Monday, March 29, 2010
Bill O'Reilly - Enforcing Obama-Care
Talking points segment. Laura Ingraham contributes. Aired on 3/25/2010.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Headlines Sunday 28th March 2010
=== Todays Toon ===
"Moving from one's positions now is filled with difficulties": The Okinawa issue was a problem for both Sato and Johnson according to this editorial cartoon in The Christian Science Monitor.
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969 after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963. He served in all four federal elected offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President.=== Bible Quote ===
“My salvation and my honor depend on God ; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.”- Psalm 62:7=== Headlines ===
Sarah Palin rallies thousands of conservative Tea Party activists in the Nevada hometown of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.No 'Recess' at White House
Despite GOP objections, Obama uses recess appointments to fill 15 posts without Senate confirmation, including controversial labor board nominee
Arabs to Iran: Let's Talk
Head of Arab League urges nations to talk to Iran about its nuclear program instead of imposing new sanctions
Vatican On the Defensive
Top cardinal says recent attacks against the church over handling of clerical sex abuse cases have been harmful
Embattled U.N. Climate Chief Apologizes for Response to Criticism, Won't Resign
The outspoken chairman of the U.N.’s climate change body is to adopt a neutral advisory role and has agreed to stop making statements demanding new taxes and other radical policies on cutting emissions. In an interview with the Times of London, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, apologized for his organization’s handling of complaints about errors in its report. He also apologized for describing as “voodoo science” an Indian Government report which challenged the IPCC’s claims about the rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers. But Dr Pachauri, 70, rejected calls for his resignation and insisted he would remain as chairman until after publication of the IPCC’s next report in 2014. He claimed he had the support of all the world’s governments and denied that, by remaining in post, he was undermining the IPCC’s chances of regaining credibility with the public.
The Oppposition Leader jokes he does no more exercise than John Howard but, in the eyes of Australia, this is one gruelling race he cannot afford not to finishLights go out worldwide for Earth Hour
AUSTRALIA flicks the switch to darkness and kick starts a global energy-saving marathon. - pictured is North Korea's daily observance for over sixty years - ed.Now schools can sue parents
SCHOOL principals in NSW have been advised staff can sue parents who defame and harass them through social networking sites and email. The NSW Primary Principals Association believes the issue has become so serious that the Education Department's legal services chief, Michael Waterhouse, was asked to address principals on taking legal action. The association says it has been told of at least 11 incidents, mostly in the past year, where principals or teachers have been harassed, defamed, intimidated or attacked by parents or community members. - there is a substantial possibility this law may be abused by the ALP. -ed.
ALP tries to get a win from loss
LABOR has tried to turn Kristina Keneally's TV-debate loss into a win, using Barry O'Farrell's verbal slip in the leaders' head-to-head contest in negative radio and TV ads. Soon after Friday's debate, ALP officials rushed the slip - in which Mr O'Farrell said he was going to win the next election - to an advertising agency to be turned into "attack" TV advertisements. Liberal staff claimed Mr O'Farrell had meant to say he was "determined" to win the election. But those five words - "We are going to win" - will feature in TV ads aired over coming weeks.
Woman's $114,000 parking fines
SORRY record of 360 tickets in less than two years puts driver at top of fine-evasion league.
Uma Thurman's mother of all flops
BOX office record for Kill Bill star as just 11 people turn up to see her latest movie.
Parents hire armed cops to police parties
OFF-DUTY officers can earn $103 an hour keeping troublemakers away from teen parties.
Court sticks victim for cost of trial
OUTRAGE as father of five children murdered by their mother is billed for cost of her conviction.
Sex-mad backpackers spreading diseases
THEY come for the sun, get drunk and have unprotected sex - the tourists who are being blamed for huge increase in STDs.
Isobel Redmond says Liberals may challenge election results
THE South Australian Liberal Party will consider challenges to election results in marginal seats as more voting discrepancies emerge. Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond labelled the election the "dodgiest" she has been involved in, following Labor's ruse to have supporters impersonate Family First officials in marginal seats and give out how-to-vote cards directing preferences to Labor instead of the Liberals. It has also emerged that: - In the Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, 96 patients missed out on voting after Electoral Commission staff were unable to take their votes on polling day. - An undisclosed number of people in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital also were unable to vote, and officials say it is almost certain patients in other major hospitals such as the Royal Adelaide Hospital also missed out. Law officers are investigating an anonymous claim that a family voted 159 times - including a minor who voted 31 times - in marginal electorates in order to expose flaws in the electoral system. The Electoral Commission used a roving team to take votes from bed-bound patients at the FMC before the election but was not able to patrol the wards on polling day. It is not known how many of the patients were enrolled in the nearby cliffhanger seat of Bright.
Couple fell 10m from lovers' hotspot
POLICE are investigating how a man and a woman found in Coogee by a passer-by fell from the roof of a beach-side building popular with late-night lovers.
Asylum seekers denied protection, sent to Villawood
THE transfer of 89 asylum seekers from overcrowded Christmas Island to Australia's mainland yesterday marked the end of the Howard Government's policy of universal offshore processing, the Opposition said.
=== Comments ===
PM worms out of tough questionsPiers Akerman
GIVEN the media focus on the federal Opposition, it would be easy for a foreign observer Googling Australian politics to believe Tony Abbott was Prime Minister, not Kevin Rudd. - All good questions, Piers, but there are more. What was Rudd’s involvement in the attempted assassination of Xanana Gusmao? How does Rudd account for the loss of lives by refugees arriving by boat, estimated in the late ‘70’s as being 100% of all arrivals, but possibly being many times more. Why has he sold Stern Hu down the river to the Chinese after his election campaign when he told the Chinese he was their puppet and they could pull his strings? Can he explain to my 7 yo niece how global warming works again, she has forgotten it. Maybe explain it publicly, and to scientists this time. Where is the cooperation between states on water and health he promised? Why is small business doing so badly since he was elected .. with thousands of small time sandwich shops letting staff go for lack of business? How come anti corruption watchdogs have been cowed by the ALP? - ed.
===
And, no, George Bush is not the right answer
Andrew Bolt
Can AFL footballers, with 12 years of Australian schooling behind them, name even five Prime Ministers?
What a devastating indictment of our education system and culture of proud know-nothingness.
===
Now Rudd must bring his boat people to the mainland
Andrew Bolt
A record rate of boat arrivals fills Christmas Island to overflowing:
ABOUT 90 male asylum seekers have departed Christmas Island on a charter flight bound for the mainland…UPDATE
The charter is the first in the past four days to carry asylum seekers without visas to the mainland as the Department of Immigration and Citizenship moves to ease pressure at its Christmas Island detention facilities.
Until now, only teenage asylum seekers, families and people with special circumstances, such as health problems, have been transferred to the mainland…
The Australian Navy found another boat of suspected asylum seekers today, southeast of the Ashmore Islands. Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said HMAS Glenelg found the boat, which was carrying seven suspected asylum seekers.
Rudd sends more of those signals that explain the huge increase in boats:More asylum seekers are expected to arrive in Queensland in coming days. Some of the detainees in Brisbane have been here for months and a group of Afghani and Kurdish asylum seekers yesterday were taken on a shopping trip to a suburban mall.But you are supposed to pay for their groceries.
A busload of four women, two little girls, a boy and three men yesterday left the transit centre accompanied by two Immigration staff and arrived at Centro Toombul shopping centre, on Brisbane’s northside, at 10am. They spent the next hour and a quarter shopping inside the centre.
The group returned to the bus with two shopping trolleys loaded with grocery bags. Their purchases in Coles included Home Brand Hawaiian pizza, Smiths potato crisps and cartons of Coca-Cola.
When The Sunday Mail asked if they were Afghanis, several said “Yes” and one said “Kurdish”. They smiled, nodded and said “Yes” when asked if they had come from Christmas Island, but did not say how long they had been in Brisbane.
An Immigration staff member said: “They are not supposed to talk to you.”
===
Book now for the new Italy
Andrew Bolt
Britain’s National Trust warns of the humanity-destroying apocalypse to come if the planet warms by 4 degrees. Britain’s gardens, it claims, will then look like this:
I’d say book your holidays now and beat the rush.===
Earth Hour bores
Andrew Bolt
A joke falls even flatter:
MELBOURNE’S landmark institutions went dark last night - including the Arts Centre, Luna Park and the Skipping Girl sign on Victoria Street in Abbotsford - although there were signs the city’s enthusiasm for the event may be waning.When people in mainland Australia’s reddest state lose interest in even making the most tokenistic gesture to “save” the planet from global warming, we can assume the fraud is falling to bits.
