Monday, August 31, 2009
Glenn Beck on Barack Obama: "This guy is, I believe, a racist" [FOX News]
(7.28.09) -- Glenn Beck states that he believes Barack Obama is a racist.
Others share Beck's assessment. Here are some links to those who feel as the FOX host does about Obama, in this regard:
"Obama's a Racist"
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/0...
"Obama slammed as 'racist' at Jerusalem rally"
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE....
"Reader perceives Obama as a racist"
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20...
Obama has been enmeshed in race-based controversy before, most notably around the inflammatory remarks made by his former spiritual mentor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
Beck's comment came during a discussion of the continuing Henry Louis Gates flap.
Obama said during a prime-time press conference last week that a white officer and his police unit "acted stupidly" in the arrest of Obama's African-American (for the record, Gates' DNA testing, according to him, 'shows' that he is 57% white, whatever that means) friend and Harvard professor, Gates.
Obama also once stereotypically referred to his grandmother as a "typical white person."
FOX News stands behind Beck's right to voice his opinion.
Read more about this story here:
"Fox's Glenn Beck: President Obama is a racist"
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/a...
Dems Push For Nationalizing Health Care at Teddy Kennedy's Funeral
Of course, they couldn't help it.
Dems today pushed for Obamacare at Teddy Kennedy's funeral. And, they used a child as a prop.
Headlines Monday 31st August 2009
Ramshackle Rees drags NSW down in investment opportunities
BUSINESS groups have warned Premier Nathan Rees that his inability to pull his mutinous Government into line is tainting the state and cruelling investment.
---
Polly the dog swallows 1000 magnets, computer mouse and gloves
POLLY the iron-guts pooch has animal magnetism. The blue heeler swallowed 1000 magnets, weighing a kilogram, forcing life-saving emergency surgery.
Kids struck by the gambling bug
SCHOOLKIDS given lessons on the evils of gambling in a bid to combat baby-faced punters.
Women workers short-changed $1 million
THE average Australian woman will earn $1m less than a man in the same job over a lifetime.
Mass walkout over schoolyard violence
FRIENDS of a teen who died after a playground brawl are planning to protest violence in schools.
Jai wasn't involved in fight: police
Police have revealed Jai Morcom was not directly involved in the schoolyard fight that led to his death.
Family's cow over Tickle-up
A DISPUTE over a prized cow's failure to win top honours at Sydney's Royal Easter Show has left her owners fighting a three-year ban from competing again.
You've been warned, mega-fire will kill
A NEW mega-fire category to warn about a major bushfire like Black Saturday adopted as part of inquest's recommendations.
British Nurse Arrested for Alleged Sexual Affair With Convicted Rapist
A nurse in Great Britain has been arrested over claims she had a four-month fling with a violent rapist who was being held in a mental health ward at a British hospital.
NRL star charged over hotel rampage
Sydney Roosters star Setaimata Sa has been charged after weaking havoc at a Coogee hotel on Sunday night.
Missing minister tries to phone home
Missing Victorian government minister Tim Holding tried to phone his father about 10.30pm (AEST) on Sunday night, but the call did not get through, Premier John Brumby says. - another victim of global cooling. - ed.
Reality TV contestant drowns
A man has drowned during a reality TV show challenge in which he was told to swim across a lake while carrying a weighted backpack. - can't buy that kind of publicity - ed.
Dad, kids killed in 'suspicious' crash
West Australian police are investigating if a car crash which claimed the lives of a man and his......
Public trip for Rudd's controversial ute
The ute at the centre of the OzCar controversy is to embark on a public road trip before possibly...... - Rudd is bragging at having hoodwinked the public and press. - ed.
