=== Todays Toon ===
Lieutenant General Sir John Dudley Lavarack KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB, DSO (19 December 1885 – 4 December 1957) was an Australian soldier who was Governor of Queensland from 1 October 1946 to 4 December 1957, the first Australian-born governor of that state.
=== Bible Quote ===
“The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.”- Psalm 25:14-15=== Headlines ===
Housing Secretary Warns Freeze Could Hurt Property Values
Housing chief Shaun Donovan argues a national freeze on foreclosures could block first-time homebuyers from entering the market while ensuring bank-owned homes stay vacant and drag down prices in surrounding neighborhoods.Gibbs: All Midterm Politics Is Local
White House press secretary ignores GOP claims that November will be a 'referendum' on president's policies, saying 2010 is a 'local' election in which Democrats will hang on to power
Ahmadinejad Backs Nuke Talks With West
A year after talks with the international community fizzled, Iran's president says he endorses new negotiations about Tehran's nuclear program — which the West believes is a front for weapons production
France: Saudis Warn of New Terror Threat
In the latest in a series of terror alerts for Europe, France's interior minister says warnings of a potential attack from Al Qaeda have been received in the past 'few days' from Saudi intelligence services
Breaking news
David Jones sex case settled - Mark McInnesFORMER DJs boss Mark McInnes has confirmed there has been a settlement of the sexual harassment lawsuit against the company.
Afghanistan governance the key says general
A FORMER chief of army says more work needs to be done to ensure there is a legitimate government in Afghanistan.
BHP, Rio scrap $117bn joint venture
MINING giants BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto formally end plans for $117 billion joint venture in the Pilbara.
Fault forces speed camera shutdown
VICTORIA Police have suspended use of all point-to-point cameras on the Hume Highway after a fault was identified in the system.
Flight diverted due to suspicious passenger
A PINNACLE Airlines flight was diverted to land in Fargo due to a suspicious person on board.
NSW/ACT
Motors and fashions by designIT wasn't just the cars that were on parade at the Australian International Motor Show.
Dog days in a drain for Todd
IT might not rival the Chilean miners, but Todd the dog can lay claim to his own dramatic story of survival.
Parra bids for fast stop station
PARRAMATTA will tonight try to wrestle a high-speed train station from Sydney's CBD, arguing it is cheaper to build in the west.
Copper power thieves bold as brass
SECURITY systems used by power companies to stop copper thieves have failed to scare gangs. Live expert blog: Save power in your business
Widow's IVF quest in hands of government
THE NSW Attorney-General will talk to the Health Minister about a woman's bid to use her dead husband's sperm to conceive.
$2.7m for police assaults
UNLAWFUL arrests and police assaults have cost NSW taxpayers more than $2.7 million in payouts in the past year.
Dam fails as south flooded
The weather has changed so much in the past week in NSW with summer temperatures, freezing winds more akin to winter and rain.
Special court for sexual assaults
SEX offenders would be monitored with snap raids and more under proposals for a new stand-alone court.
Queensland
Chill winds blast recordsAN icy blast of air from the southern snowfields has smashed weather records across the south-east corner over the weekend.
Battersby twins found safe
MISSING twins Wesley and William Battersby have been found and are expected to be on their way home to Mackay.
Flood risk hits 7000 homes
IN the wake of Brisbane's latest floods, new figures show more than 7000 homes would be at risk of inundation in a one-in-50-year weather event.
Too many nurses not enough
HALF of this year's 1700 nursing graduates are unlikely to walk straight into a job, but in four years there could be a shortage of 14,000 nurses.
High teacher OP 'to hurt students'
QUEENSLAND could lose some of its most talented future teachers if uniform OP cut-off for a Bachelor of Education is introduced, academics warn.
Police bust Coast 'cocaine ring'
POLICE have smashed an alleged cocaine drug ring on the Gold Coast, just five days after the state's biggest cocaine bust at Scarborough.
Queensland households struggling
QUEENSLAND household incomes are struggling to keep up with the rises in living expenses and people are finding it difficult to pay for energy, an poverty survey found.
150 evacuated from burning hotel
MORE than 150 people were evacuated from a city hotel early this morning after a fire broke out in a room.
Queensland track to rival Kokoda
WORK on a giant network of walking tracks from near Cairns to the tip of Cape York Peninsula is expected to start soon.
Victoria
Cops admit cameras flawedA TECHNICAL glitch has forced police to switch off all point-to-point speed cameras along the Hume Highway.
