=== Todays Toon ===
ZEG's The Enemy Within=== Bible Quote ===
“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”- James 3:17-18=== Headlines ===
A reporter spots a former colleague of nurse Michelle Beets and suspect in her murder lurking in the bushes of a neighbour's front yard, leading to a dramatic arrest.
The conservative grassroots movement is shaping up to be an electoral force this year after Rand Paul, pictured above, took Kentucky's Republican Senate primary.L.A. Rejects Arizona Warning
Los Angeles mayor defiantly rejects threat from Arizona utility official to cut off power to the city
Obama's Troop Deadline Faces Problem
Iraq's struggle to form new government is raising concerns about president's plan to withdraw 44,000 troops
Minn. Dad Refuses Chemo Treatment
Father of boy who ran away from home after refusing cancer treatment has been diagnosed with leukemia
Stay in closet, gay players told
OUTSPOKEN footballer says world of AFL not ready for gay players to publicly out themselves.
Teenage escapees 'armed and dangerous'
POLICE warn the public not to approach six teens who broke out of a youth detention centre.
Toll rises but Thailand 'not a war zone'
AUSTRALIA'S foreign minister says Thailand is not at civil war, despite the rising death toll. - not a war zone, that is left wing government - ed.Staff in forced pay cut to feed lions
CASH-strapped workers at an Australian zoo told animals come first, and humans, second.
I am no sex object, MP warns Premier
A NATIONALS politician says he is sick of being "sexualised" by New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally. Adrian Piccoli said he was fed-up with Ms Keneally's comments about his suits and his lack of hair across the floor of the NSW Parliamentary Bear Pit. The Premier is now facing claims that her behaviour would not be tolerated in a "regular workplace". The breaking point for the Opposition Education Spokesman came during yesterday's Question Time when Mr Piccoli asked Speaker Richard Torbay to intervene after the latest taunt. "I take great offence at constantly being sexualised by the Premier. If it's not my suits, it's my hair," Mr Piccoli said. "I take great offence at being sexualised Mr Speaker. I ask that you do something about it."Ninjas rescue student from muggers
EXCHANGE student saved from vicious assault - not by the boys in blue but the men in black.
Parking fine quotas are a fact
WE'VE always suspected. Leaked council documents reveal parking officers are given targets to hand out $200K worth of fines each per year.
Girl, 12, promised horse in exhange for sex
A RACEHORSE trainer enticed a 12-year-old stable hand into an almost 20-month sexual relationship with the promise of giving her a horse he was training, a jury has been told. A District Court in Brisbane was told yesterday a man, 61, also allegedly forced the girl into engaging in sexual acts with at least two other men who in return paid him cash for her services.
Scientologist Jan Eastgate accused of covering up abuse
A SENIOR Scientologist has been accused of covering up a case of sexual abuse by telling the young victim to lie to the police. Carmen Rainer says she was coached by Jan Eastgate after revealing she'd been abused by her stepfather when aged between seven and 11-years-old. At the time, Ms Eastgate was head of the Australian wing of a Scientology commission which campaigns against psychiatry.
Facebook block over Mohammed cartoon
PAKISTANI court acts over a page that encourages users to post caricatures of Prophet.
=== Journalists Corner ===
The big winners, the key matchups & what it all means for November! Insight from Michele Bachmann on 'Hannity'!Then - Digging the U.S. out of debt. Paul Ryan reveals his plan when he goes 'On the Record'!
Calling Out Obama!He wants Obama to fight Arizona's immigration law. But, should Mexico's president leave America's policies alone?
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Inside the Primaries
Bret Baier has all the fallout from Tuesday's primaries!
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Say WHAT!?
This state official compared Arizona's immigration law to human rights abuses in China! Now, Dennis Miller responds to the radical statement!
=== Comments ===
Why President Obama Is Having Trouble With VotersBy Bill O'Reilly
There is no question that American voters are having trouble with President Obama.
