=== Todays Toon ===
THE BIG CONCERNS - ZEGBig Banks
Hillary Clinton Down Under
=== Bible Quote ===
“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.””- Joshua 24:15=== Headlines ===
AISLE JUMPER? GOP Woos New Dem Senator to Join Them
Republicans are making some big promises to try to lure West Virginia Senator-elect Joe Manchin to cross the aisle by supporting a pet project of his that has stalled under Dem leadership.Jury Decides Death in Conn. Family Murder
Jury sentences Steven Hayes to death for murdering a woman and her two young daughters in a 2007 home invasion — strangling the mother and helping to burn down the family home, after dousing the girls with gasoline
Somali Gangs Eyed in U.S. Sex Ring Bust
Twenty-nine people have been indicted in a sex trafficking ring spanning three states and allegedly run by Minneapolis-based Somali gangs
Good, Old-Fashioned Food Fight in La.
Starting Wednesday, parents in Louisiana who can afford to pay for their children's school lunch -- and whose kids go three straight days without paying -- will be reported to the state Department of Family and Children Services.
Randy Quaid's refugee status hearing delayed
ACTOR Randy Quaid's application for refugee status in Canada remains in limbo.
Dollar flat amid Euro fears
THE dollar opened flat today following a subdued offshore session, as Europe's sovereign debt woes once again weigh on market sentiment.
Scratch 'n' sniff cards to catch druggies
POLICE hand out 30,000 scratch 'n' sniff cards so citizens can tell if their neighbours are growing something they shouldn't.
Tiger Woods in Australia to defend title
GOLFER Tiger Woods has arrived in Melbourne to defend his Australian Masters title.
Kitesurfer swept out of sea, over building
A KITESURFER, 24, crashed to his death when wind swept him out of the sea and hurled him over a nine-storey building at a resort.
Plan to scrap School Certificate
STUDENTS who sat English and science papers were likely to be the last to sit the School Certificate.
AHA may soon lose its chains
SYDNEY'S luxury hotels are threatening to disaffiliate from the powerful Australian Hotels Association over gaming and liquor.
Kingsford Smith's flying lady rebuilt
IT was 75 years ago yesterday Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Tommy Pethybridge disappeared over the Bay of Bengal.
Female victims hunt romantic fraud
VICTIMS of a serial heartbreaker have turned to the internet to warn women around the world not to fall for his smooth-talking ways.
Tears as wife visits prison cell
SPORTING dark sunglasses, the wife of accused murderer Ron Medich tried to go incognito during her visit to Silverwater jail.
Work finally begins on Barangaroo
BARANGAROO is here - along with an enormous Harbour oasis, a jetty and even a new cove.
Young louts are on the loose
POLICE launched a new offensive to curb underage drinking, drug-taking and criminal behaviour. Their secret weapon? Calling mum.
Sharing the Oprah lottery thrill
MARY Abrahams must have friends in high places to have scored two tickets to Oprah's Sydney show.
Another two Labor MPs bow out
TWO more Labor MPs have joined the growing list of politicians to announce they will not recontest the State election in March.
Cash machine carried out of pub
BRAZEN robbers walk out of pub during busy time with cash machine as punters sit nearby and keep playing poker machines.
Water leak closes rail platforms
A GREY water leak from the Sofitel Hotel in Brisbane City has closed two platforms of Central Station below.
Rocket launcher, grenades seized
POLICE have seized a rocket launcher, grenades and a .357 Magnum in a series of raids on an illicit drug syndicate in north Queensland.
Sorry, no prams on the bus
PARENTS with prams are routinely being refused entry to public transport in Brisbane in what they claim is a form of discrimination.
Red Cross building fire
A FIRE broke out in the Red Cross building in Bowen Hills in Brisbane causing black smoke to billow from the windows.
Weather woes for Qantas
QANTAS' woes continued when bad weather in Sydney left 176 angry passengers stranded at Brisbane Airport with nowhere to sleep overnight.
Taser death will hurt careers
THE death in custody of a north Queensland man who was tasered multiple times by police could ruin the careers of the officers involved, an inquest has heard.
Ipswich lands Jamie Oliver
CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver has pinpointed Ipswich as ground zero in a new bid to tackle Australia's obesity epidemic.
US eyes Queensland troop base
AMERICAN troops could be based in Queensland for the first time since 1945 under a new agreement to be thrashed out by January.
Brock's last racer restored
LEGENDARY race driver Peter Brock died behind the wheel of his Daytona Coupe in September 2006 - and now the car has been restored to its former glory.
Elderly couple interrupt burglar
AN elderly woman suffered a cut to the neck after she and her husband disturbed a burglar inside their house.
Waiting lists longer than admitted
MORE than 200,000 people are on outpatient lists for treatment in Victorian hospitals, new figures show.
