=== Todays Toon ===
Sir Anthony Musgrave KCMG (31 August 1828 – 9 October 1888) was a colonial administrator and governor. He was born at St John’s, Antigua, the third of 11 children of Anthony Musgrave and Mary Harris Sheriff. He died in office as Governor of Queensland in 1888.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”- Proverbs 27:1
=== Headlines ===
Blumenthal, McMahon Lay the Smackdown During Debate
Connecticut Senate candidates Richard Blumenthal and Linda McMahon pull no punches during their first face-to-face debate, taking aim at each other's television ads.
Dems Prepare to Scale Back Agenda
Although Democrats remain confident they will retain both the House and the Senate, they're prepared for a scaled-down legislative agenda after next month's elections in part because many of Obama's largest initiatives have already been passed
Jesus Art Exhibit Sparks Outrage
Critics say tax-funded Colorado art museum is showing a piece where it appears Jesus is participating in a sexual act with another man, but artist says he was simply making a statement on problems he sees with religious institutions
New Info Points to Cover-Up in 9/11 Report
Fox News exclusively obtains a clean copy of a Defense Department report and speaks to several principal witnesses who claim the report ignores details about how Mohammad Atta had tripped the department's radar before the 9/11 attacks
Breaking News
Shares open lower after public holidaySHARES open lower, with weakness in the resources and banking sector dragging the broader market down at the start of trade.
Shooting spree kills two and injures five
A SHOOTING spree around Gainesville in the US yesterday left two people dead and five wounded and a suspect who shot himself, police said.
Teens charged with primary school arson
FOUR teenagers have been charged with arson after allegedly setting fire to a primary school in the Barossa Valley.
Naked Cowboy plans to run for presidency
THE Naked Cowboy - New York City's Times Square legend - will announce his plans to enter the 2012 presidential race.
NSW/ACT
Cops praised for saving two-year-old girlA TODDLER, who was choking on her tongue, was saved by officers who performed first aid.
Young drivers are cheating system
YOUNG learner drivers are blatantly falsifying mandatory 120-hour log books, and some say the program is failing to improve driving.
More charges for shotgun man
A MAN allegedly caught with a sawn-off shotgun on board a train has been charged over a home invasion where a man was shot.
A 75-year smile for Luna Park
IT has had more facelifts than an ageing actress but after so many years of smiles that is probably fair enough. Luna Park turns 75.
Kids slept through flood terror
IT was a terrible decision to have to make - leaving two young children in a car stuck in fast-flowing floodwaters in northern NSW.
Hurt young driver knew the dangers
THE young female driver of a car that crashed, killing four people, knew the horror of road carnage, having lost a friend in a car crash.
Lowering boom on a rat run
RAT-runners trying to beat city-bound traffic could be blocked from sneaking into a narrow Harbourside street by a resident-only gate.
Football joy turned to horror
HOURS after the Dragons win, Steven Bosevski was dead having been blinded by capsicum spray.
Calling all Aussie Oprah fans
OPRAH Winfrey fans are set to flood an online lottery for tickets to her Sydney show in December.
Two roads closed after major crashes
THE state's October long weekend road toll remains at eight, five more than for the same period last year.
Queensland
Teen boxer in coma after fightTEENAGE Sunshine Coast boxer in a coma after collapsing in the ring moments after the end of an amateur fight at the weekend.
Woman, kids trapped in car crash
A WOMAN is trapped after her car collided with a truck in Thabeban in Bundaberg this morning. Two children are also in the car.
Woman's shoebox savings stolen
WOMAN, 69, returns from stay in hospital to find her nest egg stolen from hiding place in a shoebox - again.
Train delay as woman collapses
PASSENGERS on an inbound train from Beenleigh are being transferred to another service, after an elderly woman collapsed and the train was forced to stop.
My mate's got a gun, er, ... outside
MOTEL manager calls triple-0 while staring down robber who says he has a mate outside with a gun, but then runs away.
Chopper on standby for outback rescue
A HELICOPTER is on standby to search for a man who is believed to have accidentally activated an emergency beacon yesterday.
702 near-misses at rail crossings
THERE were 702 near-misses at level crossings last year and today Queensland Rail will launch a campaign designed to improve safety.
