=== Todays Toon ===
Executing Necessary ReformsWell, what a difference a day makes in our nation's capital. To say that this ASSASSINATION of a Prime Minister (even a bad one like Rudd) was bloodless would be like saying that Joseph Stalin never really meant any harm to his Generals who disagreed with his tactics or that Adolf Hitlers 1934 "Night of the Long Knives" was nothing more than a butchers convention. Anyone who truly believes in the Australian Labor Party as being a party for the people and the workers, can now see just what a bunch of heartless, divided, ruthless, selfish and undeniably disloyal mob it has become. - ZEG
- They still haven't changed a policy - ed.=== Bible Quote ===
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”- 2 Peter 3:9=== Headlines ===
GOP Raises Concern Over Kagan's 'Liberal Activism'
Obama's Supreme Court nominee pledges during confirmation hearing to uphold the law as some Republicans worry she will bring liberal politics and anti-military bias to the jobMcChrystal to Quit After Controversy
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who was fired last week as the top U.S. general in the stalemated Afghanistan war, tells the Army that he will retire
Supreme Court Ruling Extends Gun Rights
Federally-protected right to keep and bear arms expands to all 50 states, striking down Chicago ban
Feds Arrest Alleged Russian Secret Agents
Justice Department announces the arrests of 10 Russian intelligence officers for allegedly serving as illegal agents for Russia on 'long-term, deep-cover' assignments in United States
Police are investigating whether role model brothers Luke and Sam Willis were murdered after a row with a neighbour over noise.Gillard in race to end mining war
ADVERTISING "war" will return if Julia Gillard fails to make genuine changes by Friday, industry warns.
Girl 'murdered over World Cup tears'
MAN "jammed a screw down his crying stepdaughter's throat" so he could watch a game in peace
Now you'll pay up to queue for flight too
TIGER Airways will charge customers for checking in at the airport, on top of baggage fees.
Why I killed my husband - wife reveals
MOTHER shot abusive husband after he made her choose who in their family she would have to kill.
TV show puts our lives at risk, say police
CHANNEL 9's popular cop show Australian Drug Lords may have thrilled viewers but the revealing series has outraged police who claim it is risking the lives of officers. The show premiered on June 1 with a gritty insight into the arrest of Richard Buttrose, drug dealer to Sydney's socialites. But while the New South Wales Police Force and its media unit had signed off on the series, the first episode was enough to spark complaints from officers that the show compromised the identities of undercover operatives. It is understood those concerns led to last-minute edits on the second episode about Olympic kayaker turned drug dealer Nathan Baggaley.Aboriginal man 'cooked' in 50C prison van
ELDER died after being transported 360km in faulty prison van as coroner rules police failed man.
Car crashes into neighbour's house
A WOMAN has escaped unharmed after crashing her car into her neighbour's house overnight.
Loophole in MyZone bus ticketing system allows free travel on private routes
BUS commuters are exploiting a loophole in the MyZone ticketing system and travelling on private routes for free. The new TravelTen ticket has been dubbed the Travel20 by savvy passengers, many of them university students. The rort is simple: A ticket is used the maximum 10 times on a STA bus before being sent into service on private routes, which don't have the green validating machines. Drivers on private routes have been instructed to mark each trip off with a pen and have no way of checking if a ticket is legitimate. The practice takes place at transport hubs where thousands of private and STA buses link up, or duplicate routes, every day - including Chatswood, Epping, Parramatta and Wynyard. Private bus staff said they were seeing "five or six rorted tickets every day", and have been told not to challenge passengers about their tickets.
Gunman storms bank and takes hostages
A MAN stormed a bank in southern England, screaming "get down on the floor" before taking employees and customers hostage.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Special Coverage: The Kagan Confirmation HearingsDon't miss special coverage of Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. We're on scene with fair and balanced coverage, as Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly host live from DC!
===
Guest: Marco Rubio
Taking charge! With Governor Crist in command of Florida's oil mess, what's Marco Rubio's plan to energize his base and fuel voters?
===
Deadly Border Wars!
Protests, boycotts and violence! As Arizona's deadly border wars spiral out of control, where is Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano? And, why is she not on the frontlines of the border battle?
===
On Fox News Insider
You Decide: Who is the Biggest Fox Fan?