Tensions simmer at brawl site
POLICE have again been called to where 14 were arrested and three injured in a weekend brawl as tensions continue to simmer.
Frankston smoking ban ignites
A SMOKING ban in Frankston has ignited tensions among locals.
Payback time for fed-up commuters
BILLIONS of dollars are poised to be poured into public transport after this month's state election, regardless of which party wins.
Shot baby koala battles on
A BABY koala continues to fight for life after a second round of surgery to remove 15 gunshot pellets from her body.
Mum treated well, court told
THE family of a teen shot dead by police was treated with "courtesy and empathy" despite later claims to the contrary, inquest hears.
New weapon for cops to ID crims
A REVOLUTIONARY facial recognition network will let police electronically identify suspects across Victoria within seconds.
Bashed teen's tragic last post
CAMERON Lowe posted his final thoughts on Facebook, unaware he was dying after he was bashed walking home from McDonald's.
$1.5b health boost 'a good start'
DOCTORS welcome a huge health injection for hospitals by Labor, but say even more cash is needed for beds.
Nothing new
Houses set alight by torched stolen ute
A HOLDEN ute carjacked at Unley last night was torched this morning, setting two houses on fire.
Police search Kapunda property
POLICE are searching a property near the Kapunda house where a family of three was found murdered yesterday.
New United owner has eye on bigger prize
INFLUENTIAL South Australian businessman Rob Gerard said he bought Adelaide United because he wants Australia to win the 2022 FIFA World Cup bid.
Crunch time in battle of locusts
THE battle against the Riverland locust plague has reached a critical stage with authorities fearing significant damage unless the hoppers are brought under control.
Country TV blackout
ALMOST 20,000 homes in regional South Australia risk being cut off from television when the analogue signal is switched off next month.
South Rd superway set for 2013 completion
WORK on South Australia's largest-ever road project - the $812 million South Rd superway - will begin in February and be completed by 2013.
He's in Rann's good books
TAXPAYERS paid thousands of dollars to publish a book of artwork by Puglia-based Nicola Sasanelli before he was appointed the Premier's special envoy to Europe.
CCTV cameras in playgrounds
SCHOOL councils want surveillance cameras in schools to help fight bullying and crime.
US forces get the nod
DEFENCE experts will step up lobbying of the Commonwealth for four military facilities in South Australia to be key training spots for US forces in Australia.
Smiling assassins touch down
ENGLAND touched down in Adelaide last night as its Ashes preparations ramped up for a critical hit-out against South Australia starting on Thursday.
WA Govt seeks $9bn from Asian investors
THE State Government hopes to enhance tourism in Perth and potentially secure $9 billion in foreign investment at an Asian property investment conference.
Radiation fear for Pilbara mine workers
A CANADIAN company plans to draw five million litres of water a day - two Olympic-sized pools - to operate a uranium mine on the edge of a Pilbara national park.
WA, nation's worst wasters
WEST Australians generate more waste and recycle less than the rest of the nation, a government report reveals.
Mining magnate plans movie role
MINING entrepreneur and Perth Glory owner Tony Sage plans to add movie mogul to his repertoire.
Navy intercepts 81 asylum-seekers
A BOAT carrying 81 suspected asylum-seekers has been intercepted off Christmas Island.
Watchdog to examine Barnett staff claim
CLAIMS that Premier Colin Barnett demanded an independent MP's support in exchange for extra staff will be referred to the Corruption and Crime Commission.
Nothing new
=== Journalists Corner ===
Defeated Democrats Ask Pelosi to Step AsideIn a letter obtained by FOX, defeated House Democrats implore Speaker Nancy Pelosi to "step aside as as leader of our party in the House."
===
Legal Tender!
Joe Miller is calling for cash to fund his court battle for Alaska Senate. Now, Sen. Jim DeMint weighs in on bankrolling the candidate's fight against Murkowski.
===
Guest: Gov. Rick Perry
From debt to jobs, security to taxes and health care ... Rick Perry is fed up! So, what's his solution? Greta gets answers from the Texas governor.
On Fox News Insider
'12 in 2012': A Look at Tim PawlentyVIDEO: Iraq War Vet, Double Amputee Wins Minn. Election
Insider Exclusive Pics: Smokey Robinson on 'Hannity'!
=== Comments ===
Drama Continues Within Democratic PartyBY BILL O'REILLY
As we reported Thursday night, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told ABC News she has no regrets over how her party has conducted itself since President Obama was elected.
Now, that sounds kind of defiant, especially because Americans rejected the Democratic performance in the election earlier this week.
It is clear if you look at the map that pockets of liberalism do remain on the West Coast and in the Northeast, but throughout the rest of the country Americans are moving right, and that presents a huge problem for the Democratic Party.
