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FREE BOB DOLLARS
Tim Blair – Friday, May 06, 11 (04:51 am)
Responding to a reader who is unimpressed by his latest ridiculous column, tax-funded Osama weeper Bob Ellis makes an offer he may regret:
My columns have cost you, thus far, two dollars and four cents. Give me your address and I will send this back to you. My offer is open to anyone else so enraged.
It’s time to cash in! Send your invoice for $2.04 here. Include your name and address and the above quote, which Bob posted at the ABC’s Drum site at 9:27am on May 5. Use the phrase “Thanks for the money, Bob!” in the subject line.
Note: this offer is open to anyone, so foreign types should also take advantage of Bob’s generosity. Bloggers and other online folk: please circulate this windfall opportunity as widely as possible. Help Bob to help the world, $2.04 at a time.
425 DAYS UNTIL LABOR’S DOUG TAX
Tim Blair – Friday, May 06, 11 (04:48 am)
Protectionist Labor senator Doug Cameron supports a carbon tax, but his anti-trade mates clearly don’t:
I get emails every week from working people who tell me that having seen free trade policies destroy manufacturing jobs, they are not about to support a carbon tax.
The great national convergence continues. Besides protectionists, the tax is already rejected at various levels by Rio Tinto, Alcoa, dairy farmers, barley growers, insurance companies, local councils, state governments, CFOs, food and grocery producers, miners, union members, Gerry Harvey, G&S Engineering, Sam Gadaleta, BHP and Queensland Labor members – and now by the Noosa Chamber of Commerce, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Northern Territory parliament.
UPDATE. The big end of town rolls up for their charm offensive – and encounter someone who’s paying the bill.
UPDATE II. A powerful claim from Julia Gillard’s carbon buddies in the Greens: We’re more responsible than Andrew Wilkie!
YELLOW UGMO
Tim Blair – Friday, May 06, 11 (04:09 am)
It took 20 years and $50 million to perfect Ford’s Crown Victoria for taxi use in New York City. Those long-wheelbase, bump-smoothing Fords – one of the delights of visiting NYC – are now to be replaced by minivans from Mars.
DID THEY BOW?
Tim Blair – Friday, May 06, 11 (04:08 am)
President Barack Obama visits Ground Zero:
Speaking to a firefighting chief who received Obama, a member of the media actually asked him this question:
“Did you have concerns about the men’s behavior in a formal setting?”
(Via Currency Lad)
CAMERA SHY
Tim Blair – Friday, May 06, 11 (04:03 am)
Sohaib Athar, the guy who inadvertently live-tweeted the raid on Osama bin Laden’s death hut, speaks on behalf ofmany:
Interviewer: Should the photo, and perhaps the video, of bin Laden’s demise be released?
Athar: Yes, definitely. The world deserves to see it.
Additionally, the Obama administration needs to reveal it. They’ve done a great job so far of screwing up the bin Laden after-party, as Jim Treacher acidly observes. One or two Dillinger-style farewell snaps might begin to set things right.
PEDESTRIANS ON BIKES
Tim Blair – Friday, May 06, 11 (12:45 am)
Paul Keating’s insults rarely make much sense, but at least he’s aiming at the right targets:
Former prime minister Paul Keating has labelled Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore a supporter of “sandal-wearing, muesli-chewing, bike-riding pedestrians” ...
Regarding Moore’s beloved bike lanes, add another line: child-endangering.
IT’S JUST NOT FUNNY
Tim Blair – Thursday, May 05, 11 (11:36 am)
Irreverent Chaser gagster Dom Knight is surprised by a certain news event’s humour potential:
Jon Stewart, who is one of my comedy heroes, was very triumphant about this and said: “Should I care about the arbitrary assassination of some guy in another country? In this case, no.” He was sort of enjoying it. He admitted he had no perspective because he’s a New Yorker, but, um, it’s been an absolute comedy bonanza which I think is really a bit unexpected, actually.
Back to cutting-edge jokes about the monarchy, then. Another ABC comedian is upset by the media’s “orgy ofcelebration”:
… including, disappointingly, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.
What did he expect? A minute’s silence?
Now the story is that four unarmed men were shot dead
Andrew Bolt – Friday, May 06, 11 (03:17 pm)
The post-operation spin has been terrible, and getting more unspun by the day:
Four of the five people killed when US Navy SEALs stormed Osama bin Laden’s hideout were unarmed, contrary to America’s original version of events, it has been disclosed.
The al-Qaeda chief had weapons - an AK47 assault rifle and a pistol - within arm’s reach but did not get to them before he was shot, officials said.
The blood-stained floor is visible in this photograph of one of the rooms in Osama bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound.
The White House had insisted that US forces had been “engaged in a firefight throughout the operation” when they attacked the compound in Pakistan on Sunday night, local time.
