=== Todays Toon ===
William Ewart Gladstone (29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Liberal Prime Minister four times, more than any other person (1868-1874, 1880-1885, February-July 1886 and 1892-1894). Gladstone was 84 years old when he resigned for the last time, making him Britain's oldest Prime Minister. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times (1853-1855, 1859-1866, 1873-1874, and 1880-1882).=== Bible Quote ===
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”- Romans 8:1-2=== Headlines ===
After failed attempt to contain spill, BP considers its next move while oil from catastrophic Gulf of Mexico spill creeps ashore.New Terror Tactics
U.S. officials may review handling of the ever-evolving war against Al Qaeda and its affiliates, including the right to remain silent
Speculation Swirls Over Court Pick
One candidate for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' seat earning most attention as decision looms
Lieberman: Climate Bill Can Pass
Despite losing a key GOP backer, Senator says climate legislation has a 'real shot' at passing
This Sydney waitress is one of many young Aussies who have been lured by a Melbourne director into selling their virginity for $20,000Boy killed in three-car accident
A NINE-year-old boy who wandered onto a rural road has died after being hit by three cars.
Kevin Rudd's popularity still in freefall
PM under pressure to gain Budget approval as mining tax fails to win him much-needed support.
IVF mix-up turns mother into surrogate
COUPLE given two choices: Keep baby to term and hand it over, or terminate the pregnancy.
Journalist posts 'gay slur' on Twitter
ANOTHER Fairfax writer causes upset - this time for accusing online critic of "rogering gerbils".
Bingle - I have only three real friends
LARA opens up about life after Clarke, her fears of being alone and what happened to that ring.
Rudd's five more asylum seeker deaths
FIVE suspected asylum seekers are feared drowned after they decided to swim from their troubled vessel using tubes and lifejackets. Australian authorities found no signs of life as they searched the sea near the Cocos Islands last night, with Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor describing the situation as "tragic". Another 59 passengers had been rescued from the boat by a Russian ship a day earlier. The Federal Government first became aware of the boatload of asylum seekers nine days ago, when authorities were told it had run out of food, water and fuel about 230km north of the Cocos Islands. But after a nearby merchant ship provided additional supplies, Border Protection Command allowed the boat to continue on its way to Christmas Island. On Saturday, the boat was rescued by a Russian ship and Australian authorities were told five people were missing.Would you vote for these young guns?
AFTER barely finishing high school, they're all just old enough to drink and one of them still stacks shelves at Coles - but they want your Federal election vote.
South Australian MP Russell Wortley's son runs up big bill on taxpayer-funded mobile phone
SMARTPHONE popularity is leading to hip-pocket pain with some users receiving huge bills from internet downloads. - he is an ALP politician, former trades union official who is married to another ALP politician .. they named their son Che. - ed.
Mum prostituted girl to pay off home loan
A WOMAN sold her daughter for sex to pay off a loan and buy a couple of cars, a court hears.
=== Comments ===
George Washington, the Indispensable ManBy Glenn Beck
George Washington was called the indispensable man. I didn't even know why until — until — I mean, I've read a lot of books on George Washington. This is the best book ever written on George Washington, "The Real George Washington." It's the first in a series. And I love it because it's mainly his words and you get to know who he was.I didn't really know why he was called the indispensable man.
Sorry, I like George Washington an awful lot. And he's the kind of guy that I've been looking for. And I think we all have — we've been looking for a guy who is just honest and doesn't want to serve, you know?
People who say — all the time — "Well, I want to be president." You do? Why exactly? I can't imagine a worse job. I can't imagine — especially now, the next guy who serves, even this president, what's left of our country? How do you knit this all back together?
Well, quite honestly, it wasn't much different back when George Washington was around. Things were a mess. And he was the indispensable man because nobody trusted anybody. All the states were arguing with each other. Nobody — you couldn't sell anything across the border. The whole thing was falling apart.
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Obama's Dangerous Doubletalk
By Ken Klukowski
President Obama’s commencement speech at the University of Michigan on May 1 would have been great, except that it so blatantly contradicts his actions that the speech was nothing short of Orwellian. This is only the latest example of where Obama’s rhetoric is diametrically opposed to his policies, and included one of his favorite tactics to discredit his critics and advance his agenda.
Last Saturday, the president spoke to new graduates in Ann Arbor about valuing dissent. He suggested those who listen to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck visit liberal websites. Evidently appreciating that this would seem unbalanced, he also said that those who read the New York Times should try the Wall Street Journal on occasion.
