Thursday, April 30, 2009
Barack Obama at 100 Day Press Conference: Waterboarding Is Torture
ABC reporter Jake Tapper asked Barack Obama if the previous administration tortured. Obama answered that waterboarding is torture.
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Why does Lord (I mean load) Obama keep saying he inherited an economic mess? The dem congress was in charge for the past two years and Obama voted YEA on Bush's budget request including funding the wars. He is just as guilty as anyone.
As far as his presser goes-ZZZZZZZZZZ!
He cannot answer a question either. If you think he can listen to the question asked by the BET reporter, you decide.
Obama press conferencesshould be considered torture!
The Swine flu will be his Katrina!
dkkght46
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Political oppurtunist hack. Try to imagine that we just caught someone like Obama errr I mean Osama. You're telling me we're going to put him into a room with a bunch of CIA interrogators who are going to treat him like a police officer would treat some common criminal? You think threatening him with fail time is gonna make him spill teh beans on his buddies and plans? Give me a freaking break. We should let the CIA covertly do whatever it needs to do to terrorist leaders to protect our country.
christmanpunch
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Even with his teleprompters Obama comes across as a git who is perpetuating a blame game instead of addressing issues. I am proud that Bush was President and I feel Bush made good, sound decisions. I think Obama is an opportunist without an idea or agenda to address the issues at hand. - ed.
it's hot.....and hamish rocks
communitychannel
October 22, 2008
Bugger. sorry guys, one of the issues with observational humour is that most likely, someone else has observed it before you! I'm really sorry, never ever intend to rip people off.
hamish blake is awesome: http://www.hamishandandy.com.au/
How are ya'll? Hope you're all well!
Headlines Thursday 30th April 2009
'Winter Dreams' Music Video Launch Night
2008 Miss Vietnam/Australia's Music Video Debut
Host: Rumble Pictures
Type: Party - Dinner Party
Date:Thursday, April 30, 2009
Time:7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location:Santos Restaurant
Street:231 Canley Vale Rd
Email: tim.ly@rumblepictures.com.au
rumblepictures.com.au
myspace.com/anhmaiho
vietlishentertainment.net
=== === ===
Jailed drug dealer escapes in taxi
A jailed Sydney drug dealer has escaped from hospital, fleeing in a taxi after his guard let him leave to get a sandwich.
Pope laments church abuse of children
Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday lamented that Canadian Indian children suffered abuse and were made to feel ashamed of their heritage at Catholic Church-run boarding schools.
Two boats in one day too much: Oppn
The arrival of two more boatloads of suspected asylum seekers, one of which almost reached Darwin, strengthens the argument for an independent inquiry into people smuggling, the federal opposition says.
'We may not be able to stop swine flu'
Thermal scanners were deployed to airports around the nation on Wednesday, as the Rudd government admitted it's unlikely Australia will avoid a swine flu outbreak. - Reese says we are ready (in Sydney) for a flu outbreak. We are prepared, Mr Rees. Without notice we can black out the city. We can ground our ferry fleet. The trains will stop running. Public service will spring to inaction. Rees has someone to blame. The media can find barry O'Farrel at fault for something. Hospitals have practiced being over run with patients. Police know what to do when infrastructure fails. Emergency services will strictly follow procedure in prioritizing calls. We will never be more ready. - ed.
Fifth former Knox teacher arrested
A fifth former teacher from Knox Grammar School in Sydney's north has been arrested for child sex offences.
EnergyAustralia to sue clumsy contractor
EnergyAustralia will take legal action against the contractor whose boring machine cut a vital power cable and caused Sydney's CBD to suffer its third power blackout in a month.
US confirms first swine flu death
A 23-month-old child has died of swine flu in Texas, the first confirmed death in the United States as well as the first outside Mexico, the Centres for Disease Control said on Wednesday.
=== ===
The battle for Currawong has finally taken wing
Piers Akerman
AFTER years of complacency, Sydneysiders are finally fighting for their beaches.
After a 12-year struggle, Northern Beaches residents have finally convinced NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally to refuse an application to subdivide the historic Currawong site within Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, on Pittwater’s western foreshore. - Lead news on 2GB this morning was how Rees’ popularity had improved, along with the ALP in NSW. This is important as well federally as they need NSW so they may go to elections early, before bills come in. Radio DJ Chris Smith seemed to feel that the increase in popularity was due to residual from the handouts.
However, I would note that while 2GB can often correctly report news which has balance, they also often fail to report significant items critical of the ALP. So that I have been instructed that they will not allow me on talkback if I want to talk about my salient issues.
Garrett was never special. I acknowledge he has done some decisions completely in line with his political self interest and not expressed views, but that does not make him competent.
That the ICAC can ignore this too is nothing short of disturbing.
===
MAGAZINE MINIMISED
Tim Blair
Mayhem at The Monthly, where deputy editor David Winter has resigned in sympathy with departed editor Sally Warhaft:
It leaves them with a staff of two: no editor, and no deputy.
It’s under Manned, you might say.
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JUST PLAIN OLD WEATHER AGAIN
Tim Blair
Hot weather in January was caused by …
… GLOBAL WARMING!
… EXTREME WEATHER!
… THE ENVIRONMENT FIGHTING BACK!
Cold weather in April is caused by …
… a dry air mass and clear skies.
… a cold front.
… nothing in particular.
===
BECAUSE IT’S WRONG TO SAY DEMOCRATS
Tim Blair
Headline of the week:
Senator switches to Democratics
UPDATE. And another:
Hooker named Indoor Athlete of the Year
===
CONSENSUS SHATTERED
Tim Blair
Dancin’ Pete causes an icy split within the Rudd government:
Federal government sources said Climate Change Minister Penny Wong was disappointed with the way her ministerial colleague, Peter Garrett, weighed into the debate about global warming, claiming sea levels could rise by 6m as a result of melting in Antarctica. Senator Wong yesterday pointedly refused to indicate whether she supported Mr Garrett’s view …
Senator Wong declined to nominate potential levels to which seas could rise.
She wouldn’t even nominate one millimetre? Could Penny Wong be another closet sceptic?
===
MANHATTAN MYSTERY
Tim Blair
It’s a mystery why anyone would need to stage a photo opportunity involving one of the world’s most-photographed aircraft; it’s also a mystery why they needed to fly the thing around Manhattan when low-carbon technology exists to avoid that need.
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Glikson flicked
Andrew Bolt
Dr Andrew Glikson, the Australian National University warming alarmist who likens sceptics to ”parasites”, went through my 10 Global Myths to prove I was wrong, wrong wrong.
It was such a bizarrely weak effort that:
A. I relaxed, thinking that if this was the worst that could be said about my piece, I had nothing to fear.
B. I laughed, thinking that if this was the best that could be said about global warming theory by one of our leading alarmists, the whole house of cards was just one more puff from collapse.
I couldn’t be bothered replying to Glikson myself, thinking his failure to disprove me simply spoke for itself. But former MP Dr Jon Jenkins has not been so merciful. Read on for his forensic destruction of Glikson’s responses to the myths I’d identified, point by point. And ask at the end what it says about global warming and our universities that Glikson holds the position he does:
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Pratt did it. Get over it
Andrew Bolt
Terry McCrann has had it with the excuses - and some of those making them:
WITH friends like these . . . John Elliott obviously has not learned the first rule of holes. He went on the Neil Mitchell program yesterday morning with a very big shovel and set about using it with gusto.
In essence he said his great mate, the late Dick Pratt, lied when he ‘fessed up to price fixing. He only did it to save himself from a messy legal fight and a possibly much bigger financial penalty.
Pratt personally paid a record $36 million penalty. But according to Elliott, “the problem was” that if he’d gone to court it could have “cost him $150 million”. He made a conscious decision, according to Elliott, to take it on himself. “He told me he wasn’t guilty.”
Thanks, John. He was innocent but then he lied. But lied not to save but to trash his reputation! In order to save money.
When are the assorted ‘friends’ going to learn to stop it. That the ‘better’ version is to let his confession stand as the truth.
Nice sting at the end of McCrann’s piece, too. Whose money was that, John?
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Busier spending your money than returning it
Andrew Bolt
The Tax Office is so busy sending cheques to people who didn’t earn the money that it doesn’t have time to send refunds to those who did:
MILLIONS of taxpayers have been told not to hold their breath for their refund this year after the tax office became bogged down sending out cheques for the Government stimulus package.
That’s one stimulus delayed because another stimulus was pushed through. The country’s in great hands.
===
If the world is warming, why are we so cold?
Andrew Bolt
The world, we’re told, has been warming dangerously. Yet here are our record temperatures:
HIGHEST RECORDED TEMPERATURE:
Oodnadatta, South Australia 50.7 C (123.3 F) on the 2nd January, 1960
LOWEST RECORDED TEMPERATURE:
Charlotte Pass, New South Wales -23.0 C (-9.4 F) on the 29th June, 1994
Yes, weather isn’t climate, but now:
The news came as Mount Hotham recorded the coldest temperature for April in Victoria of minus 8 degrees.
And:
Melbourne also had it’s fourth consecutive April day under 15 degrees yesterday — with a top of 13.8 degrees — the first time in 60 years.
And:
A new Australian record was set early this morning, a temperature of minus 13 degrees, at Charlotte Pass on the Snowy Mountains. This is the lowest temperature recorded anywhere in Australia in April ...
And:
The first snow of the season fell on NSW yesterday, the first time in 13 years ski resorts had experienced snow in April.
Discuss.
UPDATE
The IPA has had to book a bigger room to cope with the demand for places at the Melbourne launch of Professor Ian Plimer’s instant best-seller, Heaven and Earth. Global warming: the missing science. So best rush before that one’s booked out, too:
The launch will be held at The Hotel Windsor, 111 Spring Street, Melbourne on Wednesday 6 May 2009 from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.
The launch is free and open to the public, but because of the overwhelming interest in this event RSVPs are essential.
===
Swine flew
Andrew Bolt
The start of a thousand jokes:
SIX Australian politicians, led by a senator named Hogg, who landed at the epicentre of Mexico’s swine flu crisis this week, have found themselves the centre of unwanted attention.
The Central Coast Labor MP, Belinda Neal, was among the group. She remained tight-lipped behind a face mask when a Herald reporter tracked the group down at a Mexico City hotel yesterday
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Emerson outs himself … forever as an idiot
Andrew Bolt
Days after being challenged here to come out of the closet, Craig Emerson peeks out:
FEDERAL Small Business Minister Craig Emerson has split from Kevin Rudd and ministerial colleagues by declaring science is undecided on key aspects of the global warming debate.
Dr Emerson yesterday became the first minister in the Rudd Government to cast doubt on the assertion that scientific evidence was conclusive for a catastrophic meltdown of the polar icecaps if global warming was not curtailed.
He said he would like to see scientists settle the question of what would happen to sea-level rises and the polar icecaps as a result of climate change.
Sadly, Emerson embarrasses himself - and will once day blush at his timidity - by still hiding behind this deceitful evasion:
“The science is in that we are experiencing climate change and we need to act to deal with it,” Dr Emerson told The Australian.
UPDATE
From the files: Kevid Rudd explains the evidence that convinces him the debate is over:
WELL, can I just say, the science is in. The icecaps are melting, the oceans are rising, temperatures are rising, we have the corals of the Great Barrier Reef beginning to be bleached. These are real environmental consequences now.
As I explained yesterday, all four of those claims are false. So what should Rudd now conclude?
===
Why did Calma join a conference for racists?
Andrew Bolt
David Knoll should have gone in even harder, given Tom Calma’s committment to institutionalising racial divides and to witchhunts:
THE decision of Tom Calma to attend last week’s UN Durban II Conference in his capacity as race discrimination commissioner was controversial in more ways than one. The principal proponents of the conference, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and various rogue states, including some of the worst abusers of human rights on this planet, had two clear agendas.
Their first agenda was to achieve the UN’s imprimatur for a position that Islam in particular (but not exclusively) be shielded from criticism in the media and other areas of public life… The second agenda was to achieve that same imprimatur for demonisation of the Jewish nation, the state of Israel, with no other nation singled out for criticism…
The proponents of the conference will have noticed inevitably that Australia (along with the US, Israel, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany) publicly chose not to participate in a conference whose clear design, prepared during many months, was to promote a particular form of racism rather than to fight all forms of racism. Having an official as senior as the race discrimination commissioner attend as an observer could be perceived as a signal that Australia might in the future adopt some or all of the Durban II agenda.
Did Australia really oppose the conference or was Australia having a bet both ways? It is a pity that Calma did not follow Australian government policy and have no truck with racism of any hue.
===
Worse than Bush
Andrew Bolt
The Washington Times cuts through the Kumbayahs:
President Obama’s media cheerleaders are hailing how loved he is. But at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.