National project manager for Earth Hour, Jennifer Croes, conceded that this year Victoria had not embraced the event as much as some other states…
According to the spreadsheet released by Earth Hour, [Victorian] 466 businesses, councils and government agencies had signed on, with a few more expected by the switch-off. Figures released from the 2008 Earth Hour show that 1474 businesses signed up (not including councils), indicating that participation may have dropped by more than two-thirds.
The Australian Energy Market Operator notes a surge in demand for nasty coal-fired power around 9.30pm yesterday, at the end of Earth Hour:
In NSW, it’s hard to see any wavering at all around Earth Hour:
And less than 24 hours after this campaign to cut emissions from burning oil and coal, Melbourne holds a fossil fuel orgy:AUSSIE hero Mark Webber is well placed to claim a fairytale win in today’s Australian Formula One Grand Prix… Gates were opened early to let a swelling crowd into the track ahead of schedule with 82,200 watching, almost 8000 more than last year.UPDATE
Alarmism falls in Germany, too:
Leading German magazine SPIEGEL Online has conducted a representative survey about climate change. The (not so surprising) result is that now only a minority (42%) are afraid of the climate change, compared to 62% in fall 2006.UPDATE 2
Reader TonyfromOz on the fraud:
We’ll hear wild claims about how much CO2 was saved with the lights going out for that one hour. However, it is all theoretical, because nothing is actually ‘saved’ at all. Power plants just do not stop providing their power to the grids for that one hour, so they just keep humming along as they always have. The Earth Hour Con explains this and details the reality of what does happen for that one hour.UPDATE 3
Oh! And if you have turned your household lights off for that one hour, you will have saved some money off your next electricity account. Five cents in fact. Five cents.
Sydney university warmists muck up the whole idea of Earth Hour by switching lights on instead of off:
(Thanks to reader Big Ted.)===
Bullying isn’t a defence to bullying
Andrew Bolt
A human rights lawyers who claims her son is no bully has picked a very odd way to prove it:
AN ELITE Melbourne private school is suing the mother of a former student it says set up a defamatory website disparaging the school and its principal after her son was expelled for bullying.I have no idea who this lawyer is,or why the Sunday Age saw fit not to name her. Is her name Mrs Jellyby, I wonder, and does the alleged behaviour of this human rights lawyer tend to confirm the truth of what Bertrand Russell once observed:
Tintern’s Southwood Boys Grammar, an Anglican school in Ringwood, says the mother sought revenge against the school by setting up a website to mislead people into believing it was an official school site. It also alleges she set up an email address and sent emails pretending to be from the school to parents and staff, directing them to her website.
The mother, a human rights and welfare lawyer, uses the pseudonym ‘’Julie Barkly’’ on the website to protect her identity.
Ms Barkly’s son Shaun, also a pseudonym, was expelled from Southwood Boys Grammar in November 2006 after what it says were 15 incidents of ‘’harassment, bullying, wilful misconduct and unacceptable behaviour’’. It alleges Shaun pushed and bullied other students, closed a window on the fingers of a student and moved a chair as a student went to sit down, resulting in him falling to the floor.
Much of what passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.Or H.L.Mencken:
The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it.(Thanks to reader CA.)
===
More bills than water, thanks to Brumby’s dam ban
Andrew Bolt
The cost of Labor’s dam ban just went up even more:
JOHN Brumby’s multibillion-dollar plan to save water in northern Victoria and boost Melbourne’s supply has been rubbished by Australia’s top economists and water experts.Instead of spending just $1.3 billion on a new dam on the Mitchell River, this Government wasted $3.5 billion on a desalination plant that will produce a third of the water. And for insurance it’s wasted $750 million more on this pipeline to steal water from irrigators.
They say that the project is based on ‘’spurious’’ claims and will result in the waste of hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money.
The government’s controversial Foodbowl Modernisation Project is already pushing water bills higher and will drain a further $1.6 billion from state and federal coffers. But experts say taxpayers are forking out four times the money necessary to provide more water for the city and the environment....The $1 billion first stage, expected to be finished by 2014, will deliver 225 billion litres in ‘’saved’’ water, divided equally between irrigators, Melbourne and the environment. Melbourne’s 75 billion litres will come down the already-completed $750 million north-south pipeline, which, since last month, has delivered water to the city from older rural water-saving projects and environmental reserves.
Scandalous. Green dreams have cost us billions.
(Thanks to readers Scarlet Pumpernickel and CA.)
Impact of Health Care on States
Neil Cavuto of Fox News speaks with Governor Rick Perry of Texas (TX) about the impacts of the Obama care legislation on state governments and budgets. Aired on 3/27/2010.
Impact of Health Care on States
Neil Cavuto of Fox News speaks with Governor Rick Perry of Texas (TX) about the impacts of the Obama care legislation on state governments and budgets. Aired on 3/27/2010.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Headlines Saturday 27th March 2010
=== Todays Toon ===
by Hugh Haynie of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal., 1959. “He wasn’t there again today – How, how we wish he’d go away.” Though Adlai Stevenson 1922 lost the presidential race two times, his unseen presence overshadowed the Democratic nominating process in 1960. Here, contenders Stuart Symington, Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, and John F. Kennedy lament Stevenson’s unfilled shoes (note the famous hole). The cartoon references a nursery rhyme and 1930s song, “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There”: “As I was going up the stair / I saw a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish, he’d stay away.”
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.=== Bible Quote ===
“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,”- Philippians 1:29=== Headlines ===
After riding to fame on McCain's coattails, Palin is trying to save the four-term Ariz. senator's political life by helping him overcome toughest re-election challenge ever.Secularist Coalition Claims Victory in Iraqi Elections
Ayad Allawi wins most seats in parliamentary elections, beating Shiite bloc headed by country's PM Nouri al-Maliki
Dems: Full Throttle on Health Overhaul
As Republicans await next step in lawsuit against 'ObamaCare,' some states led by Dems are already moving to implement the new health care law
A START on New Nuke Treaty
Obama says nuke treaty to replace START accord shows U.S., Russia ready to leave 20th century behind
An ACORN by Any Other Name Still Smells Like an ACORN, Critics Say
Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, who led an investigation into the group, said ACORN's assertion that it is closing is just another scheme designed to get its hands on taxpayer funds.
Bali Nine members facing the death penalty tell of how they try not to think about the prospect of capital punishment / Luckman S. BintoroHey Dad! star to see police
SEX Crimes Squad detectives are preparing to take a statement from Sarah Monahan.
'Illness fuelled sister's murder plot'
A GIRL who stabbed her sister to death searched the internet for ways to kill her, a court hears.
Australians richer despite financial crisis
AUSTRALIANS are clawing back the wealth they lost in the global financial crisis, ABS reports.
'Despicable' sex con preys on elderly men
A WOMAN fleeces elderly men by making sexual advances before conning them out of cash.
Formula One champion caught hooning
FORMER F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton caught hoon driving and has car impounded.
'Family voted 159 times in election'
THE Electoral Commission wants an inquiry into claims a family voted 159 times in the South Australian election
Babysitters guilty of murdering toddler
A COUPLE who inflicted more than 70 injuries on a three-year-old boy they babysat have been found guilty of his murder.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Showdown in the West! Guests Sen. John McCain & Sarah Palin talk GOP strategy on his hotly contested Senate race.
LIVE From D.C.!Health care politics! Find out what it means for YOU! Plus, don't miss 'Cost of Freedom' Saturday at 10a et!
===
Olympic Figure Skater Evan Lysacek
The Olympic gold-medalist sits down with the governor!
===
Rubio & Crist Square Off!
A special LIVE face-off! With the state's critical U.S. Senate seat on the line, they're in a fierce battle in Florida's hotly contested primary!
=== Comments ===
The Truth About Obamacare EnforcementBy Bill O'Reilly
If you were watching Wednesday night, you saw Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner tell me I was misinformed about the IRS punishing people who don't cooperate with Obamacare. The interview was quite something:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: The IRS is now going to have to enforce Obamacare. So if you say flip it, I ain't buying it, then the IRS is the one that is going to make the determination whether you get fined or what happens to you. So again, the IRS is going to have to have access to information.
REP. ANTHONY WEINER, D-N.Y.: That's not — that is not true.
