Headlines Tuesday 4th May 2010

=== Todays Toon ===

Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869) was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley. His record was unusual, since he is one of only four British Prime Ministers to have three or more separate periods in office. However his ministries all lasted less than two years, and he held the post for a total of just over four years, less than many other Prime Ministers.

=== Bible Quote ===

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”- Romans 12:12

=== Headlines ===

Shift against PM 'a protest vote'
TONY Abbott told not to get too excited about his party taking an election-winning lead in the poll

Usama bin Laden lives a comfortable life under the protection of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, says an ex-chief falconer with extensive Iranian contacts.

Pakistan Link in Terror Probe
Officials identify person of interest in Times Square bombing attempt as a naturalized American citizen who was recently in Pakistan for several months

BP to Pay 'Legitimate' Oil Spill Claims
U.S. officials press British Petroleum to explain how company will pay for cleanup of massive oil spill in Gulf

Lacrosse Star Jailed in College Killing
University of Virginia men's lacrosse player is charged in the death of a standout student-athlete he once dated

It's OK to call a police officer a pr**k
COURT tells police to get used to offensive language as a student is cleared of abusing an officer.

Smart money is on another rate rise
HOME-owners brace for more mortgage pain as experts predict 0.25 per cent increase from RBA.

The problem with Apple's 3G iPad - video
USERS line up to complain about "grainy video" problem on Apple's multimedia wonder machine.

'Mayer like herpes, Meldrum on drugs '
COMIC Wil Anderson feels the heat after X-rated Twitter spray during Logie awards ceremony

Gang rape brother to go free within days
ONE of four brothers jailed over the gang rapes of teenage girls eight years ago wins parole despite opposition from Corrective Services.

'Kidnapped' mum and daughter found
A MISSING woman and her daughter who had allegedly been assaulted and abducted by her former partner in Sydney's south have been found.

Woman held over Target stabbing spree
A WOMAN went on a rampage through a Target shop, stabbing five people and "setting off a stampede".

=== Journalists Corner ===

Nilar Thein is one of hundreds of women political prisons in Burma. The regime sentenced her to 65 years for writing a letter to the UN urging the international community to protect the women of Burma. On this year's Mother's Day, let us remember the sacrifices and determination of women activists like Nilar Thein, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other women political prisons in Burma who have dedicated their lives to democracy and human rights.

Will you join us in honoring these courageous women on Mother's Day? Show your solidarity by signing up to host an Arrest Yourself event.

Now more than ever, these heroines need the support of the world. Ahead of the 2010 elections the military is tightening its repressive grip and jailing scores of women political activists in an attempt to silence their voices. We must not turn a blind eye to such injustices. Complacency is complicity. As members of this global community, it is our duty to help amplify the calls of these brave women activists and continue their struggle for democratic values that so many of them have given their lives and freedoms to achieve.

Be a part of our Arrest Yourself campaign to show your solidarity with these brave women of Burma. Join us in answering Aung San Suu Kyi's call to "use our liberty to promote theirs." 200 people have already signed up to host parties across the United States. Now its your turn.

At this year's Arrest Yourself campaign, we will raise awareness for these courageous mothers of Burma and inspire millions to get involved and fight for their immediate and unconditional release. Let us make sure that come next year, Nilar Thein and other imprisoned women activists in Burma will be reunited with their family and celebrate Mother's Day with their children.

Sign up now to host an Arrest Yourself event.

With hope,

Nadi Hlaing
Development Assistant, U.S. Campaign for Burma
(202) 234-8022
nadi@uscampaignforburma.org

"Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu/ We are people through other people."

Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma
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Bill's back with a big-time investigation!
It's blowing the lid off Arizona's blistering immigration controversy.
Guest: Michael Brown
The oil spill ... Is Obama getting a free pass from criticism that Bush didn't get during Katrina?
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Navy SEAL on Trial!
He's accused of beating a suspected terrorist. Will he be acquitted in his court martial?
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Immigration Law Protests!
As angry demonstrators rally at our nation's capitol, what impact will they have on lawmakers and policy across the country?