Road clear after power pole smash
UPDATE 7.30am: AUTHORITIES have cleared a major accident that shut down a section of Commercial Rd in Prahran overnight.
Three children in boot of crashed car
SEVEN children miraculously escaped serious injury when the car they were crammed into crashed in Cranbourne last night.
Top state schools in the money
TOP state schools are cashed up to the tune of millions of dollars thanks to voluntary parent payments and foreign student fees.
Old vandals still active
VANDALS as old as 40 are being linked to some of Victoria's worst graffiti attacks.
Fury at Brumby Government's PR bill
VICTORIAN MPs may face a recall to parliament for an inquiry into John Brumby's $100 million spin machine.
It's the right mix for happy family
HERE'S the story of Melbourne's own Brady Bunch - albeit with a modern twist.
Keiran's tumbled into circus show
MELBOURNE acrobat Keiran Bourke will make a triumphant return home when he steps on stage with circus act Cirque du Soleil.
Push for junk food tax
A 10 PER cent tax on soft drinks, confectionery and potato chips is needed to fight surging obesity rates, Melbourne researchers say.
Toyota fires first shot in price war
AUSTRALIA'S top-selling car company has started an Aussie dollar-driven price war in showrooms.
Northern Territory
Inquiry responds to child neglect casesA 12-year-old Northern Territory girl went into cardiac arrest caused by septicaemia of the leg after lying on the dirt in her foster carers' backyard for eight hours, unable to move.
South Australia
Woman's body found in parkTHE body of a woman missing in the southern suburbs is believed to have been found in a park at Port Noarlunga.
Pupils wait for super school
CEMENT mixers and diggers litter the new super school site at Playford North where students were due to start last week.
No cash to hire our new nurses
HUNDREDS of graduate nurses could be left without jobs, doctors and nurses have warned.
Poverty at alarming levels
ONE in 10 Australians now live in poverty, as families skip meals and struggle to pay essential bills, a Salvation Army report says.
PM pours cold water on Murray promise
THE Gillard Government has backed away from its promise to do "what is necessary" to restore the River Murray, saying it is premature to do so.
Celebration of the masses
IT was a celebration more than 100 years in the making, as thousands of the Catholic faithful welcomed "our Saint Mary of the Cross".
Tears, music, prayer in City of Churches
THE City of Churches was asked for a celebration fit for a saint and it delivered yesterday as Saint Mary of the Cross was canonised.
Tiny town now a part of history
DEVOUT followers, proud locals and non-believers swept up in the hype were overwhelmed with emotion as the day Penola had been waiting for finally arrived.
Schools rap to close gap
PEMBROKE College and Marree Aboriginal School are aiming to beat indigenous disadvantage, and they are rapt with the results.
Hail Saint Mary of the Cross
POPE Benedict has proclaimed Mary MacKillop as Australia's first saint, praising her as a "courageous and saintly example of zeal, perseverance and prayer".
Western Australia
Armed pair rob IGA storePOLICE are searching for a man and a woman who used a pistol to hold up a Padbury IGA store last night.
Libs back Greens on asylum kids
LIBERAL MPs have backed the Greens and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen to examine the plight of up to 700 children in immigration detention.
Cop breaks finger during party arrest
A POLICE officer broke his finger while trying to arrest a man outside a party in Padbury early today.
Tasmania
Nothing new=== Comments ===
There Are No Atheists In Foxholes -- Or In Coal MinesBy Larry Gatlin
It's said that there are no atheists in fox holes. I would add... or in a coal mine if you are there for 69 days.
"And JESUS was in the tomb for three days and on the third day the stone was rolled away."
The account of JESUS' RESURRECTION, is a remarkable story of a man, literally being "raised from the dead." To those in Christendom, the RESURRECTION is symbolic of the earthly salvation that turns miraculously into an eternal salvation in heaven with the RISEN LORD!!
The story has been told and re-told for the 20 centuries that have transpired from that resurrection at Jerusalem, in Israel, to this resurrection at the San Jose mine, in Chile.
This RIGHT NOW RESURRECTION is a miracle of almost Biblical proportions, and it is happening in front of our eyes -- in front of over a billion pair of eyes -- thanks to another miracle, at least to a simple man like me: satellite television.
Dear LORD, and I mean that in it's reverent context, how does satellite TV work?
Anyway, it was not lost on me, and I'm sure not on other Christians either, that every rescued miner, made the sign of the cross, looked heavenward, and thanked GOD for HIS mercy and protection.