According to Gallup’s April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969. The only new president less popular was Bill Clinton, who got off to a notoriously bad start after trying to force homosexuals on the military and a federal raid in Waco, Texas, that killed 86.
The New York Post lists them:
100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES
This latest doozy will take some explaining now that the panic is over and the hunt for the guilty is on:
Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.
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Please settle down
Andrew Bolt
Not just too much drink but too much panic:
Two men who had too much to drink caused 117 passengers on a flight from Mexico to Maryland to wait on board after landing while health authorities checked the two for symptoms of swine flu, officials said Tuesday.
The commotion began when AirTran Flight 85 from Cancun, Mexico, radioed ahead to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport that two passengers were had nausea and fever, said airport spokesman Jonathan Dean.
And this is right over the top, more likely to spread panic than stop a flu:
Australia’s government has approved tough new powers to detain and disinfect people suspected of carrying swine flu...
This when the confirmed death toll from the disease so far around the world stands at eight.
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More of Rudd’s boats
Andrew Bolt
How many more must arrive before Kevin Rudd admits he’s luring them in - some to their deaths?
AUTHORITIES released dramatic new photos of the interception of two “suspected illegal entry vessels” today.
The first boat had seven people on board and was intercepted one nautical mile north of Ashmore Reef, Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus confirmed.
The second was located 27 nautical miles west of Bathurst Island with about 72 people on board… There have been 17 vessel arrivals since August.
Which is around when Rudd weakened his laws against boat people. Since then 13 have died.
By the way, can we have a costing of how much all these new arrivals have cost taxpayers so far?
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Record temperature - on the day I said there were none
Andrew Bolt
Oops. I made a mistake in today’s column when I said that despite all this alleged global warming, Australia’s record temperatures had not been broken for decades. Reader Cameron says I’ve been proved wrong - and on the very day my column appeared:
A new Australian record was set early this morning, a temperature of minus 13 degrees, at Charlotte Pass on the Snowy Mountains. This is the lowest temperature recorded anywhere in Australia in April and is 13 below the average.
I stand both corrected and affirmed.
===
Danby vs Jones
Andrew Bolt
Labor MP Michael Danby tackles Tony Jones over his airing on Q&A of a foul and baseless rumor about Israeli atrocities in Gaza - a rumor eagerly beaten up on the show by panellist Louise Adler. And he asks:
When does a monumental lie like this get examined by and refuted by your program?
Good question, and Danby has taken this to the ABC complaints tribunal.
There is one error in Danby’s letter, however. As I clearly recall, having been on that panel, most of the repudiation of Adler’s slur against Israeli troops was done by neither Greg Hunt nor Steve Conroy, but someone Danby thinks politic not to credit.
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Waiting for Rudd
Andrew Bolt
How self-centred and how spin-obsessed is our strange Prime Minister? Let’s rewind to last Friday.
Kevin Rudd had summoned a meeting of the National Security Council - comprising the most senior ministers and public servants involved in the security of this nation. It’s a meeting normally attended by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Defence Minister, the Minister For Foreign Affairs, as well as the heads of their departments and of all our main spy agencies. It’s meant to be a serious meeting of serious people with serious pressures on their time to discuss serious issues.
And so the summoned ministers, department heads and spy chiefs waited by their secure phones for Rudd to come on the line from Melbourne. And yet again they waited and waited… In fact, a very good source says, they waited two hours before Rudd finally joined them. And nine minutes later he hung up.
Nine minutes? What could they possibly have properly discussed in that short time?
Which makes today’s announcement by Rudd of 450 extra troops for Afghanistan - and of the thought that went into it - rather odd:
Mr Rudd said Australia’s commitment was discussed with US President Barack Obama last week following “extensive deliberations” by the National Security Committee of federal cabinet.
So what pressing engagement had Rudd once again keeping such senior people waiting like mere servants, and his jet waiting at the tarmac? Was it this?
Yesterday it was the turn of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to visit Pratt’s bedside. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said Mr Rudd had made a “a personal visit and the details will remain private”.
Rudd’s “private” visit to the bedside of dying billionaire Richard Pratt was itself odd. For many months Rudd had refused requests to see Pratt - presumably not wanting to be seen with a man facing criminal charges. But by Friday the papers were full of tributes to Pratt, and the line of dignitaries and stars wanting to say goodbye to him was very long, as we saw each night on television. Rudd decided to join them.
Meanwhile in Canberra, the most powerful figures in charge of our security waited and waited…
UPDATE
More information - the meeting was in part late because Rudd decided not to go to the phone arranged for him in Melbourne, but to first fly back to Canberra. He then did the hookup from the Lodge instead. Or so I’m told.
===
More Outrage Over President Obama's Speech at Georgetown University
By Bret Baier
Blown Cover
Louisiana Republican Congressman John Fleming – on the House floor Monday — says he was "disturbed" when the White House covered a religious symbol which was part of the backdrop for President Obama's speech at Georgetown University earlier this month.
We reported that the monogram, "IHS," which comes from the Greek for Jesus, was covered with black-painted plywood. Fleming said Monday: "This administration has no problem spending money imprinted with the phrase, 'In God We Trust,' but won't have our president speak with any symbol of Christ in public view."
He then told Cybercast News: "I have a concern about the very sharp turn to socialism that's happening in our government... our president does not want to be associated with religious symbols, at least not Christian symbols."
The president is expected to wear a traditional robe featuring the cross and prayer of the Virgin Mary when he speaks at the university of Notre Dame next month.
Carbon Copy
You know the old saying, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Now it seems President Obama's campaign slogan "Yes We Can," is being replicated by an unlikely figure.
The London Guardian reports Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is seeking re-election in June, is distributing a video that uses a strikingly similar slogan. The video's cover features a photo of Ahmadinejad pointing to the Farsi phrase for "We Can" on a classroom blackboard. The report suggests that Ahmadinejad is hoping to capitalize on his former role as a university lecturer.
In the Thick of It
A German radio station – Radio Bremen — is reporting that an expedition by 20 American, Canadian, Italian and German scientists has found that ice in parts of the North Pole is thicker than previously thought.
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research says that earlier measurements had indicated what it called a strong decrease of ice thickness in the central Arctic. So the researchers expected the areas they were surveying, many of which had never been measured before, to be about two meters thick. But they discovered the ice was actually four meters thick.
The study's full results will be available in coming weeks.
Fair Game?
And finally, an Italian gaming company, Molleindustria (Molleindustria.org) has re-worked one of its online video games following complaints that it promoted religious intolerance. The game pitted religious figures such as Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha against each other in combat. On it’s Web site, the game was described as: "The ultimate fighting game for these dark times... religious hate has never been so much fun."
But the Organization of the Islamic Conference called the game: "Incendiary in its content and offensive to Muslims and Christians."
So the company removed the game and uploaded a new one. According to Molleindustria’s Web site, gamers are now asked to "give love and respect" by clicking on the figures before they disappear. They vanish anyway, and the screen then displays a burning village and the message: "You didn't respect religion and now the world is a total mess."
2008 Miss Vietnam/Australia's Music Video Debut
Host: Rumble Pictures
Type: Party - Dinner Party
Date:Thursday, April 30, 2009
Time:7:00pm - 8:30pm
Location:Santos Restaurant
Street:231 Canley Vale Rd
Email: tim.ly@rumblepictures.com.au
rumblepictures.com.au
myspace.com/anhmaiho
vietlishentertainment.net
=== === ===
Jailed drug dealer escapes in taxi
A jailed Sydney drug dealer has escaped from hospital, fleeing in a taxi after his guard let him leave to get a sandwich.
Pope laments church abuse of children
Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday lamented that Canadian Indian children suffered abuse and were made to feel ashamed of their heritage at Catholic Church-run boarding schools.
Two boats in one day too much: Oppn
The arrival of two more boatloads of suspected asylum seekers, one of which almost reached Darwin, strengthens the argument for an independent inquiry into people smuggling, the federal opposition says.
'We may not be able to stop swine flu'
Thermal scanners were deployed to airports around the nation on Wednesday, as the Rudd government admitted it's unlikely Australia will avoid a swine flu outbreak. - Reese says we are ready (in Sydney) for a flu outbreak. We are prepared, Mr Rees. Without notice we can black out the city. We can ground our ferry fleet. The trains will stop running. Public service will spring to inaction. Rees has someone to blame. The media can find barry O'Farrel at fault for something. Hospitals have practiced being over run with patients. Police know what to do when infrastructure fails. Emergency services will strictly follow procedure in prioritizing calls. We will never be more ready. - ed.
Fifth former Knox teacher arrested
A fifth former teacher from Knox Grammar School in Sydney's north has been arrested for child sex offences.
EnergyAustralia to sue clumsy contractor
EnergyAustralia will take legal action against the contractor whose boring machine cut a vital power cable and caused Sydney's CBD to suffer its third power blackout in a month.
US confirms first swine flu death
A 23-month-old child has died of swine flu in Texas, the first confirmed death in the United States as well as the first outside Mexico, the Centres for Disease Control said on Wednesday.
=== ===
The battle for Currawong has finally taken wing
Piers Akerman
AFTER years of complacency, Sydneysiders are finally fighting for their beaches.
After a 12-year struggle, Northern Beaches residents have finally convinced NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally to refuse an application to subdivide the historic Currawong site within Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, on Pittwater’s western foreshore. - Lead news on 2GB this morning was how Rees’ popularity had improved, along with the ALP in NSW. This is important as well federally as they need NSW so they may go to elections early, before bills come in. Radio DJ Chris Smith seemed to feel that the increase in popularity was due to residual from the handouts.
However, I would note that while 2GB can often correctly report news which has balance, they also often fail to report significant items critical of the ALP. So that I have been instructed that they will not allow me on talkback if I want to talk about my salient issues.
Garrett was never special. I acknowledge he has done some decisions completely in line with his political self interest and not expressed views, but that does not make him competent.
That the ICAC can ignore this too is nothing short of disturbing.
===
MAGAZINE MINIMISED
Tim Blair
Mayhem at The Monthly, where deputy editor David Winter has resigned in sympathy with departed editor Sally Warhaft:
It leaves them with a staff of two: no editor, and no deputy.
It’s under Manned, you might say.
===
JUST PLAIN OLD WEATHER AGAIN
Tim Blair
Hot weather in January was caused by …
… GLOBAL WARMING!
… EXTREME WEATHER!
… THE ENVIRONMENT FIGHTING BACK!
Cold weather in April is caused by …
… a dry air mass and clear skies.
… a cold front.
… nothing in particular.
===
BECAUSE IT’S WRONG TO SAY DEMOCRATS
Tim Blair
Headline of the week:
Senator switches to Democratics
UPDATE. And another:
Hooker named Indoor Athlete of the Year
===
CONSENSUS SHATTERED
Tim Blair
Dancin’ Pete causes an icy split within the Rudd government:
Federal government sources said Climate Change Minister Penny Wong was disappointed with the way her ministerial colleague, Peter Garrett, weighed into the debate about global warming, claiming sea levels could rise by 6m as a result of melting in Antarctica. Senator Wong yesterday pointedly refused to indicate whether she supported Mr Garrett’s view …
Senator Wong declined to nominate potential levels to which seas could rise.
She wouldn’t even nominate one millimetre? Could Penny Wong be another closet sceptic?
===
MANHATTAN MYSTERY
Tim Blair
It’s a mystery why anyone would need to stage a photo opportunity involving one of the world’s most-photographed aircraft; it’s also a mystery why they needed to fly the thing around Manhattan when low-carbon technology exists to avoid that need.
===
Glikson flicked
Andrew Bolt
Dr Andrew Glikson, the Australian National University warming alarmist who likens sceptics to ”parasites”, went through my 10 Global Myths to prove I was wrong, wrong wrong.
It was such a bizarrely weak effort that:
A. I relaxed, thinking that if this was the worst that could be said about my piece, I had nothing to fear.
B. I laughed, thinking that if this was the best that could be said about global warming theory by one of our leading alarmists, the whole house of cards was just one more puff from collapse.
I couldn’t be bothered replying to Glikson myself, thinking his failure to disprove me simply spoke for itself. But former MP Dr Jon Jenkins has not been so merciful. Read on for his forensic destruction of Glikson’s responses to the myths I’d identified, point by point. And ask at the end what it says about global warming and our universities that Glikson holds the position he does:
===
Pratt did it. Get over it
Andrew Bolt
Terry McCrann has had it with the excuses - and some of those making them:
WITH friends like these . . . John Elliott obviously has not learned the first rule of holes. He went on the Neil Mitchell program yesterday morning with a very big shovel and set about using it with gusto.
In essence he said his great mate, the late Dick Pratt, lied when he ‘fessed up to price fixing. He only did it to save himself from a messy legal fight and a possibly much bigger financial penalty.
Pratt personally paid a record $36 million penalty. But according to Elliott, “the problem was” that if he’d gone to court it could have “cost him $150 million”. He made a conscious decision, according to Elliott, to take it on himself. “He told me he wasn’t guilty.”
