=== Todays Toon ===
Sir Arthur Edward Kennedy GCMG CB (5 April 1809 – 3 June 1883) was a British colonial administrator who served as governor of a number of British colonies, namely Sierra Leone, Western Australia, Vancouver Island, Hong Kong and Queensland.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”- 1 Peter 1:3=== Headlines ===
Congressional Candidates, Lawmakers Say Recession Is Real
Despite a key economics panel declaring that the recession ended in June 2009, congressional candidates and lawmakers insist it is still ongoing and that the nation is stuck in the 'middle' of it.Travel Alert Issued in Europe Terror Scare
The famed Eiffel Tower in Paris is just one of the high-profile targets of Mumbai-style terror plot, official says, as travel alert is issued for Americans living in or traveling to Europe
A Wife's Struggle to Escape Deadly Pirates
The wife of an American tourist gunned down while jet skiing in a border lake dodged bullets as she left her husband behind and frantically tried to elude Mexican pirates, chilling 911 call reveals
Emanuel Announces Chicago Mayoral Bid
Ex-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel declares that he's preparing to run for mayor of Chicago in a YouTube message, making official one of Washington's worst-kept secrets
Breaking News
Banks shouldn't raise rates - SwanFEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan says banks could not justify raising rates above the official cash rate if the Reserve Bank of Australia increases its rates when it meets tomorrow.
Banks can't justify another rise, says Swan
FEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan says banks could not justify raising rates above the official cash rate if the Reserve Bank increases its rates tomorrow.
Wife stabs husband to death on birthday
A HOUSTON woman was arrested yesterday after allegedly stabbing her husband to death at his birthday party.
Crash victim too drunk to direct rescuers
POLICE searched for almost two hours after a woman crashed while five times over the alcohol limit - and was too drunk to tell rescuers where she was.
NSW/ACT
Learner charged with drink drivingA LEARNER driver has had his licence confiscated and suspended after failing a random breath test.
Sydney Metro puts retailers off track
AT AN age when most people are enjoying retirement, newsagent Harvey Ikladios is about to lose his family home.
In a state of trash as worst litterers
THE premier state of NSW has a claimed another dubious No. 1 - we are the nation's worst litterers.
Harbour boaters to get marine servo
CONSTRUCTION of Sydney's first one-stop marine service station has begun at White Bay.
Sydney auction letdown
SYDNEY'S expected spring property boom failed to materialise with one of the slowest auction weekends.
Queensland
Water hikes diverted to execsSEQ Water Grid Manager is offering no relief to homeowners hit with steep water rate hikes despite earning millions more from water sales last year.
No-one will challenge me - JPL
OPPOSITION leader will use a party room meeting to demand discipline from his MPs, after disgruntled colleagues spoke out against him.
Council push for equal pay to MPs
GOLD Coast City councillors could get a $13,000 pay rise and earn as much as state MPs if advice from the council's administration team is followed.
Car fire drama in Clem7 tunnel
THE northbound Clem7 has been reopened after it was closed for two hours when a Holden Commodore caught fire in the tunnel.
Concrete block used to steal safe
TWO axe-wielding robbers have used a concrete block to smash their way into a Gold Coast hotel and hold-up the staff.
Man 'glassed on dancefloor'
CLUBBER on assault charges after man allegedly hit with glass bottle on dancefloor of nightclub.
Toddler drowns in backyard pool
A TWO-year-old boy has drowned in a backyard pool in north Queensland.
Body discovered beside highway
THERE are no clues to the identity of a man's body which was found on the side of a main road.
Our wet weather is here to stay
QUEENSLAND'S wet September has merged seamlessly into a wet October. In 24 hours to 9am, rain fell across much of the coastal strip.
Ratepayers want councils sacked
QUEENSLANDERS squeezed by soaring costs of living are fighting back - and their anger could bring about the sacking of several local governments.
Victoria
Four road deaths in horror dayUPDATE 10.46am: BIKERS have been warned they have “no room for error” after three died in a five-hour stretch yesterday.
Police search for drunk victim
POLICE spent two hours searching for a woman who crashed while five times over the alcohol limit, and too drunk to know where she was.
Anger at gaps at the 'G
PREMIER John Brumby has criticised the MCC for leaving thousands of seats empty for the AFL Grand Final replay.
Teens arrested over taxi theft
TWO teenagers have been arrested over the theft of a taxi at knifepoint east of Melbourne.