=== Comments ===

Why Is Iran Allowed Seat on U.N. Women's Rights Commission?
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," April 30, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JUAN WILLIAMS, GUEST HOST: In the "Personal Story" segment tonight: another outrage, courtesy of our friends at the U.N. Iran has just been selected to sit on the United Nations Commission on human — on women's rights. Iran, which requires that women who don't dress modestly enough get stoned or lashed. Iran, which threatens to arrest women with suntans. I guess we shouldn't be shocked. In 2003, Libya was elected to head up the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

Joining us now from Los Angeles, Brigitte Gabriel, the author of "They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It." Brigitte, thanks for coming in. How could…

BRIGITTE GABRIEL, AUTHOR, "THEY MUST BE STOPPED": Thank you. I'm delighted to be with you.

WILLIAMS: How could the United States — how could the rest of the world allow Iran to take this lead role in terms of women's rights? They are the worst example possible.

GABRIEL: They are the worst example. I mean, Iran is the first country in the world to actually make the marriage age for girls as nine years old according to Islamic Sharia Law. And you know, the world set on the sidelines and said, oh, that doesn't affect us, we don't really care. And it's so shameful, what hypocrisy — here we are in the West, we have the women's rights. We have the NOW organization. I think, Juan, this is the time now for all these groups that support women's rights to come together and launch a petition against the U.N., trying to stop Iran.

I know already the Iranian women's liberation movement tried to put a petition up. But this is the time where woman from modern western countries like Australia, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Europe, this is the time where everyone can come together and do a major petition to the U.N. and also women start putting pressure on their government to do the same thing.
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Another Tea Party Victory
By Tom and Deneen Borelli
Senator Harry Reid suddenly decides to focus on addressing immigration instead of cap-and-trade.
Chalk up another victory for the Tea Party movement. Two weeks ago, a press conference designed to announce the Kerry-Graham-Lieberman Senate cap-and-trade bill was postponed. Why? Because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is suddenly contemplating moving forward with immigration reform before he leads the charge for climate change legislation.

The sudden change in priorities upset Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) – the principal Republican driver of the climate bill. Graham has been working closely for months with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), as well as environmental and corporate special interest groups to craft a cap-and-trade energy bill that suits these disparate factions.

According to The New York Times, “Mr. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said in a sharply worded letter on Saturday that he would no longer participate in negotiations on the energy bill, throwing its already cloudy prospects deeper into doubt.”

Graham believes self-serving political interests are at the heart of the change in priorities and called Reid’s maneuver a "cynical political ploy." Democrats, including many long-term incumbents such as Reid, are facing tough re-election battles in November and they desperately need an issue to rally voters.

By leading with immigration, Reid is trying to appeal to Nevada’s important Hispanic voter bloc to improve his re-election bid.
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MICHAEL GOODWIN: Obama's War On Capitalism
By Michael Goodwin
Instead of fighting our problems, Washington has declared war on capitalism and those who dare reap its benefits.
Next came the show trial of Goldman execs being harangued by congressional know-nothings.
And now the Justice Department has started a criminal probe of Goldman.

I'm no cynic, and these clockwork assaults are no coincidence. It's war.

Only instead of fighting our problems, Washington has declared war on capitalism and those who dare reap its benefits. The government is apparently willing to use every weapon it has to crush their animal spirits.

As President Obama said last week about the banks, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money."

There you have it, Wall Street. Big Brother has spoken.

It is a strange mission, this aim to bring to heel the nation's engine of wealth creation. With nearly 15 million Americans out of work entirely or limited to part-time jobs and with national and household debt at staggering levels, the goal should be to expand jobs and opportunities. Healthy banks are key to that expansion.

But that would be a rational response. As Obama has shown repeatedly in both foreign and domestic issues, he doesn't attack problems as much as use them as an excuse to carry out a sweeping agenda to remake America.

It's what he did with the stimulus upon taking office. The $862 billion of borrowed money didn't stimulate private-job creation, but it did subsidize state payrolls and fund the wish list of liberal programs Democrats wanted.

It's what Obama did with health care. The consensus on fixing the areas that clearly needed reform was insufficient for his goal of universal care. He declared the entire system "broken," despite 80 percent of the public saying they were happy with their insurance and doctors, and launched a federal takeover that will turn insurance firms into regulated utilities.

Now it's the banks' turn. The near-collapse of the financial system revealed numerous flaws that must be remedied. There is a strong consensus for requiring transparency for derivatives trading and setting limits on borrowing so banks can be allowed to fail without bringing down the entire system.