Thanks, John. He was innocent but then he lied. But lied not to save but to trash his reputation! In order to save money.
When are the assorted ‘friends’ going to learn to stop it. That the ‘better’ version is to let his confession stand as the truth.
Nice sting at the end of McCrann’s piece, too. Whose money was that, John?
===
Busier spending your money than returning it
Andrew Bolt
The Tax Office is so busy sending cheques to people who didn’t earn the money that it doesn’t have time to send refunds to those who did:
MILLIONS of taxpayers have been told not to hold their breath for their refund this year after the tax office became bogged down sending out cheques for the Government stimulus package.
That’s one stimulus delayed because another stimulus was pushed through. The country’s in great hands.
===
If the world is warming, why are we so cold?
Andrew Bolt
The world, we’re told, has been warming dangerously. Yet here are our record temperatures:
HIGHEST RECORDED TEMPERATURE:
Oodnadatta, South Australia 50.7 C (123.3 F) on the 2nd January, 1960
LOWEST RECORDED TEMPERATURE:
Charlotte Pass, New South Wales -23.0 C (-9.4 F) on the 29th June, 1994
Yes, weather isn’t climate, but now:
The news came as Mount Hotham recorded the coldest temperature for April in Victoria of minus 8 degrees.
And:
Melbourne also had it’s fourth consecutive April day under 15 degrees yesterday — with a top of 13.8 degrees — the first time in 60 years.
And:
A new Australian record was set early this morning, a temperature of minus 13 degrees, at Charlotte Pass on the Snowy Mountains. This is the lowest temperature recorded anywhere in Australia in April ...
And:
The first snow of the season fell on NSW yesterday, the first time in 13 years ski resorts had experienced snow in April.
Discuss.
UPDATE
The IPA has had to book a bigger room to cope with the demand for places at the Melbourne launch of Professor Ian Plimer’s instant best-seller, Heaven and Earth. Global warming: the missing science. So best rush before that one’s booked out, too:
The launch will be held at The Hotel Windsor, 111 Spring Street, Melbourne on Wednesday 6 May 2009 from 5.30pm to 6.30pm.
The launch is free and open to the public, but because of the overwhelming interest in this event RSVPs are essential.
===
Swine flew
Andrew Bolt
The start of a thousand jokes:
SIX Australian politicians, led by a senator named Hogg, who landed at the epicentre of Mexico’s swine flu crisis this week, have found themselves the centre of unwanted attention.
The Central Coast Labor MP, Belinda Neal, was among the group. She remained tight-lipped behind a face mask when a Herald reporter tracked the group down at a Mexico City hotel yesterday
===
Emerson outs himself … forever as an idiot
Andrew Bolt
Days after being challenged here to come out of the closet, Craig Emerson peeks out:
FEDERAL Small Business Minister Craig Emerson has split from Kevin Rudd and ministerial colleagues by declaring science is undecided on key aspects of the global warming debate.
Dr Emerson yesterday became the first minister in the Rudd Government to cast doubt on the assertion that scientific evidence was conclusive for a catastrophic meltdown of the polar icecaps if global warming was not curtailed.
He said he would like to see scientists settle the question of what would happen to sea-level rises and the polar icecaps as a result of climate change.
Sadly, Emerson embarrasses himself - and will once day blush at his timidity - by still hiding behind this deceitful evasion:
“The science is in that we are experiencing climate change and we need to act to deal with it,” Dr Emerson told The Australian.
UPDATE
From the files: Kevid Rudd explains the evidence that convinces him the debate is over:
WELL, can I just say, the science is in. The icecaps are melting, the oceans are rising, temperatures are rising, we have the corals of the Great Barrier Reef beginning to be bleached. These are real environmental consequences now.
As I explained yesterday, all four of those claims are false. So what should Rudd now conclude?
===
Why did Calma join a conference for racists?
Andrew Bolt
David Knoll should have gone in even harder, given Tom Calma’s committment to institutionalising racial divides and to witchhunts:
THE decision of Tom Calma to attend last week’s UN Durban II Conference in his capacity as race discrimination commissioner was controversial in more ways than one. The principal proponents of the conference, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and various rogue states, including some of the worst abusers of human rights on this planet, had two clear agendas.
Their first agenda was to achieve the UN’s imprimatur for a position that Islam in particular (but not exclusively) be shielded from criticism in the media and other areas of public life… The second agenda was to achieve that same imprimatur for demonisation of the Jewish nation, the state of Israel, with no other nation singled out for criticism…
The proponents of the conference will have noticed inevitably that Australia (along with the US, Israel, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany) publicly chose not to participate in a conference whose clear design, prepared during many months, was to promote a particular form of racism rather than to fight all forms of racism. Having an official as senior as the race discrimination commissioner attend as an observer could be perceived as a signal that Australia might in the future adopt some or all of the Durban II agenda.
Did Australia really oppose the conference or was Australia having a bet both ways? It is a pity that Calma did not follow Australian government policy and have no truck with racism of any hue.
===
Worse than Bush
Andrew Bolt
The Washington Times cuts through the Kumbayahs:
President Obama’s media cheerleaders are hailing how loved he is. But at the 100-day mark of his presidency, Mr. Obama is the second-least-popular president in 40 years.
According to Gallup’s April survey, Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969. The only new president less popular was Bill Clinton, who got off to a notoriously bad start after trying to force homosexuals on the military and a federal raid in Waco, Texas, that killed 86.
The New York Post lists them:
100 DAYS, 100 MISTAKES
This latest doozy will take some explaining now that the panic is over and the hunt for the guilty is on:
Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.
===
Please settle down
Andrew Bolt
Not just too much drink but too much panic:
Two men who had too much to drink caused 117 passengers on a flight from Mexico to Maryland to wait on board after landing while health authorities checked the two for symptoms of swine flu, officials said Tuesday.
The commotion began when AirTran Flight 85 from Cancun, Mexico, radioed ahead to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport that two passengers were had nausea and fever, said airport spokesman Jonathan Dean.
And this is right over the top, more likely to spread panic than stop a flu:
Australia’s government has approved tough new powers to detain and disinfect people suspected of carrying swine flu...
This when the confirmed death toll from the disease so far around the world stands at eight.
===
More of Rudd’s boats
Andrew Bolt
How many more must arrive before Kevin Rudd admits he’s luring them in - some to their deaths?
AUTHORITIES released dramatic new photos of the interception of two “suspected illegal entry vessels” today.
The first boat had seven people on board and was intercepted one nautical mile north of Ashmore Reef, Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus confirmed.
The second was located 27 nautical miles west of Bathurst Island with about 72 people on board… There have been 17 vessel arrivals since August.
Which is around when Rudd weakened his laws against boat people. Since then 13 have died.
By the way, can we have a costing of how much all these new arrivals have cost taxpayers so far?
===
Record temperature - on the day I said there were none
Andrew Bolt
Oops. I made a mistake in today’s column when I said that despite all this alleged global warming, Australia’s record temperatures had not been broken for decades. Reader Cameron says I’ve been proved wrong - and on the very day my column appeared:
A new Australian record was set early this morning, a temperature of minus 13 degrees, at Charlotte Pass on the Snowy Mountains. This is the lowest temperature recorded anywhere in Australia in April and is 13 below the average.
I stand both corrected and affirmed.
===
Danby vs Jones
Andrew Bolt
Labor MP Michael Danby tackles Tony Jones over his airing on Q&A of a foul and baseless rumor about Israeli atrocities in Gaza - a rumor eagerly beaten up on the show by panellist Louise Adler. And he asks:
When does a monumental lie like this get examined by and refuted by your program?
Good question, and Danby has taken this to the ABC complaints tribunal.
There is one error in Danby’s letter, however. As I clearly recall, having been on that panel, most of the repudiation of Adler’s slur against Israeli troops was done by neither Greg Hunt nor Steve Conroy, but someone Danby thinks politic not to credit.
===
Waiting for Rudd
Andrew Bolt
How self-centred and how spin-obsessed is our strange Prime Minister? Let’s rewind to last Friday.
Kevin Rudd had summoned a meeting of the National Security Council - comprising the most senior ministers and public servants involved in the security of this nation. It’s a meeting normally attended by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Defence Minister, the Minister For Foreign Affairs, as well as the heads of their departments and of all our main spy agencies. It’s meant to be a serious meeting of serious people with serious pressures on their time to discuss serious issues.
And so the summoned ministers, department heads and spy chiefs waited by their secure phones for Rudd to come on the line from Melbourne. And yet again they waited and waited… In fact, a very good source says, they waited two hours before Rudd finally joined them. And nine minutes later he hung up.
Nine minutes? What could they possibly have properly discussed in that short time?
Which makes today’s announcement by Rudd of 450 extra troops for Afghanistan - and of the thought that went into it - rather odd:
Mr Rudd said Australia’s commitment was discussed with US President Barack Obama last week following “extensive deliberations” by the National Security Committee of federal cabinet.
So what pressing engagement had Rudd once again keeping such senior people waiting like mere servants, and his jet waiting at the tarmac? Was it this?
Yesterday it was the turn of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to visit Pratt’s bedside. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said Mr Rudd had made a “a personal visit and the details will remain private”.
Rudd’s “private” visit to the bedside of dying billionaire Richard Pratt was itself odd. For many months Rudd had refused requests to see Pratt - presumably not wanting to be seen with a man facing criminal charges. But by Friday the papers were full of tributes to Pratt, and the line of dignitaries and stars wanting to say goodbye to him was very long, as we saw each night on television. Rudd decided to join them.
Meanwhile in Canberra, the most powerful figures in charge of our security waited and waited…
UPDATE
More information - the meeting was in part late because Rudd decided not to go to the phone arranged for him in Melbourne, but to first fly back to Canberra. He then did the hookup from the Lodge instead. Or so I’m told.
===
More Outrage Over President Obama's Speech at Georgetown University
By Bret Baier
Blown Cover
Louisiana Republican Congressman John Fleming – on the House floor Monday — says he was "disturbed" when the White House covered a religious symbol which was part of the backdrop for President Obama's speech at Georgetown University earlier this month.
We reported that the monogram, "IHS," which comes from the Greek for Jesus, was covered with black-painted plywood. Fleming said Monday: "This administration has no problem spending money imprinted with the phrase, 'In God We Trust,' but won't have our president speak with any symbol of Christ in public view."
He then told Cybercast News: "I have a concern about the very sharp turn to socialism that's happening in our government... our president does not want to be associated with religious symbols, at least not Christian symbols."
The president is expected to wear a traditional robe featuring the cross and prayer of the Virgin Mary when he speaks at the university of Notre Dame next month.
Carbon Copy
You know the old saying, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." Now it seems President Obama's campaign slogan "Yes We Can," is being replicated by an unlikely figure.
The London Guardian reports Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is seeking re-election in June, is distributing a video that uses a strikingly similar slogan. The video's cover features a photo of Ahmadinejad pointing to the Farsi phrase for "We Can" on a classroom blackboard. The report suggests that Ahmadinejad is hoping to capitalize on his former role as a university lecturer.
In the Thick of It
A German radio station – Radio Bremen — is reporting that an expedition by 20 American, Canadian, Italian and German scientists has found that ice in parts of the North Pole is thicker than previously thought.
The Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research says that earlier measurements had indicated what it called a strong decrease of ice thickness in the central Arctic. So the researchers expected the areas they were surveying, many of which had never been measured before, to be about two meters thick. But they discovered the ice was actually four meters thick.
The study's full results will be available in coming weeks.
Fair Game?
And finally, an Italian gaming company, Molleindustria (Molleindustria.org) has re-worked one of its online video games following complaints that it promoted religious intolerance. The game pitted religious figures such as Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha against each other in combat. On it’s Web site, the game was described as: "The ultimate fighting game for these dark times... religious hate has never been so much fun."
But the Organization of the Islamic Conference called the game: "Incendiary in its content and offensive to Muslims and Christians."
So the company removed the game and uploaded a new one. According to Molleindustria’s Web site, gamers are now asked to "give love and respect" by clicking on the figures before they disappear. They vanish anyway, and the screen then displays a burning village and the message: "You didn't respect religion and now the world is a total mess."
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
nat does Britain's Got Talent (parody)
communitychannel
April 28, 2009
i'm only doing this to get closer to susan boyle.
Sorry guys, I know i said next video would be normal. I lied. Forgive me.
Hope you're all well and having a great start to the week.
I'll see you friday
x
n
===
I think Susan Boyle has class. I saw her $70 makeover and I thought your mum had done a great job. You should let her work on you. Your really pretty, so she wouldn't do much. Maybe that face. Those clothes. Perhaps some more abdominal definition. I think the boob baby is growing.
