Headlines Wednesday 8th September 2010

=== Todays Toon ===

Whatever it takes, and it doesn't have to benefit Australia. That is the ALP way. They lost the popular vote, the primary vote and had a fewer number of seats in parliament. - ed.

=== Bible Quote ===

“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”- Colossians 1:28

=== Headlines ===

End of a Dynasty — Open Door for Rahm?
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says he will not seek re-election after more than 20 years in office, a decision that could pave the way for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to make a run for the seat.

Iranian Woman Gets 99 Lashes, Faces Stoning
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani flogged over misidentified photo — and the Iranian mother of two could be executed by stoning at 'any moment' in adultery case, lawyer says

Odds Improving for GOP House Takeover
New wave of polls showing voter discontent with Democrats and Obama also spotlights growing doubts that either can fix the economy, pointing to a repeat of the 1994 Republican Revolution

More Schools Nixing Mondays to Save $$$
Faced with massive budget cuts and teacher layoffs, schools across the country are turning to a four-day week to ease the burden of operational costs

Breaking News

Oakeshott not worried about losing seat
INDEPENDENT MP Rob Oakeshott, who helped keep Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the top job, says he is not worried about losing his own lower house seat.

US stocks fall on debt worries
US stocks have closed lower following new worries about Europe's debt problems.

Man to face court after baby abducted
A MAN will appear in court after a nine-week-old baby was allegedly taken from a southern NSW home.

Man stabbed in car jack attempt
A MAN is in hospital after being stabbed in the stomach during an attempted car jacking in Sydney's southwest.

Obama in 9/11 service at Pentagon
US President Barack Obama will commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by attending a memorial service at the Pentagon, the White House said overnight.

Men arrested for eating during Ramadan
TWO Algerian men face up to two years in jail after they were arrested for allegedly eating in the middle of the day during the holy month of Ramadan.

Jacko 'love child' seeks inheritance
A WOMAN who claimed to be Michael Jackson’s love child and was seeking a share of his inheritance and custody of the late singer’s three children had her case thrown out by a LA judge.

French workers stage mass protest
MORE than a million French workers took to the streets overnight to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age to 62, the centrepiece of his reform agenda.

World's 'smallest' man tours Big Apple
A NEPALESE teenager set to be declared the planet's smallest person got the big star treatment on Tuesday on a tour of New York.

Russia lays claim to sunken treasures
RUSSIA has laid claim to Catherine II's collection of precious objects found in a 1771 shipwreck near the Finnish coast, the president of Russia's cultural heritage foundation says. Read more…

NSW/ACT

Man stabbed in car jacking attempt
A MAN is in hospital after being stabbed in the stomach during an attempted car jacking in Sydney's south-west.

United to fight evil of alcohol
OPERATION Unite will target drink-related crime, on Friday and over the weekend. Thousands of police officers will be rostered on.

Three men 'raped teen friend'
THREE young men allegedly raped a 17-year-old female friend in a park while another watched on, following a booze-fuelled night out.

Emma's a demon on a dirt bike
WOMEN have found many ways to break through the glass ceiling but none quite like Emma McFerran, the first female Crusty Demon.

Charges laid over death of toddler
A MAN has been charged with murder and sexual assault after a toddler died from head injuries in the state's west.

Officers on point duty hit by car
A STINT on traffic duty nearly cost two women police officers their lives when a malfunctioning traffic signal sparked a catastrophy.

Lane 'not fit to be parent'
A JURY saw the interview Keli Lane gave - the first time police asked her where is baby Tegan.

Teen's ski trip ended in death
IT was to have been a fun-filled morning of skiing at Charlotte Pass teenager Evan Greenwood.

Conscience vote called on surrogacy
SURROGACY laws will be introduced into NSW, giving people rights as parents when someone has a child on their behalf.

Two NRL games in spotlight
TWO NRL games in the past month are among those identified as having suspicious betting activity.

Queensland

Baseball bat hoons in carjacking
TWO men wielding baseball bats have run a Subaru WRX off the road, thrown the driver out of the car and sped away in it.

Car plunges into suburban pool
A PREGNANT woman and her son are lucky to have escaped serious injury after their car plunged into a suburban pool at Kenmore.

Man, 94, attacked in his home
A 94-YEAR-old man has sustained facial injuries after he was attacked in his home during an apparent robbery attempt.

Road out of Birdsville reopened
CAMPERS are packing up and a convoy of four wheel drives is crawling out of Birdsville after police reopened one of the three main roads to the town.

Bligh: I botched sales pitch
ANNA Bligh has admitted her Government should have been more "upfront" with Queenslanders about asset sales but has vowed she will not back down.

Union defends swimming cop
THE Police Union has panned an investigation into an off-duty officer who went for a swim in the Brisbane River during Riverfire on Saturday night.

Police continue search for swimmer
POLICE will continue searching for a man who went missing while attempting to cross the Dawson River near Baralaba, west of Gladstone, last night.