However, Ms. Pelosi and Barney Frank, two of the biggest liberals in Congress, don't see it that way. Mr. Frank was re-elected and lashed out at those who opposed him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BARNEY FRANK, D-MASS.: Massachusetts has reaffirmed the complete political irrelevance of the Boston Herald. There was no limit to the bias and vitriol they unleashed and it had no impact, so good for Massachusetts. I also will say that the influence of Fox News does not, in the end, appear to have been very great either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Well, that may be true in Franktown but not in most other parts of America. The far left continues to rattle the Democratic establishment, which does realize that danger is in the air.
On Sunday, President Obama appeared on "60 Minutes" and showed some humility:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE KROFT, HOST, "60 MINUTES": There is this feeling, particularly among people who are among your most ardent supporters...
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right.
KROFT: …who feel a little disappointed, that they think that you lost your mojo, that you lost your ability, that touch you had during the campaign to inspire and lead.
OBAMA: I think it is a fair argument. You know, I think that over the course of two years we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn't just legislation. That it's a matter of persuading people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And in that area, the president has a long way to go, but he's not completely on the ropes. On Friday, the jobs report was better. And two years is a long time in politics. If the economy turns around, President Obama will be a force in the election of 2012. But if the far-left elements continue to control the Democratic Party, the president is doomed.
Most Americans reject the quasi-socialistic agenda they put out. But people like Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank will never admit that, and so tension remains inside the Democratic Party.
===
Why Elections Are Won (or Lost)
By Jon Kraushar
Immediately after the midterm elections, new speculation began about what will happen in the 2012 presidential contest.
Keep your eyes on butter, guns and gall.
Butter is the economy. Guns connect to war. Gall is resentment and anger at the incumbent or one of the challengers. Any one factor or combination of factors sways an election.
In the midterms, Democrats suffered because voters were frustrated about unemployment and the economic stall (butter). Voters were upset with President Obama’s arrogance in pushing his radical agenda while dismissing the country’s center-right preferences (gall). Domestic issues dominated this election. But in 2012, terrorism and whatever happens in the war in Afghanistan (guns) will likely be major issues.
In the 2008 presidential race, Obama and the Democrats won big because of gall about the financial crisis (butter), exhaustion with the Iraq War (guns) and even more gall about, first, President George W. Bush, and second, about John McCain’s lackluster campaigning.
Working backward, it’s the same pattern. In 2004, George W. Bush edged John Kerry by blunting growing gall over Bush’s handling of the economy (butter) and the Iraq War (guns) with the case that Bush was a stronger, more decisive leader regarding terrorism and the values of the country. Kerry’s elite hauteur caused a gall backlash against him. Galling as it may be to some, Kerry lost because he was too unlikable.
A variation on that happened in 2000. Al Gore blew what should have been an easy win. Term-limited President Clinton wasn’t in a major war (and terrorism was, sadly, underestimated), so guns were silenced. The economy was humming -- the butter was there.
But on the cusp of victory, Gore sighed and acted pompously in his debates with George W. Bush, who was a mediocre communicator. However, Bush was far more likable (then) than Gore. To men, Gore was a blowhard they wouldn’t want to drink with. To women, he was a stiff they wouldn’t want to marry. Gore also lost votes because he spurned Clinton’s help in campaigning. Galling.
In 1996, Clinton held all the aces against Bob Dole: a buttery economy, a relatively peaceful world (guns) and Clinton’s ingratiating slickness versus Dole’s desperate ranting (galling).
In the prelude to the 1992 election, President George H.W. Bush had guns blazing and a record-high 89% approval rating because of the popularity of the Gulf War victory. But that approval rating melted as the economy melted (butter) and Clinton’s campaign scoffed that “It’s the economy, stupid.” Bush was further hurt by gall when The New York Times falsely reported that Bush was “astonished” to see a demonstration of a supermarket scanner. Clinton seized upon this as another example of Bush being “out of touch” with the lives of everyday people (especially the middle class). Bush didn’t help himself when, in a debate with Clinton and third party spoiler Ross Perot, Bush looked at his watch as if he couldn’t wait to get it over with. Leading up to the election, Bush’s approval rating dropped to a lethal 34%. Butter and gall did him in although, like many presidents, Bush’s approval rating bounced back after he was out of office.
Bush the elder beat Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988 not only because term-limited President Reagan took good care of both butter and guns, but also because Dukakis -- like Gore and Kerry -- was galling: an arrogant prig, when campaigning and in the debates.
Reagan beat former Vice President Walter Mondale in 1984 with a revived economy (butter), a restored military (guns), and by evaporating galling concerns about his own mental sharpness with a terrific joke about his age in his second debate with Mondale.
