=== Todays Toon ===
It isn't that hard to know what the right thing to do is. But these independents seem to struggle. - ed.=== Bible Quote ===
“The earth is filled with your love, O LORD; teach me your decrees.”- Psalm 119:64=== Headlines ===
Earl Still Packing a Punch, Making Its Way Up East Coast
Earl weakens to a Category 3 storm as it bears down on North Carolina and hurricane warnings are expanded to include Rhode Island, Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.Hamas Looms as Spoiler in Peace Talks
Mideast peace talks get under way for the first time in nearly two years with a violent reminder sent by Palestinian terror group that it will try to torpedo any agreement struck in Washington
Coast Guard: No Oil Sheen in Gulf
U.S. Coast Guard is backing off its earlier claims and says they are unable to confirm if there was a mile long oil sheen in the Gulf following an oil rig explosion
Left-Leaning Media Form Tea Party Tracker
A new website sponsored by the NAACP and left-leaning media operations is seeking videographers and bloggers who will search out 'racism' and 'extremism' among Tea Partiers
Breaking News
Trapped miners to talk to loved onesTHE 33 trapped Chilean miners will soon be able to see and talk to loved ones through a video link, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said today.
BP removes cap from plugged oil well
BP removes cap which stemmed oil flow from ruptured well in Gulf of Mexico in a key step toward killing the well once and for all.
Man enters plea for live internet rape
A PHOENIX man accused of sexually assaulting his unconscious girlfriend and broadcasting the attack live on the internet has pleaded guilty to three charges.
Greek economy may exceed expectations
THE Greek economy is in deep recession but may do better than expected this year, says finance minister.
Aussie tourist attacked by shark
A SHARK attack in a remote area of the Solomon Islands has left an Australian man with severe cuts to his face and neck.
IMF, World Bank step up aid to Pakistan
IMF and World Bank step up aid to flood-hit Pakistan to help it cope with its worst-ever humanitarian disaster.
EU approves crisis aid for poor countries
EU approves $372 million to help most vulnerable countries cope with financial crisis.
Labor hospital plan responsible - Wilkie
INDEPENDENT MP Andrew Wilkie says he rejected the Coalition's "intoxicating" offer of $1 billion to rebuild a Hobart hospital because he couldn't see where the money would come from.
Militant groups to coordinate Israel attacks
THIRTEEN armed Palestinian groups including the militant Islamist movement Hamas said today they had set up a center to coordinate operations against Israel.
US Fed chief says close unstable banks
US Federal Reserve chairman says regulators must be ready to shut even large institutions if they threaten the system.
NSW/ACT
Woman charged over rifle raidA YOUNG woman has been charged with a raft of weapons offences after police raided a home and seized three rifles.
Drowning inquest blasts lack of signs
A CORONER is "astounded" at the lack of warning signs at a beach where a Sydney couple drowned.
Driving home to grim death
IT is the moment every emergency worker dreads - turning up at a crash and knowing the person involved. And not just once, either.
Locust plague starts to hatch
IT has begun - the first locusts in what is feared to be the worst plague in 30 years have started hatching in Northwest NSW.
McGurk murder mystery a year on
THE family of slain Michael McGurk will today mark the first anniversary of his shooting death.
Gay adoption Bill only just made it
TWO missing MPs could have swayed a Lower House decision to support a Bill allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.
Cops Taser pitbulls in drug raid
DURING a police raid,"large and aggressive" dogs attacked two officers, who were forced to Taser the animals, police said.
Shark attacks holidaying Aussie
A SYDNEY man stared death in the face when a shark mauled his head while in the Solomon Islands.
Victims of sex attacker still suffering
VICTIMS of a serial sex attacker in Sydney, including a mother of two young children, told a court of their continuing fear.
Nationals MP on porn-watch list
A NATIONALS MP's name has emerged as one of those identified in the parliamentary porn audit.
Queensland
Car crashes into petrol station shopA CAR has crashed into the shop of a service station this morning, taking out a customer.
Clem7 bosses paid fat bonuses
CLEM7 bosses paid more than $1 million in bonuses while directors also rake in the cash despite RiverCity Motorway's financial woes.
Beans block highway as truck rolls
THE Bruce Highway has been transformed into a Mexican salsa after a truck carrying fresh beans and corn rolled, losing its load.
Pedophile bus driver jailed
A FORMER bayside bus driver who raped and molested nine young school girls over five years is likely to "die in custody'', a court has been told.
