Saturday, April 06, 2013

Sat 6th Apr Todays News

Happy birthday and many happy returns Johnny Duong andSaron Youn. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
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THE NEXT McTERNAN

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (4:37pm)

Someone who looks like Sideshow Bob tells the ABC how Labor can win: 
The Liberal party currently has one of the most unpopular leaders it has ever had. Let’s not forget that at the last count, 49 per cent of his party preferred Turnbull (I’m guessing it’s much higher now) and Abbott has proved to be consistently unpopular with the Australian public. 
The word is “wishing”, not “guessing”. But do continue: 
Labor must attack the Liberals (and in particular, the perennially unpopular and unlikable Abbott) with all their might, bring him down into a gutter fight, and fight like there’s no tomorrow. 
Thanks for the sophistimacated in-depth analysis, champ. And thanks to more than $1 billion in annual ABC tax funding for bringing it to us. Meanwhile, let’s take another look at Thursday’s gutter fight in Melbourne:

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Lord Mayor Robert Doyle is clearly shown looking at his watch while a red-headed woman is shouting at him. As everybody knows, this is one of the true signs of misogyny.

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EXCUSE THE EXPRESSION

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (4:36pm)

Jeralean Talley, born in 1899, describes the first and only time she drove a car. Click for wordsand an excellent picture gallery.

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LABOR’S MAY-LAZE

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (4:14pm)

What is it with Labor Prime Ministers and pronunciation?



Paul Keating’s version of “malaise” appears to have been borrowed from George H.W. Bush.

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YAY FOR BOATIES

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (3:04pm)

A bleeding heart welcome mat:

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Apparently “for those who’ve paid thousands of dollars to people smugglers and thrown away their passports” wouldn’t fit.

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BURN IT ALL

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (2:54pm)

This important environmental message is brought to you by a 500-horsepower Chevrolet V8:

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In other eco-automotive news, fancy electric car-maker Fisker hits the rotors: 
Fisker Automotive, the struggling, government-backed hybrid sports car maker, terminated most of its rank-and-file employees on Friday, in a last-ditch effort to conserve cash and stave off a potential bankruptcy filing, sources said.
In a statement, Fisker confirmed that it let go about 75 percent of its workforce. The automaker said it was “a necessary strategic step in our efforts to maximize the value of Fisker’s core assets.” 
Fisker – whose cars retail at more than $100,000 – previously received a $529 million loan from the Obama government. Should’ve tipped the cash into proper American iron instead.
(Via Iowahawk, currently cruising Austin)

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ADVICE TAKEN

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (2:22pm)

Chatting with Hugh Hewitt, Mark Steyn reveals an intriguing fact about late movie reviewer Roger Ebert: 
He briefly dated a young woman who was hosting some local news show in Chicago about 30 years ago, and he suggested to her that she ought to do what he did and syndicate it, and it might be as successful as Siskel and Ebert’s At The Movies. And the romance didn’t work out, but the young woman took his advice and thus, we have the Oprah Winfrey show to thank Roger Ebert for. 

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ALLEGED HACKERS CHARGED

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (2:14pm)

This calls for a media inquiry: 
Two Age journalists have been charged with unauthorised access to restricted data after allegedly hacking an ALP database.
The journalists allegedly searched private details of dozens of high-profile Victorians on the Eleczilla database, which holds personal information including political preference, for story research in 2010.
Fairfax has reported three journalists, Royce Millar, Nick McKenzie and Ben Schneiders, face charges over the matter. 
Imagine how concerned our government would be if this had happened in England.

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POOCHIE LIVES

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (1:43pm)

They told us that Poochie was dead, but the hated beast has returned in the form of Earth Dog:

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The recycled toonhound will celebrate Earth Day on April 22, possibly by following the example of Earth Day’s co-founder: 
Ira Einhorn was on stage hosting the first Earth Day event at the Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970. Seven years later, police raided his closet and found the “composted” body of his ex-girlfriend inside a trunk. 
UPDATE. Readers point out that Earth Dog is interfering with a dolphin.

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ASSAULT FLIPPERS

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (1:36pm)

A look at historical bans in the US misses my personal favourite: 
Pinball was banned from the early 1940s to the mid-1970s in most of America’s big cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, where the game was born and where virtually all of its manufacturers have historically been located. 
In New York, pinball was outlawed until 1976.

