=== Todays Toon ===
Field Marshal William Joseph "Bill" Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO, MC, KStJ (6 August 1891 – 14 December 1970) was a British military commander and the 13th Governor-General of Australia.He fought in both the First and Second world wars and was wounded in action three times. During WWII he led the 14th Army, the so-called "forgotten army". From 1953 to 1959 he was Governor-General of Australia, an authentic war hero who had fought with the Anzacs at Gallipoli
=== Bible Quote ===
“Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”- Matthew 28:18-20==== Headlines ===
As Obama Hones Economic Pitch, Window for Success Closing
President plans to hit the road this week to promote new proposals that Republicans suggest are equivalent of a 'deathbed conversion' to their ideas, but John McCain tells Fox News the new direction won't ease the uncertain feeling weighing on Americans.U.S. Lends Firepower For Iraq's 'New Dawn'
Five days after Obama announced end of combat operations in Iraq, U.S. troops help repel a complex attack by a group of heavily armed militants against a Baghdad military headquarters
Abbas to Iran: Mind Your Own Business
Palestinian president rebuts Iranian president's criticism of peace talks with Israel — going as far as to call Ahmadinejad an illegitimate leader who oppresses his own people
San Fran Eyes Tax to Address Drunkenness
City leaders considering fees on alcohol wholesalers and distributors to cover public health costs of drinking too much, as affected industries argue it would hurt business and kill jobs
Breaking news
Pedestrian death toll rise blamed on iPodsA 25 per cent rise in the pedestrian death toll in New South Wales has been partly blamed on iPod use.
Ambulance blown over as gales hit NZ
AN ambulance attending the scene of a crash in which a van had been blown on to its side was, in turn, blown over in the gale.
Macquarie expects first half profit drop
INVESTMENT bank Macquarie Group has forecast that first half profit will fall 25 per cent because conditions in most markets have been weak.
Thousands stranded after outback deluge
THOUSANDS of tourists remain stranded in the outback town of Birdsville, after its famous race meeting was washed out.
Paris Hilton 'knife man' pleads not guilty
A MAN accused of showing up at Paris Hilton's house wielding two knives has pleaded not guilty to attempted felony burglary.
Rob Oakeshott prepared to compromise
INDEPENDENT MP Rob Oakeshott may change his mind about which of the two major parties to back in a minority government.
Girl, 8, hit by stray bullet while playing
AN eight-year-old girl was shot in the leg yesterday while playing in a residential street in Dorchester, Boston.
Three die in suicide hit on military base
A SUICIDE car-bomber killed three soldiers and wounded 32 others in an attack on a military base.
One may have to compromise - Windsor
ONE of the three rural Independents may have to compromise and back their least favoured political party.
Man found dead on Canberra road
A middle-aged man has been found dead on a road in southern Canberra, ACT police say
NSW/ACT
Pizza man threatened with hammerA PIZZA delivery man has been threatened with a hammer during a robbery in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
Flat out escaping with lives
THE driver and passenger of this ute jumped from the cabin just before a freight train rammed it.
Noises in the night cost Sydneysiders
NIGHT work in the Harbour and Kings Cross tunnels, the M2, M4 and other roads are costing us.
Man who would be karaoke king
MEET Luke Kelly who is representing Australia at the Karaoke World Championships.
Wild, windy weather lashes country
THOUSANDS of tourists remain stranded in Birdsville, after its famous race meeting was washed out.
Building a new life on golden site
SYDNEY'S major Olympic legacy is still years behind schedule.
Friend saw fatal air crash
A TEENAGER'S dream trip ended when the plane he was about to skydive from exploded.
Queensland
Bandit points gun at mum and girlMANAGER and her eight-year-old daughter have gun pointed at them by masked bandit during hold-up at a Gold Coast KFC.
Races a washout in wild weekend
THE Birdsville races have been cancelled due to wet weather for the first time in their 128-year history after a weekend of wild weather across the nation.
Cab driver bashed and robbed
A TAXI driver has been bashed and robbed after a man objected to paying the fare for a four-kilometre trip.
Morcombe inquest to grill 20
THE state coroner is set to quiz more than 20 "persons of interest" in an inquest into the abduction and suspected murder of Daniel Morcombe.
Cattle truck rolls on Lynd Highway
SEVERAL cattle were killed when the road train they were travelling in rolled on the Lynd Highway, north of Charters Towers, around 8.45pm.
