=== Todays Toon ===
Henry Stafford Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote GCMG, GCIE, CB, PC (18 November 1846 – 29 September 1911), known as Sir Henry Northcote, Bt, between 1887 and 1900, was a Conservative politician and colonial administrator. He served as the third Governor-General of Australia between 1904 and 1908.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”- 2 Corinthians 7:1=== Headlines ===
Millions Facing Jobless Obscurity While Congress Campaigns
While hundreds of House members and dozens of senators hit the campaign trail, some with help from the president, more than 2 million out-of-work Americans are faced with losing their unemployment benefits by the end of the year.'Wake Up' Call After Suspect Flees Country
Texas lawmaker calls on the Justice Department to 'do something' after a Nepalese student accused of killing three teenagers in a drunken driving accident in her district flees the country
15 Busted in 'Condoms and Candy' Sex Sting
A Little League coach and a father of six were among the 15 men arrested over the weekend in a disturbing child sex sting that has riled a Florida community
Reid Goes Against Obama on Mosque
Senate majority leader breaks with the president over the mosque planned near Ground Zero, saying the Islamic center should be built elsewhere
Artificial Meat May Feed the Planet, Scientists Say
Growing artificial meat in vats may be the best way to feed an expected population of 9 billion in 2050 without destroying the Earth, a group of leading international scientists say.
Breaking News
Judge orders Guantanamo detainee's releaseJUDGE orders release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee imprisoned at the island facility for more than eight-and-a-half years.
BP to fund mental health in oil spill states
BP to give $58 million in funding for health groups dealing with stress and depression in four states hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
OneSteel full-year profit up 12pc
ONESTEEL has increased full-year profit 12 per cent on the back of increased infrastructure construction.
World Bank to loan Pakistan $1bn
THE World Bank agrees to provide a $1 billion loan to Pakistan, says it expects the economic impact of the floods to be "huge."
Bodies of two boys found in car in river
THE bodies of two toddlers have been recovered from a car submerged in a river and their mother was charged with leaving the scene.
Man goes missing after fishing trip
POLICE and emergency workers are searching for a man who has failed to return from a fishing trip in far western New South Wales.
Court halts gay marriages pending appeal
SAME-sex weddings in California are on hold indefinitely after a federal appeals court blocked the unions today.
China becomes second largest economy
JAPAN loses its place as the world's second largest economy to China as receding global growth stunts a shaky recovery.
Abbott stands by egged Liberal candidate
DARREN Jameson says he is the victim of a dirty smear campaign, after a complaint was lodged against him with police.
Judge frees potential life-term thief
A JUDGE has ordered the release of a man serving a potential life sentence for stealing food from a church.
NSW/ACT
Mystery man with a suitcase killedPOLICE trying to identify mystery man with a suitcase killed in a country car crash.
Artificial heart-beat is a winner
ANGELO Tigano is living proof that cutting out a man's heart can't kill his love for his mum's cooking. See the amazing surgical video
Dancers hope to hip hop up charts
THEY danced their way into the nation's hearts - now Justice Crew hope to sing up the music charts.
Warning on heaters blowout
THE cost of replacing school heaters has the potential to turn into "another BER", with warnings the cost was about $5500 per heater.
DUI P-plater escapes jail time
SHE almost tore the door off a police car, but P-plater Julianna Colton avoided jail after being sentenced under Skye's Law.
Fatal boat crash recommendations
ELEVEN of 15 recommendations made after a fatal Harbour boat crash would be implemented, the State Government said.
Did pigeon droppings cause man's death?
AN inquest will determine what role pigeon droppings played in the death of a man who was crushed to death by a shop awning.
Lane's tears over first adopted baby
DESPITE having her first-born child adopted, Keli Lane wanted to "keep in touch with the child".
Councils battling the brides
BRIDES are paying a fortune to get married in public parks only to find they are not even guaranteed a patch of grass for their big day.
Bushland search for Kiesha
POLICE will continue scouring bushland in western Sydney today in a hunt for missing Kiesha.
Queensland
Dead whale in GladstoneA young whale has been found dead off the central Queensland port of Gladstone.
Corby's sentence reduced
SKY News is reporting that convicted Gold Coast drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's 20-year sentence has been reduced by five months.
Bligh M1 tangle Saab for sale
A MAN accused of trying to run Anna Bligh's car off the M1 has put his "rogue" Saab up for sale on eBay.
Tradies attacked on work sites
UNION bosses say violence on Gold Coast construction sites has become a widespread issue. The comments follow an alleged stabbing over pay.
Mum, baby hurt in crash
A MOTHER and baby are expected to make a full recovery after the car they were in collided with a truck.
Secret payouts to cop's victims
ROGUE ex-cop Benjamin Thomas Price has cost taxpayers more than $1 million in secret payouts to three bashed tourist victims.