Pokie plan attacked as overkill
A PLAN for smart cards to control pokie bet limits is big brother-style "overkill" and will put at risk thousands of jobs, a Queensland Coalition MP says.
Crackdown on crowded houses
HOUSES with as many as 15 boarders have been found across Brisbane during a council crackdown on overcrowding.
Bligh rejects LNP assets sale ad
THE Bligh Government has been accused of operating like a "tin-pot dictatorship" for rejecting an Opposition ad criticising the sell-off of public assets.
Victoria
Toddlers survive horrific fallsTWO toddlers escaped serious injury after falling out of second storey windows in sepearte incidents yesterday.
Man dies in smash
A MAN, believed to be in his 20s, was killed when he was hit by a car in Elsternwick last night.
The locusts are coming
VICTORIA'S locust plague looks to be spreading ahead of schedule, with unconfirmed hatchings reported at Bendigo and Horsham.
Metro pledges to get service on track
METRO has vowed to make two timetable changes every year to improve services as more trains come on line.
Bracks early morning binge shame
NICK Bracks, the son of former premier Steve Bracks, has apologised after being found drunk and asleep in the street.
Teen party booze-ban call
ADULTS must be banned from giving alcohol to other people's under-age teens at parties and at home, experts say.
The Bald and the bewdiful
IT'S Matt Preston, Bert Newton and Kerri-Anne Kennerley as you've never seen them before.
Teacher banned after pushing student
A TEACHER pushed a 13-year-old student across a classroom, after the boy said "thanks mate" for notes given to the class.
Kassidy raises money for hospital
AFTER overcoming a brain tumour, Kassidy Silver and her family have raised $10,000 to thank the Royal Children's Hospital.
High-life thief goes to jail
AN accountant has been jailed for at a least a year after stealing more than $500,000 from a Victorian pharmacy company.
Northern Territory
Pilot dies in chopper crashA HELICOPTER has crashed on a remote property in the Top End, killing the pilot.
South Australia
Snooze alarm for Abbott as PM's star risesTONY Abbott has fallen asleep at the political wheel, revealing that he skipped a visit to Diggers in Afghanistan so he wouldn''t be too tired to meet the British PM.
Home invasion nightmare
A SOUTHERN suburbs family of five has been terrorised by three men who smashed their way into their home overnight.
Dingo threat to farmers
DINGO numbers are out of control south of the famed dog fence, killing thousands of sheep and threatening the livelihoods of graziers across South Australia.
Bloom time to save rare plants
A QUEST to find and preserve seeds from some of the state's rarest plants has been helped by recent rains.
Gilberton mansion sells for $6m
GILBERTON mansion Ivanhoe has sold for a price believed to be more than $6 million.
Park springs to life
ROCKERS, ravers and rappers dominated Parklife 2010 but the real star of the festival was the glorious warm weather.
Extended hours a $50m bonus
AN extra 10,000 people are expected to shop in Rundle Mall each week bringing with them about $50 million more in annual sales.
60,000-year family tree just swab away
EVER wanted to trace your family history back 60,000 years? That's what more than 360,000 people have done so far in a global DNA study.
700 restaurants fail health test
MORE than 700 restaurants have been warned or fined over health breaches in the past year but none has been placed on the name-and-shame register.
High cost of river report
A LANDMARK report into the future of the River Murray will not be released until late on Friday because it contains sensitive information with potential impacts on financial markets.
Western Australia
Fire hits East Perth office blockA FIRE in an East Perth office early today caused a major disruption to early morning traffic in the city.
WA man charged over beauty pageant brawl
A 22-year-old WA man has been arrested after a beauty pageant brawl that left four men with multiple stab wounds earlier today.
Liability issue delays fire compo
PREMIER Colin Barnett says liability issues are delaying the compensation package for victims of the 2009 Toodyay bushfire but says there should be a funding announcement soon.
Man Tasered twice in a week
A MAN who was Tasered 13 times in a Perth watchhouse as nine police officers watched on copped the same treatment only a week later by prison extraction officers.
Tasmania
Dreams shattered after leg amputatedMAN who lost leg in crushing machine accident has faced surgery almost every day since.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Paladino Talks Political Mudslinging!Is one NY race getting too down and dirty? Gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino on whether things have gone too far.
