=== Todays Toon ===
Rudd's Big RewardWell I was far from knocked down with a feather when I heard this not so unexpected news............. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is considering creating a role for Mr Rudd as a top-level adviser on climate change, according to a diplomatic source with knowledge of the plan. In fact it was confirmed that Rudd will take the appointment. - ZEG
I don't think it is responsible for him or her to be in government, or representing Australia at the UN. - ed.=== Bible Quote ===
“Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”- Matthew 19:14=== Headlines ===
Conservative, Liberal Bloggers Hold Rival Meetings in Sin City
After years of being outnumbered in cyberspace by liberal bloggers, hundreds of conservative writers travel to Las Vegas for the RightOnline conference in the shadow of their rivals at the Netroots Nation conference.Defense Dept. Hit by Child Porn Sting
Dozens of Pentagon employees and contractors have been accused of purchasing and downloading child pornography on government computers
Alarm Partially Disabled Before Oil-Rig Blast?
Fire alarm system on the Deepwater Horizon was disabled prior to explosion that caused the disaster in the Gulf, rig worker says
Florida Veteran Wins Old Glory Standoff
Management officials allow Vietnam veteran to hang a U.S. flag in his apartment window after threatening they would take it down earlier this week
Breaking News
Public transport should be priority - GreensPUBLIC transport should be a federal government priority with a focus on congested areas such as western Sydney, Greens Senate candidate Lee Rhiannon says.
Gillard announces $2000 for new cars
THE Federal Government will give $2000 to anyone who updates their old car, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced.
Leaders start weekend campaigns
TONY Abbott and Julia Gillard are campaigning on opposite sides of the country, as new opinion polls show an increase in support for Labor.
Teenager dies from fence impaling
A TEENAGER has died after being impaled by a fence post, and a woman has died after a cattle strike, in two separate Queensland car accidents.
Strong, deep quake rattles Philippines
A STRONG but deep 6.9-magnitude quake hit the southern Philippines early today, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.
Facebook fugitive caught
THE escapee dubbed the Facebook fugitive has been caught and charged with one count of escaping lawful custody.
N Korea threatens US with 'physical response'
NORTH Korea has inflamed tensions over the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship by threatening the United States and South Korea with a "physical response" if they carry out naval maneuvers this weekend. The US refused to back down.
Police nab alleged serial burglar
AN alleged serial burglar has been arrested in Melbourne and charged with more than 60 offences.
Census groups housewives with prostitutes
INDIA'S Supreme Court criticised the country's Census for grouping housewives with prostitutes, beggars and prisoners in the survey's "economically non-productive" category, The Times of India reported overnight.
Radio station mocks Gulf oil spill in promo
A RADIO station known for its off-colour humour in Washington, DC, used the Gulf Coast oil spill to promote a summer contest, telling listeners they could win an "amazing five-night cruise to Bermuda" where "the only oil you'll have to worry about is the tanning kind," Fox News Channel reported overnight.
NSW/ACT
(Canberra was planned, seriously)
Keneally ends the pollie junketsSTATE ministers will be banned from overseas travel unless they bring investment for NSW, Premier Kristina Keneally said.
Coroner slams state hospitals
THE same fatal mistakes are made again and again in hospitals because recommendations are not followed across the state.
Mending souls, breaking horses
IN the freezing wilderness of southern NSW, five teenagers were forced to leave their "gangsta" personas in the city. Video
Five hurt in blast mishap
FIVE men were injured in a mine blast after explosives malfunctioned yesterday.
Principal guilty of raping student
A FORMER principal, serving time for sexually abusing a student, was found guilty of the sexual assault of a second student.
Bikies' support for Hells Angels
DETAIL of allegations against the Hells Angels remain under wraps, with lawyers on both sides supporting a media ban.
Alan Jones' $1.7m legal bill
ALAN Jones and his employer Harbour Radio face a legal bill of about $1.7 million after losing a claim for costs for defamation.
Parent's bunk bed damages quashed
PARENTS ordered to pay $853,396 in damages when their son's friend fractured his skull during a sleepover won their appeal.
Scared girl's wait for test result
A GIRL pricked with a used syringe in a McDonald's playground faces an agonising wait to discover if she has a deadly disease.
Passing fireman an accidental hero
A FIREY for eight years, David Ball admits his battle to save two little girls pulled from a blaze was his most confronting challenge.
Queensland
(A thirsty state, in need of some dam water)
Julia's $2000 lure to buy new carTHE Federal Government will give $2000 to anyone who updates their pre-1995 car for a new vehicle, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today.
Driver dead in Bundaberg crash
ONE person is dead and two others injured in a single-vehicle accident at Moore Park Beach, north of Bundaberg.
Cattle truck rolls, closes highway
A CATTLE truck has rolled forcing the closure of the Landsborough Highway, 30km south of Cloncurry.
Pedestrian struck at intersection
A MAN has been taken to hospital with head wounds after being hit by a bus at the Grey St and Melbourne St intersection at South Brisbane.
Hotel check in with your iPad
GUESTS at the Gold Coast's first five-star hotel since the opening of Palazzo Versace a decade ago will check in using iPads supplied during their stay.
