Labor’s hypocritical stand on freedom of speech
Piers Akerman – Wednesday, October 03, 2012 (3:51am)
ALL the false piety of the miserable minority Gillard government cannot camouflage its huge problems.
And we’re not even going to discuss the yawning Budget blow-out here.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s handpicked Speaker, Peter Slipper, was ordered by a judge to attend a mediation hearing regarding charges of sexual harassment and lambasted for not appearing before the bench to progress the outstanding matter.
As more illegal people smuggler boats arrived, news of a mini-riot in the Nauru detention camp broke and it was learnt that tents had been slashed by so-called asylum seekers wielding knives.
Though at least three men were detained, the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, was able to assure the handwringing set that their actions would not be taken into account when their asylum claims were heard.
This is the same minister whose wife tweeted her hope that broadcaster Alan Jones would succumb to illness and die prematurely – before anyone had learnt of the unsavoury remarks he had made at a private dinner for university Liberal club students about Miss Gillard’s late father.
Then we learnt that Bowen had strung out the personal approval process for a visitor’s visa for a law-abiding Dutch MP, The Hon Geert Wilders MP, Leader of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, for so long that Wilders was forced to postpone his trip to Australia planned for later this month.
This was after Bowen had made no moves to block a visit by hate-preacher Taji Mustafa, leader of the radical extremist Islamist fundamentalist organization, Hizb ut Tahrir, last month.
Mustafa wants to bring about the collapse of Western civilisation and establish an Islamic caliphate under sharia law.
Wilders, a supporter of Western civilisation, is free to travel and speak freely in Europe, Canada, the USA and Israel, but is apparently listed on Australia’s Movement Alert List though he does not have a criminal record and poses no risk to Australian security.
He will now attempt to visit Australia in February.
As the Q Society, which has been organizing Wilders’ visit, said in a media release: “This is an insult to Mr Wilders, the Dutch government and the people of the Netherlands.
“We are reminded by Minister Bowen, that multiculturalism in Australia is successful and the problems facing Europe are somehow irrelevant to our country.
“Whether Cronulla or the last Sydney riots, there is evidence to the contrary. We are just some years behind Europe.
“The majority of Australians sense something is not quite right and the recent publicity serves to highlight the fact that many Australians feel concern about the increasing Islamisation of Australia.”
Bowens’s delaying tactics are in accord with the rest of the government – which is attempting to shut down debate by examining methods of limiting the freedom of the press and speech generally, as Bowen’s mealy-mouthed mumbling about tolerance and multiculturalism demonstrate.
Europe is no longer a model for multiculturalism, as the summer riots regularly show.
There is no such thing as free speech if the government determines what free means.
Bowen, or better yet, Gillard, should explain why a Dutch MP is a greater threat to Australia than an Islamist firebrand.
That would be the real expression of this hypocritical government’s intellectual tolerance.
===
Terrible tragedies are trivialised by twitterati
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, October 02, 2012 (8:27pm)
ON the one hand, thousands of people taking to the streets of Melbourne in memory of Irish murder victim Jill Meagher was a lovely gesture.
===
Gentlemen Bulldogs fans put players to shame
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, October 02, 2012 (7:46pm)
UP the Storm. F*ck the Bulldogs”, taunted some gloating Storm fans to a group of dejected Bulldogs supporters on Sunday night at ANZ stadium.
The Bulldogs fans, muscular young Lebanese-Australian men in blue and white jerseys, G-Star jeans and Nike TN sneakers, with ornately shaved hair styles and some sporting Arabic chin beards, might have looked menacing. But they behaved like perfect gentleman and ignored the provocation.
There was not a hint of any unrest among the sea of blue and white, crammed into the stadium, hailing from the most multicultural, most Muslim, and most criticised section of Sydney.
Bulldogs fans would have to be the most maligned rugby league followers on planet earth. But Sunday’s Grand Final was a credit to them.
They bore their disappointing loss with grace and good humour, which defied the aggro image that has afflicted them for years.
They may have been channelling the spirit of former Bulldogs hero Hazem El MAsri, who last week was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Sydney for his service as a leader of the Arabic community.
You don’t want to overplay El Masri’s influence, but role models are important. Which is why it was such a shame that the players let themselves, and their fans down, with some disgraceful remarks to a female Channel Nine reporter during Mad Monday celebrations at Belmore Oval.
Player resentment of a “gotcha culture”, inside and outside the media, ready to destroy their careers for off field misdemeanours, is understandable. But foul sexual slurs are no answer.
When Bulldogs management deals with the offending players, they might also consider ways to ease the pressure.
Keeping them holed up away from the media in contravention of NRL regulations after the game may have been an attempt to protect them from themselves. But clearly it wasn’t enough.
===
Jones lynch mob nauseating
Miranda Devine – Tuesday, October 02, 2012 (7:23am)
NO one, least of all Alan Jones, is defending his cruel comment about Julia Gillard’s dear departed Dad.
Who would even try? Jones’ off the cuff statement to a Sydney University Young Liberals function that the Prime Minister’s father John “died of shame” because she is a liar, is indefensible. Unfathomable, really.
That’s obvious.
But the chorus of opportunists lining up to bash the 71-year-old Sydney radio host is too much. The sanctimony, the hypocrisy, the confected outrage is nauseating.
===
KNEEBONE’S CONNECTED TO THE LUNGBONE
Tim Blair – Wednesday, October 03, 2012 (4:25pm)
Labor redesigns the human body:
Government posters issued to promote indigenous health are riddled with errors, including lungs being labelled as the stomach.The federal government produced the female human anatomy posters as part of its Live Longer campaign and sent them to indigenous health services across the country.
Opposition indigenous health spokesman Andrew Laming says the embarrassing errors include the pancreas and the ovaries being mistaken for kidneys.“The oesophagus runs into the lung,” he said in a statement.
Further Labor human details at the link.
===
SOBS SISTERS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, October 03, 2012 (1:29pm)
One minute you’re gleefully comparing political opponents to rapists and describing them asscum. Take that, squares! If they can’t handle your fearless ridicule of society’s stupid conventions, well, that’s their problem. Your critics are “envious, petty, panty-elasticated wowsers, haters, hypocrites and prudes”. Besides, as you put it: “Who cares? It’s just words.”
But the next minute, following comments merely as offensive as your own, you’re suddenly overwhelmed with moral panic. Why, you’ve never heard anything quite so disgraceful in your entire life. Something ought to be done about it. Like a bothersome old church biddy, you even resort toletter-writing campaigns. Certain things must not be said.
What on earth has happened?
It could be that you’ve developed Sudden Onset Bourgeois Syndrome. SOBS is a tragic ailment that instantly converts professionally outrageous inner-city leftists into scowling suburban puritans. In a typical case, SOBS sufferers exhibit little concern over protest signs calling for non-Muslims to be beheaded:
I am against censorship and champion free speech. I also strongly support and apply the right not to listen.