Unseasonal gift boosts bumper crop
GRAIN growers and graziers are in for a bumper summer, thanks to rain that has given parts of central Queensland their heaviest September falls in 79 years.

New fight over Colston estate
A SON of the late senator Mal Colston has lodged an appeal against a Supreme Court judge's decision blocking his bid to remove the executor of his parents' estates.

Two lanes on Bruce Highway closed
TWO lanes of the Bruce Highway, about 5km north of at Cardwell in north Queensland, remain closed after a truck fire this morning.

Victoria

Floods threaten up to 600 homes
HUNDREDS of homes have been isolated by floods and could be inundated as the swollen Broken and Goulburn rivers converge.

Man dies in Bittern car crash
UPDATE 7.10am: POLICE have been told a man killed in a car crash in last night was driving erratically just minutes before the tragedy.

Hotline to dob in drunk thugs
A NEW dob-in-a-thug campaign is the latest police weapon in the war on club and pub violence.

Charities 'failed' children at risk
CHARITIES sabotaged a review of child protection policies to ensure their Government cash wasn't trimmed, a report claims.

This heart beats for the Magpies
A YEAR ago at The 'G, the Saints didn't just kill Collingwood. They almost killed Craigieburn pensioner Clive Morris.

Don't forget Vics, Julia
VICTORIA must receive its fair share of a $10 billion infrastructure package for regional Australia, farmers insist.

Locals take jet ski ride to check mail
HORSHAM may still be on high alert, but that hasn't stopped fun loving locals finding a few new ways to relax.

Bravehearts free to fly balloons
CHILD protection group Bravehearts can fly its white balloons as it likes after a judge overturned an earlier ban on their use.

Govt to bulldoze 25 homes for trains
THE State Government will take over 25 houses in Footscray as part of its Regional Rail Link project.

Opposition pledges $130m bypass
THE state opposition has pledged to build a $130 million bypass to take trucks off roads if elected in November.

Northern Territory

Baby thrower acquitted and discharged
A WOMAN who threw her baby on to a concrete floor did not have the mental capacity to know how dangerous it was.

South Australia

Search for swimmer called off
POLICE have called off the search for a man heard calling for help from the water off Henley Beach South.

Independents back broadband
REGIONAL independents have given the green light for the country's $43 billion national broadband network to return to rollout mode.

Fears over gas leak
EMERGENCY services crews are responding to reports of a large gas leak on Payneham Rd, Joslin.

1000 homes in insulation breach
THE Office of Business and Consumer Affairs is investigating how homes had insulation installed through a State Government green home initiative gone wrong.

Our Parklands' gastronomic secrets
LATE at night, when the rain is falling, Ayhan Erkoc grabs a torch, a bucket and heads to the parklands to collect food for his new city restaurant, Celsius.

Facebook users get lower grades
AN INTERNATIONAL study has backed parents who fear that their teenagers' grades are suffering because of social media.

Call to halt local government elections
OUTSPOKEN Burnside councillor Jim Jacobsen has called for the looming local government election to be delayed until the resolution of a State Government inquiry.

Western Australia

WA adoption apology an Australian first
WESTERN Australia will become the first state to apologise to women, children and families affected by its past adoption practices.

Major shake-up for our schools
DOZENS of schools across WA will work together and be overseen by "network principals" under the Government's second phase of education reforms.

Internet child sex predator jailed
A MAN has been jailed after grooming a fictitious 12-year-old child for sex over the internet last year.

PMH thief spared prison
A WOMAN who stole more than $186,000 while working in the canteen at Perth's Princess Margaret Hospital has been given an 18-month prison sentence - suspended for two years.

Dutch crime reporter fined $200
THE Dutch crime reporter arrested while trying to question a WA man he alleges is linked to a murder in Honduras has been fined for ignoring a police 'move-on' notice.

Teens questioned over crime spree
POLICE are questioning three teenagers after an alleged crime spree across Perth's inner east last night.

Barnett may stop coal mine
THE Barnett government is considering special legislation to stop a coal mine being built in the world-class Margaret River wine region.

Green groups battle gas plan
GREEN groups fighting Woodside's $30 billion gas project in the Kimberley hope to overturn a decision to allow the proponents to clear 25ha.

Tasmania

Nothing new

=== Journalists Corner ===

The Rise of Freedom
It's the day America changed forever ... Years later, a scar remains, but Ground Zero is finally giving way. Now, through exclusive interviews and unprecedented access, Shepard Smith reveals the people, the plans, and the passion to rebuild!
===
Bill's Back!
The summer's over and it's an all new season of 'The Factor'! Dick Morris, Dennis Miller, Bernie Goldberg, Juan Williams and Mary Katharine Ham are all here!
===

On Fox News Insider

New Petition to Stop Iranian Woman From Being Stoned to Death
FL Church to Burn Koran; Petraeus Says it will Pose Danger to Troops
Tracking Your Children With GPS?