Video: VP Biden Loses His Cool
The Passing of Senator Robert Byrd
=== Comments ===
Court's Gun Decision An Important Win for Americans Who Want to Defend ThemselvesBy John Lott
With another closely decided 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that state governments are not able to ban most Americans from owning most types of handguns. The court ruled that firearms are "essential for self-defense." The court found that if the Second Amendment indeed protects an individual right to own a gun, the notion that the government can't ban all handguns is the minimum protection the Constitution can offer.
Yet, just as with abortion, this is the first of what is likely to be a long string of court decisions.
The decision is an important win for Americans who want the right to self-defense, but the decision also indicates how many questions still must be answered.
When the “Heller” decision was handed down in 2008 striking down Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban and gunlock regulations, Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley predicted disaster. He said that overturning the gun ban was "a very frightening decision" and predicted more deaths along with Wild West-style shootouts and that people "are going to take a gun and they are going to end their lives in a family dispute." Washington’s Mayor Adrian Fenty similarly warned: "More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence."
Yet, Armageddon never arrived.
Washington’s murder rate has plummeted -- falling by 25 percent in 2009 alone. This compares with a national drop of only 7 percent last year. And D.C.'s drop has continued this year.Comparing Washington’s crime rates from January 1 to June 17 of this year to the same period in 2008, shows a 34 percent drop in murder. This drop puts D.C.'s murder rate back to where it was before the 1977 handgun ban. Indeed, the murder rate is as low as was before 1967.
Other gun crimes have also fallen in Washington. While robberies without guns fell by 7 percent, robberies with gun fell by over 14 percent. Assaults with weapons other than guns fell by 7, but assaults using guns fell by over 20 percent.
The expected narrowness of the court's decision today had already encouraged Mayor Richard Daley and the city of Chicago to threaten last week to effectively undo the Supreme Court decision with new regulations.
Daley promised to quickly adopt all the regulations that Washington adopted in 2008 after its gun ban was struck down, as well as some additional ones. To get a handgun permit in Washington, applicants must pay fees over $550, make four trips to the police station, and take two different tests.
Taking the court's 2008 decision that all handguns can't be banned, Washington went so far as to still ban all semi-automatic handguns that can hold a clip. Chicago plans on doing the same but adding a requirement that gun owners buy insurance that covers any incidents that might arise from the weapon.
Obviously, if Chicago were to impose any tax on newspapers, the courts would strike it down as an infringement on free speech.
But the new Chicago and Washington gun "fees" will be allowed until the Supreme Court revisits that issue.
Where that line will be drawn on this closely divided court will be influenced by its newest member and the potential new member whose confirmation hearings get underway today.
Neither the latest justice, Sonia Sotomayor nor the next potential justice, Elena Kagan are sympathetic to an individual's right to self-defense.
In Washington, about 1,000 people now have permits to own handguns. With the gunlock law that made it illegal to have a loaded gun now struck down, over 70,000 people have permits for long guns that can now be used protect victims.
Yet, if over 70,000 armed citizens can produce 26 fewer murders and 375 violent crimes, imagine what can be accomplished if even more citizens are allowed to defend themselves.
We can only hope that Chicago will not adopt such high fees and stiff regulations that only allow the wealthiest will have the opportunity to defend themselves.
John R. Lott, Jr. is a FOXNews.com contributor. He is an economist and author of "More Guns, Less Crime " the third edition of which was published by the University of Chicago Press in May.
===
The Obama Administration Is Confusing Me
BY BILL O'REILLY
My newspaper column this week explains why the Obama administration has reached its lowest point. I cite four critical areas where the country is suffering: the economy, Afghanistan, the oil spill and illegal immigration. I don't even mention the crushing deficit that is threatening the U.S. dollar.
Because this is a tough time, I've been studying President Obama and his policy pronouncements. As you may know, we have been fair to the president. We don't nitpick or take things out of context.
But -- but -- I am flat-out confused by what Mr. Obama is doing. Let me cite two examples.
The president is now reversing himself in Afghanistan. He's saying we might not begin pulling out of there next summer; we'll react to the situation on the ground. Well, that is the correct policy. You can't fight a war when the enemy knows the checkout time.
But on the illegal immigration front, things are getting crazy. The feds are now planning to sue the state of Arizona for trying to protect itself. Also, the president has appointed a sanctuary city supporter as a liaison between the feds and the states on the immigration issue.
Harold Hurtt, a former police chief in both Houston and Phoenix is outwardly sympathetic to illegal aliens. As chief, he refused to enforce federal immigration law. Now Hurtt is a federal immigration official? Come on. That's insane.
