=== Todays Toon ===
Brother, can you spare a paradigm? Something to believe in ..=== Bible Quote ===
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”- 1 Peter 3:8=== Headlines ===
Boehner, McConnell Not on Same Page Over Tax Cuts?
House Minority Leader John Boehner may have opened a window to a compromise with the White House on Bush-era tax cuts, but Mitch McConnell says no such deal is in the works in the Senate.
Parents Sue Catholic School Over Vaccines
Couple sues New York Catholic high school over its refusal to allow their teen son to enroll without state-required vaccinations, claiming immunizations are a 'violation of God's supreme authority'
'Underwear Bomber' To Be Own Lawyer
Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up an international flight near Detroit on Christmas Day tells a federal judge he wants to represent himself in court
Imam: Mosque Site Not 'Hallowed Ground'
The imam leading the effort to build an Islamic community center and mosque blocks from Ground Zero says there is a 'misperception' among critics that the proposed site is sacred ground
Breaking News
MELBOURNE police will question a man about a number of sexual assaults after his arrest for indecently touching a 13-year-old girl at Flinders Street train station.
'Illegal sperm bank run from basement'
TWO British men made a profit by illegally running a website that made sperm available to women who want to conceive, prosecutors allege.
Girl dies after being left in car at church
A THREE-year-old girl died after being left in a car while her family went to church services.
Government axes 2011 Queen's Speech
BRITAIN'S coalition government was accused of riding roughshod over political tradition when it emerged that there will be no Queen’s Speech until 2012 - making next year the first for more than half a century without a formal State Opening of Parliament.
UN diplomat apologises for boozy speech
THE most senior Chinese official at the United Nations has made a personal apology to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for an alcohol fuelled rant at the UN leader.
Farmer fined for growing excess vegies
AN AMERICAN farmer was facing up to $5000 in fines after officials cited him for growing too many vegetables on his property.
Oprah gives audience a trip to Australia
TALK show host kicks off final season by giving studio audience and crew a ten-day trip to Australia.
Police catch alligator near school crossing
SHERIFF'S deputies were forced to lasso a 2.3 metre alligator Monday as it ambled toward a school crossing in western Florida.
Survivors found in Venezuela plane crash
PLANE carrying 47 people crashed shortly after take off, with officials confirming some people had survived.
UK mother kept babies' bodies in closet
WOMAN admits to concealing births of four stillborn babies and keeping remains for 20 years.
NSW/ACT
Stolen keys open door to crimeNEARLY 100 sets of keys that give graffiti vandals unlimited access to our rail network have been lost or stolen by RailCorp employees.
Students spell out HSC problems
HSC students have slammed the English curriculum, saying it isn't relevant to their lives and should no longer be compulsory.
Man charged over club shooting
A MAN was charged last night with firearm offences after allegedly firing three shots into a club with links to John Ibrahim.
Motorists cheat in demerit pass
MOTORISTS are treating demerit points for as a joke, trading them off with others to avoid losing their licence, research shows.
Rescuers unite to save woman
THESE men formed an extraordinary alliance to save the life of a young woman whose car was shunted off the road and into a river
Petrol to fall to $1 per litre
MOTORISTS could be paying as little as $1 a litre for petrol by the end of the week, experts predicted after recent volatile changes.
It's the Oprah House in Sydney
IT'S as if it was destined to happen. Oprah is coming to Sydney, hosting a show from the landmark that almost bears her name.
40km/h is a mission impossible
SPEED limits of 40km/h in Sydney's CBD? It would be nice if we could go that fast. But we really can't.
Tegan's father felt 'trapped' by Lane
THE man Keli Lane claims fathered baby Tegan reacted badly to news she was pregnant, court hears.
Ex-Sea Eagle to fight sex charges
WITH his girlfriend by his side, Brett Stewart reaffirmed his fight against sexual assault charges as he prepared to face a jury.
Queensland
Machete thugs rob Ipswich clubAN IPSWICH sporting club was robbed last night and police are looking for two men who allegedly stole cash from the venue.
Tzvetkoff bailed from US jail
FAILED Australian businessman Daniel Tzvetkoff has been secretly released on bail from a New York remand centre.
Gold Coast man joins world's strongest
MAN-mountain Warrick Brant, who weighs 155kg, is the only Australian invited to compete at this week's World's Strongest Man competition in South Africa.
Law change a legacy of teen's death
THE mother of a teenager bashed to death by her jealous boyfriend has applauded changes to the law that will prevent killers from using verbal provocation as a defence.