Cheney Rips CIA Probe
Former VP says CIA probe will do long-term damage, expresses 'serious doubts' about president's ability to 'defend the nation'
=== Comments ===
CANADIAN CHASM
Tim Blair
Jeremy Clarkson experiences the miracle of socialised healthcare:
Now, we are all used to a bit of a wait at the hospital. God knows, I’ve spent enough time in accident and emergency at Oxford’s John Radcliffe over the years, sitting with my sobbing children in a room full of people with swords in their eyes and their feet on back to front. But nothing can prepare you for the yawning chasm of time that passes in Canada before the healthcare system actually does any healthcare.
Speaking of which, here’s a topical Ted Kennedy t-shirt. Machine washable. Particularly if that machine is an Oldsmobile.
UPDATE. “Socialized medicine is awesome! It’s like free candy made of beer and sex!”
===
SUICIDE BUMMER
Tim Blair
Further to earlier news about a Saudi murder attempt …
The suicide bomber who tried to assassinate a Saudi prince used an unusual place to conceal his explosive charge …
BUSINESS groups have warned Premier Nathan Rees that his inability to pull his mutinous Government into line is tainting the state and cruelling investment.
---
Polly the dog swallows 1000 magnets, computer mouse and gloves
POLLY the iron-guts pooch has animal magnetism. The blue heeler swallowed 1000 magnets, weighing a kilogram, forcing life-saving emergency surgery.
Kids struck by the gambling bug
SCHOOLKIDS given lessons on the evils of gambling in a bid to combat baby-faced punters.
Women workers short-changed $1 million
THE average Australian woman will earn $1m less than a man in the same job over a lifetime.
Mass walkout over schoolyard violence
FRIENDS of a teen who died after a playground brawl are planning to protest violence in schools.
Jai wasn't involved in fight: police
Police have revealed Jai Morcom was not directly involved in the schoolyard fight that led to his death.
Family's cow over Tickle-up
A DISPUTE over a prized cow's failure to win top honours at Sydney's Royal Easter Show has left her owners fighting a three-year ban from competing again.
You've been warned, mega-fire will kill
A NEW mega-fire category to warn about a major bushfire like Black Saturday adopted as part of inquest's recommendations.
British Nurse Arrested for Alleged Sexual Affair With Convicted Rapist
A nurse in Great Britain has been arrested over claims she had a four-month fling with a violent rapist who was being held in a mental health ward at a British hospital.
NRL star charged over hotel rampage
Sydney Roosters star Setaimata Sa has been charged after weaking havoc at a Coogee hotel on Sunday night.
Missing minister tries to phone home
Missing Victorian government minister Tim Holding tried to phone his father about 10.30pm (AEST) on Sunday night, but the call did not get through, Premier John Brumby says. - another victim of global cooling. - ed.
Reality TV contestant drowns
A man has drowned during a reality TV show challenge in which he was told to swim across a lake while carrying a weighted backpack. - can't buy that kind of publicity - ed.
Dad, kids killed in 'suspicious' crash
West Australian police are investigating if a car crash which claimed the lives of a man and his......
Public trip for Rudd's controversial ute
The ute at the centre of the OzCar controversy is to embark on a public road trip before possibly...... - Rudd is bragging at having hoodwinked the public and press. - ed.
Cheney Rips CIA Probe
Former VP says CIA probe will do long-term damage, expresses 'serious doubts' about president's ability to 'defend the nation'
=== Comments ===
CANADIAN CHASM
Tim Blair
Jeremy Clarkson experiences the miracle of socialised healthcare:
Now, we are all used to a bit of a wait at the hospital. God knows, I’ve spent enough time in accident and emergency at Oxford’s John Radcliffe over the years, sitting with my sobbing children in a room full of people with swords in their eyes and their feet on back to front. But nothing can prepare you for the yawning chasm of time that passes in Canada before the healthcare system actually does any healthcare.
Speaking of which, here’s a topical Ted Kennedy t-shirt. Machine washable. Particularly if that machine is an Oldsmobile.
UPDATE. “Socialized medicine is awesome! It’s like free candy made of beer and sex!”
