Sunday, August 21, 2011

News Items and comments

Piers Akerman - ALP history a real riot

Piers Akerman – Saturday, August 20, 11 (06:42 pm)

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is not one to miss an anniversary if it provides a photo opportunity - particularly when the minority government she leads needs to divert public attention from its ever-growing mire of moral and economic failures.


In the UK rioters were caught on CCTV and are now being prosecuted, not so in Australia, until people are held responsible for damage and prosecuted the likes of the unions and greens will remain above the law.

IQ (Reply)
Sat 20 Aug 11 (06:59pm)
DD Ball replied to IQ
Sun 21 Aug 11 (09:54am)

It became too hard to prosecute when the unionists trashed parliament in ‘95 because it looked like the ringleaders were union leaders and ALP parliamentarians.

Piers, Can you believe this latest load of lies and propaganda from these CLIMATE/CHANGE LUNATICS? and I do mean lunatics! ‘Pay Your Carbon Taxes To Al Gore Or Space Aliens Will Attack.’ It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.,’ Rising greenhouse emissions could tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat, warns a report.excaim

Rick of Sydney (Reply)
Sat 20 Aug 11 (07:03pm)
DD Ball replied to Rick
Sun 21 Aug 11 (09:57am)

Former US President Carter said he believed in Aliens. Current US President seems to be an alien.

It’s about time that the good men and women of this country realise that Tammany Hall is here in the head offices of the Labor party in every state and in the national capital.

Gone is the pride of the “working class” replaced by the scum of the political class, lust for power and “whatever it takes” is all. So what if good people are crushed and broken, if businesses are bankrupted and closed, if children and young people are mislead and lied to, frightened and made anxious - nothing matters but power, and power without purpose at that. Corrupt to the core - the parliamentary Labor party is no more. Hacks, spivs, fornicators, liars, thieves and worse sit in the place of the people and only the strong anti-biotic of an election will clean out the filth that now infests the seat of power.

We want an election. NOW

Cavaletta (Reply)
Sat 20 Aug 11 (07:11pm)
DD Ball replied to Cavaletta
Sun 21 Aug 11 (10:00am)

I am sure ALP will lose next election. I would point out that from Whitlam to Hawke was only seven years.

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A fight to remove dads

Miranda Devine – Saturday, August 20, 11 (06:00 pm)

At a time when the problem of fatherless children has been rammed home by feral youth rioting in London, we saw last week an example of how the state has actively sought to exclude fathers from their children’s lives.

The law change was not flagged in the moving forward 2007 election for NSW, but the ALP weren’t held to any actual promise. So long as Mr Debnam did not wear swimwear. The press have been appalling in covering the issue. But, even so, what would anyone expect? The lifestyles are experimental and can really only be afforded by independent wealth. They don’t live the lives of poor people. They can sue for justice, but only the lawyers will win.

He has a child. If he wants to raise a child, he can adopt. Solomon had an answer. That brings the welfare of the child in sharp relief. The Solomon solution.

DD Ball of Carramar/Sydney (Reply)
Sat 20 Aug 11 (06:41pm)
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George Selgin admirably defends Hayek (and other non-Keynesians) against misrepresentation by Lord Skidelsky.

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Quotation of the Day…

by DON BOUDREAUX on AUGUST 20, 2011

in POLITICS

… is from page 107 of my colleague emeritus Gordon Tullock’s 1970 book Private Wants, Public Means:

The individual must choose between two monstrous packages of services every time he votes instead of choosing in an incremental manner from a large number of small packages as he does in the market.

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Here’s a letter to the New York Times:

Katharine Seelye reports that “The weather this year has not only been lousy, it has been as destructive in terms of economic loss as any on record” (“Year Packed With Weather Disasters Has Brought Economic Toll to Match,” August 20). She’s correct.

But undoubtedly your columnist Paul Krugman disagrees with Ms. Seelye’s conclusion that destruction causes economic loss.

For example, on September 14, 2001, Mr. Krugman wrote in your pages that the 9/11 attacks would prove “favorable” for the economy by generating “at least some increase in business spending” and by forcing government to spend more on rebuilding. (Here he sung the economic praises of destruction when America’s unemployment rate was only 5.0 percent.) And just last week Mr. Krugman proclaimed that “this slump would be over in 18 months” if governments were forced to use resources to protect earth from invading space aliens.

Your Nobel laureate economist/columnist believes that destruction and the threat of destruction are economic boons. And he dismisses as economically illiterate those of us (including, presumably, your reporter Ms. Seelye) who deny that floods, fires, terrorism, war, and other destroyers of resources promote economic growth and bestow the blessings of prosperity.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

(HT to John Shonder for pointing me to Seelye’s report in the Gray Lady)

The speck of truth that makes Keynesian economics appealing to many people – a truth that no serious pre-Keynesian economist denied and that no serious non-Keynesian economist denies today – is, in the hands of Keynesians, transformed into a gargantuan blob that fills all Keynesian thought, crushes all other considerations, and, hence, renders Keynesianism a ludicrous monstrosity.