Sunshine Coast fights for new runway
SUNSHINE Coast Council has vowed to "redouble" efforts to secure $122 million in federal funding for a new runway at its regional airport.
QR National sizes up iron ore
AS QR National counts down to its sharemarket float in about two months, the rail freight group is quietly expanding into the lucrative Western Australia iron ore market.
Council rubs out graffiti mural
BRISBANE'S anti-graffiti squad has been accused of illegally entering private property to paint over a commissioned mural by a world-renowned street artist.
Petrol price heads for $1 a litre
DISCOUNTED petrol is headed down to $1 a litre as a stronger Australian dollar and increasing competition puts pressure on pump prices.
Commuters snubbing go-cards
THOUSANDS of the southeast's public transport users are still clinging to paper tickets three months before they are phased out.
I'll be sacked, says Koran smoker
A BRISBANE lawyer and atheist who posted video on YouTube showing him burning pages from the Koran and the Bible then smoking them reckons he's going to lose his job
Victoria
Remand over Flinders St assaultA MAN charged over an indecent assault at Flinders St Station may be responsible for a spate of attacks.
Two quizzed over killing
Two Altona Meadows men were questioned over the shooting in Techno Park in Williamstown North yesterday.
Store owner's pregnancy predictions
REVATI Kulkarni uses curry to lure customers into her shop for her pregnancy predictions which she says are 95 percent accurate.
'Malthouse deserves a flag'
FOOTY legend Lou Richards has issued a heartfelt plea to his beloved Collingwood in its bid for the flag: "Do it for me."
Flood's litle Joy
A NEWBORN foal is finding her feet after losing her mum and almost her life in the big wet.
'I want to be best martyr'
A MAN accused of plotting a terrorist attack on an army base said he wanted to be the best martyr on Earth, a jury heard.
Victim's family stunned
A DEVASTATED family slammed the justice system after a judge deleted sections of their victim impact statements.
Don't let him out
THE thug who beat Daniel Valerio to death in one of Australia's worst child abuse cases will apply for his freedom tomorrow.
Deadly attack plan 'to advance Islam'
FIVE men planned a NSW army base attack to further the cause of Islam by killing as many people as possible, a court heard today.
Police fear violence from fugitive
POLICE believe a fugitive linked to a death plot at a Gatto wedding has been using a fatsuit to disguise his identity.
Northern Territory
Three metre croc rams boat full of womenGIANT crocodile leaves "battle scars" on boat after attacking it during a fishing competition.
South Australia
Police wrong call murder bungleTHE family of murdered Callington woman Pirjo Kemppainen will never have justice because her call for help to the police assistance line was ignored.
Razor gang's blow loses edge
A SERIES of "very ugly and seriously unpalatable" spending cuts recommended by a razor gang for Thursday's state Budget have been rejected by the Government.
State teacher brain drain
NEARLY a third of the state's public school teachers aged 45-plus will retire within five years, raising concerns schools will face grave staff shortages, particularly in country areas.
Northern Expressway open for business
THE Northern Expressway will open to traffic from 3.30pm this afternoon.
Pair in serious condition after car crash
A FATHER and his daughter are in hospital with life-threatening head injuries after their car collided with a wide load semi-trailer near Goolwa.
Drug lab sparks house fire
AN EARLY morning house fire at West Richmond might have been started by a clandestine drug laboratory.
Western Australia
Knifeman terrorises shop staffPOLICE are searching for a would-be thief who used a knife to terrorise a female shop assistant in Kallaroo yesterday.
Krakouer wins Sandover Medal
SWAN Districts midfielder Andrew Krakouer has taken out the WAFL's most prestigious individual award, the Sandover Medal, to mark an outstanding return to football.
Ten puts faith in reality and revamped news
THREE home-made reality shows and a revamped news format will form part of Network Ten's 2011 programming line-up.
Corruption watchdog slammed after death
WA'S corruption watchdog should be suspended and its "show trials" stopped following the suicide of a witness, former premier says.
Badly decomposed body found in Broome
TWO fishermen have discovered a badly decomposed body among mangroves in Broome in the state's Kimberley region.
Police seek crash witnesses
MAJOR Crash officers are appealing for witnesses to a serious crash in City Beach yesterday.
'Extinct' frogs released in South-West
SIXTY critically endangered white-bellied frogs have been released into the Witchcliffe area, where the species has become locally extinct.
Police investigate Collie shooting
SOUTH-WEST detectives are investigating a shooting in Collie overnight.
Woman dies in fiery crash
POLICE are investigating a crash in which a 60-year-old woman died on the Kwinana Freeway at Bertram yesterday afternoon.