The president cited these as examples of valuing diversity. He concluded that, “the practice of listening to opposing voices is essential for effective citizenship.”
The president added, “You can disagree with a certain policy without demonizing the person who espouses it. You can question someone’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism.” He then criticizes those who use phrases such as “socialist” or “Soviet-style takeover” to describe his policies.
President Obama’s hypocrisy is simply breathless. These statements completely contradict his policies.
First, what if such a descriptive term is appropriate? “Socialism” is where government controls the means of economic production to provide a certain minimum standard of living through basic entitlements, paid for through taxes and fees. You can refer to a particular law as embodying socialism without calling its supporters socialists. (more at the link)
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RUDD REDUCED
Tim Blair
Kevin 07 might be not again in 2010:
Kevin Rudd’s approval rating has plummeted to a record low, and if an election were held now Labor would lose, a new poll shows.Cue some last-minute budget changes.
The Prime Minister’s approval dropped by 14 percentage points in one month to 45 per cent, while his disapproval rating has risen 13 points to 49 per cent, according to a Nielsen poll published today.
The loss of personal support is the most dramatic for a prime minister in a decade and marks the first time Mr Rudd has had a disapproval rating higher than his approval rating.
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GITMOS GALORE
Tim Blair
Robert Fisk:
There are Guantanamos galore in the Muslim world and, by and large, we don’t care a damn about them.It might have increased our caring if Fisk – reporting from the Muslim world – had written more about these Islamic Gitmos. You know, to raise awareness and such. But, like Scott Ritter, he was possibly more interested in waging peace.
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COMPULSIVE OBSESSIVE WARMING
Tim Blair
Not that this will come as a surprise, but global warming hysteria is driving people out of their minds.
A couple of years ago, the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry reported the case of a 17-year-old Melbourne lad diagnosed with “climate change delusion”. This poor kid had developed the belief that “due to climate change, his own water consumption could lead within days to the deaths of ‘millions of people’ through exhaustion of water supplies.”
The boy’s a big drinker. Now a gathering of shrinks in Auckland has turned up another side effect of warmenist worry: sufferers of obsessive compulsive disorder are increasingly falling victim to Al Gore’s Disease. According to a report from The Royal Australian and New Zealand Collage of Psychiatrists’ Congress:
“Climate change related obsessions and/or compulsions were identified in 28 per cent of patients presenting with obsessive compulsive disorder. Their obsessions included leaving taps on and wasting water, leaving lights on and wasting electricity, pets dying of thirst, leaving the stove on and wasting gas as well as obsessions that global warming had contributed to house floors cracking, pipes leaking, roof problems and white ants eating the house.
“Compulsions in response to these obsessions included the checking of taps, light switches, pet water bowls and house structures.”
Speaking of house structures, Al Gore himself seems immune to any warming-caused mental distress. The panic profiteer recently plonked down more than $A10 million on an ocean-view villa in California, complete with (as the LA Times reported) “a swimming pool, spa and fountains … six fireplaces, five bedrooms and nine bathrooms.”
Let’s hope no obsessive-compulsives ever drop by.
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HE MAY BE WRONG
Tim Blair
Post-election Britain is still without an effective government, continuing the trend of several years. Likely PM David Cameron’s low-carbon conservatism is deeply mistaken, but not so much as was Bob Ellis:
Gordon Brown will win government with 309 to 314 seats and 31.3 or 31.6 per cent of the vote, and David Cameron with 211 to 217 seats and 31.3 or 31.6 per cent of the vote will take the Tories into eternal oblivion after Nick Clegg with 93 or 94 seats and 29 percent of the vote gets Brown to agree to the Single Transferable Vote (what we call preferential voting) in all elections hereafter in Britain.Ellis missed the mark by 70 per cent with the Tory vote, 83 per cent with Labour, and 60 per cent with the Lib-Dems. Close enough for government work, which is about the only work Bob gets these days. The best front page of recent days:
I may be wrong …
The 59-year-old is still there.UPDATE. In 2010, the SMH’s Paola Totaro reveals that the British press is deeply political. Scoop!
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RIGHTS FOR THE RIGHT
Tim Blair
Mark Steyn – lately pondering the Times Square terrorist – is now officially a human rights activist.
