=== Todays Toon ===
In Britannia between Death and the Doctor's (1804), James Gillray caricatured Pitt kicking Addington (at left) out of Britannia's sickroom.
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC (30 May 1757 – 15 February 1844) was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.Henry Addington was the son of Anthony Addington, Pitt's physician, and Mary Addington, the daughter of the Rev. Haviland John Hiley, headmaster of Reading School. As a consequence of his father's position, Addington was a childhood friend of William Pitt the Younger. Addington studied at Winchester and Brasenose College, Oxford, and then studied law at Lincoln's Inn.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”- 1 Corinthians 15:55-57=== Headlines ===
Revised arrest warrant recently posted by Interpol could lead to the capture of Raghad Hussein, who lives in Amman, Jordan, under the protection of King Abdullah II.
Oregon middle school teacher Jason Levin called them a bunch of 'racists, homophobes and morons'— but the Tea Partiers say that's no reason for him to lose his jobScientists Fear Air Travel Crisis Could Get Worse
Tremors at Iceland volcano could trigger larger eruption nearby, creating worst-case scenario for airlines and travelers around the globe
Obama Pressured by Hometown Dem
Illinois congressman threatens to rally Hispanics to stay home on Election Day if Obama doesn't tackle immigration
U.N. Helping Haiti — or the U.N.?
U.N. ups peacekeeping budget for Haiti by millions — and you won't believe where most of it's going
Hitler No Longer Upset About Apple iPad
Many of the Hitler “Downfall” parody videos on YouTube that have besieged the site in recent years have been taken down after complaints by the German production company that owns the right to the 2004 film, The Open Video Alliance reported Tuesday. Constantin films, owners of the rights to the film "Der Untergang" ("Downfall"), upon which the parody videos are based, filed the copyright claim. The parodies, which have become a popular viral meme on the internet, all focus on a single scene from the movie when Hitler screams at his generals upon learning that Germany is about to lose the war.
A woman who fell 20 metres down a mine shaft while out walking her dog spent four terrifying days calling for help until she was foundCarl Williams' lost 25 minutes
INQUIRY into why it took prison officers 25 minutes to find gangster bleeding and dying.
Qantas: No new bookings until mid-May
AIRLINE tells passengers they could be waiting weeks as it tries to clear huge backlog.
Woman, 82, left to die in squalid attic
VALERIE O'Connor was found looking like a "concentration camp victim" in faeces-covered room.
No more dole, Abbott warns under-30s
OPPOSITION Leader says cutting young people's payments would fill massive skills shortages.
Threats fly over Muhammad in a bear suit
RADICAL Islamic site threatens retribution over South Park depiction of Prophet Muhammad.
Man charged with missing woman's murder
PARENTS of Elisabeth Membrey, who disappeared from her home 15 years ago, confront the man accused of killing her.
Son charged with stabbing murder of dad
A MAN has died after being stabbed in the head, with his son now charged with his murder.
Stepdad told girl to stop being a sook and that sex abuse was 'good for her'
A MAN who told his teenage stepdaughter to stop being a "sook" because the sexual abuse he was subjecting her to was "good for her" was today jailed for six years. The Brisbane District Court was told the man, 41, first molested his stepdaughter, then aged 11, as she lay in her bed clinging to a teddy bear more than five years ago. Prosecutor Patrina Clohessy said the man's abuse of the child stopped after the initial abuse - but then continued for a further 15-months when the girl was aged between 14 and 15.
Manslaughter charge dropped against Mark Wilhelm
A MANSLAUGHTER charge has been withdrawn against Mark Wilhelm - the man accused over the cruise ship death of Brisbane mother-of-two Dianne Brimble. Ms Brimble died in September 2002, less than 24 hours after she boarded a P&O cruise ship on a "holiday of a lifetime". A coronial inquest spanning 16 months led to charges being laid against Wilhelm, in whose cabin she was found. He was charged with manslaughter and supplying the illegal drug GHB, also known as fantasy or liquid ecstasy, which was found in her system. But last year, after a four-and-a-half week trial, a jury in the New South Wales Supreme Court failed to reach a verdict.