Leadfoot cop escapes traffic fine
A FEDERAL police officer allegedly caught driving more than 40km/h over the speed limit only received a warning from a junior colleague.
Cancer stops dream, but stirs action
A JETSTAR flight attendant is the youngest woman in Victoria diagnosed with a cancer so cruel it almost robbed her of motherhood.
Home buyers spoilt for choice
BUYERS will have plenty of choice in the coming weeks with an auction boom emerging after the Grand Final replay.
Cold snap ends, spring is here
AFTER the coldest September in 18 years, spring is finally here.
A star is born in Hairspray musical
BIG, brash and brilliant, Hairspray redefines what a musical can be.
Buyers brace for rate increase
HOME loan customers and retailers face a bleak Christmas as the Reserve Bank prepares to raise interest rates as early as tomorrow.
Northern Territory
Nothing newSouth Australia
Four stabbed in bloody brawlFOUR men were stabbed in a wild brawl involving up to 100 people and fought within metres of a police patrol base in the city early this morning.
Clampdown on hoons
A RECORD number of hoons have had their cars clamped or impounded and face an increase in the time police can block them from their vehicles.
It's our gourmet backyard
ONE of the most influential chefs in the world has made a flying visit to an Aboriginal community in the Flinders Ranges to learn about bush foods.
Watering hours will not change
WATERING hours will not change following the start of daylight saving yesterday.
Classic encounter of closest kind
THE Central District dynasty rolled into its second decade yesterday as the SANFL basked in the glory of an epic grand final.
Hoons giving us a bad name
PERFORMANCE vehicle enthusiast Tom Painter has backed new laws to crackdown on hoons and says dangerous drivers give law-abiding car lovers a bad name.
Growers ignoring wine grape glut
GRAPEGROWERS are gearing up to dramatically increase production next harvest, despite the sector's debilitating problems of oversupply.
McKay joins most wanted list
A VIOLENT killer who was a patient of both James Nash House and Glenside Hospital has been added to South Australia's top 10 most wanted list.
$11m on offer for mystery crimes
A MULTI-million-dollar haul awaits those who can help solve South Australia's most baffling crimes.
Let the (mind) games begin
THE two nations vying to top the Commonwealth Games medal tally remained locked in a media war of words last night.
Western Australia
Men shot, stabbed in bikie brawlA MAN was shot and another man stabbed in a violent fight between bikie gangs at Kwinana yesterday.
Grog-proof fence proves a peace-keeper
ABORIGINAL communities in WA's north have been given the legal authority to make drinking illegal in their homes and fence off streets from drinkers.
Chemicals found in chase crash car
POLICE have charged a man over a police pursuit that ended in a Mt Lawley intersection being closed after volatile drug-making chemicals were found in the crashed car.
Man falls from pub window after fight
A HEATHRIDGE man, 53, suffered serious head injuries in an argument with another man that saw him fall out a Cottesloe hotel window yesterday.
Tasmania
Nothing new=== Comments ===
WARM MISTSTim Blair
Community-based organisations strive to create a better world, yet for their trouble usually receive only mockery and scorn. It’s a sad reflection on society that the dedicated efforts of those committed to change and improvement are so often crudely dismissed. Today, just for once, we should celebrate the brave activists whose tireless work makes Australia a nicer place for all.
But enough about Collingwood’s magnificent AFL premiership. Instead, let’s talk about stupid environmentalists.
===
FOUNDING GIBBON
Tim Blair
A Snowtown barrelful of fine Adelaide names from Sean Fewster’s entertaining City of Evil – The Truth About Adelaide’s Strange and Violent Underbelly:
• Blair Tremaine
• Romeo Pacifico
• Edward Gibbon Wakefield
• Jean Eric Gassy
• Donna Lee Casagrande
• John “Joanne” Lillecrapp
• Ginsh
• Nicole Therese Courcier McGuinness
• Mark Errin Rust
• Garry Feltus
• Fusae Simpson
• Stephen Ey
• Dr Allen Fugler
And that’s only from the first 100 pages. (Note: not all of the people listed above are strange or violent. They’re just from Adelaide.) Of Wakefield, Fewster – who has an Adelaide name himself – writes:
One of the driving forces behind the creation of Adelaide was British politician Edward Gibbon Wakefield …Then he invented Adelaide.
Wakefield was a visionary – a man who had clearly given a great deal of thought to devising the best method of colonisation. What history forgets is that he was afforded this time not in smoking rooms, university lectures or libraries, but in the depths of London’s prisons.
