Headlines Tuesday 8th June 2010

=== Todays Toon ===

The mutineers turning Lt Bligh and some of the officers and crew adrift from His Majesty's Ship Bounty. By Robert Dodd
Vice Admiral William Bligh FRS RN (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. A notorious mutiny occurred during his command of HMS Bounty in 1789; Bligh and his loyal men made a remarkable voyage to Timor, after being set adrift by the mutineers in the Bounty's launch. Fifteen years after the Bounty mutiny, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales in Australia, with orders to clean up the corrupt rum trade of the New South Wales Corps, resulting in the so-called Rum Rebellion.
A propaganda cartoon of Bligh's arrest in Sydney in 1808, portraying Bligh as a coward

=== Bible Quote ===

“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.”- Psalm 90:2,4

=== Headlines ===

Arizona authorities reportedly find two bodies near a common illegal border crossing after receiving 911 call from man saying he and his friend had been shot.

Oil Cap a Short-Term Fix
BP announces plans to replace cap collecting crude with slightly bigger device next month

Incumbents Fighting for Political Lives
Political newcomers eye wins in multi-state primaries, as some incumbents struggle

Twelve Americans Detained in Yemen
Arrests possibly linked to joint U.S.-Yemeni anti-terror campaign, State Department says

Helen Thomas to Retire 'Effective Immediately' Following Uproar Over 'Palestine' Comments
Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas announced her retirement Monday following an uproar over comments she made last month about Jews in Israel. Hearst Corporation, which employed Thomas as a columnist, put out a brief story via Hearst News Service announcing the retirement "effective immediately." The announcement came after the White House Correspondents Association decried her remarks as "indefensible" and began to consider whether Thomas should continue to have the privilege of a front-row seat in the briefing room. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called her remarks "offensive and reprehensible" on Monday, as other former White House spokesmen called for Thomas to be fired.

Market braces for steep losses after European debt fears pull Wall Street lower and Britain's PM says "it's worse than we feared" and warns harsh cuts will last for years.

Diggers 'killed in Afghanistan'
TWO Australian soldiers are believed to be among 10 NATO troops killed in Afghanistan.

Cities built under the ocean, buildings made from mould and a futuristic "spine" running from Tasmania to the mainland - see what architects think our future will look like

Lonely Adriana a 'victim of her own fame'
SHE was one of TV's most loved icons but Adriana Xenides once said she "had never felt so alone".

Brazen gang of car thieves on a roll
CAR thieves cause mayhem releasing handbrakes to make cars roll down hills and crash.

10mm thick iPhone 4 'the biggest leap'
STEVE Jobs gets over technical glitch to show new iPhone and spruik the "unbelievable" device.

MasterChef earns at least $100 million
MASTERCHEF dubbed "the most powerful show" amid predictions it could outlast Big Brother.

Risky business didn't stop Garry Allibon
MURDERED security guard was forced to the ground as thieves stole his gun three years ago.

Blood testing after sterilisation error
THOUSANDS of patients of a doctor are urged to come forward for HIV and hepatitis testing after his practice was found unhygienic.

Ex-CIA agent raped drugged Muslim woman
AN ex-CIA agent pleads guilty to raping a Muslim women in Algeria after rendering her unconscious at embassy in February 2008. A convert to Islam and fluent Arabic speaker, he had been described as a "rising star" in the CIA, two former CIA officials told ABC News

Rudd warned against alienating Labor heartland
PRESSURE is building on Kevin Rudd to forget about losing left-wing supporters to the Greens and instead protect his right flank against an exodus of supporters alienated by his new 40 per cent tax on mining. Senior Labor figures and strategists told The Australian yesterday that while angry left-wingers might vote for the Australian Greens in the coming election, their votes would almost certainly return to Labor through preferences. - if only he stood for something other than himself. -ed.
=== Comments ===
UN Opposes Missile Program which doesn't target Israel
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," June 4, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

LAURA INGRAHAM, GUEST HOST: In the "Unresolved Problem" segment tonight: the United Nations takes aim at America's drone missile program. The anti-terror effort has reportedly killed hundreds of militants in Pakistan. But the U.N. says: "Because drone operators are based thousands of miles away from the battlefield and undertake operations entirely through computer screens and remote auto feed, there is a risk of developing a PlayStation mentality to killing."