On this general point, see this superb post by Mark Perry at Carpe Diem.

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JAZZY TV

Tim Blair – Sunday, August 21, 11 (02:13 pm)

A couple of journalists from Al-Jazeera’s 101 East dropped by the house recently to film a carbon tax piece. The questions were good, the filming rapid and fussless – and they didn’t accidentally break anything, which is what happened the last time an ABC team visited. Also, I’m pretty sure that they weren’t terrorism suspects, but that might not be a network-wide standard:

A journalist for Al-Jazeera has been arrested on suspicion of being an agent of the Palestinian terror group Hamas. The journalist, Samer Allawi, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief in Afghanistan, is a Palestinian. He was apprehended by Israeli authorities as he attempted to leave the West Bank.

The detention of Allawi, a major development in the media wars over the future of the Middle East, is not the first time that Israel has detained journalists from the channel. During the 2006 war in Lebanon, several Al-Jazeera journalists working in Israel were apprehended and warned about providing military information to Hezbollah, another terrorist organization.

They’re still better than Fairfax.

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ESCORT PROVIDED

Tim Blair – Sunday, August 21, 11 (02:06 pm)

The member for Embattled presents a bus:

Many Central Coast war veterans now have easier access to special functions thanks to a community bus acquired last week by The Entrance Long Jetty RSL sub-branch …

Dobell Federal Labor MP Craig Thomson, who presented the bus to sub-branch president Allan Fletcher last week, said the new vehicle would provide a vital service.

So to speak.

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ARGUMENT OF A LIFETIME

Tim Blair – Sunday, August 21, 11 (01:36 pm)

Janet Daley on the UK riots:

There is no national debate about the epidemic of riots and looting that spread through our cities like a bush fire. Out there in the real world, where people go about the normal business of life, there is no sign of the heated argument that the media is so determined to air. In fact, I cannot remember a time when there has been such crushing unanimity on a matter of public importance: the answers to the questions of why this happened, what went wrong when it began to happen and what needs to follow in its aftermath are considered so blindingly self-evident as to be beyond rational disagreement.

At the margins of this consensus, there are some distant noises off. They are the desperate cries of those who fear that they have lost the argument of a lifetime and who want to persuade the great mass of the population that what it saw before its own eyes, hour by hour, night after night on the television news channels was something else altogether.

And that was before people learned of the shooting. Do read on.

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From The Bolt Report today - Abbott and the Thomson scandal

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (04:33 pm)


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Some of Barnaby’s best work

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (11:45 am)

(Thanks to readers Ana and Catherine.)

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Sign of hard times

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (11:29 am)

image

When your tax is mocked liked this - by the John Cavill designer dress shop in Melbourne’s Toorak Rd - you might have more consumer resistance than you were expecting.

(Thanks to reader Angela.)

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Certainty is now political gold, and the media can’t help

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (10:54 am)

I last week noted the research of social analyst David Chalke, who says there’s a growing sense among Australians that they increasingly lack control over their lives. That, to me, makes the Gillard Government’s broken promise on a carbon dioxide tax even more lethal.

Mark Textor, Liberal campaign strategist, says the fragmenting of the media adds to this sense of disorder, with a mainstream media no longer able to corral opinion:

Now the debate is significantly more fragmented - into thousands of "trending" debates that perpetuate uncertainty.

Some modern pollsters are now using quite advanced techniques to understand this disorder and fragmentation, including - wait for it - chaos theory.

In Chaos Theory and its Application in Political Science,Joan Pere Plaza from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Dandoy Ré´gis from the University of Louvain, Belgium, explain the growing use of chaos theory and complexity science and how its use "can be explained by human psychology and by perception[s]".

They note how voters' greater awareness of the chaos and division in modern politics "via the news media" - and I'd contend social media - frustrates their driving desire to feel secure and "creates a more intense focus on order as a prime value" . "In other words", they noted, "the public becomes more sensitive to the disorder".

They found "our fear of disorder therefore makes it inevitable that we will either find or create an endless supply of it".

Further "crises, surprises, sudden and rapid changes, confusions and things out of control prevail in our world and characterise modern organisations and every complex system...."

Now back to what the unobtanium is in today's society - certainty.