Months before grabbing the headlines with his colonisation ideas, Wakefield finished a three-year sentence for kidnapping a 15-year-old girl.
===
PANDERING POODLE
Tim Blair
Al Gore addresses a hostile Tampa audience. It might just be me, but Al seems to crank up the southern accent when he’s in front of a southern crowd:
“While that was goin’ own, so what happened in Russia? Hundred and two degrees in MosCOW, and then all those big farrs and droughts and wheat takin’ off …” Gore doesn’t sound quite so yee haw! when he’s speaking in DC.
===
HE’LL TELL US WHAT TO DO
Tim Blair
Caroline Overington reports:
The invitations for the Andrew Olle media lecture are out. This year’s speaker is Alan Rusbridger. For those who don’t have a clue who he is, he’s the editor of The Guardian. This strikes Diary as odd. The white-hot issue for media right now is: how can we make money? So they invite the editor of The Guardian?Good question.
===
RUDD’S LEGACY
Tim Blair
Tim Wilson on protectionism disguised as eco-activism:
In 2008, Industry Minister Kim Carr established the $1.1 billion Green Car Innovation Fund subsidising foreign-owned car companies to innovate lower-emission, Australian manufactured vehicles. Coupled with a $35 million grant from the Victorian government, the federal government provided $35m to Toyota to develop a hybrid Camry. But with a target to sell 10,000 vehicles this year, Toyota has reported only 2960 have been sold, two-thirds of them to the government of Victoria. The scheme also provided a $149m subsidy for Holden to develop Australia’s “most fuel-efficient four-cylinder car” in South Australia that’s been ridiculed for delivering virtually no green innovation at all.Previous Australian governments have used safety and pollution regulations as proxy protectionist measures. It’s an incredibly efficient way of giving us the least interesting cars at the highest price. Incidentally, Toyota’s ads for the hybrid Camry now feature no enviro theme at all; instead, they emphasise the speed and power provided by two engines. Green don’t sell.
And in the ultimate demonstration of the futility of the fund, this year’s budget papers included a $200m cut to the program in response “to lower than expected demand”.
The Green Car Innovation Fund never lived up to its name because it was designed as a subsidy to the industry to mitigate the consequences from phasing out Australia’s long-standing automotive industry tariffs. And this green protectionist racket is set to continue.
===
GOOD MOVE
Tim Blair
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. After a year at unfocussed news site Asian Correspondent, J.F. Beck is returning to Blogspot.
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TRASH WAR WON
Tim Blair
Left-wingers believe that this rally is larger than this rally. Well, the leftoids did leave behind more garbage.
(Via Charlie Martin, who has much more on relative crowd sizes. Also enjoy a despondent-sounding BBC video.)
UPDATE. Crowd too small? Then just borrow someone else’s. (Via Treacher, who writes: “Yesterday’s rally was very diverse. They had socialists, Marxists, AND communists!")
UPDATE II. An incomplete list of organisations that supported Saturday’s rally, but which evidently didn’t turn up:
Sojourners
SEIU 1199
National Action Network
United States Students Association
UAW, International Union
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
SEIU: Service Employees International Union
Rainbow PUSH Coalition
PowerPAC
National Council of La Raza
NAACP
Green for All
Communications Workers of America
American Federation of Teachers
Center for Community Change
AFL-CIO
===
UNDER PRESSURE
Tim Blair
Further on that kill the unbelievers enviro video:
The charities that backed a Richard Curtis film for the 10:10 environmental campaign said today that they were “absolutely appalled” when they saw the director’s four-minute short, which was withdrawn from circulation amid a storm of protest …These people can’t see past their own loathing. Daniel Hannan:
A statement from the Guardian, a backer of 10:10, which exclusively showcased No Pressure, said: “The film may have been somewhat tasteless, but it was an imaginative attempt to challenge public apathy over climate change.”
I have Green friends who are generous and idealistic, and most of their supporters are actuated by a sincere concern about the future. Almost all of us, after all, want clean air and water; almost all of us like the idea of pandas mating ineptly for years to come; and almost all of us want a diversity of energy supply. But, just occasionally, as during the Brent Spar fiasco, we see that some green campaigners are, like the abolitionist in Amistad, more interested in bashing people they dislike than in advancing the cause they notionally represent. Ah, hatred: where would Lefties be without it?UPDATE. At Mother Nature News, Siel Ju asks:
Have you ever heard a fervent climate change denier share their non-scientifically-based opinions on TV (or worse, in real life) and thought, “It would be so much easier to tackle global climate change if these naysayers were blown up like BP’s oil well”? …More on this moron from Matt Hayden.