With us now, Mark Levine, a liberal radio talk show host. It's always conservative radio talk show host, so we got you here today.

MARK LEVINE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hi, glad to be here.

INGRAHAM: How are you? Good to see you. Where do you stand on this? Obviously, we've been able to take out some top problems, terrorist problems in Pakistan, in very remote areas. There has been some collateral damage but overall the numbers, I think 50 in the last — last couple of years. What's your beef with it?

Click here to watch the debate!

LEVINE: Well, the report doesn't specifically say drones are bad, to be clear. It just says that we need accountability for them. We need to have legal standards. We need to know who we're killing, who we're not killing. We need to make sure that the killings are killing the right people and not the wrong people.

INGRAHAM: How does that play out? We need standards. That means, what, the American military has to go to an international panel and say...

LEVINE: No, no.

INGRAHAM: ...this is the group we're trying to target in the mountains of Afghanistan? (more at the link)
===
GET THE MAN A SHAMWOW
Tim Blair
Ken O’Keefe was among the comical human shield failures in Iraq seven years ago. He was aboard the Gaza peace fauxtilla, too. It’s just the same old crowd. Four days after the thriller on fauxtilla, O’Keefe turned up at Istanbul airport – not looking too bad, except for all the dramatic facial blood he’s been unable to remove. C’mon, Ken. No chance for a shower in four whole days? Couldn’t wash your face once during the flight to Turkey? Not even to tidy up just a little bit? Well, he’s got bigger problems to deal with. The IDF is on to him. Good luck, bleedy Kenny.

Meanwhile, you’ll never guess from which branch of the Palestinian peace movement came the latest aqua ex-activists:

At least four Palestinians were killed when Israeli navy commandos opened fire on what they said was a squad of militants in diving suits off the coast of Gaza today …

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant offshoot of Fatah, said the men killed were members of its marine unit and had been training.

They were training to be martyrs. Mission accomplished.

UPDATE. Video of unwashed Ken.
===
SCHEDULING CHANGED
Tim Blair
In the manner of a ten-year-old, the ABC’s Jonathan Holmes gloats over a commercial radio network’s compliance with Australia’s fussy broadcasting regulations:

Hope it hasn’t cut into the super-profits too much …

You have got to see old Holmesy’s face as he says this. Hit the video at that link. He really thinks it’s a major takedown. Fight the power!
===
THE LOSER NOW WILL BE LATER TO WIN
Tim Blair
Times are a-changin’ in Canada:

An Ottawa children’s soccer league has introduced a rule that says any team that wins a game by more than five points will lose by default.

The Gloucester Dragons Recreational Soccer league’s newly implemented edict is intended to dissuade a runaway game in favour of sportsmanship. The rule replaces its five-point mercy regulation, whereby any points scored beyond a five-point differential would not be registered.

This new victory-equals-defeat rule has generated a surprising level of support, even for Canadian loser-firsters. Here’s columnist Eric Francis:

Lost in the debate over an Ottawa-area soccer rule that forces any team that wins by more than five to forfeit, is the fact losing big does indeed suck.

Losing when you win sucks even more. Indeed, so might it suck when you win because you lose. But if it’s just little kids and all … except that it isn’t. As Ian Haysom points out:

The rule applies to kids between five and 18.

Haysom is also in favour of the loser-wins rule, despite making the best case against it:

The worst soccer game I played was a 20-0 defeat. It was the first-ever match by our new youth team, Progress Rovers. We kids were about 14.

I was a forward, inside right, and my dad had chosen this game to film me on his new ciné camera.

He positioned himself in front of the opposition goal so he could catch my spectacular goals. I spent so much time in my own goalmouth that for most of the game I was a mere speck in the distance.

The following week we lost 10-0. Then 6-1. We got better and better.

At the end of that season we made the league cup final and played the same team that beat us 20-0. We lost 3-2 in the final minute.

I still have that loser’s medal. I still feel like a winner.

Sorry, pal. You’re not a winner until you’ve lost 5-0.
===
THE CASTLE
Tim Blair
Yang Youde is the most powerful nail house owner in China.