North wants clean energy link
THE power play in Canberra may also determine the future of power generation in Queensland's northwest.
Fuel options set to dwindle
REGULAR unleaded petrol could be stripped from most service stations when the state's ethanol mandate is introduced at the end of the year, experts warn.
Random street checks defended
QUEENSLAND Police Minister Neil Roberts has defended random "street checks" in which dozens of innocent people have been stopped by the state's officers.
CMC alerted to 'death threats'
THE Crime and Misconduct Commission has become involved in an investigation into alleged death threats on the Gold Coast's "Millionaires' Row".
Red tape 'risks patient welfare'
THE state's top health bureaucrat has warned that Queenslanders could be put at risk if the registering of medical professionals is not fast-tracked.
Victoria
Road closures due to floodingTHE floods have forced hundreds of regional Victorian roads to close. Check our list to see if your area has been affected.
Man attacked after phone row on train
A MAN was attacked on a train yesterday after an altercation with a passenger about him talking on his mobile phone.
Crash victim was on trip of lifetime
A VICTORIAN teenager's "trip of a lifetime" ended in tragedy when the plane he was on exploded as his best friend looked on in horror.
Drugs and blades flood state's prisons
NEARLY 90 blades and batons were found being smuggled into the Barwon jail in the past two years.
Taken to the drycleaners
HUNDREDS of drycleaning disasters have been reported that have destroyed designer clothes.
Tessa a student of high note
TESSA Ramanlal will make the transformation from VCE student to pop diva in this month's Victorian State Schools Spectacular.
Parents furious over footy shutdown
A JUNIOR football league has cancelled 11 grand final matches today in a move that stunned clubs and infuriated parents.
Northern Territory
Kids kill school's fish in rampageTHREE young burglars, who went on a rampage at a Darwin school, were only 10, 11 and 13 years old.
Drunken rioters wreck junior football final
POLICE and teenage umpire were bashed during another wild grand final day in Alice Springs.
South Australia
Fire alarm at high-risk schoolsDOZENS of schools at "high risk" went into last bushfire season without basic safety equipment, an Advertiser investigation reveals.
Worst floods to hit in 17 years
SOUTH Australia's wild weather has headed east to Victoria, where the army will be deployed today to help evacuate hundreds of residents.
Harbo 'to blame for inaction'
TWO Adelaide city councillors have admitted being part of a "do nothing" council, with one placing much of the blame on Michael Harbison.
Survival of the oldest
ONLY Adelaide's very largest and oldest trees will be protected under proposed State Government changes to significant tree regulations, experts warn.
Camp Smokey's 20th reunion
IT'S been 20 years of swimming, canoeing, jokes and, most importantly, understanding for children with burns.
Let me walk you through my Oval vision
THE Adelaide Oval redevelopment must go ahead to make Adelaide a better city, says Infrastructure Minister Patrick Conlon.
Western Australia
Drug use ages young brainsA PERTH study has revealed that young drug users have brain damage usually seen only in the elderly.
Kimberley grog patrols on rise
KIMBERLEY police have ramped up sly grogging patrols after an increase in people bypassing alcohol bans in the region.
Boy, 11, shot in hunting accident
A BOY was flown to a Perth hospital yesterday after being shot by a friend in a duck hunting mishap on a farm near Cranbrook, 330km southeast of Perth.
Boy, 13, charged over car versus house
A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has been charged with reckless driving and failing to stop for police after a car crashed into a southern suburbs house.
Ambo patient jumps . . . requires ambulance
A MAN who leapt from an ambulance and dashed across the Mitchell Fwy has suffered internal injuries and a broken leg, after being hit by an oncoming
Tasmania
Search for trio missing on rafting tripA SEARCH is underway for three people who have failed to return from a rafting trip on Tasmania's Mers
=== Comments ===
Gingrich's Take on What's Behind Democrats' DoldrumsThis is a rush transcript from "On the Record," Sept. 3, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
JAMIE COLBY, FOX NEWS GUEST HOST: The mid-term elections, as you know, are less than 60 days away. And a brand-new Fox News Dynamic -- Opinion Dynamics poll, as we call them -- it shows 46 percent of registered voters would vote for a Republican candidate in their district while only 37 percent would choose a Democrat, if the election were held today.