Blowing up people should be kept an imaginary fantasy …
===
An enemy already through Europe’s gate
Andrew Bolt
One day, and I suspect soon, such attacks will provoke a very nasty reaction in Europe against adherents of the faith that has declared this war on unbelievers:
Britons travelling to France and Germany have been told they may face a high threat from terror attacks, following a US warning for its citizens to be vigilant while in Europe.Many will understandably ask whether importing so many Muslims, even when the majority are law abiding, is worth these risks:
Americans living in or visiting Europe have been told to take more security precautions.
This advice is one step below the formal warning recommending no travel at all.
Following the US move, Britain upgraded its travel advice for Europe.
The Foreign Office said there was a “high threat” of attacks in countries including France and Germany, rather than the “general threat” previously identified.
It follows intelligence indicating al Qaeda terrorists are planning to launch simultaneous Mumbai-style attacks in the UK, France and Germany.
The discovery of a terror plot aimed at European cities underscores the growing danger posed by terrorists equipped with Western passports — a coveted weapon in al Qaeda’s arsenal.===
US and European security services are struggling to track young Western nationals who travel to Pakistan and elsewhere to receive training from al Qaeda and its allies and then return to try to carry out attacks, analysts and officials said…
European security officials in recent days said al Qaeda militants were plotting to stage simultaneous strikes in London and cities in France and Germany, with information on the plan possibly coming from a German citizen now detained in Afghanistan.
Ahmed Siddiqui, of Hamburg, reportedly was part of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and told American interrogators that some operatives in the plot may already be in Europe…
According to Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, some 200 Germans or foreigners living in Germany have spent time in Pakistan with the intention of receiving paramilitary training by terrorist groups.
Boat people watching Julia’s signals
Andrew Bolt
Journalists agree in 2009 that boat people would never first check the reception they’d be likely to get:
The ABC’s Jon Faine, The Monthly’s Sally Warhaft, and The Sydney Morning Herald’s David Marr agreed mere Afghans could never have known of Rudd’s changes (to boat people laws).In June this year an Afghan in Indonesia was one of many to disagree:
”When the Labor Party wins maybe, maybe they will accept more and more refugees,” said Sekander Ali."Maybe the Labor Party will win. They are accepting asylum seekers ... God willing they will win the election, because we pray for the Labor Party, for Kevin Rudd.”And now more confirmation that the people smugglers and their passengers are rather more noticing than journalists of the Left like to believe:
INDONESIAN anti-people-smuggling authorities are braced for a surge of Afghan asylum-seekers coming through their territory. This will be a consequence, they say, of Australia deciding last week to resume processing refugees from Afghanistan...UPDATE
“Because the sea is calm and Australian conditions have become looser, the situation makes it very probable for them (Afghans) to start coming through again,” said Lilik Apriyanto, chief of the West Timor Anti-People-Smuggling Taskforce…
The last time he saw big movements through his territory was in July, when the taskforce caught three boatloads, totalling 250 people—mostly Iraqis, Afghans and Iranians. This, Mr Lilik believes, was caused by the smugglers’ fear that a Coalition victory in the August election, followed by resumption of the conservatives “Pacific solution”, would badly damage their business.
Just after Julia Gillard celebrates her centenary of days in office, she gets another centenary to celebrate:
AN asylum-seeker boat intercepted near Christmas Island today is the 100th to arrive in Australian waters this year.===
The first airline safety routine I’ve watched in years
Andrew Bolt
===
Pachauri: Nobel one day, embarrassment the next
Andrew Bolt
Three years ago, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was co-winner with Al Gore of the Nobel Peace for his global warming alarmism.
Now even Fred Pearce, the influential warminst and New Scientist writer, says he should be sacked for his alarmism and cover-ups:
If governments won’t fire him when the IPCC meets at the Korean seaside resort of Busan next week, he should fall on his sword. For the good of the battered reputation of climate-change science. For the good of the planet.Christopher Booker, more sceptical, couldn’t agree more:
Next weekend, as delegates from 194 countries gather in South Korea for a crucial meeting of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, their big talking point will be whether the IPCC’s chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri should resign – as a recent report from the world’s leading scientific academies seemed strongly to hint he should.===
The delegates face a dilemma. If they sack him, it would be a serious blow to the reputation of the panel, which has been central to the global warming scare since its founding in 1988. If he stays, it could severely damage the authority of its next major report, due in four years’ time.
