=== Todays Toon ===
Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire KG, GCMG, PC, DL, JP (16 May 1843–13 June 1928), known as the Lord Carrington from 1868 to 1895 and as the Earl Carrington from 1895 to 1912, was a British Liberal politician and aristocrat.=== Bible Quote ===
“The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”- Psalm 121:7-8=== Headlines ===
Federal Judge Blocks Obama's Offshore Drilling Moratorium
A federal judge in New Orleans blocks Obama administration's six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects that was imposed in response to the massive Gulf oil spill.Mexican Drug Cartel Threatens Ariz. Cops
Police in border city on heightened alert following tip that Mexican cartel will put them in its crosshairs if they conduct off-duty busts
'All Options on the Table' for McChrystal
White House has not ruled out firing Gen. McChrystal for trashing top officials in article
S.C. Candidates Poised to Make History
State known for racially charged politics may be on the verge of nominating an Indian-American woman for governor and a black man for Congress
Scientists Decode the Song of the Sun
The sun gives off more than just heat and light. One astronomer thinks it makes music, too. From here on Earth, that great ball of fire in the sky appears to be perfectly round. But closer study reveals storms and giant gaseous eruptions covering the surface of the sun. Now one scientist has found a way to translate those eruptions into strangely beautiful music. The giant eruptions lie in the outer layer of the sun, a region called the solar corona. It's the most mysterious and least understood layer of the sun's atmosphere. New satellites such as NASA's Space Dynamics Observatory have recorded high-resolution images of it, showing in unprecedented detail the large, banana-shaped magnetic structures known as coronal loops that fill the corona. These giant magnetic loops -- some over 100,000 miles long -- play a fundamental role in governing the physics of the corona. They also vibrate just like a guitar string or the reed in a flute, and with the help of some complex algorithms, the vibrations of these solar flares can be converted to music, a process called solar magneto-seismology similar to the methods used to study earthquakes..
Miranda Kerr's home town of Gunnedah offers to host her wedding to Orlando Bloom, and what the bush town lacks in sophistication it makes up for in competitive pricingMiners were flying on banned airline
SECURITY adviser breached industry protocols to allow mining executives on doomed flight.
Boys, 8, in high-speed horror joyride
POLICE shocked as truant youngsters steal two cars before making high-speed getaway.
Saints rape charges 'dropped over cost'
EX-detective says case against Stephen Milne axed because failure would cost "a lot of money".
Here's your chance to wake up with Pam
HOLLYWOOD star strips and rolls around on sheets in video alarm clock for new iPhone project.
What life's like on Planet Kristina
KRISTINA Keneally believes that, despite the Penrith by-election, she leads a good administration.State sponsors Ibrahim's party
THE State Government is a sponsor of a party to celebrate Underbelly at John Ibrahim's Tunnel nightclub.
Councils will help serial hoarders
COUNCILS - sick of cleaning up after serial hoarders - are sending in counsellors to help problem residents. Nearly 200 hoarders across the Sydney basin are well known to authorities; Waverley Council has sent cleaners to a single Bondi house 14 times in 17 years and Willoughby Council has 12 problem properties. Councils are frustrated at having to repeatedly clean out yards and houses of people living in waist-deep rubbish. They can force the issue when nests of snakes, rats and cockroaches appear - but six months later the filth is back, outraging neighbours and creating a general health hazard. Willoughby City Council has engaged Macquarie University to run a clinical study to treat people with severe hoarding issues. Willoughby Mayor Pat Reilly said the program would give therapy to severe hoarders.Two Diggers still critical after crash
COMMANDOS critical after Afghanistan helicopter crash that killed three of their comrades.
ALP launch Abbot smear with press blessings
CAN Tony Abbott run a trillion-dollar economy when he forgets he has a mortgage to declare? - this is a continuation of the ALP's negative campaign, which their spokespeople was calling a 'positive' campaign. They failed to lie their way into office at Penrith, and now the dirty tricks are out again. Compare this with the favorable press Greens leader Brown got for being bankrupt fiscally as well as morally - ed.
Fred Nile's bill to ban the burqa to be debated
CHRISTIAN Democratic Party MP Fred Nile has succeeded in introducing a bill to ban the wearing of the burqa in the NSW Upper House. Mr Nile introduced his private member's bill, seeking to ban the wearing of the burqa and other face veils in public, shortly after 8pm on Tuesday. Last month, a debate on the same bill was voted down by the NSW Upper House. Greens MP John Kaye said only the four Greens MPs and Family First MP Gordon Moyes voted against introducing the bill on Tuesday. "Last month the coalition and the government did the right thing and said no, they would not allow the Upper House to be home to this kind of racist dog whistling," Mr Kaye said. "This time they caved in."=== Journalists Corner ===
'Hannity'The general opens up and the administration is up in arms! What did McChrystal say to a magazine that got him recalled from Afghanistan? Sean breaks down the commander's comments.