But support of that right vanishes with the development of full-blown SOBS, even if you live in a state where the source of your distress isn’t actually broadcast. It isn’t enough that you can’t hear the terrible words. Everybody else must be denied them also.
Sadly, there is no known cure for SOBS. Sufferers may, however, find comfort from a nationwide support network. The SOBS Sisters have hundreds of representatives throughout social and traditional media who share your newly-acquired capacity for moral alarm. Give them a call – but please be gentle. These sheltered innocents are easily shocked.
===
Gillard fudges as mining slump cuts our earnings
Spending more than we’re earning as the mining boom the Government relied on suddenly deflates:
Australia’s trade deficit widened in August, with the balance on goods and services at a deficit of $2.027 billion (seasonally adjusted), compared with a revised deficit of $1.53 billion in July.
Economists’ forecasts had centred on a deficit of $670 million in August…
During August, exports fell 3 per cent, while imports dropped 1 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said the data confirmed concerns about the price of bulk commodities, such as coal and iron ore, and their impact on Australian trade.
Or put it this way:
Julia Gillard makes a big claim to dismiss concerns:
What the Reserve Bank actually said yesterday:
Key commodity prices for Australia remain significantly lower than earlier in the year, even though some have regained some ground in recent weeks. The terms of trade have declined by over 10 per cent since the peak last year and will probably decline further, though they are likely to remain historically high…
So we’re earning less than expected from the mining boom, which will peak earlier than the Government expected and at a lower level.
That is not something Gillard can boast about at all. In fact, it’s a sign we’re heading for deep strife.
===
Essential Media: 47-53
Essential Media finally detects some improvement in Labor’s vote: to 47 per cent against the Coalition’s 53, 2PP.
So still a huge deficit, after weeks of the most frenzied attacks on Tony Abbott and a big sympathy vote for Julia Gillard, who has been absent.
===
Joe Biden makes gaffe. Tells truth
Biden campaigns for Romney:
Joe Biden on Tuesday said the middle class “has been buried the last four years,” words Republicans trumpeted as evidence that even President Obama’s veep doesn’t believe the incumbent administration has been good for the country.
===
Pack of hypocrites
Paul Kelly says Tony Abbott didn’t go hard enough on Alan Jones, a friend and supporter, but what’s truly sickening is the hypocrisy of his critics:
Labor’s anti-Jones, anti-Abbott campaign has become ludicrous. Leading the charge on Monday, Nicola Roxon said that Abbott “has to be held responsible” given his close ties with Jones. Roxon claimed Abbott had created the climate for such vilification by “very aggressive and very personal attacks” on Gillard. Albanese said Abbott had signalled there was “nothing too low, nothing out of bounds” in personal attacks. Wayne Swan said that Jones had to be removed from the airwaves.
Now to the real world: Jones is his own man and, whether you love him or hate him, a force of nature. Abbott is not responsible for Jones. He cannot be responsible for Jones. Such claims are untenable and reflect the extent of Labor’s desperation.
Liberal frontbencher Greg Hunt was absolutely correct on this page yesterday, saying the Labor Party and its supporters had shown no interest in curbing hate language (worse than anything Jones has said) by prominent media figures associated with the Left or anti-Coalition side, a number of whom are rewarded and backed by the ABC.
The most loathsome aspect of this situation is the rampant hypocrisy. The operating rule is apparent: vilification isn’t too bad provided it suits my politics and my prejudices. But, when you complain, sound as sanctimonious as possible lest the face of the hypocrite be discerned.
The final upshot is that Labor, in effect, has declared war on Jones and 2GB, the most influential radio network in NSW, the state where Labor’s fortunes remain in ruins. How smart is this? Maybe Labor thinks it has nothing to lose.
Jones’s comments and his apology attracted a frenzied level of indignation best described as opportunistic and hypocritical.
Opportunistic, because Jones is one of the country’s most effective commentators, relentlessly holding the Gillard minority government to account.
The hysterical outrage aimed at Jones was, at least in part, fuelled by his effectiveness as a political commentator. The Labor Party and the Greens dislike Jones intensely because he wields real power and influence in the public arena, voicing the concerns of many thousands of disgruntled Australians…
Labor MPs didn’t really want an apology. Their aim is to silence the man by demanding an end to his career. Second, the aim is to conflate Jones’s comments with a “culture of extremism and viciousness” within the Liberal Party.
UPDATE
Laurie Oakes - and this will surprise you - goes the full AbbottAbbottAbbott, almost word for word the Nicola Roxon line.
Funny bit at the end, when Karl Stefanonic, a friend of Alan Jones, offers the same measured criticism of him that Abbott first offered - and which Oakes had just blasted.
===
Obama faces his Jimmy Carter moment
This has the potential to be Barack Obama’s Jimmy Carter moment - if Mitt Romney actually pursues this properly.
First question: did his Administration ignore requests for more protection for his diplomats in Libya?
White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to comment on an assertion by the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that requests from diplomats in Libya for added security prior to the September 11, 2012 attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, were denied.
White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to comment on an assertion by the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that requests from diplomats in Libya for added security prior to the September 11, 2012 attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, were denied.
“I’m not going to get into a situation under review by the State Department and the FBI,” Carney said.
Earlier today, chairman of the committee Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the chair of the subcommittee on national security, homeland defense, and foreign operations, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asserting that “multiple U.S. federal government officials have confirmed to the Committee that, prior to the September 11 (2012) attack, the U.S. mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi. The mission in Libya, however, was denied these requests by officials in Washington.”The two congressmen also listed thirteen incidents leading up to the attack – ranging from I.E.D. and RPG attacks to a “posting on a pro-Gaddafi Facebook page” publicizing early morning runs taken by the late Ambassador Chris Stevens and his security detail around Tripoli.
But the real smoking gun is whether the Obama administration was warned in advance that al-Qaeda was planning an attack. A number of Israeli newspapers have suggested that Washington was warned as early as September 4 – a week earlier – that the environment in Benghazi was becoming increasingly hostile and anti-American, while in London the Foreign Office took the decision to withdraw all its consular staff from Benghazi two months before the murders. This decision was based on an intelligence assessment made by MI6 that al-Qaeda was openly operating in the area following a failed assassination attempt on Sir Dominic Asquith, Britain’s ambassador to Libya, in June.
Two weeks after Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were murdered in Benghazi, Libya, the Obama administration has conceded it was an act of terrorism. The attack on the U.S. Consulate, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton now admits, was part of a broader effort by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb…
Yet 10 days ago, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice was trotted out on every Sunday talk show to blame the massacre on a mob inflamed by the Internet video “Innocence of Muslims,” which insulted the Prophet Muhammad…
“This was not a preplanned, premeditated attack. … What happened initially was a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired in Cairo as a consequence of the video. … People gathered outside the embassy, and then it grew very violent. Those with extremist ties joined the fray and came with heavy weapons — which, unfortunately, are quite common in post-revolutionary Libya — and that then spun out of control.”Behind this gross misrepresentation was the need to absolve the Obama administration of all responsibility by claiming the atrocity was triggered by events — the showing of a video, the Cairo riot — over which it had no control. We could not have foreseen this, Rice was saying. We could not have prevented this. We had no knowledge it was coming.