Big leap in cancer cases likely
NUMBERS of new cancer cases in Queensland are projected to rocket to more than 30,000 cases a year by 2016 - a 42 per cent increase in a decade.
Weapons stash not so sentimental
THIS dramatic picture helped put a grandfather in jail after he said he kept a stash of guns and ammunition at his business for sentimental reasons.
Compensation for schoolkids
A STUDENT thrown during a judo demonstration and another who fell over after being told to stop running have successfully sued Education Queensland for negligence.
Harley rider killed by Camry
POLICE are baffled by a fatal motorcycle crash at Jimboomba, southwest of Brisbane, in which a 64-year-old riding a Harley-Davidson bike was killed.
Victoria
(A dry garden state)
Joyrider invades Tulla tarmacMELBOURNE Airport was thrown into turmoil today when an intruder stole a motorised cart and took it for a joyride on the tarmac.
Thief steals Ali glove
A BOXING glove signed by Muhammad Ali was among a haul of prized sporting memorabilia stolen from a Richmond shop by a brazen thief overnight.
Plea for hit-run witnesses
POLICE are urgently seeking witnesses to a fatal hit-and-run in Coburg, in which an elderly man was killed last night.
Have you been to the snow?
HAVE you been to one of Victoria's snowfields? CLICK HERE to see if you are in our PIC GALLERY and VIDEOS.
Snoring lowers kids' IQ
CHILDREN who snore and have a bad night's sleep could be lowering their IQs and facing a daytime battle in the classroom.
Top end property slumps
ESTATE agents in Toorak and Brighton are cutting back on the caviar after a sales slump slashed their commissions by up to half.
Stuck at the crossroads
MARTIN Pakula passed the six-month milestone as Public Transport Minister this week but what has changed?
Mum's gamble delivers Oliver
KATIE Field risked her life to fulfil her dream of motherhood, and her great gamble has paid off with the birth of baby Oliver.
Making whoopies
FIRST came the doughnut, then the cupcake, but now it's time for...the whoopie pie? The latest American baking trend has hit Melbourne.
Lawyer may argue defensive homicide
THE man charged with murdering gangland killer Carl Williams may argue the killing was "defensive homicide".
Northern Territory
Nothing new hereSouth Australia
(Seems all of Australia is heading south, Under Gillard)
Bad bike crash in HillsA MOTORCYCLIST has suffered head injuries in a crash near Lobethal.
Arson suspected in northern house fire
A FIRE that damaged a vacant house at Salisbury Downs is being treated as suspicious.
Thugs on bikes in Torrens robbery
A GANG of BMX bike riding bandits have robbed two men of their wallets and mobile phones near the Convention Centre.
Clubs tackle`ugly' sports parents
THEY'RE the "ugly parents" who yell abuse at umpires in charge of children's sports matches.
Family blowing its own whistle
UMPIRING is almost always the main topic of chatter when the Button family discusses football at the end of each weekend.
Winter bills give us chills
SOARING electricity and gas bills have emerged as the main concern among Australian consumers as they try to cope with winter heating costs.
Army base jobs boom
THE Federal Government is set to announce details on up to a thousand jobs and a major expansion of the Cultana Training Area in the State's north.
Guardianship plan for foster children
LONG-TERM foster children could be transferred to the guardianship of their carers, the State Government plans.
Land release for $2.5bn homes
THE State Government will release enough land over the next 18 months for 11,500 new homes - a $2.5 billion program that eclipses the past three years.
Unsupported growth a developer's dream
INFRASTRUCTURE on the city's fringe is already buckling under pressure, before massive population increases flagged in the state 30-Year Plan have begun.
Western Australia
Australia relies on your continued success
Motorcyclists injured in sand quarry crashTWO motorcyclists will be airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital after crashing in a sand quarry in Lancelin.
WA crime rate lowering
WA'S overall reported crime rate has decreased with latest crime statistics showing a decrease of 12.7 per cent.
Four injured in car rollover
FOUR people have been taken to hospital after a car rollover near Guilderton, north of Perth, last night.
Motorcyclist critical after freeway crash
AN elderly man remains in a serious condition in hospital after a horror crash on Kwinana Freeway yesterday.
Wild brawl erupts outside pub
UP to 15 people were involved in a brawl outside a Perth pub last night.
Man held after city hold-ups
A 33-YEAR-OLD Maylands man charged with stealing, armed robbery, and two counts of attempted armed robbery faces court this morning.
CCC to review train guard report
WA's corruption watchdog handed report into conduct of transit officers who were filmed using violent force and pepper spray to arrest a man.
Man charged after car park shooting
POLICE have charged a 20-year-old Duncraig man over the shotgun shooting in a Padbury car park which left his victim with serious stomach injuries.
'Poisoned' worker sues government
A FORMER Agricultural Protection Board weed sprayer is suing the WA Government for poisoning him on the job.
Hit-run woman left for dead
A YOUNG woman was left for dead on a roadside after being struck by a hit-run driver in Mandurah overnight.
Tasmania
Nothing new here.=== Journalists Corner ===
The Tuohy Family on 'Hannity'They inspired the Oscar winning film "The Blind Side". Now, the Tuohy family opens up a new chapter and shares their incredible experience about how to make a difference "in a heartbeat".