Stabbing victim returns home
THE young victim of a shocking railway station stabbing last month has returned home from hospital after a miraculous recovery from his life-threatening injuries.
Boy struck by car in Ipswich
A 12-YEAR-OLD boy is in a critical condition in the after being struck by a car at Ipswich this afternoon.
Robber wants cash, gets garbage
A WOULD-BE robber made away from a Townsville take-away store last night with two bags - only to discover his loot was garbage.
Kingaroy clue to unidentified body
A KINGAROY business may be the key to solving a two-year-old mystery on the Sunshine Coast.
Victoria
Nude photos in teen showPHOTOS of a naked teenager by artist Bill Henson are part of an exhibition teaching students about art and adolescence.
Final farewell for crime patriarch
WORK pride overcomes the gravedigger at Fawkner Memorial Park. Two men stare down at the grave of Macchour Chaouk.
Give killer mum life
KILLER mum Donna Fitchett could become the only woman jailed for life in Victoria.
Principal blasts single-sex 'jails'
SINGLE-sex schools have been compared to prisons as the number of private schools going co-educational rises.
Now hear this: the baby's coming
PREGNANT mum Kulab has been getting a work-out ahead of the birth of her calf next month.
Bird's eye view of life
PENTHOUSE pets are living the high life in Melbourne. The explosion in inner-city apartment living has also seen a boom in high-rise felines.
Dreams die in gutter
BY the age of 25 Cain Aguiar had achieved more than most; he had obtained a commercial pilot's licence and a business degree.
It's not worth the heartache
AFTER surviving an "extreme makeover" massacre, Kerry Mullins is warning other women not to take cosmetic surgery lightly.
Our children of the revolution
TONY Abbott's promise to expand the education rebate might entice voters, but Kristy Lee has seen first-hand the benefits of Labor's program.
Northern Territory
Nothing newSouth Australia
Buildings destroyed in South-East blazeA FIRE has destroyed three sheds and damaged a house in the state's South-East.
Beware of rare birds going cheep
RARE birds worth thousands of dollars are being stolen by a thief who has raided the same aviary three times in as many weeks.
Pay for ASO is way out of tune
ADELAIDE Symphony Orchestra chief executive Rainer Jozeps has taken a parting shot at the organisation's government-funding shortfall.
Look who's coming to Adelaide
PRINCESS Mary is set to make a personal visit to Adelaide later this week.
Fairytale figures of the night sky
RED sprites, blue jets, elves, trolls, gnomes and pixies are names for strange lights in the night sky near thunderstorms.
Nurses will act on 'unsafe' proposals
NURSES and midwives have voted to take industrial action against the Government's "unsafe" proposals and have refused to rule out future strikes.
Botanic Garden branches out with wetlands
THE Adelaide Botanic Garden is to get a $5.8 million wetland system that would reduce its demand on potable water from the River Murray.
No tattoos for North Adelaide
ADELAIDE City Council says a proposed tattoo parlour with links to the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang does not fit with the "desired character" of North Adelaide.
Designs invited for riverfront
DESIGNERS have been asked to lodge expressions of interest for the $394 million redevelopment of the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Elderly man charged with porn offences
A 79-YEAR-old South Australian man has been arrested on child pornography charges.
Western Australia
Five injured in head-on crashFIVE people were taken to hospital after two cars collided head-on in Willagee last night.
Perth CBD eyesores shortlisted
A SHORTLIST of eyesores in the CBD area has been cut down to six ahead of a City of Perth committee meeting today.
Perth train guards go on strike
OFFICERS who check tickets and issue fines on Perth trains will stop work at peak travel times over the next three days in a protest over wages.
Man charged over girlfriend's death
THE boyfriend of a 26-year-old woman found dead in a Beechboro unit yesterday has been charged with causing her grievous bodily harm.
Police probe race angle in attack
POLICE are investigating whether an attack on five young Aboriginal men by a group of white men was racially motivated.
Alcoa faces pollution charge
ALUMINIUM company Alcoa is expected to plead guilty to an alternative charge relating to pollution from a West Australian refinery that residents say caused illnesses.
Howard slams Timor solution
DOMESTIC politics in East Timor will ensure that country never hosts a regional refugee processing centre proposed by Labor, former prime minister John Howard says.
Tasmania
Princess Mary in Australia for a visitTHE Danish royal household officially confirms Princess Mary has slipped back home for a surprise visit.
Suspect arrested after men shot
A 19-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested in relation to a shooting in which three men were injured at Rokeby last night.
=== Journalists Corner ===
'On the Record': Special 3 Part Series
Sarah Palin takes Greta on a tour of the last frontier, ALASKA! Does the state hold the key to America's energy woes?