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BRYAN LAW

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 06, 2013 (5:08am)

Bryan Law, a friendly foe of this site, has died at just 58: 
He is believed to have died alone on March 26 in his rented Depot Hill home. Friend and fellow-campaigner Graeme Dunstan said he was saddened at the loss of his friend, but more importantly the “passing of a courageous peacemaker”.
“His wife Margaret had called me to tell me he had been found dead in his home after a police check,” Mr Dunstan said. 
Law earned several mentions here over the years, where readers enjoyed his frequent protestadventures, usually ending with Law achieving little and more often than not under arrest. Protest was an end rather than a means to Law, who despite his antics gained friends on our side: 
Although I found his politics absurd, he always seemed to come across as a fairly jovial, even-tempered, and basically non-threatening fellow, who suffered even the most vitriolic barbs with good cheer. 
Paco’s words are accurate. Absurd and wrong he may have been, but Bryan Law wasn’t a bad bloke.
(Via CB of Canberra)

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Bolt Report tomorrow

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (3:14pm)

Tomorrow on The Bolt Report:
- Our new Opposition Leader wins his first battle.
- Fact-checking Tim Flannery’s latest report with Professor Bob Carter.
- Panellists Tim Wilson and former Labor adviser Phil Dalidakis debate
- The great anti-Catholic witchhunt
- Julia Gillard has already written her own epitaph - and here it is.
On Channel 10 at 10am. 

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Murdoch grilled in Darwin

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (2:34pm)

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Rupert Murdoch won’t have had many odder interviews from the ABC - or felt this obliged to help out by conducting them, either.
Topics considered: how he felt about Darwin’s weather three minutes after arriving and whether he’d be hitting the nightspots.
He’s a polite man.
UPDATE
Readers leap to the reporter’s defence.
Reader Johnny:
A bit harsh. I think the reporter was a bit charmed by the great man and then asked him some perfectly reasonable questions.
Reader jhamiltonwa:

I saw that interview on ABC breakfast. No, it wasn’t Walkley award winning content but it seems the interviewer was inexperienced, reasonably new to Darwin recently from the Kalgoorlie office. Rupert didn’t want to hang round and chat but he came across as a polite man cutting a young journo some slack. The reporter didn’t let Rupert go, so his boss can at least give him that. It went down with my cereal a lot better than some earnest lefty trying to battle wits and philosophy with the great satan would have done.
(Thanks to reader Margie.)  

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No surpluses in Labor’s next four years, say insiders

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (2:17pm)

Julia Gillard repeatedly promised a surplus this year and the next three. Instead, says the Financial Review:

Federal cabinet’s expenditure review ­committee sees little chance of a forecast surplus in any of the next four years when Treasurer Wayne Swan releases the federal budget on May 14.
The Government’s excuse is always the same - less money than it expected:
“The reality is this – there is no magic wand or one area of savings that will instantly change the fact that revenues have come down quite markedly, not just in this current year ,but over the forward estimates,” Mr Swan said on Friday.

When will Labor realise that if the money isn’t coming in as hoped, the answer is to cut spending accordingly - not keep promising even more? 

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Don’t ask what this will do to the Budget

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (12:26pm)

Our long, easy ride on mineral exports - buoyed by record prices - may come to an ugly end, especially with government spending on welfare programs already not matched by earnings:
AUSTRALIA’S major iron ore producers will soon come under intense pressure as supply overtakes demand, driving prices downward, mining experts warn.
A “supply surplus” looms for the first time in at least a decade, weighing on the value of the nation’s biggest export, according to investment banking giant Morgan Stanley…
The price of iron ore - the key ingredient in steel - has tumbled 14 per cent to less than $136 a tonne since February.

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Abbott-Abbott-Abbott stuffs up Swan’s super

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (12:14pm)

Laurie Oakes, long close to Treasurer Wayne Swan, analyses the super debacle, in which the government shook faith in the super industry, held a public brawl with itself, triggered a huge public backlash and then ended up with just $200 million a year.