===
2012: Gingrich for President?
Newt on a possible 2012 run. Plus, covering controversy. How did the media do this week? Bernie Goldberg breaks it down!
===
Guest: Rep. Eric Cantor
Spending cuts, a balanced budget and a surplus ... Virginia did it, so why can't the rest of the nation? Rep. Eric Cantor reveals what DC needs to do NOW for America's economy.
===
On Fox News Insider
Charlie Rangel Charged!BP's Alarm Stuck on Snooze?
Awaiting Judgment on Arizona's Immigration Law
=== Comments ===
Money, Race and the MediaBY BILL O'REILLY
The Shirley Sherrod story is important on many levels. A week ago, few had ever heard of Ms. Sherrod, who worked at the Department of Agriculture. Now she's in the middle of an intense White House and media controversy.
So how did it all happen? Let's run it down.
First, there were accusations of racism directed at the Tea Party. The far left in America despises that movement and could not wait to brand it as anti-black.
Then the NAACP piled on, demanding that the Tea Party expel racists within their group.
Then a tape surfaces of Ms. Sherrod saying she denied a white farmer her full attention because of his race. Her remarks were made to an NAACP group, and in light of the Tea Party business, they took on some urgency.
Then the tape was exposed as being out of context. What Ms. Sherrod was actually doing was trying to make a point that racism is bad.
That was not clear in the beginning and people, like me, jumped to conclusions. The White House did that. The NAACP did that. That's how explosive this whole race deal is right now. So Ms. Sherrod got hosed, but then the story took yet another turn.
Let me introduce you to the president of NBC News, Steve Capus. As you may know, NBC News has become the most liberal TV news organization in history, thanks to its cable news arm. Mr. Capus has no problem allowing his personnel to wage dishonest personal attacks against pretty much anyone, a major violation of journalistic ethics.
Well, after the Sherrod case was exposed, NBC News, along with some other far-left enterprises, blamed the whole thing on Fox News, saying that we ginned up the story to make blacks look bad.
I mean, one NBC News loon actually said on the air that the coverage of ACORN, the Black Panthers and Ms. Sherrod was designed to make white Americans scared of black Americans.
Who is sponsoring this stuff, Mad magazine?
But as it turns out, Fox News was actually cautious when the Sherrod story broke. In his Washington Post column on Thursday, Howard Kurtz reports that FNC hard news chief Michael Clemente ordered his troops to take things slowly:
"Let's take our time and get the facts straight on this story. Can we get confirmation and comments from Sherrod before going on-air? Let's make sure we do this right."
Does that sound like a conspiracy to harm black Americans to you?
So I assume Steve Capus will go on the Brian Williams broadcast and apologize to Fox News. We are looking forward to that.
As I said Wednesday night, it was I who made the big mistake as far as Fox News is concerned. I failed to read the entire transcript of Ms. Sherrod's remarks. Not good; no excuses. I apologized to Ms. Sherrod.
The bottom line is she deserves to be treated fairly by the media, but so does Fox News.
NBC News is getting crushed by FNC, and that means they lose millions of dollars every quarter in revenue. That's why Capus and his character assassins do what they do. If you can't beat 'em, slime 'em.
===
Obama Moves Away From 'Freedom of Religion' Toward 'Freedom of Worship'
By Randy Sly
The change in language was barely noticeable to the average citizen but political observers are raising red flags at the use of a new term "freedom of worship" by President Obama and Secretary Clinton as a replacement for the term freedom of religion. This shift happened between the President's speech in Cairo where he showcased America's freedom of religion and his appearance in November at a memorial for the victims of Fort Hood, where he specifically used the term "freedom of worship." From that point on, it has become the term of choice for the president and Clinton.
In her article for "First Things" magazine, Ashley Samelson, International Programs Director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, stated, "To anyone who closely follows prominent discussion of religious freedom in the diplomatic and political arena, this linguistic shift is troubling: "The reason is simple. Any person of faith knows that religious exercise is about a lot more than freedom of worship. It's about the right to dress according to one's religious dictates, to preach openly, to evangelize, to engage in the public square.
Everyone knows that religious Jews keep kosher, religious Quakers don't go to war, and religious Muslim women wear headscarves-yet "freedom of worship" would protect none of these acts of faith."
In the administration's defense, Carl Esbeck, professor of law at the University of Missouri, is quoted by Christianity Today as saying, "The softened message is probably meant for the Muslim world, said. Obama, seeking to repair relations fractured by 9/11, is telling Islamic countries that America is not interfering with their internal matters."
Let's be clear, however; language matters when it comes to defining freedoms and limits. A shift from freedom of religion to freedom of worship moves the dialog from the world stage into the physical confines of a church, temple, synagogue or mosque. Such limitations can unleash an unbridled initiative that we have only experienced in a mild way through actions determined to remove of roadside crosses, wearing of religious T-shirts and pro-life pins as well as any initiatives of evangelization. It also could exclude our right to raise our children in our faith, the right to religious education, literature or media, the right to raise funds or organize charitable activities and the right to express religious beliefs in the normal discourse of life. - also important to remember that Romans thought that early Christians were atheists for not worshipping idols and not worshipping in churches, so this language shift may be seen as a threat to Christians, but not most other religions. I think the issue is clouded by groups like Scientology and the largely secular but outspoken radical Islam movement. Remember, Obama was raised in Islam, and they don't recognize a childhood in terms of making life choices. - ed.
