=== Todays Toon ===
William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp KG, KCMG, PC (20 February 1872 – 14 November 1938), styled Viscount Elmley until 1891, was a British Liberal politician. He was Governor of New South Wales between 1899 and 1901, a member of the Liberal administrations of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith between 1905 and 1915 and leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords between 1924 and 1931. When political enemies threatened to make public his homosexuality he resigned from office to go into exile. Lord Beauchamp is generally supposed to have been the model for Lord Marchmain in Evelyn Waugh's novel, Brideshead Revisited.=== Bible Quote ===
“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.”- Psalm 138:8=== Headlines ===
Jayant Patel has finally been convicted over the deaths of his patients but judge sounds an ominous warningCongressman to Minuteman: 'Who Are You Going to Kill?'
Democrat Pete Stark is caught on YouTube clashing with a Minuteman over illegal immigration, mocking the idea that borders are not secure when asked about government's lack of activity on security.Russian Beauty... Beastly Intentions?
While a 28-year-old accused Russian spy was hobnobbing with Manhattan's social elite, prosecutors say she worked as an agent for the Russian governmentKagan: Gun Ruling a 'Binding' Precedent
In grilling on Capitol Hill, court pick defends 5-4 ruling, saying that judges should respect prior decisions
Mass. School Won't Recite Pledge
Arlington school committee rejects request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance because educators are worried it would be hard finding teachers to recite it
Kevin Rudd's nice little earner
DEPOSED Prime Minister will receive allowances of about $600k a year for the rest of his life.
Doctors slug patients for running late
DOCTORS are charging patients up to $50 for being only 10 minutes late for appointments.
Would you like bruises with that? MP Paul Gibson bashed in McDonald's carpark
A LABOR MP was king-hit, thrown against a car and bashed in the carpark of a suburban McDonald's. The New South Wales MP claimed his American assailant repeatedly told him "this is how we do it in America" during Sunday's attack outside the fast-food restaurant in Thornleigh, in Sydney's north. Paul Gibson, who reported the incident to police, said he was lucky to survive the attack, which knocked him out. "How he didn't kill me I don't know," he said, adding that he and a female companion were parking after a function when he gave the man sitting in the next car a "friendly toot". The man then got out and guided Mr Gibson in. The MP for Blacktown said the man then accused him of running over his foot, before king-hitting him.Police chief Simon Overland's Underbelly gripe - he wasn't in it
VICTORIA Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland "cracked the sads" because his character was not included in the television crime drama Underbelly, according to secret telephone taps recorded by the Office of Police Integrity. The disclosure comes as the Victorian Opposition steps up pressure on the State Government to answer claims that it illegally received information that was secretly taped by the OPI during a failed investigation into the then police assistant commissioner Noel Ashby. According to OPI records obtained by The Australian, the claims about Mr Overland and Underbelly were made in a conversation between Mr Ashby and the then police union chief Paul Mullett on July 3, 2007. The two men were discussing why Mr Overland - then an assistant commissioner - seemed to be "tense at the moment". The OPI summary of that call, which was taped as part of the corruption probe Operation Diana, states: "NA (Noel Ashby) says it's because he's cracked the sads at the draft script of the Underbelly program because he's not cast in it.'My porn work linked to Jen's overdose'
JENNIFER Capriati's ex says her overdose is linked to her injuries and his return to the porn industry.
Rescuers notch up $375,000 in fines
LEAD-foot emergency workers manage to clock up thousands in fines in tax-payer funded vehicles while on non-urgent business.
Man charged over grandmother's murder
A MAN has been charged over the murder of a grandmother who was found in a wardrobe.