Tony Abbott will almost certainly be prime minister ... Abbott was getting traction with outlandish claims ... who believe Abbott made a serious mistake with his uncompromising response… As Abbott observed yesterday, that is convenient for the Coalition… Abbott would also block a $10,000 increase in the concessional cap… a quite moderate set of reforms that Abbott still persists in calling “a hit on the Australian people”.... Why the Opposition Leader would want to penalise these two groups is unclear.... Abbott - helped by sections of the media hostile to the government… Abbott clearly still thinks he can control the debate by saying anything he likes… 
Of course Oakes also discusses Swan: 

But Wayne Swan and Julia Gillard were right to push their superannuation changes through Cabinet ...  yesterday’s rushed news conference featuring Treasurer Swan and Bill Shorten, the minister responsible for superannuation, had about it an unmistakable whiff of desperation. But it did the job… Swan and Shorten - who believe Abbott made a serious mistake ... Swan’s admission yesterday that most of the super measures will not have been legislated ... Swan and Shorten blamed the media yesterday for scaring the punters ...
Actually, I think genius cartoonist Mark Knight is a better analyst:
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Or does Labor only ever criticise Murdoch papers?

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (11:43am)

I make no comment on guilt or innocence. I simply ask whether Julia Gillard, so quick to insist Murdoch papers in Australia had “questions to answer” after allegations against a Murdoch paper in Britain, will now similarly attack Fairfax over allegations against one of its papers right here:
TWO Age journalists have been charged with unauthorised access to restricted data after allegedly hacking an ALP database.
The journalists allegedly searched private details of dozens of high-profile Victorians on the Eleczilla database, which holds personal information including political preference, for story research in 2010.
Fairfax has reported three journalists, Royce Millar, Nick McKenzie and Ben Schneiders, face charges over the matter.
(Thanks to reader Bennoba.) 

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He will be our most culturally literate PM

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (11:25am)

As I said at the IPA anniversary dinner, I believe Tony Abbott - if successful at the election - will be the most culturally literate and thoughtful Prime Minister since at least Robert Menzies.
While I have at times argued with him over policy, I have not once had reason to question his character. I believe him to be a thoroughly good man. As I said, it is unimaginable to me that he would ever seek to lead by division or to foster the politics of hate.  That simply is not in his character.
Abbott’s superb speech that night simply confirms for me those judgements:

At one level, tonight we celebrate the 70th birthday of the Institute of Public Affairs; but at a deeper level we celebrate things that are timeless – the freedom that our civilisation has nurtured and the faith that has nurtured our civilisation....
In the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve could do almost as they pleased but freedom turned out to have its limits and its abuses, as this foundational story makes only too clear. Yet without freedom we can hardly be human; hardly be worthy of creation in the image of God. From the Garden of Eden, to the Exodus, Athenian democracy, the Roman Senate, Magna Carta, the glorious revolution and American independence, the story of our civilisation has been the story of freedom and our struggles to achieve it.

Freedom, ladies and gentlemen, is what we yearn for but it can only exist within a framework of law so that every person’s freedom is consistent with the same freedom for everyone else. This is what the poet Tennyson meant when he described England as “a land of just and old renown, a land of settled government where freedom broadens slowly down from precedent to precedent”. At least in the English speaking tradition, liberalism and conservatism, love of freedom and respect for due process, have been easy allies.

The IPA, I want to say, has been freedom’s discerning friend. It has supported capitalism, but capitalism with a conscience. Not for the IPA, a single-minded dogmatism or opposition to all restraint; rather a sophisticated appreciation that freedom requires a social context and that much is expected from those to whom so much has been given. You’ve understood that freedom is both an end and a means; a good in itself, as well as necessary for full human flourishing…
Contemporary Australia has well and truly - and rightly - left behind the old cult of forgetfulness about our indigenous heritage. Alas, there is a new version of the great Australian silence – this time about the Western canon, the literature, the poetry, the music, the history and above all the faith without which our culture and our civilisation are unimaginable.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is the foundation of our justice. “Love your neighbour as you love yourself” is the foundation of our mercy. Faith has weakened but not, I’m pleased to say, this high mindedness which faith helped to spawn…
So, ladies and gentlemen, this is a special night. This is a night to renew our commitment, to renew our faith. In a hundred years’ time, all of us will be gone but, please God, not the ideals and the great causes for which we stand. May it be said of us that we have passed the torch of freedom to our successors; which we do by supporting an organisation that’s bigger than any of us and that can outlive all of us.
To support that organisation, the IPA, go here.
Some information on the IPA:


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Identity check

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (10:46am)

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Police are trying to investigate the budding totalitarians who threatened the Lord Mayor, trapped him in his car and let down his tyres:
A TOP cop has blasted the protesters who trapped Lord Mayor Robert Doyle in his car at the National Gallery of Victoria, calling them “cowards with a mob mentality”.
And Superintendent Peter O’Neill has vowed to bring them to justice.
He said Victoria Police would scour CCTV footage and Herald Sun photos with the view to charging those who jumped on the government car or who kicked, punched or stomped on it...
Mayhem erupted outside the St Kilda Rd gallery when about 100 protesters ambushed Cr Doyle’s car as he was arriving to attend the Institute of Public Affairs’ 70th anniversary dinner.
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(Via Tim Blair.) 

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Fabulously wealthy? Me?

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (10:27am)

Reader Lisle is astonished to find she is now “fabulously wealthy”:

Andrew, just to let you know that I am now one of the 16,000 “fabulously wealthy” people under the Gillard Government’s new rules.
In fact I am even a female who classifies for the title. How did I achieve this? In the 1980’s we had zilch for our retirement, but becoming alarmed at this prospect we decided we had to work harder, and save harder, but in the process it appears that I have become one of the “fabulous” few.
Those who know me would find this hard to believe.
I had planned to get it right for comfortable retirement particularly now that I have suffered severe health problems which will cost money. It was reasonable in view of assurances over recent years, that my plans would not be interfered with by the imposition of a tax on my retirement income.
If I make the list of “fabulously wealthy” I can hardly believe there are only 16,000 of us.
There may soon be more, Lisle:
Mr Swan and Superannuation Minister Bill Shorten said the hit would affect just 16,000 people with more than $2 million in superannuation assets and would save $350 million over forward estimates.
However, Treasury modelling was based on only a five per cent return. If superannuation funds returned to pre GFC days of returns above 10 per cent, the measure would hit more than 126,000 households with superannuation balances from $1 million, superannuation experts said yesterday.
UPDATE
Judith Sloan:

The government is expecting to save a mere $350 million over the next four years by breaking Julia Gillard’s solemn commitment, given just two months ago, that “the government reaffirms that it will never remove tax-free superannuation payments for the over-60s”. Another broken promise, perhaps?
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Heights.) 

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Why did Labor MPs let Swan do this to them?

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (10:17am)

I could hardly have put the case against Wayne Swan better than Opposition Leader Simon Crean did to Julia Gillard:
BEFORE former Labor leader Simon Crean held two remarkable press conferences on the last parliamentary sitting day of March, calling for a leadership spill, he had spent an hour and a half the previous night in the Prime Minister’s office…
[The] real target for most of Crean’s frustration, ire and criticism, and the one Crean most wanted to remove, was Treasurer Wayne Swan. In that long conversation with Gillard, Crean aired grievances about the budget process, policy formulation, Swan’s inability to sell a positive message and Labor’s inability to “frame” the economic debate in its favour…
Crean put to Gillard in their private meeting...:that Labor was “trashing” its brand; the government had allowed itself to be reduced to a narrow economic argument over a promised budget surplus; the “miracle” Australian economy was not winning votes or respect; “good borrowing” for infrastructure was being closed out in favour of borrowings for recurrent expenditure; savings were being sought from sound policies to fill a revenue hole; and the rhetoric around the temporary foreign worker visas was damaging.
Crean’s critique, also expressed to others, was the intellectual framework setting out Swan’s failure as Labor’s economic spokesman for more than seven years, and a justification for wanting to move him from Treasury.
I would have also added that Swan has wasted billions on trash and the handout mentality.
If serious Labor figures think this of Swan, how worried must the rest of us be? Why have so many in Labor let Swan wreak this damage to Labor and the nation?
Some days ago I heard from a man I respect that some Labor MPs were bitterly against Labor’s plans to put the media under state control, and at least one might not have voted for it if it came to the crunch. Why did these people not publicly protest? Now Labor will long wear that disgrace of even having tried to muzzle the media, and those who said nothing will wear their acquiescence with shame.
(Thanks to reader Peter.) 