My Spanish is very poor, at best, but there is NO doubt that the rescued miners, now known as "the 33", were expressing, not only their belief in God, but their praise, honor and gratitude for HIS MIGHTY HAND, at work in their RESURRECTION, from a rocky would-be grave, a half a mile down, under solid stone.
I think that it would be hard for anyone, "believer" or non- believer...anyone who was watching this event transpire, to miss the symbolism in The Miracle of the SAN JOSE MINE, as it unfolded in hi-def, for all the world to see.
What the world DID NOT see, was any folderol about the "separation of church and state."
What the world DID NOT see was a protest of any kind against the people "on the ground," or, in fact, under the ground, who were invoking GOD's blessing.
What the world DID NOT see was any protesting against the many references to prayers and GOD and DIVINE intervention, that SO INFURIATE a certain faction of our citizens in this, once MIGHTY, but now increasingly SPIRITUALLY BANKRUPT COUNTRY...AMERICA!!
What the world DID see, was a BRAVE, PRAYING PRESIDENT, Sebastian Pinera, who had the spiritual COJONES to "stay the course, fight the good fight, and run the race" against unbelievable odds, in order to be GOD's hands on earth, by putting all of the resources at his command, and by enlisting the help of the United States, and other countries, into trying to save his fellow Chileans and a couple of visitors, and in so doing, unite the whole of Chile, as ONE NATION UNDER GOD....sound familiar?
THERE USED TO BE ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT CALLED ON THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, PROTECTION, AND PRESENCE OF GOD IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, BUT THOSE DAYS ARE LONG GONE.
Those days have had their own"near-death" experience. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS has eviscerated almost every vestige of the country that was once THE UNITED STATES... ONE NATION UNDER GOD.
I heard a rumor...I do not know whether or not it is true. But from a historical perspective, I have absolutely no trouble believing that it is true. The "story" is, that the ACLU has filed suit to make chaplains stop praying for the safety of our troops ON THE BATTLEFIELD!! I was also told by a good friend, who I trust explicitly, that it was true. I will look into it.
You know the old saying," if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck"...this "ACLU PRAYER THING REALLY LOOKS LIKE A CLASSIC DUCK DEAL," brought to you by those supreme haters of liberty, the "good folks" at the ACLU, who hide in plain sight, dressed as "the champions of liberty." Even if it is not true (if I find out that it is not true,I will issue a retraction and an apology)...even if it is not true, it sounds just like that bunch of "patriots"...don't you think?
But enough about that. Let's get back to the " story of the year" (or the decade) and to a GLORIOUS VICTORY... a VICTORY that could have morphed from victory to tragedy, in a CHILEAN MINUTE, IF THE CHAIN HAD BROKEN, IF THE RESCUE CARRIAGE HAD GOTTEN STUCK, IF ONE OF THE MINERS HAD PANICKED, IF THE WHOLE THING HAD CAVED IN ON TOP OF THEM...BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN, and after 69 days in "the tomb," the stone was rolled away, and 33 of GOD's CHILDREN, were lifted to safety, in what Shepard Smith has called their "CHILEAN CHARIOT."
They were lifted out of what was almost THEIR TOMB, into the arms of their loved ones, and in truth, into the loving arms of the entire world.
The thing that struck me?? THE FIRST THING OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS WAS PRAISE TO GOD...Their courage never wavered. Their strength never waned. Their sense of pride never faltered. Their loyalty to one another is now the stuff of legend....but through it all, it was their FAITH IN GOD THAT PULLED THEM THROUGH.
This HEAVENLY DYNAMIC WILL NOT BE COVERED BY THE "DRIVE BY MEDIA", or if it is, it will be downplayed so as to make "IT," incidental, at best.
Well, all I know is what I, and 1.2 billion of GOD's other children around the world saw, and heard.
One of "the 33" ( JESUS was 33 when he descended into "HIS" tomb so long ago) said, " I was in a fight between GOD and the DEVIL, and GOD WON. YES, GOD HAD A GOOD DAY.
We have all been blessed and treated to a glorious manifestation of ALMIGHTY POWER, LOVE, AND GRACE.
The world will long remember "the 33"... I wonder how long the world will remember their first words upon being resurrected from their tomb...GLORIA A DIOS!!