Brothers Luke and Sam Willis shot trying to end row
TWO brothers shot dead in a neighbourhood dispute were on their way to make peace when they were killed, friends claimed yesterday. Ben Howarth, a childhood friend of Luke and Sam Willis, fought back tears outside Newcastle Local Court as he explained that his two mates simply had wanted to speak to back fence neighbour Christopher Angelo Philippou to settle a long-running dispute. "Luke was going away and he wanted to make sure Sam was going to be OK before he went, so they went around there to talk to the guy," Mr Howarth said. Luke, 28, was shot twice and Sam, 22, was shot once with a .38 revolver. Both men died on the grass verge in front of Philippou's house in Windeyer St in Newcastle. Philippou, 53, did not appear in court yesterday and has not entered pleas to two counts of murder.Gas, electricity, water and rates to increase in price
GAS prices will rise by up to 8 per cent tomorrow. Electricity surges as much as 13 per cent. Water in Sydney will be 7 per cent more expensive, a rise that will seem reasonable in some pockets of country NSW. And councils are seeking up to 12 per cent extra in rates. Happy new financial year everybody. - thank you Gillard, Keneally and ALP - ed.
$550,000 settlement in wrongful rape case
THE Victorian government has paid $550,000 in compensation to an innocent man falsely jailed for rape. Somali-born Farah Jama served 15 months in prison for an alleged 2006 rape after he was convicted solely on contaminated DNA evidence. The 22-year-old's legal team reached the settlement with the state government just over a month since a government report completely exonerated Mr Jama of any wrongdoing. "He is just keen to get on with his life," his lawyer Kimani Boden said today following the settlement. "Obviously, he's still receiving counselling and so on but now, for the first time, he's looking to the future. He's going to go back to school." Mr Jama was convicted of raping a 40-year-old woman at a Melbourne nightclub in 2008 despite having an alibi and no witnesses to the alleged crime.Gillard does not support legalising gay marriage
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard says she does not support legalising gay marriage in Australia. Labor policy on gay marriage will remain the same under her prime ministership, Ms Gillard told Austereo show this morning. "We believe the Marriage Act is appropriate in its current form, that is recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman, but we have as a government taken steps to equalise treatment for gay couples," Ms Gillard said. Asked if that was also her personal view, Ms Gillard said it was. - so she is an atheist, but won't let gay couples get married because she wants a Christian vote? I am a Christian and have no problems with gay marriage. And I won't vote for her. - ed.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Fixing the Economy ... Next Year?Why is Obama waiting before taking action, and does it make economic sense? Don't miss our early prime lineup.
===
Stossel Supporting Uncle Sam?
Does John Stossel want MORE government action against illegals? He joins Bill to explain. Plus, why Sir Paul McCartney won't apologize for making fun of George W. Bush!
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Guest: John Bolton
As global leaders choose different paths to cut the deficit, does Obama have the right strategy to put our nation back on track? Former UN Ambassador John Bolton weighs in.
===
On Fox News Insider
You Decide: Who is the Biggest Fox Fan?Video: GE CEO Passes Out at Biden Speech
Glenn Beck on an "Internet Kill Switch"
=== Comments ===
Everyone Must Go, If We Want to Win In AfghanistanBy Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney
Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and numerous other Democratic political leaders chastised General David Petraeus during his Iraq surge testimony in September 2007. A full-page placed by MoveOn.org in The New York Times labeled General Petraeus "General Betray Us" and was not condemned by any of them.
Now President Obama has latched on to Gen. Petraeus as a lifeline to save his Afghanistan war strategy. What a paradox. A better name for Obama's new view of Gen. Petraeus might be "General Save Us." Will Gen. Petraeus be able to pull off this challenge with the current Counterinsurgency (COIN) Strategy and the dangerous Rules of Engagement (ROE) that General McCrystal had instituted in his year in his role as ISAF and U.S. Forces Afghanistan commander? Unfortunately, I don't think so. That is, unless both the strategy is changed and the rules of engagement are dramatically altered and new leadership is provided to both the Defense and State departments.
First to the State Department: Ambassadors Eikenberry and Holbrooke have long outlived their effectiveness. They are a drag on success in this difficult war. They must go.