Also, there are rumors being put out by Republicans that the president is exploring giving amnesty to illegal aliens without congressional approval. "Talking Points" does not believe those rumors.
LET ME REPEAT: I do not believe them.
If President Obama were to sign an executive order giving illegal aliens amnesty, his career would be over and an impeachment movement would explode. However, the hiring of Chief Hurtt proves that the president is extremely left on the immigration issue.
So we have a better policy in Afghanistan and a worse policy in the immigration arena.
Confusion is never good for any country, and all the polls say the folks are losing confidence in Mr. Obama's leadership.
The president needs to become more consistent in how he wants to solve vexing problems. He needs to act quicker. He needs to show more passion, and he needs to be far less liberal.
That's as clear as I can be.
===
HE NEVER LISTENED
Tim Blair
Former Labor senator Graham Richardson:
You didn’t need a poll to know this tax was going down like a shower of the proverbial. Everybody from Julia Gillard down told Kevin Rudd the resource super profits tax was killing him and the government. But he wouldn’t listen. He never listened. This genius actually believed he was the font of all wisdom.That’s the first paragraph, and Richo is just getting warmed up: “From lowly backbenchers to cabinet ministers, I have never come across such loathing towards a leader before …”
===
GREEN PEOPLE BETRAYED
Tim Blair
Attorney Wendy Murphy, adjunct professor at the New England School of Law in Boston, on the sexual assault claims against Al Gore:
I asked a bunch of women in my community how they felt about the Al Gore news, and they said perplexing victim-blaming things such as “She was in her 50s. Doesn’t he know menopausal women aren’t horny?” And, “How did she not know that a request for a three-hour massage at 10:30 p.m. is code for ‘the guy wants a hooker?” A couple of women cracked jokes: “After she rejected him, did he Tip-per?”Audio of the woman’s claims here. Meanwhile, Gore has emerged to raise funds for the Democrats … and blame Bush for everything.
The greenest of the green people I talked to felt betrayed. Gore was their leader and the movement is now, um, stained. The woman even said, according to the transcript of her interview with Portland, Ore., police made public on the Internet, that her “Birkenstock Tribe” friends told her to “suck it up” and not tell anyone or the “world’s going to be destroyed from global warming” …
The most interesting issue for me, however, is the way nobody seems to be calling woman a liar … I believe her account.
(Via Instapundit)
UPDATE. ”Pleading for release of his second chakra.”
===
KEVNI ON ICE
Tim Blair
John Howard, Paul Keating, Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser all quit Parliament when their time as Prime Minister was up (Howard had no choice, of course, having lost his seat to Our Lady of the Furious Eyeballs). But Kevin Rudd – now entering only his fifth full day as an ex-PM – won’t let go:
Kevin Rudd twice asked Julia Gillard to give him a frontbench job – but his political future has been put on ice by the new Prime Minister until after the election …Unless he’s possessed of unnatural self-awareness, there is no way Rudd will be thinking clearly at present. We’ve all been in (extremely) minor versions of his current position; it’s difficult enough being fired or overlooked for promotion without that process occurring before national media. And unlike the four previous Prime Ministers, Rudd didn’t have an entire election campaign to consider his options should he be defeated.
The Herald Sun understands Mr Rudd made his first pitch for a ministry during a Sunday night telephone call to Ms Gillard, and the former PM asked for another discussion in the morning. But Ms Gillard was unmoved.
“There is nothing about this period of time that is easy or happy for Kevin Rudd,” Ms Gillard said. “It’s obviously a very stressful, difficult time.”
Mr Rudd had wanted to immediately take the Foreign Affairs ministry. Ms Gillard urged him to “spend more time with his family”
To borrow a phrase, Rudd didn’t have an exit strategy. Apparently he’s now working things out on an hour-by-hour basis, which isn’t an executive-level method. The danger for Rudd is that he’ll lock himself into an emotional decision – staying – that he will later regret.
Some will be critical if Rudd reverses his decision. Not me. He should quit, take a year off, avoid media, then launch into business or whatever other field entices. Why stay in Canberra – Canberra, of all Godless places – when Canberra doesn’t want you to stay?
