=== Todays Toon ===
Moore MadnessEveryone has their little pet peeves and I for one have quite a few. From Big Government, High Taxation, Massive Debt to the fall of our Australian Sovereignty. So you might think that this next gripe is really quite small in the scheme of things!?!
If you live in any other city of this great land of ours you would not be aware of the massive daily grind of the local Sydneyite, as they struggle for HOURS a day to get to work and to get home.
Congestion on the roads is not an unexpected side effect to living in a metropolis such as Sydney but then again you would expect that the local government bodies and the State government to be doing all that they can to relieve the pressure of driving in this over populated town and to ensure that future generations will see the benefit of their infrastructural vision.
Alas we are taking about the NSW Labor Government, just one in a string of governments in this state that have not come close to the vision of a better future for Sydney and surrounding areas since the days of Bradfield and his Harbour Bridge and Highway.
Locally we have a Lord Mayor. Her name is Clover Moore and as many commentariats have commented for years now, she does lives in a leftist/Marxist world of big government and wet ideological dreams of a Utopian Sydney that to her own design will resemble something of the Garden of Eden with bicycles for all and no reminders of our past colonial or British heritage.
She would like to impose a new congestion tax on us all, just because we have the nerve to live here and drive a motor car.
From her 200 or more kilometres of bike only lanes now throughout the CBD causing even more traffic mayhem and business closure, to her great "Artistic endeavour" called "Art and About" ... where she has commissioned like minded "artists" to basically deface and decry the memory and statuesque beauty of the likes of Governor Macquarie, Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, just to name a few of the iconic statues that now bear a resemblance to the characters from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, throughout our once great city.
When will we be able to vote as an entire city or state for a Lord Mayor who is actually not about stamping his or her ideology in the pages of history but more about fixing the many neglected local and state infrastructure and business issues of Sydney?
"Clover NO Moore!" I say. ZEG - Every major city in the world has congestion problems, but Sydney's have been self inflicted and are powerful testimony to the failure of planning from many ALP governments and puppet Lord Mayors. - ed.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”- Psalm 37:4=== Headlines ===
Obama's Proposed Rebate to Seniors Unlikely to Sway Election
Critics say $250 rebate proposed for seniors who aren't getting cost-of-living increases in their Social Security benefits is merely a ploy by Obama and Dems to sway the upcoming elections — though analysts say it likely won't have much effect.Climate Change No Threat, Says Czech President
Climate change is not a threat and the consequences of global warming will not be catastrophic, the President of the Czech Republic said on Tuesday.Is Now the Time to Buy — Or Rent?
SHATTERED DREAMS: Amid dismal economic reports, rising foreclosures, should Americans be taking advantage of low home prices — or is renting a better bargain?
High-Powered Rifle Fired Into Pentagon
A high-powered rifle was reportedly fired at the south side of the Pentagon, hitting the building and causing minor damage, while police temporarily locked down some road and pedestrian entrances to the building
'Ugly Meter' iPhone App The Latest Bully Tool?
Critics of a new 'Ugly Meter' iPhone app, which uses facial recognition software to rate someone's attractiveness, warn it could be used by cyberbullies — and their victims could include elementary school kids
Dollar drops almost US2c overnight
THE dollar was almost two US cents lower this morning.
Ugly Meter iPhone app 'a tool for bullies'
A NEW iPhone app called the "Ugly Meter" is just what cyberbullies - including elementary school kids - need to target easy marks, online security experts said today.
Wall St hit by rates and earnings
WALL Street stocks slumped today after China's move to raise interest rates and mixed corporate earnings, with the Dow Jones briefly falling two per cent before recovering slightly.
Men walk off with $700k Cartier ring
ROME police are searching for two well-dressed thieves who walked into Cartier on Via Condotti, distracted a saleswoman, walked off with a $700,000 ring and disappeared in a crowd of shoppers on the posh shopping street.
More than 50 dead in Pakistan violence
AT least 11 people were killed when gunmen on motorcycles opened fire in a market in Karachi overnight, as the toll from a series of politically motivated killings in the city passed 50, police said
Car rebirthing crackdown bombs
CAR insurance premiums are set to rise because of a bungling attempt by the State Government to crack down on car rebirthing.
ALP woos Greens on donations
LABOR is working on a deal with the Greens to get Premier Kristina Keneally's proposed laws to cap political donations through.
Chloe's passing the toughest test
SHE'S in the middle of her HSC but Chloe Liso has already passed her toughest test, with more time spent in hospital than at home.