O'REILLY: And if you don't want to buy health insurance…
WEINER: That's the way the bill works.
O'REILLY: …the IRS has to see to it that you do. That's what universal health care is about.
WEINER: Incorrect.
O'REILLY: The IRS then comes in and deals with that person.
WEINER: That's not true.
O'REILLY: Who deals with them? Who determines the fine?
WEINER: We're not criminalizing them for failure — it's in the law.
O'REILLY: I'm asking you the simplest question in the world. If somebody refuses to cooperate…
WEINER: When you say…
O'REILLY: …who finds them and you can't tell me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
So what is the truth of the matter? I hope Mr. Weiner has a pen.
No 1: Beginning in 2014, the IRS will be the primary enforcement arm of universal health care, and they might need 16,000 new agents. If you don't buy health insurance, the IRS can fine you. That is, take part of your tax refund, up to 2.5 percent come 2016. For some people, that's big.
No 2: The IRS will have control over who does and who does not purchase health insurance. We hear that you will have to tell the agency your insurance status on your tax returns.
No 3: The feds can punish you in other ways if you do not get a tax refund. If you are receiving any other federal benefits, they could take them away from you after checking first with the — ready Congressman Weiner? — IRS.
So you can see that the Internal Revenue Service will greatly expand its power under Obamacare. So I believe I was correct in my assessment, and Mr. Weiner was a bit confused.
As always, we are ready to receive facts to the contrary.
The importance of the IRS deal is the constitutional challenge to Obamacare. Does the federal government have a right to demand that you buy anything that doesn't directly relate to public safety, like car insurance? Eventually that will be what the Supreme Court will have to decide.
In the meantime, the feds will require you to purchase some kind of health insurance, and if you don't have the money, they will subsidize you. And everyone will be required to tell the government exactly what kind of insurance you have.
So there you have it. We appreciate Congressman Weiner coming on to debate. We know Obamacare is a complicated issue, but, once again, we were correct. The IRS is the enforcement arm.
===
Lip gloss versus reality in NSW
Piers Akerman
Behind NSW Premier Kristina Keneally’s lip gloss, there lurks a formidable politician. - Barry won and Kenneally failed, but don’t expect the mainstream media to report that. It will be said that Barry was too negative. How negative can one be about this abysmal government which Keneally has not got the talent to fix? Keneally has not looked into the issue of Hamidur Rahman which may lead me to run for the legislative council in next year’s election as an independent.
Even if Keneally had the courage to attempt to change course for NSW, she would get caught in those strings she is tied up in. At what stage is someone so inept that they may be considered to be corrupt? The government had no problem smearing me to the legislative council, but they still spoke the truth on the issue too. They admitted they hid the testimony that the parents of Hamidur Rahman were blameless for his death from the coroner because they didn’t feel it was important. If you think about it, they failed to sell electricity for $120 billion in the early 90’s because that wasn’t important either. Now we must pay some $10 billion to keep electricity active .. standing still. Voters don’t seem to be important to Keneally either, although it is good to know she loves her mother. - ed.
David replied Neither side has run with it DD and the Liberal Party has also shown you little support other than the initial questioning. Both sides will hang you out to dry mate either through malice or by lack of political mileage so I suspect your on your won.David, it isn’t the Liberal party’s fault. I’ve been offered support from several notable figures, but I have had to decline because of the smear. It is too soon for the Liberals to do anything because the ALP have smeared, but haven’t acknowledged anything. The problem is the anti corruption watchdogs have been silenced .. the ICAC and the Ombudsman’s office have a duty of care to the issue and have gotten off by claiming bogus reasons. Any press cover would end their excuse and force the ALP hand to address the issue. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter so much if I get elected, but by running I might get the press to break their silence. I’ll run as an independent even though I’m a liberal supporter because Hamidur Rahman is only a single issue and I wouldn’t be able to address it in a multi issue party format. But I’m a conservative. David, also, I’m not interested in clearing my name. I’m solely interested in taking the smear away from Hamidur’s parents. I think the rest will follow that. Tim, the ALP vocab is limited. they curse at each other in their policy discourse. The way they speak to the conservatives and public does not come naturally to them. What you heard from Biden and Rudd were policy statements. - ed.
I agree that you give the LC a go. I sadly suspect that this will your only chance in clearing your name.
Tim replied
DD, Dave: I reckon the ‘F’ bomb dropped by Biden and the ‘shitstorm’ remark by Rudd were deliberate. This seems to be a new tactic to emphasis the importance of a policy initiative.
===
Face of a Labor cheat
Andrew Bolt
Mind you, he was only following orders:QUEENSLAND Ministerial staffer and young Labor apparatchik Nino Lalic has been revealed as part of the dirty tricks campaign at the weekend poll.
Mr Lalic, who works as an administrative officer for Queensland Disability Services Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk, took four weeks leave without pay to help Labor campaign in Adelaide.
The Advertiser obtained a photograph of the 22-year-old Young Labor member, who is part of the dominant Right faction, wearing a T-shirt that reads: “Put Your FAMILY FIRST”…
Mr Lalic confirmed he was in Adelaide, but initially denied wearing a “Family First” T-shirt. It is understood, however, that he was wearing an ALP supplied T-shirt and handing out second preference cards in relation to Family First, which were authorised by SA Labor state secretary Michael Brown.
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Building the anti-waste revolution
Andrew Bolt
A mutiny against Rudd’s obscene waste:
ALMOST half the population of a tiny NSW town blockaded its school’s gates yesterday to prevent builders and managing contractor Bovis Lend Lease from entering the site to perform works under the Rudd government’s Building the Education Revolution program.
The small primary school in the NSW Hunter Valley town of Cassilis had been slated to receive a toilet block and a covered outdoor learning area for a combined cost of $250,000 under the schools building program.
After learning that construction costs had blown out so much that the COLA had to be scrapped, the toilet block downsized and that the drinking fountains were not going to be replaced, parents decided to take matters into their own hands. About 40 of the town’s residents created the blockage yesterday.
“Enough is enough,” Cassilis P&C association spokesman Phillip Morton said.
“We want to stop the project. And the reason we want to stop it is we believe if we do that now, we can incorporate the facilities we need into the building. But if we wait till it’s complete, it’s only going to be harder to extend, and it will cost taxpayers more.”
===
Don’t strip in Iceland
Andrew Bolt
What Christianity - and ice - could not achieve, feminists can:
===
The betrayal of Israel
Andrew Bolt
The new anti-"Zionism" - or anti-Semiitism for many - has gone mainstream in a deadly serious way:
Praise to Tony Abbott for standing against it:
TONY Abbott has called on the Rudd government not to expel an Israeli diplomat over allegations the Israeli secret service, Mossad, used forged Australian passports in the assassination of a Hamas terrorist in Dubai…
The Opposition Leader wants the Rudd government to ignore the precedent set by Gordon Brown’s government in London, which expelled an Israeli diplomat as punishment for the use of British passports in the Dubai killing....
“We can never forget that Israel is a country under existential threat in a way Australians find difficult to understand,” Mr Abbott told The Weekend Australian. “It’s also the only pluralist democracy in the Middle East.
===
A new class of villain
Andrew Bolt
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Lisa Pryor:
===
HOUR OF 570 HORSEPOWER
Tim Blair
As a symbolic gesture to mark the importance of Earth Hour, I’m currently driving one of these across Mexico:
===
The plan explained: an African on every fire truck
Andrew Bolt
My column yesterday noted the revolt of women firefighers against the Metropolitan Fire Brigade’s plan to end “discrimination” against them by introducing policies to discriminate for them - and for migrants, too.
I wrote that the MFB had assured the women that entry requirements for these “disadvantaged” groups would not change (although this was not the women’s principal concern), although these groups were to be offered a special pre-selection course to get up to speed.
Two particularly interesting comments have since come in. First, from a firefighter who doubts the MFB’s assurance:
In case you think I’m misrepresenting Latta’s argument in order to mock it, here it is in full:
There is not a hope in hell of overcoming the situation you describe without you sending African officers to every fire that conceivably involves African homeowners. And, of course, you’d need a representative of every other unassimilated minority on every firetruck, too, to make your dream real. Otherwise you’d face the embarrassment of having sent only Anglo and Sudanese firefighters to a fire in the home of, say, an Afghan or Iraqi.
But maybe I’m just not thinking big enough? Is the plan to set up rival ethnic services, so Muslims can ring their own Muslim fire service, Africans theirs, Jews theirs and so on?