Next, to the Department of Defense: This a war is not an "Overseas Contigency Operation (OCO)" as President Obama’s administration calls it. We have lost 89 ISAF soldiers and 53 US soldiers this month with 2 days left to go.
Mr. President, we are in a violent war against radical Islam and your denial of this fact will ensure our defeat.
You and your administration cannot even define the ideology we are fighting against. John Brennan, your National Security adviser for counterterrorism, thinks "jihad" means "holy struggle" not a war against infidels.
Your Secretary of Defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have accepted these ridiculous new definitions of the threat. (more at the link)
===
Rioting in Canada
BY BILL O'REILLY
The G-20 economic summit was held in Toronto over the weekend and, predictably, political criminals took to the streets.
Canadian authorities say more than 900 people were arrested, perhaps millions of dollars in damage and about 20,000 police officers were on hand to confront the rioters, costing Canada close to a billion dollars.
This kind of display raises questions about what would happen worldwide if economies fail like they have in Greece and Hungary. It doesn't take a prophet to predict anarchy in the streets and massive death and destruction.
If the worldwide economy continues to decline, mindless violence will rise. Count on it.
And so the leaders of the strongest nations in the world met to discuss the enormous debts countries are running up, including the United States. The consensus in Europe is to cut spending drastically, but that is not President Obama's position. Urged on by the uber-liberal New York Times and other progressive media, the president wants to continue his stimulus spending to juice the economy.
But he is running into strong opposition from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who see disaster ahead if countries continue to borrow and spend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN HARPER, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Advanced countries must send a clear message that as our stimulus plans expire, we will focus on getting our fiscal houses in order.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: What we have to recognize is that the recovery is still fragile, that we still have more work to do to make this recovery durable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The president is not wrong. The recovery is fragile, but one of the reasons for that is countries are going bankrupt. There is no confidence in progressive economics. Mr. Obama apparently has a blind spot here. Continued deficit spending will be far worse than cuts in entitlements.
I mean, come on, Mr. President. Can you not see what's happening in California, in Greece, all over the world? There's not enough money to pay people's personal bills. It's just not there.
Finally, getting back to the violent protests in Canada. There was actual sympathy for them in some far-left precincts, some people saying the police overreacted in certain situations.
I'm sure that's true. When you're in the middle of a violent riot, there may very well be some overreaction.
===
What the Russian Spy Story Tells Us
By Judith Miller & Doug Schoen
Maybe Russia’s leaders forgot to push the “reset” button.
Just days after President Obama treated Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to cheeseburgers at Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, Virginia, hailing the improved relationship with Moscow as one of his administration’s most important achievements, the Justice Department unveiled the existence of a vast Russian spy network that has been operating in cities across the United States since the mid-1990’s.
The amazing story of Moscow’s dogged quest for wide-ranging information about American life and government policy – from “intell” about American nuclear weapons, the Congress, and the CIA’s leadership to Washington’s attitude toward Iran, Afghanistan, the strategic arms reduction talks, and even the gold markets – is spelled out in some 55 pages of two federal complaints unveiled Monday when the Justice Department announced the arrest of 10 Russian foreign agents in the U.S.
The agents, seemingly ordinary people operating under “deep cover,” were sent here years ago to blend in, become “Americanized,” and pretend to be ordinary American couples, raising children, doing their day jobs.
The FBI traces their activities in such far-flung cities as Yonkers, New York, Boston, Seattle, Hoboken and Montclair, New Jersey, and of course, Arlington, Va. and Washington, D.C. (more at the link)
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LODGE LEFT
Tim Blair
On one of the coldest nights of the year, global warming crusader Kevin Rudd and wife Therese leave The Lodge:
Rudd’s farewell:“My last message to the Australian people from this residence is very simple: all I’d say … is one word and that is ‘Thank you for the opportunity to serve Australia’.”He never could use just one word.