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Bligh doesn’t believe Swan on tax
Andrew Bolt
Treasurer Wayne Swan says his giant new “super profits” tax will be good for the mining industry:
...overall this will grow the mining industry because it is a predictable tax and it is an efficient tax.But Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is counting the jobs lost:
QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has warned Kevin Rudd’s resources profits tax may force her to renege on her promise to create 100,000 new jobs. ..MEANWHILE, more projects suspended:
She expressed her fears that the proposed 40 per cent tax would deter growth in a phone call to Wayne Swan during her recent overseas trade mission. The state’s LNG export industry was at a “very delicately balanced, critical point” and it needed certainty about the tax landscape it would face…
Ms Bligh had promised to deliver 100,000 new jobs in her first term and has said the pledge was dependent, in part, on the LNG sector. Asked if she could stand by her plan if the new tax was implemented, Ms Bligh said it depended on the shape of the final taxation arrangements.
SWISS mining giant Xstrata says it has suspended a $30 million copper exploration in central Queensland due to the impact of Australia’s proposed resources super profits tax.(Thanks to reader ballyboruma.)
The company said an exploration project in the Mt Isa and Cloncurry districts expected during the next three years had been put on hold.
“We have decided to suspend exploration activities in North Queensland until there is greater certainty on the fiscal regime for future mining developments,’’ Xstrata Copper North Queensland chief operating officer Steve de Kruijff said.
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Jews repent
Andrew Bolt
Maybe those turkeys won’t vote for Christmas next time:
United States President Barack Obama has lost nearly half of his support among American Jews, a poll by the McLaughlin Group has shown.I understand that Kevin Rudd has a similar - albeit not quite so dramatic - problem with Australian Jewry.
The US Jews polled were asked whether they would: (a) vote to re-elect Obama, or (b) consider voting for someone else. 42% said they would vote for Obama and 46%, a plurality, preferred the second answer. 12% said they did not know or refused to answer.
In the Presidential elections of 2008, 78% of Jewish voters, or close to 8 out of 10, chose Obama. The McLaughlin poll held nearly 18 months later, in April 2010, appears to show that support down to around 4 out of 10.
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Principals may be angrier at Gillard’s waste than you were told
Andrew Bolt
The Auditor-General unaccountably failed to check whether Julia Gillard’s $16.2 billion Building the Education Revolution wasted billiions of dollars on overpriced buildings and padded “management fees”.
Even more dubiously, his report massaged survey figures so that school principals didn’t seem quite so damning of the astonishing waste:
The ABC Investigations Unit has confirmed that instead of publishing a largely negative response from 3,000 primary school principals who were surveyed about the scheme, the auditor-general went seeking more supportive comments from other private school principals.Even with this massaging, the Auditor-General reported that fewer than 40 per cent of principals surveyed thought their BER project was value for money.
In effect, the auditor-general’s office discarded surveys completed by 3,159 school principals in favour of a sample group of 622.
This meant that public school principals, who have largely been unhappy with the scheme, became the minority while more satisfied private school principals had a stronger voice.
In its report released last Wednesday the auditor-general’s office said the method it used was “more statistically robust”. But by throwing away such important data, the office has raised new questions about the validity of the report.
(Thanks to readers elsie, Alan RM Jones, The Loaded Dog and others.)
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Abbott is correct, critics wrong
Andrew Bolt
Age environment reporter Adam Morton has never heard anything so crazy, and asks the usual suspects to back him up:
TONY ABBOTT is under pressure to justify telling students it was considerably warmer when Jesus was alive after leading scientists said his claim was wrong…“No evidence”? How long would it have taken Morton to discover this was false - had he been of a mind to check?
In a question-and-answer session on Friday, the Opposition Leader said it was warmer “at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth” than now.
Leading scientists said there was no evidence to suggest it was hotter 2000 years ago.
The president of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Kurt Lambeck, said true scepticism was fine, but required looking at published data with an open mind…
Tas van Ommen, who as principal research scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division collects climate data from ice cores, said any definitive statement about temperatures 2000 years ago was “completely unfounded”.
Here’s just some of the evidence suggesting Tony Abbott may well be right - and that those claiming he has “no evidence” are decidedly wrong:
Tages Spiegel:
“We were simply lucky”, say Peter Suter. The boss of the department of pre- and early history of the archaeological service of the canton Berne (and his colleagues) ... found approximately 300 further articles at the edge of the ice (in the Swiss Alps): Stone Age articles of clothing and arrows, garb needles from the Bronze Age and shoe nails from the Roman period.CO2 Science:
All this the archaeologists owe to the retreat the glacier in the upper Bernese country, which continues for decades and was accelerated by the particularly hot summer of 2003. However it was still hotter in the third millennium BC. At that time the temperatures in the Swiss Alps were up to two degrees over the today’s…
After a climatic degradation around 850 BC. then the Romans used this (pass over the Alps) again. Starting from 150 BC ... over 100 nails of their (sandals were left) in the ice-free mountain rubble.