Hmm. Might it not actually be easier if we accept into this country people with less hatred, disdain or fear of our officials, or taught them fast that Australia has different ways and expectations? And that it’s all in together?
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Killed by the rise of the feral
Andrew Bolt
Another case of our reverse-Darwinism:
UPDATE
Meanwhile:
===
Rudd lets China buy up our suburbs
Andrew Bolt
Yet another Kevin Rudd scheme whacks us with its unintended consequences - this time fuelling out housing bubble and pricing Australians out of their nice suburbs:
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Another alarmist puzzled by the lack of warming
Andrew Bolt
Barack Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, has been certain we face doom from global warming:
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Another win to a SA Labor party most don’t want
Andrew Bolt
Reader John Comnenus says Labor keeps winning elections in South Australia against the will of most voters:
In 1989 the ALP won 48.1% of the 2PP vote and formed government,
In 1993 the ALP won 39% of the 2PP vote and lost government,
In 1997 the ALP won 48.5% of the vote and remained out of Government,
In 2002 the ALP won 49.1% of the vote and formed government,
In 2006 the ALP won 56.8% of the vote and formed government,
In 2010 the ALP won probably around 49% of the vote and easily form government.
So since 1989 there have been six elections. The ALP has only won a majority of the vote once but has formed government on four occasions. The Liberals have won a majority of the vote on five out of six occasions but only formed government twice…
In Joh Bjelke Petersen’s day this was called a Gerrymander. In Mike Rann’s day it’s called a superior marginal seats campaign. Either way it seems that the State Electoral Commissioner in SA consistently puts up electoral boundaries that allow the Government to be formed by the ALP against the clearly stated will of the people.
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How World Vision helped fund a monument to a Jew killer
Andrew Bolt
I’ve already decided not to donate a single extra dollar to World Vision when my current sponsorships run out, But now add to its global warming extremism this (naively unwitting) support of another kind of fanaticism:
UPDATE
Reader HRT has a further objection:
But reader Dom, a World Vision employee, adds:
It is worth noting that Tim Costello speaks at hundreds of events across Australia. He donates all of the money from speaking fees - $125,000 - back to World Vision.
===
Alarmist government brought down to earth
Andrew Bolt
The judge is perfectly right - a government which claims we’re in mortal danger from man-made global warming can’t then hand out more rope:
(Thanks to reader Yankeebravo.)
Andrew Bolt
A mutiny against Rudd’s obscene waste:
ALMOST half the population of a tiny NSW town blockaded its school’s gates yesterday to prevent builders and managing contractor Bovis Lend Lease from entering the site to perform works under the Rudd government’s Building the Education Revolution program.
The small primary school in the NSW Hunter Valley town of Cassilis had been slated to receive a toilet block and a covered outdoor learning area for a combined cost of $250,000 under the schools building program.
After learning that construction costs had blown out so much that the COLA had to be scrapped, the toilet block downsized and that the drinking fountains were not going to be replaced, parents decided to take matters into their own hands. About 40 of the town’s residents created the blockage yesterday.
“Enough is enough,” Cassilis P&C association spokesman Phillip Morton said.
“We want to stop the project. And the reason we want to stop it is we believe if we do that now, we can incorporate the facilities we need into the building. But if we wait till it’s complete, it’s only going to be harder to extend, and it will cost taxpayers more.”
===
Don’t strip in Iceland
Andrew Bolt
What Christianity - and ice - could not achieve, feminists can:
Iceland has passed a law that will result in every strip club in the country being shut down… The Nordic state is the first country in the world to ban stripping and lapdancing for feminist, rather than religious, reasons.Makes Christianity seem a lax and permissive creed in comparison.
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The betrayal of Israel
Andrew Bolt
The new anti-"Zionism" - or anti-Semiitism for many - has gone mainstream in a deadly serious way:
For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of. Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip viewed in Jerusalem as a humiliation.UPDATE
After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and “let me know if there is anything new”, a US congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.
“It was awful,” the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting “a hazing in stages”, poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received ”the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea”.
Praise to Tony Abbott for standing against it:
TONY Abbott has called on the Rudd government not to expel an Israeli diplomat over allegations the Israeli secret service, Mossad, used forged Australian passports in the assassination of a Hamas terrorist in Dubai…
The Opposition Leader wants the Rudd government to ignore the precedent set by Gordon Brown’s government in London, which expelled an Israeli diplomat as punishment for the use of British passports in the Dubai killing....
“We can never forget that Israel is a country under existential threat in a way Australians find difficult to understand,” Mr Abbott told The Weekend Australian. “It’s also the only pluralist democracy in the Middle East.
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A new class of villain
Andrew Bolt
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Lisa Pryor:
Instead of professing love of country, a better class of scoundrel can profess love of school. Why sticky-tape the national flag in the front window of your home when you can stick the pennant of your private school on the back window of your car?My own children - and their lovely friends - are all scoundrels for loving their schools? And their parents are scoundrels, too, for spending so much on education that we could have splurged on ourselves instead?
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HOUR OF 570 HORSEPOWER
Tim Blair
As a symbolic gesture to mark the importance of Earth Hour, I’m currently driving one of these across Mexico:
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The plan explained: an African on every fire truck
Andrew Bolt
My column yesterday noted the revolt of women firefighers against the Metropolitan Fire Brigade’s plan to end “discrimination” against them by introducing policies to discriminate for them - and for migrants, too.
I wrote that the MFB had assured the women that entry requirements for these “disadvantaged” groups would not change (although this was not the women’s principal concern), although these groups were to be offered a special pre-selection course to get up to speed.
Two particularly interesting comments have since come in. First, from a firefighter who doubts the MFB’s assurance:
Yes ...that is exactly how this program was pitched to us. Until we read the fine print of the affadavit supplied to VCAT, which had something VERY different in it. To paraphrase, it stated that once they disadvantaged had gone through the 14 week pre-selection course, “ The MFB has considered whether successful participants in the Program should, upon completion, be required to undertake the MFB’s standard recruitment process. The MFB has decided that this would constitute an inefficient use of MFB resources” –paragraph 27 MFB VCAT SubmissionThe second and wilder response comes from MFB CEO Ken Latta, who accuses me of being unaware that the test won’t change (even though I indeed wrote just that) and then seems to argue that we must hire black African firefighters to deal with fires in the houses of black African newcomers.
So what part of that statement aligns with (the) stated position that “All applications and recruits have to go through the same rigourous process”?
In case you think I’m misrepresenting Latta’s argument in order to mock it, here it is in full:
Andrew loves to shoot first and ask questions later - well shoot first at least. A phone call to the MFB would have helped his research on the goals of the MFB Gender Inclusion and Diversity programs he vilifies in his column (HS p30, 26 March).Ken, you’ve added absolutely no information here that wasn’t already in my article, other than that your plan is even more ludicrous than I thought.
What is wrong with wanting more female, indigenous and culturally different (at least different to Andrew) applicants? They won’t get in if they can’t pass the test and the test is not changing. Out of around 2,000 applications last year only 77 women wanted to be firefighters. Do women make good firefighters? Ask one; they’ll tell you they do. It’s just that many don’t think it’s a job that will suit them so they don’t apply.
And many newer arrivals to Australia feel the same way, but that could be based on their experiences from the countries they left. A uniform for some of them is seen as a thing to fear, even a fire fighter’s uniform! So they don’t apply.
Just last week MFB firefighters attended a fire in an inner city block of flats. The family, recently arrived and of African background, greeted them with caution even though they were there to put out a fire; there to help them. At first the family would do no more than cautiously point them to the room where the incident occurred and it was only by chance that a firefighter observed that a baby had actually received burns and needed immediate medical attention.
How could this happen? Why would they not immediately seek help? Because the community we serve is changing from the traditional one Andrew is used to and to help it the MFB has to understand it and be a part of it.
So are we positively discriminating? Are we are trying to advantage Mary and Muhammed and disadvantage Bill and Ted?
No! All we are trying to do is increase the application rates from people who would not normally apply and then give them the tools to present themselves in the best light.
So rest assured Andrew, when your house is burning, whoever its is that comes smashing through the door to pluck you screaming from danger, if it’s an MFB firefighter it will be the best there is.
Next time give us a call first and we’ll explain it all to you.