Rancid butter defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980. Under his presidency, the “misery index” (unemployment plus inflation) reached a record average high of 20.27% (nearly doubling the number under President Nixon, who resigned because of the gall about Watergate). Guns also shot down Carter as he got walked over by Communists and tyrants worldwide, culminating in the galling crisis when 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days after militants and students took over the American Embassy in Iran. Carter’s secret U.S. military rescue attempt failed miserably -- a double whammy of guns and gall. And Reagan’s sunny optimism only highlighted Carter’s dour (and galling) pessimism.
Without going any further back in history, it is certain that some combination of butter, guns and gall will lead to either defeat or victory for President Obama in 2012 and the same for his Republican (and third party?) rivals.
Communications consultant Jon Kraushar is at www.jonkraushar.net. - It doesn't matter how you demarcate it, the Democrats moved too far to the left and lost the electorate. - ed.
===
Republicans, Democrats Have a Bigger Foe Than the Tea Party
By James P. Pinkerton
Bob Beckel is one Democrat who makes no attempt to sugarcoat, or otherwise spin, the defeat that the Democratic Party suffered on Tuesday. As he quipped to me last week, “Did you get the license-plate number of the truck that ran over my party?”
Yet at the same time, he makes an astute point about the politics of 2010 that should challenge the confidence of any Republican, as well as any Democrat. The Internet, Beckel says, is on its way to trumping both political parties. The Internet has, indeed, created a new organizing mechanism for politics -- a mechanism that neither party has yet figured out.
Even as he acknowledges the “shellacking” -- to use President Obama’s word -- that the Democratic Party suffered in 2010, Beckel reminds me that Democrats won big in 2006 and even bigger in 2008. If we have three “wave” elections in a row, going in differing directions, he says, the lesson must be that neither party rules the waves. That is, neither party can count on guaranteed support when political storms erupt. And one reason for these suddenly shifting currents is the rapidity of communication: Anyone interested in politics these days can get an earful -- and an eyeful -- with just a few clicks. Faced with a torrent of information, it’s easy for loyalties to be washed away.
That’s why, Beckel says, both parties are losing their long-term grip on voter identity; the big winner of the future, he adds, will be free-floating independents.
Yet Beckel goes further, arguing that the Internet itself has become its own kind of party. “Think about it,” he told me, “the Internet is its own organizing tool. It provides message, it provides community, it provides rapid response.” In other words, the Internet provides much of what the parties once provided.
In fact, as I listened to Beckel’s argument, I was reminded of the media visionary Marshall McLuhan, who proclaimed back in the 1960s, “The medium is the message.” That is, the medium itself -- be it print, radio or television -- provides its own special rules, which anyone using the medium, including politicians, must follow. Scholars have been debating McLuhan’s point ever since, but it’s obvious that politics has been changed by changing media.
Once upon a time, the parties played a much larger role in people’s lives. In the 18th and 19th centuries, even into the 20th century, politics was one of the few forms of entertainment available to most folks. Along with church sermons and courtroom theatrics, political speeches offered people the chance to hear the spoken word, delivered with passion and articulation. And so, audiences would gladly sit through political speeches lasting for hours.
Then came radio and television, and so political communications, and politics itself, changed. Speeches became shorter and punchier, because they had to. Audiences after all, could and would change the channel if they grew bored. Political oratory was still exciting -- but only for the hardcore junkies; everybody else had other options. So the politicians who flourished in the new era were generally those who presented themselves well on television; they learned to shorten their message, boiling it down to “sound bites.” Good looks and a telegenic manner became more important, along with TV-friendly quips and banter. It’s hard to imagine for example, the presidencies of John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan without television, just as many have said that Abraham Lincoln -- gangly, speaking in a high-pitched voice -- would never have made it in the TV era. Part of the reason that JFK and Reagan succeeded in televised politics is that they fit in so seamlessly with all the other pleasant “talking heads” on television, from Dave Garroway to Merv Griffin to Regis Philbin -- and more recently, women, too, such as Oprah Winfrey.
And now politics confronts a new medium, the Internet. Once again, politics will change. The problem is that we haven’t figured out how politics will change in the Net era. But one thing we do know: Thanks to social-networking sites such as Facebook, politics can be entertaining, even to non-junkies. Why? Because Facebook is about you and your network. You can exchange any information you want with your old friends, and new friends -- in a way that is both inexpensive (free, in fact) and cool. Thus the town square has been revived online; a new ecology of personal and social interaction created.
So where will this Net-centric politics lead? Especially as young people, to whom the Internet is second nature, take a larger role in future politics? Beckel is the first to say that he doesn’t know for sure, but the common thread in all politics is human nature. The values of shared belief, shared community and shared energy will always be powerful motivators and organizers, in any medium, from a TV network to a social network.