===
CASH FROM CLUNKERS
Tim Blair
Australian car sales are currently running at record levels. Presumably unaware of this, Julia Gillard now promises a sales incentive:
The Federal Government will give $2000 to anyone who updates their old car, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced.That narrows things down a little. The offer will only be of interest to the relatively small number of people who can’t sell their pre-95 cars for more than $2000, and who are trading all the way up to something brand new.
From January next year anyone who trades in a car manufactured before 1995 for one that meets emissions standards will receive a $2000 rebate from the Government.
“Australians own a lot of old motor cars, and those old cars guzzle a lot of petrol and they spew out a lot of pollution,” Ms Gillard said …And they’re already being replaced. More than 105,000 new cars were sold just last month. Gillard’s plan aims for fewer than double that number over four years at a cost to taxpayers of $394 million. In the same period, private enterprise will put around 3.8 million clean new vehicles on the road – and contribute to government revenue through sales taxes and such. Oh, and look:
The four-cylinder Toyota Camry and the Camry Hybrid are the only eligible Australian-made cars.It’s another hand-out for the government’s favourite car. This is a joke.
===
BUDGET CANDIDATE
Tim Blair
By comparison with other US campaign ads, Tennessee’s Basil Marceaux takes a more basic approach:
===
HOLY RELIC LOCATED
Tim Blair
Reader “Mc” emails:
I am writing to tell you of an extraordinary discovery. While cleaning out my shed, I came across an ancient text. Seeing as magnetic tape is a dead language in my house, I am unable to decipher its contents, but from the outside it appears to be an early fable from the global warming religion, pre-dating even the Gore sect.===The cassette is still sealed in plastic shrink wrap (obviously explaining my un-enlightened state).
As mentioned above I do not have the technology to unlock the mysteries contained within, so if you or any of your readers have the technology and patience to decipher the message for the rest of us I am willing to send it to you. I can only imagine the prophesies. Surely many would have come true in the 20 years since they were set down ...
Obviously I wish to remain anonymous as I do not want my shed to be listed as a globally significant site or have pilgrims crawling over my back fence. Although I could probably do a package deal with some carbon indulgences.
SHIFT BOATED
Tim Blair
There once was a yacht from Nantucket …
===
Exactly what test do Labor’s candidates in Flinders have to pass?
Andrew Bolt
Is there something in the water down at Flinders that drives candidates mad? Or is there area a refuge for the loonier Left?
Last week we noted that the Labor candidate seemed to be an anti-Catholic extremist:
JULIA Gillard has been embarrassed by a Labor candidate in Victoria who said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s policies were leading people to commit suicide.While the Greens candidate seemed from an alternative universe:
The Prime Minister distanced herself from Adrian Schonfelder, who ... lashed out at Mr Abbott’s “very strong religious views and views on abortion ... sex before marriage ... all very conservative and not necessary”, telling the Western Port News they were “influencing people to take their own lives”.
A Greens candidate called Bob Brown says Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda may not be responsible for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.Schonfelder has since quit the campaign, with Labor now choosing student Francis Ventura instead. But the circus continues, with Ventura letting fly on the flag and the Queen, whom he rates lower than a “local community volunteer”:
“There are huge questions that need to be asked - one building came down without being hit, architects say the buildings looked like they were brought down by controlled explosions,” Mr Brown told the Western Port News.
“What happened to the bodies and planes at the Pentagon?”
I’ll put this bluntly. I oppose our current flag. I accept it for now because it is ours, but I don’t think it truly represents us.A word to the student. The name of your hero is actually Gandhi.
For one, we are not British. Despite the convict past, this country is not British, like it or not. The Queen is irrelevant here. We are not an aristocracy; I would pay the Queen as much respect as I would pay anyone else. Apart from being born into royalty, she does not compare to true heroes such as William Cooper, Martin Luther King, Ghandi and all the local community volunteers who try to make this world a better place. This country will require a flag change, and we need to reject the Monarchy at the next referendum on the republic. The Republic of Australia, sounds good, doesn’t it? We have built our own nation, Britain is no longer significant.
(Thanks to reader AJ.)
===
Gillard’s clash-for-clunkers fraud
Andrew Bolt
Brilliant. A government bribe to working-class voters - and yet another green fraud:
THE Federal Government will give $2000 to anyone who updates their old car, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced.Gilard’s big-spending doddle works like this. She makes richer Australians pay poorer Australians $2000 for their near worthless cars, to tempt them into buying much more expensive “green” cars that many can’t really afford and aren’t really green anyway.
From January next year anyone who trades in a car manufactured before 1995 for one that meets emissions standards will receive a $2000 rebate from the Government…
The rebate will be on offer for 200,000 new vehicles, costing the Government $394 million over the forward estimates which it will fund by redirecting funds.