The latest Rasmussen poll says that 53 percent of registered voters disapprove of the president's job performance. Just 45 percent like what he's doing.
If you strip away all the BS, the president is having trouble because millions of Americans believe he is over-reaching. That is, he is trying to make the federal government too powerful and that could intrude on personal liberty.
Here in the USA, our tradition is that personal liberty trumps all. Therefore, if the voters believe a president is trying to call all the shots from Washington, that president will pay a price. That's why the Tea Party has risen. That's what the health care controversy was all about.
But here's an interesting fact. While Mr. Obama will use federal power to promote social justice, he will not use it to secure the Southern border. That seems to be inconsistent.
If the president believes the feds should be the primary problem solvers, why would he not use federal power to stop the influx of narcotics and illegal aliens? The only answer is ideology. And independent voters don't like ideological politicians. That's why Mr. Obama is having poll trouble.
So there you have it. "Talking Points" believes most Americans do not want their personal liberties intruded upon, and their votes will reflect that.
===
Mr. Obama, Please Read Arizona's Immigration Law
By John Lott
Members of President Obama's team now admit they have never read Arizona's immigration law. Is this some sort of political strategy? Is it working?
Members of the Obama administration, who soundly condemned Arizona's new immigration law, are now admitted that they have never even read it. Could President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón find themselves in the same boat based on comments they made today at their joint appearance on the White House lawn?
Let’s review. The first person who had to admit he had never read the Arizona law Attorney General Eric Holder made his admission last week. On Monday, it was Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's turn. On Tuesday, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley revealed that he, too, had not read the bill, despite commenting on it. Given how inaccurate these officials have been in their descriptions of the law, maybe members of President Obama’s team simply had no option but to plead ignorance.
After all, how do you take a law that clearly states the following: "A law enforcement official or agency of this state or a county, city, or town or other political subdivision of this state may not consider race, color or national origin,” and then claim that it is racist or could lead to racial profiling? Not only that but other parts of this very short law also include additional safeguards against racial profiling. For example, the law requires that the police may only ask for ID if they have “lawful contact” with “lawful stop, detention or arrest” and that authorities must have "reasonable suspicion" that a suspect is an illegal alien.
Failure by members of President Obama’s administration to read the four page text of Arizona's law is no a small matter, since some on his team managed to create quite a stir in various appearances on Sunday talk shows by bringing up concerns about racial profiling and racism.
Take, for example, Ms. Napolitano's warning on "This Week" on May 2: "Unfortunately, I think it [the law] does and can invite racial profiling." If these various "news" shows had been doing their job, they would have challenged Napolitano and other officials on these claims. Even just reading parts of the law -- verbatim -- to Ms. Napolitano or other administration officials during their appearance on the program would have been enough to force them to admit their ignorance.
In Ms. Napolitano's case, her admission did not come until Sen. John McCain asked her several questions when she appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. One gets a sneaking suspicion that the administration might just be feigning ignorance about the law rather than admitting to knowingly making outrageous statements about racism.
But how are other administration officials’ statements different from Obama's claim today: "I think a fair reading of the language of the statute indicates that it gives the possibility of individuals who are deemed suspicious of being illegal immigrants from being harassed or arrested and the judgments that are going to be made in applying this law are troublesome." He also warned might make American citizens "subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
And then there’s Calderón's claim that the law is "discriminatory."
President Obama keeps asserting that Americans risk being harassed because of the Arizona law. But he never explains how this could happen given what appears to be the extremely straightforward language in the law.
And then there’s this. It now turns out that the Obama administration has even been apologizing in private to foreigners for Arizona's law. “We brought it up early and often. It was mentioned in the first session and as a troubling trend in our society, and an indication that we have to deal with issues of discrimination or potential discrimination,” Those are the words of Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner, who led a U.S. delegation in talks with the Chinese, speaking to reporters this past Friday. -- Someone needs to ask Mr. Posner if he actually read the law before he started denigrating America to the Chinese.