UPDATE. Malcolm Farr:
The mystery of why former prime minister Kevin Rudd has repeated his bid to be in Julia Gillard’s Cabinet has baffled colleagues, who can’t work out why he is staying in Parliament.UPDATE II. The ABC’s Leigh Sales:
One possible explanation is that after 12 years as an ambitious MP, working long days and weeks, Mr Rudd knows no other life.
“He’s been institutionalised,” one Labor figure said.
Last night on Lateline, I said ‘Julia Rudd’. By the time I came off air, somebody had done this.
===
LIBERTY WINS
Tim Blair
Victory for diversity:
The Supreme Court ruled for the first time that gun possession is fundamental to American freedom, giving federal judges the power to strike down state and local weapons laws for violating the Second Amendment.Further from Reason. Interestingly, this ruling was brought in response to a 28-year-old handgun ban in Community Organiserville, Illinois.
In a 5-4 ruling, the court held that the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right that binds states.
UPDATE. In other liberty developments, US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich says what his boss won’t:
This war will end when we – Australians and Americans – are safe from the same terrorists who attacked us before, and when Afghans themselves are safe.Read on for Jules Crittenden’s appreciative analysis.
We will know success when Afghanistan is no longer a base for violent hatred and a launching point for terrorist attacks on the innocent.
That is why we must fight.
UPDATE II. Instathoughts on the gun ruling from Instapundit.
===
WIN IT AND BIN IT
Tim Blair
Two notable recent front pages from the Illawarra Mercury and the New York Post. Can’t find any online presence for a third, from the Gold Coast Bulletin, which on Saturday ran this front-page contest promo:
WIN A VUVUZELAAccording to the page-three story, News Ltd colleague David Lewis brought two of these tuneless doom tubes back from World Cup so they can be inflicted on readers. Or maybe he hasn’t arrived home yet, in which case customs officials are urged to act.
IMPORTED FROM AFRICA
You’d be surprised how popular are vuvuzela giveaways. It’s presumably cheaper and slightly more popular than giving away the Chikungunya virus.
UPDATE. Warning to vuvuzela winners: do not blow too hard. (Via Dan F.)
UPDATE II. Smike emails:
A visitor from South Africa stopped by my liquor operation the other day. We chatted about the vuvuselas. He noted the prevalence of high-burden tuberculosis in his country (fifth highest worldwide) and couldn’t help but wonder what all of that boisterous exhaling in packed venues has done to spread the disease.It’s not a headache. It’s a tuba.
===
Kevin knifed, but the ABC downs tools after 5pm
Andrew Bolt
Jonathan Holmes is right ropeable over the slack coverage the ABC gave to Gillard’s Night of the Long Knives, a story it broke and then all but ignored:
But the prize for sheer insouciance surely goes to Radio National’s Late Night Live. Yes, it was live on air from ten to eleven eastern time, and Phillip Adams mentioned the Canberra goings on as the program opened.
But then he turned to…- Adams loves himself too much and would take any opportunity to be live. - ed.Phillip Adams: ...the latest news from the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan…which was dissected for twenty minutes.
— ABC Radio National, 10.08pm, 23rd June, 2010
Afterwhich Adams blithely told his listeners…Phillip Adams: And yes, the ABC is now reporting that Julia Gillard has challenged Rudd for the Prime Ministership and Rudd said at a press conference moments ago that he will convene a special meeting of caucus in the morning… Music, maestro, and then we’re going to talk to Richard Wrangham about how cooking made us human.So much more vital than the overthrow of the Prime Minister.
— ABC Radio National, 10.28pm, 23rd June, 2010
If that’s the best you can do, Phillip, why on earth bother to go live at all?
===
Barnaby pack-attacked
Andrew Bolt
Exactly how many Leftist hosts and guests does the ABC’s Q&A team need to assemble before they’re confident they can make Barnaby Joyce seem outnumbered? Note how easily derogatory argument towards fellow panellists come to some - Christine Wallace and the unctuous Bill Shorten, in particular.
Early warning alert to Labor MPs: in what way would Shorten as PM differ from Rudd?
===
Gillard has until Friday to deliver more than words
Andrew Bolt
A deadline:
JULIA Gillard is racing to meet a Friday deadline to settle the damaging dispute over the new $12 billion mining tax…But no details:
With behind-closed-doors negotiations set to resume between ministers and leading miners after Kevin Rudd’s removal as prime minister, the mining industry is making it clear it still wants evidence of changes to the resource super-profits tax by the end of the week or the moratorium on the “advertising war” will be lifted.
