===Todays Toon ===
OUR VIOLATED DEMOCRACY
I DON'T NEED TO SAY ANYTHING, THIS DRAWING SAYS IT ALL FROM ME AS FAR AS MY FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS ARE ABOUT THIS ILLEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT. - ZEG - It is going to get much worse in the short term. I have posted an open letter to the two independents. Will they get it? - ed=== Bible Quote ===
“I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”- Psalm 121:1-2=== Headlines ===
U.S. Poverty on Track to Post Record Gain on Obama's Watch
The number of people in the U.S. who are in poverty is on track for a record increase on President Obama's watch, with the ranks of working-age poor approaching 1960s levels that led to the national war on poverty.9/11 Remembered Amid Controversy
As family members of Sept. 11 victims remember loved ones on the ninth anniversary of the attacks, they avoid acknowledging several hundred activists holding dueling rallies over proposed Islamic center blocks from Ground Zero
Death Toll Rises in Pipeline Blast Horror
Search crews find the remains of two more people killed in the suburban San Francisco blast that destroyed nearly 40 homes, raising the death toll to six
Police: Gunman Kills 5, Himself in Kentucky
Officials say a 47-year-old Kentucky man fatally shot five people and then himself, while a relative says the shootings happened after an argument between the gunman and his wife over how she cooked his eggs
Breaking News
Search continues for missing fishermanPOLICE continue to hold out hope for a 21-year-old English crewman who went missing from a commercial fishing vessel on Friday.
Murder investigation as dad, daughter die
A PAIR believed to be father and daughter were found with serious injuries that later claimed their lives.
Trapped Chile miners get cigarettes
THE 33 men trapped deep inside a northern Chilean mine have been given permission to smoke.
Man burns Koran pages at mosque site
PROTESTER escorted away from NY mosque site after tearing apart a Koran and burning some of the pages.
Coppola wins Golden Lion for Somewhere
US director Sofia Coppola today won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Somewhere.
Christians rip pages from Koran
A SMALL Christian group tore a few pages from a Koran in a protest outside the White House today.
Dueling protests over New York mosque
DUELING protests have taken place near the site of a controversial proposed mosque two blocks from Ground Zero.
Up to 10 dead in gas pipeline blast
UP to 10 people are feared dead from a gas pipeline blast and another 16 have suffered burns.
Man chasing wheelie bin rescued in seas
A MAN, 81, was rescued in a dinghy after trying to bring back a washed away rubbish bin.
Kramer sued for 'beating photographer'
A PHOTOGRAPHER files lawsuit against former TV star Michael Richards, claiming the actor assaulted him.
NSW/ACT
Inquiry into motorbike safetyA 28 PER cent rise in the number of motorcyclists killed in the past decade has prompted an inquiry into motorbike safety.
Julia Gillard rewards the plotters
JULIA Gillard has appeased Kevin Rudd and put her stamp on the government. The cabinet.
Pitt Street is hot property
CALL it the price of being in a global city, but Sydney's Pitt Street Mall now rivals Fifth Avenue.
A magic roads trick
THE Keneally Government shaved millions off critical road upgrades before Treasurer Eric Roozendaal delivered the budget.
No bus tickets leave us stranded
SYDNEY commuters are being left stranded as convenience stores and newsagents are selling out of tickets.
The daddy daycarers
THESE young men are pioneers in child care, one of the few professions dominated by women.
Crews' last steps retraced by cops
DETECTIVES investigating the death of Constable Bill Crews have re-enacted the shooting at the crime scene. Send tributes.
Adler back in business
RODNEY Adler is back in business three years after being released from jail, telling companies how to avoid corporate crime.
Bad boy hair cut ban at clubs
SYDNEY nightclubs are turning away people with certain hairstyles or bad attitudes to stop violence.
Queensland
Onus of proof falls on defendantJEALOUS ex-lovers will no longer be able to claim provocation as an excuse for criminal behaviour under new Criminal Code amendments.