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'On the Record'
Fighting over troop support, the battle over anchor babies & Obama's latest attack. Senators McCain & Kyl go 'On the Record'.
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Wednesday on 'Your World'
Fighting unions, cutting budgets and stopping tax hikes - Now Gov. Chris Christie on how this strategy can work for the rest of the nation! Don't miss Neil's exclusive interview.
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On Fox News Insider
Col. Oliver North: Hunting Down Hezbollah KillersObama: The Health Care System was No Longer Working for Families
A Fox News Birthday in D.C.?
=== Comments ===
Reuters Reveals Sleaze Is Essential to Its Bottom LineBy Dan Gainor
A picture is worth 1,000 words or so we’re told. Here are a few: despicable, appalling, predatory and unprofessional.
That barely hints at the disgusting behavior Reuters is displaying in its quest to use a crotch photo of a 17-year-old girl to make money.
We thought we had seen it all, so to speak. Perez Hilton, who has turned all things sleazy into a business model, was smacked down by society for posting a revealing photo of singer/actress Miley Cyrus. After Hilton’s lame defense of showing an up-skirt photo of the girl who he has previously called a “Disney Whore" and “Disney Slut,” Disney pulled ads for ABC’s “The View” from his site.
Perez has always been the troll the media love, but even he went too far here. His indefensible actions generated the attention his little, er, ego required and he got to move on and slime someone else.
Surprisingly, Hilton has been outdone by a larger, more experienced bunch of scumbags – the folks at Reuters, once thought of as a professional news agency. (more at the link)
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President Obama vs. the State of Arizona
BY BILL O'REILLY
Once again -- once again -- the president has decided to embrace a policy that goes directly against the majority of the American people.
"The Factor" has now confirmed that the Justice Department will sue the state of Arizona over the new anti-illegal alien law that says Arizona police authorities have the right to question a person about their nationality if that person is already engaged in a police matter.
The feds say the law is unconstitutional because immigration issues are under the banner of Washington. That is, federal authorities control the borders and immigration. So a Supreme Court showdown is likely.
BUT THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION SAYS THIS: Nearly 60 percent of Americans support the Arizona law, understanding the federal government has not controlled illegal immigration and that has affected Arizona in terrible ways. The state is in bad financial trouble. Authorities say they are under siege from foreign nationals.
So, once again, the Obama administration has gone against public opinion. Same thing happened with Obamacare and with civilian trials for captured Al Qaeda big shots.
In fact, Politico is now reporting that the Obama administration will put off the trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed until after November's election. That because public opinion is so adamantly against the civilian trial.
By the way, old Khalid is still in Guantanamo Bay, which is not apparently going to be closed any time soon.
With the oil still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of up to 60,000 barrels a day and with the president taking unpopular positions, it is no wonder the latest Gallup poll is bad news for him. Fifty-one percent of Americans now say Mr. Obama does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012; 46 percent want him to stay in office.
While the poll is, as I said, bad news, the president is not out of the game by any means.
Ironically, some of the president's opponents are helping him when they get crazy. The latest is some heavily armed men wielding assault rifles heading for the Arizona-Mexico border. This is just stupid. These guys should get out of there right now. Nothing good can come from vigilantism, and all fair-minded people should oppose it.
I can't tell you why President Obama is taking positions that are illogical and contrary to public opinion. I understand Obamacare. That's an ideological play. But Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and suing Arizona, that's just inexplicable.
IF I EVER GET A CHANCE TO INTERVIEW PRESIDENT OBAMA AGAIN, THAT'S MY FIRST QUESTION: "Why?"
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Why Is U.S. Supporting Sham U.N. Human Rights Council?
By Anne Bayefsky
The U.N. Human Rights Council ended its latest three-week session on Friday by abandoning human rights victims the world over and contributing to the spread of anti-semitism. With the United States now a member of the Council, the Obama administration is neck deep in the Big Muddy but telling Americans to push on.
President Obama’s decision to join the Council, the U.N.’s lead human rights body, was one of his first foreign policy moves. It has been an unmitigated disaster – for human rights.