===
Guest: George Shultz
It's been two years since the financial meltdown, but George Shultz says our problems are just heating up. The former secretary of state reveals his warning for America.
===
Rep. Boehner on Dems, Tax Cut Extensions
Why did the Dems dodge the tax cut extensions before the congressional break? John Boehner has inside info!
===
On Fox News Insider:
Europe, Japan Issue Terror Warning to AmericansVIDEO: "Tour de Pink" is Emotional Ride of a Lifetime for One Family
Drama Heats Up in NY's Race for Governor!
=== Comments ===
Congresswoman Maxine Waters Dishes Propaganda in the House of RepresentativesBY BILL O'REILLY
BY BILL O'REILLY
Once again Congresswoman Maxine Waters dishes propaganda in the House of Representatives. That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo."
Yesterday, the chairman and CEO of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveled to Capitol Hill to urge of a passage of a fair immigration law. Both men saying the country needs skilled immigrants to prosper in the future. But Congresswoman Maxine Waters, a far-left zealot, turned the immigration testimony into an anti-Fox news diatribe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. MAXINE WATERS, D-CALIF.: Why are you here with a basically decent proposal talking about the advantage of immigrants to our economy? But I don't see that being promoted on Fox. As a matter of fact, I'm oftentimes stunned by what I hear on Fox, particularly when you have hosts talking about anchor babies and all of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Now, Ms. Waters gives herself away with the anchor babies line. For her the issue is not about legal immigration. It's about illegal immigration, which she likes, which she wants, which she has done everything in her power to encourage. Some of us here at Fox News see it differently.
We believe that chaotic illegal immigration is harmful to the country. That doesn't make us anti-immigration. It makes us anti-law-breaking. As for the immigration debate, all sides are heard here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You are not going to take 10 million people, many of whom have been here for many years, good actors. They have not broken the law. They work hard. I'm not going to put them on the buses and deport them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: I'm pro-immigration. I believe America should offer the opportunity to foreigners who obeyed the rules and want to work hard. I want to continue our tradition of welcoming people, who believe that America is the land of opportunity. But, I want it done in an orderly disciplined way. Call me crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And, if you want to get into illegal immigration, we also have plenty of voices who feel the same way Ms. Waters does.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALDO RIVERA, AUTHOR OF "HIS PANIC": 97 percent of -- over 97 percent of all the people in our prisons, federal state, and local are citizens. They are here legally. Illegal aliens are not the problem that commentators who choose to make this a social issue make them out to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Do you subscribe to these sanctuary city policies, Juan? Do you think they are okay?
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, for the most part I think that those are people who are acting on principle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
It's too bad that Congresswoman Waters doesn't know what she is talking about. We have robust debates here on Fox News with plenty of opinions on immigration. Congresswoman may notice that on our cable news competition, they don't have any of that. They just tow the liberal line and of course, that's what Congresswoman Waters wants -- to accuse Fox News of being anti-immigrant, dishonest and disreputable. Ms. Waters owes this entire network an apology. And, that's "The Memo."
Now, for the top story tonight, reaction. Joining us from Chicago, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, who was at the hearing yesterday. So, congressman, where am I going wrong?
REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ, D-ILL.: Well, first of all, I never say no to an opportunity to be on Fox News Network. A couple of weeks ago, I think I was on in the 6:20 segment, flew in the night before. I had to literally get up at 4:00 in the morning, Eastern Standard Time. But, I did it because I think all too often, Bill, the point of view of having a fair, just reformed immigration system doesn't get covered on Fox News.
Here is how, when I come on, there's usually many times an anti-immigrant congressman, but sometimes many -- most of the times. And, if you watch the program, it's kind of like the anchor and the anti and Luis Gutierrez with the other position. And, there's the --
O'REILLY: All right, well, we don't subscribe in ganging up on anybody. But, this the --
GUTIERREZ: OK.
O'REILLY: This is the premier broadcast on the network and I say that with all humility.
GUTIERREZ: OK.
O'REILLY: This is the one, OK, that millions of people all over the world watch here. We have been flat-out fair in this debate. We have put just as many liberal voices on as conservative voices. Ms. Waters characterizes Fox News across the board as being anti-immigrant. Mr. Gutierrez, you know that's not true. You know that's not fair and I would like to you tell Ms. Waters to knock it off.
