P plans cold and heartless
423 DAYS UNTIL LABOR’S T-BONE TAX
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 08, 11 (06:30 am)
Leftoids fought like crazy to keep the GST from applying to food. Yet the carbon dioxide tax will apply (indirectly) to the most important food item of them all:
Hafda’s Butchery in Liverpool would face a $5000 annual increase in its electricity bill as a result of the tax. “That’s one business out of hundreds in Liverpool that will carry the burden of this carbon tax,” [Liberal MP Craig Kelly] said.
The butchery’s owner Tarek Hafda said his power bills had more than doubled in the past few years …
“A T-bone steak shouldn’t be a luxury in this country but under a Labor Government it’s heading that way.”
Add Hafda’s Butchery to the list, which already includes Labor senator Doug Cameron’s working people, 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, Queensland Labor members, the Noosa Chamber of Commerce, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Northern Territory parliament and energy company Santos.
(Via Merilyn)
OFFICE NOGGIN
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 08, 11 (06:26 am)
Mark Steyn on changing trends in desk decoration:
After Kitchener slaughtered the jihadists of the day at the Battle of Omdurman in 1897, he made a point of digging up their leader the Mahdi, chopping off his head and keeping it as a souvenir. The Sudanese got the message. The British had nary a peep out of the joint until they gave it independence six decades later – and, indeed, the locals fought for King and (distant imperial) country as brave British troops during World War Two. Even more amazingly, generations of English schoolchildren were taught about the Mahdi’s skull winding up as Lord Kitchener’s novelty paperweight as an inspiring tale of national greatness.
Not a lot of that today. It’s hard to imagine Osama’s noggin as an attractive centerpiece at next year’s White House Community Organizer of the Year banquet, and entirely impossible to imagine America’s “educators” teaching the tale approvingly. So instead, even as we explain that our difficulties with this bin Laden fellow are nothing to do with Islam, no sir, perish the thought, we simultaneously rush to assure the Muslim world that, not to worry, we accorded him a 45-minute Islamic funeral as befits an observant Muslim.
That’s why Pakistani big shots harbored America’s mortal enemy and knew they could do so with impunity.
One or two office noggins could make a world of difference in modern geopolitics.
PANTHERS TO THE PRESENT
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 08, 11 (06:19 am)
Roger L. Simon’s transformation:
I wasn’t always conservative. In fact, the old Roger L. Simon was a Hollywood liberal who supported the Black Panthers and was recruited by the KGB. As I witnessed the world change during the O.J. Simpson trial and the September 11 attacks on America, my views changed.
Click for a half-price offer on Roger’s new book.
AUSSIES FLY, CARBONS FRY
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 08, 11 (04:50 am)
Marcos Ambrose qualifies sixth at Darlington, Mark Webber is second on the grid in Turkey, Will Power leads the Indycar championship and Casey Stoner has been “integral to almost everything that’s been great about MotoGP so far this year.”
DON’T FORGET
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 08, 11 (04:28 am)
At 10am on Ten, the first episode of The Bolt Report. Guests: Tony Abbott, Mark Latham, Michael Kroger and Riz Wakil.
BADAR DETECTOR
Tim Blair – Sunday, May 08, 11 (03:50 am)
David Penberthy explores the strange world of Hizbie spokesfreak and Osama fan (and Sydney resident) Uthman Badar:
The best line comes when one of Uthman Badar’s more moderate friends suggests on his Facebook site that 9/11 might have been a tad excessive, to which Badar responds: “A man cannot be judged on one incident. We all make mistakes.”
Remember that line in case anyone ever crashes a jet into the Haj.
BRITAIN STAYS SANE
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 07, 11 (06:39 pm)
Excellent election news from the UK. First-past-the-post would be a better system in Australia, too.
THE McRAVEN OPTION
Tim Blair – Saturday, May 07, 11 (06:20 pm)
Navy Vice Adm. William H. McRaven designed the raid that destroyed bin Laden:
McRaven had increased the intensity of Special Operations raids, especially in Afghanistan. During his first two years as head of JSOC, the “jackpot rate” — when the strikes got their intended target — jumped from 35 percent to more than 80 percent.
His decision to assign the operation to the Navy SEALs, a Special Operations unit with extensive experience in raids on high-value targets, was critical. SEALs have a tradition of moving in and out fast, often killing everyone they encounter at a target site …
The longer such raids take, the greater the risk to the SEALs. One senior official said the general philosophy of the SEALs is: “If you see it, shoot it. It is a house full of bad guys.”
An unusual comment is attributed to Barack Obama:
When bin Laden’s corpse was laid out, one of the Navy SEALs was asked to stretch out next to it to compare heights. The SEAL was 6 feet tall. The body was several inches taller.
After the information was relayed to Obama, he turned to his advisers and said: “We donated a $60 million helicopter to this operation. Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?”
I hope he said that with a smile on his face.
UPDATE. Give that man a Walkley! McRaven is a journalism graduate. Also, he is “physically tough, compassionate and can drive a knife through your ribs in a nanosecond.”