Working with a core of 2.5 meters length, which they sampled at intervals of 2 cm in the upper 1 meter and at intervals of 5 cm below that depth, Martinez-Cortizas et al. (1999) derived a record of mercury deposition in the peat bog of Penido Vello in northwest Spain that extends to 4000 radiocarbon years before present, which they analyzed for a number of parameters.... This protocol revealed that the mean temperature of the Medieval Warm Period in northwest Spain was 1.5°C warmer than it was over the 30 years leading up to the time of their study, and that the mean temperature of the Roman Warm Period was fully 2°C warmer…Dr David Whitehouse:
Desprat et al. (2003) studied the climatic variability of the last three millennia in northwest Iberia via a high-resolution pollen analysis of a sediment core retrieved from the central axis of the Ria de Vigo in the south of Galicia. In doing so, they learned that over the past 3000 years there was “an alternation of three relatively cold periods with three relatively warm episodes.” In order of occurrence, these periods are described by the three researchers as the “first cold phase of the Subatlantic period (975-250 BC),” which was “followed by the Roman Warm Period (250 BC-450 AD),” which was followed by “a successive cold period (450-950 AD), the Dark Ages,” which “was terminated by the onset of the Medieval Warm Period (950-1400 AD),” which was followed by “the Little Ice Age (1400-1850 AD), including the Maunder Minimum (at around 1700 AD),” which “was succeeded by the recent warming (1850 AD to the present).” ...
Further to the east in European Georgia, Kvavadze and Connor (2005) focused their attention on Zelkova carpinifolia (a Tertiary-relict mesophilous tree that requires warm growing conditions), noting that “the discovery of fossil remains in Holocene sediments can be a good indicator of optimal climatic conditions."… Based on these observations, therefore, it would appear that the Medieval Warm Period and especially the Roman Warm Period likely were significantly warmer than what it was in European Georgia during the latter part of the 20th century.
A promising new technique to reconstruct past temperatures has been developed by scientists at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and Durham University, England, using the shells of bivalve mollusks. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science the scientists say that oxygen isotopes in their shells are a good proxy measurement of temperature and may provide the most detailed record yet of global climate change…NoTricksZone:
Between 230 BC and 40 AD there was a period of exceptional warmth in Iceland that was coincident with the Roman Warm Period in Europe that ran from 200 BC to 400 AD. This Icelandic shell data series suggests that the RWP had higher temperatures that those recorded in modern times.
Melting mountain snow in the Canadian Mackenzie Mountains has uncovered ancient weapons used by early hunters. In the Canadian Mackenzie Mountains scientists have found weapons up to 2400 years old, reports Tom Andrews of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife and his colleagues in a press release from the Arctic Institute of North America…UPDATE
The findings and their dates of origin undercut warmists’ claims that the Medieval Warm Period did not exist, or was localised in Europe, and that today’s warm period is unprecedented. The age of the found artefacts correspond to the Roman Warm Period and the Medieval Warm Period. Ancient artefacts recovered in the Alps tell the same story.
Global warming alarmism is so 2009. Today’s alarm - the seas are falling:
During the past few weeks, the Fiji Meteorological Service has been alerted to abnormally low sea levels in Rotuma. This is after sea creatures were marooned on coral reefs.(Thanks to reader Ian.)
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Whoopi backs abortion: the women would kill their kids anyway
Andrew Bolt
Whoopi Goldberg carefully explains why she supports the right of women to have abortions. It’s apparently because they’re potential killers and child-abusers:
What difference does it make if you’re going to bring a baby in and you can’t feed it and you can’t take care of it and then people end up killing their kids?…The “compassionate” show their fangs.
And if you end up having to give your child away, which many people do, you know, the guilt of knowing that that kid is out there, or what some people have resorted to doing when they discover they actually can’t deal with it, they do terrible things to their kids.
(Thanks to reader ML.)
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Pick a loser
Andrew Bolt
The person to replace Kevin Rudd is likely to be - or in one case should be - one of the above.===
Your choice from between Martin Ferguson, Julia Gillard, Lindsay Tanner and (outside chance) Bill Shorten is… ?
Incidentally, note that three of the four most likely are all of the Left, or were.