CARBON TAX COSTS GLADSTONE JOBS
The Federal Government must make a decision on whether increasing employment in Indonesia and China was more important than securing jobs in Gladstone and other Australian regions, Senator Sue Boyce, Senator for Queensland, said today.
“The Federal Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will move jobs offshore to high-polluting countries and will cause greater harm to the environment.
“Australia is still going to use the same amount of cement and the same amount of metals. It is a question of the Federal Government keeping jobs and emissions at home or increasing both unemployment and global emissions by forcing manufacture offshore.
“Our regional competitors have far less strict environmental controls as well as lax workplace health and safety standards.
“The Coalition has argued that we shouldn’t be imposing the ETS on our trade exposed industries until there are similar schemes operating in competing countries.”
Senator Boyce was speaking after a tour of Gladstone’s Cement Australia plant and Rio Tinto’s Yarwun Aluminium operation.
“The Federal Government’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will move jobs offshore to high-polluting countries and will cause greater harm to the environment.
“Australia is still going to use the same amount of cement and the same amount of metals. It is a question of the Federal Government keeping jobs and emissions at home or increasing both unemployment and global emissions by forcing manufacture offshore.
“Our regional competitors have far less strict environmental controls as well as lax workplace health and safety standards.
“The Coalition has argued that we shouldn’t be imposing the ETS on our trade exposed industries until there are similar schemes operating in competing countries.”
Senator Boyce was speaking after a tour of Gladstone’s Cement Australia plant and Rio Tinto’s Yarwun Aluminium operation.
SENATOR BOYCE MEETS GLADSTONE REGIONAL COUNCIL
Senator Sue Boyce, Senator for Queensland, met members of Gladstone Regional Council today.
“It was an opportunity to get Council’s viewpoint of the issues they face in their new structure. Obviously jobs are the number one priority, and the Council has made a number of requests that will maintain employment for Gladstone’s workforce.
“I think we all acknowledge that the current financial crisis will hit harder in Gladstone than in most other parts of Australia, but we also need to do all we can to get Federal and State funding into Gladstone.
“According to Centrelink figures, unemployment in Gladstone has risen almost 40 per cent since the Rudd Government came to office, from 681 in December 2007 to 947 in March 2009. Of course, this doesn’t cover underemployment from those who have had shifts reduced and overtime cut back.
“Council have given me their list of priorities for the region, and I’ll be raising them in the next parliamentary session.
“Gladstone is fortunate in having State MP, Liz Cunningham, and a progressive Council fighting for them,” Senator Boyce said.
“It was an opportunity to get Council’s viewpoint of the issues they face in their new structure. Obviously jobs are the number one priority, and the Council has made a number of requests that will maintain employment for Gladstone’s workforce.
“I think we all acknowledge that the current financial crisis will hit harder in Gladstone than in most other parts of Australia, but we also need to do all we can to get Federal and State funding into Gladstone.
“According to Centrelink figures, unemployment in Gladstone has risen almost 40 per cent since the Rudd Government came to office, from 681 in December 2007 to 947 in March 2009. Of course, this doesn’t cover underemployment from those who have had shifts reduced and overtime cut back.
“Council have given me their list of priorities for the region, and I’ll be raising them in the next parliamentary session.
“Gladstone is fortunate in having State MP, Liz Cunningham, and a progressive Council fighting for them,” Senator Boyce said.
GLADSTONE JOB AGENCY LOSS MUST BE EXPLAINED
A local Job Network provider who lost their contracts to two Sydney-based agencies deserves an explanation, according to Senator Sue Boyce, Senator for Queensland.
“I sat down with Nat Minniecon and Mitch Burke, directors of Minniecon and Burke, and they told me they will be forced to close down their businesses and their eight offices between Gladstone and Cairns, retrenching 100 staff.
“I cannot understand why a successful local company, with a very high DEEWR rating, lost their contracts to two much larger interstate organisations.
“Minniecon and Burke have been a regional Queensland success story. Their successful involvement in indigenous employment has established them as a role model.
“In one unexplained pen stroke, Minister O’Connor has destroyed 14 years of solid growth.
“I’ll be following up on this when Parliament resumes in May. On their track record alone, the agency deserves to be treated fairly.
“In the current economic climate, the poor handling and worse outcomes of this Rudd Government policy is counterproductive. It’s disgusting,” Senator Sue Boyce said.
“I sat down with Nat Minniecon and Mitch Burke, directors of Minniecon and Burke, and they told me they will be forced to close down their businesses and their eight offices between Gladstone and Cairns, retrenching 100 staff.
“I cannot understand why a successful local company, with a very high DEEWR rating, lost their contracts to two much larger interstate organisations.
“Minniecon and Burke have been a regional Queensland success story. Their successful involvement in indigenous employment has established them as a role model.
“In one unexplained pen stroke, Minister O’Connor has destroyed 14 years of solid growth.
“I’ll be following up on this when Parliament resumes in May. On their track record alone, the agency deserves to be treated fairly.
“In the current economic climate, the poor handling and worse outcomes of this Rudd Government policy is counterproductive. It’s disgusting,” Senator Sue Boyce said.
Headlines Wednesday 29th April 2009
Sweeping new quarantine powers approved
Governor-General Quentin Bryce has consented to sweeping new quarantine powers for health officials in response to the global outbreak of swine flu.
22 Australians exposed to swine flu
Four NSW residents missing after coming into contact with swine flu have been contacted via phone and email.
World swine flu fears sharpen into panic
Airlines and tour operators have suspended flights to Mexico, as worldwide fears over a new deadly strain of flu slip towards panic and new cases are confirmed in various countries.
Suspect NSW flu sufferers could be detained against their will
People suspected of having swine flu could be detained against their will under strict new quarantine powers decreed by the NSW government.
Richard Pratt dies, aged 74
Billionare businessman and philanthropist Richard Pratt has died, aged 74.
Bird guilty of glassing, lying to police
Former Cronulla league star Greg Bird has been found guilty of smashing a glass into his girlfriend's face and blaming the attack on his flatmate.
Labor powerbroker has conviction quashed
Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid has had his conviction for talking on a mobile phone while driving......
Woman jailed for noisy sex sessions
A woman has been jailed for breaching court orders to stop her screaming during sex, enacted after......
Doctor arrested over perving pen-cam
Police said on Tuesday they have arrested a doctor they suspect of using a pen camera to secretly......
=== ===
ABC concocts global warming
Piers Akerman
THE ABC, the megaphone for every fashionable cause, is not giving up on its advocacy for global warming.
On Lateline last night reporter Margot O’Neill made the following statement in relation to the success of Professor Ian Plimer’s new book Heaven + Earth: “ The claim that global temperatures have dropped since 1998, thus disproving a warming trend, is one of many rejected emphatically by one of the world’s climate scientists, David Karoly.”
Karoly, of the University of Melbourne, then tried to dump a bucket on Plimer saying: “Temperatures have dropped a very small amount since 1998, both in surface temperatures and in atmospheric temperatures measured from satellites. But that doesn’t mean that global warming has stopped. The temperatures, if we average from 1998 to 2008, they’re warmer than the previous 10 years, or the 10 years before that, or any 10-year period over at least the last 150 years.”
But logic dictates that the drop in global temperatures is not a “claim”, as O’Neill said, it is a scientific fact.
Dropping temperatures would indicate a cooling trend, not a warming trend, which O’Neill and the ABC are hoping for in order to push the Green policies of the ALP, and its political partner, the Australian Greens.
Karoly’s remark has nothing to do with science, it is a personal political view, purely speculative and absolutely meaningless until temperatures start to rise again.
That’s Your ABC spinning as fast it can.
===
NATION DEBUGGED
Tim Blair
That’s my daddy, destroying the precious Australian environment with toxic chemicals some time in the late 60s.
===
IT’S ALL ABOUT FUEL
Tim Blair
A detailed and accurate artistic depiction of an early fuel injection system:
Looking more closely, I think what we have here is a decades-old product of the pioneering Hilborn company, still active in fuel delivery research and manufacturing to this very day.
===
THE ENGLISH JOB
Tim Blair
Jules Crittenden catches a killer quote from the great Michael Caine:
“The Government has taken tax up to 50 per cent, and if it goes to 51 I will be back in America,” he said at the weekend. “We’ve got 3.5 million layabouts on benefits, and I’m 76, getting up at 6am to go to work to keep them.”
By the way, we ended up winning that ABC poll on an Australian 50 per cent tax rate. Caine should move here.
===
TREE WHISPERER
Tim Blair
A Canadian headline:
Quebec astrophysicist to speak for forest
===
PATRIOT NETWORK
Tim Blair
As John Kerry would say, dissent is the greatest form of patriotism.
===
EARTH HOUR 2010
Tim Blair
Reader John emails:
Whilst in Hong Kong recently, I noticed some buses advertising Earth Hour (a couple of months after the event).
I can’t vouch for how seriously Hong Kong took the hour, but it seems to take a diametrically opposed half-hour VERY VERY seriously – every night:
A significant tourist attraction that operates every night at 8pm is the Symphony of Lights. This wunderfest of lighting, lasers & music represents how I’d like my house to be lit for the next Earth Hour.
This is an excellent plan. Although other options are also enticing:
Residents of a small southwest Nebraska town have a question for state officials: You’re not doing anything with that old electric chair, are you?
===
JET PHOTOGRAPHED
Tim Blair
This must be one of the most successful photo opportunities ever. Global coverage!
===
===
Rudd’s cash: buy now, pay much more later
Andrew Bolt
You’ll pay for Rudd’s free money, warns Peter Costello:
A typical family of mum, dad and two children would by now have received two $1000 bonuses - one for each of the children - and $900 if dad’s income was below $80,000. That’s $2900 since October last year: enough to get a pretty nice home entertainment system.
And there’s no repayment? Well, actually, the Government borrowed this money so it will have to make the interest payments to the lenders. And since it gets all its money from taxpayers, it’s the taxpayers who will foot the interest bill. In the next two years the Government will increase net debt from zero (the position it inherited in 2007) to about $200 billion. In round figures, that’s $10,000 for each of our citizens and $40,000 for our family of four. At today’s low interest rates, that’s a bill of about $2000 a year for our typical family…
Today’s one-off payments of $2900 are going to look feeble compensation against an interest bill that could last for 10 or 20 years.
===
Feral alert
Andrew Bolt
A very modern story of manners:
A WOMAN has assaulted and broken the nose of another woman who asked her to stop smoking on a train station platform. Police say it happened on April 22, when a 53-year-old Coburg woman asked one of two women to stop smoking on a platform at Melbourne’s Parliament railway station.
UPDATE
The most shocking detail of many in this case is the price allegedly charged to cause this harm to some stranger drinking at a bar:
According to a police summary tendered to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court today, Mr Yang was offered $200 to “seriously assault or slash’’ the intended victim.
===
A crack but no melting
Andrew Bolt
A bigger split than this is needed, but it’s a start, I guess:
A SPLIT over global warming has emerged in Kevin Rudd’s cabinet after it was revealed that a 13-month-old photograph was published this month to support the view that a catastrophic melting of Antarctic ice was imminent.
Federal government sources said Climate Change Minister Penny Wong was disappointed with the way her ministerial colleague, Peter Garrett, weighed into the debate about global warming, claiming sea levels could rise by 6m as a result of melting in Antarctica. Senator Wong yesterday pointedly refused to indicate whether she supported Mr Garrett’s view.
“The impacts of climate change are being seen in many ways, from sea level rise through to extreme weather events,” Senator Wong said yesterday… Senator Wong declined to nominate potential levels to which seas could rise.
===
The 10 Warming Myths
Andrew Bolt
IT’S snowing in April. Ice is spreading in Antarctica. The Great Barrier Reef is as healthy as ever.
And that’s just the news of the past week. Truly, it never rains but it pours - and all over our global warming alarmists.
Time’s up for this absurd scaremongering. The fears are being contradicted by the facts, and more so by the week.
Doubt it? Then here’s a test.
Name just three clear signs the planet is warming as the alarmists claim it should. Just three. Chances are your “proofs” are in fact on my list of 10 Top Myths about global warming.
And if your “proofs” indeed turn out to be false, don’t get angry with me.
Just ask yourself: Why do you still believe that man is heating the planet to hell? What evidence do you have?