===
OLD YELLOWSTAIN
Tim Blair
Look at the man. He’s a Freudian delight. He crawls with clues. His fixation on the little rolling balls. The chattering in second-hand phrases and slogans … speaking of Captain Queeg, here’s Charles Johnson explaining why he banned Iowahawk:
LGF readers noticed one day last year that Iowahawk had suddenly delinked LGF, without a word to me about it, even though I had promoted his site for years and posted more than a hundred links to his satire pieces.Why, Iowahawk was exhibiting disloyalty. He probably even ate the strawberries:
When some LGF readers contacted him (on their own, not at my suggestion) to ask why he had delinked me, he emailed back snarky sarcastic comments that made it pretty clear it was done with malice, as part of a general campaign to delink LGF on the right wing blogs because I just wasn’t hatin’ President Obama enough for them.
So sure, I banned Iowahawk – after it was completely clear that he had turned on me.
I wonder if those little silver balls also come in green. Johnson’s recent campaign of change has lately manifested itself in feelings of sympathy for Palesquishian activist Rachel Corrie:
Hmm. From where might Johnson’s readers have gotten the idea that such, er, flattering commentary was ever permitted? From where, Charles?===
HOT TIP
Tim Blair
The Independent reports:
Scientists ‘expect climate tipping point’ by 2200Tipping points were previously expected in 1999, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019. People viewing matters from an ecosocialist perspective still hope to witness the holy tipping point “within a mere decade”.
===
PROPERTY RETURNED
Tim Blair
From Michael Rittenhouse, a moment of G20 citizen justice:
Toronto’s police would never be so insensitive.
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Gillard says no to gay marriage
Andrew Bolt
It’s enough she’s an athiest without risking the Christian vote even further:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she does not support legalising gay marriage in Australia.UPDATE
Labor policy on gay marriage will remain the same under her prime ministership, Ms Gillard told Austereo show today.
“We believe the marriage act is appropriate in its current form, that is recognising that marriage is between a man and a woman, but we have as a government taken steps to equalise treatment for gay couples,” Ms Gillard said.
Asked if that was also her personal view, Ms Gillard said it was.
A very good piece by Malcolm Turnbull on the fall of Kevin Rudd - compassionate, yet implacable. Aposite poetry, too.
(Thanks to reader David.)
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No wonder so many agents were on her tail
Andrew Bolt
It seems like a spy ring the war forgot:PORTRAYED as a flame-haired, green-eyed femme fatale, a Russian businesswoman has emerged as a tabloid darling in an alleged Cold War-style spy ring.It’s said the FBI monitored the spy ring for up to a decade before winding it up. No wonder;
Anna Chapman’s Facebook photo was plastered on the front-page of the New York Daily News following her arrest along with 10 other alleged members of a sophisticated network of US-based Russian sleeper agents.
Dubbed the “Red Head” by the New York Post, 28-year-old Chapman is alleged to have passed on information to a Russian official during scenes that could have come straight out of a John Le Carre novel.
===Your cash, Gillard’s PR
Andrew Bolt
Julia Gillard may have cancelled the taxpayer-funded mining ads to get some good PR, but she’s ramped up other taxpayer-funded political advertising. Reader lustjavachat complains:
I was assaulted last night to 5 NBN ads and 3 health ads, in the space of 2.5 hrsYour money, embezzled by the government for party purposes. If Gillard thinks the mining ads were inappropriate, why not these, too?
===
Meet New Zealand’s ETS: costly, corrupted and useless
Andrew Bolt
New Zealand discovers what a useless and corrupt rort an emissions trading scheme really is:
New Zealand’s failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions has left taxpayers staring down the barrel of a Kyoto Protocol liability of at least $1 billion and possibly more than $5 billion, according to a book analysing National’s emissions trading system.This is the kind of thing the Gillard Government still is promising us.