BY THE WAY, to my brothers and sisters who do not share the Christian faith, to you who practice another faith, or are atheists or agnostics, and even to you in the "drive by media"...WAIT...I apologize, AND I SINCERELY MEAN IT, I'M SORRY...TO YOU WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE TRADITIONAL PRESS, I offer this...let us put aside old hurts, ancient prejudices, and long-cherished catechisms, for ONE DAY, AND SIMPLY REJOICE IN THE MIRACLE FROM THE MINE...THE RESURRECTION AT SAN JOSE.
Larry Gatlin is a writer and country music entertainer. He frequently contributes commentary to Fox News Opinion.
===
Robot Jetpacks in the Works
By Jeremy A. Kaplan
Jetpacks are so last year. The real vehicles of the future are robotic jetpacks. And the future has arrived.The Martin Aircraft Company, makers of the world's only commercial jetpack, has built an unmanned version of the device that can be launched from the back of a pickup truck, ferry supplies to troops, monitor a battlefield, and even scan a war zone for improvised explosive devices.
It sounds and looks like a far-future idea ripped from a 1950s comic book -- but it's very much a reality, company CEO Richard Lauder told FoxNews.com.
"With the potential to reach heights of up to 10,000 feet or more, and lift loads of up to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) -- while taking off and landing vertically -- the potential applications for the unmanned version are large and varied," Lauder said in an interview with FoxNews.com.
It's called the Martin Skyhook UAV, and it could be a missing piece in the military's unmanned arsenal, resupplying troops on the front lines -- or maybe dropping bombs on the the enemy. The Skyhook, remote-control operated from the ground, boasts the same specifications as the manned version of Martin's jetpack: Lift is generated by two turbofans driven by a 2-liter, 200-horsepower engine that can theoretically take the craft as high as 8,000 feet. It boasts a range of 31 miles and a maximum speed of 63 miles per hour, and it runs on ordinary gasoline, not jet or rocket fuel.
"We have a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, so you don't need a runway, and you can take off from the back of a Hummer if you wanted to," Lauder told FoxNews.com.
But supply is just one area in which Martin Aircraft hopes its robot jetpack may prove useful. "In certain areas of the world, say Afghanistan, where the U.S. wants a mobile telephone network and they don't have one, they could effectively fly one in," Lauder said. "Another very interesting application that has been discussed is flying a jetpack ahead of a convoy with ground-penetrating radar to detect IEDs -- bombs in the road."
And these ideas aren't pie-in-the-sky; Martin says it is in discussions with four different parties in Europe and the U.S. on the Skyhook UAV. Spokesmen for the Army and Navy declined to comment on programs that they do not directly support, but Richard Mason, an engineer with the Rand Corp. and an expert in military technology, said it sounds like something that would appeal to the military.
"DARPA has a program called Transformer," said Mason, who developed three robotic ground vehicles for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. "They want something that can both drive around as a car and fly -- which sounds goofy, but forget that part. What they're trying to get at is something that's as easy to drive as a car yet can fly. So an automated thing that would fly things around? The military is definitely interested in that."
And oddly, the product was inevitable.
"It's something we had to develop anyway as part of our testing program," Lauder explained. With its tiny budget and only a few test vehicles, Martin didn't want to risk an engineer's life just to push the test envelope.
"If we say, look, we want to go 40 kilometers per hour now, then somebody has to agree to do that," he said.
Thus the Martin Skyhook was born, using the same on-board remote control electronics as the popular Predator drone, controls developed by military supply company Rockwell Collins.
The Skyhook's range seems limiting at first; most current unmanned vehicles, such as the Predator or the unmanned Blackhawk helicopter currently under development, are intended for long-range surveillance or as weapons. Few short range items sit in the middle, Lauder said, which means the Skyhook could open up new options.
"With a UAV you could be up there for an hour," drop off water or other supplies to the front lines, and return to resupply.
But Mason says the Skyhook is not that distinctive from a lot of UAVs on the market. And there are quite a few.
"There's a constellation of UAVs out there, something like 600," he told FoxNews.com. "Although it may be a little bit different, I don't know that the space is totally unexplored."
While interest has been very high, the company's research and development program, as with any fledgling company, has been constrained by the lack of funds. “We are seeking a cornerstone investor to help fund the final development phase and to enable the company to get the first aircraft to market.
“With a little more funding on board, we believe we could start field trials for specific commercial applications for the Martin Skyhook UAV as quickly as the end of 2011.”
"We think we could have it in field trials in nine months," he said.