===
Democrats forget they approved this “torture”
Andrew Bolt
A powerful defence by Porter Goss, worth reading in full:
Since leaving my post as CIA director almost three years ago, I have remained largely silent on the public stage. I am speaking out now because I feel the American Government has croLssed the red line between properly protecting our national security and trying to gain partisan political advantage…
A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill. After the September 11, 2001, attacks, members of the committees charged with overseeing our nation’s intelligence services had no higher priority than stopping al-Qaeda. In the autumn of 2002, while I was chairman of the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA’s “High Value Terrorist Program,” including the development of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and what those techniques were…
Today, I am slack-jawed to read that members claim to have not understood that the techniques on which they were briefed were to actually be employed; or that specific techniques such as “waterboarding” were never mentioned. It must be hard for most Americans of common sense to imagine how a member of Congress can forget being told about the interrogations of the September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Perhaps it is not amnesia but political expedience…
I do not recall a single objection from my colleagues…
The suggestion that we are safer now because information about interrogation techniques is in the public domain (released by President Obama) conjures up images of unicorns and fairy dust. We have given our enemy invaluable information about the rules by which we operate… Our enemies do not subscribe to the rules of the Marquess of Queensberry. “Name, rank and serial number” does not apply to non-state actors but is, regrettably, the only question this Administration wants us to ask. Instead of taking risks, our intelligence officers will soon resort to wordsmithing cables to headquarters while opportunities to neutralise brutal radicals are lost.
===
Look for a German with an aunt in New Zealand
Andrew Bolt
These lists are so subjective as to be meaningless. For instance, this one seems compiled by a Europhile with an unusual love of German culture, but an intolerance of Latin freewheeling:
SYDNEY has beaten Melbourne in a list of the world’s top cities, but both have been beaten by our New Zealand neighbours.
Sydneysiders enjoy Australia’s best quality of living, rounding out the top ten in the 2009 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey conducted by Mercer consultancy firm…
European cities dominated the top 10: Vienna (1), Zurich (2), Geneva (3), Vancouver (equal 4), Auckland (equal 4), Dusseldorf (6), Munich (7), Frankfurt (8), Bern (9), Sydney (10).
What are the odds that a list of the world’s top 10 cities include six in which German is spoken?
===
Howard speaks, not spins
Andrew Bolt
John Howard is interviewed on America’s NPR on Iraq and Obama - and losing the election. He is glad that President Obama is more responsible than Candidate Obama.
The lack of spin comes as such a relief in this climate.
===
Plimer finds overheating - at the ABC
Andrew Bolt
Professor Ian Plimer cuts through the mockery of ABC warming alarmist Tony Jones - and Jones’ repeated attempts at a nit-picking gotcha - to treat Lateline viewers to a primer on how shonky is the theory which has generated such a gigantic scare.
Cool sense is such a relief - and so unmistakable - when inserted into a debate dominated by hyperbole, abuse, exaggeration, assumption, wind-baggery, appeals to authority and hairshirt evangelism.
As far as I can tell, Jones managed only to identify one error - that NASA had corrected figures for US temperatures, not world temperatures, as Plimer had written (pp 98-99). This makes Plimer’s claims that the 1930s were hotter false - at least when he extrapolates from the US to the world. But it does not falsify Plimer’s claims that temperature measurements by the world’s four most reliable sources agree the world has cooled over the past decade, and that the world has been warmer in the past. Note that short though this period is, global warming theory is itself based on just 25 years of alleged man-caused warming - from around 1975 to 1998, as Plimer explained.
As is typical on the ABC, the interview was preceded by the ringing of a lepers’ bell over the heathen sceptic. Three of the usual global warming suspects were trotted on to denounce Plimer with vague allegations - none explained or substantiated - of sloppy work and ignorance. Not one supporting scientists was interviewed. And in that pooh-poohing there was this mistatement by the reporter of an “error” that’s actually confirmed seconds later even by one of Plimer’s critics:
MARGOT O’NEILL: The claim that global temperatures have dropped since 1998, thus disproving a warming trend, is one of many rejected emphatically by one of the world’s climate scientists, David Karoly.
DAVID KAROLY, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE: Temperatures have dropped a very small amount since 1998, both in surface temperatures and in atmospheric temperatures measured from satellites. But that doesn’t mean that global warming has stopped.
Even when a warming activist confirms the truth of what Plimer says, the Lateline reporter hears it as a denial. And what Plimer actually deduces from the drop since 1998 is also true - that this is not consistent with the alarmists’ predictions or theory that the ever-increasing amounts of carbon dioxide emitted by man is causing ever-increasing warming.
No wonder Plimer’s sceptical book - Heaven and Earth - is an instant and deserved best-seller.
Question: does Tony Jones try this hard to disprove any alarmist he invites on his show, no matter how clearly exaggerated are their fears? Check here and here.
Note with those last two links that Jones introduced his interview with the alarmist IPCC chairman by running a clip featuring three scientists who strongly agreed with him. But last night Jones introduced his interview with a sceptic by running a clip featuring three scientists who strongly disagreed with him. Balanced?
UPDATE
Apologies. I was working on this without realising I’d already posted it. Hence the changes to the original post.
UPDATE 2
Sceptics are bobbing up everywhere. Now it’s New Zealand journalist Ian Wishart, who has issued his own book and gets a decidedly different interview here.
UPDATE 3
Watch for Tony Jones going at Robyn Williams, who claims the seas could rise 100 metres this century, in their discussion of “mistakes”. Oh, not there? Instead, we see Williams dismiss a great climate scientist (and sceptic) on the grounds that he smokes. I kid you not.
But more particularly watch Michael Duffy nail the Jones technique.
(Thanks to readers Trent and Ivan.)
UPDATE 4
Reader Rudd is Zelig:
Unfortunately, Lambeck and Brook provide neither reason nor evidence of any error on Plimer’s part. Lambeck commits the fallacy of arguing from authority, attempting to dismiss any criticism of the consensus view from a disciplinary base that is no broader than Plimer’s. Brook’s qualifiactions are in biology, but (like fellow biologists Flannery and Schneider) presents himself as a ‘climate scientist’, whatever that means.Understanding climate as a whole requires several disciplines, and geology is arguably as, if not more, important than biology - especially on the relationships between the various elements in the past.
The important question to ask of the various ‘climate scientists’ is what is theirexpertise. It is not unusual to find Brook, for example, declaiming on the movement of the Antarctic ice sheets as he did recently (Weekend Australian 18-19 April p19).There is much that is uncertain in climate science. Good example, and a key uncertainty: doubling CO2 from pre-industrial levels gives a 1°C rise in global temp, but the effect decays logarithmically, so that most of this (0.7°C) has already occurred. Apocalypse from the models depends on the presence of a positive feedback mechanism involving water vapour, and the theory of the evidence for this is highly contentious to say the least.Plimer’s fundamental point - that the Earth changes - is correct. Stability, harmony, etc exist only in our belief systems and are unachievable.
===
Hear again from a no-spin Prime Minister
Andrew Bolt
John Howard unplugged - part two of his NRO interview. This time refreshing straight-talking on multiculturalism. You don’t realise quite what a brain-flattening zone of spin we’ve entered until you hear Howard reminding you of a not-so-distant past.
Howard also argues that colonialism brought Aborigines not just suffering - but opportunities. And that mainstreaming is the best hope to end Aboriginal dysfunction. And could a Rudd ever dare say that - or this?
China is a communist dictatorship.
No spin.
===
Rudd closer to China than to the Liberals?
Andrew Bolt
I’d be interested in the answer, too:
The Federal Opposition has called on the Government to explain why Chinese authorities have been briefed on Australia’s new defence blueprint before the Coalition. The lead author of the Government’s defence white paper, Michael Pezzullo, has been sent to China to discuss the document ahead of its release.
===
Nationals back sceptic Plimer
Andrew Bolt
What interesting people to be helping to launch Professor Ian Plimer’s Heaven and Earth - a book showing why global warming theory is so dodgy:
Senator Ron Boswell will be holding the Brisbane media launch of Ian Plimer’s book ‘Heaven and Earth: Global Warming - The Missing Science’. The details of the media launch are as follows:
Date: Tuesday, May 19th
Time: 12 noon
Venue: Pineapple Hotel, Function Room 2nd Floor, 706 Main Street, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane
Senator Barnaby Joyce will be holding the evening launch of Ian Plimer’s book. The details of the evening launch are as follows:
Date: Tuesday, May 19th
Time: 7 pm
Venue: Pineapple Hotel, Function Room 2nd Floor, 706 Main Street, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane
That’s sure a statement from the Nationals. Pity that some Labor politicians involved in helping to publicise this book haven’t had the same courage to come out.
===
Swine flu softens brains
Andrew Bolt
Truly, we have more to fear from fear itself - and from the conspiracy kooks fear unleashes. No, I’m not taking about global warming this time but swine flu, and the program put out last night by America’s Coast to Coast, which boasts 3 million weekly listeners:
George Noory hosted a special edition of C2C with examination and analysis of the recent swine flu outbreak. 2nd hour guest, Dr. Gary Ridenour suggested that this virus could further mutate and ... in a worst-case scenario, 5-15 million people could die. He estimated there was a 40% chance that the new virus was man-made, and was released either accidentally or intentionally.
Appearing in the latter half of the show, Alex Jones and Stephen Quayle both agreed the new swine virus was not natural. It’s a “genetically altered bioweapon,” possibly being “beta-tested in the field” to target specific races, Quayle contended… Quayle suggested the virus may be part of a global plan to reduce the population, and that the mysterious deaths of microbiologists in recent years could be connected to this outbreak-- scientists who could help stop a pandemic were taken out.
===
The paragraph that cost Warhaft her job
Andrew Bolt
Caroline Overington explains how Sally Warhaft got the boot as editor of The Monthly. Short version: Warfhaft wouldn’t let Robert Manne squelch a debate yet again with yet more unctuous praise of Kevin Rudd:
Although the May edition (of The Monthly) has not yet been printed, The Australian understands the cover story is called “Was Rudd Right?” It’s not one story so much as a collection of essays by various “thinkers”—economists, historians, economists—responding to a now-famous, 8000-word essay by Kevin Rudd.
The Prime Minister’s essay, published in The Monthly in February, blamed “extreme capitalism” for the world’s economic woes. For a while, it seemed everybody was talking about the Rudd essay—was he right, or deluded, or a closet communist, or what?
The Monthly was pleased with the attention. It decided to follow up by getting a group of thinkers to reflect on it. Warhaft wanted to write the introduction to those essays; after all, she was the editor of The Monthly.
Trouble was, Melbourne academic Robert Manne, who is chairman of the The Monthly’s editorial board, a dear friend of the publisher Morry Schwartz, and one of the most prominent contributors, also wanted to write the introduction.
Warhaft initially ceded to Manne, but when his introduction came in, she didn’t like it. She thought it should be a plain introduction, that the writers should be allowed to speak for themselves, but Manne’s piece was full of praise for Mr Rudd.
Warhaft, as editor, wanted to change it, make it more neutral. He wouldn’t let her, and so it was on, and it ended with her leaving.
I had a vaguely similar journey with Manne. I began by admiring him, and edited his column for many months at The Herald. It took some time for me to admit to myself that Manne was not as careful with evidence as I had supposed, and not as immune to the herd instinct as I’d hoped. Worse, he seemed to me a prophet in anxious search of the popular moral cause of his time - more for the platform and the power than from a deep need to right a real wrong. I got to learn of his (inm my opinion) vindictiveness in debate shortly after deciding to contradict his claims - to this day unsupported - that tens of thousands of Aboriginal children were stolen from their parents just to destroy Aboriginal culture and keep Australia white.
===
Brutalizing America
By Bill O'Reilly
A new low has been reached in media attacks on the USA. Take a good look at the cartoon The New York Times printed Sunday. It shows the Statue of Liberty holding a whip, ready to strike. Just look at this atrocity and tell me that newspaper is a fair media outlet.
The two men responsible are Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and editor Bill Keller. These guys are on a jihad to define America as a gulag nation, a country that tortured helpless captives.
The Times is aided and abetted by General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and NBC boss Jeff Zucker, who allow their commentators to push a hateful far-left agenda.
Finally, ACLU leader Anthony Romero and far-left billionaire George Soros are pouring money and legal challenges into telling the world that America is indeed a nation that abuses human rights.
These six men are doing an enormous amount of damage to this country, but why. What is the real goal here?
A liberal president is now in the White House, and Barack Obama has already reversed many of the Bush anti-terror policies. So why are these guys continuing to whip their own country when they know the alleged torture stuff is harming our image all over the world.
The reason is really quite simple. If show trials for the Bush administration happen, they will marginalize the Republican Party, National Security hawks and conservative thinkers for decades. It doesn't matter how the trials turn out, if they even take place. The far left gets a big win.
And it's getting worse. The Obama administration will soon release photographs of military investigations into prisoner abuse. The pictures were taken in order to gather evidence in criminal cases against Americans, but that's not how the photos will be spun.
The ACLU, which sued to get the pictures released, wants to inflame the world against the USA. That, of course, will put our troops and diplomats in even more danger and make it harder for the Obama administration to get cooperation from other countries. Does the president understand that?
Right now, few in the media are rebutting the scandalous charge that America is a torture nation, even though the facts say that is bull. The following men are on record as saying the tough interrogation methods saved lives and were done responsibly in the context of a direct attack on the United States: Former CIA Directors George Tenet, Michael Hayden and Porter Goss, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and President Obama's director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair.