But the real fraud is this. Greens are being told by Gillard that this will help cut emissions:
“Australians own a lot of old motor cars, and those old cars guzzle a lot of petrol and they spew out a lot of pollution,” Ms Gillard saidBut her plan involves bribing as many as 200,000 drivers into buying a new car. Can you imagine how much pollution is caused in the making of all those new vehicles?
Only the brainless would believe Gillard’s spin. Or maybe the Greens do… but I repeat myself.
So, what could possibly go wrong with this Government’s latest free-money green scheme? Let’s check up with Germany:
Germany’s hugely successful cash-for-clunkers program is slowly winding down. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has placed a cap on the amount of money it will provide for the program, whereby German car owners get a cash refund of €2,500 ($3,560) for trading in an old car for a modern, environmentally friendly one. And the pot from which the refund comes—a total of €5 billion—will not be refilled. The program is generally considered to be one of Berlin’s most successful financial stimulus measures, credited with everything from keeping the German auto industry afloat to helping boost consumer spending and aiding in the country’s economic recovery.Those predictions half a year ago have since turned out to be overblown, but only thanks to better-than-expected exports:
But now, as the end of the program draws closer, a variety of problems have arisen and those who have benefited from the scheme are expressing concerns about what happens next… And this week management consultancy Roland Berger released a study claiming the end of the program could see demand for new cars slump by as much as as one-quarter. That, in turn, would trigger more job losses within the auto industry, with up to 90,000 jobs endangered. Ralf Landmann, a partner at Roland Berger who specializes in auto industry strategy, told the newspaper Die Welt that automobile retail, in particular, is at risk—with every second German dealer in danger of insolvency and 30,000 car sales jobs at risk. “Once the scrapping bonuses run out, the risk of bankruptcy for German car dealerships is somewhere in the region of 30 to 40 percent,” the report claims.
New car sales plunged in Germany, Europe’s biggest car market last month, but exports picked up amid a “normalisation” of the sector, the VDA automobile federation said on Friday.The latest forecasts this month warn of a bigger post-boom slump to come:
The latest data, on a 12-month comparison, illustrate the effects of a German auto-scrapping premium which expired last year as well as a rebound in foreign markets. In Germany, car sales fell by 32 percent in June from the level 12 months earlier to 289,400 vehicles, a VDA statement said.
S & P expects car sales to fall 9.0 to 10 percent this year in Europe due to the end of cash-for-clunker programmes...What both Germany’s program and the similar one in the US suggest is that Gillard’s scheme will simply bribe drivers into trading up their cars today rather than tomorrow. Demand is just brought forward by a few years.
This spendathon will then leave us with two hangovers - and more proof of Gillard’s con. First, the car manufacturers will have a sudden boom, followed by a likely slump when our cash runs out. Second, taxpayers will have wasted $400 million just to get people into new cars a bit earlier. And, of course, this risks being as rort-riddled as every green scheme so far. Hope the auditors are checking what’s going to be dragged out of the wrecking yards.
And as for Gillard’s con, how much in emissions will it really have saved to get people to buy a new car a bit earlier? And where’s the fairness in limiting this $2000 bribe to people who already have a car? In fact, the car-less poor will now find it impossible to buy a used-car for less than $2000, and the prices in the next bracket up will inevitably rise. The poor will be priced out of the market.
I’m afraid that every single decision Gillard has made since becoming Prime Minister demonstrates an incompetence which for me now rivals Rudd’s at the very least.
UPDATE
US Congressman Ron Paul makes much the same criticisms of Barack Obama’s “cash for clunkers” program:
The program offers a voucher of up to $4,500 in federal funds to anyone who trades in a working used car for a new one with better fuel economy. Congress was shocked at how quickly people responded to promises of free money and drained the program…UPDATE 2
But not everyone is happy about this. Low-income earners who would have been in the market for those perfectly serviceable, working cars will have fewer to choose from, and those cars will probably be more expensive than they normally would have been. Automotive repair shops actively lobbied against this program, as it will destroy many of the cars they would have repaired. They were out-lobbied. And of course, Americans as a whole are hurt, because this additional bailout of auto companies comes at our expense through inflation....
Requiring cars to be destroyed and new ones made to replace them might help the auto industry in the short run, but any improved fuel economy will not make up for the environmental impact of junking one car and making a new one. So this is not a program that should really make environmentalists happy.
There is also much evidence that the boost in demand for autos, that has made dealers happy, is just borrowed demand from the past and the future. In other words, many have put off purchases they would have made anyway because they were waiting to see what the government would do. Others who would have waited a little longer to trade in a vehicle are accelerating their decisions so they can get in before the money runs out. So I would not be surprised to find that this artificial boom in auto sales is followed by an extended drop.
Julia Gillard’s Industry Minister, Kim Carr, rejected this very scheme just one year ago, when it could at least be excused as a stimulus measure:
FEDERAL industry minister Kim Carr does not believe that Australia needs a “cash for clunkers” scrappage scheme similar to those operating in a number of European countries to stimulate new car sales.UPDATE 3
“The difficulty is that it’s extremely expensive and there are finite resources for the government,” Mr Carr told GoAuto this week.