PJ Media’s Raymond Ibrahim reported on threats to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo one day before the protests and attack in Benghazi happened and no mention of the film was made in the threats. PJ Media attributed El Fagr, an Egyptian independent newsweekly based in Cairo, which posted 3 days before the consulate attack..:
Jihadi groups in Egypt, including Islamic Jihad, the Sunni Group, and Al Gamaa Al Islamiyya have issued a statement threatening to burn the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to the ground.
According to El Fagr, they are calling for the immediate release of the Islamic jihadis who are imprisonment and in detention centers in the U.S. including Guantanamo Bay: “The group, which consists of many members from al-Qaeda, called [especially] for the quick release of the jihadi [mujahid] sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman [the “Blind Sheikh"], whom they described as a scholar and jihadi who sacrificed his life for the Egyptian Umma, who was ignored by the Mubarak regime, and [President] Morsi is refusing to intervene on his behalf and release him, despite promising that he would. The Islamic Group has threatened to burn the U.S. Embassy in Cairo with those in it, and taking hostage those who remain [alive], unless the Blind Sheikh is immediately released.”AFP reported that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president has called for Abdul Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, to serve out the remainder of his sentence in Egypt.
Taliban guerrillas dressed in U.S. Army uniforms attacked Camp Bastion in southern Afghanistan, Sept. 14, destroying 8 Marine Harrier jump jets. It was our greatest loss of aircraft since the Vietnam war....
More Harriers likely would have been lost had not the squadron commander, Lt.Col. Christopher Raible, armed with only a pistol, battled the heavily armed guerrillas. He and another Marine were killed during the raid, which was so sophisticated some defense analysts think it was plotted by Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence Agency.
Was Obama asleep at the wheel? Did he then cover up his failures?
===
Laws refuses to perform for Sales
Poor Leigh Sales. She invited John Laws, a long-time foe of Alan Jones, onto 7.30 to join in the group vilification. The ABC even sent out a press release to announce the big pay out.
But oops. Laws showed class. He didn’t like Jones, that was clear, and thought his comments offensive and hasty. But Laws, genial and clutching a glass of refreshment, declined to turn this into the Worst Thing Ever and dismissed it all as a mistake. He neatly rejected any link between Jones’ comment and the Liberals. Attention: an adult was being interviewed.
Sales kept probing for the damnation she’d clearly wanted, and eventually protested that viewers watching would be surprised Laws was “moderate”. She goaded him on this point.
Laws, with tremendous good humor and a knowing look, replied:
You want me to get angry? ... I’m a performer. You tell me what you want me to do.
Point made. Very funny.
UPDATE
Produce the venom or feel the lash:
LEIGH SALES: I don’t want you to do anything. I’m just asking, is your view consistent of Mr Jones consistent to your view on him in the past?
JOHN LAWS: Yeah, I… yes, I still believe Alan is very good at hypocrisy. Very/LEIGH SALES: Is the reason you’re understanding in this matter because you feel that, you know, but for the grace of God there go I?
JOHN LAWS: No, no, I don’t think that at all.
(After listening again, I’ve removed an unfair suggestion that Sales wanted to link Jones’ insult to the Liberals.)
UPDATE
Gerry Harvey at least knows he’s surrendering to a lynch mob and at least has the grace to blush:
RETAIL magnate Gerry Harvey has revealed he felt he was “joining a lynch mob” by pulling advertising from Alan Jones’ radio program after his tasteless comments about Julia Gillard’s late father.
But the Harvey Norman chief executive said yesterday he had no choice amid a growing political and consumer backlash ...Harvey Norman joined Telstra, Hyundai, Momentum Energy, Honda, and seven other businesses in pulling out of the top-rating 2GB breakfast show. The number of people signing an online petition calling on advertisers to dump Jones’s show jumped to more than 95,000 last night…”You have to ask are you part of a lynch mob?” he said.
“If 50 per cent of people think he should (continue) and 50 per cent of people think he shouldn’t, then I suggest he should. Even if it’s just 20 or 30 per cent of people I think he should be able to continue.”
===
Bulldogs prop James Graham pleads not guilty to biting charge
CANTERBURY prop James Graham will plead not guilty to a biting charge at the NRL judiciary on Thursday night.
Graham was on Monday charged with an ungraded dangerous contact offence for allegedly biting the left ear of Melbourne fullback Billy Slater in Sunday's grand final loss to the Storm.
The issue was deemed serious enough to be referred straight to the NRL judiciary.
But by choosing to plead not guilty on Wednesday, Graham is not eligible for the 25 per cent reduction on the final penalty, should he be found guilty.
Graham is in danger of copping a hefty suspension of up to three months which could rule him out for the first 10 rounds of next season.
On Tuesday Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg admitted the footage of Graham's alleged attack on Slater was "damning".
"It's difficult obviously because the pictures are quite damning," Greenberg told Triple M radio.
"... James has been absolutely outstanding for us in 2012.
"I would put him in such a high class of footballer, he's a wonderful guy, he's done a huge amount of work for us in the community and he's just a good quality human being."
Graham's dangerous conduct charge was the most serious to come out of a spiteful 25th-minute melee which led to three players being charged for fighting.
Melbourne pair Sisa Waqa and Todd Lowrie and Canterbury's Josh Reynolds all accepted early guilty pleas, with the Storm duo to serve one-match suspensions in next year's trials and Reynolds escaping suspension.
===
Julia Gillard stays silent on comments Alan Jones made about her late father
JULIA Gillard has ruled out appearing on Alan Jones' radio show as she refused to be drawn over his comments about her late father John.
She confirmed she had not spoken to the 2GB broadcaster after it was revealed he told a group of Young Liberals John Gillard had “died of shame” over what he called political “lies.”.
"It is not my intention to make any comment about that matter," Ms Gillard said.
Asked whether she would appear again on Jones' breakfast show on Sydney radio 2GB, she said: "No, I would not. I haven't spoken to Mr Jones and I don't intend to.''
Instead the Prime Minister, who is in Tasmania ahead of a community Cabinet meeting tonight, has thanked Australians for their support.
“Both I and my family have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for us since the death of my father,” Ms Gillard said.
“From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank Australians in their tens of thousands who have been so warm and so supportive at a time that has been difficult for us.”
Jones this week apologised for his comments as dozens of advertisers deserted his show following and nearly 100,000 people called for the broadcaster to be sacked.
But senior federal coalition MP Christopher Pyne said no one outside of political circles cares about the Jones kerfuffle and Labor should concentrate on everyday issues.
Labor MPs have been trying to link comments Jones made about Ms Gillard's late father to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and the trend towards personal attacks and vitriol in national political debate.
Mr Abbott has called the comments wrong and offensive but says he won't be boycotting the 2GB broadcaster or banning him from Liberal fundraisers.
Mr Pyne said the fact Labor was trying to make political mileage out of the affair emphasised how low the party had sunk.