Magistrate's disgust at 'evil' plan
A MOTHER who helped her underage daughter get work at a leading brothel has been jailed for at least 18 months.
Fare-row son loses battle for life
THE father of a man who fell from a taxi has revealed his family's heartbreak after the decision was made to turn off life support.
Richmond's bid for caravan clan
THE historic western Sydney town of Richmond is offering three free nights at a new caravan park for any tourists with a van.
Premier's air of power panic
PREMIER Kristina Keneally's own MPs have complained about the problem of soaring power prices.
Hospital treated me like an animal
A PARAPLEGIC man claims he had his wheelchair taken and was left to crawl during a "hellish" night at hospital.
Call for international emergency number
THE battle of the nation's emergency phone numbers is heating up, with a push to allow the international 112 code to be used.
Flood warnings to be texted
BRISBANE residents will have access to a new flood warning system that gives real-time information on creek heights ahead of a predicted severe cyclone season.
Cancer chemical at gas site
THE coal seam gas industry has been hit with an embarrassing discovery of the cancer-causing substance Btex at drilling sites in western Queensland.
Trade trip costs stay hidden
TAXPAYERS are being left in the dark about the real costs of international trade trips undertaken by Anna Bligh, her ministers and staff.
Nuttall knew career was over
BROKEN former state minister Gordon Nuttall wandered the streets in a daze after being grilled on his financial relationship with businessmen, court told.
Police sorry over triple 0 call
POLICE have apologised for failing to respond to a family's panicked triple zero call despite the Police Minister's claim their story was "rubbish".
Big bills for miners
BIG miners could face a new levy costing millions after Premier Anna Bligh said more onerous conditions would be attached to project approvals.
Stathi's fiancee reveals anguish
STATHI Katsidis' fiancee Melissa Jackson has spoken about the anguish of her last moments with the champion jockey.
A story bound to end in tears
STATHI Katsidis was enormously talented. He was charming, honest to a fault, caring and also annoyingly frustrating.
Court overturns pub glass ban
A JUDGE has overturned a glass ban slapped on a north Queensland hotel in a rebuke to the State Government crackdown on alcohol-fuelled violence.
Woman, 80, dies in scooter horror
AN 80-YEAR-OLD woman has died after she fell from her mobility scooter and was hit by a passing car at Yeronga, on Brisbane's southside.
Top cop's illicit drug call
VICTORIA'S second highest ranking cop has called for the public to decide if some illicit drugs should be legalised.
Police 'had to shoot' armed boy
A POLICEMAN trapped by an armed teenager fired a warning shot before there was no option but to shoot him, an inquest heard.
Authority ignored job loss warning
THE Murray Darling Basin Authority ignored a detailed study that predicted thousands of job losses in Victoria alone.
Top principal calls to ban eggs
A FORMER principal wants a ban on egg sales to stop students throwing them during pranks.
Brumby policy delays myki card use
VICTORIANS face a public transport ticketing crisis due to a deliberate go-slow policy to delay the myki card's introduction.
Man set fire to ex's new lover
A MELBOURNE man was doused in petrol before being set alight by his partner's former lover, a court heard yesterday.
State short of 1900 hospital beds
VICTORIA has the nation's lowest rate of hospital beds and are in need of 1900 new beds.
Libs just too lazy to win
LIBERAL leader Ted Baillieu has been slammed for leading a "lazy Opposition" that is not willing to fight for government.
Most mums claim naming rights
MOTHER always knows best when it comes to naming the baby - or at least she thinks she does.
Roberta fired up over Carl's killer
ROBERTA Williams has promised to give Matt Johnson a piece of her mind when he faces trial over the death of her former husband.
Muslim girl sees red after hijab crack
SIX-year-old banned from school bus after dacking boy who tormented her over her dress.
Baby crocodile attacked swimming in lake
UP to 15 people try to kill a croc by throwing rocks at it, until "p---ed off" animal lover intervenes.
Hills smash victim had everything to live for
MACCELSFIELD girl Lexy Eidam, killed in a car crash yesterday, had recently passed her driving test and had everything to live for, friends say.
Mystery over crime rate fall
THE Victims of Crime Commissioner has dismissed a fall in annual crime rates, saying offences go unreported and actual crime rates remain "mysterious".
Band-Aid for ambulances
AMBULANCE Service managers have been forced to return to the front line as the service struggles with record emergency callouts and chronic staff shortages.