But that's not what's happening. The attacks on Goldman -- which have sliced its stock price by 40 points, and reduced its market value to shareholders by $21 billion -- are not about the needed reforms.

They are demonizing and punishing the fires of American capitalism and aim to turn the financial system into a tool for sharing the benefits. On its surface, rounding the edges and flattening the curves can almost sound reasonable.

Why, for example, should bankers be taking home millions in bonuses when millions of Americans are out of work? Shouldn't everybody get an egg from the golden goose?

Or, as a Teamster from Long Island put it during Thursday's union-led demonstration on Wall Street, "We need banks to do the right thing." By his definition, that means giving money "to people who've been struggling."

Now where did he get that idea? Oh, wait. Maybe from a president who also said last week it's "the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow our economy."

Or maybe from a candidate who said, "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Yep, that guy, the same guy. The one for whom the only acceptable self-interest is his own.
So here we are, spreading the wealth around. Or as they must be chanting in the Oval Office: Spread, baby, spread.

Michael Goodwin is a New York Post columnist and Fox News contributor. (Click on the link to continue)
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OUT OF HERE
Tim Blair
Things to do. Back on Monday. Meanwhile, Kevin Rudd is shadowed by the clown of doom:
A similar creature haunted Peter Costello in 2007:
Costello’s party was removed from office later that year. Kevin Rudd faces the polls later this year.
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Usual suspect arrested
Andrew Bolt
Just another unrepresentative member of a minority unfairly suspected:

A US citizen of Pakistani descent who is believed to have driven the four-wheel drive vehicle used in the failed car bomb attack in Times Square, New York, was arrested overnight as he tried to leave the country.

Faisal Shahzad was identified by customs agents at the city’s JFK airport and was stopped before boarding an Emirates airlines flight to Dubai.

Shahzad had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan. He bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder from a Connecticut man about three weeks ago and paid in $100 bills.

Announcing the arrest, the US attorney general, Eric Holder, said: “It’s clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans.”

He suggested the investigation was exploring whether Shahzad had links to international terrorist networks.
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Miner cancels exploration; blames Rudd’s new tax
Andrew Bolt
The first mining deal that’s been allegedly killed by Kevin Rudd’s huge new tax:

TONY Sage’s Cape Lambert Resources has taken the unprecedented step today of cancelling all planned exploration in Australia as a result of the uncertainty created by the Henry tax review’s proposed ‘super tax’ on the mining industry.

The Rudd government’s proposed 40 per cent Resources Super Profit Tax announced Sunday has been slammed by the industry, along with BHP Billiton’s Marius Kloppers and Fortescue Metals Andrew Forrest, and yesterday caused $9 billion to be wiped from the value of the ASX’s top 100 miners.

The tax is expected to commit an extra $12bn to the tax pool by 2014.

Mr Sage today said on Perth radio station 6PR that the company would put exploration activities at its Cape Lambert south iron ore project in the Pilbara planned for the second half of 2010 on hold because of the tax measures.

Cape Lambert said it would now shift its exploration activities to its projects outside of Australia.

Money lost, jobs lost.

UPDATE

Senior dealer Dave says many retirees have just lost a lot of money in their super funds, too, as mining stocks fall through the floor:

BHP:

Close price on Fri arvo: A$40.75/share

Close price today: A$38.59/share

Shares outstanding: 3.358 billion

Value lost: A$7.25 billion

RIO:

Close price on Fri arvo: A$72.10/share

Close price today: A$67.06/share

Shares outstanding: 606.83 million

Value lost: A$3.058 billion

UPDATE 2

And if this warning turns out to be accurate, Rudd won’t have those super profits to tax at all - and his budget will have a giant hole at its heart:

Investor Marc Faber said China’s economy will slow and possibly “crash” within a year as declines in stock and commodity prices signal the nation’s property bubble is set to burst.

The Shanghai Composite Index has failed to regain its 2009 high while industrial commodities and shares of Australian resource exporters are acting “heavy,” Faber said. The opening of the World Expo in Shanghai last week is “not a particularly good omen,” he said, citing a property bust and depression that followed the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna.

