=== Todays Toon ===
Sir Charles Augustus FitzRoy, KCH, KCB (10 June 1796 – 16 February 1858) was a British military officer, politician and member of the aristocracy, who held governorships in several British colonies during the 19th century.=== Bible Quote ===
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;”- Psalm 103:13=== Headlines ===
A bye, bye by-election
KRISTINA Keneally somehow retains her popularity through scandal after scandal. But how? - simple really, she does nothing, and says few words. - ed.
BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg tells reporters company cares 'about the small people,' but Gulf Coast residents say they've had enough of the company's big-time executives making insensitive comments. - people are being unfair to BP who have been hamstrung by Obama. Time for Obama to support BP in plugging that hole, and not parading in front of the people with worthless words and useless actions. - ed.U.S. Can't Guard Part of Mexican Border
Federal officials make 80-mile stretch of Arizona-Mexico border -- including part of national wildlife refuge -- a virtual no-man's land as violence by drug smugglers and illegals runs rampant.
Arizona Mom and Child Stuck in Bahrain
Yazmin Maribel Bautista wants desperately to get out of Bahrain, but she won't return home to U.S. without her 5-year-old daughter -- something her ex-husband says will never happen
U.S. Hands Out More Iranian Sanctions
Obama administration goes after additional companies and individuals helping Iran to develop its nuclear and missile programs and to evade international sanctions
The racism scandal, punch-ups and a humiliating 34-6 loss to the Maroons - could this be the Blues' worst State of Origin?AFL legend sparks new race row
MAL Brown sparks a racial storm with "joke" describing indigenous AFL players as cannibals.
BP to set aside $23bn for oil spill costs
BP agrees to $23 billion fund to clean up oil spill after pressure from Barack Obama.
Chase accused on murder bid charges
A MAN accused of running down two girls has been charged with four counts of attempted murder.
Crown moves to bankrupt ex high-roller
WELL-known real estate developer Harry Kakavas issued with notice after Crown application.
eBay gives felon's knife auction the chop
A LISTING for knives signed by Mark "Chopper" Read taken off auction website eBay.
'If you're not my friend, I'll cut your neck'
BOY pulls knife on schoolgirl, 9, in terrifying playground attack but won't be charged due to his age.
Plane crash nurse Kathy Sheppard died doing the work she loved
IT should be a family celebration this weekend, for Noel and Shirley Martin's 50th wedding anniversary. Instead, the devastated couple will gather with loved ones to mourn their daughter Kathy Sheppard, 48, who died in Tuesday's Canley Vale plane crash. - Such a tragedy and it doesn't seem fair. But love is a gift that keeps on giving, long after those who fostered it have moved on. - ed.
Former asylum seeker forks out $16,000 for surfing lessons from Tony Abbott
AN AFGHAN refugee who is not long out one of Australia's detention centres has paid more than $16,000 for surfing lessons from Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. And Riz Wakil believes he can teach Mr Abbott a thing or two about asylum seekers. The money came from activist organisation GetUp, which bid on behalf of Mr Wakil at the Canberra Press Gallery's Mid-Winter Ball charity auction. Mr Abbott's auction offer was a surfing lesson followed by a beachside breakfast. Mr Wakil, who arrived in 1999 and is now an Australian citizen running a printing business in Sydney, said: "He can teach me a thing or two about surfing and I'll teach him what refugees go through to build a new life in Australia." - Killing people is not compassionate. Mr Abbott is doing the right thing for all. - ed.Baby 'frozen' for four days to fix heart
MIRACLE recovery of 16-week-old baby whose temperature was lowered after heart op went wrong.
German Schoolgirl faces court for drawing rabbit on blackboard
A GERMAN teacher is suing a student for teasing her about an alleged phobia of rabbits and drawing one on her blackboard. The teacher, named only as Marion V, fled in tears when she saw the chalk drawing at a school in the northern German town of Vechta, De Spiegel reported. Her 16-year-old tormentor had told classmates that Marion V. was terrified of rabbits and would "flip out" is she saw one, according to court documents. The victim, who teaches German and geography, has refused to say whether she is afraid of the animals but is suing the youngster for defamation and for "infringing her rights." She has been off work since the incident.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Early Prime LineupPolitics, policy and price tags. We have the fallout of the Obama/BP meeting and get the facts fair & balanced. Don't miss a minute of our special lineup.
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'Hannity'
Controlling the crisis! The problems with the oil spill are spreading from the Gulf all the way to the White House. Michelle Malkin breaks down how and what Obama needs to do.