Man watching bin Laden
Andrew Bolt – Sunday, May 08, 11 (05:55 am)
The White House won’t release pictures of Osma bin Laden dead, but will release these tapes:
The compound in Pakistan where US forces killed Osama bin Laden was an active command centre from which he directed Al Qaeda, a US official said, after releasing video of the terrorist mastermind seized in the raid that killed him…
The official released five video clips of bin Laden taken from the compound, most of them showing the Al Qaeda leader, his beard dyed black, evidently rehearsing the videotaped speeches he occasionally distributed to his followers.
When Arab leaders kill Muslims, it’s not a big deal
Andrew Bolt – Sunday, May 08, 11 (05:47 am)
The killings in Syria continue. If this were Israel, you’d never hear the end of it:
Syrian security forces shot dead at least 26 protesters on Friday as thousands rallied on a Day of Defiance against the Syrian regime, a rights group said, with authorities accusing ‘terrorists’ of killing 10 security personnel.
Michelle will buy from Labor what she loathed from the Liberals
Andrew Bolt – Sunday, May 08, 11 (05:22 am)
Age columnist Michelle Grattan in 2001, when Liberal John Howard unveiled his Pacific Solution, sending boatpeople off to other countries for processing:
John Howard’s overreaction to the Tampa crisis is painting Australia as a country that believes the end of stopping these people touching our soil justifies the most extreme and outlandish means ...
Instead, it has gone to desperate lengths to cobble together a solution to keep the asylum-seekers at bay. The cost will be Australia’s reputation. Mature countries don’t behave like this.
Michelle Grattan last year, when Liberal Tony Abbott suggested going back to the Pacific Solution:
Abbott’s return to the ‘’Pacific Solution’’ is cynical and depressing, a real ‘’whatever it takes’’ bid for votes.... In the ultimate irony, one inhumane policy would replace another:...The words resounded like a slap in the face not only for the small-l liberals in his party, but in the community as well.
Michelle Grattan today, when Labor’s Julia Gillard goes back to a Pacific Solution:
ONE increasingly needs a microscope to spot the differences between John Howard’s Pacific Solution and the Gillard government’s approach....The government admits its ‘’roundabout’’ deterrent is confronting. But it thinks it has the politics right.
Now they can watch for free others helping themselves, too
Andrew Bolt – Sunday, May 08, 11 (05:06 am)
Having television is now a basic human right, to be subsidised by the taxpayer even in the tough times:
PENSIONERS will be given a free set-top box to convert analog televisions to digital in Tuesday’s Federal Budget.
Despite a push to find billions of dollars in savings to put the Budget back into the black, the Gillard Government has determined that leaving vulnerable pensioners in the dark when the old system switches off is unacceptable…
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal the Budget will confirm a $308.8 million set-top box scheme for people who qualify for the maximum rate of the aged pension, a Veterans Affairs pension, carers pension or the disability support pension.
And this government splashes out yet more free money:
Also in the Budget, thousands of parents will be able to claim up to $779 a child for the cost of school uniforms.
In fact, one thing about this bog-in for benefits worries the Government. It’s that more don’t grab what they can:
Thousands of eligible families have been failing to claim the full amount, prompting concerns that unless they buy a computer, few parents were using the full value of the rebate.
(Thanks to readers Spin Baby, Spin and Grand Wizard.)
800 of ours for 4000 of theirs
Andrew Bolt – Saturday, May 07, 11 (05:18 pm)
A great swap for Malaysia - 800 of ours for 4000 of theirs:
Ms Gillard and Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said that they were close to signing a bilateral agreement which would see 800 people who tried to get to Australia by boat taken immediately to Malaysia instead.
In return, Australia will take 4000 genuine refugees from Malaysia over four years.
Could this stop the boats? Maybe. All we know for sure is that we’re going to get 4000 extra refugees above our usual quota over the next four years. And if the boats keep coming…
Speaking of which, there may be a reason this anouncement was rushed out on a Saturday:
The announcement came as the HMAS Broome has escorted a boat carrying about 90 asylum-seekers into Christmas Island after it was intercepted close to the island overnight.
This sounds increasingly desperate.
UPDATE
I did propose something along these lines myself last year, after a chat with Family First Senator Steve Fielding:
Yes, you’re right. Those countries won’t want our rejects, so let’s make them an offer they can’t refuse.
For every boat person they take from us, we’ll take two genuine refugees from their camps.
What could be fairer?
Two for one is elegant. but five for one...?
UPDATE
Julia Gillard’s reason for not simply reopening the Nauru detention centre:
The prime minister has previously downplayed Nauru as an option because, unlike East Timor, it is not a signatory to the convention on refugees.
But nor is Malaysia:
Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention… This challenging protection environment makes it difficult for UNHCR to fulfil its mandate in the country, which has some 3 million migrants, 1.5 million of whom are considered undocumented migrants...
Making it up as they go along.
And who are the 4000 refugees we’re likely to get?
The main refugee groups in Malaysia originate from Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia, where current conditions are not conducive to return. A sizeable group of refugees from Sri Lanka also live in Malaysia.
Afghans are found by a new Immigration Department study to have the lowest rate of employment and the highest rate of receipt of Centrelink benefits - 94 per cent - of all refugee groups over the first five years here.
(Thanks to reader Correllio.)
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