Yet if the Internet becomes its own kind of party, then perhaps people will identify with the Net itself. People will still be Republicans and Democrats, at least for a while, but, over time, the new values of the Internet, whatever they are, will prevail. After the Civil War, a slogan in both the North and the South was “Vote as you shot.” In the Net-ified 21st century, it could be “Vote as you click.” And that’s Beckel’s point.
So both parties are on notice: Another time of political and technological transition is upon us. Thus political parties and politicos must evolve, or else risk going the way of the telegraph, the newspaper and broadcast television.
James P. Pinkerton is a writer, Fox News contributor and the editor/founder of SeriousMedicineStrategy. - Policy and performance will underpin success or failure, not the eyes watching them. Democrats failed because their policy was abysmal. - ed.
===
Why David Marr dances
Andrew Bolt
David Marr is the author of The High Price of Heaven, which its publisher sells as an attack on the enemies of pleasure:
This is also a book of stories - of murder and chicanery, suicide and savvy bishops, of the Methodist childhood of John Howard and the ruthless Christian warriors who fight the drugs war...Which, in the light of admissions made by Marr the other day, might confirm my long-held theory that what drives Marr’s rage against the church and conservatives generally may be nothing more sophisticated than a resentment at being denied his personal pleasures, even when those same pleasures destroy the weak:
As I wrote as long ago as March 2002, in response to Marr’s book:EVERY day our forgetting gets worse. We forget why we shouldn’t be selfish, get drunk, take drugs or sleep around.===
Soon we’ll forget even why we should wash our hands after wiping our backsides.
Erk! Maybe we already have. Someone in my building has, through some misfortune, found it necessary to tack up signs opposite the handbasins, warning: ``In the interests of hygiene to protect yourselves and your fellow workers please wash your hands after using the toilet.’’
So that’s why we had to do that. We forgot.
Yes, we’re caught now in a culture of forgetting the manners that make us more than mere animals.
And if we want a poster girl for this new culture, we can hardly do better than Wendy Kathryn Solomon.
Richo asks Gillard for an agenda - fast
Andrew Bolt
The reason that Julia Gillard has no agenda is that her real interest was in winning power. Now that she has it, she has no idea what to do with it, and even the Labor faithful are noticing:
Former ALP factional heavyweight Graham Richardson. ...said he had opposed Ms Gillard calling an August poll because she had not carved out a different agenda from that pursued by Kevin Rudd.The trouble is that there may be one thing worse than Gillard without an agenda, and that’s Gillard with an agenda. Remember when we used to complain that Rudd never did anything? Bang! Off he went on the greatest spending spree in our history.
Speaking at the launch of Confessions of a Faceless Man, an inside account of the election by union leader Paul Howes, Mr Richardson said he had rung everyone in the party.
“I told them ‘don’t do this’ because there was no Julia Gillard agenda. There was just a Rudd agenda which she would continue on in an election campaign which I thought was a pretty bad idea. We had to get away from the Rudd agenda. People are tired of that; people didn’t believe it any more.
“Where I may have been wrong, however, is we would have been having an election now, and, if there is a weakness in the Gillard government, it’s there still isn’t an agenda. I think, four or five months on there’s still no agenda. There needs to be one; there needs to be one pretty quickly.”
===
Can this clunker of a scheme
Andrew Bolt
The car spare-parts sector says Julia Gillard’s ludicrous cash-for-clunkers scheme sure is a clunker - and my ”pink batts on wheels” line gets another run:
The Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) is calling for the Cleaner Car Rebate scheme to be struck from the Gillard Government agenda.(No link to the press release. Thanks to reader Barry.)
Despite widespread criticism following the July 2010 election pledge and a detailed review of all the flaws in similar programs introduced around the world, the Gillard Government is pressing ahead with plans to introduce a Cleaner Car Rebate scheme.
The $394 million tax payer funded scheme aims to take 200,000 pre-1995 vehicles off Australian roads by paying car owners a $2,000 subsidy to scrap their vehicle…
In July, the Government announced that the scheme would be introduced from 1 January 2011. However, the Minister responsible for the Scheme, Senator Kim Carr, announced on 6 November that implementation would be delayed until 1 July 2011 “to ensure a smooth roll out”.
AAAA Executive Director Stuart Charity said the Gillard Government scheme is ill conceived, open to rorting and abuse and will cost jobs while delivering no tangible benefit to the environment. “This is another pink batts debacle waiting to happen, but this one is on wheels,” said Stuart Charity.
Research shows that up to 20% of a car’s life cycle emissions are produced during its manufacture and that from an environmental perspective, the optimal vehicle life is 19 years. In calculating the environmental benefit of the Cleaner Car Rebate, no account was taken of the emissions resulting from the production of the 200,000 new vehicles put on the road.