Apartment block to overlook school
STUDENTS, parents and teachers at Gilles St Primary School, in the city, are upset at plans to build a four-storey apartment block overlooking their playground.
Progress - just get on with it
SOUTH Australians should stop comparing ourselves to other states and simply get on with progress, the new head of Advantage SA says.
Council in talks with Immigration
A PUBLIC meeting about the Woodside detention facility will be held tomorrow night, after Immigration department officials spoke with the Adelaide Hills Council.
Refugee overjoyed at freedom
HUSSAIN Razaiat spent eight long months behind razor wire at the Woomera Detention Centre, watching fellow detainees gradually lose their minds in the desert.
No problem, apart from drums
NEIGHBOURS surrounding the state's only immigration facility at Port Augusta say Adelaide Hills residents should "get over it" and welcome asylum seekers.
Open your hearts and let them in
SOCIAL Inclusion Commissioner David Cappo has begged the state to embrace the asylum seekers who will be housed at Inverbrackie.
'We wanted more, they said no'
AN eight-year-old boy allegedly starved and assaulted in a northern suburbs house has given evidence against three men, including his father.
Gosnells clue to missing man
POLICE are concerned for the safety of a 33-year-old man who was last seen at a Gosnells park late last month.
Aboriginal community's landmark agreement
A REMOTE Aboriginal community in the Pilbara has become the first to sign a housing management agreement with the State Government.
WA faces severe cyclone season
AUTHORITIES are warning West Australians to brace for the worst cyclone season in years, with a higher number predicted to cross the coast earlier than usual.
Police car rammed before rollover
POLICE have arrested several people believed to be involved in a series of bag-snatch robberies after a chase in Perth’s northern suburbs this morning.
Glassing accused refused bail
A MAGISTRATE has refused bail for a man accused of an ugly city nightclub glassing attack which left a man with severe facial wounds.
Man charged with getting sex by trickery
A MAN who used an online dating forum to trick a woman into having sex with him has been charged by police over his behaviour.
Rail guard in court over 'Subi attack'
A TRANSIT officer charged with assaulting an AFL fan who was pepper-sprayed and left with a bloodied face at Subiaco train station has appeared briefly in court.
Zero tolerance on sprinkler cheats
THE government has announced a zero tolerance approach to people who flout sprinkler bans this year.
Policeman hurt in rock attack
A POLICE officer was injured overnight when he was attacked while trying to arrest a man for breach of bail in Kununurra, 3323km northeast of Perth.
Nothing new
=== Journalists Corner ===
Politicians Behaving Badly A New Trend?Attack ads and personal jabs may be becoming the norm in several key races across the country, but are the maneuvers helping or hurting politicians' campaigns?
===
Guest: Senator Byron Dorgan
If the GOP sweeps the elections, could a conservative Congress center the president's agenda? Senator Byron Dorgan shares his message for the White House!
===
Deepak Chopra Responds to O'Reilly!
"Muslim fanatics or terrorists - whatever word - killed us." Deepak Chopra responds to this recent comment from O'Reilly.
===
"Fear and Frustration"
Obama claims unfounded "fear and frustration" is causing a panic all the way to the polls! So, are scare tactics to blame, or a poor presidential agenda?
On Fox News Insider
14 Days to Go: Karl Rove Breaks Down the House Seats Up for GrabsWho Almost Walked Off the Fox and Friends Set?
Yesterday's Top 5 Political Moments on Fox News Channel
=== Comments ===
The Muslim DilemmaBILL O'REILLY
In case you just got back from Easter Island, I, your humble correspondent, am causing trouble once again.
Monday on "The View," the ladies addressed the shoot-out I had with them last Thursday when I said that building a mosque near Ground Zero is inappropriate because Muslims killed us there. That caused Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to walk off the set.
Of course, what I said is absolutely true, but is insensitive to some. In a perfect world you always say Muslim terrorists killed us, but at this point I thought that was common knowledge. I guess I was wrong.
Anyway, the heated controversy continues and goes far beyond me and "The View" ladies. It has entered the fabric of America.
Barbara Walters said something interesting on Monday. She said that the nation is very angry, therefore commentators must watch the rhetoric.
OK, BUT MY QUESTION TO MS. WALTERS IS: Why is America angry?
There are a number of answers. One of them is that folks are fed up with politically correct nonsense. There is no question that there is a Muslim problem in the world, and if "The View" ladies will not acknowledge that, that's their problem because most Americans well understand the danger in the Muslim world.