Greta gets answers from the former governor. Don't miss this special three-part series.
===
The Threat of the Chinese Economy
China is inching up on the United States! Today, the country surpassed Japan to become the world's number two economy. Find out why economist Art Laffer says this could be a dire situation.
===
Guest: Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Election 2012 and the mood of America - What issues are setting the stage for voters? Gov. Tim Pawlenty has answers.
===
On Fox News Insider
The Jonas Brothers Bring Down the 'Fox & Friends' House!Former U.S. Marine Murdered in Thailand
Quotes from Obama on Religion and Responsibility
Oppose Sham Elections in Burma
Record a Video Message
The regime just announced that November 7 will be the date of its sham elections. We have less than three months to make sure the world listens to Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma's call to reject the results of the elections which will entrench permanent military rule.Around the world, more and more people are opposing the military junta's plan. Just last week Phyo Min Thein, a democracy activist who decided to try his hand at the polls, dropped out. Angered at the severe restrictions imposed by the regime, Phyo Min Thein said, "I don't plan to continue under circumstances where we can only follow [the government's] plan...My resignation is a proof to the international community that the forthcoming elections will not be free and fair." This is a blow to the regime, which is counting on the elections to legitimize itself in the eyes of the world. But we will not be fooled.
Before even a single vote is cast, Dictator Than Shwe has ensured the outcome -- military rule. In 2008, the regime drafted a new constitution that guarantees the military will not be controlled by the new 'elected' government, but rather the military will become a new so-called 'civilian government'. Learn more about what is wrong with the elections here.
We must act now to amplify the voices of Burma's democracy movement!
Record a video message to President Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asking them to denounce Burma's sham elections and enforce a dialogue between the military regime, Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic groups! See the videos already made by Free Burma activists here. Suggested action below.
After all the videos are compiled, we will send them to the White House and UN Secretary General at the end of October. We also plan to broadcast some of the videos into Burma over satellite TV.
In Solidarity,
Aung Din, Jen, Nadi and Mike
Directions:
You will need: a video recording devise, yourself, and a location
First: Review a few of the videos USCB has provided on our website to get some ideas for your own!
Second: Read the script USCB has provided you, below, and make any modifications that you would like.
- Say who you are and where you are from. Hi, my name is ( ), and I am from (city), (state).
- Say why you are involved. I care for the people of Burma and I am trying my best to help them in their non-violent struggle for freedom and democracy. The beautiful country of Burma has been under successive military dictatorships for more than four decades and has been conducting crimes against humanity with a system of impunity.
- Tell them why you are speaking out: Now, the regime is seeking to legitimize it's military rule through sham elections. The people of Burma denounce this sham election and leaders of Burma's democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, call for the international community to not recognize the election. I support them, I agree with them, and I am now calling for President Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to denounce this sham election.
- Tell them NO!!! to Sham Election, YES!!! to Dialogue, MORE PRESSURE REQUIRED.
Fourth: Upload the video, titled "Oppose Burma's Sham Election", onto YouTube. When you are done, send a copy of the link to our Development Assistant, Nadi at nadi@uscampaignforburma.org. We will then add your video to the list of videos made by other supporters.
=== Comments ===
Forget What You've Been Told, China Won't Be the World's Second Largest Economy For LongBy Gordon G. Chang
China officially surpassed Japan to become the world’s second largest economy in the second calendar quarter of this year. As measured by gross domestic product, the Chinese economy reached $1.335 trillion. Japan’s, on the other hand, was only $1.286 trillion.
Analysts believe it is only a matter of time before China overtakes the United States to claim the top spot. Some predict that will happen by 2030. Others think it will happen well before then. “This is just the beginning,” UBS’s Wang Tao told The New York Times. “China is still a developing country. So it has a lot of room to grow.”
That’s true, but only as a theoretical matter. China, in reality, has reached high tide, and there are many reasons why it will start falling back.
First, Beijing has produced outsized growth in the current downturn because of a massive stimulus plan. According to my calculations, Beijing poured $1.1 trillion, directly and through the state banks, into its $4.7 trillion economy last year.
That’s more money than China could absorb, and this has led to imbalances and dislocations that will be difficult to unwind. For instance, Beijing has created a massive property bubble. Just a few months ago, there were 64.5 million apartments that showed no electricity usage for six consecutive months, but Chinese developers are now building about 50 million more of them. That is technically creating GDP—but only until the inevitable crash occurs.
Second, Beijing has turned its back on its proven formula for success. President Hu Jintao has abandoned Deng Xiaoping’s policy of “reform and opening up” as he embraces a new economic paradigm of closing the country down. The central government, these days, is renationalizing ownership, restricting opportunities for foreign business, and building up its state-owned “national champions.” And economic reform? There’s not much of it. The best you can say is that Chinese technocrats are tinkering.