Kyrgyzstan
On Friday, the United States delegation in Geneva teamed up with the government of Kyrgyzstan to protect the authorities instead of the people. In the face of what the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called an “immense” humanitarian crisis, the Council adopted a U.S.-Kyrgyz initiative as trivial as its title suggests: “technical assistance and cooperation on human rights in Kyrgyzstan.”
Southern Kyrgyzstan is engulfed in ethnic violence that has affected more than one million people, left 400,000 homeless and thousands of dead and injured according to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the ICRC. The Kyrgyz government is failing to provide protection and to stop the violence, with numerous reports that government security forces are contributing to the targeting of Uzbeks. (more at the link)
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When Will the White House Finally Consider the Fight Against Terror a War?
By Judith Miller
The U.S. Supreme Court and Faisal Shahzad, the naturalized Pakistani-American who tried to blow up his SUV in Times Square earlier this year, may not agree on much. But in separate statements Monday, both seemed to come to a similar conclusion about the wave of terrorist attacks that have failed or been foiled since 9/11: the United States is locked in combat with militant foes determined to continue killing Americans until their objectives are achieved.
Therefore, the Supreme Court ruled, the U.S. government has a right to bar Americans from supporting some 45 groups that sponsor or encourage men like Faisal Shahzad.
For the moment, this seems to make John Brennan, President Obama’s leading counter-terrorism adviser, odd man out.
In recent statements, Brennan has downplayed the struggle against terrorism by refusing to call it a war. He resists identifying America’s enemy in this struggle – militant Islamists – and has publically urged outreach to, and support for the more “moderate” of elements of such terrorist groups as Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Islamist party that has engaged in and fomented terror and has already provoked war with Israel.
In a New York courtroom Monday, Shahzad, unapologetic, succinctly explained why he had tried to kill hundreds of people in Times Square during rush hour. “One has to understand where I’m coming from,” he told the court. “I consider myself a Muslim soldier. It’s a war.” (more at the link)
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THE WORLD CUP OF SCEPTICISM
Tim Blair
Tonight we will decide which nation is the world’s greatest.
Thanks to the monomania of Jim Prall, an obsessive environmentaloid who has assembled a black list of scientists he judges to be wrong, we now have an international data base of global warming doubters to draw upon.
Thomas Fuller believes that publication of the list represents a black day for science, but I say: NO! Instead, we can use the list to work out which country has the most anti-warming sceptics per head of population.
Just like a certain other World Cup, the event will proceed over a series of rounds. Unlike a certain other World Cup, rounds will be based on the total number of sceptics in competing countries. Nations will be eliminated as they are beaten by those with superior scepticism rates.
Finally, one nation will stand above all others. Let the World Cup of Scepticism begin.
ROUND ONE
ALGERIA Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 34,895,000. Rate: 34,895,000
INDIA Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 1,182,445,000. Rate: 1,182,445,000
SPAIN Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 46,951,532. Rate: 46,951,532
JAPAN Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 127,360,000. Rate: 127,360,000
An easy first-round win for Algeria due to its petite population. All other nations are eliminated and must spend the rest of the tournament considering their cultural and genetic flaws. India, especially, needs to take a good hard look at itself.
ROUND TWO
ISRAEL Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 7,588,400. Rate: 7,588,400
IRELAND Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 4,459,300. Rate: 4,459,300
BULGARIA Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 7,576,751. Rate: 7,576,751
ALGERIA Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 34,895,000. Rate: 34,895,000
First-round winner Algeria is blasted out of the Cup by three minor scepticism powerhouses. Only Ireland advances, however. How far might these plucky potato-eaters progress? Probably just as far as the pub, but for now they are the championship leaders.
ROUND THREE
HUNGARY Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 10,013,628. Rate: 10,013,628
BRAZIL Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 193,112,000. Rate: 193,112,000
PORTUGAL Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 10,636,888. Rate: 10,636,888
IRELAND Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 4,459,300. Rate: 4,459,300
A tragic result for Hungary, which only needed a couple more published sceptics to move into the next round and possibly beyond. For now, Ireland remains alive. Brazil clearly has no idea.