Well, our own Greta asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich why, without knowing who the candidate would be, voters right now favor his party.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Mr. Speaker, nice to see you, sir.
NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Good to see you.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, we're hearing an awful lot about these polls. They're looking grimmer and grimmer and grimmer for the Democrats all the time, which I'm sure doesn't disappoint you immensely. But what is going on with this enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans?
GINGRICH: Well, I think part of it is the job-killing nature of the way the Democrats have handled the economy and the fact that the unemployment numbers have been so consistently bad. And part of it is that the radicalism of the Obama team and Pelosi and Reid has, in a strange way, depressed their side and truly aroused both independents and Republicans in a that you couldn't have predicted -- you know, when Obama came in, nobody would have predicted that they would be in the mood they're in after -- coming up on Labor Day, this weekend. And I think that...
VAN SUSTEREN: Where'd it go, though? I mean -- I mean, all the crowds and the enthusiasm, I mean, even their own base doesn't seem to be, like, you know, excited or -- I mean, where -- where's the Democratic enthusiasm?
GINGRICH: Seen by most Americans this is the most radical administration of modern times. And I think that that has actually split the Democratic Party. I think a substantial number of Democrats -- you know, in a poll this week in Ohio, 11 percent Democrats would have preferred George W. Bush to Obama as president. Now, that may not sound like much, but it was almost four times the number of Republicans who wanted Obama rather than Bush. And that kind of beginning to see their own party fall apart, on top of the independents deserting them while they've solidify the Republicans, I think means that this November will probably be very difficult for the Democrats.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLBY: Well, while Democrats must sway their base and beyond in the mid-terms, will they have Newt Gingrich to contend with, as well, in two more years? More of Greta's interview with the former House Speaker. That's later in the hour.
==========================================================
COLBY: Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista are the co-hosts of the documentary "Nine Days that Changed the World." You can buy it at Gingrichproduction.com. And more of Greta's interview now with the former House speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAN SUSTEREN: Compare and contrast President Obama with former Democratic President Bill Clinton and former Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Who is he more like and why?
GINGRICH: He's much more like Jimmy Carter.
VAN SUSTEREN: Why?
GINGRICH: Bill Clinton you could agree with his policies, disagree with his policies. You could think at times he was awe scoundrel. But he was always likeable. He was always campaigning. And he was very effective with people. The number of conservatives who met him somewhere and said he was just likeable.
Obama doesn't have -- I thought Peggy Noonan actually wrote a column that captured this. He doesn't seem to have the kind of personality that allows normal Americans to get the rhythm of who he is. And that's why you have these weird things about him. "Newsweek" magazine tried to make fun of him on its cover this week.
But the fact is large parts of the United States cannot identify with President Obama, even though as candidate they thought he was terrific.
VAN SUSTEREN: He was so charismatic as a candidate he could draw huge crowds like things we've never seen before, and enormously exciting for the nation.
And now it feels the oxygen is sucked out of the room of the Democratic Party, and he is the leader. Maybe it is the economic policies not achieving that which he hoped for, but it certainly seems rather -- it doesn't seem exciting and challenging and let's make the world go better.
GINGRICH: I think it is a little like the week when he feast on behalf of Ramadan at the White House and he gave his speech. And he took this very bold, courageous position on the mosque at ground zero. And by the next afternoon he reversed his position. While he thought they had right to build, he really didn't think they should.
He sounded a little bit like John Kerry. People look at that and they go, as president, if you are going take a bold, courageous position think it through and don't flinch.
VAN SUSTEREN: The first one was thought out. It was a statement made at a dinner. The second was after everybody lambasted him the next morning, and then it was a political response, saying I never said they should. I merely said they had a constitutional right to do it.
GINGRICH: It made him look foolish, because that suggests the controversy, I'm not picking on this one example, you can take the BP oil disaster as another example, again and again what find is the president starts to say something that sounds really one way then suddenly pivots and says something that blocks or confuses the whole thing.
For example, for the first two weeks of the BP oil disaster, the White House kept saying this is BP's problem. It turned out that in 1991, after the Exxon-Valdez, and I was the Republican whip at the time, we passed a law that said all these problems are the Coast Guard's problem, and the president as commander in chief has a direct responsible.
And after about two weeks of saying this is BP's problem, the White House began saying we are deeply engaged. People could see the difference in those two responses.