Plenty to drink, then knife comes out
A DRUNKEN party on the Gold Coast has got out of hand with one man being stabbed in the stomach with a large kitchen knife.
First premier's wig for sale
AN unusual relic of Queensland's history is within a horse-hair's breadth of being lost to posterity.
Cycleway $14m pledge
SOUTH-EAST Queensland will be more bike-friendly by June next year after a State Government pledge of $14 million for cycle network projects.
Kiwi nurse told: Pass English
A NEW Zealand-born nurse is furious that she has been refused her nursing registration until she can prove she is competent in English.
Dad who cost MP seat recants
FATHER who claimed his son had been on waiting lists for two years, prompting a Labor MP to make a gaffe that helped cost him his seat, admits he was "less than truthful".
Don't destroy police dog, says dad
THE father of a boy bitten by a police dog at Goodna said he would not want the animal destroyed.
Victoria
Police sting targets drugs at stationPOLICE have nabbed train commuters on drug offences and for carrying weapons during an operation at a Melbourne station.
SOG arrest man faces extradition
A NSW man will face an extradition hearing in Melbourne today over the shooting of a man in a home invasion last month.
Armed hold-up at adult store
UPDATE 7.39am: TWO armed bandits who held up an adult store last night told the attendant they had pulled such heists before.
School left without heat for winter
FREE beanies and scarves were cold comfort for school kids left without heating all winter due to a dispute over who should pay for it.
Buskers told to audition
LORD Mayor Robert Doyle wants buskers to audition for the right to perform on Melbourne’s streets.
Dream holiday ends in tragedy
THE US trip of a lifetime for two retired couples has ended in tragedy when the two wives killed in a head-on road accident.
Disabled commuter bashed at station
A DISABLED train commuter has described his fear as callous young bullies ridiculed him at a train station.
The case against a monster
AUSTRALIA was haunted over four years by nine gruesome child murders carrying similar "signatures".
Boxer to be hit with gun charge
WORLD champion boxer Barry Michael is expected to be hit with a gun charge.
Starring role for new-look wheel
THE troubled Southern Star Observation Wheel is having a makeover ahead of its reopening next year.
Northern Territory
Nothing newSouth Australia
It's starting to bucket downHEAVY rain predicted to hit the Royal Adelaide Show today has started to fall across much of the state, complete with thunder, lightning and strong winds.
Another oil rig explodes in Gulf
AN offshore petroleum platform in the Gulf of Mexico has exploded and is burning west of the BP undersea oil well catastrophe.
Forget footy, it's time for the Show
ROYAL Adelaide Show organisers hope Crows and Port fans fill the void left by their teams' absence from the finals with showbags, sideshows and carnival rides.
Tune in to your apostrophe rules
MAKING grammar fun is the ambition of Adelaide musician Shaun McNicholas, whose Apostrophe Song has become an internet sensation.
Teacher anger over learning aid
TEACHERS at a western suburbs high school are threatening industrial action over inadequate resources for special needs students.
River trip a labour of real love
THE history of the River Murray has been highlighted in a new book by Adelaide photographer Shane Strudwick, covering every aspect of the waterway.
Man hurt in 'suspicious' shop blast
AN EXPLOSION that ripped apart a Kilkenny pizza shop and put its manager in hospital is being treated as suspicious, police say.
Such loses last round in fight
INDEPENDENT MP Bob Such has called it quits in his fight against a speeding fine but insists the system is stacked against motorists.
Man charged over fatal crash
A MAN has been charged over a crash at Blakeview on Wednesday in which a 56-year-old died.
Raid nets cash, drugs and guns
A PENFIELD man will appear in court today charged with drug trafficking after police allegedly found nearly $400,000 cash, guns and drugs at his home.
Western Australia
Fears that rapist will reoffendRELATIVES of a rapist released by a West Australian Supreme Court judge fear he may reoffend, and are stunned that he was let out of jail.
TV chef leads mine plan protest
AN underground coalmine planned for Western Australia's world-class wine region of Margaret River has infuriated and mobilised locals.
Darwin rioters sent to Curtin
THE Department of Immigration has denied there is overcrowding at the Darwin Immigration Centre.
AFL draft prospect Darling attacked
HIGHLY-RATED WA draft prospect Jack Darling is recovering in hospital after an alleged unprovoked attack on the weekend.
Luxury car thieves target cabbie
A GANG of car thieves targeting luxury vehicles in Perth's affluent western suburbs is believed to have struck again - this time stealing a taxi after dumping a stolen Porsche.