=== Journalists Corner ===
HBO will screen the academy award nominated film Burma VJ tonight! Be sure to tune in if you have HBO or ask a friend who does if you can tune in on their TV. Check out the film's compelling trailer.I saw Burma VJ for the first time one year ago and was extremely impressed and deeply moved. Since then I have revisited the film often. I continue to be captivated and inspired by the images of thousands of civilian protesters, emboldened by the selfless commitment of monks, marching on the streets of Burma and courageously demanding freedom. The film tells the riveting story of the 2007 Saffron Revolution through the eyes of undercover video journalists (VJs) who smuggled video footage of the popular uprising and the brutal military crackdown, risking torture and life in jail. Click here for the complete HBO schedule.
For those of you in the United States the film will air at 9:30 PM Eastern, 8:30 PM Central, 10:30 PM Mountain, and 9:30 PM Pacific Time. Click here for more broadcast details.Inspired by the film and want to help? Email President Obama asking him to support a UN Commission of Inquiry for Burma!
Howard Stern's never at a loss for words! So, what's his message for Megyn?Sparks are gonna fly when they square off!
The V.P.'s Plan!Will Biden's strategy help the middle class or hurt our recovery? Neil gets answers!
===
It's Private ... Or Is It?
Can your boss legally peruse your personal e-mails? Our "Is It Legal" team investigates!
===
Decreasing the Deficit!
Would you chip in your own change to help out Uncle Sam? Griff Jenkins investigates!
=== Comments ===
Rudd’s population policy in tattersPiers Akerman
THE Rudd government’s population policy is in tatters two weeks after its launch. Devised to divert attention from the disastrously lethal pink batts insulation scheme, the rorted school building program and the nonsensical health policy, the population strategy has raised more questions than it has answered. - I have no problem with Australia having 420 million people, not merely 42 million. I object to mismanagement of growth that sees a collapse of accustomed conditions and service through incompetence and corruption.
Australia has the resources to support the world’s population in great comfort. But it still takes planning of the type the ALP are singularly incapable of, and the Greens are opposed to. The ALP seem to take delight in diverting any gains made in government by the conservatives towards pork barrels .. and they seem to have popular support for that with media acting as cheerleaders. Take as an example NSW, where Greiner had set the state up for great things when he got rolled by the Greens and ALP and (so called) independents. Electricity was set to be sold for some $60 billion, possible $120 billion, and the economic vandals decided they would hold onto it .. probably so as to claim the bottom line didn’t show the great wealth Greiner had left.
Now the state will have to shell out $8 billion to just keep afloat. $128 billion in 1995 terms could go a long way to fund significant reform and infrastructure .. but that is lost to ALP corruption. - ed.
Ken Goodall replied- Ken and Bob, my policies are neither green nor leftist, but that doesn’t mean I hate people and the environment. I like people and I like migrants and I have no problem with welcoming more to Australia .. but I recognize that we also need to invest in sustainable development to move forward. Even were Australia to make a mistake and stop migration then we still need to develop what we have. Some of the arguments against development are stupid. To say we don’t want migrants because our land is not sufficiently developed is to ignore the fact that it is insufficiently developed regardless.
DDB:
“I have no problem with Australia having 420 million people, not merely 42 million....Australia has the resources to support the world’s population in great comfort...”
What did you say you stand for?
What are you trying to be elected to?
Bob M replied
I have a real problem with Australia having any more population than we’ve already got. Not only is Australia an extremely dry continent, but the soil here is among the poorest in the world and generally unsuited to food production. In fact, the latest available Food Production Index (see http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/agr_foo_pro_ind-agriculture-food-production-index) shows Australia ranked at a lowly 173 out of 182 countries. It also shows that we no longer produce as much food as we consume.
The pollies can rave on about schools, roads, houses and other infrastructure as much as they want, but they’re ignoring the problem of water and food production shortages.
Australia will need to make unique sacrifices to develop our land to the fullest, but there are vast rewards too if we do it sensibly. A person who believes in green ideals or the left wing belief in the need for compassion to rule the bureaucratic machine will recognize the fairness of my points, as will those who hold a conservative view recognizing that prosperity solves most problems. - ed.
Ken Goodall replied- Ken, there is nothing wrong with what I’ve written and I stand by it.
DD Ball: Even after re-reading your comment I still find it quite incoherent but I suspect you are endeavouring to answer my first question - “What do you stand for?”
From what you say I must ask you if you would prefer to see 20 or 30 Hong Kongs or N.Y. Citys dotted around our landscape or do you advocate greater decentralisation where we would have only 30 or 40 more Sydneys or Melbournes together with, say 80 or 90 more Perths or Newcastles?