On the other side, FBI Director Robert Mueller dissents, saying no worthy intel was gleaned. But Mueller is obviously vastly outnumbered here, so President Obama is making the correct decision by not pursuing investigations.
It is bad enough the world has to see this kind of garbage, and I hope some reporter asks the president about it. Yeah, we have a free press in America, but right now it is absolutely appalling. And all of us should hold these America-haters accountable.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
after the tone
communitychannel
October 20, 2008
Hmm. how often do you guys record yours?
Hey guys! Hope you're all doing well. I'm sorry i haven't been as attentive with my comments etc. I've got a few more weeks and then i'll be on break. Like i mentioned, i'll post up a few of my favourite comments from each video up on my page within the first two days each new video is up.
hope you're all well
x
FEDERAL, STATE GOVERNMENTS MISSING ON GLADSTONE AIRPORT FUNDING
The Gladstone Region is being exploited by the State and Federal governments Senator Sue Boyce, Senator for Queensland, said today.
“There seems to be enough money to splash cash on everything, but vital infrastructure like Gladstone Airport. The State and Federal governments are happily pulling massive revenues out of Gladstone’s industrial development but they refuse to contribute a miserable $15m each to assist the council in delivering a first rate airstrip.
“It isn’t even a case of providing all the funding to improve the airport – the Council has poured $65m of its own funds already.
“It’s a simple case of exploitation.
“The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has determined that substantial safety improvements must be made to the Airport if it is to comply with current standards.
“Repairing the runway and keeping it at the current 1635 metre length provides for Q400, E170 and possibly E190 operations.
“Expanding the runway to 1915 metres will allow flights by the larger B737 and A320 aircraft.
“Whatever the outcome, security requirements will still require modification of the terminal for security and passenger screening.
“You can’t keep taking money out of the region without putting something back in, Senator Boyce said.
Senator Boyce is visiting the Gladstone region today and tomorrow.
“There seems to be enough money to splash cash on everything, but vital infrastructure like Gladstone Airport. The State and Federal governments are happily pulling massive revenues out of Gladstone’s industrial development but they refuse to contribute a miserable $15m each to assist the council in delivering a first rate airstrip.
“It isn’t even a case of providing all the funding to improve the airport – the Council has poured $65m of its own funds already.
“It’s a simple case of exploitation.
“The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has determined that substantial safety improvements must be made to the Airport if it is to comply with current standards.
“Repairing the runway and keeping it at the current 1635 metre length provides for Q400, E170 and possibly E190 operations.
“Expanding the runway to 1915 metres will allow flights by the larger B737 and A320 aircraft.
“Whatever the outcome, security requirements will still require modification of the terminal for security and passenger screening.
“You can’t keep taking money out of the region without putting something back in, Senator Boyce said.
Senator Boyce is visiting the Gladstone region today and tomorrow.
Headlines Tuesday 28th April 2009
Warning increased as swine flu kills 149
The World Health Organisation has increased its swine flu threat level, warning we're heading towards a pandemic.
Video of Unidentified U.S. Soldier Berating Iraqi Police Is a YouTube Hit
Is the U.S. soldier starring in this popular Youtube video a tough, Patton-esque, tell-'em-like-it-is inspirational leader … or is he an unprofessional jerk? - I have no idea who this person is (Patton?) but he seems to be speaking straight from the Obama play book. Handwashing, no responsibility and blaming others. He needs a teleprompter. -ed
Swan counting on fast economic recovery
Treasurer Wayne Swan is counting on a rapid recovery from recession within two years to get the budget back towards balance, repay the national debt, and cut the unemployment rate.
Wear a face mask in public: expert
It may not look great, but an infectious diseases expert says the best way to protect yourself from swine flu is to wear a face mask in public.
Wayne Cooper the talk of Fashion Week
Australia's rock and roll bad boy of fashion, Wayne Cooper, has shown off a spring/summer collection inspired by strong women like Jerry Hall and Deborah Harry.
Sydney tops in quality of life in Aust
Sydneysiders enjoy Australia's best quality of living, but better conditions can be found across the Tasman, a survey shows.
Unemployment doubles in Syd in 12 months
The number of unemployed people in parts of Sydney has almost doubled in the space of a year, while one in 16 homeowners are defaulting on their mortgages.
Sydney school damaged in suspicious fire
Police are investigating two fires that torched part of an Islamic School and destroyed a smash......
'Dangerous' asbestos in Aboriginal town
Dangerously-high levels of asbestos at a small Aboriginal community south of Sydney is posing a......
Paedohile cultist escapes island jail
A cult leader jailed for sex attacks on children escaped in a helicopter from a prison on the......
Obama plane's photo-op triggers NY panic
New Yorkers evacuated offices in panic on Monday when an unexpected overflight by one of President Barack Obama's Boeing 747s triggered fears of a new 9/11.
=== ===
Rolling out the red carpet for illegal immigrants
Piers Akerman
THE stream of unlawful boat arrivals has shown the Rudd Government’s claim to a “deterrent” factor in its immigration policy is false. - It is appalling how those very media identities who support Rudd seem to manage to insult the average Aussie too. I have lived in Australia since I flew here at age 11 in 1978. Both my parents are Australian born and have never held any other citizenship. I briefly returned to the US for a coast to coast road trip in december 1981 to Jan 82. when I was in year 9.
Yet when I resigned from my job of 16 and a half years in 2007, and reported to centerlink with the hopes of exposing workplace corruption which had resulted in the death of a schoolchild, I was told I wasn’t Australian Citizen and that my parents had no record of birth or citizenship. The resultant delay timed me out of industrial relations court. I had no support from state or federal government despite my record of having been a contributing taxpayer for my working life, and my high school and university achievements.
I note that David Hicks had an extensive support network which the money I gave to Amnesty International Australia was diverted to support against my wishes. I am now mere days from being forced to sell my unit because I have been illegally blacklisted from work by the state government.
I think Piers has written a brilliant article, highlighting the unfair practice which makes the desirable practice of migration to Australia expensive and dangerous. - ed.
===
LOG UNWHITTLED
Tim Blair
The Washington Post is busily whittling down the corrections backlog. It’s a big job, and getting bigger. Yet another correction is due for those frantic beltway log-whittlers, courtesy of media writer Howard Kurtz:
I was showing some out-of-town relatives the Lincoln Memorial on Thanksgiving Day 2003 when I got the call that President Bush had shown up in Baghdad.
That ended my vacation day as lots of journalists gave up turkey to report on how the president had served (fake) turkey to the troops …
Add Kurtz’s blunder to the backlog.
===
PROFESSOR INVISIBLE
Tim Blair
Killer academic George Zinkhan remains on the loose, possibly headed to Amsterdam:
Federal authorities say a Georgia college professor suspected in the shooting deaths of his wife and two other men outside a community theater has a ticket for a flight to the Netherlands for May 2 and they can’t find his passport.
Police are playing a waiting game. Athens-Clarke County Police Capt. Clarence Holeman:
“Criminals make mistakes. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a Ph.D., an M.D. or whatever.”
===
LEADING COMMENTERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Tim Blair
“Hey, this is a game we can all play,” comments MarkL:
If Flummery claims to be the ‘leading paleontologist on climate change’, and Manne claims to be the ‘leading politics perfesser on climate change’, and the Goracle claims to be ‘the leading has-been politician on climate change’, I bags being the ‘leading beach fisherman on climate change’!!
What do the rest of you want to be?
Excellent question. “Leading slightly messed-up perpetual adolescent on climate change” and “leading grumpy old lady retiree on climate change” are already taken. Meanwhile, Margo’s Maid requests an effect title for our foremost reverse forecaster:
Not only are Flannery’s predictions always wrong, they have an impressive degree of consistency in wrongness. One pronouncement from him just seems to get the gigalitres flowing.
So why doesn’t Flannery have an effect named in his honour? The Flannery Effect is just a bit too drab and non-descriptive, I reckon. What we are looking for is a catchy-phrase that will stick in our minds and thus demonstrate to the world that Australia’s reverse oracles are up there with the very best.
===
SHOW’S D’OHVER
Tim Blair
The Simpsons has run on the Ten network since 1991 – but no more:
The Ten network will axe The Simpsons and replace it with news, extending the one-hour 5pm bulletin to 90 minutes.
Insiders confirmed the financially troubled network says it can no longer pay the fee of $25,000 for each episode of the top-rating social satire. Ten says dropping The Simpsons would save it $6 million a year.
This would’ve hurt seven or eight years ago. These days, however …
UPDATE:
Channel 10 has hosed down a report that it will axe The Simpsons and replace it with news, extending the one-hour 5pm bulletin to 90 minutes.
With new episodes recently purchased of the US program, which celebrates 20 years on screen at the end of this year, a Ten spokesperson said this afternoon that reports the program is being thrown off air were incorrect.
“The Simpsons is not cancelled,” the spokesperson said.
===
MOLECULES HERDED
Tim Blair
Apparently we have carbon farmers. Australia’s future is secure.
===
Swan dreams of slashing the deficit
Andrew Bolt
Hmm. Which to trust - the IMF or Wayne Swan, who thought inflation would be our biggest worry, China would save us, his first stimulus would “create” 75,000 jobs and we could avoid a recession?
WAYNE Swan is banking on a rapid recovery from recession within two years to get the budget back towards balance, repay the national debt and cut the unemployment rate.
The Treasurer has revealed in a letter to his state counterparts that his recovery scenario in the budget will have the economy bouncing back to above-average growth rates, close to 4 per cent, at the end of the recession, as occurred after the 1990-92 and 1981-82 recessions.
This is at odds with the International Monetary Fund’s forecast that recovery will be much slower than in previous recessions...
Reality check:
An early return to a budget surplus was unlikely, (Access Economics director Chris) Richardson said, with the budget likely to still be in deficit of at least $30billion by 2012-13. Access Economics yesterday released its quarterly review of the economy showing the combined commonwealth and state budget deficits were likely to hit $60 billion this year, and still be above $50 billion in 2010-11.
UPDATE
Michael Stutchbury warns that the Rudd Government is helping to put people out of work:
WHAT madness would make it more expensive to hire those Australians traditionally hit twice as hard during recessions? Answer: that provided by the Industrial Relations Commission under instruction from Julia Gillard.
An extra 34,000 teenagers have become unemployed over the past year, lifting teenage joblessness to 141,400 or 16.4 per cent. The prospect it will rise well over 20 per cent underlines last week’s warning from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development that rolling back John Howard’s Work Choices will make it harder for young Australians to get a foothold in the job market. This, warns the OECD, risks a “build up of a large pool of youth at risk of becoming long-term unemployed”.
But the danger is greater than the OECD’s Paris-based analysts recognise because they haven’t got their heads around the IRC’s award “modernisation” process ordered by Gillard… The OECD clearly hasn’t looked at the Fast Food Industry Award that the IRC will impose from the start of 2010… (which) imposes a national 25 per cent penalty rate for casuals plus an extra 25 per cent for work on weekday evenings and Saturdays. An extra 75 percent applies on Sundays. Casuals working public holidays will have to be paid a 275percent loading on their normal hourly rate.
UPDATE 2
Now even the Business Council of Australia is starting to worry - too late and still too quietly - at this reckless spending of giveaways, pink batts and school halls that has emptied the coffers:
By the end of 2008 the Government was concentrating new spending on short-term economic stimulus. The focus was on infrastructure projects that were “shovel ready” rather than the long-term national productivity benefits.
This year the boom has turned to recession, money is in short supply and there are growing concerns over the size of the budget deficit… (P)oor planning processes and governance at the state or federal level still allow politically driven project selection that delivers low returns.
===
Usury punished again
Andrew Bolt
Weeding out shonks is great, but isn’t this fierce nannying likely to dry up some of the lending we need to stimulate the economy?
MORTGAGE brokers and lenders will face fines or even jail terms if they fail to properly assess if a product is suitable for customers and whether a borrower can repay a loan under tough laws unveiled today. The uniform national law will for the first time cover mortgages, credit cards, pay day lending and other consumer credit products…
Under the laws, defaulting borrowers will be able to sue for damages as a result of being put into loans they cannot repay. Breaches will attract fines of up to $220,000 for individuals and $1.1 million for corporations and jail terms of up to five years.
How did “buyer beware” turn so sharply into “seller tremble”?
===
Kissing, goodbye
Andrew Bolt
This getting serious:
FIVE Australians were in isolation last night as the rising death toll from the Mexican swine flu epidemic sent a wave of panic around the world.
And seriouser:
MEXICANS were banned from kissing...
===
Teleprompter prompted
Andrew Bolt
It could happen to anyone, but if it had happened to Bush… Bush was mocked as the famously inarticulate president, of course, in part because he did not rely so slavishly on a machine that fed him his lines.