Julia Gillard has suddenly made thousands of used cars worth more than they were worth this morning. Every one of these, for instance, will be worth at least $2000 after Labor wins the election:
===Proof that Gillard brought in the boats that Howard stopped
Andrew Bolt
On Channel 9’s Today show this morning I again was asked if Tony Abbott could really stop the boats, as if this trade was somehow beyond the power of politicians to affect. I think the best proof that Abbott can indeed stop the boats, and that Julia Gillard has increased them lies in the above Department of Immigration graph, two which I’ve added the two dots and the explanatory words.The yellow dot marks when John Howard turned back the Tampa and introduced the Pacific Solution, in August and September 2001. The red dot marks on 31 July 2008, when Kevin Rudd, having already abolished the Pacific Solution four months earlier, announced a dramatic weakening of Howard’s other boat people laws. Rudd was following a blueprint largely of Julia Gillard’s own design.
What the graph doesn’t show is that since that red dot, up to 170 boat people have died at sea trying to get here. We might with justice say that Labor lured them to their deaths.
(Just an aside, but why have the Liberals never used this case-closed graphic themselves?)
===
Gillard finally finds a use for Rudd’s 2020 Summit
Andrew Bolt
Julia Gillard’s idea to pluck 150 people randomly off the streets to decide on the future of a huge tax on our emissions is so bizarre that you wonder from what mad place she borrowed it. Here’s Laurie Oakes:
Gillard’s proposal for a 150-member citizens’ assembly to try to reach consensus on climate change and the case for a carbon price is the wackiest idea to come along in quite a while.But wait. What Oakes hasn’t realised is that the idiocy of Gillard’s proposal is explained precisely by the fact that it actually did come out of Rudd’s “farcical 2020 summit”. Indeed, Gillard’s fatal mistake was to become the first politician in Australia to think the proposals dreamed up at that summit by Rudd’s hand-picked “best and brighest” should actually be taken seriously - and especially this one:
Kevin Rudd’s farcical 2020 Summit looks sensible by comparison.
The very reason we are going to the polls on August 21 is to elect a 150-member citizens’ assembly. It is called the House of Representatives.
There is a weakness in the referendum process currently. They lose for a particular reason because it is simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There is a model in Canada called a ‘citizens assembly’: 150 people come together and deliberate, they are informed, they make decisions. Those recommendations go to the wider community. It is hoped that the community is watching that deliberation and therefore understands. Put the people back into politics.It beggars believe that we now have a Prime Minister that treats that circus as a source of inspiration. Even Rudd, for all his faults, wisely binned his own summit’s report. Now Gillard is rummaging through his bin, looking for scraps like this.
UPDATE
Simon Benson:
Julia Gillard’s spectacularly ridiculous response to climate change would have appalled the pre-revolutionary ancient Greeks. As it should horrify intelligent people of today…Paul Kelly is beside himself at the stupidity and deceit:
It is an admission of two things; either Gillard does not believe in climate change – and if so, she should admit it; or that Labor has become so gutless, that it is too afraid to make policy. It has forgotten how to govern.
JULIA Gillard has learnt nothing from Kevin Rudd’s failure—she tells us the planet is under threat, but she cannot act until a political consensus is reached.(Thanks to reader zbcustom.)
Labor’s stand is riddled with hypocrisy and gimmicks. The spin that crippled Rudd seems more intense under the new Prime Minister.
The proposed Citizens Assembly to assess the case for climate change is an unconscious Labor joke—a grand focus group to conceal its leadership failure.
The Labor Party has changed leaders, but its character defects are unchanged. Gillard, in effect, says pricing carbon is imperative but she cannot act until Tony Abbott agrees with her. Can you believe this?
UPDATE 2
Meanwhile, the navy struggles to deal with all the boats that Labor has invited by weakening our border laws two years ago, ramping up arrivals from three a year to three a week:
THE Navy has sent an SOS for reservists to relieve overworked navy patrol boat crews, who are bracing for an election campaign influx of eight to 12 illegal boats carrying between 300 and 800 passengers…It can’t be fun running what’s essentially just a taxi service for people smugglers:
Many of the sailors and their families are so fed up that they openly support the Opposition policy to turn boats around and to reinstate temporary protection visas.
“We will do it (turn back boats), but it will be a s-t fight,” one sailor said.
“There will be children overboard, sewing lips, jumping, fighting - and we will need SAS and infantry with riot batons/shields to turn them back and make it known `do not come’.”
Sailors also have been warned about a change of tactics by people smugglers who are increasingly broadcasting fake distress calls just outside Australian waters to avoid the severe penalties that apply under the Migration Act…UPDATE 3
The Advertiser has been told of one case where a Navy patrol boat went to the aid of an Indonesian vessel in “distress” just outside the 12 mile zone, took 70 asylum seekers off it, provided it with fuel and watched it steam back towards Indonesia.
People smugglers are using global positioning systems to accurately calculate their position to stay outside the migration zone, before calling friends in Australia or dialling the emergency 000 number to request assistance as “stranded mariners” and not illegal vessels.
“We have to save them, not detain them and there are lots and lots we have `saved’ in detention right now,” a Navy officer said.
