=== Todays Toon ===
Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Herbert John Chapman Goodwin KCB, KCMG, DSO (24 May 1871 – 29 September 1960), known as Sir John Goodwin, was a British soldier and medical practitioner, who served as the Governor of the Australian state of Queensland between 1927 and 1932.
=== Bible Quote ===
Two are better than one,because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
=== Headlines ===
Marines Chief Warns Ending Gay Ban Would Be 'Problematic'
Retiring Gen. Conway tells Fox News as many as 95 percent of the Marines he's surveyed would be uncomfortable serving alongside openly gay troops — adding that change shouldn't come from a judge in CaliforniaCalifornia NOW Chief: Whitman 'Whore'
Head of the Nat'l Organization for Women said it's wrong for anyone to call a woman a 'whore,' but the head of the group's Calif. affiliate disagrees when it comes to GOP gov candidate Meg Whitman
Another Year, Another $1.3 Trillion Deficit
White House confirms another year in the red with a 13-digit figure for the federal deficit — and the future could be even worse
Oprah on Bandwagon for Jon Stewart's Rally
The daytime queen's audiences are accustomed to getting new cars and exotic trips, but now she's putting her money toward a liberal 'cause' — sending Stewart's fans to his upcoming D.C. rally
Breaking News
Actor Simon MacCorkindale dies at 58BRITISH actor Simon MacCorkindale, who starred in Death on the Nile and in the BBC TV series Casualty, has died at 58 after a battle with cancer.
Touchscreens are 'cesspools of germs'
AN iPhone can get more germ-infested than a toilet in a train toilet, a new study has found.
The heart really does rule the heart
BEING madly in love can spark torrent of electrical activity through the brain, research finds.
Prince faces death penalty over gay claim
A SAUDI prince accused of murdering his servant in Britain could face the death penalty in his homeland over allegations of homosexuality, a London court has heard.
War vets turned away from eatery for attire
SIX World War II veterans, including one who was a prisoner of war in Germany for two years, were turned away from a posh restaurantbecause their clothing did not meet the eatery’s dress code.
NSW/ACT
Transport Minister's quest for safe seatTRANSPORT Minister John Robertson may run for the seat of Riverstone in a bid to become Labor leader after the state election.
Super windfall as $13 billion sits idle
MORE than $13 billion in inactive superannuation accounts is about to be taken by the Government unless owners claim them.
'Aimless' care at death centre
A CORONER described as "aimless" the supervision of four children in a home-based childcare centre the day a boy died.
HSC markers burn midnight oil
TEACHERS permitted to mark HSC exams til midnight but Board of Studies has dismissed fears fatigue could lead to mistakes.
Teacher's bond for abusing students
A FORMER teacher was given a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to twice indecently assaulting students.
NSW won't go to water
NSW is threatening to scuttle federal plans to cut water rights to farmers in the Murray Darling Basin.
Keneally's sad memories of stillbirth
KRISTINA Keneally credits Caroline, her baby who never drew breath, with giving her a new dimension to the true meaning of love.
Links to McGurk in fraud charges
THE man inside the mansion the night Michael McGurk was killed "processed a fraudulent loan".
More arrests over Zervas shooting
TWO more Comancheros have been charged with conspiracy to murder over the shooting of Hells Angels member Peter Zervas
Queensland
Flattery in vampire film remakeMatt Reeves remade a Swedish vampire film he loved so others could love it too
Mayor's bitter attack on Bligh
MORETON mayor Allan Sutherland has unleashed a bitter attack on Anna Bligh, accusing her government of attempting to shift the blame on soaring water prices.
Opponents of pool laws unite
OPPONENTS of new pool-fencing laws have thrown their support behind a man who sent hate mail to the family who lobbied for the changes.
Train may be swimming with fishes
THE opulent train carriage missing from a Queensland Rail workshop may be close by – perhaps in a watery grave at the bottom of Moreton Bay.
Crackdown on teaching standards
QUEENSLAND'S teaching profession is facing a crackdown on university entrance standards in a bid to boost quality in the classroom.
Daniel inquest sparks calls
THERE has been a surge in calls from people with information relating to the Daniel Morcombe case due to publicity surrounding this week's inquest.
CMC probe into violent cop bashing
THE Crime and Misconduct Commission has been urged to re-investigate the Airlie Beach police bashings by jailed former officer Benjamin Price.
Questions remain over Link drills
UNDERGROUND drills identical to the one that caused two cars to crash when it shot through a road at Windsor could be drilling again this weekend.
Vow to beef up flood advice
THE southeast water authority has beefed up communications with Brisbane council to ensure that conflicting advice is not issued again about flood warnings.
Toys ready for Christmas assault
SMALL, odd-looking furry creatures that either move randomly, squeak loudly or do both will dominate Christmas stockings around the country this year.
Victoria
Growth suburbs feel price boomSOME of Melbourne's most affordable suburbs have defied trends to rise tens of thousands of dollars in the past three months.
Police form muck-up day squad
A SQUAD of uniformed and plain-clothes officers has been formed to crack down on Year 12 pranks at some of Melbourne's elite schools.
Kennett kill plot shot down
SEVERAL senior police at the time of Jeff Kennett's reign as premier have denied knowing anything about him being shot at.
Stynes treats cancer with smoke 'bath'
JIM Stynes is looking and feeling the best he has since being diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago, his business partner says.
Leiah proves to doctors she's a fighter
FOR 15 minutes after Leiah's traumatic birth, she showed no signs of life and doctors were about to call her time of death.
Bikies set to fight against new laws
VICTORIA's outlaw motorcycle gangs are poised to fight new laws to pull down fortifications at clubhouses.
Holy roll-up a fine excuse for a party
ABOUT 10,000 revellers are expected in Carlton Gardens on Sunday to celebrate Mary MacKillop's elevation to sainthood.
Digging up schoolboy's past
EXCAVATION experts hope to find the body of schoolboy Terry Floyd when they start digging in a disused gold mine.