"People in Main Street, Australia couldn't care less about these inside-the-beltway issues," he said.
They were much more interested in how they were going to pay their bills.
"It's time Labor started governing rather than this perpetual state of campaigning."
Liberal National Party backer Clive Palmer said he was deeply concerned for the prime minister following Jones' comments.
Mr Palmer said he hoped Mr Jones' public apology to Julia Gillard is sincere. But he also urged Australians not to judge the broadcaster too harshly for his mistake.
Mr Palmer said the comments were uncalled for.
"Certainly a situation like that is very unfortunate for the prime minister and I'm certainly deeply concerned about her, her family and her feelings," he said.
"I've been in a situation where I've lost my father, I've lost my first wife and other people, and you've got to go through that experience to realise the devastation it can have in your life."
He said he was still inspired by his late first wife and he was sure Ms Gillard was still inspired by her father.
"It's wrong for anyone to attack that," he said.
But Mr Palmer also warned against people being overly critical of others for their mistakes.
"One of the problems we have in Australia is we criticise everyone for being wrong," he said.
"I'm the biggest failure in the world, I make more mistakes then everyone every day. And if you worry about making mistakes you won't make a decision."
Harvey Norman yesterday became the latest company to pull its advertising from Jones' 2GB breakfast radio show, following high-profile companies Telstra, Hyundai, Momentum Energy and Honda and seven others.
Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey said he felt he was "joining a lynch mob" by pulling the company's advertising, but also said the broadcaster should be reprimanded.
"He shouldn't have said (what he said) but should that stop the bloke from having a radio career?" Mr Harvey said.
"You have to ask are you part of a lynch mob?" he said.
"If 50 per cent of people think he should (continue) and 50 per cent of people think he shouldn't, then I suggest he should. Even if it's just 20 or 30 per cent of people I think he should be able to continue."
Nearly a hundred thousand people want Jones sacked from the station after the shock jock' told a Sydney University Liberal Club dinner that John Gillard had "died of shame" because of his daughter's "lies".
An online petition calling for his sacking had around 98,600 signatures by late last night.
The veteran Sydney breakfast presenter again acknowledged his comments were wrong when he returned to the airwaves yesterday morning.
Senior Labor figures attempted to link the remarks of Mr Jones, a former Liberal Party candidate and adviser to Malcolm Fraser, to Mr Abbott and the trend towards personal attacks and vitriol in national political debate.
But Mr Abbott said the Labor government blamed him for everything.
"Someone gets a flat tyre on the way to work, well that's Tony Abbott's fault," he said.
"As far as I'm concerned, as far as my coalition colleagues are concerned, what Alan Jones said was wrong, unacceptable, offensive.
"He's admitted that, he's apologised."
Mr Abbott said he would continue his regular appearances on Jones' program.
"I'm not in the business of ignoring a big audience," he said.
"My job every day is to reach out to the people of Australia and to reassure them we are a great country and a great people let down at the moment by a bad government."
Jones yesterday told his 2GB listeners he apologised "without qualification or reservation" and had sought to apologise in person to Ms Gillard, who declined to take his call.
"The comment that I made was out of order, the comment was wrong, the comment had the capacity to hurt the prime minister as a daughter grieving over the death of her father, the comment should not have been made," he said.
Jones said he was astounded at the "hatred and anger" toward him.
"I've got news for these people: I don't back off and I don't frighten easily."
Treasurer Wayne Swan said Jones had not properly apologised and should be sacked.
He said when Mr Abbott goes on the radio program the pair "fill the airwaves with their poison".
"They are at one when it comes to a political critique ... which is vicious, aggressive and poisonous," he said.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd said the sponsors were right to withdraw and the Liberal party should no longer invite Jones to its events.
Mr Rudd said there was no denying the close relationship between Jones and senior Liberals.
"When you listen to part of the transcript of Mr Jones's speech, he constantly uses the word `we'," Mr Rudd said, adding he would not go on the program.
Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella accused Labor of trying to "drain every last drop of political advantage" against Mr Abbott over the Jones affair.
"The opposition leader has strictly limited his criticism of the prime minister to her public, policy and political record," she said.
Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne said the minor party would no longer appear on Jones' program.
Meanwhile, another 2GB broadcaster said a Twitter campaign against the station would only lead to job losses involving innocent and junior staff, according to private tweets seen by AAP.
===
Peter Slipper to face his accuser, James Ashby
THE Federal Court has expressed its disappointment that Speaker Peter Slipper was able to avoid waiting media crews by using the judicial car park without permission.
A Federal Court spokesman has released a statement saying "I wish to point out that Mr Slipper did not seek, nor obtain, permission from the court to access the building via the private secure car park."
"The expectation is that all litigants enter and exit court buildings through public entrances."
Mediation talks between Mr Slipper and Mr Ashby, taking place behind closed doors, have now entered their fifth hour.
Mediation talks between Mr Slipper and Mr Ashby, taking place behind closed doors, have now entered their fifth hour.
Mr Slipper was at the Federal Court in Sydney, and it has been confirmed that mediation has begun.
Slipper hasn't been seen outside the court since 8am, but Comcars are allowed to access the judicial carpark.
Slipper hasn't been seen outside the court since 8am, but Comcars are allowed to access the judicial carpark.
It's believed Mr Slipper was dropped off earlier this morning in a Comcar. His former adviser James Ashby walked into court in the usual manner, flanked by spokesman Anthony McClellan, but refused to comment.
This morning, Mr Ashby arrived at court to begin mediation with Speaker Peter Slipper.
Dressed in a suit and flanked by his spokesman Anthony McClellan, Mr Ashby made no comment as he arrived at Sydney's Federal Court.
Mr Slipper will today sit face-to-face with Mr Ashby to attempt to resolve their legal battle.
Mr Slipper was yesterday ordered, along with his former adviser, to attend court for mediation in front of a registrar - but not before Justice Stephen Rares lambasted him for not coming to court yesterday "when he should have."
"There's no reason why he's not here. It's outrageous behaviour from someone who should know far better than to treat the court to this discourtesy" Justice Rares said.
"He can't just treat the court as something where he can say 'I'm sorry, I'm not here'. There are clear consequences for litigants who don't turn up, which I would have thought he would be aware of. He's not a man in penury, he's the Speaker of the House of Representatives and I'm sure he gets paid for it."
Mr Slipper contacted the court by email over the long weekend to say he couldn't attend, adding he would be free to participate in mediation this week.
Justice Rares said there was a chance the case, which includes Mr Ashby's claims of sexual harassment and the Speaker's application that his former adviser's suit is an abuse of process, could be resolved by "people being forced to talk to one another".
He said Mr Ashby's agreed settlement with the Commonwealth last week for $50,000 was something "that may not have been anticipated."
"This case cries out for a resolution," he said.
Mr Ashby's counsel Michael Lee SC said his client would attend after earlier saying the 33-year-old had been "more demonised than the Exorcist".
Julian Burnside QC, barrister for the Commonwealth, said Mr Slipper would attend.