UPDATE
Continuing the series “What if Bush had done this?”:
New Yorkers evacuated offices in panic yesterday when an unexpected overflight by one of President Barack Obama’s Boeing 747s triggered fears of a new 9/11…
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called the manoeuvre a “photo op.”
===
Accent detected
Andrew Bolt
How does a “Queensland accent” differ from a conventional retail-mall Australian one?
TOWNSVILLE beauty queen Rachael Finch has been advised to lose her ”Queensland accent” before she contests the Miss Universe final later this year.
===
Rudd’s class war will hurt
Andrew Bolt
Kevin Rudd is floating a proposal to sock ”the rich” with even higher taxes - not really to raise the paltry millions he’ll get from those few, but to add some Robin Hood spin to the biggest and most irresponsible spend-up (and tax grab) in our history. No doubt he is also looking for inspiration to his “good friend” Gordon Brown, who has just raised the top tax rate in Britain to 50 per cent.
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber explains just why the new mood to flay the rich could beggar the poor:
The opinion polls have uttered. The country loves the new 50 per cent top rate of income tax. Soak the rich. Smash the bankers. So Government spin doctors are in second heaven…
But ... before you lynch me as a rich b*****d flying a kite for my own cause, let me beg you to believe that I am not. I believe that this new top rate of tax could be the final nail in the coffin of Britain plc…
Two years from now, Britain will have the highest tax rate on earned income of any developed country… I write this article because I fear the inevitable exodus of the talent that can dig us out of the hole we find ourselves in. It is inevitable, given that other countries are bidding for entrepreneurs…
I beg readers not to confuse overpaid bankers with the rest of Britain’s entrepreneurs. The next few years are going to be horrendous in the UK. The last thing we need is a Somali pirate-style raid on the few wealth creators who still dare to navigate Britain’s gale-force waters.
UPDATE
Confirmation and illustration:
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson ... declared (Britain’s) tax hike would “block the next wave of entrepreneurs”.
“In a very mobile world, where talent can move countries easily, we need to ensure we do not put off the business-builders from setting up in the UK,” he told Britain’s Telegraph newspaper…
But entrepreneurs aren’t just talking - they are also walking.
Hugh Osmond, who the Sunday Times describes as a “pubs-to-insurance” entrepreneur, is planning to move to Switzerland. Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of financial services group Hargreaves Lansdown, is off to the Isle of Man or Monaco.
“Why wouldn’t I leave?” Hargreaves told the Sunday Times.
“If I stay I’ll pay half a million more a year in tax. If I leave the country I can save £3 million a year. It’s almost like the Government is offering me a bribe worth £3 million a year to go and live abroad.”
===
Surprising bias not detected
Andrew Bolt
Prepare to be shocked and surprised. The problem is far bigger than the couch collective each week on Insiders:
While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper’s news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets (in the US) tilt to the left.
These are just a few of the surprising findings from a UCLA-led study, which is believed to be the first successful attempt at objectively quantifying bias in a range of media outlets and ranking them accordingly.
Actually, the only “surprising” thing about these findings is that the UCLA should think them “surprising”.
===
Save the planet! Buy my insurance
Andrew Bolt
Deaths from natural disasters have actually fallen, but what does that matter to a professional alamist? Local global warming preachers are now touting an insurance salesmen warning of insurable disasters as their latest guru:
The Climate Group is delighted to invite you to a discussion with Professor Peter Hoeppe entitled: Preparing for the Storm – Understanding Natural Disaster and Risk in a Changing Climate. Professor Hoeppe is Head of Geo Risks Research at Munich RE and is one of the world’s foremost experts in natural disasters and associated risk. Please find an invitation attached.
Munich RE sells reinsurance. Its scaremongering is attacked here - an attack limply responded to here.
To those companies tempted to send executives to these breakfasts, don’t do your dough. That would be one man-made disaster averted already.
===
Save the planet! Destroy the ozone layer
Andrew Bolt
Reader Barrie wonders why on earth we’re trying to fix the ozone hole if that will cause whole cities to drown:
The study by the British Antarctic Survey, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, says rather than melting as a result of global warming, Antarctica continues to expand.... But the BAS says increased ice formation can be explained by another environmental concern, the hole in the ozone layer, which is affecting local weather conditions…
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has been under fire for suggesting sea levels could rise by 6m as a result of the melting of the Antarctic ice...
===
STEVEN MILLOY: Al Gore Lies to Congress
By Steven Milloy Publisher, JunkScience.com/Author, “Green Hell”
It’s a good thing Al Gore didn’t have to raise his right hand and take an oath to tell the truth before he testified on April 24 to the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee about the Waxman-Markey climate bill.
GreenHellBlog.com first reported that Al Gore lied to the subcommittee about his personal finances during questioning by Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn. It turns out that Gore also lied to Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, who had asked Gore about his connections with the Wall Street firm of Goldman Sachs.
While the connection between Gore and Goldman Sachs that Scalise probably was referring to involves David Blood, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management who is the co-founder with Gore of the U.K.-based investment firm of Generation Investment Management, the April 27 issue of Fortune unearths a more appalling connection between Gore and Goldman Sachs.
In mid-2008 — six months after Gore joined the venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins as a partner — Kleiner Perkins joined Goldman Sachs in financing a company called Terralliance — an oil exploration firm!
As Fortune reports:
Kleiner’s dirtying its hands in the oil patch was something of a head-scratcher. Back then the firm had recently hired Al Gore as a partner. But money is money, oil was trading for $140 a barrel, and Terralliance was said to have developed software that reduced the risk of drilling dry holes. It looked as if Terralliance could be a moneymaker for Kleiner, which had sunk a total of $65 million into the venture, an extraordinary sum for a VC firm — possibly its biggest single investment ever.
But less than one year later, Terralliance has faired poorly, burning through hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Fortune.
The salient facts, here, are not that one of Kleiner Perkins largest investments went south, but the following:
– Kleiner Perkins and Goldman Sachs had both invested in Terralliance.
– Given that Terralliance was venture capital-funded by Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs and a few others, Kleiner Perkins and Goldman undoubtedly knew that they were essentially financial partners in Terralliance’s success.
– Al Gore joined Kleiner Perkins as a partner well before the firm entered into the Terralliance deal.
– As a Kleiner Perkins partner, Al Gore must have known, if not approved of the Terralliance deal, and that it involved Goldman Sachs. At the very least, under partnership law, such knowledge is legally imputed to him as a partner.
– Kleiner Perkins’ investment in Terralliance was not trivial, but perhaps its largest ever in any enterprise. Gore must have known about it.
Getting back to the April 24 House Energy And Environment Subcommittee hearing, when Rep. Scalise said to Gore,
“… and I know you’ve got interests with Goldman Sachs…”
To which, Gore made facial gestures that implied he had never even heard of Goldman Sachs. Gore then replied,
“No.”
Rep. Scalise continued,
“… well, that’s been reported. If — is that not accurate?”
Gore replied,
“No. I wish I did, but I don’t.”
There you have it. Al Gore flatly denying that he had interests with Goldman Sachs — when, clearly, he did.
The irony is that during Gore’s exchange with Rep. Scalise, he accused the fossil fuel industry of lying to Scalise and the American people for 14 years about the science of global warming. As it turns out, the part of the fossil fuel industry that lied to Rep. Scalise and the American people was none other than Terralliance-investor Al Gore himself.
Monday, April 27, 2009
John Ziegler in St. Louis: Obama Is Like AIG & Joy Behar Is a B*tch
John Ziegler was at the Hi Pointe Theater in St. Louis, Missouri to show his movie "Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted" to a full house. He took questions afterwards from the audience. Later he talked outside the historic theater about Obama, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar the b*tch. He also discussed the lawsuit he has against USC for his arrest while reporting at a reporters award event.
newswoman
communitychannel
October 16, 2008
hi guys! Hope you're well. Sorry this is a bit different but I hope you liked it because it took a few hours lol and i'm not sure if i can do a couple of these or not. It's a bit weird but it's just a thought that crossed my mind. It's also a bit too short but i had to go to sleep lol. I'll have a blog up by monday night :)
===
I'm trying to find camera 1. It seems well hidden. Is it pinhole? Speaking of pinholes, your mum says hello.
Headlines Monday 27th April 2009
Aust on alert as deadly swine flu spreads
Australian health officials say no cases of swine flu have been detected here, but we're being urged to watch out for the symptoms.
Govt not convinced bikie warring is over
Senior members from at least six outlaw motorcycle clubs have promised to challenge new laws, allowing their gangs to be declared "criminal organisations".
Aussies under pirate attack
Australians are amongst those onboard a cruise ship which has come under attack by Somali pirates.
Federal MPs score a pay rise
Federal MPs have been awarded a $4,700 increase in their electorate allowance.
Govt to lift 'hardship' mortgage limit
The federal govermment will lift the limit for "hardship" mortgage assistance in an effort to stop struggling homeowners from losing their properties as the credit crunch bites.
Poor communications in Vic fire response
A communications breakdown meant firefighters couldn't tackle the Murrindindi blaze before it developed into an unstoppable fireball that consumed the Victorian township of Marysville on Black Saturday.
Dog dragged with tail in car door
A malnourished dog has had its tail slammed in the door of a vehicle and been dragged 30 metres......
Syd metro not on major rail project list
The New South Wales opposition says the absence of the state government's CBD metro plans from a......
Pair arrested over axe attack
A man and a woman have been arrested after a man was attacked with an axe at a licensed premises in......
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IT’S PERSONAL
Tim Blair
Now they’re attacking the Daily Telegraph:
Six pirates armed with AK-47s sped towards the cruise ship Melody as she sailed from the Seychelles to the Italian city of Genoa …
Among [passengers] was Daily Telegraph sub-editor David Cavenagh, who said passengers initially thought the gunshots were firecrackers.
Dave reports:
I was seated next to John Wright and his wife Trula from Charlottesville in the US.
They were our companions at dinner. John celebrated his 70th birthday that evening.
We walked towards the stern of the ship, through the library with its floor-to-ceiling windows looking over the ocean.
A small speedboat was keeping pace with the ship. There appeared to be about three people on board. I told John. He approached the window and looked out.
Turning away, a bullet passed through the window, narrowly missing his head. He was showered by glass fragments, cutting his back in several places.
We were then advised to go below decks. This was about 15 minutes after the first shots were heard.
As I write this, I am sitting in my cabin with the lights out and the door locked.
All onboard are fine following the ship’s successful escape. You’ll note that Dave’s copy – him being a sub – is completely free of spelling and grammatical errors, even though it was filed under pirate pressure.
===
PAY UP, JEFF
Tim Blair
The Wiggles charge for content:
Recent converts to user pays, the Wiggles are charging fans an annual cost of between $85 and $103 to join their virtual world.
It costs even more to escape. In other childhood media news, Antony Loewenstein doesn’t know the difference between an electric shock and electrocution.
===
SNOW WORRIES
Tim Blair
Following great snow years in 2007 and 2008, Australia is apparently headed for yet another:
If these weather predictions are correct, 2009 looks like being the third bumper ski season in a row.
Wonderful April snow is even trapping people in car parks. But, as someone on the ABC warns:
It’s snowing more because it’s getting hotter ...
Is there anything global warming can’t do? By the way, the New York Times might consider updating this two-year-old warmy panic story to better reflect current conditions:
How Do You Ski if There Is No Snow?
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BOOM TIMES
Tim Blair
Australia’s shrinking employed population will love this:
Federal MPs have been awarded a $4700 increase in their electorate allowance and they could be set for a further wage boost within months despite grim warnings from the Prime Minister about the economy.
The 17 per cent jump in the allowance to $32,000 will almost compensate MPs for the pay freeze imposed by Kevin Rudd last year.
Maybe a 50 per cent tax rate will help.
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ROAD STANDERS SAFE
Tim Blair
Pontiac should have persisted with muscle cars:
General Motors Corp. is readying plans to ditch its fabled Pontiac, an 82-year-old division that last flourished selling sporty, muscle cars, people familiar with the matter said Friday.
During its heyday three decades ago, Pontiac was the launching ground for young auto designers and executives including John DeLorean. But its sales have tumbled 70% since their peak in 1978, and the unit in recent years has been a steady money loser.
A famous Pontiac magazine ad was shot from the perspective of someone standing in the middle of a long, straight road. In the far distance an approaching car could almost be seen. “I wouldn’t stand there if I was you,” ran the copy. “That’s a Pontiac GTO.”
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SMOKE TO SAVE THE PLANET
Tim Blair
Forgot to post Saturday’s column. Probably due to smoking.
UPDATE. Do you want to smoke … FOREVER?!
===
WHEN ACADEMICS ATTACK
Tim Blair
A student rates University of Georgia marketing professor George Zinkhan:
Witty guy, some information useful. But he demonstrated himself to be cold hearted and just plain nasty when I needed help. Stay away from this man.