Hospitals strike hits surgery
ELECTIVE surgery is set to be disrupted at WA public hospitals as thousands of support workers including cleaners and orderlies take industrial action.
Tasmania
Nothing new=== Journalists Corner ===
Join us at an exciting event, Burma and the Media: Amplifying Voices for Democracy, on September 16, 2010.Sponsored by the Nobel Women's Initiative and the Paley Center for Media, the event will feature prominent speakers including Nobel Peace Laureates, Burmese and international journalists, filmmakers, and human rights activists. The speakers will lead a compelling discussion on the impact of social and global media on Burma's democracy movement.
The event will also introduce This is My Witness: Women of Burma Break the Silence, a short documentary on the recent International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women of Burma.Check out for event details below. Forward this event information to your friends and family, and let them know.
Tickets are on sale for $10 for members of the Paley Center for Media and $15 for non-members. Click here to buy the tickets.
This is a don't-miss event. I hope you are able to attend.
Event Details:
When: Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 7:00 - 8:30 pmWhere: The Paley Center for Media, 25 West 52nd Street, New York, NY (click here for map)
Tickets: $10 for members of the Paley Center for Media, $15 for non-members
Panelists include Jody Williams (Nobel Peace Laureate, 1997), Lway Aye Naing (Women's League of Burma), Annie Sundberg (Producer and Director of Burma Soldier), and Khin May Zaw (Radio Free Asia).
Pat Mitchell, President and CEO of the Paley Center for Media, will moderate the discussion on how the global and social media are transforming Burma's democracy movement.
Nobel Peace Laureates Shin Ebadi (2003) and Mairead Maguire (1976) will introduce the documentary film, This is My Witness.
For more inforamtion, visit Nobel Women's Initiaive or the Paley Cente for Media, or check out Facebook Event Page.
LIVE at Pensacola, Florida CourthouseThe Obamacare Battle! Greta's LIVE on scene at the Pensacola, Florida courthouse with special interviews and coverage. States around the country make their case against the federal law ... as this critical event unfolds Greta has the latest. It's special two day coverage.
===
Save a State!
Hear about one man's effort to save Arizona. Plus, Bernie Goldberg, Brit Hume, Juan Williams and Mary Katharine Ham are here!
===
Tony Blair Speaks Out!
It's an inside look at one of Britain's most dominant political figures. Don't miss this special interview with Tony Blair. Then, these Young Guns are FIRED UP! The new generation of GOPers reveal plans to get their party back on top.
===
On Fox News Insider
McDonalds: No More Dollar Menu?Step 1-2-3-4: NYC Dancer Shares Ballet Basics
Clinton vs. Obama in 2012?
It's Alive! Hurricane Ignor Makes Its Way Towards Land
VOTE NOW: Would You Renew the Bush Tax Cuts?
=== Comments ===
The Downside of FreedomBY BILL O'REILLY
The Taliban in Afghanistan are whipping up Muslim fanatics, telling them that evil America wants to burn the Koran all over the place. And these zombies believe that because they want to believe it. So, they're running around protesting, even though they don't know what the deuce is going on.
It's incredible that one loon in Florida can cause so much damage by threatening to burn the Koran. The guy's not going to do it, but just the dog and pony show puts our troops in danger, as President Obama well knows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is in the age of the Internet, something that can cause us profound damage around the world. And so, we've got to take it seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And the president is correct. Muslim fanatics are running this Koran deal all day long. So what can the president do? Some commentators apparently believe he can prevent the loon from insulting the Koran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MORNING JOE", MSNBC)
PAT BUCHANAN, MSNBC ANALYST: If this pastor has not stepped down from what he's going to do, I think the president of the United States as commander and chief, who's responsible for the security of those troops and who sent them over and put them in harm's danger, he should put a stop to this. This should not go forward. If the pastor has not, by tomorrow, Saturday, September 11th, if he has not stood down, frankly, I would have U.S. marshals or the FBI arrest him and take him into custody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
But is that legal? Fox News analyzed various presidential powers. And the sad truth is Mr. Obama cannot stop that hateful man. There is no law that allows him to do it.
If the guy does indeed burns the Koran, local authorities may find an ordinance that he violates, but Mr. Obama cannot intervene under the First Amendment.
So once again, we have a clash of civilizations. The Muslim world is largely run by dictators. They have no rights over there. Burn the Koran, lose your life. And many Muslims don't understand our Constitution. Even some who do, hate us for our freedom.
This has been going on since the founding of America. We have always run up against political systems different from our own and despots who despise us because we are a free people.