GUTIERREZ: OK. Here's what I would like to say, as engage -- as I always have, Bill, in the conversation and dialogue with you. And, here is what I have to -- what I said to Rupert Murdoch yesterday. I said thank you very much. Thank you for taking this position. Thank you for engaging America in a conversation that is different and distinct about there is somewhere other than -- that's amnesty. That's open border.
There is a process of legalization, which Mr. Rupert Murdoch spoke to yesterday, where we could take the 12 million, legalize them, tax them, teach them English because as he suggested to do otherwise is silly and foolish. Because, there are too many people who would say anything other and many times we hear this on the Fox News Network, because it's what I have encountered each and every time.
O'REILLY: That is absolutely true. You do hear that point of view, but you hear the other point of view as well. Just as loud, just as impassioned and just as often. And, I want to get back to this because this is important. You're a fair man. That's why I have you on the program. I mean, I asked you a question, you give me an answer, all right? And, I'm asking you a direct question, congressman. Right now and I want a direct answer with all due respect. Ms. Waters was not fair to this network yesterday. She was not fair.
GUTIERREZ: Let me say the following, Bill. I think it is unfair to ask me to come here and act as a spokesperson for any other member of congress.
O'REILLY: No. You were at the meeting. You saw it. You saw what she said. You're not going to be a spokesperson. (more at the link)
===
Long list of broken promises
Piers Akerman
TAKE the Aboriginal “welcome to country” out of the Gillard Government’s first 100 days in office and voters are left with little beyond broken promises and dodgy claims. - What Gillard has said doesn’t match what Gillard does. She was not accountable for her failures in the last term, and it doesn’t strike me she feels the urge to change. It isn’t as if she is being held to account by her supporters. They were expecting disappointment and she has delivered on that. Thing is, she is in a good position to do everything a reforming government could wish to do, but she would have to give up her pork barrels to do that .. and that is where her support lies. She can always rely on rusted on ALP voting for her, but she also has the self interest of the corrupt to cater for the balance. Those that will support her no matter how bad her policy is for the nation or individuals, but some few will still benefit .. like those with interests in desalination, big business, some mining companies, but not the whole sector. Those in the Aboriginal industry who aren’t necessarily of the culture. For some bizarre reason, the ALP seems to be the party of choice for pedophiles. - ed.
Merilyn Williams replied- One disturbing aspect of the Hamidur Rahman issue is my involvement, which is by no means direct and the apparent cover up. Is it the case that it has been covered up not because of the tragedy involving the death of that school boy, which I warned his school about a year before it happened, but that the death was a result of my warning the school, and because I had blown the whistle on a bungled pedophile investigation involving another close by school a few years earlier?
DD, you have basically said what I was going to say, that Julia Gillard wad not held to account for the things she did when she was Minister for Education, etc, and was one of the group of four who ran the Government under Rudd, so it should be no surprise that she would continue on that same track, as PM.
Trueblue replied
“the ALP seems to be the party of choice for paedophiles”
A interesting fact DD and I wonder whether there’s some connection between socialism, political correctness and paedophilia.
Why IS the ALP so attractive to kiddie
fiddlers ?
Rocky replied
“The ALP does seem to be the party of choice for paedophiles going by all the proven evidence and convictions. However it gets worse when you investigate further, in Qld the shredding of the heiner documents by the corrupt Goss/Rudd regime to protect paedophiles and the murder of Philip Wood in 1998 when he attempted to expose a paedophile cell within the CMC as detailed by Bill Heffernan in federal parliament. In SA the speaker was ridiculed and destroyed when he attempted to expose paedophilia and murder by ALP politicians. The list goes on for anyone willing to dig a little.
It seems the safest place to be if you are into abusing children is the ALP”
The bungled investigation involved not investigating the alleged, but claiming a behaviour of the alleged perp did not warrant investigation and wasn’t a complaint. Now the alleged perp has disappeared and the police do not know what has become of them, although some at the school have said that he had gone to Nepal to practice.