===
US economic fix: print money
By Edmund Tadros
US AUTHORITIES are boosting the Australian dollar by turning to the "disastrous" economic tactics deployed by Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, a finance expert says.Mr Mugabe has printed so much money over such a long period that its national currency has become almost worthless, with hyper-inflation leading to a loaf of bread costing billions of Zimbabwean dollars.
The US Federal Reserve, the equivalent to the Reserve Bank, hinted last weekend it would pursue another round of "quantitative easing", effectively printing more money, in an effort to stimulate its economy and reduce the likelihood of deflation, said Peter Swan, a finance professor from the Australian School of Business, University of New South Wales.
Deflation, or the threat of deflation, tends to reduce economic activity as people defer spending and can lead to higher unemployment.Dollar boost: strong Australia, weak US
The hints by the US Fed that it would print more money, together with the strength of the Australian economy, has led to an unprecedented rise in the Australian dollar this year.
Last week, the dollar briefly touched parity with the greenback, for the first time since the currency was floated in 1983. At midday (AEDT) today, the dollar was trading at US98.75c, down from Friday's close of US99.28c.
Since the Global Financial Crisis, the US has failed to boost its economy using the traditional tools of monetary and fiscal policy, Professor Swan said.
"The US Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates to close to zero again, as it did in the lead up to the Sub-Prime Crisis (forerunner of GFC)," he said.
"(And) the US Government has tried to use stimulus spending to boost the economy.
"This transferred bad debts from the private to the public sector and has led to the US Government's record $US1.3 trillion budget deficit.
"But this stimulus didn't work and US unemployment still rose to a very high rates of about 10 per cent and there is still the prospect of a double-dip recession there."
Plan C: print money
And with nowhere to go on interest rates to spur a recovery, the US Federal Reserve is now looking to another round of quantitative easing, where the central bank buys up US treasuries, or government debt, to increase the supply of money in the economy.
"Basically they want to stimulate their economy by driving down the value of the US dollar," Professor Swan said.
"This will make American exports cheaper and their imports dearer. The hope of this very misguided policy is to create more jobs.
"One way to do this is to reduce the purchasing power of money, to essentially print a lot more money and make the US dollar much less valuable.
"One consequence of doing this, and one desired consequence of doing this, is to make investors around the world want to hold fewer US dollars."
"They want to do a mild version of what (Mr) Mugabe did."
Other countries, such as Japan and the UK are also trying similar ploys.
"I think this is a disastrous policy," Professor Swan said.
"Regulators have been trying for 80 years, since we went off the gold standard, to maintain the purchasing power of the US dollar and avoid high inflation by acting responsibly to protect the currency.
"They can't lower interest rates much more, but they can flood the market with US dollars.
"One economy such as Australia which was never really seriously affected by the GFC is a beneficiary of these very strange policies as it is putting downward pressure on prices of imports and hence inflation."
===
STAIRWAY TO KEVIN
Tim Blair
We all know the story. From out of a northern state a bright new face emerges. He rapidly becomes a political and cultural favourite.
Although there are hints of unattractive machine politics in his past and one or two profound personality flaws, these are overlooked as he soars to power on the strength of world-changing promises.
Those first few months in office are brilliant. Polls hit record peaks. Foreign powers are courted.
He’s everybody’s mate.
Supporters cannot imagine him losing office.
Then disenchantment sets in. Promises are broken. Instead of starring on the world stage, he bombs.
His own party begins turning against him. Policies backfire. Polls dive.
Re-election, previously unquestioned, suddenly seems difficult.
That’s the tale of Barack Obama, who is following the example set by our own former prime minister.
===
INAPPROPRIATE JAMES
Tim Blair
“James Hunt,” reports the Daily Mail, “was not known for behaving appropriately.” Then again, it was the 70s ...
(Via Fidens)
===
BULB BAN BEATEN
Tim Blair
This is brilliant:
A German entrepreneur is bypassing a European Union ban on light bulbs of more than 60 watts by marketing his own brand as mini heaters.Note to Australian entrepreneurs: the first batch of 4,000 heatballs sold out in just three days, generating a toasty turnover of more than $9,500. The world needs heatballs.
Siegfried Rotthaeuser and his brother-in-law have come up with a legal way of importing and distributing 75 and 100 watt light bulbs – by producing them in China, importing them as “small heating devices” and selling them as “heatballs” …
On their website, the two engineers describe the heatballs as “action art” and as “resistance against legislation which is implemented without recourse to democratic and parliamentary processes.”