Before 9/11, the USA had nothing against Muslims. We didn't start the war on terror. They did. And now one lone American nut, one, is likely to cause even more people to die at the hands of crazy jihadists.
"Talking Points" knows there is no defeating insanity. You just hope you can contain it. The guy in Florida is a nut. Muslim jihadists are out of their minds. And we, unfortunately, are threatened by them.
===
How Are We Going to Put Americans Back to Work?
By James P. Pinkerton
OK, nearly one in ten American workers is unemployed. The jobless rate, to be exact, is 9.6 percent; that’s the highest level in 27 years. Indeed, if unemployment stays above nine percent for another four months, that will mean the longest spell of nine-percent-plus unemployment since 1941. President Obama’s much touted “recovery summer,” in other words, seems destined to join “prosperity is just around the corner” in the forlorn annals of misplaced presidential optimism.
So how will we put America back to work? Where will the new jobs come from? Those are serious questions in America today. After all, whenever corporate outsourcers hear the words, “good jobs at good wages,” they ask themselves: Could those good jobs be done for “bad wages” overseas?
Let’s review three categories of jobs for the 21st century, and see how they stack up--because one day, we’re going to have a president who is serious about reducing unemployment.
The first category is “green jobs”-- you know, the jobs touted by Obama and his ex-aide, Van Jones. We don’t hear so much from Jones anymore, but as the president himself said in June 2010, “The transition to clean energy has the potential to grow our economy and create millions of jobs.” Well, sure it does--the potential is there, even if the reality is much trickier. After all, it was this administration that made it possible for 79 percent of “stimulus” money for wind-energy projects to end up overseas, employing foreigners. OK, that was 2009. Could we say that perhaps the Obama administration has learned anything since about funding domestic jobs--as opposed to foreign jobs?
Well, not really. As The Washington Post reports, some 200 workers at the GE lightbulb factory in Winchester, Va., are losing their jobs, thanks to Green legislation.
How so? Back in 2007, one of the first actions of the newly elected Democratic Congress was to pass requirements effectively prohibiting the familiar incandescent light bulb by 2014, in favor of the new energy-saving compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. But as The Post put it, the legislation had “unintended consequences, because the new bulbs could be made cheaper in China: “Rather than setting off a boom in the U.S. manufacture of replacement lights, the leading replacement lights are compact fluorescents, or CFLs, which are made almost entirely overseas, mostly in China.” Oops. And yet of course, it never seems to have occurred to the Obama administration, nor Congress, to change the 2007 law. “Green” by itself, it would seem, is much more important to top Democrats than “green jobs.”
As one Winchester plant worker told The Post, “Everybody's jumping on the green bandwagon. . . . We’ve been sold out.” Even more perversely, the CFL bulbs are dangerous. As Scientific American magazine--not in any way a right-wing publication--explains, the mercury inside the fragile bulbs is “highly toxic . . . especially harmful to the brains of both fetuses and children.” So we can also see that “green” is also more important than “health.”
So now we can see the full idiocy of the new policy: Uncle Sam passed a rule shutting down American factories, so that we can spend good money importing billions of little “hazmat” globes from China. And the Obamans see nothing wrong with this picture.
But if Democrats are kidding themselves--and us--about the reality of “green jobs,” others are also in denial about future sources of employment. Let’s take high-tech as a second possible source. We might consider this headline in The New York Times: “Once a Dynamo, the Tech Sector Is Slow to Hire.” Uh oh.
For years, both parties have put their emphasis on high-tech jobs in cool industries such as information technology (IT). Yes, it’s fun to think about Google and Apple, but in reality, they are small fish, employment-wise. Google might be a $150 billion company, but it has just 20,000 employees, while the vast bulk of Apple employees--in the form of contractors, held at arm’s length from America (and from the EPA, OSHA, unions, etc.)--are over in China.
As The Times notes, high tech profits have been “soaring,” and yet those same companies have been “slow to hire, a sign of just how difficult it will be to address persistently high joblessness.” Indeed, domestic employment in such IT fields as data processing and software publishing has actually fallen. As The Times explains, the issue is offshoring and outsourcing to countries that not only pay lower wages but also might have superior skills: “Emerging economies have been harvesting their long-term investments in math and science education and attracting high-tech firms...to their shores.” Obviously it’s important, as a matter of national strategy, not to give up on high-tech computing jobs, but since the U.S. workforce is expanding by 1.5 million or so every year, we have to consider all possible avenues for pumping up employment.