Thing is I don’t know anything beyond what I have seen. Yet it concerns me considering the reputation the local area of Cambelltown had regarding pedophilia and the ALP. It concerns me that the press won’t report on it, although understandable from any of many possible explanations none of which I have been given. I have been threatened by senior ministers of the ALP, and I have been denied access to my trade despite the apparent demand for it. I want answers. - ed.
Rocky replied- Rocky I have been told similar stories, but I don’t know about them, so I don’t try to encourage that kind of talk for fear of diminishing my case. Some good people have some questions that should be answered, including senior people at News.com .. which isn’t to suggest that they are part of some network, but that they have sat on this case and should make known why they have. Also 2GB. I promise to frankly and openly say what has lead me to my current position when things open up. I hope those with integrity and nothing to hide will similarly be open about things, because it looks ugly from where I sit. And then there are those rumors I hear about Bob Car .. I’m told he really can drive a car. - ed.
It is not only some police but sections of the media and the legal profession who are involved in child abuse with the ALP.
In the mid eighties the AFP investigated people who were bringing in children from the Philippines for sex in QLD (some of them were sent to SA “a guy named Don").
During the investigation a paedophile organisation called “blaze” that held dinners at Dirty Dicks restaurant and raffled under aged street boys, was monitored and three QLD judges were photographed leaving one of these functions, one them went on to become Chief Justice of Qld. All this can be read in the Kimmons report at the CMC website.
Also the ALP at Swansea (Milton Orkopolous) was and probable still is know as the Australian League of Paedophiles.
===
REPORTER HAS ISSUES
Tim Blair
Leftist Amy Coopes is no fan of conservative politicians Christopher Pyne ("smug git") or Tony Abbott ("again with the f**kwittage"), but her loathing of Sophie Mirabella is particularly personal:
• Sophie’s about to expectorate a devil baby.Whatever. Just the usual violent and obscene screeching from a member of the Left’s unhinged Twitter community. But Coopes has another role: she’s also the Sydney correspondent for Agence France Presse, in which capacity she reports Australian stories to the world. As well, this gentle lady of letters is somehow a Walkleys judge … presumably in the “punching” or “devil baby expectoration” categories.
• devil babies are super dirty.
• go back to the crypt Sophie.
• f**k you’re a dick Mirabella.
• Sophie loves soviet porn.
• ONLY IF YOU WANT THE NET OUTCOME TO BE PUNCHING MIRABELLA IN THE NUTS.
• surely ANY thought from sophie mirabella is a crime.
UPDATE. Awww …
This person has protected their tweets.UPDATE II. And now she’s vanished:
Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!
===
CARBONORAMA
Tim Blair
Our enviropath friends at 10:10 draw closer to their sacred day:
On Sunday 10th October 2010, people across the world will be taking practical action to reduce emissions.I’ll be at Mount Panorama for the Bathurst 1000. Thanks for asking, child exploders.
What are you doing for 10:10:10?
UPDATE. Sadly, Sunday’s carbon celebration won’t even come close to matching the efforts of two prominent Australians who have joined the 10:10 club. Actor Hugh Jackman is a frequent US-Australia flyer whose annual carbon footprint probably has its own gravitational field. His 10:10 friend, former ABC personality (and V12 Jaguar owner) Indira Naidoo, was paid $80,000 per year (from your taxes) for four years to present a ten-minute TV show that involved weekly return flights (again, at taxpayer expense) from Sydney to Adelaide.
Ten out of ten, guys. Great work.
UPDATE II. The Guardian‘s Adam Vaughan re-writes history:
The film, intended as a tongue-in-cheek spoof of hectoring greens, shows schoolkids, office workers, football manager David Ginola and actor Gillian Anderson being blown up for not signing up to cut their carbon emissions …Amazing. Adam also sees some positives in all the condemnation:
The film’s shock value has certainly exposed 10:10 to a massive amount of global press coverage …And hasn’t that worked out well. Paul Chesser reports:
It looks like Sony and Kyocera Mita have demanded their removal from all associations with the extremist climate group 10:10.org, which produced that exploding schoolchildren video last week. The corporations’ names have been removed from the list of partners, and a lengthy post by Sony’s point-person on climate change, Naomi Climer, has been deleted from the 10:10 site.Children explode. 10:10 implodes. The fantastic thing is that these climate visionaries never saw it coming. Iowahawk:
Not only that, but a huge U.S. environmentalist promoter and partner, 350.org (headed by Bill McKibben), is no longer listed as an organizational partner.