The authors of The Carbon Challenge - Victoria University researcher and economist Geoff Bertram and climate-change analyst and researcher Simon Terry - also describe the Government’s current ETS as “technically obsolete” and “beyond rescue” as a sustainable framework for tackling climate change.
They say the scheme will not make any inroads into cutting New Zealand’s gross emissions levels.
On top of that, the ETS was so unfair in the way it distributed benefits to high emitters with political influence, while placing a regressive quasi-tax burden on households, that there was a risk it could undermine the public’s willingness to support a stronger regime in the future.
Such was the scale of subsidies that only one in every five dollars charged under the ETS would become available to the Government to pay off the Kyoto liability. Households already bore half the total costs resulting from the ETS during its first five years while accounting for just a fifth of all emissions,
(Thanks to reader Gerald.)
UPDATE
Scientists now say the tipping point will be in 2200. Tim Blair adds this to the expanding list of tipping points, including several we’ve reached already without the world falling in.
UPDATE 2
Marc Morano on the ever vanishing tipping point:
HOURS: Flashback March 2009: ‘We have hours’ to prevent climate disaster -- Declares Elizabeth May of Canadian Green Party(Thanks to reader Malcolm.)
Days: Flashback Oct. 2009: UK’s Gordon Brown warns of global warming ‘catastrophe’; Only ‘50 days to save world’
Months: Prince Charles claimed a 96-month tipping point in July 2009
Years: Flashback Oct .2009: WWF: ‘Five years to save world’
Millennium: Flashback June 2010: 1000 years delay: Green Guru James Lovelock: Climate change may not happen as fast as we thought, and we may have 1,000 years to sort it out’
===
Are these men the Gillard Government’s Khemlanis?
Andrew Bolt
Australia’s bid to host the World Cup was always a very, very long shot, and not worth the $45 million the Labor handed over. And now see where your cash went:
TWO controversial European lobbyists hired to help bring the football World Cup to Australia stand to receive up to $11.37 million in fees and bonuses - one-quarter of the taxpayer-funded bid - according to secret Football Federation Australia files.UPDATE
The files include a spreadsheet that suggests the federal government was not told specific details about how taxpayers’ money was to be spent on the lobbyists and grants to overseas football bodies headed by powerful FIFA officials.
An investigation into Australia’s World Cup bid can also reveal how the FFA:Bought Paspaley pearl necklaces for the wives of many of the 24 FIFA executive committee members who in December will decide which countries will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Pearl cufflinks were also handed out, taking the total value of the gifts to an estimated $50,000.An FFA document contains two budget balance sheets outlining how the $45.6 million World Cup bid government grant is to be spent.
Offered an all-expenses paid trip to the South American FIFA executive committee member Rafael Salguero and his wife to Australia this year to mark his birthday.
Paid for a Caribbean football team linked to the FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to travel to Cyprus last year.
SBS soccer guru Les Murray on ABC radio calls the story a “disgrace”, says there’s no evidence the two lobbyists are guilty of any misdeed and vouches for Peter Hargitay’s integrity.
===
Nicer saleswoman, same junk
Andrew Bolt
IT’S happening all over again, but even worse this time with Julia Gillard.Look at the media’s rapturous hype. Look at her spin.
Look at the complete absence of detail on what Gillard will actually do. How familiar it all is.
Just add the stupidity of Gillard’s noisiest fans and - bingo - our next Prime Minister need only dash to the polls in August to win an election without having to change a single one of Kevin Rudd’s catastrophic policies.
Correction: her catastrophic policies, too. Wasn’t she deputy prime minister when she ticked off on all of them?
Let’s start with the hype.
Bottom line: Labor, for the first time in its history, shafted its prime minister because - the plotters said - this “good Government had lost its way” and seemed likely to lose the next election to Tony Abbott’s Coalition.
Not once since then has Gillard or her conspirators detailed just how the Government “lost its way”, because that might involve them listing decisions they themselves argued for.
Consider: Gillard herself had demanded Rudd shelve his dumb emissions trading scheme - a backflip that overnight turned him into a joke.