===
This “good” racism of the Left is killing black children
Andrew Bolt
Four Corners was devastating last night in detailing how Aboriginal children are dying horribly of neglect and abuse in the Northern Territory. But while it suggested white “racism” as one factor, it failed to explain that the real racism we should be fighting is the New Racism of the Left - and the Left’s “stolen generations” myth - that has made us so slow to save black children from conditions from which we’d save a white child in a flash. Click on the first link and pick up the clues yourself.
===
Gillard’s California dreaming
Andrew Bolt
Look to California’s success in putting a price on carbon, Julia Gillard urges Laurie Oakes:
LO: Is there a point in us going ahead now that America has dumped the idea?So we look to California:
JG: Laurie, emissions Trading Schemes, or prices on carbon, different ways of tackling climate change are being developed around the world. And yes, different countries are finding different paths, many have gone down the path of pricing carbon, you are talking now about America. California has had a way of pricing carbon for quite a long period of time now.
With one in every eight workers unemployed and empty state coffers, California is borrowing billions of dollars from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance.===
Please don’t kill me for winning the game
Andrew Bolt
Something doesn’t quite seem right with Pakistani cricket:
PAKISTANI wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider astonishingly went into hiding before yesterday’s one-dayer against South Africa, claiming to have received threats from an illegal bookmaker.===
The ICC’s anti-corruption unit was alerted to the disappearance by the Pakistan Cricket Board, after Haider said threats had been made against him after helping his side defeat the Proteas in the fourth one-dayer last Friday in the UAE. Haider’s profile update on his Facebook page read: ‘’leaving pakistan cricket because get bad msg fr 1 man fr lose the match in last game.’’
The suggestion from Haider is that an illegal bookie wanted Pakistan to lose the fourth game, and because he scored an unbeaten 19 to lead Pakistan to victory with one ball to spare, he is in danger.
The rest of us call this a holiday
Andrew Bolt
PhD student Tammi Jonas is off to Europe to do much-needed research in one restaurant and food market after another:
Nearly every week this year has seen me interstate to meet with government or postgrads on campuses across Australia in my role as National President of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. And yet in the middle of this crazy year (Epic 2010), I’m off on a Grand Tour – Finland, Italy and Malaysia. Disparate countries, you think? Well, yes… but there is (always) a rationale.Oh, and frequent-flyer Jonas is of course worried about global warming and demands we cut our emissions.
I’ll be giving a paper at the 18th International Ethnological Food Research Conference in Turku, Finland this week. Meeting a mix of scholars from around the world, all as obsessed with the centrality of food in our everyday lives, is something to which I look forward with enormous pleasure and anticipation.
Next stop, two and a half weeks in Italy for fieldwork. My fieldwork is essentially wandering the markets, learning the distinctive ingredients and dishes, and talking to people about what they like to eat, why, where, and with whom. Oh, and of course, eating. It requires a fair bit of eating… sampling, tasting…
So I’ve booked flights in and out of Bologna in the north and Palermo in Sicily, and nothing further, really. I’d like to do some language study (I don’t speak Italian) and perhaps a cooking class or two.
(Thanks to reader Scott.)
===
Not racial violence, says police, which should be a warning
Andrew Bolt
When Victoria Police says it doesn’t believe this was racially motivated, you can safely assume from its past evasions that the two sides were divided on racial lines - and that the police won’t say which:
Police have again been called to a block of units at Sydenham last night after tempers continue to flare between residents.Reporters won’t tell you, either, even though the incident seems to have been unusually violent:
Just after 10pm parties believed to have been involved in an affray on Sunday afternoon at flats in Sydenham Road were again engulfed in a heated exchange with allegations of assault and property damage being the result.
It is believed a number of the men may have damaged up to five vehicles in what may be retaliation for Sunday’s assault, which left two men, aged 18 and 53 in hospital with serious injuries.
As a result of the latest confrontation, a 22-year-old Sydenham man received a minor head injury which required medical treatment.
Police do not believe that this is a racially motivated incident as they are aware of ongoing issues between the parties.
Fourteen men have been arrested after a violent brawl outside an apartment block in Melbourne’s north-west yesterday…===
A Victoria Police spokesman said officers were called to the apartment block about 2pm where a group of men had allegedly armed themselves with weapons and assaulted two of the building’s residents.
Two Sydenham men, aged 18 and 53, were treated in hospital for serious injuries, while a 28-year-old man from St Albans was also hospitalised for bruising and minor cuts.