Melburnians bad at keeping tabs
MELBURNIANS are more likely than any other Australians to lose their friends on a big night out.
Police seek pair over attack on mum
A WOMAN was forced into a car, bashed and sexually assaulted when she was on her way to buy her diabetic son orange juice.
Tasmania
Nothing newSouth Australia
David Hick's memoir releasedTHE following is an extract from David Hicks' book "Guantanamo: My Journey" released today.
Extracts from David Hicks' memoir
THE long-awaited book by former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has been released. Read three extracts from it
State farewells former police chief
MORE than 400 people farewelled former police commissioner David Hunt at his state funeral this afternoon.
Grounded tour boat freed
A TOURIST boat, with passengers on board, has been rescued by the Metropolitan Fire Service after it was stranded on a sand bar on Friday afternoon.
Pilgrims arrive for Mary sainthood
THE first pilgrims have arrived in Penola, where Mary MacKillop's journey to sainthood began, for the biggest celebrations in its history.
They hate me because I do the right thing
PREMIER Mike Rann has dismissed a new poll showing his support has slumped to its lowest level, saying the result "could have been worse".
Bike cop cut not so severe
POLICE have decided not to cut as many motorcycle patrols in a revised version of controversial traffic policing plan.
More crashes cause freeway chaos
TWO separate crashes are causing traffic problems on the South Eastern Freeway.
Commuters the losers in bus strike
ADELAIDE Hills bus drivers have gone on a peak-hour strike over pay, throwing commuters into chaos.
Western Australia
Ex-cricketer cleared of rapeTHE former brother of Australian cricket captain Kim Hughes says he'll have a beer with family tonight after being cleared of raping his lover in a Perth hotel room.
Backflip over Crusty's boy wonder
YOUNG Crusty Demon Jasyn Roney will have his pedal to the metal tomorrow night after authorities reversed a decision to ban his stunt show performance at Burswood.
Nurses get new pay deal
INDUSTRIAL action by nurses has been averted after a new pay deal was reached with the Health Department last night.
Charmaine's death 'preventable'
THE suicide death of newsreader Charmaine Dragun probably was preventable if her mental condition had been properly diagnosed, a Sydney coroner has found.
Threat to shut down community
A KIMBERLEY Aboriginal community has been threatened with closure in the wake of an exodus prompted by alcohol bans and a child sex scandal.
Motorcyclist fights for life
A MOTORCYCLIST is fighting for his life in Royal Perth Hospital after a collision in Cooloongup.
Fire damages CBD sewing store
ARSON Squad detectives are investigating an overnight fire that damaged a sewing store in Perth's CBD.
Tasmania
Seven in Flinders Island plane crashSEVEN people have survived a plane crash as it went down in bad weather north of Tasmania, starting a small fire.
De facto guilty of murdering doctor
A HOBART woman has been found guilty of murdering her medical specialist partner Bob Chappell.
=== Comments ===
10 Lessons Learned From 25 Years of MinistryBy Rev. Bill Shuler
This month I celebrate 25 years of full-time ministry. During this time I have been honored to serve as a university chaplain, to minister in people in 36 nations and in my current role to serve as Lead Pastor of Capital Life Church in Arlington, Virginia.
When I began in the ministry 25 years ago Ronald Reagan was beginning his second term as president, top entertainers were gathering together to sing, “We are the World” and "Back to the Future" was the highest-grossing film.
In the last 25 years I have witnessed the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new kind of war that brought forth the worst attack on U. S. soil in our nation’s history.
I now have what few could have foreseen just 25 years ago: A GPS system in my car, a cell phone in my hand and a DVR in my living room. Our world has changed.
What I have learned is that the Psalmist knew what he was talking about when he said, “If the Lord delights in a man’s way he makes his steps firm.” The last 25 years have only reaffirmed the convictions that led me to commit my life full-time to serving God.
The following are 10 lessons I’ve learned in 25 years of ministry:
1. The goal is not to win a debate but to redeem the heart.
2. One’s public witness is only as authentic as one’s private integrity.
3. There is no greater source of wisdom than the Bible and no investment that yields greater returns than prayer.
4. Hate is only validated when one responds in like spirit.
5. Jesus should never be presented as less than he claimed to be: the way, the truth and the life.
6. One should live first and foremost so as to please a heavenly audience.
7. One’s legacy is found not in things that matter least but in people who matter most.
8. The generation into which I am born is my calling and it beckons me to be fully engaged.
9. When Jesus paused while dying on the cross to make certain his mother was cared for, he showed how to prioritize family amidst ministry.
10. Sermons can inspire but it is love in action that makes the most profound impact.
As I look to the next generation of ministers I am keenly aware that they will seek to touch a world that is increasingly distracted. Absolutes will be challenged as those who oppose Biblical precepts become more organized and vocal. Their strength will be in presenting not religion but a relationship with Jesus Christ.
To the generation of ministers who have served before me that includes Billy Graham, Bill Bright and others less well-known but equally faithful I owe a debt of gratitude. They heralded a gospel of love, maintained their integrity and loved their families well. They bequeath to others and me a legacy.
Rev. Bill Shuler is lead pastor at Capital Life Church in Arlington, Virginia. For more visit CapitalLife.org.
===
Why Mars? Buzz Aldrin Wants a Lunar Base First
By Gene J. Koprowski
The road to Mars leads right past the moon. So why isn't a return trip on the agenda?
That's what Buzz Aldrin wants to know.
President Obama recently green-lighted a brand new mission and a new budget for NASA, including a grand long-term goal: a manned mission to Mars. But Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, says the moon is much more essential to American space efforts.
In its haste to make new policy, Aldrin and other experts say, NASA is overlooking a critical component of space travel: a permanent, manned base on the moon that would make reaching Mars a much easier task.
Establishing a lunar base could provide a safe source of water and a site for fuel depots, which would reduce the cost of transporting fuel from Earth for an eventual Mars mission, Aldrin told Fox News.com.
He said returning to the moon 38 years later should be at the heart of NASA's plans, and he said he fears domestic politics may be playing with our goals for space.