Woman's body found in river
THE body of a woman was found in the Karalee Reach of the Brisbane River near Ipswich on Saturday evening, police say.
Cheergirls drink-spiking claim
TWO Broncos cheerleaders were taken to hospital after suspicions their drinks had been spiked at a hotel where some of the players were drinking.
State Labor staffers told to behave
ANNA Bligh's ministerial advisers have been forced to learn how to behave properly after a harassment claim over behaviour at a post-parliament booze-up.
Energy drinks risk for kids
PRIMARY school children are risking serious heart damage by sculling caffeine-packed energy drinks for breakfast, doctors warn. What do you think?
Push for panic button in cabs
RAPE support bodies are urging the Queensland taxi industry to install panic buttons after several reports of sexual assault in the past few months.
`Archbishop' sorry for medals
A SELF-styled religious leader has apologised for wearing false military medals on his church regalia after being confronted by RSL members.
Visa win for HIV refugee
AN HIV-positive African woman who masqueraded as someone else to enter Australia on a refugee visa can stay and get $250,000 taxpayer-funded treatment.
Hospital workers feared mad cow
HEALTH workers at a Brisbane hospital feared being exposed to mad cow disease after a woman was admitted with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) earlier this month.
Wally out of his league
HE might be The King of the football field, but Wally Lewis discovered he is no waterskier on a trip to the Sunshine Coast with his son Lincoln.
Victoria
Man lying on road struck by carPOLICE are investigating an apparent hit-run death in Dandenong last night.
Train club pedophiles
A MELBOURNE train club popular with children has become embroiled in a legal row over allegations it is soft on pedophiles.
Race to halt river flooding Echuca
UPDATE 9:29am: SOLDIERS will continue to lay more than 10,000 sandbags in Echuca today as the town prepares for flooding.
D-day for Vic voters
TAXPAYERS will learn this week whether they will have to pay for a by-election for the state seat of Ivanhoe, vacated by Craig Langdon.
Rapist threat for ex wife
A SEX fiend given a second chance to stay in Australia was hit with an intervention order to stop stalking his former wife.
Water recedes, clean-up begins
IN Cambridge St, Creswick, residents are slowly drying out. The water of last week's floods has receded, as clean-up efforts continue.
Parents return for Britt
THE Britt Lapthorne investigation is all but closed as her family prepares to return to Croatia for the second anniversary of her death.
Are our politicians fit to govern?
WHICH side of politics is fit to govern? The exercise and eating habits of Victorian politicians have been revealed in a survey.
Safety fears over popular 4WDs
SAFETY fears have been raised about some of the most popular four-wheel-drive vehicles on Victorian roads.
Northern Territory
Ford-shaped UFO drives woman off roadWOMAN claims she was cut off by alien hoons in UFO that "looked like a Ford station wagon".
South Australia
Mr Measday, a school saviourFOR a school scheduled to close three years ago due to falling enrolments, Keithcot Farm School is thriving.
Family packs a punch
FOUR robbers who terrorised a Flinders Park family in their home have learnt a painful lesson - never hassle the "Hoffs".
Cost of living to rocket by $600
HOUSEHOLDERS will have to find up to $600 more to meet soaring energy and water bills next year.
Housing Trust tenants' debt rises $6m
THE amount of money Housing Trust tenants owe the State Government has blown out to almost $20 million - a 40 per cent jump in just two years.
SACE's easy ride for a place at uni
EASIER subjects will be enough to get Year 12 students into university under sweeping changes to the SA Certificate of Education system from next yesr.
Late millionaire's grandson only has $1.20
THE grandson of the late millionaire Allan Scott has been hit with a $418,000 damages bill after almost killing a motorist in a car accident six years ago.
Bikies feud set to get worse
A CROSS-border feud between rival Christian motorcycle club bikies in SA and Victoria is worsening, with claims an upcoming "war meeting" will soon lead to "bloodshed".
A Show that just had it all
WILD weather, sudden blackouts, mystery vapours, a stolen chihuahua - this year's Royal Adelaide Show had it all, and then some.