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'On the Record with Greta Van Susteren'
The Arizona border war! What's the next step for the state? And where's the help from D.C.? Greta gets answers from Gov. Jan Brewer LIVE from Phoenix!
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David Axelrod Defends the President's Plan
Earlier today on 'Fox and Friends', Gretchen Carlson asked Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod about the president's address. The interview got a little pointed. We Report, You Decide
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Judge Napolitano: "Anchor Babies" Law a Nonstarter
Arizona lawmakers are looking to prevent babies born in the United States from automatically gaining citizenship regardless of their parents' status. Watch and let us know what you think!
=== Comments ===
Palin weighs in with common sense while Obama floundersThis is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," June 15, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET!BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Joining us from Wasilla, Alaska, former governor of that state, Sarah Palin. All right, did you have a big beef with the president tonight in any way, governor?
Click here to watch the segment!
SARAH PALIN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I did. I kind of have a big beef with you too though, Bill, if you don't acknowledge that President Obama is wrong on his call for a need for energy policy. Certainly we need that, but he is wrong not to acknowledge that we still need on a three-legged stool the conventional sources of energy to be drilled here. Otherwise, Bill, we are going to be dropped to our knees and bowing to the Saudis and Venezuela and places like Russia that will keep producing oil and petroleum products, and we will have to ask them to produce for us because we will still be dependent upon these sources of energy.
In addition though, too, shifting more towards the renewables which, of course, we need. And the other leg of that stool is conservation. President Obama, it scares me, it saddens me that the CEO of our nation does not understand that inherent link between the conventional sources of energy that we're dependent upon and our security, our prosperity, our freedom.
O'REILLY: OK, what was the — when you were the governor of the state, you dealt with oil companies all the time. What was the most difficult thing that you had to deal with when you were having meetings with them face to face?
PALIN: Believing that their perception of what the circumstances were in any situation that we dealt with them, whether it be a spill or lax infrastructure maintenance or the value of the resource that was being sold. In any of those issues, it was believing what they were telling me and my administration in terms of their perspective on what the facts were. (more at the link)
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SPILL SCHMILL
Tim Blair
Despite the President, reason prevails:
Most Americans still support offshore drilling and believe it is critical to making the U.S. competitive, despite the growing oil spill along the Gulf coast, a new poll showed on Wednesday …According to this poll, offshore drilling is more popular than Obama. Question for stock watchers: when do we begin buying?
In a national survey of 522 adults, on a scale of 0 to 10, the average show of support was 6.3 when asked if the government should allow offshore drilling.
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Obama tries to oil out of the blame
Andrew Bolt
Barack Obama tries desperately to link the great oil spill to September 11 - a time of unity.
In an interview with online news site Politico, the president said the spill has had a profound effect on the American psyche “in the same way that our view of our vulnerabilities and our foreign policy was shaped profoundly by 9/11.”And again in his underwhelming address to the nation:
Abroad, our brave men and women in uniform are taking the fight to al Qaeda wherever it exists. And tonight, I’ve returned from a trip to the Gulf Coast to speak with you about the battle we’re waging against an oil spill that is assaulting our shores and our citizens.But voters in Lousiana, and not just there, link it instead to Hurricane Katrina and the drowning of New Orleans - a time of Democrat-fomented disunity:
...a majority of voters there think George W. Bush did a better job with Katrina than Obama’s done dealing with the spill.When people think of examples of Obama’s curious lack of leadership, they think, for instance, of this:
50% of voters in the state, even including 31% of Democrats, give Bush higher marks on that question compared to 35% who pick Obama.
Overall only 32% of Louisianans approve of how Obama has handled the spill to 62% who disapprove. 34% of those polled say they approved of how Bush dealt with Katrina to 58% who disapproved.
A Houston-based company is now cleaning oil off surface water in the Gulf of Mexico using sweeping arms that attach to a boat and help gather large amounts of oil. These sophisticated devices were provided by a Dutch company with years of experience in such operations, but instead of using the Dutch ships and crews immediately, when The Netherlands offered help in April, the operation was delayed until U.S. crews could be trained.And John Hinderaker fact-checks Obama’s address and discovers it’s as dishonest as one of Rudd’s. For instance, in using this as an excuse to push his global warming agenda and cap-and-trade bill, Obama says:
The Obama administration declined the Dutch offer partly because of the Jones Act, which restricts foreign ships from certain activities in U.S. waters. During the Hurricane Katrina crisis five years ago, the Bush administration waived the Jones Act in order to facilitate some foreign assistance, but such a waiver was not given in this case.