Asked yesterday to guarantee a pre-election resolution on the RSPT, Ms Gillard was non-committal… Ms Gillard has given no indication of how she intends to resolve disputes over its rate or implementation details.Again, a lack of detail about another troubled policy - a potential great tax:
Also yesterday, Ms Gillard left the door open to policy compromise on another of Mr Rudd’s big-ticket issues - climate change… Yesterday, Ms Gillard failed to rule out suggestions that she impose a carbon tax instead of an ETS.One thing to bear in mind about these discussions. Labor has relentlessly accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of having little knowledge of and no interest in economics. But how much has Gillard had?
UPDATE
The new Education Minister seems unconvinced that his predecessor, now the Prime Minister, delivered value for all those $16 billion:
SIMON Crean has vowed to ensure that the embattled Building the Education Revolution program delivers value for money.UPDATE 2
The Australian says the deadline is Friday. The Age says it’s a week later:
THE mining industry has warned the new Gillard government that it faces another hostile advertising campaign if agreement on a new tax regime is not reached within two weeks.UPDATE 3
Terry McCrann says Gillard badly wants to avoid making any decisions:
Indeed, the more extended and inclusive the negotiations - all the way to the election - the better.UPDATE 4
This will enable Gillard to maintain the pose - the complete fiction - of committing to getting the mining industry to pay its fair share, while also promising to get a tax the mining industry is happy or at least can live with.
It’s only when she - and the government - actually decides the change, presumably after the election, do we find out whether it’s a tax that remains damaging to the industry and to the country.
Or she - and the government - effectively walk away from it. At which point they have to walk on one side of the street or the other.
Further while the ‘negotiations’ are in process, and no decision to change the tax has been formally taken, the $12 billion two-year harvest from the existing - Rudd - tax stays in the Budget numbers and the budget in 2012-13 and 2013-14 stays in the black.
Treasurer Wayne Swan claimed yesterday that the return to surplus was “in no way dependent on revenues from the mining tax.”
That claim was arithmetic and basic nonsense. Without the $3 billion projected in 2012-13 the Budget would have a projected $2 billion deficit. Without the $9 billion in 2013-14, the projected deficit would be $3.6 billion.
The Federal Government may be in for a taste of its own medicine after revelations that a Labor Senator sold off her shares in a mining company the day after the super profits tax was announced.UPDATE 5
For weeks the Federal Government has tried to get maximum political mileage out of the fact that Opposition frontbencher Peter Dutton bought BHP Billiton shares after Kevin Rudd announced plans for a 40 per cent tax on mining profits.
The Government said it was proof that Mr Dutton believed the tax would not be as bad for the mining industry as the Opposition is making out.
But now ABC Radio’s PM can reveal that Labor Senator Annette Hurley sold mining company shares the day after the tax was announced.
OPPOSITION Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey believes new Prime Minister Julia Gillard is likely to call an election this weekend.(Thanks to reader Spin Baby Spin.)
“I expect the election to be called this weekend,” he told ABC local radio.
===
Save the world! Shut up with your sex abuse claims
Andrew Bolt
The sexual assault allegations against Al Gore are a threat to the planet, the accuser is told.
UPDATE
The masseuse on the moment the massage got overheated:
It was “as though he had very suddenly switched personalities,” she recalled, “and began in a pleading tone, pleading for release of his second chakra there.”A strange choice of love music:
The accuser said Gore maneuvered her into the bedroom. His iPod docking station was there, he told her, and he wanted her to listen to “Dear Mr. President,” a lachrymose attack on George W. Bush by the singer Pink.Feel your second chakra stir:
UPDATE 2
Taiwanese television films a brilliant staging of the Attack of the Crazed Sex Poodle:
UPDATE 3
No sympathy from planet savers:
Finally she got away. Later, she talked to friends, liberals like herself, who advised against telling police. One asked her “to just suck it up; otherwise, the world’s going to be destroyed from global warming.”(Thanks to reader Chris.)
===
Hamas claims secret talks with Obama team
Andrew Bolt
If true, another reason to distrust Obama:
A senior Hamas figure said Friday that official and unofficial US sources have asked the Islamist group to refrain from making any statements regarding contacts with Washington, this following reports that a senior American official is due to arrive in an Arab country in the coming days to relay a telegram from the Obama Administration.