Consider: Wayne Swan, now promoted to Deputy Prime Minister, himself argued for the “super profits” tax that prompted a revolt by miners and a capital strike that finally killed Rudd politically.
No wonder these two won’t say how the Government “lost its way”, since their bloody fingerprints are all over the map.
But never mind, many in the media seem to have bought the spin. Or, rather, they’ve bought Gillard, who is charming, warm and a far better manager of people than the maniacally self-absorbed Rudd ever could be.
Oh, and did anyone mention she’s our first female Prime Minister?
But this is, essentially, all that’s been achieved. A nicer person has been brought in to sell the same overpriced junk she helped Rudd build.
Yet see how commentators are helping her to do it, attributing to her triumphs she’s never recorded.
===
Why fight this just war when we’re led by losers?
Andrew Bolt
NO doubt we must win in Afghanistan. But should we send more soldiers to die in a war we’re actually losing?
The case for winning in Afghanistan is simple. First, to abandon the country, almost certainly to the Taliban, would be a shameful betrayal of the Afghans.
The Taliban are totalitarians who only last month hanged an eight-year-old boy as a spy, and who kill teachers simply for daring to educate girls.
Quit, and who would ever believe the West’s promise to liberate them, too?
What’s more, retreat will again surrender to Islamist extremists the country from which they launched the September 11 attacks. It would encourage jihadists everywhere. Neighbouring Pakistan, nuclear-armed, could well fall next.
But where is the strategy to win?
Australia has now lost 16 soldiers, including five just this month. More than 100 coalition soldiers have been lost in June, the highest monthly toll since the 2001 liberation.
Yet how closer are we to a free, safe and democratic Afghanistan?
CIA chief Leon Panetta this week conceded progress had been “harder and slower” than expected, and “we are seeing an increase in violence”.
A leaked assessment from General Stanley McChrystal, who, until his sacking by US President Barack Obama last week, led the 120,000 coalition soldiers, warns that only five of 116 assessed areas in Afghanistan are “secure”, and more than 40 are “dangerous” or “unsecure”.
Just five areas were under the “full authority” of the central government, which was “ineffective or discredited”.
McChrystal also noted “waning” political support from coalition members. Canada is pulling out, as are the Dutch. But worse are the divisions among the Americans.
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Twiggy dares Gillard to be better than Rudd
Andrew Bolt
Beat Rudd’s offer, Twiggy tells Julia:
KEVIN Rudd secretly negotiated a super-tax deal with billionaire miner Andrew Forrest in his last days as prime minister. And the mining industry has now called on Julia Gillard to come up with a even better tax proposal.What Forrest has done is robbed Gillard of some glory for any deal she now strikes, and cast doubt on her case for removing Rudd.
In an extraordinary turn of events, Mr Forrest yesterday revealed a far-reaching secret compromise deal he said he had negotiated with the former prime minister.
The proposal included lifting the rate at which the 40 per cent resource super-profits tax kicked in, from 6 per cent to 15 per cent; immediate write-offs for new capital and moving the taxing point for minerals to where they were dug out of the ground, rather than after processing.
It also dealt with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto’s main concern of retrospectivity by doubling the value of existing capital and allowing full transferability of liability across projects within a tax-paying group.
The mining magnate ... said Ms Gillard needed to ensure she achieved a “substantially improved” position in talks on the tax.
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Labor faces utter humiliation in NSW
Andrew Bolt
If the NSW Labor Government have done voters a favor and called an early election, it surely couldn’t have done worse than it has by clinging on:
Primary support for the NSW Labor government has plummeted six percentage points to a record low of 25 per cent, according to the poll, which was conducted exclusively for The Australian during last month and this month.
No government of any state has performed worse on this measure in the history of Newspoll…
In two-party-preferred terms, the Coalition leads Labor by a massive 22 points, 61 per cent to 39 per cent. This is the largest two-party-preferred split ever in NSW, and the equal-largest across Australia.