Over the weekend, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer had the guts to portray the consequences of these false attacks when she said, "Our border is being erased, and the president apparently considers it a wonderful opportunity to divide people along racial lines for his personal political convenience." Yet, it isn't just the president and his administration or President Calderón who are practicing such racially divisive politics. The media is just as irresponsible and they owe all Americans an apology.
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Even Labor admit that Rudd must go
Piers Akerman
IN politics, the point of difference is everything. In 2007, Kevin Rudd sold himself to the Australian people as John Howard-lite. - Notice how quickly the press have been to label Mr Abbott for the 7:30 report? I saw the whole thing, and the reduction is not the truth. Red Kerry claimed a win, in much the same way Frost claimed Nixon.
As the Weasel wrote - ed.
John Jay replied- Thank you JJ, I don’t usually watch 7:30, but serendipity .. strikes twice. I saw Joe Hockey being grilled by Red Kerry tonight. Again, Kerry was loathsome with his insinuations and sledges. Had Mr Hockey been less capable he would not have been able to raise the important points he raised. Kerry focused on irrelevancies, like the delay in feeding the chooks at the press club. Personally, I felt it was an inspired move and limited a lot of unnecessary sniping and delay. Kerry also went into ALP apologia, pointing out that their useless policy can’t be cancelled and counted because it doesn’t begin for a few years and so isn’t important anyways. But, Red Kerry doesn’t realize what a condemnation of useless ALP policy he actually made. - ed
To DD Ball -
A good commentary by “the weasel”.
Thanks for posting it.
JJ.
===
THE SECOND STAGE OF GRIEF: ANGER
Tim Blair
James Delingpole meets BBC warmenist Roger Harrabin:
When I introduced myself to him, he snapped back “I’m not sure whether I should shake your hand. I want to punch you.”They’ve lost the argument, and now they want to lose some fights, too. Meanwhile, the SMH reports:
The Coalition has taken aim at iconic Labor programs in health, education, broadband and climate change to save what it claims is more than $46 billion over four years …Excellent. Interesting, though, that those Labor programs have already become “iconic” even before most of them have been put in place.
The cuts include abolishing an extra 23 GP super clinics and the electronic health records scheme, as well as scrapping climate change programs.
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IN HER CASE IT’S DELIBERATE
Tim Blair
Like her uncle, Maude Garrett is an embarrassing background presence:
“I’ve been thrusting myself into the background of as many photos as I can, pulling the worst faces known to man,” Garrett said on her personal website.In other celebrity developments, Brisbane’s newest bridge is named after The Go-Betweens, which seems odd. Maybe they should have named it after Queensland’s finest product.
“I figure, why be in a good photo when I can destroy a good photo?”
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DIET IS DESTINY
Tim Blair
An interview with Alabama’s Dale Peterson, the world’s most famous agriculture politician. Key quote: “Red meat is safe … I’m pushing 65, and I think I’ve been eating it for 65 years.”
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HEE IS HEERE
Tim Blair
Bill McKibben, environmental staremonger and author of Eaarth, will be in Sydney for the writers’ festival. This is one occasion you don’t want a front-row seat.
(Via BOAB)
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Opposition hopeless because Andrew Probyn had to wait an hour
Andrew Bolt
I couldn’t agree more with Ian Smith:
WATCHING shadow treasurer Joe Hockey’s speech yesterday I was reminded of how disrespectful many journalists within the federal press gallery have become of those who provide them with a living: the politicians.This from the same journalists who say next to nothing about Kevin Rudd’s refusal to expose himself to regular press conferences, or his trick of announcing media appearances far away at such little notice that no senior reporter can turn up.
Politicians frequently are attacked for their excesses, yet those who report on those perceived indulgences, the journalists, are living examples of the cliche “all care and no responsibility”.
Yesterday it was best illustrated by the acerbic performance of Andrew Probyn of The West Australian, who berated Hockey for showing poor form by not distributing his speech and detailed spending-cut measures before his appearance at the National Press Club. After a wild rant, Probyn got around to asking a question on e-health…
The self-importance of some who asked questions of Hockey yesterday suggested their moans, groans and self-esteem are more important than the issue of who would run the country’s budget most effectively.