Ms. Walters went on to say that my statement about the Japanese attacking the USA in World War II is not a valid comparison:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": I think that what Bill O'Reilly said was totally wrong. I also feel that on his program when he compared it to Germany and Japan, which he did, and said, "Well, you wouldn't have built monuments," those were countries; they were not religion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
With all due respect to Barbara Walters, who has handled herself with dignity in this controversy, she is misguided.
American forces had to remove the Taliban government in Afghanistan because it supported the Al Qaeda killers. The U.S. and many other countries are now desperately trying to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb because most everyone understands some crazy jihadists may use that bomb to ignite a holocaust. Right now, the countries of Russia, China, the Philippines, many nations in Africa and Thailand are all fighting Muslim insurrections.
The Muslim threat to the world is not isolated. It is huge. It involves nations and millions of people. Yet, the left in America will not face that fact.
"Taking Points" has given President Obama a pass on his soft rhetoric towards the Muslim world because he needs to get nations like Pakistan to cooperate with us. The president cannot afford tough rhetoric, like the kind I am giving you. That's perfectly understandable.
In Germany, however, Chancellor Angela Merkel is getting tough. She told the world that attempts to build a multicultural society in her country have "utterly failed." Ms. Merkel has a huge problem with five million Muslims who are not assimilating into German society.
In France, the Parliament has outlawed burkas after that country endured rioting in Muslim areas that the police could not control.
Here in the USA, we are lucky. The vast majority of American Muslims are good citizens and deplore the extreme actions in the Muslim world. But they know that there is a clash of civilizations in play.
Despite all that, Ms. Goldberg was deeply offended by my statement about 9/11. Here's what she said Monday morning:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": When you say Muslims are responsible for 9/11, does that mean Muhammad Ali? Because Muhammad Ali is a Muslim. Does that mean Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? To me, you need to be distinct when you say things like this because this is a volatile time. You cannot just throw stuff around like that, in my opinion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
That statement is worth addressing. No sane individual thinks Muhammad Ali or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is responsible for 9/11. But the reality is that most Americans are uneasy with the Muslim world in general because moderate Muslims have not stepped up in a visible way to help combat the jihadists.
Look at all the problems we are having with Pakistan. We've sent that country billions of dollars hoping to motivate them to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
If Whoopi Goldberg doesn't think there's a Muslim problem, she ought to ask President Obama about it.
The cold truth is that in the world today, jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, Israel and other countries are in grave danger.
So I have had enough of the politically correct nonsense, and I condemn the far-left fanatics who label people with whom they disagree "bigots." That's what Joy Behar did again on Monday, which is simply stunning because, as Laura Ingraham pointed out last Friday, Ms Behar's anti-Christian analysis has been off the charts.
And then there is Rosie O'Donnell, who used to host "The View." Here's what she said:
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL, RADIO SHOW HOST: Bill O'Reilly, you know, what does he do besides incite, kind of, hatred? What does he do besides that?
JANETTE BARBER, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: To stand there and say Muslims killed us, I hope you didn't take that wrong. I didn't mean anything bad about them. It's like, I hate it when they lie within the same sentence. At least take a break before you lie.
O'DONNELL: But it's like that's what Bill O'Reilly does. Why would you book him?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
Ms. O'Donnell's analysis reminded me of this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state. We're a democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Interesting. Nobody walked off the set of "The View" when Rosie said that, did they?
As "Talking Points" stated on Friday, there is a reason behind all this madness. Many in the Muslim world despise the United States because we are Israel's biggest supporter. Many in the liberal precincts believe our support for Israel is wrong and that we have ignited Muslim anger. It is our fault that some Muslims hate us. I don't think the ladies on "The View" see it that way, but certainly the far left has held that opinion for quite some time.
Finally, wherever I went this weekend, people were high-fiving me. It was amazing. People were yelling out windows, "O'Reilly, keep going," that kind of stuff. Are all these people bigots? Do they all hate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? That's nuts. This has nothing to do with theology and everything to do with politics.
Americans are simply fed up with politicians and media people denying the obvious. There is a dangerous problem in the Muslim world, and once again I call for all peace-loving Muslims to join the United States and other conscientious nations to fight the jihadists, to defeat radical Islam.
===
BURGER TOUR 2010
Tim Blair
I’m in the US, spending delicious parity dollars. Itinerary: made up as I go. More soon.