We could have either of these wonderful scenarios and still have a much smaller total population than that which you “would like to see”.
When advising of your preferred population distribution would you also please answer my other question:-
“What is it that you are trying to be elected to?”
I was not answering your questions, but you may find answers to your questions in what I wrote. I was not answering the questions because your assumptions are things which I disagree with, and to argue over the larger issue when you fail to comprehend the basics leads into a semantic argument which achieves nothing but aggravation.
--- ---
I am a Liberal party person, but only as a supporter, not as a person who represents Liberal party views. I will be running for the legislative council (known as the senate) for NSW as an independent with a conservative agenda. My sole issue is Justice for Hamidur Rahman, a school boy who died from what I believe to have been school neglect and whose death has erroniously been blamed on the parents by an accidental ruling of the coroner after an apparent cover up. I am not running as a Liberal party person because I want to focus on a smaller issue than what a party like that can focus on. There has been significant political interference in reporting on the issue by ALP ministers, including former Education Minister Della Bosca and My local state member Tripodi. I believe some of my problems are a result of the actions of someone from within the NSW Premiers office.
--- ---
I think that answers your questions. But let me go further. NSW, and Australia requires development which will never be achieved while the ALP, from government, siphons public money for pork barrels. I note both the Snowy mountain scheme and the Opera house were enormous white elephants that would have remained incomplete until a Liberal state government (Askin) and a federal Liberal government finished them off.
While Australia has sufficient resources to fund a substantial population, that is not the case in its undeveloped state. - ed.
Ken Goodall replied
DD, thank you for your clarification.
I now realise that you recognise the “420 million people” statement as a faux pas intended to brush aside the topic of the day in order to return to your preoccupation, your “sole issue”.
Before leaving the matter of population, I question your repeated assumption that Australia “must be developed to the fullest” (my emphasis) - albeit carefully and sensibly - regardless of our population size.
The word “fullest” is a nonsense. By definition, “development” means impacting the natural environment.
Some “development” mistakes can be reversed but not so the inevitable loss of species of which either we are not yet aware or do not yet appreciate. We can easily win wars against other species but, in doing so, there remains a very real danger that we are ultimately defeating ourselves.
Secondly, there is a quality of life which has been largely lost in our urban areas - as demonstrated by the growing desire for the sea/tree/bush/coast change “if only we could afford it”.
On your “sole issue”, perhaps you should place it in the context that thousands of young lives are lost every year through little or no fault of the victims.
In the vast majority of cases someone or some thing can reasonably be blamed but future preventative action, if any, is dependent upon valid statistics and the political process.
As admirable as it might be, your lone war against “the system” is destined to fail.
Not only do you have no chance whatsoever of gaining a seat in the Legislative Assembly (I wasn’t aware that it is known as the Senate), the body itself is an expensive toothless tiger which really should be abolished.
- Ken, it is good you admit that you take the view the smallest critter is more important than any person. Apparently you believe the boogey man will get you if you overstep some mark.
I respectfully point out that every single animal, and most of them vegetables that are in those lands that should be developed are going to die in the next hundred years regardless of man’s activity. Yet, their lives can still serve a higher purpose.
You must realize the boogey man will get you even if you worship these critters.
--- ---
My stance on Hamidur is principled and explicable, unlike yours. Hamidur’s parents were wrongly blamed by authorities who apparently wanted to cover up what actually happened. This is verifiable and concerning to any parent or person with a conscience, which is why it doesn’t concern you.
--- ---
I wrote legislative council, you call it assembley. The deception is stupid and aimed at straw dogs. When my autobiography details the incident (ch6 and ch7) and it is read and understood, there will be an outcry. I don’t have to get elected, all I have to do is run.- ed.
Wazza replied- Wazza, have you any facts? Something that requires answering? Or is your post merely abuse?
420 million people would relate to a debt of around 50,000 billion dollars and we would effectively be owned by foreign world powers.We just about are now.He never answers facts, he should be a Labor supporter.
This moron wants to get elected to the LA so he can milk the never ending Gravy Train.
Be sure to vote for the “cat” before you vote for DD.(Dumb Dickh..d)
I’m curious, where do you get your figure of
50,000 billion dollarsIs that Australian dollars, US dollars or Chinese dollars or Rudd dollars? - ed.