(Via potential UK heatball distributor Tim Worstall and reader Boy on a Bike)
===
BILL CHILLED
Tim Blair
A Wikipedia warmy is whacked, writes Lawrence Solomon:
William Connolley, arguably the world’s most influential global warming advocate after Al Gore, has lost his bully pulpit. Connolley did not wield his influence by the quality of his research or the force of his argument but through his administrative position at Wikipedia, the most popular reference source on the planet.Further from Solomon here and here.
Through his position, Connolley for years kept dissenting views on global warming out of Wikipedia, allowing only those that promoted the view that global warming represented a threat to mankind. As a result, Wikipedia became a leading source of global warming propaganda, with Connolley its chief propagandist.
His career as a global warming propagandist has now been stopped, following a unanimous verdict that came down today through an arbitration proceeding conducted by Wikipedia.
(Via Benny Peiser)
===
Are all global warmists hypocrites, or just the most famous?
Andrew Bolt
Actor Toni Collette on Mt Newman mine, from which is dug iron ore to make iron and steel:Toni Collette: That’s a disgusting mine where they actually shot a huge explosion while we were there and I just felt sick about it. Let’s all rape the earth.Meanwhile, tbe builders are moving in on one of Collette’s houses:
The actress has lodged a development application with Waverley Council for a $2.5 million revamp of the entertainment area at the rear of her Bronte house.Speaking of those who preach about our ecological footprint:
The renovation plans include a new spa, pool and a back room to be built behind the heritage-listed house, which she owns with musician husband David Galafassi…
Council staff are yet to be informed of the specifics of the type of pool, spa and structure to be built, but the work has been estimated to be worth $2.5 million.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou yesterday signed on as a director of not-for-profit research and lobby group the Climate Institute. The football boss said he was convinced of the need to act on climate change to protect the ‘’long-term future not only of Australia, but the planet’’.Demetriou is keen to make football fans embrace the new planet-saving Spartan ethos:
As a reminder to ‘be green’, the centre circles at AFL grounds during this week’s matches will feature the three-arrow recycling logo. AFL umpires will wear green uniforms and goal umpires will use green flags… Each of the games during the round will incorporate Green Round activities, including a ‘Green Menu’ in the function dining rooms of the Hawthorn v Adelaide clash at the MCG on Friday. All food on the menu will be sourced within a 100 mile radius of the venue.Meanwhile, Mount Martha locals tell me the new pool Demetriou has ordered for the block he’s bought next to his beachhouse is looking splendid. Pool house, too.
(Thanks to readers Jessica and R.)
===
Gillard spends to mop up the mess Gillard caused
Andrew Bolt
Here we go again, Labor spending millions to put a band-aid on a nasty problem of its own reckless creation:THE federal government will build two new detention centres on the Australian mainland under sweeping changes announced today.My red dot on the Department of Immigration graph above indicates the day the Rudd Government announced it was weakening the boat people laws, following recommendations made by Julia Gillard herself. You can see the consequences.
Children and vulnerable families also will be moved out of detention centres and into community accommodation run by churches and charities under changes announced by Julia Gillard.
And what do you think boat people will conclude now that Gillard has weakened again, offering better housing and schools to those who get here - provided they bring their children with them?
===
Er, modelling?
Andrew Bolt
This will be interesting:
THE Gillard government faces another parliamentary defeat after Adam Bandt said he would support a move to demand confidential modelling of Labor’s mining tax.Next, a call for the modelling of the $43 billion National Broadband Network?
Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey today submitted a motion to the House calling for the government to publicly reveal the costings, assumptions and background working papers behind the Henry Tax review.
UPDATE
Terry McCrann may have ended a friendship by standing for a principle:
GRAEME Samuel ... made an extraordinary and totally inappropriate intervention into the debate over the National Broadband Network this week—shilling for the government and its refusal to conduct even the most basic cost-benefit assessment of the $43 billion (going on $46bn) project.===
Echoing the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, Samuel claimed it was not possible to do a cost-benefit analysis of the NBN because no one could assess benefits of a high-speed broadband network even 10 years out, let alone over its 40-50 year lifespan. Echoed? Who of Conroy and Samuel was the ventriloquist and which the dummy?…
The last time I looked, the role of the ACCC and its chairman was, according to its own website, “to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974 and other acts”. For the life of me, I couldn’t find any instruction to the ACCC and its chairman to publicly campaign for one party’s “visionary”—as Samuel put it—spending proposals.