===
Truther heads Victoria’s Trades Hall
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Bracken is president of the Victorian Trades Hall Council and Victorian secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia.
On ABC Melbourne 774 this morning he claimed that the World Trade Centre towers were not brought down by the terrorists who flew planes into them, but were deliberately “imploded” ... by you-know-who.
ABC host Jon Faine is right to rebuke him and wonder what the hell such a man is doing representing Victorian unionists. Sadly, many of his Leftist listeners are cross that Faine reprimanded such lunatic and offensive views.
UPDATE
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has labelled remarks made by a trade union official who claims the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a conspiracy as “stupid”.===
Victorian Trades Hall Council president Kevin Bracken made the comments when he rang ABC Melbourne radio and spoke to talk-back host Jon Faine this morning.
”I believe the official story is a conspiracy theory that doesn’t stand up to scientific study,” Mr Bracken, who is also the Victorian secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, told Faine.
“In my mind the buildings were imploded.”
Faine originally thought the call was a prank, and said Mr Bracken’s claim was “nutter theory”.
Hicks forgets his terrorist past
Andrew Bolt
Sally Neighbour on the new autobiography of David Hicks:
The problem with Hicks’s book is that out of the 456 pages he spends less than one page talking about his training with Al Qaeda. The significant thing about David Hicks, among other things, is that he was probably the most highly trained of all of the Australian Al Qaeda graduates.As I’ve said before, shame on those who are party to this whitewash.
He did very extensive training over a number of weeks or months which is why he was of such interest to the authorities.
And the fact that he skates over this and provides virtually no detail of it and claims he never did any terrorist training, never went to a terrorist training camp, wasn’t aware of any terrorist activity, is just beyond belief because there are now enough reliable sources so that we know that this is simply not true.
(Thanks to reader Leon.)
===
No, 1773 is right and Palin’s mockers wrong
Andrew Bolt
However dumb Sarah Palin may be, her noisiest critics are dumber. Still, what’s new?
(Thanks to reader Spencer.)
===
Spain fried by solar power
Andrew Bolt
Spain shows Australia’s Greens the consequences of the mad green power policies they recommend:
Solar investors ... were lured by a 2007 law passed by the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero that guaranteed producers a so-called solar tariff of as much as 44 cents per kilowatt-hour for their electricity for 25 years—more than 10 times the 2007 average wholesale price of about 4 cents per kilowatt-hour paid to mainstream energy suppliers....An earlier Spanish study has calculated the cost of this green madness:
Now ... more than 50,000 other Spanish solar entrepreneurs face financial disaster as the policy makers contemplate cutting the price guarantees that attracted their investment in the first place…
Zapatero introduced the subsidies three years ago as part of an effort to cut his country’s dependence on fossil fuels. At the time, he promised that the investment in renewable energy would create manufacturing jobs and that Spain could sell its panels to nations seeking to reduce carbon emissions.
Yet by failing to control the program’s cost, Zapatero saddled Spain with at least 126 billion euros of obligations to renewable-energy investors. The spending didn’t achieve the government’s aim of creating green jobs, because Spanish investors imported most of their panels from overseas when domestic manufacturers couldn’t meet short-term demand.
Spain stands as a lesson to other aspiring green-energy nations, including China and the U.S., by showing how difficult it is to build an alternative energy industry even with billions of euros in subsidies, says Ramon de la Sota, a private investor in Spanish photovoltaic panels and a former General Electric Co. executive…
Power from the most-efficient photovoltaic plants costs utilities about $275 per megawatt-hour to produce compared with about $60 for a coal-fired plant, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
The study calculates that since 2000 Spain spent €571,138 ($1.03 million) to create each “green job”, including subsidies of more than €1 million ($1.8 million) per wind industry job… The study calculates that the programs creating those jobs also resulted in the destruction of nearly 110,000 jobs elsewhere in the economy, or 2.2 jobs destroyed for every “green job” created....Think the NSW Government, for one, might learn this lesson before it squanders yet more millions?
SCHEMES that pay households to produce power using rooftop solar panels are costing about 25 times as much to cut greenhouse gases as a nationwide ETS…(Thanks to readers Neville and Stuart.)
In a confidential submission obtained by The Australian, the National Generators Forum has told the NSW government that its scheme is costing between $520 and $640 to reduce each tonne of carbon dioxide - compared with the $23 per tonne proposed in the emissions trading scheme shelved by Kevin Rudd.
The submission states that although the scheme will create green jobs, each job created will cost between $130,000 and $700,000....