"In the bigger picture, there seems to be a lot of contention as we approach the midterm elections," Aldrin said. "Inside the administration, there are a lot of people who are focused on showing the public how much progress has been made since the election of 2008. That’s generated a lot of attention internally. And that’s resulted in a lot of horse-trading about the goals for NASA."
Greg Allison, executive vice president of the National Space Society and a contractor for NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center, agrees with the veteran astronaut about the crucial importance of the moon.
"Going to Mars requires an infrastructure in space," he told FoxNews.com. "That’s where a moon base would come in."
On Monday, Obama signed the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, which charts the space agency's trajectory and will shape the nation’s science, aerospace and information technology development for decades to come. The moon does not factor into the new plan.
"I just have to say pretty bluntly -- we've been there before," Obama told reporters in April when critics first argued that the moon should not be sidelined. "There's a lot more space to explore and a lot more to learn when we do," he said.
"We have been given a new path in space that will enable our country to develop greater capabilities," NASA administrator Charles Bolden told reporters.
But Aldrin disagrees. Citing key holes in NASA's new plan, he and other space gurus think a minor mid-course correction in strategy could lead to a "mission accomplished" sign when it comes to revamping NASA. For example, the new budget was "not clear" on how the rollout for a mission to Mars would happen, Aldrin told FoxNews.com.
Aldrin believes NASA should move in stages toward a manned mission to Mars, by building outer space fuel stations and developing the moon. He said NASA has already spent hundreds of millions researching the projects, and their investment should be utilized -- as recommended by Norm Augustine, former chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board and chairman of the Review of the U.S. Space Flight Plans Committee.What's more, Aldrin said, the American government should not simply shrug off the considerable experience we have with lunar travel. "The U.S. has the most experience in the world, of any nation, in dealing with the moon," he told FoxNews.com. "It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that flexibility is needed here."
Some experts support the new path, including Jeffrey Manber, who oversaw commercial space policy for the Reagan administration and is now managing director of space research technology developer NanoRacks. He says the moon is an old goal -- and Mars is the future.
"America has been to the moon six times. A seventh voyage would neither inspire the next generation nor require massive investments in new technology," Manber told FoxNews.com. "If we remove our partisan blinders, it's clear that it is time for NASA and our space program to behave like other, commercial programs: from the bottom-up, unleashing the creativity of the private sector."
But others remain critical of the effort. Ray Nackoney, a professor of astrophysics at Loyola University in Chicago, said he simply cannot support the idea of a manned mission to Mars.
"To get to Mars with current technology, the trip will not take three days, as when going to the moon, but over eight months," Nackoney told FoxNews.com. "And eight months to get back. The astronauts will spend more than a year on Mars to get the correct alignment of the planets to make the most efficient trip back. Will we really do this? I doubt it will occur in my lifetime."
Aldrin, who is launching a new think tank called U.S.S. Enterprise -- which stands for unified, strategic, space enterprise -- said NASA should take advantage of the natural cycle of the planets for the most efficient travel across the solar system. "A unified space exploration policy is what is needed for the U.S.," he said.
But David Weaver, a spokesman for NASA, said that there is wide support in private industry and in the government for Obama's strategy.
"There are statements supporting the president’s new vision for NASA from Norm Augustine, Charles Bolden and John Holdren," Weaver said in an interview. He said that the new legislation supports the President’s ambitious plan for NASA to pioneer new frontiers of innovation and discovery. Why Mars, and not the moon? "That should help answer your question," he said.
Aldrin doesn’t blame Obama for where NASA and the U.S. are today in terms of space policy. The famed astronaut and engineer notes there have been a "series of miscues," going all the way back to the Nixon administration, that have interfered with NASA moving forward with an innovative agenda.
"For decades, we’ve been misdefining our transitional space programs," Aldrin said. "A vision like in the early days of the space race showing the logical progression from Mercury to Gemini to Apollo is what is needed today to show why we need to go to Mars -- and how we will get there."
===
Kids Behind UFO Sightings Over Manhattan
By Chuck Bennett
The Chelsea UFO theories have been deflated.
The mysterious objects that hovered over West 23rd Street on Wednesday were almost certainly errant party balloons.
And they came not from Mars, but Mount Vernon.
"It was just a freak thing. Frankly, I'm shocked by it," said Angela Freeman, head of the Milestone School in the Westchester suburb, where the cluster of balloons was inadvertently launched.
"The kids had an engagement party for a teacher, and a mother brought four dozen balloons, and she's coming through the door. It is very windy in Mount Vernon. Suddenly, 12 of the balloons let loose."
The cluster of balloons meant for language-arts teacher Andrea Craparo went skyward at around 1 p.m. The first "UFO" sighting was at about 1:30 p.m. When Freeman heard the news, she realized the "UFO" frenzy that brought parts of Chelsea to a dead halt were her balloons.
"It makes sense. The balloon just went right down the West Side," she said. The sightings prompted several calls to 911, according to the NYPD.
National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Ciemnecki said wind conditions could have easily taken the cluster of silver and white balloons on that very course over Manhattan.
Even before Freeman came forward, veteran UFO-ologists were skeptical.
"It had the flavor of a cluster of balloons, in my opinion," said Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center, a private research group based in Washington, DC.
===
We Told You So!
By John Stossel
The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom lowers the ranking of the United States to eighth out of 179 nations -- behind Canada!
A year ago, it ranked sixth, ahead of Canada.
Don't say it's Barack Obama's fault. Half the data used in the index is from George W. Bush's final six months in office. This is a bipartisan problem.
For the past 16 years, the index has ranked the world's countries on the basis of their economic freedom -- or lack thereof. Ten criteria are used: freedoms related to business, trade, fiscal matters, monetary matters, investment, finance, labor, government spending, property rights and freedom from corruption.
The top 10 countries are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland, Canada, the United States, Denmark and Chile.
The bottom 10: Republic of Congo, Solomon Islands, Turkmenistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Venezuela, Burma, Eritrea, Cuba, Zimbabwe and North Korea.
