Friday, June 26, 2009

Headlines Friday 26th June 2009

Marysville residents 'died in bathrooms' following CFA guidlines
At least half the 34 Marysville residents killed in the Black Saturday bushfires died while sheltering in the bathrooms of their homes, a report says.

Michael Jackson dies, aged 50
Michael Jackson has died after a suspected heart attack, according to reports out of the US.

Michael's death "not unexpected"
Michael Jackson was taking prescription drugs as he battled to get into shape for his gruelling concert comeback due to get underway in London next month, a lawyer for the family said.

Actress Farrah Fawcett dies after battle with cancer
Actress Farrah Fawcett has died after a long battle with cancer, her long-time companion Ryan O'Neal says.

One dead two injured in shootout at Sydney KFC
A man is dead and two others injured following a shooting at Sydney's southwest. Jessica Pelliccione is in Milperra

Stray bullet: Killed truckie named
The innocent victim of a shootout in Milperra has been named as 66-year-old truck driver Bob Knight - a charity worker and passionate dog breeder.

Soldier killed after truck rolls in Vic
A soldier has died after a truck in which he was travelling rolled at the Puckapunyal army base north of Melbourne.

Hewitt, Stosur progress to Wimbledon third round
Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur have edged into the third round at Wimbledon after securing three-set victories at the grasscourt grand slam.

Bellamy put too much pressure on Wallace: Hunt
Queensland back Karmichael Hunt has blamed NSW coach Craig Bellamy for creating the "unfair" pressure Blues halfback Peter Wallace's wilted under at ANZ Stadium.

Billy Bob Thornton's daughter charged with murder
Billy Bob Thornton's daughter has been charged with first degree murder.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Help Me Understand Your View ... ABC NEWS
For reasons I just can't understand, very few agree with me about ABC news and the health forum at the White House. If ABC News were the ONLY news outlet, or if it were state owned, I would have a different opinion. But ABC News is one of many news organizations and I do think there will be much debate about what the President said and also about how ABC News handled it.
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The media and Mark Sanford!
Is the liberal press celebrating the Governor's scandal? Bernie Goldberg & Karl Rove have reaction and analysis!
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Guest: Gov. Rick Perry
From balancing his states budget to his take on Gov. Sanford's scandal, Texas Gov. Rick Perry weighs in!
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The Latest on ACORN!
You won't believe what Acorn's founder is up to now! We track him down, only on 'Glenn Beck'!
=== Comments ===
FARRAH FAWCETT, MICHAEL JACKSON
Tim Blair
Charlie’s Angels star Farrah Fawcett has died at 62.

A fine obit from Ken Tucker:
Farrah deserves to be remembered in her glowing prime, as the warm, smiling woman who combined girl-next-door sexiness with an implied can-do feminism, radiating positive energy and resourcefulness. Ultimately, Farrah Fawcett defied easy categorizing, which made her all the more interesting as a personality, and as a brave, vibrant person.
UPDATE. Michael Jackson dead at 50.

UPDATE II. Hoax reports claim that Harrison Ford and Jeff Goldblum have also died. Not so.
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THEY DON’T LIKE QUESTIONS
Tim Blair
Wayne Swan won’t answer the ABC, and Kevin Rudd won’t answer the Age:
Kevin Rudd is facing allegations he lobbied for a whitegoods company formerly owned by his car dealer friend John Grant and a controversial Queensland property developer who recently faced drugs and weapons charges …

On Monday, Mr Rudd’s office was asked by The Age if the Prime Minister had made representations on behalf of Aussie Rent and its importation of whitegoods while on any of his trips to China as Labor’s foreign affairs spokesman.

Mr Rudd’s office took two days to respond and did not answer the question. A spokesman said only: “All of Mr Rudd’s interactions with Mr Grant have been entirely appropriate.”

UPDATE. Tony Abbott: “The government is still hyperventilating against the fake email because the real emails are so damaging.”
===
LITTLE BITS BLOWN AWAY
Tim Blair
“When it comes to global warming,” declares the Beaver County Times, “every little bit helps.” So paint your roof white and drive a hybrid. Meanwhile, this is happening:

Might be one or two carbons in there.
===
HE’S MADE IT WORSE
Tim Blair
CNN reports:
During the 2008 election, 38 percent of blacks surveyed thought racial discrimination was a serious problem. In the new survey, 55 percent of blacks surveyed believed it was a serious problem …
That’s quite a shift. Yet here’s CNN’s opening paragraph:
African-Americans really like President Obama, but more and more feel that race relations have not gotten better since he took office, a new national poll found.
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WE’RE WORKING ON IT
Tim Blair
Robert Tracinski and Tom Minchin ask: Could Australia blow apart the great global warming scare?
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Vivid War Footage From Afghanistan
By Bill O'Reilly
FOX News correspondent Steve Harrigan came up with exclusive video of a firefight between Taliban terrorists and American forces. For almost an hour, things were very intense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be advised we are gonna get set up on a good inbound run to completely eliminate any collateral damage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clear to fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) the gun and fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

When the shooting stopped, at least 14 Taliban fighters were dead. There were no American casualties. But this is a stark reminder that every day the U.S. is fighting two wars, and we're not getting a lot of cooperation.

The Iranian protests put the spotlight on President Obama in the foreign policy arena. The president was cautious, as he should have been, but did define Iran as the oppressor. Whether he did it firmly enough, well, you make the call.

On Iran and other threats, the president is faced with a largely apathetic world, with some countries actually helping the terrorists. The Russian tyrant Putin tried to pressure Kyrgyzstan to close a U.S. airbase which was supplying American troops in Afghanistan. Putin obviously wants to assist the Taliban terrorists. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a very weak terror warrior, is reluctantly sending a few thousand troops to Afghanistan to fight. French President Sarkozy is also not stepping up as much as he could.

At this point, it does not seem like many world leaders fear President Obama, and that might hurt him.

President Bush was feared, but that fear sometimes turned into loathing. And although countries were cautious around Mr. Bush, most did not step up to help him. And the worldwide press, of course, condemned the president.

So it's another "Barack and a hard place" situation. If you're tough, the world doesn't like you. If you're not tough, the scoundrels do what they want. Hello, North Korea.

Is there a middle ground? I don't see it.

History says when fighting a war, the strong prevail.

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