ROUND FOUR
PARAGUAY Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 6,349,000. Rate: 6,349,000
MEXICO Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 107,550,697. Rate: 107,550,697
BELGIUM Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 10,827,519. Rate: 10,827,519
IRELAND Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 4,459,300. Rate: 4,459,300
And Ireland is still in the tournament. They might finds things slightly more challenging as we move into the multi-sceptic nations …
ROUND FIVE
ARGENTINA Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 40,134,425. Rate: 20,067,212
AUSTRIA Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 8,372,930. Rate: 4,186,465
FRANCE Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 65,447,374. Rate: 32,723,687
IRELAND Sceptics: 1. Pop.: 4,459,300. Rate: 4,459,300
Game over for Ireland as Austria narrowly defeats the early Cup frontrunners. France’s sorry strike rate sees them eliminated – along with Argentina – in their initial appearance. Now they can go back to playing soccer or something.
ROUND SIX
ESTONIA Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 1,340,021. Rate: 670,010
FINLAND Sceptics: 2 Pop.: 5,362,500. Rate: 2,681,250
SOUTH AFRICA Sceptics: 2 Pop.: 49,320,500 Rate: 24,660,250
AUSTRIA Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 8,372,930. Rate: 4,186,465
Hooo boy! Estonia blitzes the double-sceptic countries with an astonishing sub-million sceptic rate. This could be a Cup-winning effort.
ROUND SEVEN
ITALY Sceptics: 4. Pop.: 60,340,328. Rate: 15,085,082
CZECH REPUBLIC Sceptics: 4. Pop.: 10,512,397. Rate: 2,628,098
POLAND Sceptics: 4. Pop.: 38,167,329. Rate: 9,541,832
ESTONIA Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 1,340,021. Rate: 670,010
Easy pickings for the wily Estonians.
ROUND EIGHT
DENMARK Sceptics: 5 Pop.: 5,540,241. Rate: 1,108,048
RUSSIA Sceptics: 8 Pop.: 141,927,297. Rate: 17,740,912
HOLLAND Sceptics: 10. Pop.: 16,618,875. Rate: 1,661,887
ESTONIA Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 1,340,021. Rate: 670,010
The Dutch produce the Cup’s second-best rate thus far but it isn’t enough to stop the rampaging Estonians, who despite their low sceptic total are now sweeping aside countries with double-figure sceptic populations.
ROUND NINE
NORWAY Sceptics: 10. Pop.: 4,887,800. Rate: 488,780
SWEDEN Sceptics: 14. Pop.: 9,359,742. Rate: 668,553
GERMANY Sceptics: 17. Pop.: 81,757,600. Rate: 4,809,270
ESTONIA Sceptics: 2. Pop.: 1,340,021. Rate: 670,010
Estonia’s bold attempt to claim the Cup is ended first by Sweden and then by sceptic colossus Norway, which records the first sub-500,000 sceptic rate per head of population. But now we enter the crucial finals phase.
ROUND TEN
NEW ZEALAND Sceptics: 18. Pop.: 4,375,100. Rate: 243,061
NORWAY Sceptics: 10. Pop.: 4,887,800. Rate: 488,780
So much for the Norwegians. New Zealand – unexpected giant killers in South Africa – have now taken down Norway’s best anti-warmists. Next, the British send in 26 sceptic superstars.
ROUND ELEVEN
GREAT BRITAIN Sceptics: 26. Pop.: 62,041,708. Rate: 2,386,219
NEW ZEALAND Sceptics: 18. Pop.: 4,375,100. Rate: 243,061
Too, too easy. Those Brits couldn’t cope with antipodean heat. Let’s see how well New Zealand deals with a genuine threat.
ROUND TWELVE
AUSTRALIA Sceptics: 33. Pop.: 22,392,815. Rate: 678,570
NEW ZEALAND Sceptics: 18. Pop.: 4,375,100. Rate: 243,061
No comment.
ROUND THIRTEEN
CANADA Sceptics: 48. Pop.: 34,147,000. Rate: 711,395
NEW ZEALAND Sceptics: 18. Pop.: 4,375,100. Rate: 243,061
An admirable effort from the Canadians, whose victory attempt was assisted by population-depleting state health care. Yet it wasn’t enough to halt New Zealand, now taking their 18 feisty sceptics into a winner-takes-all final against a foe armed with 267 top-level warming doubters …
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Sliming Abbott
Andrew Bolt
As I said last week, the sliming of Tony Abbott is the last thing the Rudd Government has got:
The Federal Government says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s delay in declaring a change to his home loan arrangements to Parliament raises questions about his ability to be Prime Minister.I must say, $710,000 is a big debt for a man on Abbott’s salary. But I guess he knows he can service it. The explanation:
Mr Abbott changed mortgage providers two years ago but only recently updated the pecuniary interest register to declare it.
A spokeswoman for Mr Abbott says it was an oversight and the Government is trying to dig up dirt.