The index demonstrates what we libertarians have long said: Economic freedom leads to prosperity. Also, the best places to live and fastest-growing economies are among the freest, and vice versa. A society will be materially well off to the extent its people have the liberty to acquire property, start businesses, and trade in a secure legal and political environment.
Bill Beach, director of the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis, which compiles the index with The Wall Street Journal, says the index defines "economic freedom" to mean: "You can follow your dreams, express yourself, create a business, do whatever job you want. Government doesn't run labor markets, or plan what business you can open, or over-regulate you."
We asked Beech about the U.S. ranking. "For first time in 16 years, the United States fell from the 'totally free' to 'mostly free' group. That's a terrible development," he said. He fears that if this continues, productive people will leave the United States for freer pastures.
"The United States has been this magnet for three centuries. But today money and people can move quickly, and in less than a lifetime a great country can go by the wayside."
Why is the United States falling behind? "Our spending has been excessive. ... We have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. (Government) takeovers of industries, subsidizing industries ... these are the kinds of moves that happen in Third World countries. ..."
Beach adds that the rule of law declined when the Obama administration declared some contracts to be null and void. For example, bondholders in the auto industry were forced to the back of the creditor line during bankruptcy. And there's more regulation of business, such as the Dodd-Frank law for the financial industry and the new credit card law. But how could the United States place behind Canada? Isn't Canada practically a socialist country?
"Canada might do health care the wrong way," Beach said, "but by and large they do things the right way." Lately, Canada has lowered tax rates and reduced spending.
China is an interesting case. It ranks 140th out of 179, but its economy is on fire. How can this be?
"They have a complex economy," Beach says. "Around the edges of the mainland are rapidly growing city-states, like Hong Kong, which are pockets of enormous prosperity (and) economic freedom. But within the mainland is a very different economy. It's heavily controlled by the state. If you look at the growth rates of these two regions, you'll see one hardly growing."
And look at France. It ranks 64th, behind Mexico, Peru and Latvia! Yet France is a much wealthier country.
"France is doing their best to fall out of the index," Beach explained. "That's a country that says, 'We'd rather not be economically free if we can be economically secure.'"
Which countries should we keep an eye on in the future? Beach says parts of Central and South America are awakening. "Brazil has pretty much broken through after years of doing the right thing and is on the verge of serious sustained economic growth."
And Mexico is improving: "If Mexico could fix its drug war problem, we'd see the good things happening there."
If we want to reverse America's decline, we'd better get to work. There's a lot of government to cut.
John Stossel is host of "Stossel" on the Fox Business Network. He's the author of "Give Me a Break" and of "Myth, Lies, and Downright Stupidity." To find out more about John Stossel, visit his site at www.johnstossel.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writersand cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
===
President Obama, Muslims, 'The View' Ladies and Me
BY BILL O'REILLY
As you may know, I am doing some media in support of my new book, "Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama."
As part of that, I went on "The View" Thursday morning and was asked why President Obama's poll numbers are falling. That ignited a fiery debate:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY: Two things are driving President Obama's poll numbers down and driving him individually crazy, because he didn't expect any of this. The economy is just flat, all right? Numbers came out today. Again, they are not good. So that -- that's No. 1. But No. 2.
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Again, he inherited a lot of it and…
O'REILLY: But, the statute of limitations have run out on that. He spent a trillion dollars. Yes. Yes. Look, when you spend a trillion dollars trying to turn it around and it doesn't work, that's on you, OK? It's not on the pinheads before you.
WALTERS: What should be done?
O'REILLY: All right, microeconomics is not my deal.
WALTERS: OK.
O'REILLY: I'm just explaining why his numbers are down. So the people see a trillion dollars of their tax money and nothing to show for it yet. But they also see a widening gulf between the president and them personally, and that's what I write about in "Pinheads and Patriots."
WALTERS: I know, but what does that…
O'REILLY: All right, let me give an example. The mosque -- the mosque down here on 9/11, that's inappropriate. It's -- sure, they have a right to do it and in the Constitution, but it's inappropriate because a lot of the 9/11 families, who I know, say, "Look, we don't want that. It shouldn't be there."
WALTERS: What about the discussion?
O'REILLY: No, no, no. No, no, no. But there is the president -- there is the president going, "Well, they have a right to do it." And, then the guy said…
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Yes! This is America. This is America.
O'REILLY: Hold it! Hold it! Listen to me because you'll learn.
BEHAR: Pinhead. Pinhead.
O'REILLY: Thank you! So he says to the press, "Yes, they have a right to do it" and that's true.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Yes?
O'REILLY: And then the question is, "But what about the wisdom of it, Mr. President? And, he goes "I'm not going to comment," where upon everybody in the country goes, "What?"
BEHAR: We're Americans. We agree with him.
O'REILLY: You agree with him. Most Americans…
BEHAR: No, we're Americans. I'm an American.
O'REILLY: Let me break this to you: 70 percent of Americans don't want that mosque down there.
BEHAR: Where is that poll?
O'REILLY: So don't give me the "we" business.
BEHAR: Where is that poll? I want to see that poll.
O'REILLY: Do you want to bet on that? Do you want to bet? I will show you that poll in a minute.
BEHAR: All I'm saying is I'm American, too.
GOLDBERG: Seventy percent of Americans don't want…
O'REILLY: Yes! Seventy percent.
GOLDBERG: …don't want it there.
BEHAR: Why is that?
GOLDBERG: But why are we saying…
O'REILLY: Because it is inappropriate.
GOLDBERG: Why is it inappropriate if 70 percent…
(CROSSTALK)
O'REILLY: Muslims killed us on 9/11.
GOLDBERG: No! Oh my God! That is (EXPLETIVE DELETED.)
O'REILLY: Muslims didn't kill us on 9/11, is that what you're saying?
GOLDBERG: Extremists. Excuse me, extremists…
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: What religion was Mr. McVeigh?
O'REILLY: I'm telling you, 70 percent of the…
BEHAR: I don't want to sit here now. I don't sit here.