Girls school chaplain denies porn charges
A FORMER chaplain at prestigious Mt Lawley Anglican girls’ school Perth College will fight charges of possessing child pornography.
Firefighters battle Osborne Park blaze
FIREFIGHTERS have extinguished a blaze at a house fire in Osborne Park.
Explosion ends Albany whale's plight
EXPLOSIVES have been used to euthanase a sick humpback whale which was stranded on Western Australia's south coast for two weeks.
Asylum riot a warning for WA
WA Premier Colin Barnett says he's concerned incidents of unrest could occur at immigration detention centres in his state following a breakout at a centre in Darwin.
'Sex-for-marks' academic now at Murdoch
A CURTIN University academic accused of pressuring young students for sexual favours in return for higher marks is now working at Murdoch University.
Tasmania
Labor hospital plan responsible - WilkieINDEPENDENT MP Andrew Wilkie says he rejected the Coalition's "intoxicating" offer of $1 billion to rebuild a Hobart hospital because he couldn't see where the money would come from.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Special Live Coverage of Hurricane Earl!Starting at 9p ET, Shepard Smith has the latest breaking reports. Then, Greta continues our coverage of Earl's path. Don't miss this powerful primetime lineup.
===
On Fox News Insider
Janice Dean: Tracking Hurricane EarlJonathan Serrie Reporting from North Carolina: Hurricane Earl Approaching Outer Banks
Fox News iMag: Be Prepared for Weather Emergencies
=== Comments ===
Labor’s greening drags us all downPiers Akerman
TASMANIAN independent and former intelligence officer Andrew Wilkie’s “turbo-charged negotiations” with the Gillard caretaker government have delivered a conundrum. - This list of faults by Piers on the ALP and Green policies and the shortcomings of the independents is not exhaustive. We need to let voters know what their choice is, not subject them to torture, or punish them for their ignorance. Their ignorance is partly not their fault .. msm have worked hard to confuse the issues and support the ALP. My flatmate thinks the Greens are good because they sound environmental and support gays. I point out that the Greens have opposed dams so that none have been built since the mid 70's in Australia, but instead desalination of water is done at about a thousand times the running costs. I point out that gays are not supported by the Greens, merely gay activists, which are different, and so their right to be beaten up by ignorant fools would be supported, but the basic steps required to make it better for gays as a community, like prosperity and community suffer under Greens policy. Then my flatmate says it sounds too political and he doesn't understand. The young fool is an actor .. but not even he deserves to endure more ALP and Greens government. The art of raising a puppy to being a working dog is not to confuse it with bad examples, but raise it properly. - ed
===
The Essential Problem With President Obama
BY BILL O'REILLY
MY UPCOMING BOOK, "PINHEADS AND PATRIOTS: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama," zeroes in on how the president's policies directly affect you, and there is no better place to start than with your money.
According to the Census Bureau, federal domestic spending increased a record 16 percent in 2009, standing at $3.2 trillion. Not since World War II has the United States spent more money inside its own borders.
This year, 2010, spending is projected to increase six percent to $3.5 trillion. The deficit for this year is expected to be $1.3 trillion, compared to just three years ago when the deficit was $160 billion.
That spending jump is incredible. Obviously things are out of control in Washington, D.C., and I don't say that lightly.
This is not an ideological play; this is a warning. The Obama administration is running up debt in an unprecedented way, and if it continues the United States will go bankrupt.
That could mean that the dollars you and I are saving will lose much of their value. That could mean a depression if foreign investors in America pull their money out.
This is speculation, of course, but nothing good comes from bankruptcy, and that's where this nation is headed.
And the folks seem to know it. A new Gallup poll says that 50 percent of Americans trust Republicans on federal spending, while just 35 percent trust Democrats, a whooping 15-point difference.
And a new poll in Ohio, done by the Democratic company Public Policy Polling, says that folks who live in that state would rather have George W. Bush back in the White House than continue with Barack Obama. The number was 50 percent for Bush, 42 percent for Obama.
That's stunning because Ohio went for Obama in 2008.
As I write in "Pinheads and Patriots," Barack Obama has allowed his ideology to overwhelm his common sense. He is now listening to far-left elements in his party and in the media. If you can believe it, vehicles like The New York Times and NBC News want the president to spend even more money.
The USA needs to go on an austerity program right now. All entitlement spending must be cut, and budgets must be balanced in every federal department. That would send a signal to the world that the USA is serious about restoring responsible economic policy.
Right now the Democratic Party is facing Armageddon in the November election. President Obama has to know that.