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Facts to counter this anti-Catholic witchhunt

Andrew Bolt April 06 2013 (9:46am)

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Child sexual abuse is shocking. Also shocking is that such crimes are being exploited as the opportunity not to help the victims but destroy the Catholic church.
Much media coverage would have you think the church is filled with predators and is still hiding them. Instead, from the submission of the Catholic Church in Victoria to the parliamentary inquiry, it seems the inquiries are dealing almost entirely with abuses committed decades ago, often by priests since punished or dead.
This again raises the question: why is the royal commission investigating the church over crimes of long ago, but not child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities today - abuse that can at least be stopped?
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From the church submission, some facts you might not know to counter the rabid anti-Catholicism that threatens to seriously damage a great moral institution responsible for much good:

Cases of sexual and physical abuse of children involving the clergy, members of religious orders and other members of the Church began to emerge in Australia in the late 1970s…
The Church acknowledges that our early response was inadequate and too slow. Like society and many professionals of the time, the Church lacked insight into the issue of child abuse…
The year 1996 was a defining one for the Church in Victoria, with the introduction of the Melbourne Response and the approval of Towards Healing… The core elements of both the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing are:

- Putting the victim first;
- Respect for the police process and encouragement to use it;
- An investigation process that is independent of the Church Authority…
- Removal of offenders from all positions where they represent a risk…
An important feature of the Melbourne Response and Towards Healing is that both processes encourage victims to go to the police…
In the past 16 years, the complaints of about 620 victims of criminal child abuse have been upheld by the Church in Victoria. Most claims relate to incidents from 30 and up to 80 years ago. The Church has received very few complaints of abuse that has taken place since 1990.
The Archdiocese of Melbourne and reporting to police In recent times the Archdiocese of Melbourne has been criticised for not reporting matters to the police.  This reflects a misunderstanding of the Melbourne Response.
For example, between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2012, the [church’s] Independent Commissioner received 15 complaints ... [of which] 11 concerned allegations of child sexual abuse… [and] 1 concerned allegations of child physical abuse…
Of the 12 complaints that are relevant to the Terms of Reference of this Inquiry, the Independent Commissioner has upheld 11… At the time of writing this submission, one complaint is outstanding…
None of the complaints concerned current abuse or related to victims who are still children:

- 1 complaint concerned abuse in the 1960s;

- 5 complaints concerned abuse in the 1970s;

- 6 complaints concerned abuse in the 1980s…
Below are some statistics in relation to reporting to Victoria Police and the 12 relevant complaints:
- 4 of the complaints were reported to the police by the victim. All 4 had been reported to the police before the victim contacted the [church’s] Independent Commissioner. Of the 4 complaints reported to the police:
- 3 of the offenders were dead at the time of reporting. Therefore, the police were unable to investigate; and
- 1 complaint was investigated, and the offender pleaded guilty, was convicted and imprisoned.
- 5 further complaints concerned allegations in relation to offenders who were deceased at the time of the complaint to the Independent Commissioner. They were not reported to police. Had they been, there would have been no police investigation;
- 2 victims signed forms acknowledging that the Independent Commissioner had encouraged them to report the matter to police and confirming that they did not wish to report the matter at that time and that they were aware they could refer their complaints to the police at any time; and
- 1 victim resides overseas and… informed the Independent Commissioner that the victim did not propose to report the complaint to the police having no wish to be involved in Court proceedings in Australia.
 Criticism of the Church for failing to report any alleged offences to the police is based on the misplaced assumption that there have been cases that could have been reported.

(Thanks to reader anon.)  

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Latham does to his media career what he did to Labor

Andrew Bolt April 05 2013 (7:27pm)

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Chris Kenny writes in the latest Spectator of former Labor leader Mark Latham’s fiery departure from Sky, and his sheer viciousness. For the full read, buy the mag. Kenny concludes:

Which brings me to Gillard’s recent decision to sleep over in Sydney’s western suburbs. It seemed extraordinary a Labor leader needed to camp out in the heartland to connect. Latham sleeps there every night, so I asked him on to my Sky News Saturday Agenda programme. He made sense, saying Labor must evolve with aspirational voters, not lock on to a shrinking base of unionised workers.
To conclude, I turned to his latest column – a worthy Coalition policy critique – that included an aside about shadow finance minister Andrew Robb (who took leave to battle depression) being a ‘troubled character’. I invited Latham to apologise. He tensed, rummaged under his notes, and pulled out Robb’s book Black Dog Haze. ‘Does he need to apologise to himself?’ demanded Latham. ‘He wrote a book outing himself as having a lifetime of trouble with mental illness.’ I closed the show and, as we walked off set, told Latham I thought he’d just say sorry. ‘Don’t worry,’ he snapped, ‘I saw you coming.’
I drove home after that final spill-night encounter on Sky News. Calls and messages flooded in from management, friends and family. Viewers were complaining about Latham via email, Twitter and Facebook. My normally unflappable wife was venting. (In coming days strangers would approach me and say ‘you should’ve thumped him’.)
Meanwhile, the former Labor leader was back on air after the commercial break, snickering in my absence: ‘I thought he’d resigned.’ Less than a week later, the day before his regular column derided me and a long list of his Sky News colleagues, it was Latham who quit.
Latham has also burned the Spectator, for which he wrote. I wonder how long he’ll last at the Financial Review? I certainly won’t have him back on my own show. 

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Dallas Scott: drop the race talk

Andrew Bolt April 05 2013 (7:10pm)

I have long thought Dallas Scott the most interesting and thoughtful of Aboriginal writers today - although, again, it sells him short to simply pigeonhole him as an “Aboriginal writer”.
So let’s just say Dallas is a fine writer, good man and and above all individual, not some mere representative of a “race”.
From his piece in The Australian today:


I AM proud of my Aboriginal heritage but see myself fundamentally as no different from my fellow Australians and I have been involved in many discussions on Aboriginal identity. I was a guest on SBS’s Insight last year to debate this topic. During the discussion some people said that because they had some Aboriginal ancestry, they had rights and needs that were different from other Australians.
It is their right to identify how they wish, but when it comes to government spending and efforts to close the gap, it causes major problems. The question of who is Aboriginal and who is not, and what Aboriginal-identifying people are entitled to and how they should be treated, is a controversial and important topic. Some avoid discussing it for fear of being sued or branded as racist.
It is especially controversial now, given that the commonwealth Grants Commission recently reported that new estimates of the indigenous population have significantly affected GST shares in the Northern Territory. To quote from its report: “The new data revised down the Northern Territory share of indigenous people, reducing its GST share by around $121 million.” The Weekend Australian (March 23) attributed this to “the large increase in the self-identified Aboriginal-descent population of southern states over the most recent census period”.
Obviously, to the Aboriginal people of the Territory, it is a very important topic. And it should be an important topic for all Australians. While there are disadvantaged Aboriginal people across Australia (just as there are disadvantaged non-Aboriginal people), some Aborigines suffer disadvantage far worse than the vast majority of other Aborigines across the country. Many of these are clearly identifiable as Aboriginal.
So does it make sense that any and all who identify as Aboriginal should be entitled to the same benefits because they have some Aboriginal heritage? Should those who self-identify as Aboriginal be exempt from being questioned when they are the recipients of funds aimed at closing the gap? When we see soaring rates of Aboriginal university graduates, is this an indicator of success if the graduates are not disadvantaged and are largely indistinguishable from most other non-Aboriginal Australians?…
Let’s be need-focused, not race-focused.
Due to our crazy laws and those who interpret them, it is not safe for me to comment. Dallas, however, is Aboriginal, and knows he is therefore freer to debate these things. He takes his responsibility to do so very seriously.
UPDATE
Bookmark Dallas’ excellent Black Steam Train blog.
UPDATE
Another Aboriginal friend sends me this evidence of a federally-funded scheme helping Aborigines:
Danny Lester - from the Aboriginal Employment Strategy, a federally funded not-for-profit agency which has arranged thousands of indigenous career placements - said the new state plan could build on the successes of existing school-to-work schemes… He points to one of his agency’s success stories, Sinoma Gilbert.
(Go to the link.) 