O'REILLY: Go. Go.
BEHAR: I'm outraged by that statement.
O'REILLY: You are outraged about Muslims killed us on 9/11?
(GOLDBERG AND BEHAR WALK OFF SET)
WALTERS: I want to say something. I want to say something to all of you. You have just seen what should not happen. We should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking off stage. I love my colleagues. That should not have happened. Now, let me just say to you in a calmer voice. It was extremists. You cannot take a whole religion and demean them because…
O'REILLY: I'm not demeaning anybody.
WALTERS: Yes, you are.
O'REILLY: No, I'm not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Both Ms. Goldberg and Ms. Behar returned to the set, and the discussion resumed:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTERS: Today you are a pinhead.
O'REILLY: No, I don't think so. I will disagree with that. I think I tell it like it is.
SHERRI SHEPHERD, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": But, Bill -- but Bill, you are a pinhead because I believe you knew what you said when you said Muslims. And then you came back and you made a distinction.
O'REILLY: All right, look, again, we are discussing an issue that is very complicated. And I assume that people understand Muslim terrorists. The assumption was that we were attacked by a certain people and that has to be in the nation's consciousness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The poll I cited was taken by CNN in August. About 70 percent of Americans, as I said, agree with me on the Ground Zero mosque issue. It's inappropriate.
No one I know wants to insult Muslims, but almost everybody I know is tired of the political correctness surrounding the 9/11 attack.
The truth is that if moderate Muslims all over the world would stand with America against radical Islam, the terrorists could not exist. But obviously that isn't happening.
I am not in the business of sugarcoating harsh reality. This program and my books state the truth as I see it. I enjoy jousting with "The View" ladies because, with the exception of Elizabeth Hasselbeck, they do not see it my way, and I want their audience to hear both sides.
I loved that exposition on Thursday, didn't you?
===
Can We Really Trust the Taliban?
By Mitchell Reiss
Recent news stories report that the United States and NATO forces are facilitating talks between the Afghan government and senior Taliban leaders by giving them "safe passage" for meetings in Kabul. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has long announced his intention to reach out and "reconcile" with these leaders. In return for the Taliban renouncing Al Qaeda, decommissioning all their weapons and pledging their loyalty to the Afghan constitution, they will be taken off the U.S. target list and provided with jobs as they are reintegrated back into society.
This latest initiative sounds promising and deserves American support. But color me skeptical about whether the Taliban genuinely want to end their fight.
This is not the first time that Karzai has tried to reach out to the Taliban. His previous efforts have all been met with Taliban claims that they would only talk after all foreign troops -- U.S. and NATO forces -- left the country. What may have now changed is that the U.S. surge and ongoing Predator strikes are causing real pain to the Taliban, who may only be playing for time until the winter slows down our operations and they can regroup.
There is another factor at play. It is a truism that no government can hope to win at the negotiating table what it cannot defend on the battlefield. Insurgents need to understand that they cannot defeat or outlast the government's forces or else they have little incentive to come to the negotiating table. Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted earlier this year that reconciliation in Afghanistan is only possible "from a position of strength.
The problem is that in his December 2009 West Point speech, President Obama stated that U.S. troops would start coming home in July 2011. By setting this deadline, based not on military conditions on the ground but on U.S. domestic political factors (according to the recent Bob Woodward book), the president has granted important bargaining leverage to the Taliban. With one foot already out the door, we have signaled that we lack the stamina to sustain the fight. So why should the Taliban negotiate?
A related problem is that Karzai's efforts to reconcile with senior-level Taliban has not been well-coordinated with American-led efforts to reintegrate lower-level "dollar-a-day" Taliban foot soldiers. It is possible that the Taliban leaders can control their troops, but the troops may decide to continue the fight until they see what benefits and other promises they will receive for laying down their arms.
Another point. In any negotiation with a fractured opponent, you need to distinguish between those groups who want to reconcile and those who do not. Without the benefit of solid intelligence, it is difficult to judge which of the Taliban may have more limited grievances that the Afghan government can address. After sacking two of his senior intelligence officers earlier this year, it is uncertain whether Kabul has the insight it needs to assess accurately the intentions of those Taliban leaders it will be talking with.
One final point. This past June, CIA Director Leon Panetta confirmed that, "We have seen no evidence that they are truly interested in reconciliation, where they would surrender their arms, where they would denounce Al Qaeda." Has so much really changed since June?
Mitchell Reiss, is president of Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland and the author of the just published Open Road E-Riginal ebook, "Negotiating with Evil: When to Talk to Terrorists."
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NSW won't go to water
Simon Benson
NSW is threatening to scuttle Commonwealth plans to cut water rights to farmers in the Murray Darling Basin, warning the Gillard Government of a repeat of the bitter fight it had with Kevin Rudd over health reforms.
Premier Kristina Keneally revealed yesterday that the State Government would likely not be able to meet the targets set in the draft plan.
She also hinted that NSW could reject the targets at the next COAG meeting claiming the impact they would have on the affected rural communities was a sacrifice that it might be unwilling to make.
"Well, they are fairly significant targets the Commonwealth is asking us to meet," Ms Keneally said yesterday.
"The Commonwealth are doing consultation on their draft plan. They've put forward very ambitious targets for NSW.
"And, while NSW has been a leader in water conservation and water for the environment for the Murray Darling, the targets they have set are ambitious. And, the decision that we will need to take as a state is whether or not we are willing to do what's required to meet those targets.
"There is no doubt this draft plan is causing concern in rural communities in NSW and it's important the Commonwealth is listening to that concern.
"I would encourage them to continue to listen to the views being put forward by our rural and regional communities."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard now not only faces an angry backlash from rural communities in NSW, it faces the possibility the State Government could scuttle any future reforms. Ms Gillard has already been forced to backflip on a pre-election promise to implement the recommendations of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, by flicking its first report off to a parliamentary committee.
That committee will now not report until at least April next year before the MDBA releases its final report on the proposed water re-allocation. The draft report has called for cuts of between 27 and 37 per cent in irrigators allocations to return up to 4000 gigalitres of water to the ailing system.