SO THE QUESTION IS: Will he change the policies that are not working, or will he go down in flames?
===
President Obama, You're Not Fooling All of Us On Immigration
By John Lott
President Obama thinks that by recently signing a new bill spending $600 million to beef up border enforcement he will look tough on illegal aliens. But decisions such as today’s lawsuit by the Justice Department against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to stop his policies regarding illegal aliens shows where the administration’s policies are really headed.
The bill Obama signed, which authorizes the hiring 1,500 new border personnel, the deployment of a pair of unmanned reconnaissance drones, and replacing some bases along the border is valuable, but it hardly undoes what the president has done up to this point. With a recent Rasmussen poll showing that 68 percent of U.S. voters support a plan to continue building a fence on the Mexican border, Obama's change strikes one as a temporary smoke screen.
Up until now the president has worked to cut the number of border agents. 384 border agents were cut last October 1st and in the 2011 fiscal year budget Obama proposed cutting another 180 agents through attrition.
But it isn't just his record of previously reducing the number of border agents. Obama has strongly opposed the use of fences, whether real ones or virtual ones. In March, he halted funding for the physical fence. Spending on "Total, CBP/Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure, and Technology" (which included the virtual fence) has fallen from $1.05 billion in 2008 at the end of the Bush administration to $800 million in 2010 to $574 million in the coming 2011 budget. That is a $479 million annual cut, something that isn't going to be made up with a pair of unmanned drones.
Unfortunately, Obama appears to wish for continued illegal immigration as his administration has actively tried to stop states from helping enforce current federal laws. Consider the many actions that Obama has taken so far:
-- Just in the last last week two actions by the Obama administration have come to light. A defacto amnesty is being established where deportation cases are being dropped against illegal aliens who have already been arrested. In another case, a non-citizen, who committed several felonies ranging from perjury to voter fraud, was coached by the Department of Homeland Security on how to purge evidence of these actions from his record so that he could still be granted citizenship.
-- The Obama administration has brought several lawsuits to try prevent states from discouraging illegal aliens from entering the country. One is well-known and aims to stop Arizona from requiring police to ask for some type of ID -- no matter what their accent or looks -- of anyone who is "technically ‘arrested’" by police. In May, another lawsuit was brought against Arizona over its law revoking state business licenses for companies that regularly violate immigration laws. The Obama administration’s stance is especially odd since business licenses routinely are conditioned on a crime-free record and such rules have always been determined by the states. The administration hopes to make immigration law the single exception of a law allowed to be broken.
-- Consider Obama's recent decision to hire former Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of State and Local Coordination. But Hurtt has been a long-time strident supporter of "sanctuary city" policies, where some cities simply let illegal aliens live without any worry about the police ever checking their immigration status.
-- The Department of Education and the U.S. Border Patrol apparently boycotted Arizona over the state's new immigration law by canceling planned conferences that were to be held in the state. While the administration denies this, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords told Fox News a month ago: "We have the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Education that had planned for meetings, had then canceled those meetings with the reason given that it was because of the immigration law."
-- In July, the Obama administration announced it would start ensuring illegal aliens the same protections as citizens as far as labor laws go. Illegal aliens can complain to Department of Labor about minimum wage or overtime work rule violations without risking deportation. The Department of Labor even makes public service announcements in Spanish: "You work hard, and you have the right to be paid fairly. And it is a serious problem when workers in this country are not being paid every cent they earn. Remember, every worker in America has the right to be paid fairly, whether documented or not. So call us."
Obama's past actions on illegal aliens clearly shows where he stands on the issue. A Politico story last month indicated that Obama is starting to make many changes on a variety of issues to convince voters that he really holds middle of the road views, and the wide news coverage given to the $600 million new spending on border security might convince some voters that Obama and the Democrats really care about curbing illegal immigration and beefing up border security. But many voters already thought that they were getting a much more moderate president when they voted for Obama in 2008. One suspects as soon as the November election has passed, some voters will find that they have been fooled a second time.
John R. Lott, Jr. is a FoxNews.com contributor. He is an economist and author of "More Guns, Less Crime."(University of Chicago Press, 2010), the third edition of which was published in May."
===
DEBRIS WILLY
Tim Blair
Got a whale problem? Try dynamite:
Authorities used explosives this afternoon to euthanase a humpback whale that was stranded off the Albany coast.An extensive public exclusion zone is crucial, as previous whale blasters have discovered:
The 9.5m, 12 tonne mammal was killed using explosives after it was stranded in Albany’s Princess Harbour on August 19, 800m from shore.