There is not a hope in hell of overcoming the situation you describe without you sending African officers to every fire that conceivably involves African homeowners. And, of course, you’d need a representative of every other unassimilated minority on every firetruck, too, to make your dream real. Otherwise you’d face the embarrassment of having sent only Anglo and Sudanese firefighters to a fire in the home of, say, an Afghan or Iraqi.
But maybe I’m just not thinking big enough? Is the plan to set up rival ethnic services, so Muslims can ring their own Muslim fire service, Africans theirs, Jews theirs and so on?
Hmm. Might it not actually be easier if we accept into this country people with less hatred, disdain or fear of our officials, or taught them fast that Australia has different ways and expectations? And that it’s all in together?
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Killed by the rise of the feral
Andrew Bolt
Another case of our reverse-Darwinism:
BEN RUDZYN had everything to live for. A biomedical engineer with first-class university honours and an IQ of 160, the 26-year-old had a life of promise ahead of him.The cultured is being killed off by the feral.
In an all-too-familiar tragedy his life was taken when his car was hit by another driver, going at twice the speed limit while drunk and on drugs, unlicensed and in an unregistered car.
Mr Rudzyn was killed instantly, his 18-year-old girlfriend, Olivia Stennet, was badly injured and required three months in hospital, and ongoing treatment…
The driver, Dragan Jojkic, a 26-year-old P-plate driver, had had his licence suspended five times before, either for speeding or drink driving.
Despite the suspensions, in eight years he was convicted of 16 traffic offences. Jojkic had also been before court for property offences and other matters committed while under the influence of illicit drugs or alcohol.
His total punishment until the day he killed Mr Rudzyn and injured Ms Stennet were fines amounting to $1500.
UPDATE
Meanwhile:
A TEENAGE mother who dumped her baby in a garden bed in a Territory town is pregnant with her third child.(Thanks to readers David and Terry.)
It was revealed yesterday that the mother’s two children had been placed in care after a passer-by found the four-month-old baby in a public mall in the main street of Tennant Creek.
The mother could not be found until the next day.
Sources told the Northern Territory News the 16-year-old mother was symbolic of the welfare problems in Tennant Creek.
They say teenage girls are getting pregnant so they can access the Federal Government’s baby bonus.
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Rudd lets China buy up our suburbs
Andrew Bolt
Yet another Kevin Rudd scheme whacks us with its unintended consequences - this time fuelling out housing bubble and pricing Australians out of their nice suburbs:
RESERVE Bank governor Glenn Stevens ... said the bank was monitoring how much the federal government’s decision last March to relax its rules on foreigners owning property had contributed to surging prices for housing…(Thanks to reader Tony.)
Treasurer Wayne Swan eased restrictions for those on temporary visas, such as business owners and foreign students, to allow them to buy any home to live in, land to build on or new dwelling for investment purposes.
Agency Marshall White says buyers from mainland China and Hong Kong kick-started Melbourne’s prestige property market last year and still account for a third of its sales.
Mandarin-speaking sales executive Michael Liu, who was hired by the agency to deal with overseas buyers, said a few streets in the eastern suburbs of Kew and Balwyn were now 80 per cent Chinese-owned.
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Another alarmist puzzled by the lack of warming
Andrew Bolt
Barack Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, has been certain we face doom from global warming:
Chu said Americans had yet to fully understand the urgency of dealing with climate change. “I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” he told the Los Angeles Times in his first interview since taking the post. ”We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California. I don’t actually see how they can keep their cities going.”But now he’s not certain why that global warming has paused:
It’s fair to say we don’t understand these ripples. We don’t understand the downward trend that occurred in 1900 or in 1940. We don’t fully understand the plateau in the last decade.(Thanks to reader Phil.)
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Another win to a SA Labor party most don’t want
Andrew Bolt
Reader John Comnenus says Labor keeps winning elections in South Australia against the will of most voters:
In 1989 the ALP won 48.1% of the 2PP vote and formed government,
In 1993 the ALP won 39% of the 2PP vote and lost government,
In 1997 the ALP won 48.5% of the vote and remained out of Government,
In 2002 the ALP won 49.1% of the vote and formed government,
In 2006 the ALP won 56.8% of the vote and formed government,
In 2010 the ALP won probably around 49% of the vote and easily form government.
So since 1989 there have been six elections. The ALP has only won a majority of the vote once but has formed government on four occasions. The Liberals have won a majority of the vote on five out of six occasions but only formed government twice…
In Joh Bjelke Petersen’s day this was called a Gerrymander. In Mike Rann’s day it’s called a superior marginal seats campaign. Either way it seems that the State Electoral Commissioner in SA consistently puts up electoral boundaries that allow the Government to be formed by the ALP against the clearly stated will of the people.
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How World Vision helped fund a monument to a Jew killer
Andrew Bolt
I’ve already decided not to donate a single extra dollar to World Vision when my current sponsorships run out, But now add to its global warming extremism this (naively unwitting) support of another kind of fanaticism:
CHARITY group World Vision Australia has been embarrassed by a plan by Palestinian authorities to name a sporting complex containing an Australian-funded soccer field in the West Bank after a former militant PLO leader.Background on Abu Jihad:
World Vision Australia funded the recently completed field in Jenin as a community project to help young Palestinians.
However, this month the authorities in Jenin announced plans to build additional sports facilities on the site and to call the planned sporting complex the Abu Jihad Youth City.
Abu Jihad, or Khalil al-Wazir, was the former commander of Fatah’s armed wing. He was considered a high-profile terrorist by Israelis for plotting numerous attacks inside that country during the 1970s and 1980s.
Abu Jihad planned many of the major Fatah terror attacks, including the worst terror attack in Israel’s history, in which 37 civilians were murdered in a bus hijacking led by Dalal Mughrabi in 1978. He also planned the hostage taking at the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv in 1975 in which eight hostages and two Israeli soldiers were killed. Abu Jihad was killed in 1988 in an operation attributed to Israel.(Thanks to reader Formerly.)
UPDATE
Reader HRT has a further objection:
From the 7.30 Report 9 Jun 2000:UPDATE 2“Melbourne’s Wesley Central Mission today vowed to review the salary package of ....... Reverend Tim Langley, after it was revealed he was earning $160,000 a year, as well as living in a luxury apartment supplied by the Uniting Church........From World Vision Australia 2009 Accounts:
REV TIM COSTELLO, BAPTIST MINISTER: Look, I was shocked and I think most clergy in the church are dumbstruck. When you have a religious calling, you understand it’s about sacrifice and service. You’re not in it to make money.”T. Costello Cash, Salary & fees: $229,358 Superannuation: $20,642. Total $250,000. Other benefits such as a car are not mentioned.As World Vision is not a religious calling I guess Costello’s package is OK - but I won’t be paying for it.
But reader Dom, a World Vision employee, adds:
It is worth noting that Tim Costello speaks at hundreds of events across Australia. He donates all of the money from speaking fees - $125,000 - back to World Vision.
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Alarmist government brought down to earth
Andrew Bolt
The judge is perfectly right - a government which claims we’re in mortal danger from man-made global warming can’t then hand out more rope:
Protesters have won a High Court battle forcing the Government to consider climate change issues before plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport can go ahead. A coalition of councils, green groups and residents argued that expansion of the airport would contradict Britain’s overall climate change targets.Let the hypocrites now choose between their mad hype and a bigger airport.
(Thanks to reader Yankeebravo.)
Friday, March 26, 2010
COPS!
RUN! even though you haven't really don't anything at all to justify this panic. I know you do it. Subscribe for a new vid in 3 days. Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/natalietran facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/communi... Hope you guys are well and wishing you a wonderful weekend.
x
n
Headlines Friday 26th March 2010
=== Todays Toon ===
China sends a message, and we tremble and obey - by ZEG, on Stern Hu=== Bible Quote ===
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”- 1 John 1:9=== Headlines ===
San Diego Zoo is coming under fire from critics for creating new polar bear exhibit that shows how climate change is affecting the animal.'Fix' Bill Headed to Obama
House put its finishing touches on the final health care reform bill, clearing the way for Obama to sign into law
Tea Party Convention Tension
Wealthy donor sues organizer over disagreement about the terms for helping to pay Sarah Palin's speaking fee
Saudis Eye Al Qaeda in Foiled Plot
Several suspects in plot against Saudi oil, security facilities linked to Al Qaeda in Yemen, official says
Teachers Leave Boy, 5, Stranded in Tree Because of School Policy
A 5-year-old British boy was stranded in a tree for 45 minutes while teachers followed school policy requiring them to "observe from a distance" instead of rescue him, the DailyMail.com reported. The student was rescued from the tree when passer-by Kim Barrett saw him and helped him down. But, school officials then reported the 38-year-old Barrett to police because they said she "approached the school in an inappropriate way." "I stopped to ask him if he was OK, and it became clear that he'd been there since the end of playtime, which had been around half an hour earlier," Barrett told the Daily Mail. "I was immediately concerned. I walked over to the school with the boy and was met by the associate head. He didn't appear at all concerned, and was actually very patronizing, patting me on the arm and asking me, 'What do you expect me to do, exactly, dear?'"