So if not green jobs, and if maybe not IT, what’s left, job-wise? A third promising area is health care. Health care jobs are labor-intensive, few of them can be outsourced, and their number will naturally expand as the population ages; senior citizens, now 12 percent of the population, will be 19 percent of the population in just two decades. So job growth in the health care sector is inevitable--unless, as we might add, the government does something drastic to crimp it.
As Fortune magazine notes, “The number of registered nurses is expected to swell to 3.2 million by 2018, accounting for approximately 581,500 new jobs. . . . That's up from 2.6 million today, and it represents the largest overall growth projection out of all occupations in the U.S. economy.” Sounds pretty good.
But wait--the Obamans do indeed want to do something drastic to crimp health care, and thus to crimp health care employment: They want to shrink that sector, too. As the president said back in July 2009, he had two goals for Obamacare: To cover everybody and to reduce costs: “My bottom lines will remain: Does this bill cover all Americans? Does it drive down costs both in the public sector and the private sector?”
But how can that be? How can the health care sector be shrunk, even as demand is expanding?
Answer: It can’t. It won’t happen. The Obamans might wish to apply their British National Health Service-admiring, ration-everything, small-is-beautiful approach to yours and my health and medicine, but after the November elections, they won’t have the power to do it.
Indeed, the reality of the upward march of health care costs is obvious: As the headline in last Thursday’s Wall Street Journal: “Health Outlays Still Seen Rising.” So much for all the those Obamacare promises about “bending the curve” downward on health care costs. Continued cost-escalation might be bad from a fiscal point of view, but it’s good from an employment point of view, to say nothing of a health care point of view.
Right now, Americans agree, creating jobs and restarting the economy is a higher priority than reducing the deficit and debt. And people always care about their health, and the health of their loved ones, which is why, say, Medicare rarely takes so much as a nick.
Of course, some might argue that the real goal should be to deliver cures, not just health care, so that we can save money and have a healthier population. But let’s not hope for too much, all at once. First we have to get the Obama administration to stop poisoning us in the name of green jobs, and then we have to stop kidding ourselves about the millions of new jobs to be found in IT. We’ve dug ourselves into a pretty deep hole, here, and it will take a while to dig ourselves out. And as we have seen, one place to start is health care.
James P. Pinkerton is a writer, Fox News contributor and the editor/founder of SeriousMedicineStrategy.
===
Austan Goolsbee -- Spinning Like a Top
By John Lott
With President Obama's poor record on the economy, it isn't too surprising that he would want Mr. Austan Goolsbee to put a positive spin on the current economic conditions. Mr. Goolsbee, whose academic work was known for supposedly showing that increased tax rates didn't effect how hard people worked, has now been appointed as the head of the president's Council of Economic Advisors. But Goolsbee has become quite practiced for his ability to "spin" the news, not for his accuracy.
We got a taste of his talents when he made the rounds on the Sunday talk shows rounds yesterday. On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked Goolsbee how the total loss of 283,000 jobs during June, July, and August squared with the administration's predictions that this would be the "Summer of Recovery"?
Goolsbee answered by claiming that Vice President Biden never promised new jobs, only that many new stimulus projects would be launched: "the vice president was taking about the 'Summer of Recovery' in reference to the Recovery Act that you would see the creation of a series of infrastructure and other projects ramping up over the summer and you did see that."
But this is surely stretching the facts. On April 23, Vice President Biden predicted that between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs would be added in May and that "Some time in the next couple of months [June and July] we’re going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month."
And let's not forget Goolsbee's royal blunder that brought him to national attention. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he denied discussing then Senator Obama's position on the North American Free Trade Agreement with the Canadians. Yet, as it turned out, he had told Canadian diplomats that they could ignore Obama's anti-NAFTA rhetoric, that it was just blather told to win the support of Democratic primary voters. But he did not owe up to this when confronted, but baldly lied to the New York Observer: “It is a totally inaccurate story."
Only after Goolsbee had sworn multiple times that the incident never happened did the Associated Press discover a memo to prove that the meeting had taken place. The memo was written by Joseph DeMora, a Canadian consulate staffer, as a record of Goolsbee's February 8 meeting with a man named Georges Rioux, the Canadian Consul General in Chicago. Additionally, as Goolsbee had told the Canadians, Obama later disowned the promises he had made the voters on NAFTA.
It is also hard to forget Goolsbee's weird definition of "taxes" during the health care debate. He claimed that penalties that the administration planned to impose on those refusing to buy health insurance didn't really constitute a "tax." According to Goolsbee's logic, defending the administration, the penalty wasn't really a tax because if those without health insurance get hurt and require health care, costs are imposed on everyone else.