The Speaker is without legal representation after parting ways with his Melbourne-based lawyers last month.
By not attending court himself yesterday, he wasn't represented at all, sparking Justice Rare's ire.
The court heard there is trouble with last week's settlement with lawyers for the Commonwealth wanting Mr Ashby to sign a deed saying the government had no ongoing liability - something Mr Lee said was at odds with what had been agreed to. If mediation is unsuccessful the case will return to court before Justice Rares tomorrow.
The court heard Mr Slipper had been subject to "intrusive media" but Mr Lee described his decision to not turn up yesterday as "an indulgence."
Mr Ashby will travel to Sydney from Queensland, while Mr Slipper was believed to be in Canberra.
===
===
Former Gordon Brown strategist 'masterminding class war' in Australia
A former aide to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, John McTernan, has been accused of masterminding a divisive "class war" strategy in his role as head of communications for Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister.
The Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, said the Brown government "played the class war card as hard as it could" and that Mr McTernan had imported the strategy to Canberra.
"It's interesting, he was part of the Brown government in Britain, and the Brown government basically played the class war card as hard as it could, everyday up until its defeat," Mr Abbott told a Sydney radio station.
"It seems that ever since he's arrived that's been the practice of the Gillard government, to play the class war card, to attack so-called billionaires."
Mr McTernan, a Labour operative in Britain who was Mr Blair's director of political operations, worked on the 2007 Australian Labour party election campaign before taking up a full-time job with Ms Gillard last year. He advised the British Labour government on health, welfare, defence and Scotland and has written for the Daily Telegraph.
Since his move to Australia, he has been likened to the foul-mouthed Scottish spin doctor Malcolm Tucker from BBC's The Thick Of It, particularly after he rang a Sydney radio presenter to complain about a negative story and reportedly used the "f-bomb" 30 times during their 12-minute conversation.
In Australia, Labour has recently launched scathing attacks on the country's mining tycoons such as Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart for posing a "threat to democracy" and selfishly trying to influence political debate. The attacks have primarily been led by the Treasurer Wayne Swan, rather than Ms Gillard.
Mr McTernan was unavailable for comment today. He is currently in New York with Ms Gillard, who is addressing the United Nations this week. Ms Gillard's office declined to comment.
===
DK wrote "....I must be the only one who feels Alan Jones' comments were entirely appropriate.
I repeat if Gillards late father did not die of shame then he should have.
I am more disgusted that Jones actually did apologise to Gillard.
However his comment has allowed Gillard and her goons to avoid scrutiny once again.
She just has cost us at least another USD$50 Billion without here UN gallavanting.
Where is the outrage ?
Gillard should be apoligising to the whole of Australia instead."
THE Gillard government will lift the nation's credit card limit by another $50 billion to a record $300 billion as it parades its return to a budget surplus and family handouts.
But, according to economists, the interest payments alone on an increase in government debt, if fully applied, could be enough to wipe out next year's predicted $1.5 billion surplus.
The opposition said it would consider blocking the move in parliament unless Treasurer Wayne Swan explained what the increase was for.
Explained: How the Budget affects you
Swan's big S for Surplus, not Superman
Labor ready for it to collapse
Stars set to cop a hit
Business slams new mining tax
Government budget papers reveal it could struggle to live within its means, confirming that interest payments on the government's own debt would rise above $8 billion a year by 2015.
The net debt, however, would still remain low as a percentage of GDP, at around 7 per cent by 2016, compared to most advanced economies where debt ratios were closer to 90 per cent.
Budget papers also revealed the carbon tax would rake in more than $7 billion in its first year, reaching $9 billion by 2015 and totalling $35 billion over its first four years.
Mr Swan yesterday said increasing the government's debt ceiling was "no big deal" - despite the borrowing limit now three times higher than when Labor came into office.
Mr Swan admitted in parliament that the increase was needed as a "buffer" to allow the government to take on extra debt during different revenue cycles throughout the year.
He said it was a measure sought by the Office of Financial Management, which confirmed that the government had, at various times during the year, exceeded the current $250 billion ceiling despite coming in under the ceiling at the end of the financial year.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey accused the government of dishonesty and ulterior motives, claiming it would only be seeking an increase to debt levels if it intended to use them.
He suspected the increase was to give the government a $50 billion war chest - which it could access without going to parliament - if it ran into fiscal difficulty next year.
"It looks like they are building in extra capacity to have money to fund further approvals without having to come anywhere near parliament," Mr Hockey said.
"The government is being deceitful. We will consider whether we treat this separately to appropriations.
"They have never seen a credit card they never wanted to use. We have real concerns over what they intend to use this for."
The government's borrowings are raised by issuing bonds. The current rate for 10 year bonds is 3.5 per cent, which would mean the increase in interest payments, if the government reached the new $300 billion ceiling, would add another $1.5 billion to its liabilities - enough to wipe out its surplus.
In 2008 the government lifted the debt ceiling to a $75 billion limit and again to $200 billion in 2009 at the height of the GFC. Last year it lifted it to $250 billion.
===
===
Slipper slips in
The Speaker has stood aside, in part because he’s accused of taking benefits to which he wasn’t entitled. Today he demonstrates that very attitude:
Peter Slipper managed to earn the ire of the court for the second successive day when the Speaker entered through the judicial car park in a taxpayer-funded Comcar, without the court’s permission.
A Federal Court spokesman released a statement yesterday afternoon saying “I wish to point out that Mr Slipper did not seek, nor obtain, permission from the court to access the building via the private secure car park.
“The expectation is that all litigants enter and exit court buildings through public entrances.’’
By 8pm Slipper still had not been sighted coming out.
UPDATE
Another point:
Mr Slipper’s use of parliamentary privileges has raised questions about whether he should be using a taxpayer-funded car to travel to a court appearance, where he is a private litigant.
===
On not selling Gore another fake climate disaster
AN Australian filmmaker refused to sell footage of a firestorm to former US vice-president Al Gore - to use in Mr Gore’s climate presentations - because the event was unrelated to climate change.
Chris Tangey from Alice Springs Film and Television recorded the phenomenon on Curtin Springs Station, 360km south-west of Alice Springs, while scouting locations for a film…In an email exchange with Mr Gore’s office, Mr Tangey said using the footage in a climate-change framework would be “deliberately deceptive”, the Northern Territory News reports.“I am aware that you may have missed the reporting on the very localised nature of this firestorm,” Mr Tangey wrote.
“However, in any case, I am confused as to why you would offer to buy a licence to use it at all unless you had conducted even elementary research which might indicate that this Mt Conner event had direct linkage to global warming/climate change.”
===
We’re not buying this story about good times
Not sure a cut in interest rates is going to make buyers more confident about the future:
NEW home sales hit a 15-year low in August, adding weight to the calls for the major banks to pass on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) latest rate cut.
New home sales dropped 5.3 per cent in August to reach their lowest point since 1997, the Housing Industry Association (HIA) said.Sales of detached houses fell in all states in August, with the largest declines in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.