(Thanks to reader Immanuel.)
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The barbarian of our Age
Andrew Bolt
Measure the rise of barbarity by the fact that Catherine Deveny is the marquee columnist of The Age, once Australia’s paper of record:

Deveny used Twitter to deliver a series of remarks about celebrities during the (Logies) awards ceremony at Melbourne’s Crown Casino, including one about child star Bindi Irwin.

”I do so hope Bindi Irwin gets laid,” Deveny wrote.

Today, Deveny stood by her comment about the 11-year-old, saying she was using satire “to expose celebrity raunch culture and the sexual objectification of women, which is rife on the red carpet”....

Deveny also said she did not feel she needed apologise for her tweet about Tasma Walton, the wife of Rove McManus.

“Rove and Tasma look so cute ... hope she doesn’t die, too,” she posted. McManus’s first wife, Belinda Emmett, lost her battle with cancer in 2006.

Last week, on the eve of Anzac Day, she damned Anzacs as bloodthirsty racists:

Anzac Day. Men only enlisted to fight for the money, for the adventure or because they were racist.

Anyone who lived through war not a [f....] says no parades, no medals, everyone who suffered and struggled remembered. Anzac Day Shits Me…

Anzac Day IS a glorification of war. They didn’t die for us but because they were risktaking testosterone fuelled men with a pack mentality.

Before that:

This time it’s Age writer Catherine Deveny, who last night tweeted this about fellow Q&A panellist Peter Dutton:

Had nightmare they sat me next to a chinless, ex QLD cop with a face of a rapist who refused to go to the stolen generation apology #qanda

Then there’s this defamatory lie:

Peter Dutton in the green room, “I don’t like those abos. They come to our country, steal our jobs, marry our women.” #qanda

What puzzles me is that a Deveny is so sure of her superior virtue that she feels free to act like a monster.

This is the face of The Age.

(Thanks to readers Andrew and Anthony.)
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Media Watch turns into Ideology Watch again
Andrew Bolt
Jonathan Holmes, until recently one of the fairest presenters of Media Watch, once again falls into the trap of using it to push his ideology - in this case his global warming evangelism.

He again attacks sceptic Professor Ian Plimer for saying something ... er, true. But inconvenient. It’s hardly Plimer’s fault if some ABC journalist then misquotes him.

Here’s one more example of why the ABC has failed in its duty to be impartial, or at least balanced, by picking seven Media Watch presenters in a row who are from the Left.

(Thanks to reader Jo.)

UPDATE

As for Q&A afterwards, a typically “balanced” panel - ABC style - to discuss global warming and Rudd in particular:

Penny Wong - Minister for Climate Change and Water
Nick Minchin - Liberal Senator for South Australia
John Symond - Aussie Home Loans’ Chief
Paul Howes - National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union
Christine Milne - Deputy Leader of the Greens

That’s three against one, with one abstention, and host Tony Jones to boost the Left’s advantage even more.

And next week’s panel is no better, thanks to a show that no longer even bother pretending:

Brendan O’Connor - Minister for Home Affairs
Sophie Mirabella - Shadow Minister for Innovation
Kaiser Kuo - Beijing-based internet consultant
Brett Solomon - Internet activist
Helen Razer - broadcaster and commentator

Yes, Solomon was the former boss of GetUp!, the Leftist outfit whose former spokesman is now Kevin Rudd’s media advisor. In fact, GetUp! is doing very well from Q&A, having had its new boss on another panel just two weeks ago:

Bob Carr, former NSW Premier
Scott Morrison, Opposition immigration spokesman
Heather Ridout, chief executive of the Australian Industry Group
national director of GetUp, Simon Sheikh
and communication consultant Shimrit Nothman
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Hit-the-miners Henry damns the plunderers
Andrew Bolt
Treasury secretary Ken Henry explains his green philosophy - which may explain his tax review’s recommendation that Kevin Rudd slug earth-raping miners a new 40 per cent tax on profits:

How do we explain the failure to prevent the continuing destruction of habitat, vital to the survival of many of our endangered species of native flora and fauna? And how do we explain the failure in dithering for decades about an appropriate response to climate change? How to explain these failures?

If we wanted to be charitable, we might conclude that my generation simply took it for granted that governments could be relied upon to deal effectively with social and environmental matters…

I know a bit about plunder. Most Australians of my age do. They grew up with it.