Very prescient advice, that. In accordance with tradition, neighbours describe Zinkhan as a quiet man who kept to himself.
UPDATE. Zinkhan is on the run after his community theatre murder spree. The Jeep-driving killer academic and mystery man, last seen near his house in Bogart, Georgia, has already eluded police for more than 16 hours.
Readers are invited to nominate a time of capture. Factors to consider:
• Zinkhan seems a wily fellow, for an academic. He’s reportedly turned off or discarded his mobile phone to avoid police location attempts.
• All photographs of Zinkhan depict him wearing a beard. He’ll be more difficult to pick out once he shaves it off.
• He’s a marketing professor, so probably thinks himself quite the expert on behavioural patterns and such.
• Where might Zinkhan be headed? Police are monitoring airports – Zinkhan has a home in Amsterdam – and are also looking at Austin, Texas, where Zinkhan’s relatives live.
UPDATE II. Searching for Zinkhan:
UPDATE III. Zinkhan recently impressed a jury. This ability may prove helpful down the track, considering Georgia has the death penalty.
UPDATE IV. Further background: “He always came to class and acted like he was under the influence of some drug. Disorganized, confused, scatter-brained.” Hmm. And according to neighbour Dana Adams, Zinky was “kind of a strange character,” who would sometimes walk off in the middle of a conversation.
UPDATE V. Building interviewed: “Police surrounded his house in Bogart, talked at the house with bullhorns and broke down the front door to inspect the home, but Zinkhan was not located in the house.”
UPDATE VI. Faces of George:
UPDATE VII. Georgia’s Steve Huff is an excellent source of Zinkhan data.
UPDATE VIII. As well as turning off his phone, Zinkhan thus far hasn’t used any credit cards or made any ATM withdrawals. The killer professor is something of a specialist in tactics and strategy – at least as they apply to the internet.
UPDATE IX. Athens-Clarke County Police Capt. Clarence Holeman: “We’re doing everything we can to shut him down. I believe he will turn up somewhere, somehow.”
UPDATE X. Fred’s theory: “Searching the web I found some poems he’d written, including one about hiking in North Georgia. Makes sense to me that he might head there.”
UPDATE XI. Former student Ronald A. Guillemette recalls:
In my experience, George Zinkhan, as a professor, was very good and professional. I would never have expected these allegations; it doesn’t fit with what I remember of the man. Yet something very wrong happened in Georgia, and nobody is above the law. I pray for the victims of this crime and tragedy and the children whom have lost their mother – and possibly the presence of their father in their lives. If and when Dr. Zinkhan is apprehended, I hope that he will be extended his full Constitutional rights, including that of a fair trial.
UPDATE XII. A timeline of events.
UPDATE XIII. Police say Zinkhan “could be anywhere”.
UPDATE XIV. The victims.
===
Pandemic watch - did Rudd release a pandemic on us?
Andrew Bolt
Will this be the pandemic we’ve been warned about since Avian flu and SARS?
The swine flu virus that has killed more than 80 people in Mexico may mutate into a “more dangerous” strain, the World Health Organisation has warned.
“It’s quite possible for this virus to evolve… when viruses evolve, clearly they can become more dangerous to people,” said Keiji Fukuda, of the global health watchdog.
A partial list of countries affected so far:
Mexico: President Felipe Calderon has assumed new powers to isolate people infected with the deadly swine flu strain that health officials say has killed up to 86 people and likely sickened about 1,400 in the country since April 13.
New Zealand: Health Minister Tony Ryall has this evening confirmed ten positive influenza results from testing carried out on 13 Rangitoto College students who returned from Mexico early yesterday morning.
Canada: Health officials in Nova Scotia and British Columbia are reporting “mild” cases of swine flu, the first confirmed Canadian cases since an outbreak of the illness began in Mexico several days ago.
US: The US declared a public health emergency as 20 cases were confirmed in the country, including eight in New York City, one in Ohio, two in Kansas and seven in California.
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Rudd’s cash: From those who earn to those who gamble
Andrew Bolt
This is gambling financed by the $900 a person giveaways that was cash taken from people who actually worked hard to earn it:
In an unusual move, the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation has warned that “extra government payments can lead to customers or club members spending extra money gambling. Gambling providers are encouraged in these times to watch for signs of problem gambling among patrons."…
The warning comes as the Government puts the final touches on the federal budget and after recent cash hand-outs caused an almost $30 million increase in poker machine spending in a month (in Victoria)… April figures to be released next month are expected to show a continued jump in taxpayer-funded spending on poker machines.
Not only was the cash wasted, it reinforced exactly the kind of behaviour that left some people broken enough to qualify for the cash in the first place. And the taxes to pay for the handouts will be raised from hard workers who will wonder why they are such mugs.
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Nowhere is too far away to be no risk
Andrew Bolt
Australians were killed in the September 11 attacks in New York and the bombings in Bali, financed or inspired by terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were injured in Islamist terror attacks in London, Turkey and Mumbai. They were nearly killed in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. And now this, off the coast of Somalia:
AUSTRALIAN tourists narrowly avoided being hit by machinegun fire as heavily-armed pirates tried to hijack their luxury liner.
True, this is merely piracy. But the point is that any place on earth left to fester will in the end release a poison that affects us all.
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How temporary is Rudd’s “temporary”?
Andrew Bolt
“Temporary” is the buzz word now of the Rudd Government. Here’s Treasurer Wayne Swan today:
. The fact is levels of debt are a consequence of revenue downgrades and the responsible thing to do in these circumstances is to run a temporary deficit to support jobs and to return growth to trend levels over time.
Here was Kevin Rudd before him:
In the current unprecedented global conditions a temporary deficit is not an option, it is an inevitability.
“Temporary” sounds reassuring. But how temporary is “temporary”, exactly? Is it temporary as in gone in three or four years? Or temporary as in “temporary” classrooms, left there for generations?
We should be told.
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Appeal to a closet sceptic #3
Andrew Bolt
Small Business Minister Craig Emerson,
You have been identified by colleagues and friends as a sceptic - someone who accepts there is no proof man is warming the world dangerously.
It is your public duty to now say so, before the global warming fearmongering costs Australia more jobs, dollars and sense.
Why won’t you?
(This is the third of a series. Defend reason and our economy. Send your tips, with proof, to bolta@heraldsun.com.au. Previously named in this series: Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, who hasn’t responded, and Opposition Leader in the Senate Nick Minchin, who protests that he is out of the sceptics’ closet. Note: No one who has confided their scepticism to me will be named unless others have independently dobbed them in to me. Confidences will be respected.)
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Pakistan falling to barbarians
Andrew Bolt
Islamists capable of shooting dead this couple - and on video - merely on suspicion of “adultery” now control much of Pakistan outside the cities.
If you think you’ve seen many refugees already, watch would happen if Pakistan and its 170 million people fall completely to the Taliban. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is getting nervous about something else, too:
“One of our concerns, which we’ve raised with the Pakistani government and military is that if the worst, the unthinkable were to happen, and this advancing Taliban encouraged and supported by Al-Qaeda and other extremists were to essentially topple the government for failure to beat them back—then they would have the keys to the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan,” Clinton told Fox News.
What might India’s fall-back position be?
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Charles blows out yet more hot air
Andrew Bolt
Yet again, Prince Charles seems utterly blind to the irony of flying the world to condemn the gases he just blew out of the back of his private jet:
Prince Charles is being accused of hypocrisy after it was revealed that he is chartering a luxury private jet for a five-day tour of Europe to promote environmental issues.
The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall, plus ten Clarence House staff, will fly from London to Rome this evening. Then they will fly on to Venice and Berlin, before returning to Britain.
Clarence House aides stress that the trip is at the request of the Government to promote its climate change policies. But instead of using scheduled flights, the Royal party has hired a private plane, thought to be an Airbus A319.
According to experts from the Carbon Managers company, which carries out environmental audits, the aircraft’s four European flights over 2,200 miles will leave a carbon footprint of 52.95 tons - nearly five times the average person’s 11-ton footprint for an entire year
Before that was this:
Prince Charles is to fly to New York, booking the entire first-class and business class section of a jumbo jet for his 20-strong entourage - to pick up an award for his work on the environment.
And this:
Prince Charles, 60, and Camilla, 61, were on a 10-day, three-nation tour taking in Chile, Brazil and Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands - the research inspiration for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution - meant to draw attention to the challenges posed by climate change.
If everyone fought global warming as Charles does, the planet sure would cool. The planes would simply block out the sun.
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Snow falls early. Spot the first to blame..
Andrew Bolt
Global warming?
NSW has experienced its first snow of the year, with five centimetres falling in the state’s Snowy Mountains the earliest fall in more than a decade.
Of course, one bit of freak weather doesn’t prove blah blah blah. So where were all those caveats when outlets like The Age and ABC freaked over a poor snow season six years ago and swallowed alarmist nonsense like this:
The twin forces of drought and climate change have forced a Victorian ski resort to get creative when it comes to grooming its slopes. Mount Buller has hatched a $3.5 million plan to use water recycled from sewage to make artificial snow.
And this:
A 2003 CSIRO report, part-funded by the ski industry, found that the resorts could lose a quarter of their snow in 15 years, and half by 2050. The worst case was a 96 per cent loss of snow by mid-century.
And this:
New research indicates that, under the worst-case scenario, none of Australia’s ski resorts will be economically viable by the year 2070, he said.
UPDATE
The CSIRO may really, really need to check those climate models it uses to predict endless doom:
WINTRY weather conditions have hit Victoria with a vengeance, dumping up to 20 centimetres of snow on the state’s main ski resorts…
“If these weather predictions are correct, 2009 looks like being the third bumper ski season in a row. This would be great news for all Australian ski resorts,” Mt Hotham weather forecaster Pete Taylor said.
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JIM TERRY: Sometimes “No” Is the Only Right Answer
Principal, Third Dimension Strategies/Republican Political Strategist
A new ad from Democratic groups denounces Republicans for saying “no.” But sometimes, “no” is the right answer. Yes, that’s right, just say “no.”
Anyone who has ever managed a staff–or raised children–will tell you that very often saying “no” to a bad idea is more important than keeping everyone happy. Yes, indeed, it can be difficult to stick to your guns in the face of angry, pleading, responses and “alternative offers” that amount to little more than semantic or cosmetic changes.
But, no matter how many different times and how many different ways the idea is pitched if it is still a bad idea, the answer should remain “no.”
Since taking office, the Obama administration, and Democrats in Congress have worked at a fevered pace. They have shattered records on government spending and debt with a massive bill chock full of Democrat pet projects cleverly named a “recovery package” in seeming recognition that it will do little to stimulate our economy.
They have continued to shovel hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street elites with little to no accountability and pushed policies to socialize our economy by giving government vastly more power and control. Overall, they have advanced an agenda that simultaneously increases the cost to taxpayers and decreases their freedom.
Republicans have rightfully and consistently opposed these policies. And Democratic groups, no doubt encouraged by the Obama White House and the Democratic leadership in Congress, are now trying to punish them for doing so by labeling them “the party of ‘no.’”
Republicans should not fear such a label when the policies being proposed are so bad. Rather, they would be well served to produce their own video entitled “100 Days of Bad Ideas” to help America understand exactly what it is that they’ve been opposing.
Because, in politics–just like with managing a staff and raising children–there is no quota or limit on doing the right thing. And no matter how slickly it might presented, a bad idea remains a bad idea.
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BILL SHULER — THE FIRST 100 DAYS: Ten Ways to Pray for President Obama
By Bill Shuler
Pastor, Capital Life Church, Arlington, Virginia
On January 20, the presidency of Barack Obama was a blank canvas upon which millions of Americans projected their hopes and fears. Now, almost 100 days later, issues such as the economy, foreign affairs and military activity are beginning to define this presidency. As we pause to measure the decisions of this president–or any American leader–let us not neglect the highest honor and responsibility given to each member of the community of faith.
The following are ways we can pray for our president:
1. Pray that God will continually honor him with great wisdom amidst the difficult decisions that he faces each day.
2. Pray for God to protect him and our nation from harm.
3. Pray that his decisions will always reflect a courage that goes beyond polls and politics.
4. Pray that he will be blessed in his role as husband and father.
5. Pray that he will be refreshed in his physical body.
6. Pray for First Lady Michelle Obama and their two daughters, that they will experience great joy in this new chapter of their lives.
7. Pray that he will be encouraged and filled with the “peace that passes all understanding.”
8. Pray for his staff, that they will serve him well and be a strength to him.
9. Pray that he will be humble but fearless in seeking and fulfilling God’s will.
10. Pray that he will build bridges to unite a nation.
The Scriptures command us to pray for “all who are in authority that we may live a quiet and peaceful life.” Let us dedicate ourselves to taking the next 100 days to strengthen our President in prayer.
By so doing, we call forth God’s blessings upon our nation.
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