(Via Shaun)
===
CAPTION CONTEST
Tim Blair
What is Peter Garrett saying?
- Friend (talking to the reporter) I am proud to announce that the government, of which I am a minister, has held to its election promise and saved this whale. Some say that it is a monstrous inflation, but just think ‘if the polls shown today are reflected in the next election then Mr Abbott will be Prime Minister.’ That is all the focus groups of Rudd will let me say. - ed.
===
Sea Shepherd harpooned
Andrew Bolt
Sea Shepherd only now concedes, but to far less than seems credible:

ANTI-WHALING activist Peter Bethune - on trial in Japan - has been expelled from Sea Shepherd, the conservation group he campaigned with, after he took a bow and arrows on to one of their vessels, it emerged today.

In a statement headlined “Remaining Aggressive and Nonviolent”, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Sea Shepherd, Chuck Swift said the bow and arrows revealed to be in possession of Captain Bethune on the Ady Gil were “absolutely not in line” with the organisation’s policies.

“Even though we know Captain Bethune’s objectives were sincere, that the bow and arrows were never used in Sea Shepherd actions and that he certainly never intended to use the bow and arrows against any person, his decision to bring them on a Sea Shepherd campaign is unacceptable,” he said.

Mr Swift said that Sea Shepherd would continue to support Bethune, 45, in his legal battle in Japan, but he would not be selected to participate in future campaigns.

So Sea Shepherd still claims it knew nothing about any bow and arrow, and that these weapons were not used, anyway.

Yet four months ago now, I could already find - and publish - video of an arrow being fired from this same Ady Gill, and seemingly at a Japanese whaler:

(Thanks to readers Michael and John.)
===
Two more of our soldiers dead
Andrew Bolt
Bad news from Afghanistan, I’m afraid:

TWO Australian soldiers including one from Brisbane, are believed to have been killed in Afghanistan in what is being called the deadliest day for coalition forces so far this year.

Seven US soldiers and three other NATO troops died in roadside bomb attacks in eastern Afghanistan and small arms fire in the country’s volatile south overnight Monday.

The dead Australians are understood to be part of a bomb detection unit. The men and their bomb-detection dogs are believed to have died when a roadside bomb exploded.

Channel 10 has reported one of the victims was a Brisbane-based dog handler attached to the Gallipoli barracks at Enoggera on his first deployment to Afghanistan.

He and his dog, a border collie-cross were killed, when a roadside bomb exploded.

He has a wife and a young son in Brisbane.

This brings to 13 the number of Australians who have died in Afghanistan, which is proving a far harder battle than Iraq, with casualities mounting, not falling:

In contrast, here are the casualty figures for Coalition forces in Iraq:

UPDATE

Any furious protests scheduled in our streets against Talibani who kill Australians? Or are they reserved only for Israelis who kill Hamas supporters?
===
Broken promises? GetUp! takes a month to count them
Andrew Bolt
Reader Stedlar says this message has been up for a month on GetUp’s ”promisewatch” page, where the Left-wing activist group tracks which promises Kevin Rudd has kept - or broken:

This site list of promises made by Kevin Rudd during the 07 election campaign.
But right now our team is working at updating the content.
We’ll have the content back online asap.

Thank you for being patient.
===
Unarmed?
Andrew Bolt


Peter Slezak is an academic at the University of NSW’s school of history and philosophy of science, and is thus perhaps inclined to see things as he believes they should be and not as they are.

How else to explain the first line of his oped ed in the Sydney Morning Herald?

The Mavi Marmara victims are the most visible of many unarmed international solidarity workers and Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli military forces at peaceful demonstrations.

You already know you need read no further.

(Thanks to reader zbcustom.)
===
The press pack turns on Rudd
Andrew Bolt
The uniformly negative questions fired at Kevin Rudd by journalists at his doorstop yesterday suggests he’s now in deep trouble getting out a positive message:

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what does it say that Peter Garrett didn’t know about the suspension of the ETS, that he read it in a newspaper? What does it say about the Government?

JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, it was a pretty friendly reception in there this morning for you, you must be pretty happy with that-
although today’s polls look as though you wouldn’t be getting that reception, you know, elsewhere in the country, in fact you’d probably not be in Government anymore. How does that make you feel?

JOURNALIST: Are you resorting to a fear campaign though, Prime Minister, by referring to Mr Abbott as now the alternative leader?

JOURNALIST: Your popularity and the Government’s popularity have plunged pretty dramatically. I’m just wondering, which decision do you regret the most?

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that you’re calling a spade a spade. Is David Marr calling a spade a spade? He’s written a
fairly colourful piece about his time with you, mentioned some rather obscure language as well. Is this on the record, is this
correct?