Labor behind, and becalmed
Andrew Bolt
The latest Newspoll suggests that winning the election may be just Labor’s way of preparing for a long time in Opposition, its weaknesses brutally exposed by minority government:
With luck going his way, Tony Abbott may one day regard this year’s loss as John Howard regard’s 1987’s - character forming, and a preparation for greater success.As for Julia Gillard, the doubts must surely being growing within Labor ranks about whether she really is up to the job, even though she still leads Abbott as preferred Prime Minister by 49 to 34. Dennis Shanahan:
Suffering a certain amount of fatigue after a draining year, and afraid to confront or upset the Greens and independent MPs who hold the balance of power, Gillard is starting to lose the appearance of a tough, “can-do” leader.===
These latest numbers suggest that while the voters are still not enthralled by Abbott, they are looking at him again and beginning to question how well Gillard is doing the job of leading a minority government.
The early indications for her - a record low satisfaction and a record high dissatisfaction - are that she is being found wanting and failing to live up to the bold promise of the tough Julia of six months ago.
In ABC world, a good bank is a broke bank
Andrew Bolt
ABC 702’s Mornings presenter Deborah Cameron in her Spin Doctor segment last Thursday:
I MEAN, Gail Kelly did say: “Look everybody needs to steady up. We need, there’s plenty of room to have a quiet conversation about this.”Gerard Henderson in his Media Watch Dog last Friday:
But, you know, she’s a, she’s a serial offender here. They [Westpac] make, they’ve made profits year on year on year. It’s ironic that she’s a Kelly, I reckon, you know. [There followed a burst of Cameron’s laughter].
SO there you have it. Gail Kelly (banker) is a bit like Ned Kelly (armed robber of banks, notorious horse thief and murderer of three police officers). What’s more, Ms Kelly would presumably be more acceptable to Ms Cameron if only Westpac made losses year on year on year.Just in case you still weren’t sure of Cameron’s grasp of how the financial sector really works:
Deborah Cameron : Now what’s your response, um, lastly, to the banks’ off, off sort of pace increases of interest - “over and above” is what I’m trying to say - the RBA’s, um, mandate or permitted increase? So the response by the Commonwealth Bank yesterday, there’s some suggestion that Westpac might match it today. What’s your reaction to banks overpricing interest?===
$24 million to study how people freaked at the Black Death? I’m freaking now….
Andrew Bolt
The last ARC grant Science Minister Kim Carr announced was $390,000 to study how to put us all on carbon rations. This week comes another just as startling - at least in dollar figures:
TAXPAYERS will fork out $24 million for boffins to study emotions from hundreds of years ago while mental health research in modern Australia is desperately underfunded.The university should study my own emotions on hearing this. They include surprise, amusement, disbelief and resentment that the salary I work so hard for is docked taxes to pay for this.
The Federal Government is promoting the massive humanities grant, which will focus on historical events such as the Black Death, as a solution to the nation’s dire mental health problems.
But Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry has criticised the lack of direct funding for mental health research…
“That would fund an incredible transformation in mental health of young people if we were able to get a grant like that.”
The record-breaking Australian Research Council grant over seven years is more than three times the previous highest amount given to a humanities project…
... the grant will go to the new Centre of Excellence in the History of Emotions based at the University of Western Australia.
Researchers will focus on emotions in Europe from the years 1100 to 1800, taking in events such as the French revolution, according to the university’s website. Centre director and historian Philippa Maddern’s key study areas will include the emotional response to the Black Death, which killed about half the population of 14th century Europe.... A related Shakespearean drama production, a Baroque opera and an art exhibition will be produced as part of the research grant.
How on earth can the worth of this research be valued at $24 million?
Professor Maddern explains her research:
Emotions shape our mental, physical and social wellbeing. Our research will brilliantly illuminate this crucial aspect of Australia’s cultural and social heritage, help explain the causes and consequences of mass emotional events (e.g. moral panics) and invigorate Australian culture through major reflective performances in drama, opera and art. By addressing the big question of how societies think, feel and function, it will provide greatly enhanced understandings of how to improve emotional health among modern Australians. It will train and mentor a new generation of young Australian researchers and heighten Australia’s international reputation for excellence in Humanities and Performing Arts research.What on earth is Senator Carr up to with our cash? If this research is so fascinating and potentially profitable, why doesn’t the good professor do it in her own time and sell us the results?
(Thanks to reader rehandra.)
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That’s a hell of a holiday you get at the ABC
Andrew Bolt
The ABC’s Media Watch and Q&A last night announced that they were finished for the year, and will back after the Christmas break. It is November 9.
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What is it with the Left and tyrants?
Andrew Bolt
Herro? Defend even North Korea? Sydney’s socialist are mad.(Thanks to reader Tamas, wandering past Martin Place today with a camera.)