UPDATE
To recap, the following claims by the White House’s deputy counterterrorism advisor and press spokesman have all turned out to be false:
JOHN BRENNAN- MAY 2
He was engaged in a firefight … here is Bin Laden who has been calling on these attacks, living in this million dollar plus compound, living in an area that is far removed from the front, hiding behind women.. who were put in front of him as a shield..JAY CARNEY- MAY 3
We expected a great deal of resistance and were met with a great deal of resistance.
Gillard reinvents the Pacific Solution she damned
Andrew Bolt – Friday, May 06, 11 (11:13 am)
With more than 6000 people now in detention and up to 200 drowned at sea, we should not laugh.
Yet it will be, say, interesting to see how the Greens would justify staying in effectively a coalition with the Gillard Government after this astonishing backflip:
THE Gillard government is poised to revive one of the most controversial elements of the Howard government’s Pacific Solution, with Port Moresby expected to agree to host a refugee processing centre in Papua New Guinea....
The Australian has been told the PNG cabinet will meet at 10am today to consider the formal Australian government request, which has yet to go to the Gillard cabinet, to set up a centre, either by reopening the Lombrum naval base on Manus island - which was used in that role from 2001 to 2004 - or by establishing a new centre. The Lombrum centre was administered, as part of the Howard government’s Pacific Solution, by the International Organisation for Migration, as was the centre on Nauru…
The decision to approach PNG is a major about-face for Labor, which was scathing of the Pacific Solution when in opposition.
This scrambling for the credit is also delightfully interesting:
It is understood that Mr Rudd last month visited PNG Prime Minister Michael Somare in Singapore, where he is still recovering from heart surgery, and won his backing for the reopening of an Australian-run processing centre…
However, there was dispute about the degree of influence attributed to the Foreign Minister, with senior Australian government sources insisting that although Mr Rudd discussed the idea with with Sir Michael, the deal was effectively done by Mr Metcalfe, who secured in-principle agreement during his visit.
Then there will be more interest in the backpedalling.
Here’s Julia Gillard last year:
Processing was then undertaken on Manus Island and Nauru. That’s not my approach...
Here’s Immigration Minister Chris Bowen last year:
Of the 1637 people detained in the Nauru and Manus facilities, 1153 or 70 per cent were ultimately resettled in Australia or other countries… The Pacific solution was a cynical, costly and ultimately unsuccessful exercise introduced on the eve of a federal election by the Howard government. The Rudd Government pledged to dismantle the Pacific solution. It has been done and there is no intention to return to that shameful period.
UPDATE
Is Gillard’s hoped-for centre at Manus Island open yet?
ANOTHER asylum seeker boat has been intercepted off the coast of Western Australia.
Personnel from the HMAS Launceston boarded the boat - believed to be carrying 63 people - about 16 nautical miles north of Broome yesterday afternoon
UPDATE
Through thick and thin, through betrayal and failure:
Greens leader Bob Brown said the use of Manus Island ... would also create serious hardship and punish asylum-seekers.
“It is part of the Labor Party drifting across to the Tony Abbott, John Howard solution,” Senator Brown told ABC TV.
However, the Greens would continue to support the Gillard government because the Coalition’s stance on the issue was worse, Senator Brown said.
Rudd accused by Pakistan intelligence of big-noting
Andrew Bolt – Friday, May 06, 11 (06:54 am)
The allegation seems improbable and is denied, however:
Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency claims Mr Rudd “shattered” a confidence by publicly confirming the arrest of Bali bomber and al-Qa’ida acolyte Umar Patek (in Abbottabad, bin Laden’s sanctuary) in late March.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s most senior official, secretary Dennis Richardson, yesterday dismissed the claims as “untrue and absurd”....
The spokesman said they were dismayed when Mr Rudd, on March 30, confirmed the arrest at the end of a Bali Process meeting he co-chaired with Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa....
Mr Rudd ... declared it “a potential major step forward in the fight against terrorism”.
However, Mr Natalegawa refused to confirm the arrest, citing operational concerns, and appeared annoyed by Mr Rudd’s announcement.
“Not wanting at the same time to reject what Kevin, Mr Rudd, has said, I cannot confirm that fact,” Mr Natalegawa said.
No problem, says Minister for blindfolds
Andrew Bolt – Friday, May 06, 11 (06:49 am)
Kotsiris should remember he’s not an apologist but a Minister, and has a duty not to misrepresent crime statisticsor ignore the sexisim, rejectionism and social alienation represented by a burqa:
MUSLIM women who choose to wear the face-covering burqa should be entitled to do as they pleased, says Victoria’s multicultural affairs minister.
Nick Kotsiras has also praised the Sudanese community who have come under scrutiny in the aftermath of outbreaks of street brawling after a youth beauty pageant last month.
‘’We have not got a Sudanese problem in Australia - or in Melbourne. There are 8000 Sudanese living in Victoria, the vast majority are hard-working, law-abiding citizens ‘’...
So who will now listen to the workers?