It is understood the whale was too large to shoot with a firearm and a local vet helped Department of Environment and Conservation officers in carrying out the euthanasia.
A plane monitored the area for sharks as wildlife officers positioned the explosives around the whale and after they were detonated.
A one kilometre exclusion zone was set up around the whale for public safety.
(Via Irobot, who emails: “Bob Brown will be sad but I suppose this is the offset for the whale born in the Derwent over the election weekend that he was prattling on about. The circle of life.")
===
SEND A NOTE
Tim Blair
Thousands of sweet messages to Christopher Hitchens. You’d be surprised at what a difference these make.
(Via the always-thoughtful Brat in LA)
===
THE GREAT LOCUST CONSPIRACY
Tim Blair
An unexplained chemical shortage threatens Victorian crops:
The Green Guard product is the only certified chemical organic growers are permitted to use to try to control what is expected to be the biggest locust plague in Victoria in 70 years.Labor. Friendly to lice. Friendly to locusts.
Swan Hill organic carrot grower Tony Croft says he tried to order the product this week, but has been told there are no supplies available.
He says they were told the Victorian Government had bought it all.
===
THREE YEARS OF WILKIE
Tim Blair
Moralising drone Andrew Wilkie backs Labor:
Mr Wilkie - one of four independents left holding the balance of power in the House of Representatives after last month’s election - said he would guarantee supply to a Julia Gillard-led Labor Government, and would not support any unwarranted no confidence motions.This means he’ll remain the focus of attention during any close votes. Which is possibly something that Wilkie quite enjoys.
However, the new Member for Denison stressed that did not mean he would automatically pass all Labor legislation, saying he reserved the right to vote independently on other matters.
Taken with a similar undertaking from Greens MP Adam Bandt, Mr Wilkie’s pledge brings the number of Lower House seats Labor can rely on to 74, two short of the majority needed to form a stable Government.Bring on the stability!
UPDATE. Peter of Launceston, in comments: “I’m calling Wilkie as Gillard’s personal doomclown.”
UPDATE II. The SMH’s Peter Hartcher:
Why did Wilkie favour a Labor government over a Coalition one? Implausibly, he said Labor was more stable. This is hard to sustain. Ask Kevin Rudd.Very true.
Wilkie conceded that the North Star guiding his decision was the underlying reality that his seat is fundamentally a Labor one. “It is clear to me that the majority of voters in Denison would prefer a Labor federal government.”That’s a very big “if”. These three are all tilty to various degrees. And I’m not certain that Oakeshott’s species even has DNA.
If the three rural independents do the same and follow the basic DNA of their seats, they will all support an Abbott government.
UPDATE III. The Coalition is again in front on two-part preferred votes, which will confuse a certain academic.
UPDATE IV. Tony Wright:
Wilkie was not only promising support for Labor, but saying out loud he thought his decision would influence the three country independents on whom the entire outcome of the election now rested.
‘’I hope they will follow me,’’ said Wilkie, modestly.
===
But what’s another half a billion to Julia?
Andrew Bolt
How often did Julia Gillard make this promise in the campaign?:
Any commitments made in the upcoming campaign will not add a single cent – not a cent – to the budget bottom line.So how does that promise square with this finding from Treasury:
(Thanks to reader John Comnenus.)UPDATE
Peter Martin groups the Coalitions’ costing errors - as alleged by Treasury - from the inexcusable to the debatable.
===
The 20 worst tramp stamps
Andrew Bolt
Buy now, cry later.
(Via Instapundit.)
===
Written in a suddenly barkless house
Andrew Bolt
MY daughter asked me to write today about Barney. And, of course, I must.What else have I thought of these past days, anyway?
For instance, I’ve been reckoning how much we’ve learned from Barney, a phlegmatic type who’s never needed to say much to make a point.
Already on the first day we met he taught me a surprising lesson - not to trust even a sweet young country girl selling dachshund puppies.
Mind you, that’s one it took a year to learn, because the litter looked the pedigree goods, frisking away on that Shepparton farm on the December day I drove up from Melbourne with my eldest son, then five, to collect a puppy of the breed my wife insisted on, having loved and lived with it all her childhood.
“Dachshund puppies,” the ad had said. And I never read a warning in the word that came next: “Cheap.”
James picked the first to come snuffling over to say hello, since ours is a family that prizes a warm heart, and off we drove in triumph with our Barney tucked into a box with a blanket.