But Government Minister Craig Emerson says it raises questions about Mr Abbott’s accountability…
“It does suggest that Mr Abbott wants to lead Australia and run a trillion-dollar economy but there are some questions about his capacity to do so.”
Labor Senator Doug Cameron says Mr Abbott has lost credibility…
“Here is a man who talks about Government debt. If we manage the Government debt the same way he seems to manage his personal debt, everyone will be destitute.”
The Opposition Leader took out the mortgage after losing his ministerial salary when the Howard government was ousted, to help cover living costs including private school fees for two of his three daughters.But this criticism is surely wrong:
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has been accused of being out of touch with ordinary Australians because he failed to declare a new mortgage he took out on his family home.That mortgage will make Abbott very much in touch with others trying to service their loans. More in touch than the multi-millionaire Prime Minister.
UPDATE
If Tony Abbott is “out of touch” for having mortgage, then so are the third of Australians who live in mortgaged homes.
UPDATE 2
Labor first said Opposition Leader John Hewson was out of touch because he was too rich:
Indeed, in the early 1990s prime minister Paul Keating enjoyed reminding the electorate of his opponent’s wealth, especially the ‘’Ferrari in the garage’’.Labor then said Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull was out of touch because he was too rich:
Hewson, he contended, couldn’t sympathise with the electorate the way the Zegna-suit-wearing, antique-clock-collecting prime minister could, because he was a ‘’financial yuppie’’.
Leader of the House Anthony Albanese mocked Turnbull as ‘’a reborn friend of the battler from Struggle Street in Point Piper’’, making reference to his patrician suburb.Now Labor says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is out of touch because he’s too poor:
Treasurer Wayne Swan had a go during Tuesday’s question time when he said, ‘’The member for Wentworth has no great affiliation with those sorts of everyday goods. He thinks alcopops is the noise that is made when he uncorks a Moet!’’
Labor Senator Doug Cameron says Mr Abbott has lost credibility.Hypocrites. And low life.
“If you have to mortgage your home after all the years of ministerial salaries it doesn’t say much for your personal capacity to manage your own finances,” he said.
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Who is this Obama?
Andrew Bolt
Richard Cohen’s description of Barack Obama reminds me of someone:
It can seem that at the heart of Barack Obama’s foreign policy is no heart at all. It consists instead of a series of challenges—of problems that need fixing, not wrongs that need to be righted. As Winston Churchill once said of a certain pudding, Obama’s approach to foreign affairs lacks theme. So, it seems, does the man himself.Cohen traces Obama’s aloofness to a lack of a father. Another parallel.
For instance, it’s not clear that Obama is appalled by China’s appalling human rights record. He seems hardly stirred about continued repression in Russia. He treats the Israelis and their various enemies as pests of equal moral standing. The president seems to stand foursquare for nothing much.
This, of course, is the Obama enigma: Who is this guy? What are his core beliefs?
(Thanks to reader Richard.)
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The Doncaster revolution
Andrew Bolt
Gerald Warner hails the counter-revolution that’s broken out in the Yorkshire town of Doncaster, thanks to the new directly elected mayor, Peter Davies:
In his first week in office he cut his own salary from £73,000 to £30,000, which is putting one’s money where one’s mouth is. He also scrapped the mayoral limousine. He is ending Doncaster’s twinning with five towns around the world, an arrangement which he describes as “just for people to fly off and have a binge at the council’s expense”. He intends now to reduce (that’s right, reduce) council tax by 3 per cent this year.A radio interview with the mayor here.
The “diversity” portfolio has been abolished from the council’s cabinet. From next year no more funding will be given to the town’s “Gay Pride” event, on the grounds that people do not need to parade their sexuality, whatever it may be, at taxpayers’ expense. Black History Month, International Women’s Day and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month are similarly destined to become history.
Council funding of translation services for immigrants has been scrapped because he believes incomers should take the trouble to learn English… He aims to abolish all non-jobs on the council, as epitomised by “community cohesion officers”. He is taking advice from the Taxpayers’ Alliance and the Campaign Against Political Correctness…
He disregards all “green claptrap”, is creating more parking spaces to encourage traffic in the town for the benefit of business ("I’m not green and I’m not conned by global warming"). He has asked the Electoral Commission to reduce the number of Doncaster’s councillors from 63 to 21 ("If Pittsburgh can manage with nine councillors, why do we need 63?").