=== Comments ===

Independents use weak arguments to back Labor
Piers Akerman
Australia has been left with a weak Gillard Labor government after Independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott threw their two votes behind the ALP, giving Ms Gillard a one-seat majority in the parliament, 76 votes to 74. - Both the Hawke and Mr Howard governments barely scraped through their first terms, and had long lasting governments. This result is worse for conservatives than it looks. Many of those who voted against the ALP, or left their votes blank, may now feel they have ‘punished’ the ALP and don’t need to do so again. It has not been widely discussed why the ALP needed to be punished, and there is considerable anecdotal evidence suggesting the ALP do not believe they have been punished. The spinners are still spinning. The only ‘good’ thing about the result is that the parliament is unworkable in the long term.
Phil, it is clear you are just goading. One recognizes the 2pp vote was close, but every objective measure of the closeness suggests the conservatives should have been given the keys. Mr Abbott has run a very good, clean campaign. He hasn’t lied, he hasn’t obfuscated and he hasn’t promised more than he can deliver. This was an election he deserved to win, I can’t fault him. If you don’t vote for the conservatives you vote for the ALP. Lesson learned. They aren’t stupid, although they may claim to not understand the issues. They are self interested. They are not representing their constituents, which should become clear in a subsequent election. I expect the incompetent ALP to have the next election easier than this one, as many of those who were disenchanted with them may feel they have now been punished. Thing is, we still haven’t discussed why they were punished, and we still haven’t got acknowledgement from the ALP that they made mistakes, or were incompetent. - ed.
===
Think Religious Extremists Are Scary -- How About Secular Extremists?
By Steven Crowder
Before you get your hate-mail fingers ready, please know that this column is not an attempt to push you toward religion, nor put down any other religion. So let those little piggies relax, and take a second to soak things in. Then, prepare to be converted and saved from the fiery pits of hell!

…See what I did there?

Religious extremism. We hear about it all the time. We see it all the time. Heck, most of us are just sick of talking about it all the time. One can rarely get into a discussion about the most recent suicide bombing, without having to include the politically correct, long-winded diatribe of “But I know that not all of Insert Group X’s name here are like that, only the extremists.” It’s exhausting.

Another form of extremism however, is one that remains just as common but is rarely if ever discussed; I’m talking of course, about secular extremism. A perfect example would be the recent hostage taking at the Discovery Channel building courtesy of James Lee. Seemingly fed up with the concepts of religion and personal freedoms, James Lee decided to take innocent people hostage in his cause to save the environment.

Reportedly, there were no visible cardboard signs of “God Hates Fags” and the phrase “Allahu Ahkbar” was nowhere to be heard. Just as surely, Mr. Lee was as dedicated to his cause as any radical, serial-killing Christian that we constantly see depicted in Hollywood blockbusters.

See, one of the biggest knocks against religion is that the belief in a higher power puts crazy ideas in people’s heads, and can ultimately set you on a dangerous path.

James Lee shows us however, that part of human nature desires to take part in a greater purpose. Real or not, when a person denies God, they often try and fill that higher power void with something else. Oftentimes people fill that void with themselves, sometimes it could be their family, job or in this case… Mother Earth.

James Lee had put the Planet Earth on such a pedestal, so far beyond the importance of his fellow human beings that he was willing to harm other people, and ultimately himself for its cause. If that’s not extremism, then I don’t know what is.

Well, except for maybe the “X Games.” Those guys are pretty extreme! Damn my wonky knees.

What say you folks? Should the concept of secular extremism be included in today’s dialogue regarding radicals? Do you think that extreme secularism poses the same risks as radical religion?

Needless to say, oftentimes a “religion” is not needed to breed extremism. People breed it all by themselves, oftentimes with the subjective morality of modern secularism breeding the worst kind. Just ask Hitler or Stalin… though you’ll probably need a Ouija board.

Steven Crowder is a 23-year-old comedian, writer and Fox News contributor.
===
Our Hula Hoop President
By John Tantillo
I want to put into words what has become apparent to me in recent months: our president is a fad.

Here’s the standard definition of a fad from Professor Philip Kotler: A temporary period of unusually high sales driven by consumer enthusiasm and immediate brand popularity.

Yes, Barack Obama, whose meteoric rise as a brand amazed everyone seems to have fizzled. Does our president have more in common with Justin Bieber or the Hula Hoop than anyone might guess? The answer is a resounding yes.

Looked at through the marketing lens, the classic fad pattern is easy to see.

Let’s take the Hula Hoop and our president:

1) Sudden and unjustifiable adulation and excitement for the product and the person. Overnight a piece of plastic becomes something everyone must have. Overnight a junior Senator from Illinois becomes the man to beat in the race for American president;

2) Massive demand for the product and the person. Demand is not controlled by the producer and often far outstrips supply. Hula Hoops sell out and are back ordered; candidate Barack Obama is barely able to keep up with campaign trail demands. Every word out of his mouth and slightest gesture makes waves. He can fill any size arena while his competitors struggle to draw crowds;

3) Product and person achieves market saturation. Finally, Hula Hoops are owned by everyone in America; Barack Obama elected president of everyone in America;

4) Product and person oversaturate the market and begin to wither under ensuing scrutiny. Too much exposure means that what might have been a longer life cycle for a product or personal brand is condensed.