Home grants, buses in Budget
THURSDAY'S State Budget will include several "good news" items - including a fleet of new school buses with seatbelts and a bonus for first home buyers.
Woman's bloodied body found at home
POLICE have swarmed the small town of Callington after a 63-year-old woman was found dead last night.
Western Australia
Banned medico relied on prayersA WA doctor has been banned from medicine after trying to heal patients using Christian prayers.
Older teens 'hunt' girls for sex
POLICE and teachers have grave concerns about an emerging youth phenomenon dubbed 'juvie hunting', where older teenage boys groom younger girls for sex.
Wayne's world of ugly words
FASHION bad boy Wayne Cooper was up to his old tricks in Perth on Friday night, turning heads at a Perth Fashion Festival event.
70 complaints against school
A WA school is at the centre of a litany of complaints, including claims a senior staff member threatened to hit a student over the head with a chair.
Cheap cars 'huge safety risk'
YOUNG drivers are risking their lives by buying second-hand cars for as little as $100 at police auctions of impounded cars, according to the RAC.
$1m mine fight fund
A WAR chest that could top $1 million is being raised by the community group fighting a proposed coalmine in Margaret River.
WA theatre opening needs Depp charge
A-LIST stars including Johnny Depp should be invited to the official opening of WA's new State Theatre Centre, according to the Opposition - but the State Government says it has not sent invitations to Hollywood.
Ellenbrook shares 15m cake
HUNDREDS of families turned out to Ellenbrook's family fun day today to celebrate the community's 15th birthday.
Police blitz Perth trouble spots
MORE than 130 people were arrested during an overnight blitz on alcohol-fuelled violence in Perth's entertainment trouble spots.
Teen crashes fleeing booze bus
AN 18-year-old man crashed this car outside The Sunday Times office on Stirling St early today while allegedly trying to avoid a random breath test.
Tasmania
Nothing new=== Comments ===
ALP caught in trap of its own making by two ratsPiers Akerman
THE Australian Labor Party has been vilifying rats in its ranks for almost as long as it has existed. Now it must swallow its distaste and welcome two whom it relies on for power.
As former powerbroker Graham Richardson has said: “It’s a tough ask; no one likes rats.”
On all the available evidence (and there’s plenty), there’s no doubt the former National Party members Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott are genuine members of the genus rattus politicus.
The more youthful members of the Canberra press gallery may still be a little amused by Oakeshott’s truly bizarre speech patterns and wary of wannabe sage Windsor.
But both are political kin to the much-maligned Mal Colston, a rat who felt the full wrath of Labor and its media fellow travellers when he left the ALP, critically affecting its Senate numbers after the Howard government was elected in 1996.
Colston, a Queensland senator, did not support the Howard government’s industrial legislation, but he did back the sale of one-third of Telstra and remained a target for Labor enmity until his death from cancer in 2003.The late Clyde Cameron, another former Labor politician, writing of Labor’s rats, said all of them were “the victims of flattery and stupidity rather than venality”.
That description may apply to Oakeshott, but not Windsor, whose loathing of the National Party goes back more than 20 years to a perceived slight triggered by his failure to win preselection for the NSW federal seat of Gwydir.
A member of that preselection panel says Windsor came a poor fourth in a field of about 10, but later turned on a performance in a bar, accusing the preselectors of being part of a put-up job.
Faith And Duty: The John Anderson Story, a biography by Paul Gallagher, is instructive. It says Windsor believed the former National Party leader had rolled him for the Gwydir preselection after Ralph Hunt’s decision to retire.
Anderson is quoted saying: “From day one, he (Windsor) was incredibly bitter. He attacked me (verbally) in the club afterwards. Ralph Hunt and a lot of other delegates saw it.
“And that’s the real reason Tony Windsor did not (later) win pre-selection in (the State seat of) Tamworth. The public had never seen it, but those who did see it saw it up close and didn’t like it.”
Windsor later won the Nationals’ pre-selection for Tamworth.