===
Fishy cure is
Andrew Bolt
I couldn’t be more surprised, even if you told me horny goat weed didn’t work:
IT’S promoted as beneficial to mum and baby, but a major Australian study has found no noticeable effect among women who took fish oil capsules during pregnancy.===
Is everything last-minute with Gillard?
Andrew Bolt
This is becoming a habit - and a sign of ad hockery.
Yesterday:
AN angry Mike Rann has hit out at Julia Gillard for giving him only an hour’s notice before announcing plans to house asylum-seekers near Adelaide.Wednesday, July 7:
Exposing a widening rift in the relationship between the two Labor leaders, the South Australian Premier also repeatedly questioned why the Prime Minister did not make her government’s intentions known when she visited the region, about 30km from the Adelaide CBD, on Sunday.
THE East Timorese President, Jose Ramos-Horta, is ‘’sympathetic’’ to the Australian Prime Minister’s request to set up a processing centre for asylum seekers in his country, but has not yet given his agreement… Julia Gillard raised the matter in a phone call only yesterday...Monday, August 16:
The New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, also received a phone call from Ms Gillard on Monday evening. The 30-minute conversation was the first time the regional processing centre had been raised, Mr Key said.
JULIA Gillard decided to build the $2.6 billion Epping to Parramatta rail line just two days before she announced it, after previously planning to announce just a $30 million study, a secret document reveals…UPDATE
Keneally Government sources confirmed yesterday it was only last Monday that Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese and staff from the Prime Minister’s office told NSW that it would put up $2 billion for the rail line.
Reader Terri kindly gives Mike Rann a heads-up to sve him from another possible ambush:
My daughter lives at xxxxx. Frequently, about every month, she drives down to Port Augusta for shopping etc., and has noticed the following at the old Woomera detention centre:===
The circumference fence has been rebuilt (it could be a second fence) further out from the buildings and a new security gate/checkpoint added, also further away from the buildings (way further, just after the Roxby turnoff);
There are always (although it’s now harder to see the buildings) about 20 cars there, and working machinery; Work has been done on the airfield tarmac.
There are rumours around Roxby and Woomera that suggest there will people there in the near future.
Gillard drowning in her boat people debacle
Andrew Bolt
HERE’S what Julia Gillard’s latest - and typically inept - plan to deal with boat people really means.First, it means your Prime Minister fooled you.
Did she tell you before the election she’d build two more detention centres on the mainland, ship in 3200 boat people now on Christmas Island, and free hundreds into the community before checking their claims?
But that’s not all. Gillard’s announcement on Monday also means she’s got no idea how to stop the boats - 106 this year so far - and is now making things up as she goes along.
It means her promise of an East Timor detention centre is a fraud.
It means more boat people will now be lured here, and more may now die at sea, children particularly.
And it means you’re about to pay still more than the extra $1 billion you’ve been socked for since Labor’s last foolish weakening of our laws.
Here we go again.
In July 2008, the Rudd Government - working off a blueprint Gillard says she herself drew up - announced our boat people laws would be made more “compassionate”.
Automatic detention of boat people was scrapped. From now on, those cleared of security risk would be freed while the Government worked out if they were really refugees.
And the burden of proof would be switched: rather than make boat people prove they were no threat, the Government would have to prove they were to keep them detained.
What’s more, Labor had already scrapped the Howard Government’s most effective deterrent - the “Pacific Solution”, under which boat people landing here were sent off to Nauru and Manus Island instead.
Too cruel, Labor cried, even though Howard’s “cruelty” cut boat arrivals to just three a year.
I wasn’t alone in believing Labor’s mad changes would put the people smugglers back in business. Indonesia, the Australian Federal Police and International Organisation for Migration all warned the boats would come again.
So it proved.
===
Why must we be forced to respect such views?
Andrew Bolt
LAST week the Perth District Court imposed a Muslim cultural practice on a group of non-Muslim men.
Judge Shauna Deane told the men - all journalists - to leave her court so a Muslim woman could feel free to give evidence in a fraud trial without wearing her niqab.
Deane had earlier ruled that Tasneem, whose last name has been suppressed, had to remove her face-covering veil so the jury could read her face as well as hear her words.
But the male journalists were ejected, despite applications from the Seven, Nine and Ten networks to let them stay.
No doubt Deane thought this a fair compromise. Tasneem’s Muslim beliefs - in this case, that a woman not show her face to men outside her family - were infringed upon only to the extent required for justice to operate fairly.
