappy shoes with two skin-tight outfits in this week’s edition of Grazia magazine.

(Thanks to reader Jeff.)
===
Sack the voters
Andrew Bolt
Age business writer Paddy Manning is wavering in his support for the democracy of the market place:

Can capitalism deal with climate change? It’s an article of faith for this column that a relatively free market operating in a democratic system will respond more quickly and effectively to climate change than a centralised dictatorship.

Faith is needed, because climate change is proof of colossal market failure.

Behold the Trojan Horse.

Actually, Paddy, what you are railing against is the realisation by politicians that the voters will punish them for climate alarmism that comes with a big bill. It’s not capitalism that’s “failed” you, but democracy, with voters refusing to endorse the policies you prefer. Those who see in this an argument against capitalism simply confirm that, as ever, the anti-capitalist movement is at heart anti-democratic. Climate alarmism is just the latest refugee of the Western totalitarian.
===
Clowns to the left of me
Andrew Bolt
Geldof seems the least deserving of a deserved criticism:

THE singer and activist Bob Geldof has launched an impassioned defence of his charitable work, claiming he has used his fame to persuade world leaders to take poverty seriously and mocking anti-poverty demonstrators as ‘’wankers dressed as clowns‘’.

His comments were included in a 6000-word letter to the director of a documentary that makes stinging and, Geldof believes, unjustified criticisms of his rock concert campaigns.
===
More feral females than ever
Andrew Bolt
The report goes on to discuss how the state is failing the prisoners, rather than the other way around:

VICTORIA’S high-security women’s prison is overflowing with a record number of offenders, forcing the state government to bring in portable accommodation to house them.

UPDATE

Meanwhile, another of those race-based attacks that has made Melbourne infamous in Asia:

Police are investigating a brawl involving two groups of Asian men which began outside a nightclub in Riverside Quay, Southbank overnight.

The two groups began fighting outside a club at approximately 3.00am and were allegedly armed with weapons including knuckledusters, bottles and iron bars.
===
iPad released
Andrew Bolt
A roundup of iPad reviews. But I really want to know about the comparative choice of books, which is what I thought this was all about.