Third, China’s economy boomed because of the “demographic dividend,” an extraordinary bulge in its workforce caused by audacious population policies. That will soon become a heavy demographic tax as the number of workers begins to shrink in three to five years and as the country as a whole begins to get smaller, perhaps starting 2025. The years of easy growth are over.
Add in the world’s most degraded environment, staggering corruption, and an increasingly unhappy populace—just to name a few of the other problems—and you can see why China’s economy will stumble soon.
Beijing still retains significant control over the economy, and central technocrats can, through a hundred different techniques, manage outcomes. Yet their cures are worse than the disease. They cannot avoid the inevitable. And by postponing the adjustments that must occur, they are making the final reckoning worse.
Semi-command economies always work—until they do not. When they do not, they fall apart fast.
So look for Japan to once again become the world’s second largest economy. China has too many problems—and far too few good policies—to sustain its upward trajectory.
Gordon G. Chang is the author of "The Coming Collapse of China." He writes a weekly column at Forbes.com.
===
Best of 'Culture Warriors' in No Spin Zone
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FROM "THE O'REILLY FACTOR," AUGUST 13, 2010. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUAN WILLIAMS, GUEST HOST: In the "Culture Warrior" segment tonight: a potpourri of topics to tackle from beauty pageants for boys to Lady Gaga's racy video. Here is Bill with the "Warriors."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL O'REILLY: All right. Now, setting this up, this is not about Lady Gaga and what she does. You guys make your own decision on it. It's about every American kid between eight and 18 knows who this woman is. She is big, all right? So even though you might not like it, it's impossible to keep the kids away from her. Here is her latest video.
(LADY GAGA VIDEO)
O'REILLY: OK. We did not show you the more explicit parts of that but it does get very, very explicit. So, Carlson, how do you process this?
GRETCHEN CARLSON, CO-HOST, "FOX & FRIENDS": I was watching this video with my father. I was embarrassed, the vulgarity, the women on women kissing, the porn, the brutal fight scene.
O'REILLY: So what do you do?
MARGARET HOOVER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's exactly like when I was growing up, you couldn't keep me away from Madonna "Like a Prayer," "Justify My Love." Those videos were equally as vulgar.
O'REILLY: No, but you could. It was much harder for you to watch that. You didn't have the little machines on you.
HOOVER: In my day it was just as ubiquitous as it is now.
O'REILLY: All I want to know is how you process it with your children. What do you do?
HOOVER: I think you explain that it's art.
O'REILLY: It's art?
HOOVER: It's art and…
CARLSON: Art?
HOOVER: Look, I mean, look, she is an entertainer. That's what she does. She's an entertainer.
O'REILLY: All right. So you tell your kids it's art and it's OK for them to look at it?
HOOVER: No. What do you think? Do you think kids are actually internalizing this as though...
CARLSON: Yes.
HOOVER: …oh, they are poisoning people. I'm going to go poison people.
O'REILLY: All right. So, you two, you say, it's art, take a permissive kind of view on it.
A lot of beauty pageants for kids, OK? I don't think that's healthy for children. But, you know, parents want to do it. You were a beauty contest person.
CARLSON: Not as a child.
HOOVER: Not as a four year old.
O'REILLY: But now, you are putting the boys in the beauty contest, right? Do we have some tape of this? OK. Look at this kid.
HOOVER: That's a boy.
O'REILLY: Zander, right. And he gets -- he gets in the beauty contest.
HOOVER: Well, Zander has won over 60 prizes, which also comes with a lot of monetary rewards as well. But, I mean, the reality is childhood pageants are about parents acting out their own fantasies on their children.
O'REILLY: What if the kid genuinely likes the attention and likes winning?
HOOVER: The kid has been taught to like the attention. But Zander has actually said he doesn't like losing because he doesn't like making his mom sad.
CARLSON: This mother, it's the lack of a little girl syndrome, No. 1. She is putting a boy in an impossible situation for him to try and develop, I don't know, I hate to say as a normal boy but I will. As a former Miss America, OK, I did not do child pageants. I was too busy studying and playing the violin, and that's what kids should be doing.
O'REILLY: Barbie is dressing in a very provocative way. So, little girls buy the Barbie doll and now we have kind of Barbie dolls that are slinky or something like that. So you say?
CARLSON: I say that a Malibu Barbie back in the '70s was voluptuous and she had a plunging bathing suit. However…
O'REILLY: This is Malibu Barbie.
CARLSON: Remember her back in the '70s?
O'REILLY: I think -- isn't she married to Leonardo DiCaprio?