The Canberra pack should ask themselves when an Opposition last had the courage to announce huge spending cuts before an election. The same pack usually moan and groan about irresponsible spending sprees before an election:
KERRY O’BRIEN: Has there ever been a head-spinning spending splurge like the one we’ve seen so far in this election?Yet when they’re offered the restraint they demand, it’s the more responsible Liberals which again get the sneering.
UPDATE
Tony Wright of The Age complains that the cuts weren’t even explained in a fun way:
Settling into a sprawling press conference that continued for 45 minutes, (Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb) appeared intent on trying to make the problem disappear by boring everyone near to death.UPDATE 2
Wow, the outrage (not) from these same characters when Kevin Rudd refused before the last election to release the costings of his manic spending:
Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has again accused the Labor Party of hiding the true cost of its election promises.UPDATE 3
The Coalition claims the ALP has promised $12 billion worth of funding but Labor has disputed the figure.
Mr Costello says three working days before the election Labor is still to submit all its policies to the Treasury Department, deliberately avoiding scrutiny.
I think we can safely assume the political leanings and partisan streak of much of the Canberra press gallery from some of the jeering questions to Hockey at the Press Club:
PRESS CLUB MEMBER 3: I must say I think it’s pretty poor form to say you’ve got $47 billion in savings and not show us them before we ask questions…You’d think it was Hockey who’d just presented the nation with a $57 billion deficit, rather than a plan to dig the nation out of Labor’s debt.
PRESS CLUB MEMBER 1: Is this the sort of thing that you most criticise in the Rudd Government, a sort of blatant media manipulation and reverse spin?…
PRESS CLUB MEMBER 4: Can you guarantee that interest rates will not rise under the Coalition and could I have that answer in writing so I know it’s the gospel truth?…
Outside the Press Club things weren’t improving either.
JOE HOCKEY: You can ask any question you want.
JOURNALIST: You’ve gotta be kidding, we just got it. You just put a bowl of soup in our lap after you’d spoken, after you’d taken questions....
JOURNALIST: Your leader was in the House of Representatives, he said Joe Hockey is going to release the details.
JOE HOCKEY: There it is, there it is.
JOURNALIST: He’s misled the Parliament.
UPDATE 4
Oh, they’re all so indignant and brave, these journalists, publicly mocking and belittling the Opposition’s treasury spokesman for avoiding for one hour a few questions. But when Kevin Rudd introduces a media strategy to avoid any awkward questions at all, then not a single journalist dares to criticise him publicly.
Except Chris Uhlmann, of course.
(Thanks to reader Alan RM Jones.)
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Book club started
Andrew Bolt
Reader Annie asks for your help:
Dear Bloggers,
As I am starting up a book club could you please help me out by recommending your favorite books that you think would benefit us avid readers.
I find there is nothing better than stepping away from one’s favorite authors or well known books of literature and embracing other readers recommendations.
Cheers
(No Harold Robins type books pleeease! Oh remember those days baby boomers! Our youth of innocence and discovery of naughtiness.)
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China invited to help rewrite Rudd’s tax
Andrew Bolt
The Rudd Government demonises an Australian miner who opposes its potentially ruinous “super profts” tax:
But (Treasurer Wayne) Swan said: ”Clive Palmer acts in the interests of his own fat profits, he doesn’t act in the interest of the Australian people.But the Rudd Government politely invites China to help redesign the tax in its interests:
Chinese officials have told Trade Minister Simon Crean that they are worried the new 40 per cent tax will push commodity prices even higher.UPDATE
Mr Crean says he has asked China to have a say in how the tax should be implemented.