Scientists agree that without significant reforms to the over-allocation of water to farmers, the river system will die.
The Greens has repeated their calls for the Government to adopt the recommendations of the MDBA.
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Helping Hicks
Andrew Bolt
AAP reporter Peter Veness gets so excited by David Hicks’ lurid and self-serving memoirs that he mixes up his prisons and assumes torture claims as fact:
The third extract finds Hicks, by this point infamous throughout the West, in Guantanamo.No mention is made by Hicks in these extracts at least - and none by Vaness - of what is indubitably true - that Hicks went to war for a terrorist group and bought al Qaeda’s vile anti-Semitism.
Here he tells the story of early intimidation at a place that was yet to become synonymous with photos of naked men stacked on each other, electric shocks and waterboarding.
In the Daily Telegraph, one of the extracts is introduced by this highly evasive reference:
What began as an effort (by Hicks) to help the Kashmiri cause for independence…And so is Hicks allowed to reinvent himself as not a wannabe terrorist but as a victim and even “helper” of oppressed Kashmiris.
But let’s now quote from not Hicks’ memoirs but a letter he wrote to his father to describe the exact “help” he’d given in Kashmir to the Lashkar e-Toiba terrorist group:
I got to fire hundreds of bullets. Most Muslim countries impose hanging for civilians arming themselves for conflict. There are not many countries in the world where a tourist, according to his visa, can go to stay with the army and shoot across the border at its enemy, legally.Here’s how Hicks described what he was really up to in a letter to his mother, found in his jihad diary:
There is one thing I wish to explain so you understand what I’m up too [sic], and that’s the fighting which in Islam is called Jehad. I want you to understand this point so you are not turned off from Islam for fighting is not exactly an atractive [sic] thing.Hicks described his jihad in other letters to his family:
(So) the Western-Jewish domination is finished, so we live under Muslim law again… Jihad is still valid today and will be for all time. The West is full of poison. The western society is controlled by the Jews with music, TV, houses, cars, free sex takes Muslims away from the true Islam keeps Islam week and in the third world.Here’s how he described the leader of another terrorist group which helped to train him in terror techniques:
By the way I have met Osama bin Laden 20 times now, lovely brother, everything for the cause of Islam. The only reason the west calls him the most wanted Muslim is because he’s got the money to take actionWhite-washing Hicks, vilifying the US. Those involved in this tawdry exercise should be ashamed of themselves.
UPDATE
I will not comment, since I’m being sued for commenting elsewhere on how strained and divisive are some racial identifications, but I will note that an anonymous academic suggests that Hicks is in fact a hero - because he’s now Aboriginal:
David Hicks presets us with an intellectual challenge. Yes, at a surface level, he gives the appearance of someone who is very hard to defend, given the treatment of women in Afghanistan (which is part of their culture, incidentally, and what right do we have to impose our values on other societoes?).(Thanks to reader Oscar Bravo.)
But at a conceptual level, the realm of the moral foundation, then championing Hicks is an absolute essential. Rather than the man with the gun, see instead the product of a society (ours) that alienated and abused him, driving him toward a group that offered the acceprtance Western society disdains.
His “otherness” is the key, and all appraisals must be the end result of deconstructing the tect of his life and experience. In addition, from a purely partisan political point of view, he was very useful in helping to build the disgust that eventually led to the rejection of John Howard and all he stood for.
We owe david Hicks big time. Let our bravery match his in picking sides (his was picked for him by our racism and classism). He fought with a gun. Let us fight with conviction and uplifted hearts....
As a result of his marriage into an Indigenous family, his “otherness” grew from an osmotic assumption of outsider status. Involuntary, yes, except to the extent that the urge to belong, the need for bonds and ties, committed him to a racially transgressive union. Black has always been the outlaw colour, and that applies in culture, metaphor and the individual’s self-definition…
When Hicks embraced Aboriginality his appearance was beside the point. In his deeper being he became in many ways more “black” than any in-law, In his own self-estimation and, culturally, to the eyes of all others he was not a black whiteman but a white blackman. As such, his survival in custody for so many torturous years is more than remarkable; it is genuinely heroic.
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Farmers pay for this anti-human agenda. But Windsor hangs up
Andrew Bolt
David Leyonhjelm is astonished by the anti-human green agenda behind the Murray-Darling Basin Authority report that demands huge cuts in water to farmers:
The MDBA’s report is based on the assertion that “the environment has not had sufficient water for decades… Unless action is taken now to redress the imbalance between water taken for the environment and water used for consumptive purposes, there is a risk that the Basin will face an irreversible environmental, economic and social decline.”These are the issues I wanted to discuss with Independent MP Tony Windsor on MTR 1377 on Friday. So why did he dodge them? Why hang up?
Examples of ramifications they cite are decreasing water quality, more frequent blooms of blue-green algae, and no significant flows through the Murray mouth since 2002 (no longer true since the end of the drought). They sound significant but no data are offered and there is no threat to life as we know it.
But the report is driven by the Water Act 2007, ... (which) envisages water being managed by the MDBA across the entire Murray Darling Basin,… with priority given to environmental water needs. That is, the amount of water used for consumptive purposes (households, industry, mining, agriculture, etc) must be determined only after environmental needs have been met. The Act describes this as the “environmentally sustainable level of take”.
The MDBA’s problem is there is no agreed definition of sustainable. Words like ‘less’, ‘appropriate’, ‘improve’ and ‘maintain’ are all it has. Nobody can say whether this means fewer blue-green algal blooms, or none at all. Should the Murray mouth remain constantly open, or just open more often? Will there be a minimum population requirement for certain species, or simply no extinctions? These are qualitative issues on which opinions vary greatly…
There are other issues at stake, also qualitative but no less significant, that similarly encompass a range of views.