More important, characteristics that people once considered virtues now seem to be shortcomings. Hula Hoops are a cheap plastic toy that are easy to use but can only really do one thing well: go in sometimes entertaining circles; Barack Obama is a skilled and dispassionate speechmaker whose once dazzling speeches now begin to be seen as circular exercises in talking without any passion or conviction.

The next stage of the fad product life is the most tragic and the most inevitable: rapid brand decline.

The Hula Hoop becomes unwanted and even embarrassing. People are at a loss to explain why they ever liked it and thought it was so great.

In personal brands, like presidents, the same sort of thing happens. Suddenly, people can no longer understand why they once worshipped or even admired the person. Every gesture and word becomes a source of personal reproach. Instead of perceiving motivating speeches and noble purposes, one-time supporters only see their own disillusionment thrown back at them. Where once the person could do no wrong; now he can do no right.

Fact is, this is the kind of feedback I’ve been getting in President Obama’s case from some surprising liberal corners of the political spectrum. Where people once saw a young man with endless potential and possibility who would rebuild a broken world, they now see a kid in an oversized suit whose presidency looks in danger of being broken by a world that he doesn’t even know how to begin to rebuild.

Last week’s speech marking the end of the Iraq War might have just been part of the awakening for many of these one-time supporters –President Obama spoke clearly and even eloquently, but his words simply didn’t resonate or connect.

Bottom line, these folks might not have been Reagan fans, but they could never say that Reagan didn’t get the importance of symbolism and, more important, manage to inhabit that symbolism in an authentic way.

President Obama is an extremely likeable man and a very smart one, but somehow he’s not really presidential.

This week he’s proposing a new fix for the economy that for the most part seems to be more big government spending with a few free market teasers thrown in. But none of this will matter, if I’m correct and we elected a fad. Fads don’t have marathon legs and once their short run is over, it’s over.

And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.

John Tantillo is a marketing and branding expert and president of the Marketing Department of America who markets his own services as The Marketing Doctor. He is a frequent contributor to the Fox Forum and the author of a new book "People Buy Brands, Not Companies."
===
Is Obama Dishonest, Naive or Both When He Talks About Our Economy?
By Kevin McCullough
The longer President Obama refuses to acknowledge the direction of our nation's economy the greater the impact will be when the looming depression that awaits is named in his honor.

For a leader who has had the advantages of an Ivy League education, our president seems to be an exceedingly poor student of history. But in 120 days no one will be able to dispute that the economic mess the United States finds herself in belongs to anyone except the man in the White House.

The basis of this reality is rooted in two truths that became quite pronounced last week. The first is that President Obama is ignoring the very real direction the nation is headed. The second is that he is purposefully ignoring the impact his looming historic tax increases will have. Both are contributing to the pessimism that overarches the morale and tone of the entrepreneurial framework of the future.

Last week President Obama spoke to the White House press corps -- and by extension the nation -- to claim that the nation saw job growth of 67,000 jobs in August. Even if this number was real it would be a pitifully tiny percent of the 14,885,000 who are both on unemployment (1 in 10 Americans) as well as those 23,768,000 who are underemployed (working but not earning enough for basic needs -- 1 in 5 families).

The bigger problem for the president, however, is that the number isn't real. The fact is the nation saw 114,000 people added to the unemployment lines in August and the net jobs lost for the month sat at 54,000.

In all the "summer of recovery" -- as declared by both President Obama and Vice President Biden -- saw 238,000 more jobs disappear. Telling the nation that his plans have taken the economy in the right direction, and implying that the nation is seeing a recovery in the area of employment is either willfully dishonest, or painfully, even treacherously naive. At the rate of this "recovery" another 317,333 workers could be sitting on the sidelines before the end of the year.

Additionally we are now on track to see the single largest collection of tax increases ever proposed take the Obama economy even further into the tank.

In less than 120 days President Obama's plan to add a collective 18.6% to the federal tax burden will continue the economic downward spiral into record breaking Depression-era territory. -- And remember this is all from the man, who said repeatedly --on the campaign trail -- that he should be elected expressly to prevent the nation's economy from falling into complete deterioration.

Instead, the unemployment that was growing in the transition period from Bush's reign to Obama's reign has exploded to double what it was under Bush. Even worse this means that while 14,885,000 Americans are claiming unemployment assistance, some 23,768,000 families are presently struggling to hold on through work that they have but are unable to meet their basic needs.

And about the time we are belting out "Auld Lang Syne" this holiday season, President Obama will raise all five income levels of tax categories between three to five percent.