Overall, detached housing sales fell 5.8 per cent in the month, and multi-unit sales fell 2.5 per cent.
===
Video surfaces of Obama in 2007 suggesting racism slowed aid to post-Katrina New Orleans
It's the Obama speech on race you probably haven't heard.
In June 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama told a mostly black audience of ministers that the country's leaders "don't care about" New Orleans residents, suggesting the city was neglected in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina because of institutional racism, according to an unedited video uncovered by The Daily Caller
.
.
In the address, delivered during the upswing of the Democratic presidential primary season, candidate Obama specifically criticizes in outspoken terms the decision not to waive a federal law known as the Stafford Act that requires communities hit by disasters to match 10 percent of federal aid.
“When 9/11 happened in New York City, they waived the Stafford Act. … And that was the right thing to do,” he tells the crowd at Hampton University in Virginia. “When Hurricane Andrew struck in Florida, people said, 'Look at this devastation. We don't expect you to come up with your own money. Here, here's the money to rebuild. We're not going wait for you to scratch it together, because you're part of the American family.' "
Obama, echoing rapper Kanye West's infamous anti-Bush remarks a couple years earlier, then argues that New Orleans was treated differently, suggesting the reason was that the city is mostly black.
"What's happening down in New Orleans? Where's your dollar? Where's your Stafford Act money?" Obama says. "Makes no sense. ... Tells me that somehow the people down in New Orleans they don't care about as much."
The Obama campaign didn't response to FoxNews.com's request for comment Tuesday night about the Daily Caller report and the video, but the Associated Press reported that Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt dismissed the criticism as "a transparent attempt to change the subject" at a time when Mitt Romney is down in the polls.
Media organizations covered the speech at the time, but the Daily Caller said the video it obtained showed parts of the speech that had never been publicized. It posted what it said was the complete speech on the website.
By January 2007, nearly a year and a half after Hurricane Katrina hit, the federal government had committed $110 billion to relief efforts in areas hit by Katrina through a variety of programs, including Community Development Block Grants, funding for the Corps of Engineers and Small Business Administration loans, according to a report that May by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic and Statistics Administration.
by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic and Statistics Administration.
But at the time of Obama's speech, there were still concerns about federal response to the disaster under the Stafford Act, which governs relief efforts. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was unwilling to waive the law’s 10 percent local match provision for aid, like it did after the Sept. 11 attacks and other hurricanes.
“One reason cited for FEMA’s reluctance to waive the 10 percent match in New Orleans is concern about corruption,” the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said in a 2008 report on the relief efforts.
.
That report also noted that then-Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco was pushing in early 2007 for a federal law eliminating the 10 percent match. The House passed the bill, but it stalled in the Senate and President Bush had threatened to veto it.
The complete video of Obama’s 2007 speech, surfacing barely a month before the presidential election and the night before Obama’s first debate with Romney, could complicate Obama’s efforts to avoid a politically risky debate over race that partly ensnared him during the 2008 race. Four years ago, his fiery pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a political liability over videos that showed Wright making controversial statements.
Obama, after initially defending him, eventually was forced to condemn Wright publicly, and the controversy prompted Obama to deliver his much-heralded 2008 address on race in Philadelphia.
Wright reportedly attended the 2007 speech, and in the video obtained by the Daily Caller, Obama is heard calling Wright "my pastor, the guy who puts up with me, counsels me, listens to my wife complain about me. He's a friend and a great leader. Not just in Chicago, but all across the country."
The Daily Caller also highlighted a segment in which Obama questions federal priorities in transportation spending.
"We need additional federal public transportation dollars flowing to the highest-need communities. We don’t need to build more highways out in the suburbs. If we have people in the cities right now who want to work but have no way to get into those jobs, we've got to help connect them to the jobs that exist,” Obama said. “We should be investing in minority-owned businesses, in our neighborhoods, so people don’t have to travel from miles away.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/02/video-surfaces-obama-in-2007-suggesting-racism-slowed-aid-to-post-katrina-new/#ixzz28Eu0kpg5
===
A brief history of religious hoaxes
The trailer for the film "Innocence of Muslims" recently led to riots over its depiction of the prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, child molester and criminal. Several Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, were killed in protests that have been linked to the film.
Despite the outrage it's not clear that the film actually exists; certainly a trailer for it does, but a trailer isn't a film. Investigation into the anti-Muslim "film" is ongoing, but as yet there seems to be no evidence that the film exists other than as a deadly hoax. People create hoaxes for many reasons, but when fraud mixes with religious fervor the results can range from the comical to the deadly.
is ongoing, but as yet there seems to be no evidence that the film exists other than as a deadly hoax. People create hoaxes for many reasons, but when fraud mixes with religious fervor the results can range from the comical to the deadly.
Here's a look at seven religious hoaxes throughout history.
1. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Perhaps the most infamous and malicious religious hoax in history, "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" is a book supposedly revealing a secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. It first appeared in Russia in 1905, and though the book has been completely discredited as a forgery, it is still in print and remains widely circulated.Many people have endorsed this religious hoax, including actor Mel Gibson, Adolf Hitler, and automaker Henry Ford, who in 1920 paid to have a half-million copies of the book published. [Top 10 Conspiracy Theories]
]
2. The Shroud of Turin and Other Holy Relics
Though many believe that Italy's Shroud of Turin is the burial shroud of Jesus, there's compelling evidence the shroud is in fact a hoax, including a 1389 letter from French Bishop Pierre d'Arcisto Pope Clement stating that a painter confessed to creating it. Indeed, the Bishop's evidence was so convincing that even Pope Clement acknowledged it as a forgery — one of countless faked religious relics circulating at the time.
circulating at the time.
Carbon dating of the Shroud of Turin revealed it does not date back to the time of Christ but instead 14 centuries later — exactly when the forger confessed to making it. Even more damning for its authenticity, there is no record of its existence before then; if it really is the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, it seems suspicious that no one knew anything about it for 1,300 years. Though many remain convinced of its authenticity, the historical and scientific evidence suggest the Shroud of Turin is probably a religious hoax. As researcher Joe Nickell noted in his book "Relics of the Christ" (The University Press of Kentucky, 2007),the shroud on display in Turin is only one of over 40 such Jesus shrouds — all claimed to be the real one.
3. The Cardiff Giant
When farm workers digging a well in Cardiff, N.Y., uncovered a fossilized man in 1869 they found something remarkable. The Cardiff Giant, as the figure became known, was a somewhat realistic figure with roughly human dimensions — except that it was nearly 10 feet tall. It was clearly something unique — but what exactly it was divided the public. Some believed it was a stone carving, but who would have made it so long ago that it was buried so deep in the ground?
Others, including a local reverend, were convinced it was proof of the literal truth of Biblical scripture, specifically Genesis 6:4 ("There were giants in the earth in those days" KJV). Here, finally, was one of those Biblical giants, discovered on a rural New York farm! It was in fact a clever hoax by a man named George Hull who had planted the carved stone where it would later be found by the farm hands, partly to prove the Bible literalists wrong.