Another poll disaster for Rudd
Andrew Bolt
Today’s Nielsen poll confirms last week’s Newspoll - Kevin Rudd is on a spectacular slide, and not even his giant “super profits tax” is saving him:
Since the previous poll a month ago, Mr Rudd’s approval rating has nosedived 14 percentage points to 45 per cent, while his disapproval rating has skyrocketed 13 points to 49 per cent.The conversation is so poisonous to Rudd.
The loss of personal support is the most dramatic for a prime minister in a decade…
The proposed 40 per cent tax on the mining sector’s so-called super profits, revealed as the key response to the Henry tax review, failed to prove a vote winner, with 47 per cent opposing the impost, 44 per cent supporting it and 9 per cent undecided…
On a two-party-preferred basis, Labor and the Coalition are even at 50 per cent, compared with 51-49 a month ago.
UPDATE
As I’ve said before, all Rudd has had is good spin - and when even that fails, he’s finished. Others now agree that this moment has come.
Peter Hartcher:
Australians will never see Rudd in the same light again. Every policy will now be seen as just another piece of clever politics. What’s the point of Kevin Rudd? Australians don’t know any more.Glenn Milne:
Rudd is now in dangerous territory; the place where voters are beginning to doubt anything he says or promises.UPDATE 2
Thefrollickingmole goes out for a drink in Kalgoorlie, and finds the miners’ pubs are advertising a certain discontent:
(Thanks to reader Michelle.)
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The director is a pimp
Andrew Bolt
Utterly grubby and exploitative, of course:
A MELBOURNE filmmaker who plans to auction two virgins on camera will do so overseas to avoid prostitution charges in Victoria.And the video interview with “Veronica” shows just how a foolish girl with brains could be persuaded to let herself be pimped like this. Money, fame and the excuse of “art” and of “challenging society” - what depravity cannot be excused by such a heady mix? Of course, this will not save Veronica from shame when she finally must sell her sex, but she’s only 21, so what does she know?
Documentary maker Justin Sisely has spent more than a year recruiting a man and a woman for his film, but he faced criminal charges if he went ahead with a plan to hold the auction in Australia.
Sisely told the Herald Sun he now planned to hold the auction, where bidders would be in the same room as the virgins, in the US.
One of the two, Sydney waitress “Veronica”, 21, told the Herald Sun her parents were furious when they were told.
But as for the director, it’s time Screen Australia stopped promoting him.
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If Singo says yes, it really is on
Andrew Bolt
This would be a good move, given Singleton’s record of success:
JOHN Singleton - the advertising legend who helped catapult Bob Hawke into The Lodge - is gearing up to take on Kevin Rudd by turning his talents to Tony Abbott’s election campaign.But what would be even more encouraging for the Liberals is if Singleton wants to take on their cause. Few media giants like backing a political loser.
Several sources have told The Australian that Mr Singleton has been sounded out about handling the Liberal campaign after the party was advised it had to make a clean break with the campaigns of the Howard era if it hoped to win.
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Five more boat people lured to their deaths
Andrew Bolt
The handling of this tragedy seems odd:
FIVE suspected asylum seekers are feared drowned after they decided to swim from their troubled vessel using tubes and lifejackets.We do not yet know the full facts, other than that Australian officials helped to organise the supply of a boat of illegal immigrants. and did nothing to stop its arrival before learning it needed rescue again.
Australian authorities found no signs of life as they searched the sea near the Cocos Islands last night… Another 59 passengers had been rescued from the boat by a Russian ship a day earlier.
The Federal Government first became aware of the boatload of asylum seekers nine days ago, when authorities were told it had run out of food, water and fuel about 230km north of the Cocos Islands.
But after a nearby merchant ship provided additional supplies, Border Protection Command allowed the boat to continue on its way to Christmas Island.
On Saturday, the boat was rescued by a Russian ship and Australian authorities were told five people were missing.
And we also know that Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor damns his own Government in saying this:
Unfortunately, loss of life at sea can occur when people are persuaded to embark on these poorly maintained vessels over such a great distance.What has persuaded thousands of board people to resume the voyages that John Howard had stopped nearly dead? The answer is Kevin Rudd’s weakening of our boat people laws nearly two years ago, since when at least 59 people have now died at sea, trying to get here.
(Thanks to reader Peter M.)
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How Chavez and his butchers inspire our Left
Andrew Bolt
How much more inspiration can our Leftists here take from the great Chavez?