President Allegedly Dumps Israeli Prime Minister for Dinner
For a head of state to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the president withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of. Yet that is how Benjamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip seen in Jerusalem tonight as a disastrous humiliation. After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on Jewish settlements, Obama walked out of his meeting with Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and "let me know if there is anything new," a congressman who spoke to the prime minister said today. "It was awful," the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting "a hazing in stages,"poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House phone line. Another said that the prime minister had received "the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea."
A boy born with 15 fingers and 16 toes after his mother had a problematic pregnancy will no longer be called a "monster" by his classmates after he had the extra digits removed.Tourists caught as train derails
HUNDREDS of passengers on board the Kuranda Scenic Railway train derailed by a landslide.
More Hey Dad! abuse claims emerge
A SECOND TV star has accused Hey Dad! actor Robert Hughes of inappropriately touching her.
Tortured woman jumps from balcony
A WOMAN suffered broken bones as she leapt with her baby from a flat to escape her torturer.
Woods' wife 'should have kept on hitting'
SANDRA Bullock gave some ironic advice as a fourth woman claims she slept with Jesse James.
'Piranha frenzy' as $110,000 falls off truck
MAD dash as cash tumbles out the back of an armoured truck without the driver noticing.
Parents lie for child's licence
YOUNG drivers are caught fraudulently claiming their parents were driving instead of them in a bid to avoid demerit points that could cost them their licence.
IF anyone is concerned about the future of NSW, fear not: Premier Kristina Keneally has committed to “incentivising” and “hypothecating” our way out of trouble. Unfortunately this did not impress Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell, who after searching for the right word to describe her Government decided to call it “stupid”.=== Journalists Corner ===
On June 19, 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi will be spending her 65th birthday under house arrest. She has been locked up for 15 of the past 21 years because of her pivotal role in one of the world's most inspiring freedom struggles.Every year for Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday, we ask our supporters to give up 24 hours in solidarity with her and the people of Burma. We call this event: Arrest Yourself, honoring Aung San Suu Kyi's unparalleled courage and determination.
Now more than ever, Aung San Suu Kyi and the Burma movement need your help putting Burma at the top of the international agenda. The pending sham elections, mounting government tension with cease fire groups, and growing international concerns over human rights violations make this year an especially critical one in Burma's history.
In the international community, there is growing momentum toward ending Burma's war crimes. Earlier this month, the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women in Burma called on the United Nations to hold the military junta accountable for its commission of rape and torture as weapons of war. A few weeks ago, the UN Special Rapporteur to Burma, Mr. Quintana, joined this call by urging the UN to initiate a Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.
In the coming months we must move quickly to capitalize on the energy generated by these recent developments. With this year's Arrest Yourself, we will inspire more people to get involved in this growing movement as well as raise critical funds for advocacy.
Aung San Suu Kyi once said, "Sometimes, 24 hours can bring a total revolutionary change." And that's all it takes to Arrest Yourself and make your mark on Burma's freedom movement.
Waste no time. Sign up now to Arrest Yourself in solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma!
Watch our video to learn more about how to Arrest Yourself.
Sincerely,
Nadi Hlaing
Development Assistant, U.S. Campaign for Burma
As the Senate battles the bill, Cavuto is covering every angle and late breaking events!Neil reports from our nation's capital!
Coulter vs. CanadaWhy is Ann under attack from our neighbors to the North? She explains in a 'Factor' exclusive!
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Senators Kyl & Thune
The battle of the bill! The GOP puts their plan in motion! The senators go 'On the Record'!
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Rubio & Crist Square Off!
A special LIVE face-off! With the state's critical U.S. Senate seat on the line, they're in a fierce battle in Florida's hotly contested primary!
=== Comments ===
Your Freedom and President ObamaBy Bill O'Reilly
When you cut through all the baloney, the controversy in America today is over freedom.
Those lined up against the Obama administration believe the federal government is becoming too intrusive. That is, it is telling us what to do when it has no constitutional authority to do that.
On the left, the pro-Obama people say there is unfairness in America that needs to be corrected by the feds.
Thus the battle lines are drawn.
"Talking Points" believes the freedom issue is crucial. In The New York Times lead editorial Wednesday, that far-left paper celebrates Obamacare and urges the president to continue spending billions of dollars to protect individual Americans from just about everything.
In addition, The Times wants the feds to take over the education system, the energy industry and control the banking system.
This is what many Americans fear: that the USA will become a top-down society. That is, the government will tell citizens and business what to do and when to do it.
In addition, the IRS will increase its enormous power because it will monitor what kind of health insurance you have, and if you don't have any you will be punished.
Also, your health records will be transferred to the federal government. So if you have an embarrassing condition, people in Washington could know about it.
All of this infringes on personal freedom, and that is very troubling. It's also very simple. Do you want bureaucrats to know about your medical history? Do you want the IRS tracking not only your income but your insurance expenditures? Do you want to be told what kind of energy you can use?
So the fears seem to be justified.
We are now undergoing a radical debate in this country. President Obama wants massive change. He wants to impose his version of social justice, and he wants to consolidate power in Washington — not in your state and not in your hometown.
In the end, I believe the president's vision will be defeated because traditionally Americans value individual freedom above everything else. I understand that the feds have to regulate Wall Street criminals and predatory corporations. It just can't be a free-for-all where powerful entities do what they want at our expense.
But regulation has to be measured against complete control. Right now the left in America wants a nanny state, wants to change the educational system to reflect liberal values and wants to redesign the way Americans use energy. And they don't want to use persuasion; they want to use force.
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Welcome to the Nanny State
By Sandra Fabry
One of our government’s more recent and lesser known social engineering tools is a grant program under the trillion dollar spending and debt package passed by Congress and the president under the guise of “economic stimulus” in 2009.
While nationally, all eyes are on the government takeover of the health care industry, a proposal to ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking has New York’s chefs and restaurateurs up in arms.
Banning a food staple like salt, one of the oldest and most ubiquitous seasonings, may sound like an absurd idea, it is not an isolated idea pushed by a health-obsessed state legislator. Lawmakers and health activists have long been looking for ways to influence consumer choices and to curb our intake of foods, drinks and other substances they deem harmful -- be it through regulatory regimes or through the tax code. For the longest time, the target these health activists loved to hate the most (and, quite frankly the low-hanging fruit) was tobacco, but more recently they have also pushed other “life-style tax hikes” or regulations and have zoomed in on trans-fats, sodium, snack foods and soda.
They have found an ally in the White House in President Obama, who is going much further than joining his wife in advocating healthy food choices from the White House garden. The president’s idea of taxing soda and sugar-sweetened beverages as part of the health care overhaul quickly fizzled, however this hasn’t stopped the advancement of the nanny staters’ agenda.
One of government’s more recent and lesser known social engineering tools is a grant program under the trillion dollar spending and debt package passed by Congress and the president under the guise of “economic stimulus” in 2009.
So far, two rounds of related grants have been announced - a first round of $120 million went to states and territories in early February, and a second round of $372 million has just been awarded to 44 local communities last week. So what are you getting out of it?
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The Time Is Now to Act Against Iran
By KT McFarland
We're running out of time with Iran. If the administration was serious about undermining the Iranian regime, it would target the country's energy sector -- the lifeblood of the tyrants who rule Iran -- and green light energy sanction.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the United States is considering watering down latest U.N. sanctions proposal in order to get China and Russia on board. We've already had three rounds of sanctions without teeth that accomplished little, it's the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing again and again and expect a different outcome. Watered down UN sanctions will be ineffective.
However, the mere threat of Congressional energy sanctions has persuaded major European, Indian and Russian companies including BP, Lukoil, Shell, Reliance, Allianz and several others to terminate or sharply reduce their Iranian business ties.