JOURNALIST: What’s gone wrong?

JOURNALIST: But there’s something personal about this, it seems directed against you at the moment.

JOURNALIST: So are you angry at the core, as David Marr’s put it?

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister do you blame yourself for poor polling?

JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd (inaudible) we had a decade of the Howard Government, that Prime Minister then lost his seat. You know you had that incredible public support for the apology and signing Kyoto, you had record personal satisfaction. Just as Kevin can you tell us how disappointing this feels?

(Thanks to reader I.)
===
Your taxes, Rudd’s waste
Andrew Bolt
Exactly what in this waste justifies the title of “Building the Education Revolution”?

FIFTEEN Queensland schools facing closure next year have been spruced up with $4.5 million from the Federal Government’s blighted stimulus program.

(Thanks to reader Spin Baby Spin.)
===
Bloody Ken
Andrew Bolt

Four days after he was arrested by Israel on the Mavi Marmara, “Palestinian citizen” Kenneth Nichols O’Keefe arrives in Istanbul, head still proudly unwashed to better show the blood he claims was drawn by brutal Israelis. Pity his fellow passengers on the flight.

O’Keefe seems to have a thing for siding with terrorists and tyrants. Before he was a defender of Hamas, he was a human shield in Iraq, trying to save Saddam.

(Thanks to reader Joseph.)

UPDATE

Ken has a proud history of standing up against state terror. Here he explains why he was fired as a marine in the service of the Great Satan itself:

I’d had an altercation with my immediate superiors, having reported them for an abuse of power. It might seem quite trivial, but we were living on board a ship in the Mediterranean in summer and it was very hot.

My superiors had shut a passage so as to keep what little air conditioning there was in their area. They had no authority to do that, and it forced us in the lower ranks to go three times as far to get to routine areas.

The whole platoon was punished for what I did, and I had to look over my shoulder after that. A lot of marines would no doubt describe me a provocateur or a “bad apple” but to my mind I did the right thing.
===
Iran threatens Israel with warships
Andrew Bolt
The stakes could get dramatically higher:

THE coast off Gaza is becoming the Middle East’s new flashpoint, with Iran and Hezbollah yesterday declaring intentions to break the Israeli blockade…

”Iran’s Revolutionary Guard naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities,” a spokesman for Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei said.

“It is Iran’s duty to defend the innocent people of Gaza.”

Iran’s Red Crescent ambulance organisation plans to send two aid ships to Gaza.
===
Labor MPs protest Rudd’s rule
Andrew Bolt
The propect of defeat weakens the authority of the leader and loosens the tongues of the led. And some of Labor’s saner MPs are now speaking:

West Australian Labor frontbencher Gary Gray, a former ALP national secretary whose seat of Brand could be under threat on current polling, said there was no doubt the RSPT, based on profits rather than production, was the right tax for the future. But he said: “Equally there is no doubt that the detail of the tax needs to be resolved.”

Asked about Labor’s plunge in polling, Mr Gray said: “It is very, very difficult to get back from these situations. (John) Howard lived in a dream that he could; (Paul) Keating lived in a dream that he could.”

Gray isn’t spinning but calling it like it is. Labor is in deep, deep trouble.

Others haven’t dared to put their name to their criticism:

A Labor backbencher, asking not to be named, said: “You can’t jump the mining industry and expect to retain your economic credentials.”

Another frontbencher, also asking not to be named, said the government needed to engage with political moderates who did not understand why Mr Rudd seemed to be waging war with the mining industry…

Other MPs noted that Mr Rudd had been taking most of his advice from chief of staff Alister Jordan, press secretary Lachlan Harris and senior economics adviser Andrew Charlton - all young men steeped in issues popular among young people, rather than the concerns of older people and families.

“The advisers around him work on the idea that we are smart; the punters are dumb; they won’t recognise that we are running a scam,” a senior Labor source said.

That sense of having been treated like mugs by smart-alecs seems very strong among voters. Rudd would do very well to get adults into those key jobs - if he himself is adult enough to take advice from equals rather than underlings.

UPDATE

Another Labor protester:

SOUTH Australian Speaker and Labor MP Lyn Breuer will travel to Canberra later this month to tell Kevin Rudd his mining super tax will “kill off” her steelmaking hometown of Whyalla.