Certainty takes the form of focused strength in political leadership. Uncertainty, in terms of a long-term lack of consistent political support to front line police forces, was arguably behind the initially timid response to the London riots…

Uncertainty about the interaction between competency and the health of the world financial sector and US and EU political leadership is driving declines in confidence. Greater regulation and a true clean-out of the sectors, not bailouts, is the answer to bringing back a degree of certainty.

Uncertainty about what our cities will look like, how they will grow and how they will effectively function are also behind concerns about pollution. The certainty voters crave is in the form of a coherent new vision for our cities.

Uncertainty isn't new, but how it is measured, managed and controlled is. What remains true is that many of the solutions leaders must weave would seem to need to be made from unobtainium.

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Unhappy anniversary

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (10:34 am)

It is a year ago today that the Gillard Government was (almost) elected. It is hard to recall a government that has aged so fast, or had less to celebrate on its first birthday.

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Rudd’s back, in case Labor was wondering

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (06:09 am)

Kevin Rudd announces he’s fitter than ever, just in case anyone has a big job for him:

KEVIN Rudd has declared he is fighting fit after his heart surgery and will not be stopped from continuing his public life.

Speaking for the first time since his heart valve was replaced on August 1, the former Prime Minister has candidly revealed how he felt before and after surgery, and his future ambitions…

“If I was trying to do a comparison two to three weeks out from surgery 20 years ago to this time, I’m feeling better and more active at the same time after surgery than the last time.

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No chance now that Australians will buy this tax

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (05:41 am)

It’s hard to believe, but things are only going to get worse for Labor - and for a lot of workers:

UP TO 100,000 jobs will be lost in Australia by the end of the year, with another 100,000 to go next year, economists have warned. This will take the unemployment rate from 5.1 per cent to 5.5 per cent by year end, and up to 6 per cent in 2012.

Introducing the carbon dioxide tax on top of this becomes with every passing week an even more suicidal folly.

Because I was almost alone at the time and heavily attacked for it, forgive me for recalling what I said three years ago in recommending the Liberals ignore the “pragmatists” in the party who, like the press pack, said the party should just agree with Labor on an emissions trading scheme because the debate had “moved on”:

First,… a true pragmatist would ask: is this scheme more pain than gain? Would it do anything to stop global warming? Is there any sense of doing something so expensive, when the gains would be wiped out in a few days by the extra gases of India and China?

Second, has the debate really “moved on”?

The Liberals need to imagine where the electorate will be come election time, not simply assume that today’s mood is what will confront it when the time has come for voters to choose.

All the signs now point to voter scepticism about the global warming gospel now growing, not waning. There is increasing resistance to the idea of paying the price of any ETS, especially on petrol. State governments are alarmed about its threat to even their power supplies. The notion than anything we do will be wiped out by China and India is taking hold among journalists. And I’m also picking up from talkback, newspaper letters and the like that more and more people are becoming aware that the climate models predicting doom may not be so reliable - to be specific, the world has not warmed for a decade.

No, the debate has not “moved on”. The debate was never really had, actually. It was rather skipped, stifled, or heckled. Only now is it truly being had, and I’d predict you’ll hear more debate and not less with time.

Now Labor faces a perfect storm: falling economy meets rising scepticism. And it is being destroyed.

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The Thomson affair

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (05:36 am)

Craig Thomson did not need voters to have t another reason to questions his integrity:

Court documents reveal that an industrial court blasted a campaign he ran to woo members from another union as ‘’deceitful’’ and ‘’reprehensible’’.

The judge in the case before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission in 1996 accused him of providing misleading evidence. ‘’Regrettably, I am unable to accept Mr Thomson’s evidence in a number of respects,’’ Justice Monika Schmidt said in her judgment.

UPDATE

Labor doesn’t want Thomson to do the honorable thing:

It is understood senior Labor officials are in almost constant contact with Mr Thomson amid fears the MP might quit under pressure.

“He is being talked to 24/7 because there is a big fear he will crack and just pull the pin,” a Labor figure said.

(Thanks to reader CA. No comments to spare us legal worries.)

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No comment

Andrew Bolt – Sunday, August 21, 11 (12:02 am)

On legal advice, following legal action, I am unable to comment on this matter of public interest and am unable to let you comment, either. Moreover, the law as it stands just makes it ludicrously dangerous to speak frankly about Aboriginal identity in a community in which so many ethnicities are blended.

The issue I cannot discuss is raised by the cover of the University of Queensland’s latest graduate magazine:

image

The University explains (and I dare not argue):


The University of Queensland has confirmed its commitment to supporting educational and employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with the creation of a new Pro Vice-Chancellor role to lead all Indigenous initiatives across the University.

Indigenous health expert Professor Cindy Shannon has been appointed UQ’s inaugural Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Education).