, specifically Genesis 6:4 ("There were giants in the earth in those days" KJV). Here, finally, was one of those Biblical giants, discovered on a rural New York farm! It was in fact a clever hoax by a man named George Hull who had planted the carved stone where it would later be found by the farm hands, partly to prove the Bible literalists wrong.
4. Indian Guru Sai Baba's Legerdemain
One of the most influential spiritual leaders in India, Satya Sai Baba died last year at the age of 84. For over five decades the charismatic guru enthralled and mystified followers by performing minor miracles, including producing holy ash, watches, statues, necklaces and rings seemingly out of thin air.
However, skeptical investigators including Basava Premanand of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations accused Sai Baba of simple magicians' tricks, and pointed out that all the objects were small and easily concealed in his hands and long-sleeved robes. In at least one case Sai Baba was caught on film by British investigator Professor Richard Wiseman secretly pulling small objects from his person while pretending they appeared out of nowhere.
secretly pulling small objects from his person while pretending they appeared out of nowhere.
5. The Discovery of Noah's Ark
Those seeking to find archaeological and historical proof of events in the Bible have often looked for — and, some claim, even found — Noah's Ark. Though many claims of finding the ark are honest mistakes, in 1993 a man hoaxed CBS television into running atwo-hour primetime special titled "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark." It featured a man named George Jammal, who claimed to have found the ark on a mountain in Turkey. As proof of his incredible claim, he proudly displayed a piece of wood from the ark; it was in fact scrap pine marinated in soy sauce, and Jammal was an actor who had never even been to Turkey.
. Though many claims of finding the ark are honest mistakes, in 1993 a man hoaxed CBS television into running atwo-hour primetime special titled "The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark." It featured a man named George Jammal, who claimed to have found the ark on a mountain in Turkey. As proof of his incredible claim, he proudly displayed a piece of wood from the ark; it was in fact scrap pine marinated in soy sauce, and Jammal was an actor who had never even been to Turkey.
6. The Ossuary of James, Brother of Jesus
In 2002 an antiquities dealer in Israel claimed to have discovered a limestone ossuary (used to hold bones of the dead) with an inscription in Aramaic on one side of the box identifying its (missing) contents as those of "James, Son of Joseph, Brother of Jesus." The find made international news because if genuine, it might provide archaeological evidence for Jesus Christ.
.
Many archaeologists were skeptical for several reasons, including that there was no clear provenance (history) for the item and because carved rosette patterns on the other side of the box were rounded from age and decay, while the script on the disputed inscription had sharp edges suggesting it was recently added. A chalk wash also appeared to have been added to the lettering to make it appear older than it actually was. In 2003 the Israeli Antiquities Authority published a report concluding that the inscription was a modern forgery carved on a genuinely old ossuary box. [Faux Real: A Gallery of Forgeries]
]
7. God Speaks to Peter Popoff Via Short-Wave Radio
One of the most prominent televangelists in the 1980s was Peter Popoff, who, during his services and revivals, would call out names and home addresses of audience members he'd never met. He even knew personal details such as family members' illnesses or their deceased loved ones' names. It seemed that Popoff got his messages from God or angels, and it greatly impressed his audiences and followers.
In 1986, magician James "The Amazing" Randi heard about Popoff's amazing abilities and decided to investigate. Randi noticed an apparently minor detail that most people missed: Popoff was wearing a hearing aid or earpiece. Using a radio scanner, Randi discovered that Popoff was actually getting biographical information about audience members from his wife (who had earlier spoken to the audience) using a short-wave radio. The scandal tarnished Popoff's ministry, but he eventually recovered and remains active today.
- The Shroud of Turin may be real. The carbon dating may have been on a repair patch. The shroud is of a material known to be used in the 1st century with commensurate weave. The image is still not explained by science. ed Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/10/03/history-religious-hoaxes/?intcmp=features#ixzz28EvUxNGy
===
It’s 3 am and Obama is missing in action
Published October 02, 2012
New York Post
In Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 3 a.m. television ad in the 2008 primary campaign, we heard the sound of a ringing phone and saw sleeping children. In ominous tones, a narrator warned that “something is happening in the world” and asked, “Who do you want answering the phone?”
Well, it’s 2012, and — the phone is still ringing. Please, somebody answer the darn thing!
The story of the terror attack in Benghazi is that neither Clinton nor the president who made her secretary of state responded to the real emergency when it came. The biggest foreign-policy crisis of the last four years is revealing an astonishing lack of competence and character at the center of the Obama administration.
That’s not to say the Democratic duo did nothing in response to the worst terror attack on American civilians since 9/11. After eulogizing our dead ambassador and three others, Obama and Clinton got to work spinning a web of deceit that would make Richard Nixon blush.
They sent out a wave of aides to mislead and torture the truth. Even now, nearly three weeks later, they have yet to come clean.
In the process, they are demonstrating how to turn a disaster into a scandal.
The attack in Libya, on the 11th anniversary of 9/11, killed one of our ambassadors for the first time since 1979. Christopher Stevens’ diary was recovered by CNN, and it shows he feared he was an al Qaeda target. Yet he had almost no security.
Because of their deception, you don’t have to be a cynic to ask what Obama and Clinton knew, and when they knew it. As Fox News has shown, intelligence officials concluded within 24 hours that the attack was carried out by Islamic terrorists affiliated with Al Qaeda. Also, a terror group claimed credit for the attack.
But it wasn’t until this past Wednesday that Clinton hinted of an Al Qaeda link. Even then, she made only a single reference and was far from definitive.
The next day, Obama’s flack said he, too, thinks it was terrorism, though the president has not deigned to say so himself or explain what happened.
This is not an isolated example. When it comes to terrorism, this White House has a bad habit of starting with a lie.
In 2009, after the underwear bomber’s Christmas Day plot was stopped, Obama called him an “isolated extremist.” That wasn’t true — he was sent on the mission by an al Qaeda affiliate, a fact interrogators knew before Obama spoke.
In May 2010, when a Pakistani national tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square, Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano claimed it was a “one-off,” a tale that police knew was false.
Those deceptions were all part of a relentless public-relations campaign to make Obama look good. The death of a colleague does not deter their spin.
But it should wake up the rest of us. The lack of integrity about something so fundamental as a terror attack suggests there is no line this White House will not cross to protect Obama.
The choice to mislead the public dishonors the sacrifice of Stevens and those who died with him. But it does something else, too. It shows a willingness to put Obama’s reputation and re-election ahead of America’s national security.
That’s a real emergency.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/02/its-3-am-and-obama-is-missing-in-action/#ixzz28ExK7n00
===
Top five worst Obama tax hikes on small business
Published October 02, 2012
FoxNews.com
If President Barack Obama is given a second term, one vitally important group of taxpayers—small employers—will face five key tax increases:
1. Income tax increase. A pillar of President Obama’s re-election campaign is a hike in the top two marginal income tax rates. By and large, small employers pay their small business taxes using individual tax rates. If individual tax rates are raised, so are small business tax rates. The top income tax rate is scheduled to rise from 35 percent in 2012 to 39.6 percent in 2013. According to IRS data, a clear majority of all small business profits face taxation at this top marginal income tax rate. For all intents and purposes, the top income tax rate IS the small business tax rate in America today.