Sung badly so very well
Andrew Bolt
Wrong team, and “sung” too slow and too croakily by Jack Thompson. Gee, it works.
(Thanks to reader David.)
===
Manne blind to the “racists” of the Left
Andrew Bolt
Hal Colebatch examines the latest questionable research of neo-Leftist and stolen generations propangandist Robert Manne, and is astonished.
His article is avalailable to subscribers only, but Andrew McIntyre sums it up:
According to Hal Colebatch in the latest Quadrant, Manne writes about the South Vietnamese refugee policy in Australia between 1976 and 1982, making the extraordinary claim that “With the boat arrivals, the Labor Opposition under Whitlam, and then Hayden, resisted the temptation to exploit underlying racist or anti-refugee sentiment for party political gain.”But surely Colebatch should understand that history today is what you would prefer to have happened, rather than what actually did:
Colebatch rightly wonders if Manne was on another planet. He quotes the infamous comment by Whitlam ,"I’m not having hundreds of fucking Vietnamese Balts coming into this country with their political and religious hatreds against us” … He then goes on to list the many examples of ALP bloodymindedness; Clyde Cameron himself advocating in the 1977 election campaign that “the only effective means of dealing with illegal immigrants would be to have them arrested and deported as soon as they land”, Hawke wanting the return of the bogus refugees, and Darwin waterside workers striking over the ship Entalina that rescued Vietnamese boat people, threatening any further shipping that was prepared to rescue boat people. The litany of racist and inhumane bigotry by the Left is documented in detail. The article thus reveals Manne’s strange delusional rewrite of history.
Colebatch concludes:I could continue these quotes at considerable length (my PhD thesis on this subject occupies 489 pages exclusive of bibliography and appendices), but this is probably enough to make the point.
Far from being the beneficiaries of a bipartisan approach, Vietnamese refugees were attacked by virtually every group on the Left. I find it baffling that someone occupying Mr Manne’s position is either unaware of the well-documented history of the ALP and the Left regarding Vietnamese refugees or, if he is aware of it, that he should apparently seek to radically rewrite these facts.
Believe it. When Professor Lyndall Ryan, head of Humanities at Newcastle University, was outed for writing about massacres that hadn’t happened. Citing death tolls from sources that didn’t exist, she had a perfect postmodernist excuse. Two, in fact.UPDATE
Excuse one: ”Historians are always making up figures.” Excuse two: “Two truths are told. Is only one ‘truth’ correct?”
Quadrant has now freed access to Colebatch’s excellent article. Read it here.
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We’d all win the rubbish award if we didn’t pay someone to clean up
Andrew Bolt
Only a government would think a better way of tackling waste is to charge more for cleaning it up:
THE premier state of NSW has a claimed another dubious No. 1 - we are the nation’s worst litterers.That said, the title of “worst litterers” seems deceptive to me. Check the ground of any concert - especially ones attended by the young and green - and see how much rubbish is left behind.
The state’s climb to the top spot was confirmed yesterday with the release of the Keep Australia Beautiful National Litter Index, which had NSW overtaking last year’s title holder Western Australia.
National chairman Don Chambers said there had been an alarming increase in rubbish dumping in NSW.
The Opposition blamed it on the State Government, which raised waste levies more than $70 a tonne in Sydney.
What makes us relatively litter free is not that we’ve stopped littering, but that we pay a small army to clean up after us.
===
Progress in the arts
Andrew Bolt
Ballina is to get a “classier” Big Prawn, which sounds as hard as the search for a “classier” tattoo‘’We decided to give him a split personality,’’ artist Angus McDonald said. ‘’We want to do something that’s really hyper-realistic. We’re going to break the idea of the Big thing wide open.’’===
McDonald and designer Natalie Wilkin are the creative brains behind the new Big Prawn, which has been commissioned by the North Coast developer Chris Condon as a replacement for the old and graffiti-prone monster (above) that for 20 years has towered over the Pacific Highway on the site of a petrol station at Ballina.
Mr Condon plans to install his Big Prawn on the Ballina bypass, currently under construction. It will be positioned on a grey solid plinth 12 metres above the ground, surrounded by a pond.