Of course, by Goolsbee's logic, gasoline taxes wouldn't really be taxes because people are using the roads. And our income taxes wouldn't really be taxes because we all are getting benefits from national defense or other government spending.
The administration has since disowned Goolsbee's argument as it searched for a way to argue that the levy is constitutional: as the government wants to argue that the health care mandate comes under its authority to levy taxes, it now argues that the penalty is indeed a "tax."
Then there was also Goolsbee's claims that then Senator Biden had never voiced opposition to the AIG bailout during the heat of the fall 2008 presidental campaign. "I have read [the transcript] . . . It was clear from the entire paragraph that Joe Biden was not saying that he was opposing a bailout," Goolsbee told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in September 2008. An astonished Blitzer thought that this went too far and interjected that "I watched it that [interview in the] morning. It was pretty clear that [Biden] opposed the bailout."
Nevertheless, Goolsbee refused to back down. But the truth of the matter is clear: Mr. Biden actually said in the interview: "No, I don't think they should be bailed out by the federal government. I'll tell you what we should do. We should try to correct the problems that caused this. And what's caused this? The profligate tax cuts to the very, very wealthy that John wants to continue."
The list continues. On Fox News Sunday on June 8, 2009, Goolsbee asserted: "Now, compared to the actual policies that George Bush had in place, what they call the current policy baseline, Obama is cutting the deficit more than $2 trillion over the 10 years compared with what he was inheriting." But this claim was too much even for the left-leaning New York Times to stomach: "Three-quarters of those ‘reductions' reflect assumptions that the nation would have had as many troops in Iraq in 10 years as it does now, even though President Bush signed an agreement with Baghdad before leaving office that will result in the withdrawal of all American forces within three years."
On the one year anniversary of the stimulus, in February, 2010, Goolsbee was interviewed by Fox News' Bill Hemmer. Unsurprisingly, he repeated the administration's spin, explaining away unexpected increases in unemployment. "What the administration and everyone else missed was the depth of the recession that was in place at the end of 2008 and at the beginning of 2009 when the president came into office," Goolsbee argued.
But this is fudging the truth since the Obama administration clearly was aware of how bad the GDP numbers were that fall. For instance, on February 28, 2009, after the 4th quarter 2008 numbers were publicly released, the Obama administration released estimates that "the 2009 unemployment rate would average 8.1 percent."
One of these days, we can only hope that some member of the media will ask Goolsbee to explain his many false and misleading statements (more examples, click here and here).
Alas, President Obama is more concerned about hiring somebody who can distort the truth than someone who actually supports good at economic policies. The Council of Economic Advisors deserves better.
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.
===
We Are Not a Nation of Bigots and We Are Not Filled With Hate But We ARE Under Attack
By Liz Peek
The New York Times, in its own special way, took the opportunity this weekend to lecture Americans on how they should remember the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Its lead editorial on September 11 had the following headline: “The Right Way to Remember.” In the editorial the newspaper rebukes those who “wallow in the intolerance and fear that have mushroomed across the nation.” They suggest that such fears are “fed by the kind of bigotry exhibited by the would-be book burner in Florida, and, sadly, nurtured by people in positions in real power, including prominent members of the Republican Party.”
To support this deeply offensive claim, they cite House Minority Leader John Boehner’s comments last week that just because Minister Terry Jones has the right to burn the Koran, doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.
Mr. Boehner drew a parallel between burning Islam’s holy book as an expression of outrage, and building a mosque near Ground Zero, describing both as wrong-headed acts. The Times takes issue with this; they say that in New York “a group of Muslims is trying to build something” while Mr. Jones is trying to “tear down more than two centuries of religious tolerance.”
To those on the left, demonizing those (especially Republicans) who oppose the controversial mosque makes perfect sense. To everybody else, it is grossly offensive, and also ignorant.
Americans are a proud people, and we don’t like being told that we are misbehaving. Especially about issues like religious tolerance, where we rightly congratulate ourselves on our tradition of welcoming strangers to our shores and respecting the traditions – religious and otherwise, with which they disembark.
As to our relations with Muslims, here and abroad, I would argue that Americans have shown enormous restraint. Over the past twenty-five years, we have been subject to countless attacks on our citizens and our military both here and overseas. Starting with the kidnapping of U.S. embassy workers in Tehran in 1979, and including attacks on U.S. citizens and soldiers in Beirut, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, on the Achille Lauro cruise ship, in Athens, West Berlin, on the doomed 747 over Lockerbie, the World Trade Center in 1993, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the USS Cole, and finally on 9/11, Americans have been wantonly killed and maimed by extremist Muslims.