===
SUICIDE BUMMER
Tim Blair
Further to earlier news about a Saudi murder attempt …
The suicide bomber who tried to assassinate a Saudi prince used an unusual place to conceal his explosive charge …
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Following a thread of a religious bigot - atheist
Do you support the Liverpool Residents Action Group and their fight against Liverpool City Council?
Supreme Court action against Liverpool City Council
Source: www.streetcorner.com.au
If you have ever been a victim of local council arrogance, this is for you! The Hoxton Park Residents Action Group Inc members are taking Liverpool City Council to the Supreme Court in an attempt to prove ...
===
FD I live only a few minutes away by car, I don't see the big deal, hence no I don't support the resident action group. There going to get killed financially. In the end the council will win and the action group will be forced to pay liverpool council legal fees which trust me will be a lot.
---
Aaron LeeYes I support them even though I don't live there. FD, you make a great point, but the George Hall action group, set up for pretty much the same reason, so far, has been successful in its cause.
I think in a multi-cultural, multi-creed nation, there is no place for religion-denominated schools. I went to Catholic school and was taught from a very young age that those who are not Catholics go to Hell. I was surrounded by Catholics. To not believe the Jesus Christ died on the Cross, to me, always seemed odd. The people who disbleieved, to me, seemed odd. Religious schools, in my view, are the opposite to being open and accepting.
In my view, if your faith is strong enough, then you should be able to indoctrinate your children without sending them to a school which essentially seeks to brainwash them.
All schools should teach (and give EQUAL airtime) to all reliigions, and it should be illegal for any teacher or school to claim that a non-believer gets punished in any way.
---
FD I agree with you Aaron, I would never put my son in a religous school, including muslim, as they differ to my views.
---
David Daniel Ball I think there is a need for schools that cater for Islamic peoples in an Australian context. My father was instrumental in having a few schools founded on Australian lines in the middle east and that was a worthwhile project too. Islamic schools working to Australian standards may contribute much for the harmonious future of all Australians. I see no harm in it and feel the targeted neighborhood an appropriate place for one.
I also believe in democracy and accept that others disagree with this pov
---
TC I think schools like this help to stimulate racism. Never understood why you could have a school for only muslim's when a school barring muslim's would create all sort of uproar
---
David Daniel Ball Christian (including Catholic) schools serve a very useful function without stimulating racism. As do Jewish schools. Or International schools.
---
Aaron Lee David, care to share with us what that function is? Also, while "racism" technically isn't the issue (it's religion, not race) yes, depending on the teachings of the religion, it stimulates discrimination. Most of the mainstream religions teach that non-believers go to hell. This means from a very young age, children are taught in these school s that people who don't share their beliefs go to hell. Our lifetimes only last a few short years. Eternity (if it exists) lasts forever. Why wouldn't a kid who believes most people are dammned NOT think those people are worth less than he is?
Like I said though, I'd be interested in hearing what "useful function" they serve.
---
David Daniel Ball Aaron, there are those who believe mentioning religion is the same as mentioning voodoo. Those people generally adhere to the belief that Religion is worthless and silly. However, I would point out that religious institutions underpin our society. The freedoms we enjoy, often hard fought for, we enjoy thanks to the work of religious institutions, among others. I will merely point out that faith is profound and effects the greatest among us in a positive way.
---
TC I don't want to put down faith as a whole, but i really believe it has some serious drawbacks, my brother is born again christian and they go to a church where one of the attendees is gay and told everytime he goes that his sexual preference is the work of the devil. I really can't agree with any sort of comittee that would do that to somebody.
---
David Daniel Ball I have Anglican sensibilities but I'm proud to attend a charismatic church (The Jesus Family Center in Cabramatta). Sexuality is not an issue of sermons, in general, and I would have to struggle to think if it ever was. I have had friends who were gay and their sexuality is not an issue for me. I think the sad experience of some gays is appalling, but I don't see any truth to the assertion. I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does with schools running to Australian standards.
---
Aaron Lee Daniel, I think you should be careful laying judgement on one religion against your own. It's quite hypocritcal.