VAN SUSTEREN: The reason I ask is because the economy is so much a product of people's enthusiasm to want to go out and expand, to buy, to feel inspired, to spend, build, and be creative. There's something hanging over the nation where you are scared, frightened, you're worried, you hang on tight, and that hurts the economy. So the psychological impact of the leadership does matter.
GINGRICH: Callista and I were at dinner this week. Two entrepreneurs walked up to us and said we each have enough money in the bank that we could expand our businesses. One is a very successful restaurant operator who has three locations he could expand to. The other is a person who has a factory that employees about 400 and he could add another 100.
And they both said we want to talk to you because we are not going to add a single job while Obama is in the White House because every time you turn around there are taxes. And then he wants to raise our taxes, he wants to raise the cost of health care, raise the amount of regulation.
They said, wait a second, why would iris being my money to try to create a bigger business to hire more people if the Obama administration is going to make it so expensive that I don't make money.
VAN SUSTEREN: Which is why he has to change the mood around and go back to that excitement that he generated with the elec. "The Hill" newspaper refers to you, are you ready for this, they have a picture of you called "The Hot Celeb" in Italy. Did you know that?
GINGRICH: They were referring to Callista. That was not about me. It was a cute picture, we had a great two weeks in Italy. And this very nice couple came up to us. And it's really weird. Now you live in this age of these iPhone cameras and cell phone cameras where people say can I have a picture and you say sure. The next thing they've sent their relatives who posted it on Facebook.
VAN SUSTEREN: And now you are a hot celeb. There you go.
Some other things the "Des Moines Register," September 1st, says the author and conservative commentator, that's you, says he is more seriously weighing a presidential bid than he was four years ago, and he's mentioned as a prospect. And they're going back to Iowa. I ask you this all the time. Why don't you admit you are running? (more at the link)
===
STABILITY DAWNS
Tim Blair
Ten things that are less unstable than an anticipated Labor-Greens-Independents government:
• The Middle East
• Matthew Newton
• New Zealand’s south island
• BP shares
• Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul volcano
• Surviving associates of Carl Williams
• US vice-president Joe Biden
• Pakistan’s Test cricket team
• Ammonium chlorate
• The NRL
===
AT LEAST IT WAS APPROPRIATE FOR THE SPORT
Tim Blair
Twitter trouble for Stephanie Rice.
UPDATE. Appalled Sunrise hostette Melissa Doyle just asked: “Would anyone in this room say that if their team won?” In my case, obviously not. As a Collingwood supporter, I’d go with something stronger.
===
ARF AND LAUGH
Tim Blair
Everyone needs a hobby:
Bob Hawke’s wife and biographer Blanche D’Alpuget is a member of a spiritual group that encourages its followers to bark like dogs and laugh uncontrollably.Good Lord. It sounds as though she’s joined the Tim Allen Appreciation Society.
===
SOLIDARITY BREACHED
Tim Blair
Left-leaning lawyer Legal Eagle confesses to climate scepticism – or, more precisely, climate agnosticism:
When someone says the words “climate sceptic”, the instant stereotype which springs to most people’s minds is that of a right-wing Holocaust-denying lunatic who is immune to reason. And I assure you, I am none of those things. But once you “out” yourself as a sceptic, you get tarred with that brush. I worry that my colleagues, my friends and my students might judge me …The filthy denialist expands on her obvious fascism during an Insight appearance this Tuesday. She’ll be the one reclining on a bean bag full of poley bear paws and fluffy petro-dollars. Her fellow leftists are already outraged, particularly gentle Philomena:
It really annoys me that I should feel scared to express my opinion. I strongly believe that progressive people should be able to raise doubts without being accused of being tantamount to Holocaust deniers, without being ostracised by their neighbours, without having someone spit in their coffee and without feeling scared that they will be labeled as a fascist.
There’s always a certain brutishness and coarseness to climate sceptics or agnostics, I think. Can anyone name one such person – with evidence – who has ever otherwise shown the slightest sense of inter species empathy or identification that does not involve forms of selfish bodily self-gratification.I do not know what that means. James Delingpole makes more sense:
It’s time we woke up to the threat posed by this mass brainwashing of the younger generation. We worry, rightly, about those Muslim children who are being indoctrinated with the extreme Wahaabist version of their faith. Yet we seem astonishingly complacent that every day, in schools of every kind throughout the Western world, our children are being taught by well-meaning teachers to view their world and culture through exactly the same anti-capitalist, anti-human, anti-growth eyes as James Lee and the Unabomber.Just so long as it doesn’t involve forms of selfish bodily self-gratification. Because that would be coarse. Incidentally, I know one reasonably high-profile leftist type who is deeply sceptical about climate change. Won’t say anything about it, though. Too scared.