Ms Breuer and local Mayor Jim Pollock want the Prime Minister to negotiate with the mining companies after Whyalla’s biggest employer, OneSteel, said the tax would threaten its local operations. “Without OneSteel, we don’t have Whyalla and the city would close down,” Ms Breuer said yesterday.

UPDATE 2

Symbolic of Labor, to turn abandoned mines into homes for boat people:

THE mass transportation of asylum-seekers from the overcrowded Christmas Island was stepped up yesterday, with 86 touching down in the remote mining village of Leonora as another 300 prepared to leave for the Curtin detention centre.

Thanks to Rudd, we’ll soon have more of both.

UPDATE 3

Even some of the most Left-wing union leaders are feeling the heat, as they try to defend what their members know will actually hurt:

Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union national secretary Peter Tighe, an ACTU executive member, said some workers were getting concerned about their job security because the government had not adequately rebutted the mining industry’s campaign.

UPDATE 4:

More Labor protesters:

Victorian backbencher Michael Danby told The Age: ‘’Labor should get its compromise position out as soon as possible so people can make a judgment between our reasonable suggestions and the position of the mining council and the Liberal Party.’’

But another MP said some caucus members did not see evidence Mr Rudd ‘’has given himself any room to negotiate an outcome … and maintain what little credibility he has got left’’…

While the mining row is damaging Labor, some MPs blame the retreat on the emissions trading scheme and community concern over asylum seekers for much of the loss of support in the polls.

Victorian Labor MP Darren Cheeseman said swinging voters and Labor’s base had been upset by the ETS decision. ‘’Our supporters from 2007 are looking for further policy on climate change from us.’’…

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said: ‘’We have got to do a better job … We have got to get our messages out there.’’ And Small Business Minister Craig Emerson said the government needed to explain to the public ‘’the purpose of the resource super profits tax’’.

Victorian Premier John Brumby renewed his call for Mr Rudd to make ‘’commonsense’’ changes to the mining tax.

UPDATE 5

Talk about Rudd giving voters the idea he’s trying to fool them with some tricked-up line-for-the-day from some backroom smart-alec:

THE challenge for me and for the government is to work harder into the future. I’ve got a huge amount of work to do to explain my plans. An election is about alternatives, and our plan’s clear on the economy, on health, on hospitals. I have a huge amount of work to do and I intend to get on with the job. What it points to very much, Lyndal, is that I have a huge amount of work to do. I don’t underestimate that. You see, keeping our economy strong is not easy. It’s not just like clicking your fingers. There’s a huge amount of work each day in doing that. These polls, if they are reflected on election day, Mr Abbott would be the next prime minister. I have a huge amount of work to do ahead of me.
===
How did we breed such ferals?
Andrew Bolt
The animalism is shocking, and any investigation needs to include a study into the parenting:

PASSENGERS have described their terror as a teenage gang threatened them with broken bottles before leaving a good Samaritan seriously injured.

Interstate tourist Tim Redmond, 29, is recovering in hospital after being seriously injured when he stepped in as thugs menaced a man with broken bottles at McKinnon station on Friday night…

Up to 10 youths, who were assaulting and abusing passengers, dragged a man from the train at McKinnon station. The four then surrounded the man and threatened him with broken bottles.

Mr Redmond stepped in but was stuck with a piece of ballast rock, leaving him with a brain clot…

Peter, of Cheltenham, told 3AW radio he would not catch trains again at night after what he saw.

He said there were chaotic scenes and panic on the train as the thugs hurled rocks through the windows, passengers cowered under the seats and tried to protect their children, and others staggered onto the train covered in blood.

He said he was forced to hold the door fast after an enraged gang member, about 14 years old, threatened his son with a broken bottle.

We also need to learn how to inspire a crowd into turning on a small group that’s terrorising them.

UPDATE

And on the following night, on the corner of Elizabeth and Lonsdale in the city:

AN Australian war hero who survived Iraq and Afghanistan unhurt almost lost his life to a crazed street thug during a night out in Melbourne.

Scott May, 27, ... was walking back to a city motel with his new wife, Larna, 22, and friends.

A street thug slashed open his face with a box cutter in a totally unprovoked attack.

”The guy just walked up between us, reached around and, from just under the eye, dragged a knife across my face,” Mr May told the Herald Sun.

What have we bred, and how?

(I’ve replaced a word I originally used intending a different meaning to the one some readers assumed.)