Fact: all religions are based on some things that some men said and wrote. That you choose to believe one man or group of men (those who wrote the new Testament) over another group (those who wrote the Koran) doesn't make your religion superios to anybody else's.
driving factor Daniel, does your flavour of faith believe that a Muslim will go to the same place as you when you die? Does your flavour of faith believe that an athiest will go to the same place when you die? If the answer to either of those questions is "no", then there is no room for your flavour of faith in our schools.
---
David Daniel Ball Aaron, my name is David.
You seem to have misunderstood what I wrote .. I'm not the judge in this matter, but I have a valid opinion that is not voided by my faith as you seem to assert. I am a public servant and an effective teacher and I note that many of my professional peers are also people of faith and have none of the difficulties you assert have to exist. Maybe you don't get it. I'm not perfect, but I am forgiven. The same may not be said for many better people.
---
Aaron Lee Hi David, all opinions by definition are valid. However, can you please explain to me how...
"I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does"...
is not an example of judging another religion against your own?... Which is all I accused you of.
Regarding the question you artfully avoided...will the Muslims or atheists go to the same place you will go to after death?. This is a "yes" or "no" question - care to answer it?
Finally, thanks for the demographic update re teachers/ faith. However, you've missed this point also. When I said there is no room for faith in our schools, it was in the context of this thread - faith-based schools. NOT in the context of whether or not teachers who practice a faith should be allowed to teach! I don't care what is practiced by teachers, I care what they teach our children!
---
David Daniel Ball Considering the topic of debate, Aaron, I would think the statement clear. In Australia we have many Christian schools and very few Islamic schools. When an Islamic school is suggested, the suggestion is often spurned on the grounds that such schools are badly run in 3rd world nations which don't run schools to Australian standards. This deprives the Islamic community of training for their young in the art of leadership for their communities .. which Christians enjoy and have enjoyed since the Madras system of education was established (later adopted by the Catholic church) as a means of education. cf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitorial_System
---
David Daniel Ball I did not artfully avoid addressing the question of faith, you are not understanding my answer. It is irrelevant that someone is of a different faith to me when compared to the faithless. Perhaps you know the OT story of Jonah? Jonah wanted a city damned, but God wouldn't let him. I am not the judge. I could be wrong, but my convictions are based on simple proofs which guide me, and I am convicted I am right in embracing God as the father and Jesus as his son in accordance with the scriptures .. I prefer NIV Bible. My observation of the paucity of advantages for Islamic children is not a condemnation of Islam but an observation of modern social mores which deny opportunity to the children of faithful peoples.
---
David Daniel Ball You should care who your teachers are and what they teach. Their rewards are substantially not monetary and their agenda stamps the agenda of your children. Many teachers adore the left, and preach the alleged virtues of socialist thinking and this creates sloppy thinking adopted by many leftist leaders. How many people might have survived to improve the world had Pol Pot, Mao or Stalin gone to better schools?
---
Aaron Lee David if you had a solid arguement for anything, you'd stick to the debate and refrain from referencing bible stories or political history in a pathetic attempt to dazzle us all with your Wikipedia expertise! Wow.
Yes, I've gotten your point every time. I don't care what the bible has to say. You said in plain English
"I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does"...
..and this was in answer to TC's issue of her gay brother being treated poorly by Christians. In no uncertain terms, were you judging Islam to be the bigger villian.
You also still haven't answered the question as to whether YOU believe non-believers go to the same place after death that you will go to. What part of "yes" or "no" do you not understand?
---
Aaron Lee I think David that you sorely underestimate the readship of this thread. Believe it or not, it will take more than a teacher's vernacular and partiality to research (not to mention a teacher's TIME to research and narrow-mindedness!) to distract everyone from the point! A dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia might make you infallible in front of school children but in the real world, people will call you on your bullshit.