The Dutch also offered assistance with building sand berms (barriers) along the coast of Louisiana to protect sensitive marshlands, but that offer was also rejected, even though Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal had been requesting such protective barriers.
We consume more than 20% of the world’s oil, but have less than 2% of the world’s oil reserves. And that’s part of the reason oil companies are drilling a mile beneath the surface of the ocean - because we’re running out of places to drill on land and in shallow water.In fact, says Hinderaker:
This howler is a favorite canard of Democratic politicians. As is so often the case, they are relying on the public’s ignorance. Most people don’t realize that in the U.S., oil isn’t counted as part of our “reserves” unless it is legally available for drilling. Thus, ANWR, to take one of many examples, isn’t counted toward the total “reserves.” The U.S. government could cause our reserves to skyrocket overnight by opening new areas, on land and in shallow water, to drilling. But the U.S. is the only country in the world that has deliberately chosen not to develop its own energy resources. No one else is that dumb.UPDATE
But Obama, anxious to show he’s in charge, now gives negotiations with BP over compensation and recovery his full attention:
According to a White House schedule, President Barack Obama was slated to attend the meeting for roughly 20 minutes starting at 10:15 a.m. The meeting was still going—though the president had long left—several hours later.UPDATE 2
Respect My Authoritah
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Jon Stewart feels the disillusion with Obama that millions of Australian voters have felt with Rudd. It’s the grandiose moralising promises, followed by the puny performance.
UPDATE 3
The Los Angeles Times rips into Obama over his weird address to the nation. The headline:
Obama’s speech: There’s a pipe spewing a gazillion gobs of oil into the gulf, so let’s build more windmillsUPDATE 4
Ouch! That’s sure a devastating ad that the Republicans have put together.
(Thanks to reader na and Instapundit.)
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Broke a promise, lied and then rewarded a Labor mate
Andrew Bolt
The scandal grows. Kevin Rudd not only broke a promise by stripping the Auditor General of power to review the Government’s political advertising.
Now we find out that he misled the public for the reasons - and then gave the lucrative job to the very man who told him to dump the Auditor General:
7News can reveal a public servant who recommended the advertising watchdog be dissolved is now being paid a small fortune to do the job himself.This stinks to high heaven.
Auditor-General Ian McPhee will front a Senate committee in Canberra tomorrow to publicly detail his concerns about Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s back flip.
Earlier this year Mr Rudd dumped a system which proposed advertising campaigns be scrutinised by the auditor-general independently. He has since passed the role onto a committee of former public servants, including advertising review author Dr Allan Hawke…
Dr Hawke is career bureaucrat and former chief-of-staff to Paul Keating. His review led to Mr McPhee being dumped from the independent role.
Dr Hawke took 18 days and was paid $60,000 to recommend a new panel to oversee government ads, which he now heads. He works four days a month for $175,000 a year.
The move came despite Mr Rudd’s “100 per cent guarantee” promise before the 2007 election that government advertising would be independently reviewed.
In an explosive letter, copied to Mr Rudd, Mr McPhee said the government review “seriously misunderstands” his role. He said it contains “a number of inaccuracies” and “generally softens” the rules removing “rigour and discipline in this sensitive area.”
Mr Rudd suggested Mr McPhee was uncomfortable being the umpire of government advertising
“The Auditor-General in fact wrote to me and indicated that he regarded this as potentially in conflict with his position,” Mr Rudd said.
(Thanks to reader Michael.)
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Q&A gives all climate opinions from A to B
Andrew Bolt
Climate change evangelist Tony Jones has put together a marvellously balanced panel for his ABC Q&A show, starting with the one Liberal still demanding support for Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme:
Next Monday, Q&A host Tony Jones will be joined on the panel by:That’s two fingers to a polite request from ABC chairman Maurice Newman:
Malcolm Turnbull - former Liberal leader
Craig Emerson - Minister for Small Business
Graham Richardson - legendary Labor identity
Sarah Hanson-Young - Greens Senator
Jessica Brown - (social policy) analyst for the Centre for Independent Studies
In a speech to senior ABC staff this morning (Newman) said climate change was an example of “group-think”. Contrary views had not been tolerated, and those who expressed them had been labelled and mocked…(Thanks to reader Paul.)
MAURICE NEWMAN: The media hasn’t been good at picking these things up and it’s really been the question of what is conventional wisdom and consensus rather than listening perhaps to other points of view that may be sceptical…
BRENDAN TREMBATH: Do you think the ABC has been too quick to accept the conventional wisdom that climate change is a fact of life that it’s happening according to eminent scientists?