Male jurors could see her, but male journalists not.
But what of traditional Australian values? What of a man’s right to see justice being done? To report it? To be free of sexual discrimination at work?
This is just the latest case to suggest non-Muslim Australians are being forced to compromise their own values to make room for newly imported ones - especially Muslim ones at odds with our usual notions of equality, and habits of easy interaction between people of different gender, race and faith.
===
Led by Luddites
Andrew Bolt
I’m not sure which leader to be most embarrassed for - the pragmatist Brumby or the alleged Liberal Baillieu:
VICTORIA will remain a nuclear-free state, regardless of who wins next month’s state election. Nuclear power is not needed in Victoria because it is expensive, dangerous and obsolete given the state’s abundance of energy options, say Premier John Brumby and Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu.Brumby can’t possibly believe this tosh, and Baillieu sadly could. - Brumby is neither an effective leader nor a good one. Bailleau is a Liberal and therefore Bolt cannot accurately portray what he is like. Remember, Bolt wrote for the ALP, and still seems to wish to justify his appalling decision making. - ed
===
Bob Brown is not just incompetent but recklessly irresponsible
Andrew Bolt
Greens leader Bob Brown how has power in Parliament out of all proportion to his ability, understanding or sense of responsibility. Exactly how many times did he contradict himself on the 7.30 Report in explaining his position on Afghanistan
BOB BROWN: We have to take what our Army commanders are saying into account here…And to think this man is propping up the Gillard Government, helping to decide policies of deadly earnest.
KERRY O’BRIEN: But just to interrupt there. General Cantwell has reiterated that the primary role of Australian troops isn’t to win a war, but to train Afghans to manage their own security in the province of Oruzgan. He says that the drop - to drop everything now is to lose the best chance of achieving that, “A chance 21 Australians have died in securing”.
BOB BROWN: Well a national expert on this, Professor Hugh White, says that our - we are effectively unable to win this war in Afghanistan.
KERRY O’BRIEN: But General Cantwell’s not saying that they’re there to win a war. I just told what you what they’re there to do.
BOB BROWN: Well then, no, in that case, then let that be debated in the Parliament…
KERRY O’BRIEN:.... But you’ve never taken the opportunity, we read, to go to Afghanistan, to see the Australian military operation at first-hand, and it’s been reported that you’ve never even sought a briefing from the Defence Department since the first troop commitment nine years ago. Now, if that’s true, you obviously think you know enough to make an informed judgment about this issue without going to that trouble. Is that so? Is that accurate?
BOB BROWN: Well, let me say I have questioned and my colleagues have questioned in serial Senate estimates debates the commitment in Afghanistan and through the Parliament I have been taking part in parliamentary debates after ministerial statements. I ...
KERRY O’BRIEN: But you could go to Afghanistan if you wanted, could you not?
BOB BROWN: Well, have you been there, Kerry?
KERRY O’BRIEN: I’m not making an argument for Australian troops to be brought home, Senator Brown. I mean, that’s a bit disingenuous, to suggest that of me, isn’t it?
BOB BROWN: Well, no, it’s not, because I think we’re all taking part in this debate and there is this question about whether we should go to Afghanistan. I made moves to do just that earlier this year. The elections intervened and I now have moves afoot to go in the near future. But, ...
KERRY O’BRIEN: So you do now acknowledge that there is a responsibility for you to actually go there at first-hand to see it?
BOB BROWN: No, I don’t. Let me make this clear: I think it would be a huge mistake for 240 members of the Australian Parliament to descend upon Afghanistan where our troops are committed ...
KERRY O’BRIEN: No, no, no, no, no, no, no; I’m not suggesting that. I’m not suggesting that. I’m suggesting you as the leader of a party that’s arguing for the troops to come home.
BOB BROWN: Well my understanding, my advice is that the spokesperson in Defence for the Coalition hasn’t been there either. John Howard had our troops for six years in Afghanistan before he went on a very quick visit. But let me make this clear: in going to Afghanistan, you have to be very careful that you don’t divert the time, the concentration, the wherewithal of our troops away from task at hand to looking after politicians who can be briefed equally well at home.... I would like to go to Afghanistan, but let me tell you, I am very concerned that in doing so wherewithal is taken away from our Defence forces to give us briefings back in comfortable circumstances where politicians end up in Afghanistan, briefings which could be given here in Australia.
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Why does the ABC publish such Leftist tosh?