---
David Daniel Ball Aaron, just try to read sequentially. Sometimes, you don't understand something, you might take notes .. make a list .. and try to work out what you don't understand. You aren't stupid, but you seem to be willing to be easily distracted. It is wrong to say that I made a passing comment on Islam being inferior to Christianity. What I said was that Christians have a natural advantage in Australia because of community expectations .. and this debate is proof of that. For some reason people seem to feel that an Islamic school is a bad idea. I believe it is a good idea and have written that. I have not cast aspersions on Islamic peoples.
You are persisting with some erronious argument about heaven and hell. As a Christian, I can tell you that you know far more about that than I. I know, and the bible spells it out clearly, that I am forgiven and will be with God when I die. Judgement is real and I won't have to face it. I have answered your question, but you don't seem able to understand.
---
David Daniel Ball Your lack of understanding seems more willful than through dumbness. What I write is true and isn't bullshit. You are being intellectually lazy.
---
Aaron Lee David, when (your idea of) sophisticated vocabulary and extensive referencing doesn't work, you resort to sarcasm and patronisation?
Yes, you did back the Islamic school. But you still haven't explained how your words "I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does", DON'T indicate a judgement of Islam.
However, kudos to you, you have HALF answered my other question. So, you believe (because the bible tells you) that when you die, you will be with god. Now, if you'd care to answer the second half, would a Muslim person also be with god when they die? Would an atheist? Would a Hindu? REGARDLESS of whether or not they had been exposed to Christianity?
---
David Daniel Ball I've answered the question Aaron, and explained the words. Read the answers. Islamic society in Australia suffers from not having enough schools. You merely misread what I wrote and put on your own interpretation in the hopes of calling me a bigot. You are wrong to do so and your clumsy attempt is shameful.
Supreme Court action against Liverpool City Council
Source: www.streetcorner.com.au
If you have ever been a victim of local council arrogance, this is for you! The Hoxton Park Residents Action Group Inc members are taking Liverpool City Council to the Supreme Court in an attempt to prove ...
===
FD I live only a few minutes away by car, I don't see the big deal, hence no I don't support the resident action group. There going to get killed financially. In the end the council will win and the action group will be forced to pay liverpool council legal fees which trust me will be a lot.
---
Aaron LeeYes I support them even though I don't live there. FD, you make a great point, but the George Hall action group, set up for pretty much the same reason, so far, has been successful in its cause.
I think in a multi-cultural, multi-creed nation, there is no place for religion-denominated schools. I went to Catholic school and was taught from a very young age that those who are not Catholics go to Hell. I was surrounded by Catholics. To not believe the Jesus Christ died on the Cross, to me, always seemed odd. The people who disbleieved, to me, seemed odd. Religious schools, in my view, are the opposite to being open and accepting.
In my view, if your faith is strong enough, then you should be able to indoctrinate your children without sending them to a school which essentially seeks to brainwash them.
All schools should teach (and give EQUAL airtime) to all reliigions, and it should be illegal for any teacher or school to claim that a non-believer gets punished in any way.
---
FD I agree with you Aaron, I would never put my son in a religous school, including muslim, as they differ to my views.
---
David Daniel Ball I think there is a need for schools that cater for Islamic peoples in an Australian context. My father was instrumental in having a few schools founded on Australian lines in the middle east and that was a worthwhile project too. Islamic schools working to Australian standards may contribute much for the harmonious future of all Australians. I see no harm in it and feel the targeted neighborhood an appropriate place for one.
I also believe in democracy and accept that others disagree with this pov
---
TC I think schools like this help to stimulate racism. Never understood why you could have a school for only muslim's when a school barring muslim's would create all sort of uproar
---
David Daniel Ball Christian (including Catholic) schools serve a very useful function without stimulating racism. As do Jewish schools. Or International schools.
---
Aaron Lee David, care to share with us what that function is? Also, while "racism" technically isn't the issue (it's religion, not race) yes, depending on the teachings of the religion, it stimulates discrimination. Most of the mainstream religions teach that non-believers go to hell. This means from a very young age, children are taught in these school s that people who don't share their beliefs go to hell. Our lifetimes only last a few short years. Eternity (if it exists) lasts forever. Why wouldn't a kid who believes most people are dammned NOT think those people are worth less than he is?