Since 9/11, Al Qaeda has attacked our consulate in Karachi, our civilians in Saudi Arabia, our hotels in Jordan, and our embassy in Yemen. In addition, Al Qaeda has, of course, murdered hundreds of GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Closer to home, we have endured would-be shoe bombers, underwear bombers, and more tragically the crazed Ft. Hood murderer. We came close to another disaster in Times Square. Only our homeland security and NYC police have a handle on how many other assaults on American civilians have been prevented.
So, it is remarkable to me that Americans have continued to distinguish between extremist Muslims and those who live peacefully among us. Especially since, as was outlined in a recent report from the 9/11 Commission, it is clear that we are increasingly threatened by those living next door. Last year there were “10 U.S.-linked jihadi attacks…involving individuals traveling outside the country to receive terrorist training” while “at least 43 American citizens or legal residents aligned with militant groups were charged or convicted in terrorism cases in the U.S. and elsewhere in 2009,” The Times reports.
We are not a nation of bigots and we are not filled with hate. We are, though, increasingly under attack.
Make no mistake, eventually Americans will strike back. We will also turn on those who belittle this threat or defend those who pose it.
Instead of hand-wringing about some backlash against this rising extremism, our leaders would do well to buttress our defenses and call for the help of those Muslims who cherish peace. That apparently does not include Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. If he were interested in fostering good relations between Muslims and those of other religions, he would move the site of his proposed community center. Period.
Liz Peek is a financial columnist who writes for The Fiscal Times. She is a frequent contributor to Fox News Opinion. For more visit LizPeek.com.
===
ART REVIEWED
Tim Blair
• Melbourne, last April: council workers remove “a priceless stencil of a rat” from a city lane. The rat was the work of British graffiti artist Banksy.
• Brisbane, last week: the Graffiti Reduction Unit swoops on “a commissioned mural by a world-renowned street artist.” The artist, Anthony Lister, is said to be “livid”. Also unimpressed are “experienced aerosol artists Mikey and Sudsy”.
===
ALLIANCE NUKED
Tim Blair
Julia Gillard’s new government is yet to be sworn in, but we’ve already hit peak stability:
The Greens have threatened to use their historic alliance with Labor to stop billions of dollars of planned uranium projects from securing government approval, in the first sign of the party’s push for greater influence over government policy.Good luck, pal. Look at the dude you’re up against:
Greens nuclear spokesman Scott Ludlam told The Australian his party would use its new-found leverage to attempt to stop all new uranium mines, including those planned in the next few years by BHP Billiton and Canadian giant Cameco …
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson yesterday signalled the government would stand firm against the Greens on the issue.
Scott Ludlam’s hair stands firm yesterday
The Greens senator is joined in his nuclear opposition by Andrew Wilkie, a Tasmanian representative of no fixed ability. But let’s hear more from Ludlam, who apparently believes in minority tyranny:
Senator Ludlam said the Greens’ strong election result - and its Senate balance-of-power role from next July - had strengthened its push to ban uranium mining and stop a nuclear power industry emerging in Australia. “If the uranium industry is feeling nervous about the fact that 1.7 million Australians voted for that explicit position, then they should feel nervous,” he said.How about we vote on capital punishment, at which point Senator Ludlam might review his consideration of raw numbers. Hey, why not a vote on abolishing the Greens? It shouldn’t be difficult to scratch up more than 1.7 million in favour. The Greens industry might feel nervous. Interestingly, in 2007 Ludlam made the documentary Climate of Hope, which condemns fossil fuels and nuclear energy – and claims a direct causal relationship between human activity and Hurricane Katrina:
Ludlam seems a no energy kind of guy. Here’s his current Wikipedia portrait:
That’s the kind of shot you’ll get when the means to generate artificial light isn’t available. Nice fangs, senator. And the stability isn’t over yet:Prime Minister Julia Gillard has reinstated the position of Indigenous Health Minister after she faced criticism for scrapping the position.Noel Pearson warned only last week of Labor’s passive indifference. Perhaps Gillard simply forgot about indigenous health, just as she forgot a role for Kate Ellis:
The Federal Government listed Indigenous health as a major priority after it delivered the apology to the Stolen Generations.
When Ms Gillard unveiled her new team on Saturday, Indigenous leaders were disappointed that the position appeared to have been dropped.
BARRIE CASSIDY: And there’s one portfolio missing. We no longer have a minister advising the Prime Minister on the status of women. I guess that’s redundant is it?Ponder for a moment a job that is at the same time done by Kate Ellis and is “not redundant”.