But he was stripped of his preselection by party chiefs.
He then went on to win as an independent in 1991.
In 2001, Windsor won the federal seat of New England, again as an independent. His first public act of revenge came three years later, just before a federal election, when he lashed out, accusing local businessman Greg Maguire of offering him an inducement on behalf of two National Party MPs, Anderson and Senator Sandy Macdonald.
He claimed, first to a supplicant media, then to the Federal Police, that Maguire, who was involved in developing an equine sports facility and was seeking federal funds, had suggested Windsor step aside in his seat in return for a diplomatic appointment.The principal witnesses were Windsor’s campaign chairman, Stephen Hall, and his campaign secretary, Helen Tickle, neither of whom could explicitly say Maguire had ever said he was acting on instructions from Anderson or Macdonald.The businessman flatly denied the claim. Neither MP was in a position to offer Windsor a diplomatic post, nor was Liberal senator Bill Heffernan, who was dragged into the affair.
Maguire wasn’t a member of the National Party and had no authority to offer anything on behalf of anyone in the Coalition.
The alleged post was never specified and, after a long police inquiry and a Senate committee investigation, it all came to nought.
Nothing was ever found to implicate any of the Nationals or Liberals (including John Howard), but Windsor’s allegations did dazzle some members of the media at a critical time in the election campaign and distracted attention from the Coalition’s message, as he might have hoped.Tellingly, Windsor never repeated his more outrageous claims outside the protection of Parliament House, that great coward’s castle, and so avoided a defamation writ from an outraged Anderson.
Oakeshott’s betrayal of his former party is a lot simpler. It could almost be written off as the act of a na adive young fool, except that he believes he is a political genius.
When Oakeshott delivered his maiden speech in 1997, he believed he was headed for political stardom.
He had work experience with the same John Anderson whom Windsor would try to destroy, he had been recommended by Anderson to work in National Party leader Mark Vaile’s office, and he gave every impression of being a loyal party member.
“I’m a passionate member of the National Party,” he said. “I believe the party is the main party recognising and representing the interests of non-metropolitan NSW.
“I’m very aware of the proud history and tradition the National Party brings to this chamber.
“The National Party will always represent traditional rural issues and family values. The main constituency for the National Party is quickly becoming regional small business ... I’m pleased to be part of a National Party future vision.”
He said that, far from being a wrecker, he wished to work towards strengthening the relationship between the National and Liberal parties, and he thanked his Liberal colleagues for their assistance during the Port Macquarie campaign.
Fair dinkum, you’d think he meant it back then.
But today, he and Windsor know they owe their thanks to the union movement and Labor for political support, and they will rely on the Left for their political survival.
Windsor is likely to leave at the next election, having had his moment of treacherous glory. Another NSW independent, parliamentary Speaker Richard Torbay, is already being groomed for the seat and is making the usual ambiguous, mealy-mouthed remarks independents make.
Oakeshott, typically, can’t make up his mind. He doesn’t know whether he can convince his constituents that he has ignored them for a yet-to-be-seen and history-defying brighter (Left) future.
Small wonder that rats are always looking nervous. - The ALP are always out to exterminate rats. Disloyalty in their system is worse than division. The people may still vote for a dysfunctional ALP, which is divided from the top down and through and through, but the party leadership cannot condone disloyalty within its own ranks. Hence fallen genius like Latham have no career to return to. Former alumni like Unsworth must toe the party line to maintain their own position, even though they were abysmal parliamentarians who achieved nothing worthwhile when they were in power.
Thing is, These two will not be supported by the ALP, who will chew them up and spit them out. Neither will they be supported by their constituents they betrayed next election. So in these terms the parliament will ‘move forward.’ Gillard will not be keen to look back. Already there is structural failure looming with Rudd on the foreign affairs ticket. Rudd is still a pawn of the Chinese government and a betrayer of Falun Gong whom he promised much in ‘07. Now Falun Gong have set their cap on the Greens, because the Greens promised more than the Liberal party could deliver. The Liberal party had tried to be fair in power, but were snookered by China, and so Falun Gong threw a tizzy when the Greens promised they would do more for them. But now Rudd is foreign minister and the Greens are just suits full of promises. Falun Gong has over a 100 million members who won’t be happy with the betrayal.