If the administration was serious about undermining the regime, it would target the Iranian energy sector -- the lifeblood of the tyrants who rule Iran -- and green light the passage of the energy sanctions legislation passed overwhelmingly by Congress. It would also enforce -- for the first time -- the energy sanctions legislation that's been on the books since 1996. Even slapping one energy company doing business with Iran in violation of the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act would send shockwaves through the energy industry and persuade other companies to leave Iran.
The crucial thing is we're running out of time. Gen. Petraeus said last week he didn't think Iran would have nukes in this calendar year -- but left open the possibility they could happen next calendar year. Sanctions might be a long shot to encourage regime change in Iran, or at least changing their nukes program, but it's better than being faced, in just a few months time with bombing Iran or letting Iran have the bomb.
And here's another point to consider. If Israel concludes we can't stop Iran, they will feel they have no alternative but to bomb Iran on their own.
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Lip gloss versus reality in NSW
Piers Akerman
Behind NSW Premier Kristina Keneally’s lip gloss, there lurks a formidable politician. - Barry won and Kenneally failed, but don’t expect the mainstream media to report that. It will be said that Barry was too negative. How negative can one be about this abysmal government which Keneally has not got the talent to fix? Keneally has not looked into the issue of Hamidur Rahman which may lead me to run for the legislative council in next year’s election as an independent.
Even if Keneally had the courage to attempt to change course for NSW, she would get caught in those strings she is tied up in. At what stage is someone so inept that they may be considered to be corrupt? The government had no problem smearing me to the legislative council, but they still spoke the truth on the issue too. They admitted they hid the testimony that the parents of Hamidur Rahman were blameless for his death from the coroner because they didn’t feel it was important. If you think about it, they failed to sell electricity for $120 billion in the early 90’s because that wasn’t important either. Now we must pay some $10 billion to keep electricity active .. standing still. Voters don’t seem to be important to Keneally either, although it is good to know she loves her mother. - ed.
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HEATERS ARE BEATERS
Tim Blair
First comes the warmening … and then comes the bloodening:
If global warming is a scientific fact, then you better be prepared for the earth to become a more violent place. That’s because new Iowa State University research shows that as the earth’s average temperature rises, so too does human “heat” in the form of violent tendencies …This is why elderly Americans retire to sunny Florida, by the way. They enjoy the street brawls. Still, warmies are always telling us to take every precaution we can, so it must make sense to avoid electing politicians from warm or subtropical areas. These people could at any time lash out viciously due to childhood heat trauma. Best to play it safe and elect candidates from cooler, more peaceful regions, like … I don’t know … Alaska.
Using U.S. government data on average yearly temperatures and the number of violent crimes between 1950 and 2008, the researchers estimate that if the annual average temperature in the U.S. increases by 8°F (4.4°C), the yearly murder and assault rate will increase by 34 per 100,000 people – or 100,000 more per year in a population of 305 million.
UPDATE. Cowgate.
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OUR HOUR
Tim Blair
UK Daily Telegraph reader emmiem outlines his Earth Hour plans:
I shall do what I always do. All the lights are on including extra spot lights and outdoor floodlights installed recently. The heating is on full blast so I can walk around comfortably in T shirt and shorts and my car is idling on the driveway in case I should feel the need to go anywhere.The man has an excellent plan. It sure beats the plan outlined in this email to all Reserve Bank of Australia staff:
In addition I have just tossed all my used teabags and coffee dregs into the paper recycling bin together with leftovers from yesterday’s roast beef lunch. The cats are still eating some chicken in jelly but the remains will follow.
I’m sick of being lied to and treated like an idiot while the slimeballs take virtually half my income away from me. I’ve decided to enjoy the rest of my time here in the physical 3D and offer a stiff middle finger to all the dictatorial moralistic self loathing simpletons that seem to infest every bureaucracy on this planet. Up Yours Cretinos.
I’m going to borrow the New Hampshire motto for a sign over my front door…
Live Free Or Die
EARTH HOUR – SATURDAY 27 MARCH 2010 8:30PM TO 9:30PMVia reader D., who notes that this RBA directive comes from “the same people who make vital decisions about Australia’s economic health.” Yes. Quite. Victoria’s rail lines are into it, too (they request that passengers commence making worm farms) and the University of Queensland, torch-lit Fairfax journalists and Monash University will also be in thrall to primitivism.
The Bank will again be participating in “Earth Hour” on Saturday 27 March 2010 between 8:30pm and 9:30pm. The initiative aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and is widely supported by the community, companies and governments.
As part of the Bank’s participation in Earth Hour, we ask staff to ensure all non critical office equipment, including PC’s and desktop monitors are switched off before leaving the office on Friday 26 March.
As we do not anticipate staff attending the building on a Saturday evening between 8pm and 10pm, it will effectively be closed during that period, subject of course, to any overriding business needs that might arise.
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RACE CARD PLAYED
Tim Blair
Illegal boat arrivals seemed to have the edge early on, but now torched homes have closed the gap and threaten for the lead. Who will win the Great Rudd Race of 2010? Note: illegal vessels that are also on fire may be considered as an each-way bet.
(By Alan R.M. Jones)
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EARNERS PUNISHED
Tim Blair
Forget health. It was all about wealth, according to the New York Times:
The bill that President Obama signed on Tuesday is the federal government’s biggest attack on economic inequality since inequality began rising more than three decades ago …(Via Reliapundit)
A big chunk of the money to pay for the bill comes from lifting payroll taxes on households making more than $250,000. On average, the annual tax bill for households making more than $1 million a year will rise by $46,000 in 2013 …
UPDATE. Earlier from the NYT:
In a rare bipartisan vote, the Senate approved and sent to President Obama on Wednesday a bill intended to spur employment by providing businesses with incentives to hire new workers — an approach that Congressional Democrats hope to repeat.And they did – in opposition to Obama’s wealth share bill.
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ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Tim Blair
The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Paul McGeough – who witnessed a non-existent clean-shaven Saddam Hussein, foresaw a civil war that never happened, and fell for a murder story nobody else believed – now sees crucial video evidence unseen by the rest of the world. He’s chatting with Amy Goodman:
Well, the closed-circuit television is the key to understanding the story. And it’s quite remarkable that the Mossad seemed not to give the network of cameras around Dubai a second thought. But the team were filmed arriving individually at Dubai International Airport. The Hamas arms dealer was seen arriving. They followed him to his hotel …No such video has ever been broadcast. Maurice Ostroff:
But then it also becomes very chilling, because Mabhouh was in room 230, and the cameras on that level of the hotel pick up the killers going into the room, spending as long as forty-five minutes in the room. And you have to wonder why it took four would-be killers forty-five minutes to dispose of one person. And then they’re seen emerging from the room and waiting for the elevator, with two of them carrying a very—what looks like a very heavy hold-all bag.
One of the most striking aspects was the utter failure of the much vaunted Dubai security. Strangely, all of the video clips available on the internet, show random persons at the airport, in the hotel lobby and outside the elevators. But none show incriminating shots of the culprits entering and leaving room 230, although the hotel CCTV system obviously covers the corridor and the door to his room as is patently evident from short video clips of suspects walking in the corridor past entrances to the rooms.McGeough explains: “In referring to what the cameras ‘pick up,’ I was alluding to the movements of the killers and those of Mabhouh to and from the hotel and/or its second floor, rather than actually into and out of Mabhouh’s room.”
(Via operative Dan Lewis, hidden deep inside room 230)
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All sense of proportion pulped
Andrew Bolt
Sydney’s Geoffrey Cousins, the former adman, tells the gullible 7.30 Report why Tasmanian cannot have Gunn’s planned pulp mill:
It isn’t world’s best technology at all. It doesn’t use totally chlorine-free technology - that’s world’s best practice. It is going to use native forests, not plantation timber, certainly in the first period. And it is going to put significant amounts of dioxins into Bass Strait. Now, if all of those things were cleared away, fine.Let’s look at just one of those claims for starters - the one I’ve highlighted. Here’s the real amount of dioxin that Gunn’s says the mill will release:
The mill will therefore discharge a combined total of only 0.111 grams of dioxins and furans in liquid and gaseous emissions each year… The total yearly emissions of dioxins and furans to air and water from the mill will therefore be approximately equal to the volume of a single grain of rice…I think the adman tried to panic us about nothing.
The likely concentration of dioxins and furans in the pulp mill liquid effluent is estimated to be 3.4 pg dioxin equivalents per litre… The 3.4 pg per litre expected concentration in effluent is the equivalent to the concentration of salt after one salt grain has been put in a volume of water occupying 70 Olympic sized swimming pools…
As another example, the average concentration of dioxins and furans in human breast milk in Australia is approximately 340 pg TEQ of dioxins and
furans per litre.