Terry McCrann cuts to the heart of the “Big Australia” fraud that Gillard in fact has no intention of challenging:
Nothing could have better captured the complete disconnect between utterly empty feel-good rhetoric and the reality of the challenges of our future, centred on population and China, than Julia Gillard’s so-called climate change policy.
At core the new “populate or our future fortunes will perish” cry is the ultimate national pyramid scheme. We need to get to 36—or 50?—million, to have the taxpaying workforce to support the now ageing baby-boomers. Beware of a Japanese-style population implosion!
Oh yeah? And when all those younger new arrivals start to age, we will presumably then need to move to 72—or 100—million, to have a sufficiently large taxpaying workforce to support them.
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Anything But Conservative
Andrew Bolt
The ABC cannot help itself, and now has a 24-hour news channel that can’t find time for the Coalition, either - unless it’s to criticise:
For example, on the first full day of the ABC’s new 24-hour news station yesterday, the broadcaster failed to put Tony Abbott live to air to announce the opposition’s policy on border protection, opting instead to run a story about cane farming.(Thanks to readers Watty and Simple Simon.)
By contrast, when Julia Gillard gave her speech on climate change yesterday, ABC News 24 was there. The whisper around town is that even ABC boss, Mark Scott, wants to know how this could be allowed to happen on the station’s first day. Sky News showed both events live. ..
Sydney Institute director Gerard Henderson has added a new segment to his Media Watch Dog column ”devoted to ABC chairman Maurice Newman’s suggestion (in March) that a certain ‘group think’ might be prevalent at the ABC”. Henderson fills the spot each week with examples of ABC journalists talking to people who agree with each other, with no dissent. This week Newman has re-entered the fray, telling The Weekend Australian in Beijing on the night of ABC’s new station launch “things are improving” at the ABC, but the problem is not yet solved…
He says Australian media generally displays a “lack of intellectual curiosity” and that reporters tend to “accept a point of view without doing the necessary research, without stepping back and judging whether or not conventional wisdom is always correct”.
But Newman notes that the ABC, as a taxpayer-funded organisation, is “required by our charter to walk both sides of the street and be balanced and all those good things....”
So how is it doing?..
But this week, the first of the federal election campaign, some have questioned the way Kerry O’Brien—one of the long-serving ABC old guard—has handled two major interviews.
O’Brien interviewed Julia Gillard on day three of the campaign. He did not ask a single question about Building the Education Revolution, the multi-billion-dollar scheme to upgrade the nation’s schools that has been plagued by waste and rorts, despite the fact that Gillard, before she became Prime Minister, was the education minister. He did not ask about the failed home insulation scheme, either. O’Brien did ask about the failed East Timor solution, putting the question this way: “You seemed to show inexperience in the way you handled your attempt to persuade East Timor to embrace a regional refugee centre for asylum-seekers. How do you persuade Australians that you’re a safe pair of hands on all those very tricky foreign policy issues?”
O’Brien was a touch more aggressive on Gillard’s constant use of “moving forward”, saying: “Paul Keating’s speechwriter Don Watson says the way you’re already endlessly repeating slogans is treating voters like imbeciles, trying to train them like dogs.” But he ended on a gentle note, saying: “Last question: You’ve spent time talking about your strengths; nominate a weakness that you are aware about yourself?”
She replied: “I’ve been known to make the occasional joke where media friends like you, Kerry, haven’t necessarily shared in the joke or shared in the humour.”
O’Brien’s interview with the Coalition’s Joe Hockey was somewhat different in tone. Hockey stood in for his leader, Tony Abbott, after Abbott decided not to miss the opportunity to front a commercial audience as a guest on Hey Hey It’s Saturday. O’Brien began by telling the audience: “After interviewing Julia Gillard on Monday, we were hoping Tony Abbott would be available last night or tonight to balance the scales. Mr Abbott couldn’t make it tonight. He’s on another television program called Hey Hey It’s Saturday with Daryl Somers on their Red Faces segment. So his shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, is here now to fill the breach.”
He then turned to Mr Hockey and said: “I understand you were complaining today about Labor trivialising this election campaign. But before we get to that, are there any Paris Hilton lines you want to share with us tonight?”
The difference is obvious, even without audio…
Of course, O’Brien is more than two interviews: prior to this campaign, he is credited with his tough interview of Kevin Rudd over the failures at Copenhagen, prompting a fiery Rudd to hit back about the treatment he was getting from “7.30 Reportland”. He followed it up the following week with a stinging interview with Abbott. The Weekend Australian this week asked Media Monitors to analyse the coverage ABC TV accorded former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser when news broke he’d quit the Liberals, and compare it with this week’s coverage of former Labor leader Mark Latham dumping on Labor. The results are shown in the chart and the difference is stark: the ABC reported Fraser’s move with three times the enthusiasm it showed for Latham dumping on Labor. True, a leader and former PM quitting a party might be seen as a bigger story, but in the context of the last month’s events in Canberra and Latham’s contributions from the sidelines, was the Fraser story more important by a factor of three?