So Gillard has a non performer of Rudd on her front bench, and Greens promising what they won’t deliver and the two independents wanting more than the ALP will be able to give. The structure will crumble soon. But the structure is held together by fear. They don’t know what will happen to the NSW ALP, but they don’t think it will be good. So they will stay together out of fear until the end of the NSW election, then they will point the finger at the incoming conservative government and hope the MSM will line up behind them.
In order to counter the tactic, the conservatives have to maintain a united message, and it has to be a positive one. Australia will still have a future, even though the ALP is tearing down the economy to pay its creditors. We need to work to our future .. and a campaign to build dams, and the Bradfield scheme is the kind of cohesive policy which might underpin the prosecution for a successful conservative agenda. - ed.
===
Nine Years Later, Remembering Is Only the Beginning of What We're Called to Do
By Peter Johnson Jr.
September 11, 2001 --the sunniest day that felt as long as a year of darkness. A few days later as I gave a eulogy for my friend the fire chaplain, Father Mychal Judge. I looked down at the first pew and I saw former President Bill Clinton wiping away tears. As I invoked faith and sacrifice I silently questioned...both. As I touched the coffin I prayed: Mike, we’ll meet again. Others never had the privilege of touching a coffin or seeing a loved one in repose.
For months after streets of New York, the halls of the Pentagon and the fields of Pennsylvania were soaked by the tears of a nation as fathers, brothers, family and friends silently searched for loved ones at a burial place ignominiously named Ground Zero—right across this harbor. Grief stricken inch by grief stricken inch of pulverized dreams with a strand of DNA as the only link to a treasured past.
Nine years later, today, we all understand faith and sacrifice more than ever imagined we could. Hints of that sacrifice were heard as I spoke in the Church of St. Francis, as firefighters and police officers in dust-drenched bunker gear and jumpsuits muffled newly acquired coughs.
You see the Ground Zero dust was cancer. And just like the souls of the faithful departed who sought heaven as they flew from windows above this harbor and their brothers and sisters who rushed into the burning towers to salvage a life their fate was also sealed on that day. Now they die day by day in a slow motion replay of 9/11 free fall. They die with our gratitude but mostly without our attention.
So above all on this day we honor the dead and the living and the sick, innocents all, of every color, of every faith, of every station. On this day they have our gratitude and our attention and our prayers.
Those who have loved and lost, served and died here, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville and in Iraq and Afghanistan are people we aspire to be associated with.
But the association brings with it deep, daily obligation.
Remembering is only the beginning. Duty is in the doing. Service is in the serving. And the best indicator of the state of our nation is not the iconic design of a memorial or the brilliant rhetoric of a politician’s September 11th dutiful remarks to tearful survivors. It’s how we respond to national challenge.
Do we answer the call to service? Do we treasure the romance of duty? Do we demand the necessity of honor? We do and we have and we will.
So when we look across this harbor in the shadow of the lady statue we call Liberty, we can truthfully say to the friends we knew, and the friends we never had a chance meet, that the call has been answered, the romance embraced and the honor affirmed.
New York City rises today as does this nation. Soon a sky that was once filled with ash and sacrifice and pain and desperation will become a sky full of dreams and aspirations and achievement and obligations met. The lives we lost now transformed into a nation’s better angels who fly above us, who define our unique and exceptional and indomitable American consciousness and our character.
I said to my friend Michael and to others I lost on that day, that we’d meet again. I have faith we’ll run into Michael and all our friends in a park called Liberty, facing a waterfront lined with opportunity and a skyline called Freedom built with the very painful bricks of their sacrifice.
Peter Johnson Jr. is an attorney and Fox News contributor.
No comments:
Post a Comment