One is the assumption that human beings are alien species in an otherwise pristine environment, a concept that pervades almost any consideration of environmental issues in Australia… Much of the world has a different outlook… If humans are accepted as part of the environment and able to modify it, there are many options available that the MDBA has not considered. Can blue-green algae be controlled using an algaecide rather than a massive increase in water flows? Can salinity be managed by filtration or other technology? Can the Murray mouth be kept open (if indeed it should be) using excavators?
Program: Breakfast with Steve Price and Andrew Bolt…More at the link
[Introduction: Audio of angry protests at Griffith consultation]
PRICE:
Tony Windsor’s a pretty blunt bloke, but I think even you would be a bit surprised at that, Tony?
WINDSOR:
Oh, not really. No. I think, you know, people are very concerned about the, you know, the proposals, and obviously in some areas they’ll have fairly significant impacts if this guide to a draft is ever absolutely adopted, which it won’t be, but they’re reacting to what’s in front of them and I can understand that.
PRICE:
Well, how’s the government let it get to this point? I mean, how have they let it get to the point where these communities have this report, are fearful of it being adopted and the government has just sat back and let this all simmer along, now it’s erupted, I had Tony Burke on the programme this morning saying, ‘oh, well, you know, it’s a statutory authority, we’ve got to let them do their job’, but the farmers out there should be scared like they are if, as you say, this thing’s never going to happen?
WINDSOR:
Oh, I didn’t it’s never going to happen…
PRICE:
Well, you said it wasn’t going to be implemented.
WINDSOR:
Do you want me to answer your question or move on?
PRICE:
Well, I’d like to correct you because you said it wouldn’t be implemented, which is what I just said.
WINDSOR:
No. No. The guide is a guide to a draft. The draft will come in about six month’s time. It will be a draft to a plan. Then there will, if that plan actually occurs – and there’ll be two state elections in between then, that time, and now – then it would have to become a legislative instrument. That would have to be passed through a hung parliament and get through the Senate. So, the guide means nothing. The Authority has no authority. It was set up by John Howard back in 2007 under the 2007 Water Act. A hundred and forty-nine parliamentarians voted for it.
BOLT:
Tony, can I just… Sorry to interrupt you. We haven’t actually introduced what your role is here.
WINDSOR:
As soon as you introduce the politics, Andrew… As soon as anybody says anything about the Liberal Party you want to cut them off.
BOLT:
No, not at all. You go right ahead, talk about the Liberal Party. But we’re talking about the here and now. You’ve been appointed to head the inquiry into the human consequences. I think that’s interesting. Does it disturb you that you’re being appointed to head the inquiry into the human consequences of a report just days after it’s been, the draft has been, released, this draft, shouldn’t have this been done yonks ago? I mean, I find it absolutely extraordinary that when you go through what was released there are pages and pages and pages on the poor environment and then within days, where the Authority itself admits, its claim of over 800 job losses is absolutely wrong and you’ve got to go an do a new inquiry into what it really will be.
WINDSOR:
Yeah, well there’s two things there. A hundred and forty-nine parliamentarians voted for this process, one didn’t. I happen to be the one in 2007. So, what the Murray Darling Basin Authority is working on is what it was told to do back in 2007. Now, I don’t think we can all run around attacking Mike Taylor and his crew. However, the reason I didn’t vote for it was that there were flaws in the system and they’re showing up now, but…
BOLT:
No, but the point… I’m trying to get back to this report. Don’t you think it’s extraordinary, you’ve heard the anger of the farmers, you represent a lot farmers, how is it that a report can devote so many pages to the environment and so little effort to the affect on the farmers that they admit their own figures are wrong within days of it being released?
WINDSOR:
Because the 2007 Water Act, that all this was done under, you know, was flawed. That’s the reason why. It was to look at, essentially, the environmental consequences.
BOLT:
Yeah, but you’ve now been appointed to help try and dig the government out of a hole within days. I mean, why wasn’t this considered from the start? Why wasn’t it part of the terms of reference? Why didn’t the Authority just think with its own head? I mean, it went through the figures itself, said only 800 job losses, you know that’s rubbish, don’t you? It’s not 800, is it?
===
The perfect Jewish joke
Andrew Bolt
Stephen Pollard, editor of The Jewish Chronicle, claims to have identified ”the archetypal Jewish joke:”
A CHINAMAN, an American and an Israeli are standing outside a bakery. A pollster approaches them: ‘’Excuse me, what’s your opinion of the bread shortage?’’ ‘’What’s an opinion?’’ asks the Chinaman. ‘’What’s a shortage?’’ asks the American. ‘’What’s ‘excuse me’?’’ asks the Israeli.Pollard says if you like that kind of humor, the wit of the oppressed, you’ll love the latest novel to win the Booker Prize:
It is a self-deprecating and satirising sense of humour, as Howard Jacobson’s Booker-prize-winning novel, The Finkler Question, exemplifies - in Jacobson’s case, he satirises Jews who behave as if they are ashamed to be Jewish. The jokes rarely attack others and mainly focus on our own foibles, as in the story of the Frenchman, the German and the Jew who are walking in the desert. They trudge in the heat for days, gasping for a drink.===
The Frenchman says: ‘’I am hot, I am tired and I am thirsty. I must have some French wine.’’
The German pipes up: ‘’I am hot, I am tired and I am thirsty. I must have some German beer.’’
The Jew says: ‘’Oy! Am I tired! Am I thirsty! I must … I must … I must have diabetes.’’
Europe does a Pontius Pilate on emissions
Andrew Bolt
Europe cuts its emissions by exporting them:
The huge extent to which Europe has exported its global warming pollution is evident from two sharply contrasting reports…And so the great crusade continues, floated on a great tide of self-congratulatory deceptions.
The European Environment Agency reported that by the end of last year emissions produced by the current 27 member countries have fallen by more than 17% since 1990, putting them “well on track” to meet the target to meet the EU’s own pledge of a 20% reduction by 2020…
However a report due to be published soon by the Policy Exchange thinktank has measured the emissions generated by goods and services consumed by those countries and found that it has increased by more than 40%.