===
Why Americans Do Not Trust the Federal Government
By Bill O'Reilly
A new study by Pew Research says that 76 percent of Americans do not trust the federal government, at least some of the time. Also, just 25 percent of Americans think Congress is doing a good job.
So what's behind this?
The Pew people say it is driven by economics, especially in the independent precincts. Folks are worried about their wallets, and they don't think the feds are responding very well. Thus, they don't trust the federal government.
But "Talking Points" believes there is something else in play.
When President Obama was elected 18 months ago, there was big time hope in the air. In fact, the president ran on hope and change, and many Americans were very optimistic that good times would be here again.
It hasn't happened.
The president still has time to turn things around, but we Americans are not a patient people, and there is anger in the air.
Yes, there has been change. We now have record spending and a new tone of humility overseas, but those things might not be good things.
Also, whenever you build up someone's hopes and don't come through, you become suspect. And the bigger the hope, the harder the fall.
President Obama's charisma energized many Americans, and now they are disappointed with reality. Therefore, a combination of those who didn't like Mr. Obama from the jump, and disillusionment because things have not gotten better, is driving all the negativity towards the federal government.
It is true that Congress is doing a terrible job. The health care bill was a colossal mess, and partisan bickering is out control. Both parties are at fault. The Republicans are undermining President Obama. The Democrats simply don't seem to care if the country goes bankrupt. They continue to spend irresponsibly, to load up bills with pork, and to basically thumb their noses at fiscal reality. That's not just incompetent, that's dangerous.
So once again, the American people are the ones with the common sense. They know the feds are not doing the job.
This is not a healthy place to be for America, and it is incumbent on the incumbent — President Obama — to turn this around, fast.
===
THERE WILL BE NO FORGIVENESS
Tim Blair
Presbyterians call for the death of South Park‘s creators, among others:
(Via Mark Steyn)
===
ENTITLEMENT AND GRIEVANCE
Tim Blair
For just £60, explore the unconscious motivations for your evil denialism:
Sally Weintrobe will examine the unconscious motivations behind people’s responses to climate change. She will explore some of the underlying reasons for the current level of denial of climate change and will suggest ways forward towards greater engagement.Some details about the speaker: “Sally Weintrobe works as a psychoanalyst. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Psychoanalysis and Chair of its Scientific Committee. She has written on the topics of greed, entitlement and grievance and her latest paper is on climate change denial.”
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BOUNDARIES REDRAWN
Tim Blair
I am told that this word-map of Italy is extremely accurate:
We need a similar illustration for Australia. Particularly South Australia. In other Axis developments, Downfall falls down:
Many of the Hitler parody videos on YouTube that have besieged the site in recent years have been taken down after complaints by the German production company that owns the rights to the 2004 film.Cue the inevitable parody.
The Open Video Alliance said Constantin films, owners of the rights to the film Der Untergang (Downfall), upon which the parody videos are based, filed the copyright claim.
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FAST FOOD FOR MODERN SINGLES
Tim Blair
The saddest cookbook ever? Not for the publishers – it’s still in print after 24 years.
===
Europe finds you can’t fly while covering your backside
Andrew Bolt
Why on earth was a lot of this work not done before? After all, this isn’t the first eruption in aviation history:
THE first flights from Asia, Africa and America are heading towards Britain after air regulators eased restrictions that had closed the skies…Before this, confusion:
The authorities accepted new European guidelines dramatically reducing the size of the no-fly zone caused by the ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano.The breakthrough, which airlines hope will begin to allow the 150,000 British air passengers stranded around the world to fly home, came after a meeting between carriers, regulators and Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary.
The Civil Aviation Authority, which sets rules on UK airspace, said it had been convinced after assurances from engine and aircraft manufacturers that safety would not be compromised if flights were allowed to pass through areas with some ash pollution.
“Our way forward is based on international data and evidence from previous volcanic ash incidents, new data collected from test flights and additional analysis from manufacturers over the past few days,” said Dame Deirdre Hutton, the CAA chairwoman.
Europe’s air-traffic controllers can’t agree on whether it’s safe to fly through the Icelandic ash cloud as airports in Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam reopen while London’s Heathrow hub remains closed…This is not caused only by over-cautious regulators, trying to cover their backsides:
“They are using a different model in Paris and other parts of Europe and we are speaking to the authorities about this,” said Richard Goodfellow, a spokesman for British Airways Plc, which uses Heathrow as its main hub. The carrier said [Britain’s National Air Traffic Services] was to blame for six days of disruption to its services.