CARLSON: I think that was Ken. But anyway, the bottom line is, do we really need to show that much cleavage with Barbie? (more at the link)
===
JENUINE JULIA
Tim Blair
To nationwide astonishment, Julia Gillard yesterday delivered a 40-minute campaign speech – without notes! Labor health minister Nicola Roxon was amazed:
She’s amazing not to need notes or anything to do this sort of thing and I think that has actually highlighted what we stand for.You’re right, Nicola, but not quite in the way you might imagine. The press (and others) shared Roxon’s awe:
• Reuters: “speaking without notes”Far from it. Labor spin doctors gamed the entire press pack, as Tony Wright revealed:
• Crikey‘s Bernard Keane: “The Prime Minister’s speech – given off-the-cuff”
• The Ten network’s Paul Bongiorno: “without notes”
• The Australian‘s Matthew Franklin: “Speaking off the cuff”
• The SMH’s Lenore Taylor: “no teleprompters, no notes”
• Dow Jones: “Gillard’s 40-minute off-the-cuff speech”
• The Herald Sun‘s Alison Rehn: “without notes or autocue”
• The ABC’s Heather Ewart: “she proceeded to speak off the cuff”
• The Australian‘s Dennis Shanahan: “she spoke without notes”
• AFP: “speaking without notes”
• The SMH’s Mark Davis and Jacqueline Maley: “The PM is apparently speaking off the cuff, with no auto-cue. She’s being real-as, bro.”
• The ABC’s Nick Harmsen: “The Prime Minister spoke without notes”
• South Australian Labor Premier Mike Rann: “Extraordinary performance by PM in off the cuff speech at Brisbane launch.”
• And the Age‘s Michael Gordon – in a piece headlined “The day the heart replaced the spin doctors” – had the finest line of them all: “Julia Gillard threw away the script for modern election launches yesterday when she spoke off the cuff for 40 minutes”
Ms Gillard used neither autocue nor notes, a point drilled into the large media contingent by her minders.And rather than throwing the script away, it was placed on the lectern just prior to Gillard’s speech – as can be seen in this clip at the 2:11 point:
The script placement is shown more clearly here at 23 seconds, although this was missed by many on Twitter:
• “It was pretty impressive that Gillard did her ALP launch speech without an auto cue or notes.”Killing this myth is going to take some work. The ABC’s Annabel Crabb made an early attempt:
• “Gillard finishes live campaign launch with no notes & no teleprompter”
• “Seriously impressed with the way Gillard can talk for so long without reference to notes.”
• “OMG, Julia Gillard is speaking without notes How does she do that? on a nationally broadcast launch. Awesome x10”
• “Gillard is doing well speaking without checking notes”
• “Julia Gillard will be speaking at launch extemporaneously. No prompter, no notes.”
• “PM Gillard to speak off the cuff, with no written speech or notes.”
The rumour was that she would be unsupported even by written notes, and this seemingly was confirmed by La Gillardine’s ascent, empty-handed, to the stage.And from notes. The ABC’s Lyndal Curtis also tried to correct matters:
As it happens, a written version of her speech awaited her at the lectern, but the suggestion of spontaneity had by that stage already been successfully contrived, and much was made afterward of Ms Gillard’s skill in speaking off-the-cuff.
“Today, I want to speak to you from my heart,” the Prime Minister began.
LYNDAL CURTIS: Julia Gillard didn’t have a prepared speech to give to the media, although she did have speech notes in front of her. She’d been working on it up until the last minute but certainly a much more pared down affair than we’ve seen in times past.Apparently the “real Julia” is someone whose staffers feel obliged to tell lies about. Alerted to Labor’s deceit, SBS yesterday went into rewrite mode. Here’s the original SBS item:
MARK COLVIN: I was going to say some of her backers were talking afterwards enthusiastically about how she’d done it, more or less off the cuff, but it wasn’t that.
LYNDAL CURTIS: No it wasn’t completely off the cuff. People I spoke to before and afterwards say there wasn’t a speech to send out because she was working on it up until the last minute: that the decision had been taken to do it this way a few days ago and that they were making a virtue out of that, a virtue out of, I guess, showing, again, what they think is the “real Julia”.
Then she gave a speech that analysts described as ‘no frills’, eschewing an auto-cue and even notes, emphasising Labor’s economic plan and the importance of jobs.And here’s a subsequent version, deleting mention of any notes:
Gillard then gave a speech that analysts described as ‘no frills’, eschewing an auto-cue and emphasising Labor’s economic plan and the importance of jobs.Photographers always have a keener eye than journalists. SMH photographic editor Wade Laube posted this following a day of media error:
I wish journos would stop reporting that Gillard spoke without notes. She had notes. I saw them, I read them, there are pictures.But nobody can beat Kim from Larvatus Prodeo, who managed to celebrate the simultaneous presence of notes and no notes:
It was a confident performance, speaking off the cuff from notes …
UPDATE. The Age‘s Tony Wright:
This, we were assured before Julia Gillard climbed to the stage to deliver her speech to officially launch the government’s plea for re-election, was the real Julia, unplugged.However:
There would be no auto cue. No written speech, either.