A Ngugi woman and descendant of the Quandamooka people of Moreton Bay, Professor Shannon will initially be responsible for leading the implementation of a comprehensive Indigenous strategy.

She will aim to strengthen leadership within the University in relation to Indigenous education and build links with the community as part of UQ’s new Strategic Plan 2011–2015.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield said by creating the new Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Education) position and appointing Professor Shannon, the University was declaring its commitment to stronger leadership in Indigenous higher education.

The Aboriginal professor speaks the colonisers’ language very well:

(Thanks to reader N., whose name I dare not give, either.)

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Personal responsibility is a tough sell, and ultimately the only solution.
Jay Goldinger might just have the answer to tackling America's homeless problem.. His tough-love approach involves motivating people to take responsibility for their actions. And, on top of that, he demands random acts of kindness from everyone -- no matter how poor.
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Is that clear enough for you Gillard?
www.news.com.au
TONY Abbott has called for Labor MP Craig Thomson to be sacked as chairman of parliament's economics committee, as the scandal continues over the alleged misuse of a union-issued credit card.
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I am sure it is an honest mistake, but I have not seen them making honest mistakes in censoring abuse of former President W Bush.
www.news.com.au
FACEBOOK has issued an apology for deleting a post by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer that criticised President Barack Obama over his administration's new policy on prioritising deportations of illegal immigrants.
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Just goes to show Queensland schools have failed to engage their students on social network issues
www.news.com.au
QUEENSLAND schools are struggling to contain an outbreak of malicious student-run gossip sites, with authorities shutting down at least one a day.
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Brain function of a lefty




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I am glad they took the time to build their case
UNDERCOVER police spent months living side-by-side with the man accused of murdering missing Queensland teen Daniel Morcombe before arresting him.
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There is a longstanding problem, but I feel the NSW government is better at finding an answer to it than those suggesting the quick fix.
THEY target the most vulnerable and many child sex offenders are getting away with their heinous crimes.
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ALP government means bad policy
WELL-KNOWN Australian products, such as Driza-Bone apparel and Blundstone boots, are cheaper to buy overseas and have shipped home despite being made here.
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ALP are never good to business. New management now.
THE state government is so slack at paying its bills that the NSW Treasury has ordered its departments to pay up or be charged interest on overdue accounts.
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Bag it and send it to Bob Carr at ALP headquarters.
SYDNEY'S filthiest beach is riddled with human waste believed to be dumped into the ocean by illegal sewer connections.
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There is no free lunch
FORGOTTEN pensioner Natalie Wood, whose body was left to rot for eight years in her inner-city home, has been sent demands for unpaid bills for thousands of dollars.
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The story is a beat up for a desperate ALP
THE NSW Government is facing a mounting crisis over its handling of the toxic Orica chemical spill, with investigations into the potentially catastrophic incident to centre on when Premier Barry O'Far...
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I hope he never represents Australia again
CHAMPION swimmer Nick D'Arcy has no idea how he will pay more than $180,000 in damages he owes Simon Cowley after bashing him, and admits he is worried about his financial future.
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I will get some and try it out.
CELEBRITY chef Darren Simpson has been labelled a "sell-out" and "a laughing stock" by his peers for creating a burger range for fast food giant KFC.
    • David Daniel Ball They are good burgers. I wouldn't recommend them for a lot of meals. But they make a nice treat.
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The professor overstates the issue.
developers.facebook.com
PARENTS who push their children in outward-facing prams are cruel and selfish, a leading Australian child health academic says.
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It is sad how personal choices we make may be wrong
developers.facebook.com
IT should be one of the most exciting times in her life, but for the pregnant wife of besieged federal Labor MP Craig Thomson, the past week has been "hideous".
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Pesky thing keeps pointing south
developers.facebook.com
THE Craig Thomson scandal tells you everything that is wrong with the Labor party today. Here was a union leader parachuted for no good reason into the plum Central Coast seat of Dobell, and winning i...
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He lied to them too
developers.facebook.com
LABOR officials were confident the Craig Thomson brothel scandal was a "one-day wonder" and never considered disendorsing him before the last federal election.
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It will cost unionists, but it will be cheaper for unions than the current strategy of failed ad campaigns.
developers.facebook.com
NURSES, police, firefighters, teachers, bus drivers and thousands of other public servants are secretly planning a statewide "day of chaos" in protest against Barry O'Farrell.
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Zero tolerance works
www.news.com.au
POLICE say rioters fired gunshots at unarmed officers and a police helicopter during this month's disturbances in the English city of Birmingham.
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It is only debate. Stand up for your convictions, or admit Christ is the son of god.
American Evangelical theologian William Lane Craig is ready to debate the rationality of faith during his U.K tour this fall, but it appears that some atheist philosophers are running shy of the challenge.


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