Last night’s reopening of the skies over the UK followed intense lobbying from an airline industry that for years has resisted efforts by regulators to set a “safe” level of volcanic ash at which it is considered that flights can continue, the Guardian can reveal.The inconvenience and the losses are forcing a new assessment of “acceptable risk”. And airlines are gunning for the regulators who think any risk is too much:
What airlines had been afraid of was the potential damage to their reputation and finances in the event of one of their planes being lost due to dust after an all-clear had been announced, with a fear of legal actions arising from the deaths of all those who had been on board…
However, faced with losses running into hundreds of millions as the effect of Eyjafjallajokull spread and lingered into a sixth day, it was the airlines who began to call for the regulators to determine and set such a safe threshold, to avert the severe financial consequences of planes idle across Europe and passengers claiming refunds for cancelled journeys.
(Niki) Lauda meanwhile launched a scathing attack on European authorities over how the matter was handled.
The three-time Formula One champion, who now heads budget carrier FlyNiki, said today: “The total shutdown of European airspace is the biggest mistake in the history of aviation. It was a totally exaggerated gut decision not based on any facts.”
Lauda appealed to European aviation officials to take Austria as an example of where authorities put the decision over whether to restart operations into the hands of the companies.
“I flew straight threw the cloud between Vienna and Salzburg for two hours yesterday. There were – as expected – no complications or damages whatsoever,” Lauda – who flies scheduled FlyNiki flights regularly – said.
Lauda said aviation chiefs should take Sicilian volcano Mount Etna as an example.
“This is a very active volcano, and the [nearby] airport of Catania has been operating without any problems,” he said.
===
Rudd sees the light on rights
Andrew Bolt
Rare good news from the Rudd Government:
THE federal government has bowed to a revolt inside the Labor Party and rejected the push for a national charter of rights that would have handed new powers to the judiciary…
The government’s plan rejects two of the most contentious recommendations drawn up by the national human-rights consultation committee chaired by Jesuit lawyer Frank Brennan.
Today Attorney-General Robert McClelland will announce that the government will not introduce a national charter of rights.
Nor will it introduce rules for judges that would have required them to interpret legislation in a way they believe is in accordance with human rights. This would have gone beyond the current rule governing the way judges interpret statutes.
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Seeming green is a costly cosmetic
Andrew Bolt
More evidence of the sheer, pointless waste behind so many green schemes:
An Auditor-General’s examination of five climate schemes ... found emissions cuts from a solar panel rebate scheme backed by both major parties cost up to 20 times more than reductions from an emissions scheme: $447 for every tonne of carbon dioxide compared with an expected $20-$30.
Oversubscription to the program - initially worth $4000, later increased to $8000 - blew out the budget from $286 million to an estimated $1.053 billion. It was cancelled abruptly in June 2009, after prompting substantial growth in the uptake of renewable energy.
The $400 million ‘’greenhouse gas abatement program’’, introduced in 1999 to fund projects that either cut or offset emissions, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by just 15.5 million tonnes before being abolished. Its target was a cut of 51.5 million tonnes.
===
Stealing them from harm
Andrew Bolt
Watch how the deadly “stolen generations” myth makes even a senior Liberal reluctant to save children:
THE number of newborn babies taken from their mothers by the Department of Community Services has surged in the past two years…Memo to Goward. The most urgent civil liberty of all is the right to life:
The data, released in response to a question from the opposition DOCS spokeswoman, Pru Goward, shows the number of very young babies being taken into care has risen by almost 70 per cent in two years…
‘’They are removing children as soon as possible,’’ Ms Goward, said, ‘’before they are too damaged. It is better to be safe than sorry seems to be the policy.
‘’But the civil liberties issue is one that cannot be ignored: are they simply creating another stolen generation?’’
The surge in removals follows the disclosure last year that more than 150 children who died in NSW in 2008-09 came from families that were known to the department. Fifty-five per cent of these children lived in homes where there had been reports of domestic violence.
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Le Chiffre must have won, after all
Andrew Bolt
Dreadful news:Work on the latest James Bond movie has been suspended indefinitely because of debt-ridden MGM studio’s uncertain future...
===
Boycott New Idea
Andrew Bolt
Roberta Williams goes to a hairdresser for two hours just after hearing her ex-husband, serial killer and drug trafficker Carl Williams, has been murdered.