Instantly adored, he was, but over the months his paws just grew and grew, and his chest, too, while the rest of him absurdly stayed in dachie proportions, until we had something that looked like a doberman on stumps.
Still, he kept those great dachshund ears so treasured by little girls needing something understanding to cry into. Their mums, too.
But there I go again, underrating the Barnster.
No, he hasn’t really left me with a life-long suspicion of Shepparton schoolgirls. What he’s really taught us all is that even when you don’t get what you want, you may still get what you love.
===
Bartered government
Andrew Bolt
WHAT a grubby start to a new government this is.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday bought the vote of Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie with $1.8 billion she doesn’t have and a pokies promise she probably can’t keep.
And consider: she must still buy the votes of at least two of the three rural independents she needs to reach the 76 seats to form government.
She’s almost certain to get them now. Two of those independents at least - Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor - seem to have looked for every excuse to defy their conservative electorates and back Labor, which most shares their faith in global warming and big government.
Gillard’s deal with Wilkie helps provide that excuse. To form government, Tony Abbott’s Coalition now needs the votes of all three rural independents (including Bob Katter), meaning it would live on a knife-edge afterwards, able to be toppled by a single desertion, a single death or a single resignation in a marginal seat.
The independents, who want their new power to last as long as possible, will not want a new election this side of 2013, and being able to give Gillard a buffer of as many as four votes will be sorely tempting.
And see Oakeshott and Windsor in the meantime make a mountain of every Coalition molehill, not least the $7 billion hole that Treasury allegedly found in costing Abbott’s promises.
How could he trust Abbott now, moaned Windsor, seemingly oblivious to the fact that even if Treasury were right, Abbott would still cut the Budget deficit by at least $400 million more than would Labor.
And what of basic competence? Gillard personally supervised one government program - the Building the Education Revolution blowout - that alone may have wasted as much as Treasury says is the size of Abbott’s shortfall.
And how can a Wilkie trust Gillard instead?
===
Wilkie sells Denison for less
Andrew Bolt
Let’s get this right.
Andrew Wilkie, representing Denison, sells his vote to Labor for less than he’d get for his electorate from the Coalition:
Mr Wilkie conceded yesterday that in backing Labor to govern, he was declining a larger funding package for his electorate offered by the Coalition.He’s also sold his vote for a promise from Labor that it will struggle to keep:
This included $1bn to build a new hospital to replace the ageing Royal Hobart Hospital and $7.5 million for a sports complex in the city’s battling northern suburbs.
He conceded his deal with Julia Gillard provided only $340m to rebuild the RHH on its current site, a building doctors describe as “dysfunctional”.
The president of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Medical Association, Michael Aizen, said doctors at the RHH and elsewhere believed Mr Wilkie had made the wrong call.
Ms Gillard yesterday secured the support of Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie to form a minority government after agreeing to introduce (bet-limiting) technology into the country’s 200,000 pokies by 2014.Way to go, Wilkie, delivering less for his seat and only promises for the rest.
She vowed to use constitutional powers to legislate for their introduction if the state and territory governments resisted.
But the NSW clubs industry last night accused Ms Gillard of breaking a promise to 4000 registered clubs to consult with the industry on poker machine laws… The technology could strip state governments of up to $500 million in gaming tax revenue.
But now comes one of the remaining three independents, Bob Katter, with his own wish list:
With the three likely to announce their decision on Monday, Mr Katter gave his wish-list of 20 priorities to both leaders yesterday. It included the Coalition positions of no mining tax, no carbon tax and for local boards to run hospitals…Good luck with that, Bob. In fact, Katter’s list logically dictates that he back the Coalition, as his conservative electorate would demand. Labor simply can’t and won’t agree to scrap its mining tax or rule out a carbon tax.
The Coalition is quietly confident it has won over Mr Katter but the Queensland independent said he was not leaning towards either side and hoped all three would move as one.
That would leave the seat count at 74 each, with rural independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott left to decide.
If they followed Wilkie’s lead - and listened to their deeply conservative electorates - they’d back the Coalition. Here’s Wilkie:
‘It is clear to me that the majority of voters in Denison would prefer a Labor federal government. So I had to be absolutely certain that if I was to choose Tony Abbott … that I had to be really sure about it.And if Oakeshott and Windsor somehow did decide to go with the Coalition, after all, then Wilkie’s deal with Labor is off and he will have delivered Denison .... nothing.
But credit where it is due. Wilkie has at least not guaranteed three years to Labor - or, indeed, to the Coalition. He will not vote for “unwarranted” no-confidence motions, but has not ruled out voting to throw out a bad government early. This is sensible.