She would rely on nothing but a few dot points, her press secretaries solemnly assured the media gathered in the wings at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Within seconds, hardened hacks were tweeting this development.
As Ms Gillard took the stage, a thick sheaf of typed papers was discreetly placed upon the podium by a stagehand crouching almost out of sight …Click for images.
When Ms Gillard had finished speaking, the audience – agog at her ability to deliver an unscripted address (indeed, Ms Gillard herself described it as “from the heart") – [SMH photographer Andrew] Meares turned his camera on the papers lying strewn upon the lectern.
Even a cursory glance showed it was a written speech. A closer inspection showed it was the very speech she had delivered, word for word.
UPDATE II. Bob Hawke is right. The actual delivery was superb:
UPDATE III. The ABC’s Andrew Greene: “Liberals have called on Julia Gillard to apologise for deceiving the people of Australia by using notes in her campaign speech.”
===
HURRICANE ADAMS
Tim Blair
Phillip Adams visits New Orleans, delivering unto that blighted city a Mardi Gras of mistakes:
Take a trip to Tremé, or the other low-lying areas where the levees broke, drowning 5000 …The official death toll two years after Katrina stood at about 1,100. Wikipedia puts the confirmed death toll – combining direct and indirect deaths – at 1836.
Black survivors tell me of gazing up in helpless fury as Bush flew over them in Air Force One while they suffered in a Superbowl turned into a cesspit.In that sentence, Adams is attempting a leftist error-to-word ratio rivalling Bob Ellis and Christopher Sheil. For a start, it’s the Superdome, not the Superbowl. Secondly, Bush’s flight over New Orleans and a “cesspit” Superdome was taken in Marine One rather than Air Force One. The timeline is important here; Bush had previously used the Presidential jet on an initial flight surveying the coast’s general destruction on August 31, just two days after Katrina hit. At that time the Dome had only been open to survivors for a short while. His Marine One visit took place on September 2. Back to Phillip and his Louisiana reportage:
I sat on stairs that once led to the porch of a home that’s no longer there.Well, of course it isn’t. Not now. Destructo Adams next strolls down to the waterline:
Will they be able to fish again? In five years, perhaps 10. The oil already spilled is one problem, the chemical dispersants, banned in Europe, another. The waters of Louisiana, from the sea to the bayous, are poisoned. Time to sing the blues.New Scientist doesn’t think there will be too many problems. Incidentally, the main elements of Phil’s column appeared one month previously in audio form.
(Via mysterious email entity Professor Bunyip, who may yet re-enter the bloggish realm were he to be sufficiently encouraged)
===
ELECTORAL PERFUME
Tim Blair
Given current trends, this could be a vote winner:
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has reiterated his scepticism about climate science, suggesting the world has stopped warming despite a new report by Australia’s leading scientists showing statistical evidence that temperatures have been rising for decades.Amusingly, it was only last October that the previous Liberal leader said such views were a ticket to oblivion:
Mr Turnbull said that to do nothing about climate change was reckless and ‘’electoral poison’’.Well, Malcolm, this is where we are now. Although not running on an entirely sceptical platform, Abbott is up to 41 per cent of the primary vote, ahead of Labor on 38 per cent and the Greens on 14 per cent. In other words, it’s almost the exact reverse of your October statement.
Running on a climate sceptic platform would get a vote of about 15 per cent. ‘’I am in the mainstream political business. My aim is to get more than 50 per cent voting for us.’’
===
SHUT UP, SHE EXPLAINED
Tim Blair
A happy reader responds to yesterday’s column:
Tim Blair you come accross as educated as John Elliott in ABC’s over population debate. The Greens are more educated than you. Shut up!Shut up? Shut up? SHODDOP EVERYONE WHO YELLS SHODDOP! In genuine happy reader news, Caregiver reports in comments that the column was read on 2RPH (radio for the print handicapped), a brilliant service now into its third decade.
Several years ago while driving somewhere or other I happened upon an RPH broadcast of the day’s opinion pieces. Despite my column then running in a weekly, it was included.
I don’t remember the exact column, but it featured several stupid made-up words, a couple of pointless attempted-comic asides and at least one line that the lawyers thought should have been deleted (you’re not exactly narrowing things down – ed).
The elderly-sounding female presenter, God bless her, read it perfectly straight. Whatever that column lacked in print, it gained on radio.
===
LET’S GET AUSTRALIA WORKING!
Tim Blair
By voting for communists!
(Via Joe Hildebrand, who emails: “If you are not already aware of this you are not doing your job properly.")