The reason she need to look noice?
Yesterday, she was interviewed by New Idea, which is believed to have paid her up to $250,000 for her story.Utterly revolting. Depraved, even. A fortune paid for a convicted criminal to tell us how nice her murderous ex really was.
Boycott New Idea. Don’t reward it. Don’t finance criminals and don’t reweard those who so suicidally promote them.
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Abbott’s suggestion: no dole for the under-30s
Andrew Bolt
US-style term limits on the dole, and stricter limits for the young, might be better:
TONY Abbott has proposed banning the dole for people under 30 in a bid to entice the unemployed to head west and fill massive skill shortages in the booming resources sector.It’s an idea for debate at this stage, and not a policy. Your thoughts?
The Opposition Leader made the controversial remarks during a two-hour meeting with about 15 senior resources industry leaders in Perth on Monday night.
Mr Abbott told the roundtable briefing he believed stopping dole payments to able-bodied young people would take pressure off the welfare system and reduce the need to bring in large numbers of skilled migrants to staff mining projects…
Mr Abbott also told the business leaders that safety mechanisms would be needed under such a scheme to protect disabled people or those with mental health problems.
===
Officials killed
Andrew Bolt
Leigh Sales on Lateline:
Al Qaeda’s top two officials in Iraq have been killed ...(Thanks to reader Peter.)
===
Warmists get frostbite, and we get a lesson
Andrew Bolt
TOM Smitheringale wanted to prove the world was warming. Now he’s another alarmist with frostbite.
The 40-year-old from Perth planned to be the first Australian to trek unassisted to the North Pole, but announced he’d raise some consciousness along the way.
As he wrote on his website: “Part of the reason Tom’s One Man Epic is taking place now is because of the effect that global warming is having on the polar ice caps.”
Indeed, he wanted to see the North Pole while it was still there: “Some scientists have even estimated that the polar ice cap will have entirely melted away by 2014!”
But Antarctica isn’t melting away, and Arctic ice has slowly increased since its big low in 2007..
But no one seems to have told Tom, who soon found his extremities freezing.
Two weeks ago he nearly called off his trek after suffering excruciating pain in his fingers and thumbs, forcing him to call in emergency help.
And last week he had to be rescued by Canadian soldiers after falling through the ice sheet.
===
Show his pretty face now
Andrew Bolt
LET’S see that famous “baby face” now. Let’s see what Carl Williams looks like after being bashed to death.
Show the body, as we used to do when a killer was finally dead and we needed to kill his legend, too.
The trouble is, Williams is not really dead. Not yet. Not in the way it matters to the rest of us.
Too many fools in the media, out for quick bucks, made this serial killer and Melbourne drug lord larger than life. And larger than this death.
He lives on in Channel 9’s Underbelly series, for instance, which showed every watching bogan with more greed than conscience a red-carpet way to fame and, if lucky, fortune.
He lives on in the deceitful biography of his ex-wife, Roberta. He lives on in the newspaper pictures of him smiling in the dock, as cocky as a bloke who knows where his squirrelled millions are buried.
Ah, that cheeky smile, in a who-me? face. The headline writers remember it, all right. It lives on even when the body is gone, like some Cheshire cat’s grin in our new Malice in Wonderland.
“Carl Williams - the baby-faced killer,” intoned the ABC.
“Baby Faced Killer - the Carl Williams story,” announced Channel 9, rushing to air a documentary on its walking gold mine within hours of hearing a fellow prisoner had just pulped him with the handle of an exercise bike.
Baby-faced killer. With a never-defeated smile. It’s that naughty angel thing that sets so many malformed hearts racing, so that lovelorn women wrote to Williams in jail even after he was convicted of having ordered three of the 30-odd murders in Melbourne’s gangland war.
===
Weren’t the Indonesians holding them?
Andrew Bolt
Now how did that happen, and why are they not sent back to Sri Lanka now that the Rudd Government agrees it’s safe?:
NINE-YEAR-OLD Brindha, the Sri Lankan girl who captured Australian hearts six months ago when she pleaded to be accepted as a refugee from the impounded asylum-seeker boat at Merak in Indonesia, is among up to 40 members of her group who have already reached Christmas Island.
The Australian understands about 15 family groups from the original 254 asylum-seekers on board the Jaya Lestari, the 30m cargo boat that set out from Malaysia last October and was then seized and taken to Merak by the Indonesian navy as a favour to Kevin Rudd, recently made it to Christmas Island.