McDonald said the idea was to stay true to the ‘’kitschy’’ nature of Big things, but throw quality into the mix. ‘’It’s going to be beautiful,’’ he said. As Neville’s home will be at a 24-hour petrol station, the co-designers were inspired to create a prawn with two personalities - by day a shiny, ready-to-eat seafood giant and by night a phosphorescent ‘’living’’ creature rippling with light from coloured LED spotlights.
China’s Premier calls for free speech - one day
Andrew Bolt
I like the words, but am sure there’s a big, big “but”:
Freedom of speech is indispensable and the people’s desire for democracy “irresistible”, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday as he brushed aside criticisms that Beijing is curbing such rights…===
Wen repeated the government line that any such opening up of people’s rights “must be conducted within the range allowed by the constitution and the laws"…
”I often say that we should not only let people have the freedom of speech. We, more importantly, must create conditions to let them criticise the work of the government,” Wen said.
“And it is only when there is the supervision and critical oversight from the people that the government will be in a position to do an even better job.”
We’re all regions now
Andrew Bolt
Listen to Regions Minister Simon Crean’s definitional difficulties on the set of Insiders, I whispered to my fellow panelists: ”Birthday cake” :
CASSIDY: How do you define a region? What is a region?The problem, of course, is that everyone wants to be disadvantaged today, and in the queue for a handout.
Crean: Every part of this country is constituted within their own region.
Cassidy: So when you talk about regions, you mean non-urban?
Crean: When I talk about regionalism and local empowerment, it is saying all regions in the country.
Cassidy: Hobart, for example: a capital city, a state capital. Is Hobart a region?
Crean: Hobart—well, the region around Hobart is a region. In the case of Tasmania, if you’re talking about it, the regional development body covers the whole of Tasmania. Hobart is a component of it, and Hobart, while we call it a capital city, for the purposes of the Australian Bureau of Statistics that talks about the remoteness factor, Hobart is not a capital city in that sense, it fits into a definition that will be picked up in the regional application of funds.
Cassidy: And they have an independent representing them as well and they’re looking for regional funding.
===
The UN’s judges are the crooks
Andrew Bolt
Emeritus Professor Irwin Cottler, a former Canadian Attorney-General, says the UN needs to be cleaned up:
The election of Libya—one of the world’s worst human rights violators—to the UN Human Rights Council as it commences its new session is an affront to the case and cause of human rights… Indeed, what is most disturbing is that an overwhelming majority of UN member states elected Libya to the council notwithstanding its international criminality…===
This is but the latest in a series of breaches by the UN Human Rights Council of its mandate to protect the victims of human rights violations and hold the violators to account. Indeed, the council has turned its mandate on its head.
First, the council has turned a blind eye to the world’s most serious human rights violators, failing to adopt any resolution or investigative mandate for such human rights violator countries as China, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Russia or Iran, to name but a few—all being listed on Freedom House’s list of the 20 worst human rights abusers. While the UN General Assembly calls for countries to be elected to the council based on their human rights records, 24 out of 47 present members (51 per cent) fail to meet fundamental standards of democracy and human rights.
Second, according to the recent 2010 UN Watch Report and Scorecard, 18 out of the 30 key council resolutions that were adopted were prejudicial and counterproductive. These included resolutions praising Sudan for its “progress”; defining any discussion of terrorism committed in the name of Islam as a form of “defamation” and “racism”; commending Sri Lanka after it killed an estimated 20,000 civilians; and granting exculpatory immunity to Hamas terrorism.
Third, since its 2006 creation, 80 per cent of the council’s resolutions have singled out one member state—Israel—for differential and discriminatory treatment, thereby breaching the UN charter’s foundational principle of “equality for all nations, large and small”.
One minister, at least, defies the Greens
Andrew Bolt
Emerson, I’m told, is privately a sceptic of catastrophic man-made warming, but I suspect he’s even more firmly a believer in the idea that Labor is doomed if it’s seen to be killing jobs at the bidding of its Greens masters:
THE Gillard government will resist moves by European countries, and pressure from the Greens, to introduce international environmental trade sanctions.
Trade Minister Craig Emerson argued today that moves from European countries to impose trade sanctions on countries that did not put a price on carbon were protectionism.
“We won’t cop governments cloaking protectionism in this sort of green cloak of respectability, where it’s just old protectionism,” Dr Emerson told the Sky News Australian Agenda program.
The move potentially puts the government at odds with the Australian Greens, which wants environmental and labour standards inserted into trade deals.
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