The modern environmental movement is not kind, caring or gentle. It is a series of ticking time bombs waiting to blow up in our face.
===
EGG KICKED
Tim Blair
Following the Pakistan betting disgrace, another sports scandal in England:
A member of the failed London 21/7 suicide bombing gang threw a tantrum when he came second in a prison sports day egg and spoon race, it has emerged.Maybe he’s better suited to a less-stressful game of poisonous bananas.
Convicted terrorist Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, 37, was competing at the high security Wakefield jail in northwestern England when he was beaten to first place by Rangzieb Ahmed, 34 …
Infuriated by Ahmed’s narrow victory, Asiedu kicked his hard-boiled egg around the exercise yard before stamping on it …
===
Cricket’s shame deepens - as does Pakistan’s
Andrew Bolt
How come the ICC couldn’t find out what reporters can?
===
The rise of the greenshirts
Andrew Bolt
In a post below, I wonder again: what is it with the Left and violence? P. Gosselin says the indoctrination of the young greenshirt suggests the violence is no accident:
Greenpeace is known for breaking the law, trespassing, putting other people at risk, and chaining its members to drilling platforms to protest and, more importantly, to reap the capital of publicity. That’s one thing – but it’s quite another to recruit, psychologically manipulate, and exploit a child for the purpose waging psychological war on people who have different opinions. Greenpeace is ratcheting up the level of violence.The parallels are striking:
In the video (above), posted by a reader at WUWT, Greenpeace instrumentalizes a hooded young boy as a propaganda pawn. The boy’s anger is clearly visible as he threatens and intimidates people with generational conflict. His expressions are militant, like those we see on tapes of crazed Islamic radicals released to publicize their threats. This is the new level of violence, directed and produced by Greenpeace.
No pediatricians in their right minds would condone such a use (misuse) of children. The boy is likely damaged behaviorally and socially because of it. Greenpeace needs to reflect on what it has done.
The child has been fed a diet of radical, angry and intolerant ideology; he makes his thinly veiled threats as prompted by his adult instructors. It’s possible the child is only acting out the part, so it’s not so bad – some will claim. But what has it taught him? That anger, intolerance and intimidation are power?
Oh, how eagerly does the eco-warrior fall for the old fascist lure, a communal goal so glitteringly noble that puny individuals who oppose it may be treated as evil and deserving of their fate:
===Go on, Tracey, attack Rachael, too
Andrew Bolt
Will A Current Affair have the hide to attack Rachel Taylor as it did me for making the same criticism last week?It appears heartbroken Australian actress Rachael Taylor may have forgiven her one-time great love Matthew Newton for his violent attack on her in Rome - but it’s unlikely she will ever forgive Bert and Patti for telling the world about his psychological problems.
The distressed actress has told friends she was astounded that Bert and Patti went on national television to tell the world about Matthew’s history of mental instability - without his knowledge or permission.
“She feels Matthew’s very public family life - from birth and not of his choosing - is the key to his anger issues," one of Rachael’s closest friends told Woman’s Day in an exclusive interview.
===
Going off their offsets
Andrew Bolt
Another measure of the decline of global warming alarmism:
More than 90 per cent of passengers who book online through Qantas and Jetstar decline to offset their carbon emissions…(Thanks to reader Joel.)
The percentage of people taking up offsets on Jetstar drops to between four per cent and five per cent on long flights and sits in the six per cent to 6.5 per cent range on trans-Tasman flights.
Overall figures at Jetstar have also fallen back from more than 10 per cent since it began its offset scheme in 2007.
===
Ads that click
Andrew Bolt
How big are advertisements in creating our culture?
Thanks to Target’s latest ad we - well, I - discover Katie Herzig, who’s turned a children’s song into something more universal:
Here’s the song as a child might have first heard it. And as Herzig has recorded it (better sound that the clip above).
Then there’s the latest VB ad, which tells us plenty about where we are now in defining masculinity - or in struggling to:
And, yes, that’s Neil Diamond, three decades after his heyday.