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Gillard’s super grab will hit harder than you think

Andrew Bolt April 05 2013 (7:00pm)

Accountant Kingsley says the Gillard Government has actually slapped a capital gains tax onto property bought with your super funds:

The relevant part of the Government’s announcement:
Special arrangements will apply for capital gains on assets purchased before 1 July 2014: 
* For assets that were purchased before 5 April 2013, the reform will only apply to capital gains that accrue after 1 July 2024;
* For assets that are purchased from 5 April 2013 to 30 June 2014, individuals will have the choice of applying the reform to the entire capital gain, or only that part that accrues after 1 July 2014; and
* For assets that are purchased from 1 July 2014, the reform will apply to the entire capital gain.
These generous transitional arrangements will ensure that people who have already purchased superannuation assets will have ten years to decide whether they want to restructure their superannuation holdings, before their capital gains start to be affected.
Kingsley warns that some people on modest super will, when they finally sell their property, find a big whack taken out:
Face value, this means anyone who buys a property in their Self Manage Superannuation Fund today onwards will have to pay 15% on any capital gain that takes them over $100K with the slight grandfathering of the value gained between now and 1/7/14.
Given most people buy property in SMSF for the long term, it’s highly likely they’ll have considerable capital gains and will be caught even if their typical annual pension income is well below $100K.
This is probably the next worst thing to taxing people’s family homes.

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Our money, their ‘penis’ smears

Andrew Bolt April 05 2013 (5:55pm)

An email to Andrew Jaspan, editor of The Conversation, a website funded by our universities:

Andrew:
The Conversation receives a lot of taxpayer money to fulfil what it claims are its goal:
“Our team of professional editors work with university, CSIRO and research institute experts to unlock their knowledge for use by the wider public… Our aim is to allow for better understanding of current affairs and complex issues. And hopefully allow for a better quality of public discourse and conversations.”
Can you tell me how your “team of professional editors” thinks it contributes to “a better quality of public discourse and conversations” to publish the following comments:
3.
Tyson Adams
Scientist and author
In reply to Robert McDougall
I like the idea of that. Can’t see it happening, because the Bolt’s of the world get away with being dicks.
40 minutes ago report
4.
Robert McDougall
Small Business Owner
In reply to Tyson Adams
now that is a bit unfair to penises, unless your equating Bolt to one of the diseased, rancid variety.
30 minutes ago report
You have already had to remove a defamatory smear of me by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. Should I detect a pattern?
UPDATE
Comments now removed.
(Thanks to reader Neil.) 

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I met with the IMF’s Christine Lagarde in Chinatoday and discussed world economic developments.
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I was privileged to be a guest of Camp Breakaway this afternoon to observe firsthand the outstanding work and dedication staff and volunteers provide to families attending the High Needs Family Camp. These weekend camps provide respite for children with high needs and / or children with rare disorders (some of whom are terminally ill) and their parents and siblings.

Thank you to Dawn and Jodie for your hospitality this afternoon and for providing me with the opportunity to experience firsthand the positive contribution and difference you and the wonderful Camp Breakaway volunteers make to the lives of the children and their families.
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Miguel De La Cruz and I went hunting for Sunset Light tonight and found none… but I didn't mind at all.

Many thanks go out to our good friend Paul Porterwho directed us to this spot by phone. — atNicasio Reservoir.
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4 her
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He is 101, she is 103, and they've been married for 88 years!
These days, he'd have a criminal record .. - ed
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Pink EEE!
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My husband and i were dressed and ready to go out for a lovely evening of dinner and theatre. Having been burgled in the past, we turned on a 'night light' and the answering machine, then put the cat in the backyard. When our cab arrived, we walked out our front door and our rather tubby cat scooted between our legs inside, then ran up the stairs. Because our cat likes to chase our budgie we really didn't want to leave them unchaperoned so my husband ran inside to retrieve her and put her in the back yard again.

Because i didn't want the taxi driver to know our house was going to be empty all evening, i explained to him that my husband would be out momentarily as he was just bidding goodnight to my mother. A few minutes later he got into the cab all hot and bothered, and said (to my growing horror and amusement) as the cab pulled away.

"Sorry it took so long but the stupid bitch was hiding under the bed and i had to poke her arse with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off so i grabbed her by the neck and wrapped her in a blanket so she wouldn't scratch me like she did last time. But it worked! I hauled her fat arse down the stairs and threw her into the backyard....she had better not shit in the vegetable garden again."

The silence in the taxi was deafening.....
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The Doctor takes Clara to the Festival of Offerings, but the Old God is waking and demands sacrifice...