For all but a few years of his working life, my father was a timber worker… My ancestors plundered the red cedar. They plundered our native hardwoods. And they plundered our native fish stocks. Other people’s ancestors plundered our birds, our rock wallabies, our cycads, our fragile soils and our fresh water resources; and they plundered our natural temperate grasslands – of which less than 2 per cent now survives, and even in that alarmingly degraded state manages to provide a home to at least 14 endangered or vulnerable species of flora and fauna…

They explain why we humans have, in a little more than two centuries of industrial settlement, plundered to extinction some 115 species of native flora and fauna, including 23 birds, 4 frogs, 4 reptiles and 27 mammals; and why there are another 1,700 Australian species presently considered by the Australian government to be threatened by human activity…

I am referring also to the challenges posed by climate change – the challenges of adapting to a warmer, more volatile climate and of adjusting to climate change mitigation strategies… Climate change adaptation and the response to mitigation strategies will also have profound implications for the pattern of human settlement on this continent.

(Thanks to reader Watty.)
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What you get in a trade in something invisible
Andrew Bolt
And to think Kevin Rudd wants this eminently rortable system here:

U.K. officials arrested 22 people as part of the biggest European crackdown on tax fraud related to emissions trading since carbon permits were first issued in 2005…

German prosecutors and tax investigators on the same day searched Deutsche Bank AG, HVB Group and RWE AG as part of raids on 230 offices and homes. Carbon prices rose as regulators moved to weed out what was the carbon market’s most-rampant form of fraud, tainting about 7 percent of trades in last year’s $125 billion market, according to estimates from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

(Thanks to many readers.)
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Rudd signs, Kyoto dies
Andrew Bolt
Cate Blanchett last year wrote in Time why Kevin Rudd deserved his place in the magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008:

For me, Kevin Rudd’s quality as a leader is best illustrated by his apology to the “stolen generations” of Aborigines…

Rudd’s other great achievement since taking office also required overturning years of government obstinacy: he ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

On the hunch that everything Rudd touches turns to mud, let’s check on the health of that sucker:

The Kyoto Protocol is under threat and political leaders should no longer skirt core questions about its destiny, the UN’s top climate official has told environment ministers from around the world.

“The question is on everybody’s mind but, unfortunately, on nobody’s lips: what, in all honesty, is the future of the Kyoto Protocol?,” Yvo de Boer asked more than three dozen ministers gathered near Bonn to brainstorm on climate on Monday.
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Rudd’s Labor now losing
Andrew Bolt
I suspect this overstates the reality, but senior Liberals were already telling me last week they’d sensed a decisive change of mind among the voters they were talking to:

KEVIN Rudd’s personal standing has taken a hammering after his decision to dump his climate change policy last week, and for the first time since 2006 the Coalition has an election-winning lead.

The Prime Minister’s personal satisfaction rating has dropped the most in the shortest time in the 20-year history of Newspoll surveys, and for the first time since the election Labor no longer has a clear lead over either the Coalition or the Greens on the issue of climate change.

Mr Rudd’s previous standing as being seen to be “decisive and strong” also fell significantly… For the first time in Mr Rudd’s prime ministership, an opposition leader is seen clearly as being stronger and more decisive than Mr Rudd…

After weeks of dramatic policy reversals and broken promises, culminating last week in Mr Rudd’s decision to put off his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme until at least 2013, the government’s primary vote has plunged eight percentage points to just 35 per cent. The Coalition’s primary support has risen three points to 43 per cent....

According to the latest Newspoll, taken last weekend exclusively for The Australian and polling almost 1200 voters, the extraordinary shifts in the primary vote mean the two-party-preferred support for Labor has dropped to 49 per cent while the Coalition’s has risen from 46 to 51 per cent.

Rudd’s problem now is, as I’ve said recently, that the one mighty weapon he’s had is now firing blanks. His spin is no longer believed. As for achievements....