JULIA GILLARD: (Laughs) No, that’s not redundant and Kate Ellis will do that job. That was omitted from yesterday’s list.
UPDATE. Canberra chaos continues:
Julia Gillard has made a fourth change to her ministerial list before her team is even sworn in.Keep bringing the stability, Julia.
===
MARTYR MATHS
Tim Blair
An acute virgin shortage looms. And, for once, not just in Australia.
===
THE FARM
Tim Blair
Splashing through the flooded surrounds of his Wimmera farm on the weekend, my uncle Alan noted: “Haven’t heard much from Tim Flannery lately.”
We made up for Flannery’s silence with the rowdy wedding of cousin Matthew and his bride Grace, judged by general acclaim to be the most beautiful woman yet to marry into our family. Moreover, Grace means that our family’s imposing global footprint now extends to Singapore. I mentioned this to another uncle, Norman, who revealed that we also have a substantial presence in Papua New Guinea. Apparently a PNG delegation arrived at a family reunion some years ago, bearing mighty afros that are still spoken of to this day.
This is my mother’s side of the family we’re talking about. She was one of eleven children raised on a farm in Victoria’s remote north-west, where towns eventually became so small by the early 1970s that three were combined in order to field a football team. Few expected the various farms run by my grandparents and his children to last even until then, considering the region’s unfriendly soil and frequent droughts. “I think we’ve proved them wrong,” said Norman, now in his 80s and still in the same farmhouse he built in 1958.
Norman’s wife Evelyn, who trained as a nurse with my mother, cooks with the same wood stove she’s used for 52 years. Twenty feet away, using his laptop and Google, Norman explores the extent of recent flooding. Advances are adopted as they’re proven.
(Speaking of floods, Norman maintains rainfall records for the area that go back to the 1870s. They are, as younger family members might say, awesome. Differences between the graph for 1875-1885 and the last ten years are almost undetectable. Horribly, one of the worst droughts hit in 1938, just prior to Australia joining the war.)
Back to the wedding. At the reception, you could find people from Asia to Texas, from Italy to Darwin. The one thing we all had in common, besides a love for Matthew and Grace, is that none of us would have been there but for that first isolated farm and the creative and liberty-minded folk it loosed upon the world.
That original family farmhouse, built by my grandfather, is still maintained with extraordinary care by my uncle Neville and aunt Moira. To me, and to many others, it’s the most important place on earth.
===
BALL SPINS AND WINS
Tim Blair
Poor blunder keeper Khalid Askri:
===
FLY THE KEVNI SKIES
Tim Blair
A reward for Rudd:
Kevin Rudd will leave for the United States on Friday for his first overseas trip as foreign minister, the Prime Minister’s office has announced.Guess the redacted comments:
The former prime minister will visit Washington and New York, returning on September 25.
Mr Rudd will meet senior Obama administration officials.
“This visit underlines the very high priority that the government places on … … … … … … …,” the statement says.
a - ... keeping Kevin Rudd out of Australia as often as possible;
b - ... continuing Kevin Rudd’s astonishing record of associating with winners;
c - ... its relations with the United States, Australia’s key strategic partner.
Will Kevin be taking any of his long-term staffers with him? Oh, that’s right; he doesn’t have any. They all tend to quit after a few months for some reason. In other Stability Now! developments, Julia Gillard’s government has also lost the services of Chris Barrett, Matthew Coghlan, Ruth Kearon, Laura Ryan, John Olenich, Renee Viellaris, Simon Every, David Garner, Ben Sakker Kelly, Joy Kyriacou, Felix Eldridge, David Fredericks, Sarah Adams, Matt Levey, Corri McKenzie, Kate Sieper and Leanne Budd.
(Via Tab)
UPDATE. P-ting! Our newly-enlarged former PM is down to his last button:
The slenderising effects of a New York diet should return him to fighting weight again in no time.(Via Currency Lad)
===
PLUM BOKO
Tim Blair
“They covered a different rally, and called those people us.” Jennifer Booth on the media’s treatment of this weekend’s Ground Zero mosque protest. Meanwhile, an Islamic gang currently menacing Nigeria goes by an absolutely perfect name:
The attack yesterday by the Boko Haram sect left the prison in ruins and showed the group had access to the sophisticated weapons. Now the group seeking to impose strict Islamic law on Nigeria may want to take on the government directly, potentially bring a new wave of violence to Africa’s most populous nation.Pretty much all of your violent Islamic sects are boko haram, if you ask me.
No comments:
Post a Comment