Two years ago a collective of our snowfield socialists - including the ABC’s Phillip Adams, propagandist John Pilger, the Greens’ Kerry Nettle and Kevin Rudd’s nephew Van Thanh Rudd - begged Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez to come teach Australians a lesson:
Every country has its own traditions and culture and has to find its own solutions, but what Venezuela has been able to achieve in so little time will be a source of inspiration and ideas for many in Australia.Since then this “source of inspiration and ideas” been teaching our closet totalitarians lots of lessons, such as how to shoot students, close down critical TV stations, arrest political opponents , create an energy crisis and foster corruption.
But Chavez has not stopped there in inspiring our Left. He has now unleashed soaring inflation on his nation, and arrested nearly 50 butchers to stop it:
Chavez has been in high-level meetings with his economic team all weekend to address the (inflation) problem, after consumer-prices data Friday showed a shocking 5.2% climb in April. The rate was the highest monthly jump in years, and brings 12-month inflation to 30%, the highest in the region…
Even before Friday’s inflation data, the government has been trying to combat speculative merchants. Nearly 50 butchers were arrested and jailed in recent weeks for allegedly charging more for their cuts of beef than the government allows. The butchers claim the prices they pay for sides of beef have shot up, forcing them to pass on those costs to the customer.
Critics say Venezuela’s inflation problem, which has been a thorn in Chavez’s side throughout much of his 11 years in power, is a result of the socialist economic system his government has been setting up.
The government has nationalized scores of private companies, and sometimes entire industries, bringing more and more workers onto the government payroll. In doing so, productivity rates have declined sharply, and shortages of many foods, including milk, bread and sugar, are common.
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Obama has better things to do than save a planet
Andrew Bolt
President-elect Barack Obama before the Copenhagen summit to save the planet from global warming:
Few challenges facing America – and the world – are more urgent than combating climate change. The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clear. Sea levels are rising. Coastlines are shrinking. We’ve seen record drought, spreading famine, and storms that are growing stronger with each passing hurricane season....President Barack Obama at the Copenhagen summit, in leaders’ conversations “accidentally” recorded and now published in Der Spiegel:
Once I take office, you can be sure that the United States will once again engage vigorously in the [climate] negotiations, and help lead the world toward a new era of global cooperation on climate change…
Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response. The stakes are too high. The consequences, too serious.
In response to Sarkozy, Obama makes it clear that he is not prepared to stay beyond a few hours. “Nicolas, we are not staying until tomorrow. I’m just letting you know. Because all of us obviously have extraordinarily important other business to attend to.”(Thanks to reader David.)
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Why are Rudd’s green schemes most prone to fail?
Andrew Bolt
The dumped emissions trading scheme, the solar hot water system rorts, the free insulation fiasco, the green loans failure - and now this:
KEVIN Rudd has failed to deliver another of his big ideas - a $50 green rewards card for households.Why are Rudd’s green schemes most prone to fail? Because it’s a sin to question the sacraments.
The Prime Minister promised the “reward” to help families buy energy-efficient and water-saving items. It was to be given to home owners who undertook one of the free energy audits under the green loans scheme.
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong’s office said 272,265 household audits have been completed with another 102,000 pending.
Despite the Government saying the card was “in the mail”, Senator Wong’s office confirmed not one has been posted.
Beware the politician with the fire of faith in his eyes.
(Thanks to reader Pira.)
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The pocket Windschuttle - the sliming of Harold Blair
Andrew Bolt
Reader Tony Thomas, a retired journalist, rightly believes few books on Australian history need wider dissemination today than Keith Windschuttle’s latest - a demolition of the “stolen generations” myth.
For this blog, Thomas is writing a series of precis of the central arguments and revelations of Windschuttle’s The Fabrication of Aboriginal History - Vol 111: The Stolen Generations 1881-2008 .
In this, his second essay, he tackles the defamation of Aboriginal tenor Harold Blair. (Factual material unless indicated, is all from Vol 111. Page citations: “243.4” indicates p243 and 40% from the top of the page.)
Perhaps the most loathsome example of all the cases of child removal described in the Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into the Stolen Generations was said to have occurred in Victoria in the 1960s.Welfare authorities, in a scheme conceived by famed Aboriginal lyric tenor Harold Blair, invited Queensland Aboriginal parents to send their children for free holidays by the sea in Victoria. But when these kids got to the holiday homes, many were adopted out to white families and never saw their parents again.The Commission’s source for this claim was Professor Colin Tatz, who called it ‘direct adoption kind of by mail order and by phone call.’ 554 and 555.1
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