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Yet another Gillard promise off to the junkyard
Andrew Bolt
Saving the planet really is turning out to be too expensive even for Julia Gillard:
THE cash-for-clunkers scheme will be delayed by six months as the Gillard government seeks savings ahead of the mid-year economic review.Delayed by only six months. I’ll repeat my prediction of two months ago - this scheme will be scrapped. It is as dead a parrot as Gillard’s equally stupid promise of a detention centre in East Timor and just as ill-considered:
A Senate estimates committee was told last month the Innovation Department had “not put forward a proposition for the adoption of a scheme of that nature” before the election campaign announcement.(Apologies for being late to this story.)
The $430 million scheme is aimed at taking 200,000 high-emission cars off the road over four years.
Under the plan, owners of cars manufactured before January 1, 1995, will be eligible for a $2000 rebate when they buy a new car with a Green Vehicle Guide greenhouse rating of six or above.
UPDATE
Meanwhile, Julia Gillard recklessly ploughs on with her even more disastrous promise to give us an emissions trading scheme - or a carbon tax - even though President Barack Obama has now conceded that the US is joining China and India in not going ahead with any such schemes of their own:
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has flagged she won’t be deterred from pursuing a carbon price by President Barack Obama’s decision to formally abandon his efforts to implement an emissions trading scheme...The “world is moving in that direction”? What planet is Gillard on? The very reason she’s forced to make this statement is that Obama has just admitted the US is not moving in that direction, and - far from our economy “falling behind” we’ll be out in front, like a shag on rock, making sacrifices our competitors have no intention of making themselves.
‘’We will determine our own national strategy in our own national interest. I believe it is in Australia’s interest to tackle climate change, and it is in Australia’s interest to make sure we transform our economy to a low-pollution, low-carbon economy.
‘’The world is moving in that direction, it will require it of other economies, it will impact [on] competition, how people trade, what they buy. We can’t afford to have our economy fall behind.’’
Indeed, observe: the market for carbon credits has just rock-bottomed in the US, putting its only carbon permit exchange out of business:
A tough political atmosphere in which Congress backed away from comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation may have been the nail in the coffin for one of the voluntary carbon market’s early pioneers.===
The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) will discontinue its voluntary greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program next month, according to Intercontinental Exchange Inc., its parent company. In its place, CCX will launch a new registry program for 2011 and 2012 carbon offsets…
The CCX cap-and-trade program had about 450 members. The program was both a registry for organizations to report their greenhouse gas inventories, and an exchange platform through which they could trade emissions reduction permits. Members committed to reduce emissions during a specific time phrase; those that reduced emissions to levels below the target could trade the extra emission credits, while those that fell short of their goals had to buy permits to make up the difference.
NSW Labor voting itself out
Andrew Bolt
At this rate there will be no need for an election:
TWO New South Wales Labor MPs from the state’s Central Coast have decided not to contest the 2011 election, Premier Kristina Keneally has announced.(Thanks to reader Matt.)
Member for The Entrance and former Gaming and Racing Minister Grant McBride, and Gosford MP Marie Andrews, today confirmed they would not run in the March state election.
The number of Labor MPs to bow out ahead of the election, which the State Government is expected to lose, is now 13.
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Not just useless, but racist, too
Andrew Bolt
Faltering and under pressure from even her own side to deliver vision and leadership, Prime Minister Julia Gillard can only think of the most empty symbolism:
AUSTRALIANS will within the next three years vote in a referendum on whether to recognise indigenous people in the Constitution. The plan to recognise indigenous Australians in the Constitution was announced today by Julia Gillard.This is, of course, pure racism. Tragically, it will actually cause more division and resentment than it purports to heal. Nor will it improve the life of a single Aborigine, other than, perhaps, two or three involved in constitutional law and UN delegations.
But as long as Gillard seems to have vision, who cares, right?
UPDATE
”The first peoples of our nation have a unique and special place in our nation,” Ms Gillard told a media conference in Melbourne today.Could Gillard now define the nation’s “last peoples” and explain what lesser rights they have as a consequence?
UPDATE 2
And already this craven stunt is achieving just the divisiveness I predicted:An indigenous activist has dismissed as a political ploy a Gillard government announcement of a referendum to recognise indigenous people in the Australian Constitution.(Thanks to reader Burchell.)
Queensland academic Sam Watson says he’s disappointed that the government is “trotting out Aboriginal issues in order to prop up a pitiful performance in the polls”.
“If white Australia wanted to make a genuine attempt at incorporating our true history into the constitution and reflecting some sort of genuine apology to Aboriginal Australians, then I’d say yes,” Mr Watson told AAP on Monday.
”You would need to incorporate a recognition of the theft of Aboriginal land, the mass genocide for Aboriginal people, the fact that to this day there’s not been a legitimate treaty signed between the British crown and the five hundred tribal nations.”
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