Their vessel, holding about 90 people in total, set out from Indonesia less than a month ago, arriving in Australian waters just ahead of the Rudd government’s lockout on processing claims by Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum-seekers.
===
Not the picture you were painted
Andrew Bolt
Obama golfs much more than did Bush:
Obama has played golf 32 times since he took office, which is apparently eight times more than Bush did in his entire presidency…And Obama got much more from corporate shysters than did Bush:
Bush was often criticized for playing golf during his tenure. However, he had ultimately decided to quit…
“I don’t want to some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf… And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
Campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs employees to President Obama are nearly seven times as much as President Bush received from Enron workers…Fact is that Bush was and is a gentleman:
President Bush’s connections to Enron were well-hyped during the company’s accounting debacle that rippled through the economy. Time magazine even had an article called, “Bush’s Enron Problem.” The Associated Press ran with the headline, “Bush-backing Enron makes big money off crisis."… But the mere $151,722.42 (inflation adjusted) in contributions from Enron-affiliated executives, employees, and PACs to Bush hardly add up to Obama’s $1,007,370.85 (inflation adjusted) from Goldman-affiliated executives and employees.
But his ideological foes rarely were:
===
At least they eventually noticed
Andrew Bolt
That’s odd:
IT took prison officers 25 minutes to find a bleeding and dying Carl Williams in his top security cell at Barwon Prison.UPDATE
So I’ve heard:
ONE of two men in the maximum security prison dayroom with gangland kingpin Carl Williams when he was bludgeoned to death on Monday had links to a high-profile former police officer…UPDATE 2
It is understood the connection between the man - who has not been charged with Williams’s murder - and the former police officer is one of several aspects of the prison killing that have come to the attention of the OPI and will be monitored in its review…
Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland conceded yesterday that “potential corruption in the state” was one of a raft of “plausible explanations” why the drug baron was murdered.
Too close to the flame:
ABC reporter Josie Taylor to Jon Faine on ABC Melbourne 774 yesterday:To his credit, Faine sounded startled.
I STARTED as a court reporter and landed on my feet with the ganglands war when Carl Williams was alive and well and walking around. I will never forget as the court rose he cheerfully called from the dock, “See you in 21 years, Josie”, and he gave me a jaunty wave. (Laughs) As a reporter it was just fantastic, it was gold for the whole of Melbourne. We enjoyed the bizarre, the ridiculous and the entertaining.
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Deal or no deal
Andrew Bolt
It’s a deal, says Rudd:
Well today we’ve reached an historic agreement to deliver better health and better hospitals for the working families of Australia.No, it’s not says Barnett:
But its status as a national agreement under COAG is unclear without WA Premier Colin Barnett’s signature alongside those of the other leaders…UPDATE
Mr Barnett said it was his understanding that there would be no deal without all the states agreeing.
I do think funding the bigger hospitals based on the procedures they perform is a good reform, but I’m not sure at all that this deal ends the “blame game” or limits bureuacracy, as Rudd promised:
KEVIN Rudd has been forced to water down his plan to seize control of public hospitals, yielding to pressure from states to create a joint funding arrangement to deliver his planned massive reform of the health sector…How can this be said to have ended the blame game when the architects are already squabbling about who’s in control?
Early last month, he used a speech at the National Press Club to declare he wanted to seize a third of the GST receipts of state governments to fund a federal takeover of state-run public hospitals.
Failed state bureaucracies were to be sidelined to a policy role under the Rudd plan, with hospitals to be funded directly by Canberra through about 150 community-based committees. Mr Rudd emerged from yesterday’s second day of talks at the Council of Australian Governments saying he would enter a partnership with the states, with each contributing to a joint pool to fund hospital reform…
Victorian Premier John Brumby, who led opposition to the GST proposal, said he had agreed to back the plan after concessions by Mr Rudd. These included allowing states to retain management of the joint funds and more immediate funding increases for hospitals…
Last night, commonwealth sources insisted the commonwealth would have control over hospital funding because it would establish benchmarks for service levels in a carrot-and-stick approach that would drive efficiences.
And the COAG communique, released about 8.40pm, said the new funding pools would have “no policy or operational role” and that states would have a role as “system managers” for the role of managing public hospital service planning and policy.