Andrew Bolt – Friday, May 06, 11 (06:31 am)
Labor Senator Doug Cameron, the former Australian Manufacturing Workers Union boss, admits:
I get emails every week from working people who tell me that having seen free trade policies destroy manufacturing jobs, they are not about to support a carbon tax.
But what would such riff-raff know:
In the next year or so, overcoming the politics of fear and disinformation on climate change and mining taxation will be fundamental to the short term political future of the Party. This is a challenge we should embrace with courage, conviction and energy.
Labor’s stopped listening.
(Via Tim Blair.)
First course was with some woman at the gate
Andrew Bolt – Friday, May 06, 11 (06:00 am)
Julia Gillard invited business leaders to dinner at Kirribilli House on Wednesday to talk them into backing her carbon dioxide tax.
The night didn’t start well. While the business bosses sure got an earful, it wasn’t just from the Prime Minister.
(Thanks to reader Adam.)
Unexplored meaning
Andrew Bolt – Friday, May 06, 11 (12:02 am)
Ramazan Acar has pleaded guilty to stabbing his toddler, Yazmina, to death after first ringing her mother to say what he was going to do - and to taunt her with a few last words from her daughter.
As Yazmina slowly died, Acar sent his ex-fiance gloating texts. Earlier, he sent this:
U wanted to convert ma kid do it u wanted to lock me up I did it u wanted 2 b indapendant do it u take full custdy do it u wana kill me il do it wat eva makes u happy nw tel me
Convert? Professor Bunyip wonders why this angle wasn’t covered in the media , and notes the picture of the grieving mother, and her necklace:
(No comments for legal reasons.)
NT says no to Gillard’s tax
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, May 05, 11 (07:48 pm)
Opposition swells to the Gillard Government’s carbon dioxide tax:
THE Northern Territory’s Legislative Assembly has passed a motion calling for the territory to be exempted from a carbon tax for at least 50 years, or until a global consensus is been reached on reducing carbon emissions…
The Country Liberal Party motion was passed last night after crossbench independent Gerry Wood spoke in its support…
Mr Wood, who supports Labor in a minority government arrangement, said a carbon tax would be potentially damaging to the NT economy.
“We eat meat and we need to grow food, and if we are going to be penalised for growing food because we have got long distances to our markets, then I think that that is certainly a backwards step,” he said.
“Transport is by diesel. Diesel will be taxed.”
Now give us cash
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, May 05, 11 (06:32 pm)
The war is at a stalemate, despite the UN-backed intervention, and now come the demands for cash:
LIBYA’S rebel government is asking international donors for up to $US3 billion ($A2.7 billion) in loans, warning that without the cash injection it will be unable to pay civil servants and provide food and medicine to civilians.
Please, Prime Minister, do not let Kevin Rudd fly anywhere near that begging bowl.
Gillard to restore the Pacific Solution?
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, May 05, 11 (06:17 pm)
With more than 6000 people in detention and up to 200 drowned at sea, the Gillard Government seems to have given in and restored the Pacific Solution it dismantled just three years ago:
The Federal Government has flagged an announcement on regional processing for asylum seekers and has not ruled having struck a deal with Papua New Guinea.
The ABC has confirmed a detention centre in Papua New Guinea is a live option...“We’ve made progress in terms of the international framework and regional processing, and we’ll have more to say about it when it’s appropriate,” Immigration Minister Chris Bowen told Sky News.
Immigration Department secretary Andrew Metcalfe was in Papua New Guinea this week for high-level talks…
The Manus Island detention centre was part of the Howard government’s so-called Pacific Solution that was dismantled under former prime minister Kevin Rudd.
Flashback to February last year:
With facilities on Christmas Island at crisis point, opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison has called on the government to consider using Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea to detain asylum seekers…Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the Pacific Solution was a costly failure and did nothing to foster regional co-operation on people smuggling.
”The Rudd government pledged to dismantle the Pacific Solution. It has been done and there is no intention to return to that shameful period,” Senator Evans said.
Current Immigration Minister Chris Bowen will also have some rowing back to do from this, in 2008:
The Rudd Labor Government was elected on a platform that included a commitment to reform and a more humane treatment of those seeking our protection. We quickly ended the Pacific Solution – closing the offshore processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island.
There must be some kind of law against shooting a terrorist
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, May 05, 11 (01:49 pm)
Remember that Moira Rayner was once an Equal Opportunity and HREOC Commissioner, handing out “justice”. Here she deplores the killing of Osama bin Laden:
I do not argue that (President Barack) Obama is an international criminal, but that the laws of civilised behaviour must apply to every actor in every circumstance… Politically, Obama had every reason to do what he did, but in the process he committed his people to a legal and ethical mistake which will be a continuing obstacle to the West’s integrity in its pursuit of freedom and democracy, internationally recognised standards of justice and human rights, and lasting peace.
On the other hand, he may have saved thousands of lives.
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