Yet another project now shelved, thanks to Rudd’s killer tax:
Copper and gold producer OZ Minerals Ltd says it can’t conclude a study for a new underground project near its flagship operation due to uncertainty regarding the resources profits tax.And another:
Company chairman Neil Hamilton says the federal government’s proposed 40 per cent super profits tax raises questions on investment decisions.
“I can say that the board of OZ Minerals has today resolved that it will not be able to conclude its analysis of the Western Copper/underground project, until the detail of the new tax regime is known, understood and factored in to the financial feasibility,” Mr Hamilton told the company’s annual general meeting in Adelaide on Wednesday.
Santos Ltd has warned its $7.7 billion Gladstone liquefied natural gas (GLNG) joint venture project is under a cloud due to the federal government’s proposed resources tax.UPDATE 2
The gas giant said it needed more information on the government’s tax plans before it makes a final investment decision on the project, which is expected to employ 5,000 workers during construction.
Moody’s warns:
IT is not often that Australia’s tax system gets compared with that of a country such as Zambia, but international ratings agency Moody’s has warned the government to pay heed to how mining exploration dropped there following a big increase in resource taxes in 2008.(Thanks to readers Alan RM Jones, Observer and Terry.)
Zambia, Africa’s top copper producer, has since repealed many of those increases, leading its mines minister recently to call for investors leaving Australia to head for the African nation.
In 2008, partly on the advice of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Zambia boosted company tax from 25 per cent to 30 per cent and royalties from 0.6 per cent to 3 per cent. It also brought in a 25 per cent tax on copper and cobalt profits once prices hit a certain level…
“The experience of Zambia provides a cautionary tale,” Moody’s analyst Matthew Moore said.
“Its introduction of a similar (to the Rudd government’s proposed tax) windfall tax on minerals likewise upset foreign mining firms and was blamed for a reduction in mining exploration,” he said.
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Obeid does Bishop a favour? Yeah, right
Andrew Bolt
The Sydney Morning Herald’s investigations editor seriously thought a Labor factional warlord like Eddie Obeid might tip off Liberal hardliner Bronwyn Bishop about a get-rich-quick property lurk - an insult not only to both, but to the readers.
(Thanks to reader David.)
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Police finally notice the ethnic gangs now running riot
Andrew Bolt
A leaked police report into the rise of Asian gangs in Melbourne must now end the great deceit.
For years Victoria Police have pretended we don’t have a problem with ethnic gangs. In fact, former Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon even banned that G word:
Nixon: What we saw in that more recent incident was one of two gangs, which I gather was around two women, which started fighting.Like this:
Mitchell: But gangs are an issue.
Nixon: Well, we’re seeing some groups of people. I’m not describing them as gangs.
Mitchell: Well, you just did.
Nixon: Well, you know what I mean.
Mitchell: I thought the word gang was banned by your media people.
Nixon: Well, it is . . . it’s got connotations . . . These are groups of people who come together and just cause problems together.
Nixon even told complete untruths about crime statistics for certain ethnic groups, as if hiding the truth = or wishing it away:
Those Sudanese refugees are actually under-represented in the crime statistics.Her police suddenly became blind, too, or at least dumb. Take this Herald Sun report on a spate of attacks on Indian cabbies:
Police will not officially acknowledge any particular ethnic group is a target, or that any other group is carrying out the crimes. But in every case the victims told police their attackers were African . .Police pretended to be blind to ethnicity even when appealing for urgent help from the public to find a man (an African, actually) who’d tried to drag a 14-yeard-old girl into his car:
The man is described as about 30 years old, 190cm, dark complexion, very white teeth, and short, curly black hair.The new Chief Commissioner even confirmed he had a don’t mention-the-race policy:
But let Chief Commissioner Simon Overland justify this bizarre policy. Asked on 3AW this week if he’d tell the public a wanted man was “black”, he waffled: “No, not necessarily. Nor would we say ‘white’.”Overland continued the policy of concealing evidence linking crime to ethnicity:
Last June, Overland said crimes such as robbery and assault against persons of Indian origin in 2007-08 had soared from 1082 to 1447. They rose further in 2008-09, but not by as much, to 1525 attacks. In a published interview, Mr Overland admitted that Victoria Police grouped all people of “south Asian appearance” into one statistical category, even though they might not necessarily be Indians. He refused to release the full raft of police data on the issue because it was “subjective and open to interpretation”.Police were so desperate to avoid mention ethnic gangs that they this year tried the dog-ate-my-homework excuse to researchers from Victoria University, denying a truth obvious to everyone else, and not least to victims:
Police interviewees ... suggested that without being able to draw on specific data about offenders from the Victoria Police database, they could not speak with certainty about offender profiles other than to say that they were overwhelmingly male.For instance (warning: graphic content):
Police officers did stress, however, that anecdotal reporting suggested that where groups of offenders were responsible for assaults against international students, there was no evidence of ethnic or racial homogenisation within the groups, with the majority being mixed race, mixed-ethnicity groups of offenders across the cultural spectrum, sometimes including but definitely not limited to young male offenders of Anglo-Celtic background, and sometimes not including Anglo-background youth at all ...