Somehow, throughout this entire process, not one of the hundreds of people involved seemed to have questioned the wisdom of an advertising message advocating the violent, sudden death of people who disagree with it.(Via OHH and Walter Plinge)
UPDATE III. Jim Treacher notes that fallout from the video “continues to come down like blood from the ceiling over an exploded schoolkid.”
===
G’DAY
Tim Blair
A female US college student’s PowerPoint presentation reveals excellent taste in accents:
The mock-thesis, titled “An education beyond the classroom: excelling in the realm of horizontal academics”, catalogues intimate details about 13 male students the author has slept with, including dirty talk transcripts and their overall rating out of 10 …Just quietly, many Australians in the US claim to have “professional surfing skills”. These claims intensify relative to the distance from any surf beach.
A “bonus” score was awarded to “extraneous factors, such as the presence of an Australian accent and/or professional surfing skills”.
===
CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS … FOR GOOD REASON
Tim Blair
Bed bugs. Rodents. And now … poisonous spiders. New York City has got everything.
===
Too far
Andrew Bolt
I’ve had many foul things written about me, but few more disgusting than this, from comedian Tony Martin‘s group Twitter site:
In WA, unarmed aboriginal man tasered 13 times as 9 police look on. Andrew Bolt describes it as ‘the feelgood story of the year’.===
US at war with Germans again
Andrew Bolt
Once again, American soldiers are fighting Germans:
A US drone strike overnight killed eight militants, including German nationals, in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt near the Afghan border.===
“Five German rebels of Turkish origin and three local militants were killed in the strike,’’ a security official said, adding they were trying to find out further details of the dead and their militant group.
He’d romp it in Australia
Andrew Bolt
The challenge:
Yes, Young Boozer is my real name.The challenge doubled:
Young Boozer, Republican candidate for state treasurer (of Alabama), ... faces Democratic candidate Charley Grimsley in November.The answer:
(Thanks to reader Steve.)
===
Bad decision, and a worse excuse
Andrew Bolt
I think Tony Abbott will be made to pay for this when Parliament resumes:
TONY Abbott says he didn’t travel with Julia Gillard to Afghanistan because he was worried about being jetlagged for the British Conservative Party conference.When Parliament is about to debate our involvement in Afghanistan, it’s a bad look to turn down an inspection of what we’re actually doing there.
UPDATE
I have been unfair on Abbott. The excuse he gave was stupid, but he is forbidden to tell the truth about why precisely he turned down Gillard’s offer. Gillard in fact may have put him in further danger by leading others to conclude what the Liberals now have been forced to reveal: that Abbott only turned down Gillard’s offer of a lift because he had plans of his own. Normally this is information that the Defence Forces insists be kept secret for security reasons. - Yet another reason why Gillard should not be PM. She has mislead the press in order to place Mr Abbott's life, and those in his security detail, in danger. - ed.
===
Weep for my profession, growing rabid
Andrew Bolt
My God. This foul-mouthed, abusive Leftist is the Sydney correspondent for Agence France Presse? A Walkley Award judge of good journalism?
Naturally, despite having the manners of particularly vicious harridan, she adopts all the causes that a Leftist subscribes to in order to seem - despite appearances - more moral than thou:
climate change too, even more so than asylum seekers, is something we need leadership onSuch sentiments towards abstract causes excuse her barbarity towards specific individuals.
===
Free speech on trial
Andrew Bolt
We don’t have to agree with Geert Wilders that the Koran is like Mein Kampf, but I think we must agree that it’s a disgrace to put the popular Dutch politician on trial for expressing his sincerely held belief. This is no way to win a critical debate - by trying to jail those with the “wrong” opinion.
Here’s Wilders’ eloquent defence of his right to speak - and his refusal to compromise by haggling over precisely what he said:
It’s not as if “polite” Dutch society hasn’t already done its best to marginalise him and his views, with no TV station agreeing to screen the movie he made which triggered this prosecution - and death threats issued against those involved with it:
UPDATE
Another defence of the right to free speech, this time involving a case uncomfortably close to home.