MAURICE NEWMAN: I think the ABC has probably been more balanced than most in the mainstream media.... But climate change is at the moment an emotional issue but it really is the fundamental issue about the need to bring voices that have authority and are relevant to the particular issue to the attention of our audiences so that they themselves can make decisions. So that we are seen to trust and respect them sufficiently that they can make up their own minds about the various points of view that are being expressed through the medium of the ABC.
UPDATE
Reader Philip notes another reluctance to allow debate:
Just have a look at the Victorian Government’s climate change website which nominates that over 280 public submissions were received on its green paper last September.
Despite publishing that the submissions would be published on their website ‘within the next few weeks,’ the dept has since unilaterally determined that it would only publish the 170 or so submissions from ‘organisations’ (which all agree with the party line, of course).
Their recently-thought-up (no mention of this when public submissions were called for or even when they nominated that the submissions would be published) ‘policy’ excuse is that emails and submissions from the public contain ‘personal information’ and are therefore ‘private’ and cannot be published without each submitter specifically nominating that their submission could be published. The Bushfires Royal Commission received a great many public submissions with personal information included, but had no similar problems - merely blanking out letterhead information on letters and leaving fax and email addresses off their published public submissions.
I have a series of emails to and from the department covering my exchanges with them and their responses. There is only one conclusion to draw from the non-publication of over 100 public submissions - we’re looking at SpringStreetgate in operation.
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Labor goes negative on Abbott
Andrew Bolt
Frontbencher Anthony Albanese reveals the Rudd Government’s election strategy on Lateline:
WE’RE relying upon our positive agenda. We’re not relying upon the fact that Tony Abbott is a huge risk to our economy, that he’s a huge risk to national security. Tony Abbott . . . what he stands for . . . is an extreme position on industrial relations, he’s a climate change sceptic who thinks climate change is crap . . . on a range of social issues he’s completely out of touch with the . . . public. Our job, Leigh, is to return to the substance. Because Tony Abbott represents a throwback. Tony Abbott represents the most extreme ideological leader the Liberal Party has had. He is John Howard without the pragmatism.UPDATE
More accentuating of the positive, with Nicoloa Roxon this time eappaling to anti-Catholic bigotry:
FEDERAL Health Minister Nicola Roxon has launched an attack on Tony Abbott and his religion, accusing the opposition leader of letting his “personal beliefs” in Catholicism affect policy formulation.If the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission was truly apolitical, truly independent and truly concerned about protecting people from religious bigotry it would speak out against Roxon’s brand of foul sectarianism.
Ms Roxon fired the salvo during question time today when discussing Labor’s commitment to an “expanded and improved pregnancy, birth and baby hotline"…
Ms Roxon said Mr Abbott allowed his ”personal beliefs to interfere and get in the way of providing completely accessible and non-judgmental public services”.
“Mr Abbott doesn’t live in the real world,” she said…
Frontbenchers lined up to label the opposition leader as “too risky” for the top job.
(Thanks to reader Steve.)
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Moron speaks
Andrew Bolt
Do these people not read the papers to see how the world has moved on?
At an AFL function in Melbourne yesterday, the West Australian football legend Mal Brown referred to indigenous players - including one of the AFL’s most famous, Nicky Winmar - as ‘’cannibals’’.Let it not be said that Brown was completely unaware that he may just have crossed a line:
Referring to poor ground lighting at some matches, he said: ‘’It actually disadvantaged us. We couldn’t pick any of the cannibals. Nicky Winmar, Michael Mitchell. We didn’t even get any white shirts to put on them.’’
Brown’s comments prompted some laughter in the room. But the MC, the former Melbourne star Garry Lyon, was embarrassed. ‘’You’ve just put us on the back page of every paper tomorrow,’’ he said.
On the way out of the function, Brown pointed at newspaper reporters and said: ‘’Don’t you go writing what I said about those Abos.’’UPDATE
Queensland’s Greg Inglis gives an effective response just three minutes into last night’s State of Origin match:
IN a furious 15-minute onslaught, Queensland’s band of “brothers” unleashed on a hapless NSW a week of pent-up emotion and perhaps a life-time of pent-up frustration.UPDATE 2
After the week that was - one that unveiled an ugly side of rugby league - it had to be Greg Inglis and Israel Folau who did the damage.
Revealed as the targets of racial slurs from Blues assistant coach Andrew Johns, which resulted in NSW winger Timana Tahu walking out of the Blues camp last weekend, the towering duo delivered their response emphatically.