Ironically the president will be raising the rate on the category that is home to seventy-five percent of all small businesses in America -- they will be socked by the largest increase.

I call it ironic because it is the small business community in America that hires 2 out of every 3 new workers in America.

Eventually it all adds up.

And then there was Monday's announcement. In Wisconsin, the President Obama proposed a $50 billion investment in long-term infrastructure projects that he claimed will stimulate the flailing economy, create jobs and refill the exhausted federal highway trust fund. But it's very unclear whether or not this proposal will ever be passed by Congress before the November midterms.

The president has not been pushed on this issue by the press. The president's team pretends that these realities do not exist. The president himself is willing to perpetuate the false notion that the stimulus package set up a "recovery summer" that in truth ended up in greater pain than it began with.

None of this takes into account the additional costs that will be incurred by taxpayers when the full implementation of President Obama's control of one-sixth of the economy through the manipulation of how we receive health care benefits kicks in. And not that it has a great likelihood of passing this year, but if by some miracle it did, the Obama tax penalties that would be incurred by every citizen in the nation under the proposed "cap and trade" legislation would add even greater misery to the growing pile.

All of these pending tax increases will be put into effect against well more than 95% of American tax-payers. Speaking of which that certainly contradicts his most famous campaign line.

In 1929, Yale economist Irving Fisher made note of a number of trends led to the worst economic depression in our nation's history.

Guess how many of these same trends fit into today's scenario:

• Debt liquidation and distress selling
• Contraction of the money supply as bank loans are paid off
• A fall in the level of asset prices
• A still greater fall in the net worths of business, precipitating bankruptcies
• A fall in profits
• A reduction in output, in trade and in employment.
• Pessimism and loss of confidence
• Hoarding of money
• A fall in nominal interest rates and a rise in deflation adjusted interest rates.

President Obama is ignoring and misrepresenting the rate of growth (or lack thereof) in the job numbers, and his economic team has laid the groundwork for the harshest attack on small businesses and every family in America that pays taxes effective January 1, 2011.

By every indicator this observer can see, we are poised for tragedy... and I didn't even get an Ivy League education!

Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "'Baldwin/McCullough Radio"now heard on 212 stations and columnist based in New York. He blogs at The Kind Of MAN Every Man SHOULD Be is in stores now. And host of "The Kevin McCullough Show"weekdays 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. ET on Sirius 161.
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KEVNI KURSE KONTINUES
Tim Blair
Prediction: “Rudd is now chatting with at least one independent. This should work out well.”

Outcome: Bob Katter, subject to days of pro-Labor pressure by Kevin Rudd, was the only independent not to back Labor.
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FEAR OF TEA
Tim Blair
In Australia, it’s known as “the radical Tea Party movement.” Not that Media Watch would have anything to do with scaremongering, of course.
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CHEMICAL AL
Tim Blair
Inconvenient toxins at the Al Academy:
The Los Angeles-area Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences, named after Gore and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson , was built atop an environmentally contaminated piece of real estate, the Los Angeles Times reports. Some are now raising concerns that the $75.5 million school – which sits across the street from an oil well – may pose long-term health risks to its students, faculty and staff, as the groundwater beneath it is contaminated by chemicals.
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THREE PER CENT
Tim Blair
An amusing exchange between sceptic Dr Ian Rivlin and warmster Stephen Schneider begins at 12.42. (Sadly, human activity alarmist Schneider subsequently died while on a flight from Stockholm to London.)
===
SELECTION 2010
Tim Blair
Presenting our Prime Minister:
Julia Gillard – twice selected, never elected – seems confident enough, although even key supporter Tony Windsor believes she’d be doomed were a new poll to be held. Janet Albrechtsen:

The member for New England admitted he sided with Labor because a Gillard government was less likely to go back to the polls.

When he was asked why Tony Abbott and the Coalition were likelier to go to the polls, he said: “Because I think they’d be more likely to win.”

Windsor gave something away there, as Patrick Carlyon noticed: “His face dropped as he said it, as though to admit his mouth had run away from his mind.” More from Peter Hartcher:

In other words, Windsor has chosen deliberately to side with the party that he thinks is less likely to win the support of the Australian people at another election.

Asked specifically if this were the case, he replied: “That’s my call.”

Forget siding with the party that is less likely to win the support of the Australian people at another election; Gillard’s party didn’t win their support in this election. What’s done is done, however, and now conservatives can merely look forward to the most hilarious government in Australian history. The next 18 months will be delicious.

UPDATE. David Marr saw Windsor’s admission as just a quip, but still realises the impact:

Then came Windsor’s fateful quip: he was backing Labor because the Coalition might call a fresh poll and win. Regret took possession of his face: he darkened, his eyes narrowed, he ended a man in misery.

UPDATE II. Michelle Grattan:
In a moment of excessive frankness, he admitted he had believed a Coalition government would be more inclined to call an early election - because it would be a better bet to win.
You get the feeling that certain journalists wish Windsor hadn’t been so honest. Interesting.