===
Is there a bigger windbag than Robertson?
Andrew Bolt
Even David Marr has had enough:
“LET me start,” said Geoffrey Robertson about 10 minutes into his pitch at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, “by saying this.” The London QC of Sydney extraction was having problems with the clock as he called for the Pope to be arraigned for crimes against humanity. The chairman tried warning gestures, civil glances and banged his glass on an empty Schweppes bottle. Nothing worked. Robertson had things to say and could not be stopped. His adversary, Alan Dershowitz, provoked warm applause with his first words: “What I want to do in the time I’ve been allotted for my remarks.”Robertson tried the same windbaggery last night on Q&A, treating his fellow panelists as mere listening posts, and had to be stopped mid-lecture at least twice by Tony Jones.
Brendan O’Neill in Spiked online asks:
HAS there ever been a man as arrogant as Geoffrey Robertson, otherwise known as Mr Kathy Lette, the British-Australian celebrity QC and floppy-haired hero of the Islington-inhabiting, human rightsy crowd?Well, actually the Marxist Tariq Ali, also on Q&A, ran Robertson mighty close.
===
Four Corners reduces the independents to a joke
Andrew Bolt
Yeah, right:
Tony Abbott promised to redirect education and health spending and use mining tax revenue to pay for a $1 billion-a-year regional infrastructure fund to woo country independents to back him to form government.Windsor baulks at an “uncosted” $1 billion the Liberals promise for rural voters, but swallows whole the largely uncosted $43 billion Labor is promising for broadband.
But the two ‘’kingmaker’’ independents say the size of the package - coming on top of Treasury’s revelation of a ‘’hole’’ in the Coalition costings - actually pushed them towards supporting Labor.
The independent Tony Windsor told the Herald the fund was ‘’essentially uncosted...”
Come off it. Last night’s Four Corners’ program on the two weeks the independents spent haggling over which party they’d backed revealed several unflattering truths:
- Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor from the start seemed keen to find reasons to back Labor, and to find little good in the Coalition. Example:Some conclusions:TONY WINDSOR: I didn’t pick anything up from J, ah, from Julia Gillard, ah, but Abbott he when he, he got into a few tough spots there. He [mumbles imitating Abbott] [laughter] you know he’s ah gives himself away.- The two of them were so keen to follow Labor’s agenda that they sought briefings only from experts who supported it too, notably in the critical area of global warming policy.
- Oakeshott and Windsor were so giddy with their new power and fame that they invited Four Corners into almost every meeting they had, and let them eavesdrop on their side of telephone conversations they were having even with Julia Gillard, who, we learned, begged Windsor for a hint on who he’s support:TONY WINDSOR (on the phone): No, no, no, I think ah I think that’ll suffice for the moment, yeah. No, no, no hints! Yeah, oh well, we’ll have a game of cards one day. Okay. Righto, thanks Julia, bye.- So full of their own importance were they that they didn’t just ask the ABC cameras to film their almost every conversation, but even staged their final deliberations for filming.
- The sheer delight Oakeshott showed in stumbling into Tony Abbott being ambushed in the independents’ office by Four Corners, having rushed over to dispute the Treasury costings, revealed a man taking an unhealthily huge delight in the attention and his influence.
- Oakeshott was so wrapped up in his own agenda that he paid no attention to fellow Bob Katter’s own list of demands of the party, and was stunned when Katter, not unreasonably, decided to support the Coalition on the basis of the responses he got:ROBERT OAKESHOTT: So I think we’re all in heated agreement that um, um, we’re going to end up, you’ve made your call based on your 20 point plan. We can’t be expected to make a decision on that..- Oakeshott was so keen to back Labor that he turned down a Coalition offer of help for bush seats like his own that was morre generous than what Labor was offering:ROBERT OAKESHOTT: Shit! People are starting to put their cards on the table, and um, being quite frank, the dollar figure for regional Australia from the coalition on paper is looking substantially larger than the offer from government.
- Oakeshott in particular has an ego way out of control, and little consideration for confidences of others.Questions:
- No one with alternatives will offer Oakeshott a senior job in Government, having seen his Labrador-on-uppers act. Once he loses his balance of power, he will be finished.