===
Any day now he’ll be charged like a Christian
Andrew Bolt
Of course, he will be investigated soon and - if the allegation is true - charged with incitement to violence, surely:
A CONTROVERSIAL Australian Muslim preacher, Feiz Mohammad, has refused to comment on reports he called for the beheading of the Dutch anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders, as Muslim leaders in Sydney condemned his comments.And still freely preaching, while Christians are hauled up on far-fetched allegations of hate-preaching, sometimes thanks in part to plots by discrimination commissars?
Sheikh Feiz yesterday declined to confirm or deny to the Herald that he made the threat that anyone who ‘’mocks, laughs or degrades Islam’’ like Mr Wilders should be executed ‘’by chopping off his head’’ in a speech at a sermon in Campbelltown last week.
However, senior Muslim sources said there was some doubt whether the speech, which has been posted on the internet, was made in Sydney or in Malaysia several years ago…
Sheik Feiz was investigated after the discovery of DVDs of his sermons in which he urged children to become holy warriors and made derogatory comments about Jews.
He was also condemned for a speech in Bankstown in 2005 when he said a rape victim had no one to blame but herself for wearing ‘’satanic skirts’’.
Sheik Feiz left Australia later that year and has spent the intervening years living and studying in Malaysia and Lebanon. He is believed to have returned to Australia this year.
Meanwhile, a refresher on the views of the Sheik:
===
A crime against the landscape, too
Andrew Bolt
The real scandal is that some of the most beautifully rugged and historic countryside I’ve seen is befouled by these huge monstrosities:
But for all their promises of a clean, green future, Italy’s windfarms have now acquired a somewhat dirtier whiff - as the latest industry to be infiltrated by the country’s mobsters.When governments willingly pay too much for nothing, it’s actually hard to distinguished the crooks from the honest.
Attracted by the prospect of generous grants designed to boost the use of alternative energies, the so-called “eco Mafia” has begun fraudulently creaming off millions of euros from both the Italian government and the European Union.
And nowhere has the industry’s reputation become more tarnished than Sicily, where windmills now dot the horizon in Mafia strongholds like Corleone, the town better known as the setting for the Godfather films.
“Nothing earns more than a wind farm,” said Edoardo Zanchini, an environmental campaigner who has investigated Mafia infiltration of the industry…
In Italy, for example, power from wind farms is sold at a guaranteed rate of €180 per kwh – the highest rate in the world.
UPDATE
A reader corrects:
I suspect it should read 180Euro/Mwh - some might say a factor of 1000 is close enough for most global warming and green energy predictions. See by comparison, for most of Europe, domestic electricity price is 9 pUK or 10.5 cEuro per kwh, while industrial price is about half that.(Thanks to reader Gillard Must Go.)
===
Death by iPod
Andrew Bolt
Music to die for:
DEATH by iPod is being blamed as a contributing factor to the 25 per cent rise in the number of pedestrian fatalities in NSW.
The ‘’iPod zombie trance’’ people get into when walking, driving or pedalling around listening to their mobile devices is being blamed for an increase in collisions and even deaths in Europe and the US.
The issue has been highlighted in Sydney by the death of a 46-year-old Glebe woman reportedly wearing headphones when she was knocked down and killed by an ambulance on Saturday night…
Although the number of people killed on NSW roads so far this calendar year has dropped, pedestrian deaths have climbed by 25 per cent to 53, compared to 44 for the same period last year.
===
How long does it take an independent to say “Labor”?
Andrew Bolt
Why stop when you’re having fun?:
Mr Katter is expected to declare his decision today, but Tony Windsor said he might not make a decision until tomorrow while Rob Oakeshott said he may need until Wednesday.Bob Katter is reportedly getting tetchy with his fellow independents, who are taking an extraordinarily long time to decide which side would be best for their constituents:
Mr Katter was hoping to make his decision public late yesterday and was said to be getting frustrated by his colleagues’ delay.As I’ve said for most of the past two weeks, Oakeshott and Windsor in particular seem to be simply looking for an excuse to follow their personal Leftist leanings against the strongly conservative inclinations of their rural constituents:
THE Coalition is increasingly pessimistic about its chances of winning the support of the three rural independents it needs to take power…Another sign:
Coalition sources worry about the fact that issues such as its broadband policy to counter Labor’s NBN and Treasury’s costing of the Coalition’s election promises were only briefly canvassed in the meetings, leaving them concerned the independents were “going through the the motions . . . It would seem they have not nearly negotiated and discussed and exchanged documents and all those sorts of things with us, like they have with Labor,” one Coalition source told The Australian.