President Obama and congressional Democrats claim they are raising taxes on “millionaires and billionaires” but are actually targeting successful small companies. A new study by Ernst and Young projects that this tax rate hike will kill 710,000 small business jobs.
President Obama and congressional Democrats claim they are raising taxes on “millionaires and billionaires” but are actually targeting successful small companies. A new study by Ernst and Young projects that this tax rate hike will kill 710,000 small business jobs.
2. Death Tax Increase. The death tax in 2012 has a top rate of 35 percent, and a “standard deduction” of $5 million ($10 million in the case of a married couple or surviving spouse). President Obama’s plan proposes raising the rate to 45 percent and slashing the exemption to $3.5 million.
When a family business owner dies, it’s up to the surviving family members to pay the death tax to the government. Needless to say, many successful, job-creating small businesses simply won’t survive this process. Such families will have little choice but to sell the business (and lay off all the employees) in order to pay the IRS. Or they will have to pay a small fortune to lawyers, accountants, and the life insurance industry to avoid this fate.
3. ObamaCare self-employment tax rate increase. Currently, successful small business owners face a self-employment tax of 2.9 percent. Thanks to ObamaCare’s 2013 hike in this tax rate, this will rise to 3.8 percent. All told, the combination of the income tax hike and the self-employment tax hike will raise the marginal income tax rate on small business profits from about 38 percent today to about 43 percent in 2013. That extra five percentage points might not sound like a lot, but most small employers have very thin profit margins. A company with $1 million in profits facing a higher tax rate of 5 percentage points will be saddled with another $50,000 in taxes.
4. ObamaCare Medical Device Tax: Taking effect in 2013, this 2.3 percent tax on companies making devices such as prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, and operating tables is particularly destructive because it is levied on gross sales, even if the respective company doesn’t earn a profit in a given year. The industry employs 409,000 Americans in 12,000 plants across the country, and many incur a loss for several years as they pioneer the next generation of life-improving devices.
This looming $20 billion tax is already causing small business job loss and cuts to research and development budgets. Even liberal Democratic Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren knows the medical device tax is destructive to small business. She wrote an op-ed in opposition to the tax, saying: “When Congress taxes the sale of a specific product through an excise tax, as the Affordable Care Act does with medical devices, it too often disproportionately impacts the small companies with the narrowest financial margins and the broadest innovative potential. It also pushes companies of all sizes to cut back on research and development for life-saving product.”
Eighty percent of device companies have fewer than 50 employees, according to the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. Many of these small businesses are located in electoral swing states such as Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, and New Hampshire.
5. ObamaCare Investment Surtax: Also taking effect in 2013, this tax increase captures those few small business owners not covered by the self-employment tax hike: owners of Subchapter-S corporations and limited partners. These owners are currently exempt from self-employment tax, mostly because they are investors rather than proprietors. But ObamaCare sweeps them into the IRS net too, forcing them to pay the 3.8 percentage point tax as an “investor surtax.” This will make it far more difficult for investors to raise money to start up small firms. An investor is going to need to see even greater small business profit projections to overcome this higher “hurdle rate” of taxes. Not only does a small business owner have to give his investor a strong return on his investment, he now has to do it with a giant tax mill around his neck.
When a family business owner dies, it’s up to the surviving family members to pay the death tax to the government. Needless to say, many successful, job-creating small businesses simply won’t survive this process. Such families will have little choice but to sell the business (and lay off all the employees) in order to pay the IRS. Or they will have to pay a small fortune to lawyers, accountants, and the life insurance industry to avoid this fate.
3. ObamaCare self-employment tax rate increase. Currently, successful small business owners face a self-employment tax of 2.9 percent. Thanks to ObamaCare’s 2013 hike in this tax rate, this will rise to 3.8 percent. All told, the combination of the income tax hike and the self-employment tax hike will raise the marginal income tax rate on small business profits from about 38 percent today to about 43 percent in 2013. That extra five percentage points might not sound like a lot, but most small employers have very thin profit margins. A company with $1 million in profits facing a higher tax rate of 5 percentage points will be saddled with another $50,000 in taxes.
4. ObamaCare Medical Device Tax: Taking effect in 2013, this 2.3 percent tax on companies making devices such as prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, and operating tables is particularly destructive because it is levied on gross sales, even if the respective company doesn’t earn a profit in a given year. The industry employs 409,000 Americans in 12,000 plants across the country, and many incur a loss for several years as they pioneer the next generation of life-improving devices.
This looming $20 billion tax is already causing small business job loss and cuts to research and development budgets. Even liberal Democratic Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren knows the medical device tax is destructive to small business. She wrote an op-ed in opposition to the tax, saying: “When Congress taxes the sale of a specific product through an excise tax, as the Affordable Care Act does with medical devices, it too often disproportionately impacts the small companies with the narrowest financial margins and the broadest innovative potential. It also pushes companies of all sizes to cut back on research and development for life-saving product.”
Eighty percent of device companies have fewer than 50 employees, according to the Medical Device Manufacturers Association. Many of these small businesses are located in electoral swing states such as Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, and New Hampshire.
5. ObamaCare Investment Surtax: Also taking effect in 2013, this tax increase captures those few small business owners not covered by the self-employment tax hike: owners of Subchapter-S corporations and limited partners. These owners are currently exempt from self-employment tax, mostly because they are investors rather than proprietors. But ObamaCare sweeps them into the IRS net too, forcing them to pay the 3.8 percentage point tax as an “investor surtax.” This will make it far more difficult for investors to raise money to start up small firms. An investor is going to need to see even greater small business profit projections to overcome this higher “hurdle rate” of taxes. Not only does a small business owner have to give his investor a strong return on his investment, he now has to do it with a giant tax mill around his neck.
These five tax increases only begin to scratch the surface. Small employers are also facing the ObamaCare employer mandate tax penalty starting in 2014. This tax provision will force small businesses with more than 50 employees to purchase “qualifying” health insurance, or else face a tax of up to $2,000 per employee.
In taxes, a truism is that if you want less of something, you tax it more. Whether he realizes it or not, President Obama’s tax policies will result in fewer and less successful small businesses, fewer small business jobs, fewer family businesses that can be passed along from parents to children, fewer medical device manufacturing jobs, and much less investment in small employer start-ups.
In taxes, a truism is that if you want less of something, you tax it more. Whether he realizes it or not, President Obama’s tax policies will result in fewer and less successful small businesses, fewer small business jobs, fewer family businesses that can be passed along from parents to children, fewer medical device manufacturing jobs, and much less investment in small employer start-ups.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/02/top-five-worst-obama-tax-hikes-on-small-business/#ixzz28ExrI4MK
No comments:
Post a Comment