UPDATE 2
Some doctors aren’t impressed, although I suspect these put too much faith in the ability of Canberra:
Sally McCarthy, president of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, and head of emergency at a leading Sydney hospital, said it was “unfortunate that we have approved the status quo, in terms of the involvement and controlling of the money by the states”.On the other hand:
”This does nothing to get rid of the bureaucracy . . . and entrenches the states in a system we are all agreed isn’t working as well as it should be,” Dr McCarthy said.
Medicare co-architect John Deeble said the deal was “probably as good an outcome as you could expect” and had improved on the original by providing more money for hospitals immediately.Now, how much of this will patients - and voters - actually notice?
Professor Deeble also said the claimed $5 billion in extra spending was a mirage, because “everybody distorts the numbers so much that you never really know where the truth lies”, but handing more control to the states was a good thing.
John Dwyer, founding president of the Australian Healthcare Reform Alliance, welcomed the extra money for hospitals but said the deal represented a huge loss for Mr Rudd after the states won a bigger role.
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What nuclear weapon? What strategy?
Andrew Bolt
Still, what would Obama’s Defence Secretary know about keeping America safe from its enemies?
The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions that Mr. Gates had warned in a secret three-page memo that the United States did not have an effective long-range policy for dealing with Iran’s steady progress toward nuclear capability.Was this a secret?
UPDATE
Unfortunately, there’s more confirmation of Gates’ opinion. The Times of London reports:
It may be too late to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon, a former senior US defence official has warned.(Thanks to reader John.)
The official, who has long experience with several US administrations, saidhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article7102264.ece” title=” President Obama had waited too long to take tough action against Tehran."> President Obama had waited too long to take tough action against Tehran.
“Fifteen months into his administration, Iran has faced no significant consequences for continuing with its uranium-enrichment programme, despite two deadlines set by Obama, which came and went without anything happening,” the former official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times. “Now it may be too late to stop Iran from becoming nuclear-capable.”
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Obama’s man for rewriting the Constitution
Andrew Bolt
What Barack Obama’s new nominee for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals once wrote:
What we mean by ‘fidelity’ [to the Constitution] is that the Constitution should be interpreted in ways that adapt its principles and its text to the challenges and conditions of our society in every single generation..Indeed:
[Courts should] apply constitutional doctrine in a dialogic process with the legislature to ensure that the scope of welfare provision democratically reflects our social understanding.What he says today, now that he wants Congress to approve his nomination:
[Judges should be] impartial, objective and neutral arbiter[s] of specific cases and controversies that come before [them] ... through absolute fidelity to the applicable precedents and the language of the laws, statutes, regulations that are at issue in the case.As for what he once wrote:
Whatever I may have written in the books and in the articles would have no bearing on my role as a judge.Pardon? What he wrote about a judge’s role has no bearing on how he’d perform a judge’s role?
Question: does Congress really want to appoint to America’s court a judge who wants freedom to bend the laws to whatever fashion - and then lies about it?
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Models cripple Europe
Andrew Bolt
The revolt against the computer models whose warnings shut down Europe’s airlines gets angrier:
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) sharply criticized European governments for their lack of leadership in handling airspace restrictions in light of the Icelandic volcano eruption and urged a re-think of the decision-making process.This model of volcanic ash spread is maintained by the Met Office, the warmist headquarters whose global warming models are used to justify other disastrous cuts to the world economy.
“We are far enough into this crisis to express our dissatisfaction on how governments have managed it - with no risk assessment, no consultation, no coordination, and no leadership. This crisis is costing airlines at least $200 million a day in lost revenues and the European economy is suffering billions of dollars in lost business. In the face of such dire economic consequences, it is incredible that Europe’s transport ministers have taken five days to organize a teleconference,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO…
IATA criticized Europe’s unique methodology of closing airspace based on theoretical modeling of the ash cloud. “This means that governments have not taken their responsibility to make clear decisions based on facts.....
“Safety is our top priority. Airlines will not fly if it is not safe. I have consulted our member airlines that normally operate in the affected airspace. They report missed opportunities to fly safely...”
The scale of airspace closures currently seen in Europe is unprecedented. “We have seen volcanic activity in many parts of the world but rarely has it resulted in airspace closures - and never at this scale. When Mount St. Helens erupted in the US in 1980, we did not see large scale disruptions, because the decisions to open or close airspace were risk managed with no compromise on safety,” said Bisignani...
(Thanks to reader Georgio.)
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