Don't miss 'The Rings of Akhaten' tomorrow onABC TV Australia!

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Sarah Palin: Americans ‘need to get outraged’ over green energy losers like Fisker ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/04/05/sarah-palin-americans-need-to-get-outraged-over-green-energy-losers-like-fisker/
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Researchers studying the imperiled marshes of Cape Cod were surprised to discover a section of marsh was coming back, and the cause was an invasive green crab. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3nfk
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Photo: Warning - crazy environmentalists at work again (you could get angry when you read this). An environmental group focused on the dangers of climate change is lobbying for Canadian municipalities to pass bylaws that would require warning labels on gas station pump nozzles. Lawyer Robert Shirkey says the warning labels on the nozzles would be similar to those found on cigarette packages and would act to warn users of the negative effects of fossil fuels. "The future of the planet is literally in the palm of your hand (when you pick up the nozzle)," Shirkey, founder of Our Horizon, told an audience Thursday at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto. Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/warning-labels-on-gas-pump-nozzles-1.1225212#ixzz2PdKVlu00
You won't save the world by putting water in your petrol tank - ed
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It is like driving and seeing an idiot doing something stupid .. if you are judgemental, you might not notice why a rational person has acted desperately. - ed
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I don't feel that strongly about it .. ed
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The Bushmaster has arrived for the Memorial Open Day. 
Find out more about the history of this Infantry Mobility Vehicle here www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL31116.001 — at Australian War Memorial.
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A species of freshwater turtle found on the Seychelles was thought to be extinct for more than 100 years, but a new genetic analysis of a specimen at the Natural History Museum in Vienna showed that the turtle was actually part of a larger population that's still alive thousands of miles away in West Africa. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3mtn
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So I tried to get from point A to point B, with full access to a map, and my path ended up looking a little something like this... I apologise to the women of the world - I'm not helping the stereotype. — at Torget i Gamla Stan.
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Every time I do a little light painting I feel the need to give a shout out to the one and only "pope" of all this night time tom foolery Troy Paiva, who trailblazed the way for all of us sleepless photographers who wander around in the dark looking for things to point our cameras at.

This particular image was light painted by my Android and a small amount of flashlight, while the rest of the light was provided by passing cars at the Bixby Bridge and a flashing road sign. — 
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God delights in you taking freely from Him because it shows that you appreciate His Son’s sacrifice! Check out today's devotional and be blessed! http://bit.ly/10k0JdE
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But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. I praise God for what He has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me (Ps 56:3–4, NLT)?
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The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.(Prov 19:12)

God is not angry with you, even when you fail or blow it, because all your sins have been judged in the body of His Son at the cross. Because Jesus has exhausted all of God’s wrath, God will never be angry with you! 

Instead, God loves you and He rains His favor on you every morning! Beloved, be conscious that because God’s favor is upon you, you can expect His goodness and blessings in abundance—in whatever you do, wherever you go!
http://josephprince.com/
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God has made it easy for you to live life under the new covenant! Check out today's devotional and be blessed!http://bit.ly/10jTGS4
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Beloved, rest in your righteous identity in Christ and release God’s awesome, mighty power to reign in life!

Click below to watch a short clip of this powerful message. Be sure to click 'Like' and share this with your friends! Amen!
http://bit.ly/10DJh2P
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Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for April 5th. Enjoy!

From the Blog

Smiley-face lies and homicide hogwash in Dem hellholes

President Obama’s hometown of Chicago still goes by the old nickname “Windy City.” But after three miserable decades of strict gun control and permanent Democratic rule, Chicago has cemented its reputation as America’s Bloody City...

Michelle Obama: ‘Busy single mother’

Sometimes, when you least expect it, parapraxis rears its ugly head...

Obama on Pelosi: She never lets ideology cloud her judgment

When President Obama is on his game he’s some serious kind of funny (he’s funny when he’s off his game as well)...

More From the Right Side of the Web

Featured Video

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Yesterday, Michelle talked to Fox's Eric Bolling about the Associated Press putting the kibosh on "illegal immigrant" and the government's quest to redefine American citizenship.

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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He's a charmer, this guy.

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April 6: Easter Saturday (Western Christianity, 2013)
Jan van Riebeeck

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