On the opposition’s side, Tony Abbott looks at the ambition of Malcolm Turnbull and must wonder whether he will survive to the next election.

Turnbull? Never.

UPDATE III. The hilarity begins:
A key independent MP already appears to be at odds with federal Labor, less than 24 hours after it secured his support for Australia’s first minority government in 70 years.
===
SEVENTEEN MINUTES OF FAME
Tim Blair
Terrifying news:

Mr Oakeshott has confirmed he has been offered a position as the new Independent speaker …

Anybody who has endured even a minute of Rob Oakeshott’s erratic, circuitous, giggling, twitchy, self-referential verbal stylings over the past couple of weeks will be surprised. Those who witnessed yesterday’s endless Oakeshott epic – during which he was only required to name the party he would support – will be downright distressed. Enjoy the Oakeshott magic one more time, from 9:52 until infinity …

He’s a tilter, as you’ll observe.

UPDATE. Smike emails: “Avoiding Oakeshott’s Dancing With The Stars finale-like talent assessment, Al Gore took 17 seconds to settle matters in 2000.”
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Sceptics meet warmist scientist
Andrew Bolt
I don’t think the late Professor Stephen Schneider did all that well when confronted in an SBS studio with sceptics. Credit to SBS for hosting this, but it would have been even more useful had there been a sceptical scientist to debate Schneider, too.

(Thanks to readers Big Ted, Formerly Hard of Hats and many others, some of whom were particularly struck by the exchange from 12:40. UPDATE: As was Tim Blair.)

UPDATE

I’ve been slack on keeping you up to date on the latest vital signs of warming. The planet:
The Arctic ice:
The Antarctic sea ice:
About the uptick in temperatures in the first part of this year:

Studying measurements from space-borne instruments, scientists say the El Nino that came to an end in May was one of this new type of Central Pacific El Nino and was the strongest yet…

Reporting recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, Tong Lee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena writes that he and Michael McPhaden at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle now are able to answer one question about changing conditions in the tropical Pacific.

“Our study concludes the long-term warming trend seen in the central Pacific is primarily due to more intense El Ninos, rather than a general rise of background temperatures,” Lee said in a statement released by NASA.

UPDATE 2

Another big scare thaws a little:

Estimates of the rate of ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica, one of the most worrying questions in the global warming debate, should be halved, according to Dutch and US scientists.

In the last two years, several teams have estimated Greenland is shedding roughly 230 gigatonnes of ice, or 230 billion tonnes, per year and West Antarctica around 132 gigatonnes annually… But, according to the new study, published in the September issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, the ice estimates fail to correct for a phenomenon known as glacial isostatic adjustment.

This is the term for the rebounding of Earth’s crust following the last Ice Age.
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New paper: Labor’s ETS will never work
Andrew Bolt
Roger Pielke Jr, professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has produced a new paper that checks if Labor’s planned emissions trading scheme could ever meet the targets promised.

Answer? You’ve got to be kidding - unless this new Labor-Greens alliance really is planning to build dozens of nuclear power plants in the next decade:

This paper evaluates Australia’s proposed emissions trading scheme in terms of the implied rates of decarbonization of the Australian economy for a range of proposed emissions reduction targets. The paper uses the Kaya Identity to structure the evaluation, employing both a bottomup approach (based on projections of future Australian population, economic growth, and technology) as well as a top-down approach (deriving implied rates of decarbonization consistent with the targets and various rates of economic growth). Both approaches indicate that the Australian economy would have to achieve annual rates of decarbonization of 3.8% to 5.9% to meet a 2020 target of reducing emissions by 5%, 15% or 25% below 2000 levels, and about 5% to meet a 2050 target of a 60% reduction below 2000 levels.

The paper argues that Australian carbon policy proposals present emissions reduction targets that will be all but impossible to meet without creative approaches to accounting as they would require a level of effort equivalent to the deployment of dozens of new nuclear power plants or thousands of new solar thermal plants within the next decade.

When Labor promised to set an example to the world, I’m not sure this was what it had in mind:

The political challenges thus far facing passage of the ETS, and it’s almost certain destiny to fail to achieve its emissions reduction targets, should serve as an important lesson to climate policy makers around the world.
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Explaining the Carlos kick is harder
Andrew Bolt

French physicists have produced a new paper in the New Journal of Physics to explain this astonishing Roberto Carlos free kick - and to help others repeat it. It’s surprisingly simple:

I think they’re saying, in short, that the ball needs room to spin. So kick it as hard as you can from as far out as you can with as much spin as you can.

(Via Roger Pielke Jr.)

UPDATE

Reader Simon says the physicists picked the wrong Carlos goal:

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What will this deal with the independents cost, and who will pay?
Andrew Bolt
Where’s the money coming from? Who’s being robbed to pay Rob and Tony their $10 billion?