And I must also say that even if he’s putting the pressure on the wrong government, his demand for some curbs to these damn pokies is one I support.
UPDATE
From Bob Katter’s list of 20 priorities to be addressed in exchange for his vote for our new Prime Minister:
14. Establish a taskforce to secure action to provide: all-weather anchorage roughly every 30 kmUPDATE 2
Judith Sloan goes through Katter’s list and wonders if he trying to ruin us or have a lend of us.
===
Ethiopia is now Labor’s priority?
Andrew Bolt
This fool’s errand is not just costing too much but contorting our foreign policy:
AUSTRALIA will soon open an embassy in Ethiopia in what is widely seen as an attempt to bolster the campaign to win a prized seat on the United Nations Security Council…Here’s how insignificant Ethiopia really is to Australia’s real interests.
Ababa is also the headquarters for the African Union, the 53-nation organisation that represents the continent. Winning support from this African bloc is critical to Australia’s hopes of winning a Security Council seat in a 2012 vote at the UN and Ms Filipetto will also be designated ambassador to the African Union.
But opening a new embassy poses an awkward challenge for the government amid criticism that the campaign is too costly.
It also follows a series of cuts to the Foreign Affairs Department - including Labor’s pledge this election to scrap 20 diplomat positions overseas…
Australia did briefly open an embassy in Addis Ababa in 1984 - around the time of its last successful tilt for a Security Council seat - but closed the post again in 1987.
It rates 131st in the list of our trading partners. It’s main source of immigrants are of poor people, many refugees, with no English.
===
Give Melbourne’s Greens voters exactly what they want
Andrew Bolt
GREENS voters need a short, sharp lesson - and it may as well start with the electorate of Melbourne.
You see, Greens voters are different to those who vote Labor or Liberal.
Vote for the two big parties, and you generally expect them to deliver what they’ve promised, to the last tax cut.
But Greens voters? How many of the 11.6 per cent of us who chose them two weeks ago even know what the Greens’ policies are, let alone want to live them?
No, such people tend to vote not for the policies but the brand. The vibe.
But now comes a chance to make that critical link a true adult demands between promise and consequence.
The electorate of Melbourne, from Ascot Vale to Richmond, and from Carlton North to West Melbourne, is the only one in the country to have chosen a Greens politician, Adam Bandt.
We must assume a majority of those 100,000 voters - if they meant what they said - are also asking for Greens’ policies to become law.
Well, it’s only fair to give them what they voted for, isn’t it? So let’s cordon off this electorate and let them have it.
===
Seems a cure for an election result left stranded for two weeks, too
Andrew Bolt
As the election results came in, Greens leader Bob Brown revealed he’d seen a sign:
A couple of days ago a baby whale was born in the Derwent for the first time in 200 years. Two days later we’re seeing the real birth of a new political movement, which is headed to much greater things in the future.As the Greens sign a deal to help Labor form government, Brown gets another:
A humpback whale left stranded on an Albany beach for two weeks has been euthanised through a “humane” blast to the head.
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Judge Cinderella and the three bears: “But I’m too fat.” said the first….
Andrew Bolt
Man-boobs and a mince means no jail if you kill:
A CROSS-dresser with “man boobs” and ambitions to become a woman has dodged jail for killing his teen girlfriend in a high-speed smash - because he might be bullied by other inmates.Too plump in the wrong bits saves you from jail, and so may too fat all over:
Judge Marilyn Harbison suspended Jayke Baldwin’s three-year jail term because she was not satisfied prison authorities could protect him.
Judge Harbison said Baldwin, 21, was effeminate, wanted to have a sex-change operation, and had adopted a fantasy-like approach to life....
Baldwin was at least 30km/h over the 50km/h speed limit when he skidded on a dirt road at Seville East and hit a tree in February last year.
A MAN considered too obese to be jailed - for smashing a glass over another man’s head during an altercation at a pub - has spoken out about escaping prison time.But you can be too skinny for jail, too:
Shepparton man Claude Jackson is currently doing community service for smashing a glass over another man’s head at a Shepparton bar on January 14, 2007…
A medical report submitted to the Victorian County Court sitting at Shepparton said Mr Jackson, who weighed 190kg, had suffered three heart attacks earlier in life and suffered from ongoing arthritis, sleep apnoea and other weight-related ailments… The medical report also warned that a jail term would “create great problems” for his health.