Like I said though, I'd be interested in hearing what "useful function" they serve.
---
David Daniel Ball Aaron, there are those who believe mentioning religion is the same as mentioning voodoo. Those people generally adhere to the belief that Religion is worthless and silly. However, I would point out that religious institutions underpin our society. The freedoms we enjoy, often hard fought for, we enjoy thanks to the work of religious institutions, among others. I will merely point out that faith is profound and effects the greatest among us in a positive way.
---
TC I don't want to put down faith as a whole, but i really believe it has some serious drawbacks, my brother is born again christian and they go to a church where one of the attendees is gay and told everytime he goes that his sexual preference is the work of the devil. I really can't agree with any sort of comittee that would do that to somebody.
---
David Daniel Ball I have Anglican sensibilities but I'm proud to attend a charismatic church (The Jesus Family Center in Cabramatta). Sexuality is not an issue of sermons, in general, and I would have to struggle to think if it ever was. I have had friends who were gay and their sexuality is not an issue for me. I think the sad experience of some gays is appalling, but I don't see any truth to the assertion. I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does with schools running to Australian standards.
---
Aaron Lee Daniel, I think you should be careful laying judgement on one religion against your own. It's quite hypocritcal.
Fact: all religions are based on some things that some men said and wrote. That you choose to believe one man or group of men (those who wrote the new Testament) over another group (those who wrote the Koran) doesn't make your religion superios to anybody else's.
driving factor Daniel, does your flavour of faith believe that a Muslim will go to the same place as you when you die? Does your flavour of faith believe that an athiest will go to the same place when you die? If the answer to either of those questions is "no", then there is no room for your flavour of faith in our schools.
---
David Daniel Ball Aaron, my name is David.
You seem to have misunderstood what I wrote .. I'm not the judge in this matter, but I have a valid opinion that is not voided by my faith as you seem to assert. I am a public servant and an effective teacher and I note that many of my professional peers are also people of faith and have none of the difficulties you assert have to exist. Maybe you don't get it. I'm not perfect, but I am forgiven. The same may not be said for many better people.
---
Aaron Lee Hi David, all opinions by definition are valid. However, can you please explain to me how...
"I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does"...
is not an example of judging another religion against your own?... Which is all I accused you of.
Regarding the question you artfully avoided...will the Muslims or atheists go to the same place you will go to after death?. This is a "yes" or "no" question - care to answer it?
Finally, thanks for the demographic update re teachers/ faith. However, you've missed this point also. When I said there is no room for faith in our schools, it was in the context of this thread - faith-based schools. NOT in the context of whether or not teachers who practice a faith should be allowed to teach! I don't care what is practiced by teachers, I care what they teach our children!
---
David Daniel Ball Considering the topic of debate, Aaron, I would think the statement clear. In Australia we have many Christian schools and very few Islamic schools. When an Islamic school is suggested, the suggestion is often spurned on the grounds that such schools are badly run in 3rd world nations which don't run schools to Australian standards. This deprives the Islamic community of training for their young in the art of leadership for their communities .. which Christians enjoy and have enjoyed since the Madras system of education was established (later adopted by the Catholic church) as a means of education. cf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitorial_System
---
David Daniel Ball I did not artfully avoid addressing the question of faith, you are not understanding my answer. It is irrelevant that someone is of a different faith to me when compared to the faithless. Perhaps you know the OT story of Jonah? Jonah wanted a city damned, but God wouldn't let him. I am not the judge. I could be wrong, but my convictions are based on simple proofs which guide me, and I am convicted I am right in embracing God as the father and Jesus as his son in accordance with the scriptures .. I prefer NIV Bible. My observation of the paucity of advantages for Islamic children is not a condemnation of Islam but an observation of modern social mores which deny opportunity to the children of faithful peoples.