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says regional Australia will receive up to $9.9 billion in funding following a deal with independent MPs granting Labor a minority government. ...

Ms Gillard said the next round of funding for the $1.8 billion Health and Hospitals Fund and $500 million Education Investment Fund will go exclusively to the regions.

Regional areas will also receive $1.4 billion in infrastructure investment and be prioritised during the roll-out of the national broadband network.

These commitments are in addition to Labor’s $6 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund, and $200 million Building Better Regional Cities programs committed to during the election.

The Liberals say Rob Oakeshott never gave them a chance to match whatever Labor promised, handing over a scribbled list of demands late on Monday before announcing on Tuesday he was going for Labor anyway. Yet more evidence he always intended to go with Labor - and the rest was just a circus and cant.

Tony Windsor meanwhile admitted to me on MTR this morning that he never asked Labor for a cost-benefit analysis of its $43 billion broadband plan, even though he cited the plan as critical to his decision to hand it government. (Audio soon here.)
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Deal already unpicks
Andrew Bolt
Tony Windsor is playing down its significance, but it’s already the first crack - and before 24 hours are even out:

Treasurer Wayne Swan today said Labor’s proposed mining tax would not be part of a tax summit the Government had promised to Independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott.

But Mr Windsor said he understood the issue would be discussed along with all aspects of the Henry tax review, which he believed the Government had largely shelved.

UPDATE

Windsor on MTR this morning said the difference was no big deal, but it wasn’t the impression he gave to the ABC earlier today, when he first learned he’d been misled:

He has indicated he is not happy about its exclusion and will be speaking with Treasurer Wayne Swan.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard of that,” he told Radio National.

”I thought it was going to be included in any discussions in relation to taxation and the Henry Review.”
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Given the Government we didn’t want
Andrew Bolt
THIS was the worst way for Labor to win government, and the best for Tony Abbott to lose it.

What a discreditable end to 17 days of largely pointless haggling.

Here were the two remaining rural independents using their casting votes to install in government the party they’d made clear they always preferred anyway - while admitting as they did so that this was the government most voters did not want.

Two of the three key factors cited yesterday by Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor for handing Labor government were actually there from day one.

Both agree with Labor on the need to Do Something big and useless about global warming. And both love Labor’s $43 billion gamble on connecting almost every house to broadband fibre.

Oakeshott and Windsor both said this two weeks ago and both said it again yesterday.

So why spend two weeks stringing along the Coalition - and voters - by pretending they might go either way?

But then there’s the third reason that both men gave yesterday: that above all, they wanted this parliament to keep going as long as possible, and Labor seemed the most unwilling to call an early election and face the voters again.

Hear it from Windsor, who said a Coalition government under Abbott might rush back to the polls “because I think he would win”. Labor, more scared, “are more likely to be here for a longer period of time if they can’t go back to the polls in a hurry”.

Oakeshott agreed, saying Labor had “got more to lose” from an election.

That’s right: the independents had just admitted they were foisting on voters the party most did not want.

And it’s true.
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Was Gillard trying to bribe Oakeshott?
Andrew Bolt
Rob Oakeshott said yesterday Labor’s offer to make him a Minister of Speaker was “separate” to his decision to put it into Government.

Maybe in his own mind. But Gavin Atkins wonders how close this comes to a bribe:

Julia Gillard’s conduct in offering a senior position to the Independent, Rob Oakeshott while he was deciding who to support in creating a minority Government has remarkable parallels to the actions that caused the New South Wales Premier Nick Greiner to resign in 1992.

If Rob Oakeshott accepts the offer to become Speaker while supporting the Gillard Government, he stands to gain $100,000 in addition to his backbenchers’salary of $131,000, a bigger office, and influence that he has never before experienced…

The offer that Julia Gillard has made to Oakeshott would undergo close scrutiny in many state government jurisdictions, including New South Wales, where the Independent Commission Against Corruption upholds the following rule:

Bribery
a. A Member must not knowingly or improperly promote any matter, vote on any bill or resolution or ask any question in the Parliament or its Committees in return for any remuneration, fee, payment, reward or benefit in kind, of a private nature, which the Member has received, is receiving or expects to receive.

b. A Member must not knowingly or improperly promote any matter, vote on any bill or resolution or ask any question in the Parliament or its Committees in return for any remuneration, fee, payment, reward or benefit in kind, of a private nature, which any of the following persons has received, is receiving or expects to receive…:

In fact, it was an ICAC investigation that led to the resignation of former NSW Premier, Nick Greiner in 1992. Greiner was accused of offering a job to an MP outside Parliament so that he could increase his majority. In this case, Gillard has offered Oakeshott a job within Parliament to achieve a majority. If Greiner’s actions were considered by ICAC to be “an act of corruption”, then how are we to explain Gillard’s actions?

Read on. Atkins also points out that giving Oakeshott a well-paid, well-staffed job in government also gives him a significant incentive to keep the government in power.