Samuel might have been able to make a (very tenuous) connection to his role as competition tsar if he’d been arguing for the NBN as necessary to promote competition in telco services. Very tenuous.... But he wasn’t even doing that. He was claiming the NBN would deliver all these unspecified, unknowable benefits. And so, therefore, it was ludicrous to call for a cost-benefit analysis…
The funny thing about Conroy and Samuel’s pleas for an analysis-free visionary NBN, is the attempt to have it both ways on the core argument.
We are spending $43bn because we know there are huge benefits to be obtained. But we can’t have a cost-benefit analysis because no one can possibly know what the benefits will be.
The really troubling part about Samuel’s intervention is that, if anything, if he was doing his job he would be opposing the NBN as proposed. For it mandates the elimination of infrastructure-based competition.
Telstra is required to destroy its existing copper and HFC cable networks. Echoing Henry Ford, Samuel and Conroy are saying you can have any form of fixed broadband you like, provided it’s the NBN.
Except there’s a big problem. What if you don’t want any form of fixed broadband? You just want your old-fashioned fixed-line telephone. Or, as is increasingly likely, you don’t want either—preferring both a mobile phone and mobile broadband.
Labor loses another $45 million on a fool’s errand
Andrew Bolt
It was all so predictable, but Australia’s bid to host the 2022 soccer World Cup is turning out to be yet more Labor waste, this time of $45 million:
The World Cup bidding contests became a lot clearer today after the United States withdrew from the 2018 race to focus on earning hosting rights for 2022.Which means Australia - in the Asia group - loses out in 2022, after already being forced to withdraw its hopeless 2018 bid.
The move guaranteed that Europe would host the 2018 finals, with England, Russia and the joint bids of Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal still in the running…
China’s federation said in July it wants to host in 2026 - a potential campaign that could prompt FIFA to keep Asia in the game by going to the U.S. four years earlier.
(Thanks to reader David Hayward, who has explained before how dumb our bid is.)
===
The sliming of a sceptic is finally too much for even Wikipedia
Andrew Bolt
Professor Hal Lewis has been vilfied by warmists since writing a stinging letter of resignation from the American Physical Society in protest at its underhanded attempts to stifle sceptics of the theory of apocalyptic man-made warming.
Lewis described the warming hysteria as “the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist”.
James Delingpole describes the sliming - and how a Wikipedia editor, William Connelley, tried to hide the evidence of Lewis’s heresy:
Here is Connolley in action on his blog, scrabbling for dirt:(Thanks to reader Helen.)So, where are the papers? You can’t have a scientific career without papers. There are some early ones – The Multiple Production of Mesons from 1948 with Oppenheimer, no less. Or Multiple Scattering in an Infinite Medium, 1950 – worthy maths-ish thing, I’d guess. But past the late-50’s early 60’s it suddenly gets very thin indeed. I’d guess, without knowing more, that he gave up science and moved into admin.And here he is, in his role as a Wikipedia editor caught by Watts Up With That doctoring Professor Lewis’s Wikipedia entry so as to edit out that all-important resignation letter.
William Connolley – a green party activist – has form in this regard. Lots of form – as I first reported here last year – drawing on Lawrence Solomon’s definitive National Post expose ”How Wikipedia’s green doctor rewrote 5,428 climate articles”.Connolley took control of all things climate in the most used information source the world has ever known – Wikipedia. Starting in February 2003, just when opposition to the claims of the band members were beginning to gel, Connolley set to work on the Wikipedia site. He rewrote Wikipedia’s articles on global warming, on the greenhouse effect, on the instrumental temperature record, on the urban heat island, on climate models, on global cooling. On Feb. 14, he began to erase the Little Ice Age; on Aug.11, the Medieval Warm Period. In October, he turned his attention to the hockey stick graph. He rewrote articles on the politics of global warming and on the scientists who were skeptical of the band. Richard Lindzen and Fred Singer, two of the world’s most distinguished climate scientists, were among his early targets, followed by others that the band especially hated, such as Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, authorities on the Medieval Warm Period.Anyway, Connolley’s latest escapade has proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for the Wiki administrators. He has now been banned from writing on “Climate Change” for Wikipedia. (H/T Bishop Hill).
All told, Connolley created or rewrote 5,428 unique Wikipedia articles. His control over Wikipedia was greater still, however, through the role he obtained at Wikipedia as a website administrator, which allowed him to act with virtual impunity. When Connolley didn’t like the subject of a certain article, he removed it — more than 500 articles of various descriptions disappeared at his hand. When he disapproved of the arguments that others were making, he often had them barred — over 2,000 Wikipedia contributors who ran afoul of him found themselves blocked from making further contributions… In these ways, Connolley turned Wikipedia into the missionary wing of the global warming movement.