(But) youth and community service providers also indicated that those who were known to be involved in crime are often relatively new arrivals to Australia themselves and had grown up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods...
As recently as yesterday I heard a police spokesman on ABC radio deny there was an ethnic dimension to a vicious brawl between Somali and “white” boys in northern Melbourne which started after racial taunts:
I wouldn’t call it racial.But now this leaked report spells out a menace which the police have had a policy of denying - even to the extent of disbanding the very squad set up to deal with it:
SECRET documents show that police fear it is only a matter of time before someone is murdered as open warfare erupts among Asian gangs.UPDATE
The confidential Victoria Police intelligence report, seen by the Herald Sun, warns violence is escalating and names five key gangs fighting on our streets.
“Unless these gangs are actively targeted by police, it is considered highly likely that the offences will continue to escalate and that a person will be murdered,” the intelligence briefing warns.
The report - prepared after a succession of stabbings and bashings at nightclubs - says the gangs have begun to launch attacks on the homes of their rivals.
The report also found:
A RISE in Asian gang-related incidents last month.
GREATER use of glass and knives in attacks.
IT was common for gangs to use extreme violence in front of police and security in public places…
The report says gang members have been using machetes, Tasers and baseball bats to commit “life-threatening assaults”, almost invariably on weekends and public holidays. Victims have included passers-by and security staff not associated with the gangs…
The report recommends the establishment of a specific taskforce to focus on Asian youth gangs within the metropolitan area.
The Asian squad was wound up in 2006 by former chief commissioner Christine Nixon.
Canada’s Justice Department notes the same problem there with ethnic gangs. The difference is that it’s frank about the problem:
The Astwood (2004) police survey reported on the composition of gang members across Canada: African-Canadian (25%), First Nations (22%), Caucasian (18%), Asian (12%), East Indian (14%), Latino/Hispanic (6%), and Middle Eastern (3%)…Proportion of African Canadians in the total population: just 2.5 per cent. Of Latinos: less than 1.5 per cent.
Finally, examining ethnic composition in federal inmate gang members, Nafekh and Stys (2004) reported that there were 916 identified urban gang affiliates in prison between 1996 and 2003, of which 37% were African-Canadian, 29% were Caucasian, 20% were Aboriginal, 3% were Asian, and 11% were from other backgrounds.
(Thanks to reader Betapug.)
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Kenneally plays sexual politics
Andrew Bolt
Pru Goward calls out NSW Premier Kristina Kenneally (right), who’s playing an only-I-can-play-this game:Kristina Keneally, a self-professed feminist, has attacked Adrian Piccoli’s brown suit and, whenever it appears, the Premier makes cracks about it - its cut, that he wears it too often and how unattractive she thinks it is. Extraordinarily personal and were it a man attacking a woman’s dress, even his own side would be embarrassed.Picolli (pictured top left) complains:
Then there is the bald Piccoli head. He reckons it keeps him carbon-neutral but it doesn’t stop her regular sneering, in a flirty sort of way, at his shiny scalp, particularly if he’s taken a point of order.