A TEENAGER who bashed a 75-year-old great-grandmother in her bed has avoided jail because a judge thought he was too skinny and “worth a chance”.Oddly enough in that case, the thug seemed able enough with his fists - at least when used against grannies:
Judge David Parsons ...said Brooks, 19, was a disadvantaged young Aborigine whose chances of rehabilitation were reasonably good.
Judge Parsons said because of his youth and slight build, Brooks would not fare well in an adult prison.
The attack left Mrs Durea with a dislocated jaw, a broken nose and bruising to her face and body.So it seems you have to not only pass a physical test to go to jail, but must also look the part. Of course, another option might be to make jails work so that anyone who deserves such punishment won’t be spared it.
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Green terror
Andrew Bolt
Every belief drawn from the green credo, which makes the violence seem a logical conclusion:
James J. Lee divided the world into good and bad. According to his writings on a Web site he created, people were bad, especially “parasitic” babies.Who awakened Lee to his mission?
Animals and bugs were good, Lee wrote. But war was bad, along with global warming, pollution and international trade.
As for civilization?
The environmental militant who was killed Wednesday at the end of a tense hostage standoff at Discovery Communications headquarters in downtown Silver Spring, termed it “filth.” ...
Lee held a grudge against Discovery, viewing the network as a purveyor of ideas he considered environmentally destructive and staging protests outside its headquarters…
Lee, whose environmental creed was spread across the Internet in manifestoes and blog posts, was killed at 4:48 p.m. after he stalked into the building with a handgun, took three hostages and later pointed his gun at one of them...
Lee said he experienced an ‘‘awakening” when he watched former Vice President Al Gore’s environmental documentary ‘‘An Inconvenient Truth.”If you really think humans are wilfully murdering the planet and all life upon it, well, what must you do?
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Just a day after the sacking of another minister….
Andrew Bolt
At some stage it must cross the mind of the NSW Governor that her government is trashing the brand of the state and setting a powerfully negative example to its citizens:
ONE of Sydney’s powerful Kazal property family, Charif Kazal, arranged more than $6000 worth of business-class airline upgrades for the Fair Trading Minister, Virginia Judge, on a trip to the Middle East last year.(Thanks to reader CA.)
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The black hole is the debate
Andrew Bolt
Michael Stutchbury says the costings debate is farcical:
INDEPENDENT MP Andrew Wilkie said yesterday the Coalition’s “unacceptable” and “massive” black hole contributed to his decision to back Julia Gillard.UPDATE
But there is no $11 billion “black hole” in the Coalition’s projected budget surplus. At most, Treasury secretary Ken Henry has found a few potholes that can be repaired without too much trouble.
Even under Treasury and Finance costings, Tony Abbott would produce only a slightly smaller budget surplus than Labor by 2012-13. And Treasury reckons the Opposition Leader would actually deliver slightly bigger four-year budget savings than Labor…
But, on Treasury’s adjusted numbers, the Coalition still offers $863 million of net savings over four years - compared with Labor’s $106m. Gillard yesterday gave $100m of this away to Hobart hospital to get Wilkie’s vote.
Kevin Morgan:
THE casual observer could be excused for believing that now Treasury and Finance have ticked off on the cost of Labor’s election promises, and found a $7 billion black hole in the Coalition’s, that unlike those of the opposition, the government’s policies are fully funded, responsible and can be delivered.
That may well be true of 114 of the 115 policies the government submitted, but to suggest the flagship $43bn National Broadband Network, the government’s most expensive policy, has been fully costed, even within the limited context of the Charter of Budget Honesty, beggars belief…
On the day of the ALP policy launch, the parliamentary library published a paper on the NBN’s finances and concluded there was a gap between the funding needs of the NBN set out in the $25 million McKinsey implementation study, and the funds committed by the government… At year four of the NBN rollout ... there would be a $1.4bn funding hole…
Indeed, the pre-election financial outlook issued under the budget charter in August raises even bigger questions about the liabilities that could face taxpayers if the NBN goes ahead and the $11bn “Heads of Agreement” between Telstra and NBN Co then becomes a “definitive agreement” some time in early 2011.... In summary, less than 15 per cent of the $2bn Telstra support package has been funded. Nor does the open-ended largesse offered by taxpayers to Telstra end there…
(E)ven a brief glance at the funding of the NBN suggests a $6bn black hole could readily open up and that’s presuming the NBN is being delivered on time and within its $43bn cost envelope, and that is a very big ask indeed. The actual costs of building and operating the NBN remain shrouded in secrecy.
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