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Luckily, Gillard isn’t really doing anything to stop global warming
Andrew Bolt
I’m not sure whether to damn Gillard for trying to fool people that she’s doing big things about global warming or praise her for actually not:
All new coal-fired power stations will have to meet greener standards before they can be built, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced… Labor would also spend $1 billion over 10 years to make it easier to connect renewable energy projects to the electricity grid, she said… Another $100 million will be provided to work with financial institutions to develop new renewable energy projects.In fact:
There are 15 coal-fired power stations already on the drawing board around Australia and the new rules will not apply retrospectively to these.In fact:
Constitutional expert George Williams said the government’s plans to set tough emissions standards for new coal-fired power stations, through either the corporations power or the external affairs power, could be challenged in the High Court.In fact:
At first glance, the first stage of Labor’s climate policy is its biggest spending commitment in its campaign for the August 21 election. However, the fine print of the policy makes clear that of the $1bn investment in the power grid, only $100m will be spent in the next four years.In fact, adds reader TonyfromOz:
It’s worthwhile looking at just how Renewable Power preforms in real World applications.This data is released every month in the US, and details just how much power is consumed from every sector. Renewable Power Fail - As Usual - April 2010 details just how the two flavour of the monthThey don’t:
Renewables actually did perform, and as usual, it was quite miserably.The U.S. currently has the largest inventory of Wind Power on Earth, coming at an Installed Nameplate Capacity of 38,000MW, which is the equivalent of 19 large scale 2,000MW coal fired power plants. However, the power they actually deliver is only around one fifth of that on a yearly basis, with some months higher than others, but never greater than at a 35% power delivery rate. With respect to those 19 equivalent coal fired plants, for the month of April, the same amount of power was delivered to consumers by 6 of them.
Solar Power was even less impressive, delivering its power at a delivery rate of only 18%, or around four and a bit hours a day on average. What makes people think these two Renewables will work better here in Australia?
This is what our total wind `power’ industry across southeastern Australia—NSW, Victoria and South Australia—delivered in one week in May. To all intents and effective purposes: ZERO power…UPDATE
When the wind don’t blow the power don’t flow. Further, often the wind don’t blow at the same time, right across southeastern Australia… Further wind can go from very high power deliverability to very little in very short time spans.
So you don’t only need installed back-up power almost equivalent to the wind industry, to pick up the slack when it comes, but you need to keep it running, rendering utterly pointless having the wind power anyway.
Another emission giant can’t back its hot air with any real action:
US plans for combating climate change, including a form of carbon tax - a ‘’cap-and-trade’’ system - are in tatters after Democrats conceded they could not garner enough support for a comprehensive energy bill.UPDATE 2
The admission delivers a potentially fatal blow to the 2008 campaign promise of the President, Barack Obama, to address a ‘’planet in peril’’ by introducing measures to curb harmful carbon dioxide emissions…
Democrats, who are themselves divided on the cap-and-trade issue, control 59 Senate seats, but Carte Goodwin, of the coalmining state of West Virginia, says he opposes all of the ‘’cap and trade’’ climate plans before the upper house.
Acknowledging the deadlock, the Democrats’ leader in the chamber, Harry Reid, said he planned to introduce a scaled-back version of the bill that would focus on energy conservation while encouraging a switch to more efficient vehicles.
‘’We know where we are,’’ he told reporters. ‘’We know that we don’t have the votes [for comprehensive reform].’’
Reserve Bank board member Warwick McKibbin warned that Ms Gillard’s climate change policy would force up power prices for little benefit… He said the government’s announcements would “impose additional costs on the generators for no perceived benefit and it’s just going to cost more in terms of power prices for consumers”.
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Gillard feels the greenshirts’ lash
Andrew Bolt
What is it with the Left and the distinctive inability of so many to have a respectful, adult debate? Why the totalitarian instinct to shout down others, to threaten violence and to harass ideological enemies in their daily business?
Example one yesterday:
A protester was tackled to the ground as the Prime Minister announced her environment policy in a speech in Brisbane… The protester, later named as Bradley Smith, shouted “coal and gas has got to go” as he advanced on the PM.Example two yesterday:
Two environmental activists locked themselves by the neck to a door inside Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Werribee electorate office this afternoon, in protest at her climate policy announcement.Imagine how a society run by greenshirts would deal with dissenters.
UPDATE
Reader Tadpole:
This is an issue examined by Theodore Dalrymple in his latest book, The New Vichy Syndrome: Why European Intellectuals Surrender to Barbarism, reviewed at this link. The reviewer writes:“Figuring out how this happened - ‘Why are we like this?’ Dalrymple asks at the beginning of several chapters - is the gist of this book. There are a number of causes, including the rise of moral relativism ... ‘They accept,’ Dalrymple writes, ‘on authority that there is no authority: except, of course, what they themselves think, which is as good as what anyone else thinks. Intellectual weight is replaced by egotism.’And as we know, the egotistical righteous ones are often the most barbaric and violent.
“I believe that rampant egotism is a very large part of this retreat to barbarism in the West today. The pride of culture once shared by the majority has inverted into a celebration of guilt, which is even more egotistical than the previous celebration of pride. Guilt for the past thus becomes what Dalrymple calls ‘a diploma of righteousness.’”
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