Here’s the first radio interview he gave after winning, in which he walks out on a sneering BBC interviewer - who has since been proved utterly wrong:
UPDATE
But in your own Senate, the Rudd Government brings in this racist amendment:
(1) On the first day of the meeting of a session of Parliament, after a general election for the Senate and the House of Representatives, or after a general election for the House of Representatives:(Thanks to readers Victoria 3220 and Marg from Nambour.)
(aa) There may be an Indigenous ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremony before the declaration of the opening of Parliament;
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Amsterdam, no place for a Jew
Andrew Bolt
In the land of Anne Frank:
Anti-Semitism has gotten so ugly in The Netherlands that Jews walking along Amsterdam’s street are being harassed by young Muslims who yell insults or give Nazi salutes.More on Rabbi Lody van de Kamp’s walk through Amsterdam:
Last Sunday, a Dutch TV channel aired a secretly recorded video that showed a rabbi enduring such harassment, according to a Dutch news report.
To fight such anti-Semitism, Acting Amsterdam Mayor Lodewijk Asscher has hit upon a novel crime-fighting idea: “Decoy Jews.”
Dutch police “already use people posing as pensioners and gay men in an effort to catch muggers and gay-bashers,” noted DutchNews. So the use of “decoy Jews” represents a new variation of an old crime-fighting tactic.... A country of 16.3 million, The Netherlands’ Muslim population numbers 945,000 or 5.8%.
A TV programme broadcast on Sunday by the Jewish Broadcasting Organisation showed rabbi Lody van de Kamp confronted by Moroccan youths giving the Hitler salute. The footage was recorded with a hidden camera. The rabbi and two school children went to various neighbourhoods in Amsterdam last week and were confronted not only by Hitler salutes but also by verbal abuse.Here’s the Rabbi walking through Amsterdam, to be greeted with shouts of “Jew” and a Nazi salute::
An earlier radio broadcast by the Jewish Broadcasting Organisation showed that the situation is equally serious in some other parts of the Netherlands, including the city of Rotterdam.
is alleged:
Here’s a still ("Jood" is Dutch for Jew):
Another clip:Shelby Steele on the renewed Jew-hatred:
Rock bands now find moral imprimatur in canceling their summer tour stops in Israel .... A demonstrator at an anti-Israel rally in New York carries a sign depicting the skull and crossbones drawn over the word ‘Israel.’ White House correspondent Helen Thomas, in one of the ugliest incarnations of this voice, calls on Jews to move back to Poland. And of course the United Nations and other international organizations smugly pass one condemnatory resolution after another against Israel while the Obama administration either joins in or demurs with a wink. This is something new in the world, this almost complete segregation of Israel in the community of nations....There is a chilling familiarity in all this. One of the world’s oldest stories is playing out before our eyes: The Jews are being scapegoated again.”(Thanks to readers Sam and John.)
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Money talks, and says it’s Rudd
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd is still the bookies’ favourite:
Gerard Daffy of SportsAlive.com said Mr Rudd was currently at $1.52 compared with $2.50 for the Coalition.(Thanks to reader John.)
Mr Rudd’s odds of a second election victory had blown out from $1.15 in December…
Sportingbet Australia is offering $1.55 for Labor and $2.40 for the Coalition.
Centrebet’s Neil Evans says while the recent money has strongly favoured the Coalition, Kevin Rudd still stands as the favourite.
He said Labor had blown out recently to $1.49 while the Coalition had tightened to $2.54.
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Kill the humans, but save the planet
Andrew Bolt
Thirty-three US soldiers dead in Afghanistan this month. But what Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords wanted to know from General David Patraeus when he briefed Congress was: what was he doing to save the planet?
(Thanks to reader Andrew V.)
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The race police are the real worry
Andrew Bolt
NEVER mind these “racist” sports stars. It’s the people now hounding them who are the real danger.
If Andrew Johns, Mal Brown and Robert DiPierdomenico are truly our worst racists then pop the champagne.
You see, it seems that Johns, the rugby league great who described a Queensland player as a “black c---”, is so wickedly racist that he ... oh, heavens, it’s so terrible I can hardly say.
It seems Johns actually volunteered in April to help coach La Perouse United, with its 15 Aboriginal players, after hearing of the death of one of their own in a practice game.
Not quite in the cross-burning, church-bombing league, is he?
Or take Brown, the AFL legend who’s been savaged for giving a joking speech in which he referred to Aborigines he once played with as “cannibals”.
Brown has such a racist heart that he - close your ears, children - anonymously paid $7500 to clear the gambling debts of Maurice Rioli, the famous Tiwi Islander player and politician.