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How O’Connor deceived you about the boatload of Vietnamese
Andrew Bolt
My, but news has spread of the soft touch Australia has become under Labor:
The opposition has seized on the arrival of a boatload of Vietnamese asylum seekers at Christmas Island as evidence that word is spreading about weak Australian border protection.The boat had 28 people on board. And the press release then of Immigration Minister Bendan O’Connor seems deliberately deceptive, designed to mask the truth of the inconvenient origin of these arrivals:
The boat, carrying men, women and children who crewed it themselves, was intercepted west of Lacepede Islands on June 18.
While their nationalities are yet to be confirmed, if these asylum seekers are Sri Lankans or Afghans, the processing suspension introduced by the government on April 9, 2010 will apply.A single glance at the passengers would have told any fool they were neither Sri Lankans or Afghans.
So how dishonest was O’Connor?
(Thanks to reader Rosemary.)
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What did Gillard know of these rorts and what did she do?
Andrew Bolt
More waste and Soviet-style intimidation in a program personally overseen by Prime Minister Julia Gillard:
A COUNTRY school in southern NSW was charged $850,000 for a tiny single-room library.(Thanks to reader CA.)
And a school in Sydney’s western suburbs was given a $100,000 electrical upgrade, despite every tradesman on the building site claiming it was unnecessary.
But those complaints about the schools stimulus program - and others raised by 110 other NSW principals - are unlikely to be heard by the $14 million taskforce investigating the scheme because it says it cannot offer those principals “anonymity”.
Cheryl McBride of the Public Schools Principals Forum, who compiled the complaints as part of a survey, said many principals were reluctant to go public with their complaints for fear of reprisals from the NSW Education Department.
“There is a culture of fear, intimidation and bullying in the NSW Department of Education, particularly towards principals who speak out,” Ms McBride said.
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Coincidence: policeman worked at St Kilda Football Club
Andrew Bolt
A coincidence is noted:
THE police watchdog is expected to interview a senior policeman after it was reported yesterday that he worked at St Kilda Football Club when allegations of rape emerged against Stephen Milne in 2004.Because this is just a coincidence and nothing untoward is alleged against Harms, comments will be banned to prevent any risk of him being defamed.
A club insider last night told The Age that Senior Sergeant Hans Harms was a trainer at the club for 17 years and had been a key figure in pre-match preparations until he left.
Police yesterday confirmed that when the rape allegations emerged six years ago, Senior Sergeant Harms worked at Brighton police station, which is the office that conducted the investigation, after 3AW revealed the connection....
The ethical standards department last week raided Brighton Police criminal investigation unit’s offices and found evidence missing, including the master tape from records of interviews, witness statements and a police report.
The raid was prompted by allegations from two former police detectives that senior police had pressured them to ease off their investigation into accusations that Milne raped a woman at teammate Leigh Montagna’s house. The potential legal costs were cited as a factor.
UPDATE
More headaches for a police commisioner who, I suspect, has become lead in the embattled Brumby Government’s saddlebags:
VICTORIA Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland “cracked the sads” because his character was not included in the television crime drama Underbelly, according to secret telephone taps recorded by the Office of Police Integrity…UPDATE 2
According to OPI records obtained by The Australian, the claims about Mr Overland and Underbelly were made in a conversation between Mr Ashby and the then police union chief Paul Mullett on July 3, 2007.
The two men were discussing why Mr Overland—then an assistant commissioner—seemed to be “tense at the moment”.
The OPI summary of that call, which was taped as part of the corruption probe Operation Diana, states: “NA (Noel Ashby) says it’s because he’s cracked the sads at the draft script of the Underbelly program because he’s not cast in it. The initial script shows VicPol taking their eye off the ball and has been reshaped a bit. NA says Overland raised it carefully today, thinking he should be represented by someone. Mullett says they wouldn’t be able to find anyone ugly enough to act on his behalf. Mullett says Magda Szubanski will be cast to represent the chief commissioner of police (Christine Nixon).”