UPDATE

I agree with Dennis Shanahan - voters may be swtiching off Rudd, but they are yet to be convinced by Tony Abbott:

KEVIN Rudd has taken a huge hit. The image of him being gutless and not standing for anything after dumping his climate change policy has hurt his standing as Prime Minister like no other…

(But) Labor’s sudden collapse in primary vote - down to a four-year low - has not translated into a corresponding lift for the Coalition. It appears that of the eight points Labor lost only three went to the Coalition and five went to “others"…

While this means that the Coalition has edged in front on two-party-preferred support for the first time in years it also means it’s because of a negative effect on Labor, not a positive effect for the Coalition.

Likewise with the Liberal leader’s personal standing; Abbott’s barely got a positive net satisfaction rating and is only in the best position on preferred prime minister of any Liberal leader since the election because of Rudd’s decline. Disillusioned voters have turned away from Rudd and Labor but are yet to turn to Abbott and the Coalition.
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I doubt Walsh will take this lying down
Andrew Bolt
There are two reasons why Kevin Rudd is playing with fire by smearing BHP as a pack of exploitative foreigners he’s entitled to loot with his his new “super profits” tax.

One reason is that the facts are stacked against him:

Mr Rudd said BHP Billiton was 40 per cent foreign owned and Rio Tinto more than 70 per cent, which meant ‘’these massively increased profits … built on Australian resources are mostly in fact going overseas‘’.

A spokeswoman for BHP hit back at Mr Rudd, pointing out the company was listed on both the Australian and London stock exchanges, had its headquarters in Melbourne, and was one of the country’s largest employers.

‘’We have 16,000 Australian employees and 24,500 Australian contractors working for us,’’ the spokeswoman said. The largest single proportion of the company’s shares was held in Australia. ‘’We’ve been in this country since the 1880s - we’re not exactly newcomers,’’ she said.

Resources companies had about $14 billion wiped off their market capitalisation yesterday in the first day of trading after the government announced the new tax on ‘’super profits’’ of resources companies as the centrepiece of its response to the Henry tax review.

The second is that he’s demonising a company whose PR chief has deep connections in the Labor Party:

Mr Geoff Walsh AO joined BHP Billiton in November 2007 as Director, Public Affairs… He was National Secretary of the Australian Labor Party (2000-2003) and a senior adviser to Australian Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. He was Chief of Staff to Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and held a senior advisory position for Victorian Premier John Brumby.
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Is it also fine to call his Honour a prick?
Andrew Bolt
After all, I’m sure his Honour cannot possibly be offended:

(A) local court magistrate in Sydney ruled yesterday that the word “prick” was part of the every-day vernacular as he cleared a university student of an offensive language charge.

Waverley Local Court magistrate Robbie Williams made his comments during a hearing for science student Henry Grech, 22, who was charged following a heated argument with Senior Constable Adam Royds at Bondi Junction train station last year.

Mr Williams said he wasn’t satisfied that a “reasonable person” would be offended by the word prick in general conversation.

Oops. Or should I have shown the magistrate more respect than he’d demand for the police?

That said, I’m afraid he’s only confirming an unfortunate precedent set by others of his trade:

The importance of context was again emphasised in Saunders v Herold (1991) 105 FLR 1. The accused, an Aborginal man, and his friends were asked to leave the Canberra Workers Club, which they did. Outside, the accused was approached by police, and was alleged to have said “Why don’t you c...s just f… off and leave us alone?” His conviction for offensive conduct was quashed by Higgins J (at 5)...

And:

(Magistrate Pat) O’Shane today came under criticism from NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney and the police union for her decision last Wednesday to dismiss a charge of swearing by (Rufus) Richardson at officers in a parked police car outside The Rocks police station…

In bringing down her decision Ms O’Shane said there were no longer “community standards” in relation to such behaviour…

Police had alleged in the Downing Centre Local Court that Mr Richardson had said: “Youse are f---ed.” She said that type of language was “to be expected on George Street at that time of night"…

In 1991, she dismissed charges against a Lismore man who called two officers “f---ing poofters”, saying the term was not as offensive as the military term “collateral damage”.

(Thanks to reader CA.)

UPDATE

Reader ex VicPol:

True Story. I was prosecuting when it happened.

Defendant was charged similarly with using the F word to describe someone. Magistrate ruled that it was acceptable,and normal part of language case dismissed.

Next case, the bailiff was asked to summons next defendant. He failed to appear. Magistrate asked where he was. Bailif responded, “No f.. appearance, your honour.”