As Rioli himself says: “The indigenous players who know Mal know he’s not a racist.” But an idiot? Maybe.
And what of DiPierdomenico, who so distinguished the Hawthorn jumper and has since been a popular ambassador for the AFL’s Auskick program?
In an admiring reference to Gavin Wanganeen, in which he detailed the fellow Brownlow winner’s honours, he added: “Not bad for an Abo.”
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How a dodgy poll helped Rudd escape
Andrew Bolt
KEVIN Rudd may have been saved this week by a single poll - a poll that seems to be wrong.
It’s a poll that suggests he’ll win the election, when, calculating properly, it should have warned he’ll struggle.
What’s more, it’s a poll that Rudd may have just spent hundreds of millions of your dollars to hide from.
Never has a Prime Minister’s future relied so much on one poll as Rudd’s has on this week’s Newspoll, published every fortnight in The Australian.
Was Labor really hurtling towards defeat? Had Rudd really become toxic to Labor’s chances?
All the signs were ominous.
The miners were winning the make-or-break debate over Rudd’s “super profits” tax. Each new house fire drew yet more attention to the Government’s free insulation debacle.
Every school parent now knew of the staggering waste in the $16 billion Building the Education Revolution.
Interest rates were rising and the Government was being hammered not just for lousy delivery, but for its broken promises on everything from a new emissions trading scheme to banning the sort of taxpayer-financed political advertisements it has on high rotation.
So it was like the gong of doom when the Fairfax Nielsen poll a fortnight ago suggested Labor would lose in a landslide, with just 47 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.
Then at the weekend, more bad news.
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Drums beating for Rudd
Andrew Bolt
The polls continue to warn:
A new poll, taken by Galaxy for WWF Australia, ... shows Labor’s primary vote has collapsed to 34 per cent in four Brisbane seats, with 52 per cent of voters disapproving of Mr Rudd’s decision to delay the emissions trading scheme. The poll of 1600 voters shows Labor likely to lose Petrie and struggling to hold Brisbane. The Coalition appears safe in the marginal seats of Bowman and Ryan…Backbenchers protest:
The Australian revealed yesterday that Labor’s support had collapsed to an election-losing position in three Queensland marginal seats—Dawson, Flynn and Longman—and in the western Sydney seat of Lindsay.
Analysis of a separate poll of 1200 voters across 16 marginal seats, which reported a similar primary vote for Labor, revealed that the Prime Minister was a bigger negative issue for voters than the resource super-profits tax. The survey was conducted by Liberal Party pollsters Crosby Textor on behalf of the mining industry.
In the Labor partyroom yesterday, the NSW Right faction’s up-and-coming star, Lindsay MP David Bradbury, contradicted the claims by Mr Rudd and Wayne Swan that the weekend by-election in Penrith was exclusively about state issues. Mr Bradbury highlighted a range of problems and urged the Prime Minister to resolve the fight with the miners over the RSPT immediately. He also said the asylum-seeker issue and cost-of-living pressures were playing out badly in his electorate…Our competitors make hay:
Federal Labor MP Belinda Neal, who has been disendorsed by the party, said Labor MPs were concerned about Mr Rudd’s leadership.
As Mr Rudd prepared to travel to Canada for a G20 meeting, he faced further embarrassment on the tax issue. Gordon Peeling, chief executive of the Mining Association of Canada, told The Financial Times the tax “probably makes Kevin Rudd the mining man of the year in Canada because he’ll bring a lot of investment our way”.Rudd’s economic management is savaged:
A PROMINENT university economist and member of the Reserve Bank board has delivered a scathing critique of Kevin Rudd’s response to the global financial crisis, saying his government ‘’panicked’’ and ‘’rammed through’’ decisions fraught with risk.Speaking of that spending:
Warwick McKibbin, of the Australian National University, accused the government of overspending on its stimulus package, and then coming up with ‘’a really badly designed resource tax’’ to try to compensate.
And he described the government’s planned $43 billion national broadband network as ‘’a gigantic white elephant waiting to happen’’.
Professor McKibbin also took aim at fellow Reserve Bank board member and Treasury secretary Ken Henry, accusing him of not only failing to consult experts on economic issues, but of trying to silence them.
SCHOOL libraries built under Kevin Rudd’s controversial stimulus program have no new books on their shelves and no staff to run them.But one consolation:
Librarians have panned the Rudd Government for spending billions on new library buildings but not a cent on resources or staff training. Queensland teacher-librarians have warned Education Minister Julia Gillard that better buildings won’t equal improved learning without resources and staff.