(Please avoid defaming anyone in comments. I note again: Oakeshott said the offer of a job was separate from his decision, and there is nothing illegal to my knowledge in either the offer or any acceptance of it.)

Reader Mark disagrees with Atkins:

Loath as I am to defend the despicable regime, the Independent Commission Against Corruption ruling against Nick Greiner was reversed on appeal, and applying the standard that you’re suggesting would make any coalition agreement corrupt.

And he adds this twist the deal struck yesterday:
If the junior partners in the ruling coalition remain true to their lack of principles, we may see a Section 57 Paradox emerge in this parliament: Where bills passed by the House and defeated in the Senate are reintroduced into the House and defeated there to deny the Prime Minister a double dissolution trigger.
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Want to bet we’ll be voting again soon?
Andrew Bolt
The tip is for another poll by December next year:

BETTING agencies were already framing markets on when the next election will be called, minutes after Labor clinched its victory.

Centrebet was the first to forecast an election before the end of next year. Punters could dive in at $1.80 that Australians would go back to the polls before December 31 next year.
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Oakeshott and this theory, which is mine and what it is
Andrew Bolt


Did anyone else spot the astonishing similarity in style - the endless promising of an announcement that never seemed to come - of Rob Oakeshott’s speech yesterday (from 10 minutes) and that of Ann Elk?
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Independents give us the government we didn’t vote for
Andrew Bolt
Independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott have installed the government they know fewer people want - and because fewer people want it. Even the commentariat is astonished.

Peter Hartcher:

In announcing his decision, Windsor told a press conference this afternoon that he had decided to support Labor because it was more likely to allow the Parliament to run a full three year term.

The Coalition, he said, was more likely to run to a new election as soon as possible. Asked why he thought so, Windsor replied: “Because I think they would be more likely to win.”

Labor, however, is “more likely to be here for a longer period of time.” The longevity of the new government, he added, was “key” to his decision…

On his own confession, Windsor is prepared to deny the Australian people the government of their choice so long as he can prolong his own position of extraordinary leverage in holding the balance of power.

Janet Albrechtsen:

Get it? Windsor admitted he sided with the party that had less support from Australian voters. It’s a novel theory of democracy, almost as brazen as Stalin’s theory that it’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.

Michelle Grattan:

In a moment of excessive frankness, (Windsor) admitted he had believed a Coalition government would be more inclined to call an early election - because it would be a better bet to win. Once there is an election, the independents will almost certainly lose their pivotal position.

Paul Kelly:

This decision will leave a legacy of bad political blood. It will be fanned because the rural independents, unable to agree, split 2:1 yesterday for Labor and argued their obligation was to prevent another election during the next three years, ultimately an unacceptable and unjustifiable stand of dubious political integrity…

They backed Gillard, they said, because the best chance for a three-year term was under Labor. Windsor even said Abbott would be tempted to an election some time because he’d be “more likely to win"… What, pray, is wrong about another election at some stage? Why shouldn’t the people get the chance to decide the issue that the independents arrogantly assume is their right to decide for the next three years? How ineffective does the parliament have to become before the people get the right to elect a new parliament?

These comments smack of the independents putting their own interests first.

Simon Benson:

However, they also revealed their decision was based largely on self survival. Mr Oakeshott admitted that it was a case of “who was less likely to knife us first” and call an early poll to regain a majority.

David Marr:

Then came Windsor’s fateful quip: he was backing Labor because the Coalition might call a fresh poll and win. Regret took possession of his face: he darkened, his eyes narrowed, he ended a man in misery.

The Daily Telegraph on the government we got as a result:

This is a sprawling, philosophically misaligned collective brought together by a shared aim for power and without anything close to a popular mandate....

Julia Gillard - who yesterday became Australia’s first female prime minister not to be elected twice...

UPDATE

Rob Oakeshott on 3AW today shows how far he is in Labor’s tent, denying that Labor’s Building the Education Revolution or even the mega-rorted free insulation were examples of maladministration - which he’s promised to vote against.
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Let’s not repress the memory of this hoax
Andrew Bolt
The “repressed memory” theory was a craze of the 1980s and 1990s that actually had people jailed on the say-so of people who suddenly “remembered” terrible things had once been done to them.

It was an inherently improbable theory, yet resisting it made sceptics seem heartless, if not cruel. After all, it was an emblem of the new cult of the victim.

But now:

The idea that traumatised people, especially the victims of child sexual use, deliberately repress horrific memories goes all the way back to the 19th century and the theories of Sigmund Freud himself.

But now some experts are saying the evidence points the other way. Professor Grant Devilly, from Griffith University’s Psychological Health research unit, says the memory usually works in the opposite way, with traumatised people reliving experiences they would rather forget…

In a briefing to the US Supreme Court, Professor Richard McNally from Harvard University described the theory of repressed memory as “the most pernicious bit of folklore ever to infect psychology and psychiatry”.

He maintains false memories can easily be created by inept therapists.