Finally, there was the attack on him as “that great wordsmith” for a word which he invented in 2003, seven full years ago - “rurosexual”.
Who knows how this happened way back then but it has absolutely nothing to do with Question Time in 2010 and her attack took up several minutes, in which she also wriggled and smiled at him.
At this point I gave up and walked out of the Chamber, with the Premier then shouting at me that I was trying to find a rurosexual.
Very silly and, again, no man would have dared make such a crack…
Keneally is renowned for personal attacks on other Members of Parliament and her critical interest in our clothes and appearance was familiar fare across the chamber when she was a minister.
The breaking point for the Opposition education spokesman came during yesterday’s Question Time when Mr Piccoli asked Speaker Richard Torbay to intervene after the latest taunt.Meeow.
“I take great offence at constantly being sexualised by the Premier. If it’s not my suits, it’s my hair,” Mr Piccoli said.
”I take great offence at being sexualised Mr Speaker. I ask that you do something about it.”
Mr Piccoli later called out that he was “happily married” and Ms Keneally could be heard to retort “Oh, you wish.”
The whole thing seems rather childish, especially from the Premier. Yet I’d like her to clarify: can two play this game? Are comments about her own clothes, sexuality and simpering
allowed?
(Thanks to reader Mark.)
===
Obama rebuffed, Tea Party cheered
Andrew Bolt
An opportunist is a mere opportunist even to the party that benefits from his opportunism - and Arlen Specter is shown the door:
Sen. Arlen Specter, a five-term incumbent who switched from Republican to Democrat last year in hopes of keeping his Pennsylvania seat, became the fourth Democrat in seven months to lose a high-profile race despite the president’s active involvement, raising doubts about Obama’s ability to help fellow Democrats in this November’s elections.As for the Republicans, a lesson in grass-roots democracy:
The first three candidates fell to Republicans. But Specter’s loss Tuesday to Rep. Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania’s Democratic senatorial primary cast doubts on Obama’s influence and popularity even within his own party…
Specter had been a Republican senator for 28 years, opposing countless Democratic bills and appointees even if he showed more independence than most lawmakers. Thirteen months ago, however, he concluded he could not win the Republican nomination for a sixth term against conservative Pat Toomey. He and top Democrats struck a deal.
Specter would become a Democrat, giving the party the crucial 60th Senate vote it needed to overcome Republican stalling efforts, which were frustrating the administration. In exchange, Obama, Biden, Rendell and the entire Democratic hierarchy agreed to support Specter’s 2010 re-election, including efforts to clear his way to the party’s nomination.
Rand Paul defeated Republican establishment favorite Trey Grayson in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, a closely watched race that was a test of the tea party movement’s strength.Paul, the son of former presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, on Tuesday gave a tea party activist a key win in a statewide election that could embolden the fledgling political movement in other states.. Paul, a 47-year-old Bowling Green eye surgeon, had never before run for office and turned to the Internet fundraising model used by his father to pay for his campaign.
(Thanks to reader bennoba.)
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Rudd hasn’t deterred them, has he?
Andrew Bolt
This really is getting out of control:
Authorities have intercepted a suspected asylum seeker boat in waters off Australia’s northwest coast… Initial indications suggest there are 39 asylum seekers and two crew aboard the boat.As you can see from my red dot on this Department of Immigration graph , this flood of boat people started just weeks from the day the Rudd Government announced its great softening of the boat people laws. As you can also see, there’s as yet no sign that Rudd’s partial and provisional “toughening” of the laws last month has deterred anyone:
I still hear excuses (as on ABC 774 yesterday) that the sudden influx is due largely to the war in Sri Lanka - a war that actually started in 1983 and ended a year ago. I’d suggest the graph shows that Rudd’s policies are in fact the more important explanation. not least because most asylum seekers are not Sri Lankan at all.
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