Another senior shadow minister told the Herald Sun he believed at least two of the three rural independents had decided to support Labor.Katter reveals who is doing some of the negotiation for Labor, in a kind of leadship role:
“I’m not optimistic,” the shadow cabinet minister said.
”They come and we have these congenial meetings, and then two hours later they go out and raise issues of concern that haven’t even been discussed. And you think ‘We’re being played off a break here’.”
I’ve been meeting with people morning, noon and night—it’s no secret that I’ve spent two whole nights at Kevin Rudd’s, on one of them Martin Ferguson was there…We’re in for a lot of cant if these sensible comments from Liberal MP Warren Entsch are now deplored as unhelpful:
Even Therese has been there. But I have been quite genuinely surprised at the intensity of [Mr Rudd].
He’s urged the Opposition Leader not to make false promises in return for power…UPDATE
“I would rather that Tony do what is achievable and what is best for the country, rather than what is best for individuals...”
Mr Entsch appeared to resent Mr Abbott’s offer of a $1 billion new hospital for Hobart, in a failed bid last week to win the support of independent MP Andrew Wilkie.... “We’ve got a bloody hospital here (in Cairns) that’s an absolute disaster—it’s one of the worst in the country.”
Mr Wilkie, who won the seat of Denison from Labor, rejected Mr Abbott’s offer, opting for Labor’s offer of a $350 million hospital upgrade, plus two extra personal staff.
“What annoys me is how he is going to get two extra staff for 14,000 constituents,” Mr Entsch said. “I’ve got four staff for 87,000 people and have got an area 150,000sq km—three or four times the size of Tasmania and his piddling little electorate.”
In remarks that could scuttle Mr Abbott’s delicate negotiations with the independents for their support to form a minority government, Mr Entsch launched an attack on Bob Katter…
Mr Entsch said rural Australia would “blame Bob” if he backed a Labor government… “They’ve got to put aside their personal hatreds of individuals within the National Party,” he said.
When the independents’ “new paradigm” of democracy involves taking the best part of three weeks simply to decide who won the election, how long will it now take to decide anything else?
===
On nailing that “just made a mistake” excuse
Andrew Bolt
The background:
U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson had awarded at least 23 scholarships since 2005 in violation of Congressional Black Caucus Foundation eligibility rules.Hear the rorter fall to bits under Anderson Cooper’s questioning:
The scholarships benefited four of Johnson’s family members and two children of a top aide in her office.
The nine-term Dallas Democrat chaired the Congressional Black Caucus in 2002 and served on the caucus foundation board from 2002 to 2005. The foundation, a nonprofit entity, provides scholarships to needy students in members’ congressional districts. The scholarships are not intended for relatives or students outside of an office holder’s district.
The last line is eerily familiar:
I’m gonna move forward.
===
Flooded by the rains they said had gone
Andrew Bolt
An updated flood warning for the river the Victorian Government refused to dam, claiming “we cannot rely on this kind of rainfall”:
Stream rises from rainfall in the upper parts of the Mitchell catchment are continuing, leading to areas of minor to moderate flooding in the Mitchell River catchmentUPDATE
Reader Jon Crow asks:
Any truth to the story that the floodings in Pakistan were the work of suicide plumbers?
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On Bush’s clarity
Andrew Bolt
Tony Blair on the leadership of George W. Bush:
Ms Amanpour read a section of Blair’s new memoir entitled A Journey in which the former prime minister wrote: “George W. Bush was very smart. He had an immense simplicity in how he saw the world. Right or wrong, it led to decisive leadership.”UPDATE
In response, Mr Blair said: “Yes, it did. And I think, you know, it’s easy to mock that simplicity. And it’s easy to ignore the strength that sometimes comes with that.”
Again I ask, what is it with the Left and violence? Even when they protest against war, they can’t stop being warlike.
And in Ireland as it is in Australia, the universities are the last refuge of the tenured communist:
“Tony Blair is a war criminal,” said the University College Dublin sociology lecturer, a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party.
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