As a result, “demonstrating success in reducing carbon levels is questionable,” said Simon Less, the thinktank’s head of environment and energy.
(Thanks to reader David.)
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Brown meddles in security issues he chooses not to understand
Andrew Bolt
Paul Toohey on an ideologue who makes decisions on national security and geopolitics without bothering to check the facts:
GREENS leader Bob Brown has not sought a briefing on operations in Afghanistan since the Diggers were first sent there in 2001.(Thanks to reader Mick.)
The Defence Department confirmed last night Senator Brown had never asked Australian military officials to background him on the engagement in the Oruzgan province, or the Middle East generally.
Senator Brown, who asked Julia Gillard to facilitate a debate on Afghanistan, set down for Tuesday, said last week: “All MPs owe it to our troops to be fully informed on Afghanistan and the reality that military success is not on the horizon”.
Yet Senator Brown, who advocates withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan, has not matched his own rhetoric with action.
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German professors ask: “Where is the climate change?”
Andrew Bolt
Professors Dr Klaus Landfried of Heidelberg and Dr Werner Kirstein of the Institute for Geography at the University of Leipzig hold a seminar University of Leipzig:
The seminar is titled: ”Where’s The Climate Change?…Meanwhile in Australia, the rains are back:
At the 7:10 mark Dr Landfried slams any peer review process run by a good ol boys network.In the world of science it is unavoidable, as humans are involved, that there are always attempts to portray truths as unacceptable, or to try to suppress them using methods that have nothing to do with science, and perhaps to even slander persons in an attempt shut them up. One method used here is to claim that everything that is good must go through peer review.Dr Landfried delivers his speech forcefully, slamming peer review processes that involve a cartel of ideas, where some participants are excluded, and the others focus on concentrating their power. He reminds us that the misuse of peer review has always been a problem in science…
At the 13-minute mark, Dr. Werner Kirstein starts his presentation. He addresses three main topics:
1. Are the IPCC model-based climate projections something to be taken seriously?…
2. Sea level rise and glaciers- Satellite photos show that Bangladesh is actually growing 20 sq km per year…3. The controversy and politics of climate change
- Rahmstorf projects 140 cm rise, Fred Singer 18 cm, the GFZ 2mm/yr, Mörner max. 20cm by 2100
- North German coast: no detection of any acceleration in sea level rise.
- For the Pacific Micronesia, tectonics are at play.
- Observations vs models, nature vs IPCC....
- In the last 10,000 years, glaciers have been smaller than they are today 2/3 of the time.
- Arctic ice is also within boundaries of natural variation.Many meteorologists say about climate science: “ That’s political and has nothing to do with science.”Dr. Kirstein: “Climate change? – That’s political and has nothing to do with normal science, it’s post-normal science.” With post-normal science, politics is at the forefront and science is just a tool to promote and drive “good” policy” by spreading fear and sticking to a dogma. In the early 1980s, “scientists” projected that all trees would die in Europe by 2005.
FOR Steve Barbon, the decade-long drought has broken. When the Griffith grapegrower checked his rain gauge yesterday morning, a massive 57ml of rain had fallen overnight, and it was still pelting down…(Thanks to reader Berfel.)
The deluge, and flood alerts in the Murrumbidgee area, brought a sense of irony to Mr Barbon, who a day earlier at a community meeting had listened to Murray-Darling Basin Authority bureaucrats tell him and 5000 other Griffith residents that the environmental state of the rivers was so bad farmers might have to relinquish up to 43 per cent of their water entitlements.
”You know with climate change, it’s a cycle,” Mr Barbon said yesterday.
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Wilders is innocent, say prosecutors
Andrew Bolt
Sanity belatedly reasserts itself:
Dutch prosecutors have recommended acquitting leading anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders on all five charges of hate speech…On trial should be those who sought to rob Wilders of his right to speak. If free speech really must be curtailed by hate-speech laws, then we must at least distinguish between a criticism of physical characteristics and criticism of ideas. Between what people are born with and what they assume. Between what they are and what they think.
The trial of Mr Wilders, who compared the Koran to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, has gripped the Netherlands…
Prosecutors had initially declined to press charges against Mr Wilders in June 2008. But they were ordered to do so in January 2009 by the appeals court, which ruled that there was significant evidence that the politician had sought to “sow hatred”.
Prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman reached their conclusions on Friday after studying interviews with, and articles by, Mr Wilders as well as his anti-Koran film Fitna.
“Criticism [of religion] is allowed,” Ms van Roessel told the Amsterdam district court.
“It would be hurtful to many Muslims when Wilders calls for a ban on the Koran but the feelings of this group can play no role in determining the facts of the case.”
Mr Velleman told the court that most of the politician’s remarks seemed to have targeted Islam as an ideology rather than singling out Muslims for abuse.
Once we limit our right to criticise the choices people make, especially of ideology and faith, we put in danger more freedoms than just the freedom to speak our mind. What Wilders faced was nothing more noble than a modern rerun of the Spanish Inquisition.
UPDATE
Conrad Black:
Non-Muslim countries and regions should make it clear that we are not prepared to be condescended to as infidels…(Thanks to reader John.)
The less house-trained Islamists who now frolic in and degrade the United Nations and some of its agencies and commissions should be sent packing. Militant Islam should be recognized as an antagonist, and moderate Muslims should be courted, much more systematically than they have been…
The debate should not be between ourselves about how to deal with Muslims, it should be between Muslims about the unwisdom of provoking us all.
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And they have the hide to claim O’Reilly’s the intolerant bigot
Andrew Bolt
Joy Behar demonstrates that only one thing exceeds both her arrogance and ignorance - and it’s her intolerance. Figures, really. Whoopi Goldberg may not be as stupid, but that just makes her own refusal to tolerate even hearing Bill O’Reilly’s view even more obnoxious.
What diminished the effect of their walkout is that their gabbling, arm-flapping, waddling and swathes of excess cloth made it seem as if some nurse had rung the dinner bell in a nursing home for the mutteringly confused. Dignified it was not.
(Via Instapundit.)
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