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Victims miss out on the cash Fraser-Kirk offered
Andrew Bolt
So was that promise to donate a pay-out just a PR stunt or legal manoeuvre?
Former David Jones boss Mark McInnes has confirmed there has been a settlement of the sexual harassment lawsuit against the company..;.;This is not the only aspect to this $37 million try-on which strikes me as not quite kosher.
David Jones has confirmed the settlement amount is $850,000, inclusive of all legal costs and expenses.;.;.;
Ms Fraser-Kirk also issued a statement on Monday, saying the legal action had been a “difficult journey”.
She said she had asked the courts to award punitive damages, which would have been donated to charity. But because the settlement had been reached out of court, that would not happen, the 27-year-old added.
UPDATE
In a statement, Fraser-Kirk said “I had asked the Court to award punitive damages, which was to go to charity, but as the Court will no longer be determining the case that’s no longer possible. I look forward, however, to participating in charitable work in the future.’’(No comments.)
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Little hope, so lots of change
Andrew Bolt
The Barack Obama hype is over:
Nearly two years after putting Obama in the White House, one-quarter of those who voted for the Democrat are defecting to the GOP or considering voting against the party in power this fall…===
In a reversal from 2008, the survey found that Obama backers who expected change in Washington - 63 percent - now think nothing ever will happen. Just 36 percent still think Obama can do it,
So this water rage isn’t Howard’s fault, after all
Andrew Bolt
Both the Gillard Government and independent MP Tony Windsor have tried to claim that it was the Water Act passed by the wicked Howard Government that forced the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to “save” the rivers by destroying farmers.
Turns out the MDBA isn’t hamstrung by old Howard, after all, and just needed the will to find a way out from its green agenda:
THE embattled Murray-Darling Basin Authority has responded to regional fury at its proposed hefty water cuts by ordering a study of the social and economic effects on communities.That Windsor should be giving such cover to Labor - and green zealotry - is disgraceful.
As the Gillard government and the authority run for cover, this will traverse similar ground to the parliamentary inquiry announced last week, chaired by independent Tony Windsor…
Water Minister Tony Burke distanced himself from the authority’s initial proposals for an overall cut to water extraction of between 27 and 37 per cent, stressing the report was not government policy…
Mr Burke admitted projected job losses of 800 was too low, saying even the authority had acknowledged this, believing much more work had to be done, particularly on the impact on small and medium-sized businesses.
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The plastic green
Andrew Bolt
Eco-alarmist David Suzuki does it again:
In North America it’s claimed that we carry over a pound of plastic dissolved in our bodies. So why are we surprised then that 15 per cent of our kids have asthma; that the rates of breast cancer in women are sky rocketing?Why does anyone treat this man seriously? Yet here again he gets a respectful hearing from Lateline.
The frequent-flyer preacher is not even called out on his his hypocrisy. Here is what he preaches in Canada:
Compared to other modes of transport, such as driving or taking the train, travelling by air has a greater climate impact per passenger kilometre, even over longer distances....But, no:
What can I do? ...Use video-conferences for meetings.
LEIGH SALES: David Suzuki, I know you flew in from overseas very early this morning, so we thank you very much for coming in late to speak to us.===
DAVID SUZUKI: It’s been a pleasure, thank you.
Gillard’s Greenpeace government
Andrew Bolt
Julia Gillard creates yet another one of those committees to create consensus - which is achieved by excluding everyone who doesn’t already agree:
Union and community sector leaders have simultaneously been appointed to a non-government organisation roundtable which is likely to canvass how the government might protect jobs and offer assistance to households as it moves toward a price on carbon.Greenpeace now advises this government?
Representatives from the Climate Institute, Greenpeace Australia Pacific and ClimateWorks Australia will join the heads of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, and the Australian Workers Union in the roundtable co-chaired by Mr Combet and the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Tony Burke.
UPDATE
Round up the usual suspects!
The second roundtable of non-government organisations has 20 members, ranging from Don Henry, head of the Australian Conservation Foundation, to the ACTU president, Ged Kearney, one of five union leaders, Tim Costello of World Vision and Tim Flannery, representing the Coast and Climate Change Council.
Like the Climate Change Committee, the roundtables will meet once a month until the end of next year with the aim of developing support among their constituencies.
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