(From reader Bill.)
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How La Trobe preaches its wild green faith
Andrew Bolt
La Trobe University last year announced a lovely litte indoctrination course:Leading scientist and climate change authority, Dr Barrie Pittock will be in Bendigo on Tuesday 4 August to present the first in a series of three public lectures entitled Climate, Sustainability and Society.And, of course, not a single speaker last year was a sceptic - indeed, most seemed from the loopiest end of the alarmist spectrum:
The lectures are an integral part of the Climate, Sustainability and Society cross-disciplinary, cross-campus subject that is offered for the first time this semester at the Bendigo and Albury-Wodonga campuses of La Trobe University.
The final speaker will be author and social commentator Professor Clive Hamilton … Other speakers have been former CSIRO atmospheric researcher Dr Barrie Pittock…Naturally, the university’s library recommends for this course not a single book by a sceptic - not even the biggest seller on the subject last year.
Dr Andrew Glikson, also featured on the main Melbourne campus at Bundoora, in the public ‘Ideas and Society Program’ hosted by Professor Robert Manne. The second in this year’s series, it was titled ‘The politics and the science of climate change denialism’.
And this year? Just as preposterously one-sided, and academically suspect. From an email this week to all La Trobe students:
ENV1CSS: Climate, Sustainability, and SocietyReaders J and Z, “La Trobe’s token conservatives”, explain:
FIRST MULTI-FACULTY INTERDISCIPLINARY SUBJECT
OFFERED IN SEMESTER 2, 15CP
OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS, NO PRE-REQUISITES
INTERACTIVE TEACHING
NO FINAL EXAM
MAIN GOALS: TO GIVE YOU AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE WE ARE, WHERE WE ARE GOING, AND HOW TO MAKE INFORMATIVE DECISIONS
OUR GUEST SPEAKERS IN 2010:
DAVID KAROLY, TIM FLANNERY, ROSS GARNAUT
It seems that the unit is being offered to all students (interdisciplinary), regardless of their area of study, on the basis of no pre-requisites or final exam. Effectively, a student could take the unit, (which from the outline seems virtually impossible to fail) in order to avoid an properly tested and examined unit within their discipline. Seems like Mao-esque brainwashing to us.No kidding.
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Abbott embraces gays
Andrew Bolt
Tony Abbott handles himself well in an interview with determinedly hostile Joy FM, the gay radio station.
Transcript follows: - Bolt had to post this because of his earlier smears of Abbott. In fact, Abbott has always been generous in his dealings with all such groups - ed.
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Boats, boats and bigger boats
Andrew Bolt
Rudd is breaking all records with this rate of arrival:
A BOAT containing 94 asylum-seekers, the largest shipload since February 1, has been intercepted by Border Protection Command off Ashmore Reef.UPDATE
The news comes after two further boats were intercepted on Tuesday…
News of today’s boat comes hours after Kevin Rudd refused to acknowledge that border protection was an election issue on a radio interview despite the findings of the UN refugee agency revealing asylum claims last year bucked world trends by increasing 29 per cent in Australia.
How does Kevin Rudd excuse the explosion in the number of boat people since he relaxed our laws (date marked by red dot)? Here’s how he explains it to mate Kochie:No one predicted a civil war in Sri Lanka.Pardon? No one predicted a war that on Rudd’s election had been raging for 24 years already? That actually ended last year?:
Many Sri Lankan children have known little but war, which raged for 25 years before ending with a final push by government forces last May.(Thanks to reader Michael.)
UPDATE
Rudd blames Sri Lanka’s (finished) civil war for the flood of boat people, but the Parliamentary Library says the vast majority of them actually come from the Middle East:
===Brumby names 10 Problems with Rudd's health plan
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd demands Tony Abbott back his health plan, but not even Australia’s best (Labor) premier likes it:
VICTORIAN Premier, John Brumby has delivered a devastating critique of Kevin Rudd’s hospital take-over plan, saying it will not achieve the Prime Minister’s key goal of ending the blame game between Canberra and the states.
‘’How will people know who is managing the system and where the buck stops?’’ the Premier asked of Mr Rudd’s proposal to take responsibility for 60 per cent of hospital funding.
Making it clear Mr Rudd faces a monumental task in winning over the premiers on health policy before this year’s federal election, Mr Brumby’s office last night released a list of Victoria’s top 10 problems with the PM’s plan.
The Premier reiterated his demand for an immediate $1.2-billion-a-year boost in federal funds for Victoria’s hospitals, while calling on Mr Rudd to release comprehensive plans for preventative healthcare and to tackle what Mr Brumby calls Australia’s aged-care crisis.
The Premier’s 10 questions ... are among 40 issues raised during a telephone hook-up this week between state and territory leaders.
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120 homes now torched by the government
Andrew Bolt
One day one of these fires may well be deadly - and how will the Government then justify both the program and its refusal to do urgent safety checks now on every installation?
AN explosive report into the federal government’s $2.45 billion insulation scheme was expected to be handed to Kevin Rudd last night, as it emerged that the number of house fires linked to the bungled program had jumped to 120.(Thanks to reader Encyclopedia Brown.)
The report, by former senior public servant Allan Hawke, is understood to contain tough recommendations that will provoke further political furore over the scheme....
Climate change officials also told the hearing they were not convinced the government’s solution to fixing potentially deadly safety issues with foil insulation would work.
Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency deputy secretary Martin Bowles said experts were divided over whether installing electrical safety switches into homes with foil insulation was a good solution.
As many as 1000 roofs are feared to have been electrified by inexperienced installers.
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And one Mossad agent looked just like Allawi
Andrew Bolt
Former Journalist of the Year Paul McGeough really does have an awful habit of seeing things that fit his ideological disposition - but not necessarily the facts. Not surprisingly, this time it’s a disposition to damn Israel,
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Furious women torch fire brigade’s anti-sexists
Andrew Bolt
THE Metropolitan Fire Brigade has set fire to its own trousers by telling its ladies they’re oppressed.
Worse, it told the poor dears that what they really needed to make it as firefighters was a “gender inclusion action plan”.
Ouch! The only person in the MFB now feeling oppressed is its “diversity development officer”, who’s been monstered by the female firefighters she tried to turn into victims.
Take this scathing email sent last week by an enraged leading firefighter: “I joined the fire brigade to be a firefighter, that’s it, now let me be one ... and a professional one at that, irrelevant of gender, race and cultural background.”
Need an example of how anti-discrimination laws actually create more division than they end? How they institutionalise the very sexism and racism they’re supposed to remove?
Then read the furious exchange of letters below, between the MFB’s top brass and the female firies who are refusing to be treated differently from their male colleagues.
This tale starts with a newspaper report two weeks ago, which noted the MFB had become infected by the gender politics that’s already weakened and embittered our police.
The symptoms were unmistakable. The MFB was now raving that only 56 of its more than 1700 firefighters were women - a figure that a healthy person would probably find unremarkable, since firefighting can be a very physical game, involving the kind of derring-do that tends to appeal more to the testosteroned.
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Never mind the abuse, see the ratings
Andrew Bolt
Utterly disgraceful, if true. Why the coverup? Where were the parents? Did fame and money protect a child molester?
POPULAR Hey Dad! actor Simone Buchanan says she was touched “inappropriately” by the Aussie sitcom’s star, Robert Hughes.Note the denials, though. Nothing is proved, all is denied. No comments for legal reasons.
And police are preparing to investigate molestation allegations made against Hughes by another of the cast, Sarah Monahan.
Buchanan, who went on to roles in McLeod’s Daughters and Neighbours, claimed on A Current Affair she was threatened by the show’s producer if she aired allegations of Hughes’s behaviour towards Monahan...
Hughes, who played father Martin Kelly on the hit series, vehemently denied Monahan’s claims that he felt her up and flashed her on the set.
Buchanan said when she was 18, Hughes tried to “have a go”. Sitting alongside Monahan, she told ACA: “He was driving me home and started to touch me inappropriately in the car....”
She said cast members tried to ensure Monahan was never alone with Hughes.
She claimed that when she approached executive producer Gary Reilly, she was told he would talk to Hughes but she should keep quiet.
On ACA last week, Reilly denied knowledge of Monahan’s mistreatment, saying he’d only heard rumours about another young actor.
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