===
WEAPONS OF MASS VEGETATION
Tim Blair
French cauliflower farmers revolt against those who would sell their produce too cheaply – by dumping 500 tons of it on a village. Which only shows that cauliflowers are worth even less. Click for pix.
===
RIDE THE DECLINE
Tim Blair
Copenhagen was the global warming cult’s high-water mark. Appropriately, water elsewhere isn’t getting very high at all:
A paper published yesterday in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans, confirms other studies of tide gauge records which show that there has been no statistically significant acceleration in sea level rise over the past 100+ years, in contrast to statements of the IPCC and Al Gore.It’s the End of Days for warmies, as Terence Corcoran reports:
From Washington to Cancun to British Columbia, the climate issue is heading for the deep freeze.In Australia, Julia Gillard’s Labor campaign launch devoted just 12 words to global warming – a 95 per cent decline since the same event in 2007. And in Germany, birthplace of the modern green movement, volks are over it:
Climate change has become a loser topic.That’s the view of Tagesspiegel editor Dagmar Dehmer, quoted in a recent German news program. Further highlights from Pierre Gosselin’s excellent review:
• The depth of public apathy has left climate activists and experts like Professor doom & gloom Hans Joachim Schellnhuber frustrated, depressed and resigned. Schellnhuber at the 1:39 mark: “Just a few years ago it was so that when a meteorological extreme occurred, the phones would be ringing off the hook. Today hardly anyone calls …”Thirty years after these actual German green politicians were elected, Germans are finally laughing:
• At the 3.56 mark, accompanied by gloomy music, a chart shows how the number of reports on climate change appearing in three major centre-left newspapers has dwindled. The hype is over.
• The report ends with relaxed vacationers chuckling when asked by the journalists about the threats of climate change.
(Via Benny Peiser)===
Julia’s missing notes turn up on her lectern
Andrew Bolt
It was the meme of the day, that Julia Gilllard at her campaign launch spoke ”off the cuff” and ”without notes”. Hardly any journalist missed repeating the spin, intended to make Gillard seem a conviction politician.
Lenore Taylor explains:
And the entire thing was scripted to be unscripted – no teleprompters, no notes - so it looked committed and humble, rather than snazzy and slick.The Age’s Tony Wright also bought the spin and also explained the strategy - while managing to believe both that Gillard had no notes and that she had dot points:
Gillard used neither autocue nor notes, a point drilled into the large media contingent by her minders. Abbott, we were invited to recall, read his entire Coalition launch speech from an autocue. We were being treated to the real, real Julia, aided by nothing but a few dot-points and her ability to deliver her message.But the facts? See for yourself - at 12 seconds in - Gillard’s notes being put on her lectern:
Why did the journalists let themselves be so easily duped? Why were they so impressed anyway by allegedly off-the-cuff speaking by Gillard when they were’n’t by off-the-cuff speaking from John Howard?
(Thanks to several readers, Check Tim Blair’s excellent take-down.)
UPDATE
Tony Wright examines the notes left by Gillard at the lectern:A closer inspection showed it was the very speech she had delivered, word for word.Go to the link and you should be able to blow up one of the pictures enough to read the final two pages of Gillard’s speech.
(Thanks to reader James.)
UPDATE 2
Annabel Crabb was probably the first to notice:
It was whispered before the event, as reporters and Labor types mingled in the shadow of the giant inflatable reefer brought along by the marijuana legalisation protesters, that Real Julia was planning to attempt her speech sans autocue.
By the time everyone was seated in the cramped, low-ceilinged venue, the rumour was that she would be unsupported even by written notes, and this seemingly was confirmed by La Gillardine’s ascent, empty-handed, to the stage.
As it happens, a written version of her speech awaited her at the lectern, but the suggestion of spontaneity had by that stage already been successfully contrived, and much was made afterward of Ms Gillard’s skill in speaking off-the-cuff.
===
Are you worried about being asked leading questions by pollsters?
Andrew Bolt
Reader Wayne warns us to look out for this research:
I had two phone calls from Strahan Research last night push polling against The Greens and Libs, (I Live in the city) the questions were not research questions but push polling ones along the lines of “Are you concerned about the greens eliminating the health rebate”, “are you concerned that the Liberal Party are giving their preferences to the Greens and that means” etc etc. “Are you concerned that the liberals will not proceed with the national broadband and will put thousands of people out of work and cause businesses in Australia to be non-competitive?”.
These are not normal research questions, they are highlighting negatives in association with voting intentions.
===
A billion Chinese might prefer big engines, too
Andrew Bolt
Another green car scheme flops, and this time it’s one run by the world’s biggest emitter:
According to a report coming from the Global Times of China, the country’s green car subsidy program has yet to to boost sales of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. In fact, drawing from figures reported by the China Association of Auto Manufacturers (CAAM), the Global Times points out that the ratio of vehicles sold with engines 1.6 liters in size or less, dropped below last year’s average for a fifth consecutive month.