The Hamas figure told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper that the Americans fear discussing the talks publicly would “rouse the Jewish lobby and other pressure groups in the US and cause them to pressure the administration to suspend all talks with Hamas.”
===
Right attitude, wrong look
Andrew Bolt
I endorse Julia Gillard’s support of Israel, and only wish it were stronger. I also joined her in this leadership dialogue. But I agree that her partner’s employment is inappropriate now that she’s PM:
A FORMER Australian ambassador to Israel has accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of being silent on the “excesses” of Israel, and has questioned why her partner has been given a job by a prominent Israel lobbyist.(Thanks for readers the Other JS and Pira.)
In a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald, Ross Burns, who was ambassador in Tel Aviv between 2001 and 2003, said Ms Gillard had been “remarkably taciturn on the excesses of Israeli actions in the past two years”.
He questioned Ms Gillard’s stance given that she led an Australian delegation to Israel last year for the inaugural meeting of the Australia Israel Leadership Forum…
He also questioned the propriety of Ms Gillard’s partner, Tim Mathieson, being employed as a real estate salesman by the founder of the Australia Israel Forum, Melbourne property developer Albert Dadon.
UPDATE
Gillard said on ABC 774 this morning that as Deputy Prime Minister she excused herself on decisions on Israel that might raise this conflict of interest. How could she possibly do the same as Prime Minister? I’m surprised she doesn’t instantly see how inappropriate this arrangement now is.
UPDATE 2
Reader Keith says the evidence indicates that Mathieson does very much enjoy the hospitality of sports clubs, even when his partner isn’t there to claim a free ticket, too. Sports administrators tell me it’s actually a bit much.
===
It makes sense if said in a Labor accent
Andrew Bolt
The Canberra Press Gallery worst failing in miniature. Observe....
If Tony Abbott says population growth must be slowed, Michelle Grattan is appalled:
IT is a touch depressing, but unsurprising, that we are back to the worst of the population debate… (T)he Liberals’ small-Australia stance has become another irritant in its relations with big business, which is pro-migration, not just because of its skill needs but also because migration adds to the economic blood supply… The day of reckoning will come when the opposition produces its population and immigration policy. This will be a test for Abbott, because it can’t just be about scoring short-term points - he must demonstrate sound economic credentials.But when Gillard now says she doesn’t believe in a Big Australia, either, Grattan is impressed:
Julia Gillard is scraping away at more of those barnacles on Labor’s hull before she sails the repainted ship into a campaign.- and when it comes down to it, Gillard doesn't care about the people, only the pork barrels. - ed.
Her conspicuous rejection of a ‘’big Australia’’ is all about reacting to community fears about high migration. It also can be seen as reaching out to those who are worried about the boat people.
===
Rudd refuses to go
Andrew Bolt
The lack of awareness is typical, but still stunning:
Kevin Rudd twice asked Julia Gillard to give him a frontbench job – but his political future has been put on ice by the new Prime Minister until after the election …UPDATE
The Herald Sun understands Mr Rudd made his first pitch for a ministry during a Sunday night telephone call to Ms Gillard, and the former PM asked for another discussion in the morning. But Ms Gillard was unmoved.
“There is nothing about this period of time that is easy or happy for Kevin Rudd,” Ms Gillard said. “It’s obviously a very stressful, difficult time.”
Mr Rudd had wanted to immediately take the Foreign Affairs ministry. Ms Gillard urged him to “spend more time with his family” …
Graham Richardson:
Faction leaders didn’t make caucus members hate Rudd; no, that was all Kevin’s own work.
Hate, by the way, was the right description. From lowly backbenchers to cabinet ministers, I have never come across such loathing towards a leader before, let alone a leader who achieved the biggest swing to Labor since World War II at the 2007 election.
===
No, what we are is too nagged
Andrew Bolt
We’re too skinny:
SKINNY models will be banished from catwalks and magazines under a massive overhaul of the fashion industry. Diets for rapid weight loss and cosmetic surgery advertisements also will be phased out of magazines and clothing labels will be asked to stock a wide range of sizes in a new industry code of conduct.... Federal Youth Minister Kate Ellis will today unveil a new body image tick of approval, similar to the Heart Foundation’s tick of healthy foods, for the media, advertising and fashion industries to stop the glamorisation of unhealthily thin women which has led to children developing eating disorders.We’re too fat:
Kate Ellis: ... But equally, one of the things that has been of huge concern to me is when you see how many people we have slipping into obesity statistics ...
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