Andrew Bolt
Reader Marty nominates this article as the worst ever run by the ABC’s The Drum.
Big call, he admits, but I’m prepared to back him. Author Davidl Chibo runs a new version of the international bankers’ conspiracy to explain why we are in Afghanistan:
The US “World Banker” is joined with members of the G8, or “bank franchisees,” including Germany, who compete for access to Middle Eastern petrodollars that must be recycled into US banks for the ingenious plan to work....Hey, some of those businesses are even run by Jews and their friends.
Australia, like the other mercenary nations in the table, is in effect behaving as a “broker” for the “World Banker”. In return for its military support, Australia was rewarded with the coveted FTA much to the benefit of its corporate interests, which can be found in the Australia United States FTA Business Group (AUSTA).
Key members include Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd, Westfield Holdings, the Business Council of Australia, the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, BHP Steel, Visy (Pratt Industries) and Southcorp.
Exactly why is the ABC now running this kind of lunacy on a publicly-funded website?
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The communities themselves are toxic
Andrew Bolt
We’re being painfully dragged to the realisation that all this talk of self-empowerment on the one hand or intervention on the other won’t fix what’s unfixable. Aboriginal culture in remote communities is never going to produce first-world outcomes for children:
RETIRED children’s court magistrate Sue Gordon has called for the NT government to be stripped of its statutory child protection responsibilities…Whatever you think of the “stolen generations”, it’s remarkable that some of the most articulate and able Aboriginal leaders of the previous generation - and the ones most capable of making their own future - were “stolen” from their communities and not left to rot. They include Charles Perkins (sent by his mother to the care of Father Percy Smith) and Lowitja O’Donoghue (sent by her white father to Colebrook home).
An 11-month inquiry into the NT’s child protection system delivered its report on Monday, revealing total systemic failure within the NT bureaucracy. Up to 1000 notifications of children at risk were sitting unexamined, case workers were attempting to manage up to 80 files at once, and repeated reports of child neglect by doctors and other professionals went ignored, according to findings of the report by former children’s commissioner Howard Bath, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency chief executive Muriel Bamblett, and pediatrician Rob Roseby.
Responding to the report’s damning findings yesterday, the NT’s Child Protection Minister, Kon Vatskalis, revealed that at times during his stint as the latest Labor politician to take on the troubled portfolio, he felt helpless.
“I felt like cutting my wrists,” said Mr Vatskalis…
. “I felt so sorry for the people and I felt so sorry for the children because the children deserve to be protected.
“But what really, really disappointed me was (that) I think that our society’s in crisis. I think that families look to substitute their role by a government department, and that can’t be done.
“The communities out there are in total collapse. There is a crisis in the communities."…
Dr Gordon was joined by Aboriginal politician Alison Anderson yesterday in calling for a greater focus on parental responsibility among indigenous parents…
“Parents have got to feed their children, send them to school and make sure they’ve got a safe environment.”
The Bath report was triggered by the death of 12-year-old Deborah Melville, who died in the dirt of her foster carer’s backyard of a treatable leg infection, and that of a seven-week-old baby known to child protection authorities, who starved to death in the back of a car.
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China’s faceless men choose the next faceless man
Andrew Bolt
A heads-up:Unless something goes badly wrong for Xi Jinping over the next two years, it looks like a fait accompli that the 57-year-old Communist Party official, who has been groomed his entire career for leadership, will be China’s next president.It’s all so orderly when you can dispense with the nuisance of having to ask the voters.
At the end of a four-day meeting of the party’s Central Committee on Monday, Xi was named vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, a position overseeing the People’s Liberation Army that is considered a steppingstone for assuming the leadership. Hu Jintao was given the same post in 1999, three years before he became secretary-general of the Communist Party. Hu became president in 2003…
Like many in the younger generation of Chinese leaders, Xi is a “princeling’’ — the son of a pro-reform official, Xi Zhongxun, who was purged in the early 1960s after a falling-out with Mao Tse-tung.
The last time we mentioned Xi was when he was fingered as the boor who sacked seven-year-old Yang Peiyi from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, allegedly ruling she was too ugly to sing Ode to the Motherland.
But his own wife sings a bit:
Some of Peng Liyuan’s songs do have odd titles. though:
UPDATE
Reader Rendle has a question for any Mandarin-speaking readers that interests me, too:
How do you sing in Mandarin without losing the meaning of the words? What if the meaning of the word requires an upwards inflection while the music requires the opposite?
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