But the mining sector, which commissioned the research, was disappointed to learn the RSPT is not the vote changer it had thought it would be. Despite an expensive advertising campaign criticising the tax and the Coalition’s opposition to it, the campaign appears not to have turned the mining tax into an issue over which the public would change votes, enough though it contributed to a voter perception of “judgment failure” by the Prime Minister. Along with broader issues of trust and taxes, the RSPT is only having a minor direct influence on voting intentions.Rudd checks his back:
But it appears the two-month campaign against the mining tax may have damaged Rudd. He is a greater high-influence negative on Labor’s vote than he was just weeks earlier, and sources close to the polling indicated they had not previously seen such a rapid shift in support for a prime minister.
The Herald has learnt from a number of MPs that the Prime Minister’s most trusted lieutenant, his chief of staff, Alister Jordan, has been talking privately to almost half the caucus to gauge whether Mr Rudd has the support of his party.(Thanks to readers CA and Rosemary.)
Mr Jordan’s soundings, conducted in the past month with Mr Rudd’s knowledge, reveal three key aspects of the Prime Minister’s position.
First, he is deeply concerned about the security of his grip on the prime ministership.
Second, he does not necessarily fully trust the public assurances of his deputy, Julia Gillard, that she is not interested in the leadership. And third, he does still enjoy solid support in the caucus.
In the caucus meeting yesterday, possibly the last before the election, there was no talk about the leadership, but more than a dozen MPs listed a litany of problems bedevilling them in their electorates.
The mood was in stark contrast to the sense of anticipation in the Coalition joint party meeting yesterday. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, was quoted as saying: ‘’We are within reach of a famous victory’’. Mr Abbott later denied this, saying he had been misquoted.
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The circus into which we’re sending soldiers to die
Andrew Bolt
Why are we sending young Australians to a war led by men so divided on how to fight it - or whether even to stay:
President Obama reacted angrily to derogatory comments by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, about administration officials involved in Afghan policy and is leaving his options open about firing him, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.An extract from the Rolling Stone profile:
Gibbs described Obama as “angry” after reading about McChrystal’s comments in a Rolling Stone magazine profile.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that McChrystal “made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment” in making the dismissive remarks to a reporter for the magazine.
McChrystal has been summoned to Washington to explain highly critical comments by him and his staff about Vice President Biden, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry and other top Obama administration officials.
When Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, he immediately set out to deliver on his most important campaign promise on foreign policy: to refocus the war in Afghanistan on what led us to invade in the first place… He ordered another 21,000 troops to Kabul, the largest increase since the war began in 2001. Taking the advice of both the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he also fired Gen. David McKiernan – then the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan – and replaced him with a man he didn’t know and had met only briefly: Gen. Stanley McChrystal....Then there’s this:
Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked “uncomfortable and intimidated” by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn’t go much better. “It was a 10-minute photo op,” says an adviser to McChrystal. “Obama clearly didn’t know anything about him, who he was. Here’s the guy who’s going to run his fucking war, but he didn’t seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.”
(Defence Secretary Robert) Gates ... has expressed optimism the U.S. has a chance of prevailing if commanders are allowed to finish the job – which includes winning the hearts and minds of civilians.But Vanda Felbab-Brown warns that Afghanistan is a battle we cannot afford to lose. It’s not just about helping Afghans, after all.
That seems to put him into conflict with (Vice President Joe) Biden, an Afghanistan skeptic, who recently told Obama biographer Jonathan Alter to “bet on” on a significant percentage of U.S. troops departing the country when withdrawal begins in July 2011.
Last fall when the White House was in the midst of reviewing its Afghan strategy, McChrystal said a counter-terrorism strategy, Biden’s approach to the war, would lead to “Chaos-istan,” during a question and answer session at the Institute of International and Strategic Studies in London.
UPDATE
More signs of trouble:
INVESTIGATORS are examining allegations that Afghan firms have been extorting millions of dollars a week and then funnelling them to the Taliban…(Thanks to reader Nigel.)
The payments reportedly end up in insurgent hands through a $US2.1 billion Pentagon contract to transport food, water, fuel and ammunition to American troops stationed at bases across Afghanistan.
To ensure safe passage through dangerous areas, the trucking companies make payments to local security firms with ties to the Taliban or warlords who control the roads… The document says the companies hired under the Afghan Host Nation Trucking Contract may be paying between $US2m and $US4m a week to insurgent groups.
Chris Grey, a spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command, confirmed the inquiry was under way.
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