- Katter will keep his distance in future from the two men, having decided to do just that even before they announced their decision, and repeatedly questioning their eagerness to have the ABC film their every conversation:SARAH FERGUSON: At 11.45. The independents convene in Windsor’s office. They are putting their cards on the table for the first time.
TONY WINDSOR: Anyway we’ve gotta start to come down to the wire I guess. Now anything we say now is highly confidential of course.
BOB KATTER: How can it be highly confidential if we have got the mic there?
ROBERT OAKESHOTT: Look, I think we be genuine stability and outcomes…
BOB KATTER: No, I think we want to speak freely. I don’t want the mic here, please fellas
- The constant companion of the critical two independents right through those two weeks of haggling was Four Corners reporter Sarah Ferguson, strongly of the Left. What effect did this have on them? Did her presence illustrate the maxim that one cannot observe something without changing it?===
- Why was there not a single reference in the program to Bruce Hawker, the Labor spinner and Windsor’s cousin, who was so heavily involved in guiding them into supporting Labor?
The real racial divide under Obama
Andrew Bolt
Foreign coverage of race in American politics usually tut tutts about the trouble Barack Obama has in winning white votes. But the real racial divide is very different:
The good news for President Obama is his popular support among blacks is holding steady at 91%.Still, it would be wrong to conclude this is a case of blacks voting tribally for the black man. The black vote for any Democrat president, white or black, is usually around the 90 per cent mark, which suggests a reality almost as troubling: that too many blacks in the US automatically look to party of big-spending government to help them.
The bad news is no other group of potential voters likes him that much… A new Gallup Poll this morning finds his approval rating for September was 45%
Support among even young people is down: 57%. Hispanics: 55%.... Southerners: 41%. ...Whites: 36%.
===
The ABC defence
Andrew Bolt
Judith Sloan, former deputy chairwoman of the ABC, made a reasonable point:
Should taxpayers be funding the ABC to compete against private providers who both want to and can do everything that the ABC can do?…But David Salter, former executive producer of Media Watch, responds with all the calm logic of an ideologue, both denying the ABC competes and protesting at any moves to restrict it to not competing:
But there is a real alternative to outright privatisation that potentially would save a great deal of taxpayer money. This is to restrict the activities of the ABC to areas where the private sector clearly fails to deliver adequate services.
Observe. Salter says the ABC doesn’t compete:
Next, the ABC doesn’t compete against the commercial media, it coexists with it (and in many cases pre-existed). It is not the role or responsibility of the ABC to maximise its audience by competing directly with private providers for audience share and never has been.But Salter also claims it would be wrong to stop the ABC from competing:
Apparently, the appropriate role for the public broadcaster is to loiter about, waiting to pick through the scrapheap of unpopular or unprofitable program genres discarded (or ignored) by the commercial media.... Why is it that Sloan is so keen to legislate the public broadcaster into a ghetto of non-competitive minority services?===
Back you go, fellers
Andrew Bolt
I’d prefer the next Miss Africa to be held in the appropriate continent:
Four men suffered stab wounds as a day of intermittent violence following South Australia’s first Miss Africa pageant erupted into an all-in brawl.I’m assuming that many of these people were refugees. But I thought the deal was that refugees fled danger, and didn’t import it.
Up to one hundred Africans armed with with knives, tyre levers, clubs, makeshift batons and a bedpost fought a pitched battle in Adelaide’s Bent Street near the Austral Hotel early today.
UPDATE
”Not something surprising,” scoffs a Somali community representative.
True, but not in the way he meant it. From 2008:
TWO brawling African gangs clashed violently in the middle of a busy shopping strip yesterday, leaving one teenage boy dead and another fighting for his life.===
Witnesses described their terror of seeing about 15 Sudanese youths fighting, many armed with knives.
The brawl broke out at the corner of busy Grenfell St and James Place, Adelaide, before spilling across Grenfell St and bringing traffic to a standstill.
If his partner were a planetary emergency, he might have married her
Andrew Bolt
Britain’s new Labor leader, Ed Miliband, explains why he’s never got around to marrying the mother of his child:
The Copenhagen environmental summit got in the way. Then there was the general election, and now the leadership election.
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