Overland on radio today denies the allegation, and says all he did was joke about who would portray him.
===
Sick Greeks refuse medicine
Andrew Bolt
Greek public servants demand the state keep bankrupting itself to keep them in clover:
More than 9,000 protesters marched through Athens today as Greek unions staged their fifth general strike of the year to challenge government plans to cut pension benefits and loosen labor laws.And once again the Left proves its superior morality by smashing stuff and hurting people:
The walkout halted state services including public transport and tax offices and disrupted some hospitals…
“We are faced with almost the total destruction of Greece’s social security and labor system,” Spyros Papaspyrou, chairman of ADEDY union for civil servants, said by telephone before the march…
Reforms to pensions and the way workers are hired and fired are required by the European Union and International Monetary Fund in return for the 110 billion euros ($135 billion) of emergency loans agreed in May…
“It’s the usual routine,” said Elina Zaroulia, 25, who does fashion public relations for Hugo Boss in Athens and didn’t join strikers today. “Protesters, banners, slogans, but if you work in the private sector you go to work, it’s the way it is and definitely now that it is a time of crisis.”
Meanwhile:
European stocks tumbled Tuesday, nearing their lows for the year as fears grew that the global recovery is fading.
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Gillard uses your cash to raise her own
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd spent taxpayers’ money to make party ads. Julia Gillard spends taxpayers’ money to raise party funds:
TAXPAYERS forked out $13,500 to fly Julia Gillard to Queensland to pay tribute to a party godfather and raise money for Labor with the big end of town.(Thanks to reader CA.)
The new Prime Minister, who has shunned the trappings of office and declined to move into the Lodge, flew to Brisbane on a Government jet for an ALP fundraiser on Tuesday, and will return tonight for an exclusive $5500-a-head dinner with business elite…
Wednesday night’s $5500-a-head dinner will be a snub to Premier Anna Bligh’s ban on pay-per-view access to ministers and will boost the party’s war chest as it prepares for an election.
Ms Bligh banned cash-for-access functions last year after controversy and criticism from then-Integrity Commissioner Gary Crooke, who questioned their ethics…
It is understood several mining industry figures were invited to tonight’s function with Ms Gillard, which comes as she is attempting to negotiate a deal over the Federal Government’s resources super profits tax.
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Morgan poll: Labor losing under Gillard
Andrew Bolt
No problem. Bill Shorten can just sack her, too:
An exclusive Morgan-7News poll shows Labor has gone backwards since Ms Gillard deposed Kevin Rudd from the leadership last Thursday.Actually, I’m not sure this poll is accurate. But it certainly raises the question: if switching to Gillard doesn’t improve Labor’s poll standing, how bad will Gillard look?
The Coalition has an election-winning lead, climbing 4.5 points to 51.5 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
Labor has dropped 4.5 points to 48.5 per cent.
(Thaks to readers janama and DJC.)
UPDATE
Reader TQS warns:
Not wanting to spoil the party, but Morgan’s phone polls seem to consistently favour the Coalition, even compared to their own face to face polls.
The link to the full detailed poll is here:http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2010/4519/ Check out the past three phone polls, as compared to the past three face to face polls (last one is the current phone poll compared to the last face to their face poll under Rudd). The figures are two-party preferred calculated on voters preferences as electors say they will vote:
May 12/13, 2010 (Phone): ALP 48.5 LIB/NAT 51.5
May 15/16, 2010 (Face:: ALP 50 LIB/NAT 50
May 26/27, 2010 (Phone): ALP 49.5 LIB/NAT 50.5
May 29/30, 2010 (Face): ALP 52 LIB/NAT 48
June 19/20, 2010 (Face): ALP 53 LIB/NAT 47
June 25-28, 2010 (Phone): ALP 49 LIB/NAT 51
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