Beau Scott clearly didn’t quite get the message Johns was trying to deliver when he ordered the Dragons centre to “stop the black c. . . “, as the man they call GI opened Queensland’s account after just three minutes of play… The roar of the packed house at Suncorp Stadium was matched only by the scream of Inglis as Thurston embraced him.
Asked if the racism controversy had affected him, Inglis said: “It showed in my game tonight. I was pretty upset about it. I’m quite disappointed to be honest.
“That’s all I will say about that.”
Audio of Brown’s comments here.
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Socialists finally defeat Churchill
Andrew Bolt
Health fascists would rather lie than let people decide things for themselves:A photograph of Winston Churchill giving his victory salute has been airbrushed to remove his signature cigar.(Thanks to reader CA.)
In the well-known original image, Churchill makes a “V” shaped symbol with his fingers – while gripping a cigar in the corner of his mouth.
But in a reproduction of the picture, hanging over the main entrance to a London museum celebrating the wartime leader, he has been made into a non-smoker through the use of image-altering techniques.
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Crean asks staff to find out what Rudd won’t tell him
Andrew Bolt
Simon Crean is emerging as one of the Ministers most fed up with Kevin Rudd’s imperious (mis)management style:
THE Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, has told his senior public servants to improve their connections with other public servants to help him avoid being ‘’surprised’’ by his government’s policies…Bizarre. Crean must ask public servants to find out what Rudd won’t tell him.
He told the 100 or so officials he would have preferred not to have learnt about the contents of the Henry review and the decision to delay the emissions trading scheme from newspapers, sources at the meeting said.
We’ve already noted Crean’s public criticism of Rudd’s bungling of negotiations with miners:
In the first public sign of disunity within the Rudd cabinet over the resource super-profits tax, Mr Crean said late on Wednesday the government should have consulted business before announcing its scheme and was now acting to “fix” its error.And then there was this leak last week:
Ministers with experience from the Hawke-Keating years, such as John Faulkner and Simon Crean, are not being consulted by Rudd and his staff.Meanwhile, Crean’s not the only once to complain about Rudd’s inability to consult. Jennifer Hewett says the miners are arcing up at being used as props in another great Rudd spin:
Despite the government’s political need to promote the idea that its consultations (over the new mining tax) are sincere and substantive, the miners say they are still waiting for that to happen.UPDATE
It meant that a suddenly called meeting between the heads of BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata and Wayne Swan and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson in Canberra yesterday didn’t get far. The three companies promptly put out a statement announcing that there was “no formal acknowledgement” from government that their key issues of concern with the mining tax would be addressed.
This savagely undercuts the Prime Minister’s careful hints at great progress in private negotiations with industry leaders while saying he doesn’t intend to give “a day-by-day, blow-by-blow account"…
That reinforces the companies’ belief that their main use to the government at the moment is as public props in a good-faith demonstration to voters that the government is responding to industry concerns without backing down on its “fair share” argument.
And while Rudd stages his Potemkin talks, the disaster unfolds:
BHP Billiton’s massive Olympic Dam expansion project could be the next project put on hold because of the government’s resources super profits tax, according to Morgan Stanley.(And thanks to reader Terry.)
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Rudd reforms his reform before it’s reformed
Andrew Bolt
It was such a great health reform, that weeks later it’s reformed:
KEVIN Rudd has abandoned the top layer in his $50 billion health reform plan, scrapping the National Funding Authority, which was to oversee payments to the states as part of his boost to public hospital funding.Do these people know what the hell they are doing?
The body would have overseen the federal fund that will pay state funding authorities and then local hospital networks - meaning the commonwealth government will have one less body monitoring its injection into the state systems.
UPDATE
Another flop:
KEVIN Rudd yesterday conceded a backdown on his plan to create a new Asia-Pacific community -- one of his top foreign policy aims.(Thanks to reader Arthur McArthur.)
He told Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, who was visiting Canberra, that he would now leave it to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to decide how to develop the regional architecture.
Andrew Shearer, director of studies at the Lowy Institute, said the move “amounts to the running up of the white flag on the Prime Minister’s initiative”.
“It’s the culminating point of a humiliating diplomatic debacle for the government,” he said.
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The fall of Europe
Andrew Bolt
The warning may be florid, but there’s little denying the slow (if relative) decline of Europe - and perhaps the West generally:
Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned.And when democracies become autocracies is when neighbours become potential enemies again.
In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money.
The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds.
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