===
History as Adams imagines it
Andrew Bolt
The ABC’s Phillip Adams visits New Orleans to wallow in his Bush hate:
Take a trip to Tremé, or the other low-lying areas where the levees broke, drowning 5000 … Black survivors tell me of gazing up in helpless fury as Bush flew over them in Air Force One while they suffered in a Superbowl turned into a cesspitTim Bair already counts four errors - and then there’s the gratuitous implication of racism, too. Nor does it stop there....
===
Would they put Gillard against a supermodel and jeer?
Andrew Bolt
Would a market researcher be even game to do a similar poll on Julia Gillard, ranking her against Kylie Minogue, Megan Gale and Scarlett Johannson, and would The Sydney Morning Herald be as impressed?Opposition leader Tony Abbott may be running for the country’s top job, but he’s at the bottom of the list of desirable hubbies for Aussie women.
A study has rated Mr Abbott alongside bad boys AFL footballer Brendan Fevola, golfer Tiger Woods and actor Russell Crowe, whose partner-appeal was in also the doldrums.
The 1200 respondents, women living across the nation and aged above 18, were asked to rank 12 high-profile men on a scale of attributes they either look for, or avoid in a partner.
Mr Abbott scored two out of a possible ten points, on a par with actor Tom Cruise… Actor and all-round hunk George Clooney scored the highest on 6.4, followed by actor Brad Pitt on six and singer Michael Buble on 5.8....
The online study, conducted in June by market researchers D&M Research, was designed to reveal what women want in a man but won’t necessarily tell them.
===
Abbott is a graceful Daniel in the Q&A den
Andrew Bolt
A very attractive performance by Tony Abbott in Q&A, despite the obvious antipathy of, and constant interruptions by, host Tony Jones - and the preponderance of negative questions.
He said nothing extraordinary, but conducted himself with candor, humility and, yet, assuredness.
Some critics will jeer at the way Abbott presents himself, mistaking that candor and humility for a lack of confidence, smarts or steel.
But increasingly I’m seeing Abbott reveal himself as something he’s often accused of but rarely understood as - a Christian man. It’s been like the hiding of something in plain view.
I mean that Abbott is often attacked as a Catholic bogey - the finger-wagging moralist determined to hector others into living by his cheerless creed.
What we overlook is that he is indeed Christian, but in the gentler, interior and admirable sense. I think we’re seeing Abbott as a Christian trying to live his faith, rather than to impose it.His political attacks in this campaign have never been personal or nasty, his language has been restrained, his answers to hostile questions have always been restrained and courteous. He’s tried to be frank - and sometimes far too frank for his own political good.
What we see are not the qualities we normally associated with our leaders. There is none of the arrogance, temper and occasional savagery of a Hawke, Keating, Whitlam or even Rudd.
Perhaps that’s why he’s long been seen as somehow unleaderlike. The more we see of him, the more some might be persuaded to think Abbott is revealing not a lack of leadership qualities, but a different set of them. A more moral kind, perhaps.
But then there’s this belated surrender:
TONY Abbott has taken up Julia Gillard’s challenge to debate the economy. The Opposition Leader has agreed to go head to head with Ms Gillard on the ABC with journalist Chris Uhlmann acting as moderator.If Abbott had agreed sooner, he’d have spared himself a week of attacks on his courage. But at least the condition he’s imposed gives him two chances, just when he needs it most, to assert himself over Gillard. But first she must now agree…
The Opposition Leader said he would agree to the ABC debate on the condition that the Prime Minister would proceed with a separate event, the planned community forum in Brisbane on Wednesday night, in the same format as was conducted at Rooty Hill RSL club in western Sydney last Wednesday.
===
Why Labor’s $43 billion broadband will fail
Andrew Bolt
Malcolm Turnbull, co-founder of OzEmail, lists the eight reasons Labor’s broadband plan will be a white elephant.
UPDATE
The above link requires free registration. This one does not, but Turnbull’s eight reasons have been edited down to seven.
UPDATE 2
Terry McCrann:
THE headline in our paper yesterday said it all: “At 10 minutes to download a movie, experts slam Coalition broadband plan.”
Oh my God! Rush out and spend $43 billion immediately - something like $4000 per pop to connect every house and office in the land - lest we have to put up with that. Clearly, the nation will be reduced to a wasteland if we can’t download movies in one or two minutes.
Somewhat inadvertently, these ‘experts’ captured the recklessly wasteful pointlessness of the Government’s National Broadband Network. That the only real point of it is to be able to download movies in a flash.
For everything else, the speeds the Opposition plan will deliver across almost 100 per cent of the population are more than fast enough. At perhaps one-seventh the cost.
No comments:
Post a Comment