---
David Daniel Ball You should care who your teachers are and what they teach. Their rewards are substantially not monetary and their agenda stamps the agenda of your children. Many teachers adore the left, and preach the alleged virtues of socialist thinking and this creates sloppy thinking adopted by many leftist leaders. How many people might have survived to improve the world had Pol Pot, Mao or Stalin gone to better schools?
---
Aaron Lee David if you had a solid arguement for anything, you'd stick to the debate and refrain from referencing bible stories or political history in a pathetic attempt to dazzle us all with your Wikipedia expertise! Wow.
Yes, I've gotten your point every time. I don't care what the bible has to say. You said in plain English
"I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does"...
..and this was in answer to TC's issue of her gay brother being treated poorly by Christians. In no uncertain terms, were you judging Islam to be the bigger villian.
You also still haven't answered the question as to whether YOU believe non-believers go to the same place after death that you will go to. What part of "yes" or "no" do you not understand?
---
Aaron Lee I think David that you sorely underestimate the readship of this thread. Believe it or not, it will take more than a teacher's vernacular and partiality to research (not to mention a teacher's TIME to research and narrow-mindedness!) to distract everyone from the point! A dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia might make you infallible in front of school children but in the real world, people will call you on your bullshit.
---
David Daniel Ball Aaron, just try to read sequentially. Sometimes, you don't understand something, you might take notes .. make a list .. and try to work out what you don't understand. You aren't stupid, but you seem to be willing to be easily distracted. It is wrong to say that I made a passing comment on Islam being inferior to Christianity. What I said was that Christians have a natural advantage in Australia because of community expectations .. and this debate is proof of that. For some reason people seem to feel that an Islamic school is a bad idea. I believe it is a good idea and have written that. I have not cast aspersions on Islamic peoples.
You are persisting with some erronious argument about heaven and hell. As a Christian, I can tell you that you know far more about that than I. I know, and the bible spells it out clearly, that I am forgiven and will be with God when I die. Judgement is real and I won't have to face it. I have answered your question, but you don't seem able to understand.
---
David Daniel Ball Your lack of understanding seems more willful than through dumbness. What I write is true and isn't bullshit. You are being intellectually lazy.
---
Aaron Lee David, when (your idea of) sophisticated vocabulary and extensive referencing doesn't work, you resort to sarcasm and patronisation?
Yes, you did back the Islamic school. But you still haven't explained how your words "I suspect it would be worse at an Islamic function. But then Islamic society does not have the positive features that Christian religion does", DON'T indicate a judgement of Islam.
However, kudos to you, you have HALF answered my other question. So, you believe (because the bible tells you) that when you die, you will be with god. Now, if you'd care to answer the second half, would a Muslim person also be with god when they die? Would an atheist? Would a Hindu? REGARDLESS of whether or not they had been exposed to Christianity?
---
David Daniel Ball I've answered the question Aaron, and explained the words. Read the answers. Islamic society in Australia suffers from not having enough schools. You merely misread what I wrote and put on your own interpretation in the hopes of calling me a bigot. You are wrong to do so and your clumsy attempt is shameful.
Headlines Sunday 30th August 2009
10 years:E Timor celebrates Independence
Australia's Governor-General has travelled to East Timor as the country celebrates 10 years of Independence. - ALP opposed this ten years ago. - ed.
Obama pays tribute to Ted Kennedy
Obama paid tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy at a funeral service in Boston today.
Northern Territory man claims his cat can swear
A MAN claims his pet cat is a bit too brainy for his own good and can speak English - a total of seven different words so far, including the F-word.
NSW asks: How many have you slept with?
The NSW government is asking people how many sexual partners they've had as part of a new campaign to get people to use condoms, get tested for STIs and seek treatment if needed.
Gov to apologise to abused, neglected
A formal apology will be made to hundreds of thousands of Australians who were abused and neglected as children. - but not to me - ed.
Schoolboy beaten to death during recess
JAI Morcom, 15, allegedly stepped in to stop a schoolyard fight over a lunch table. It cost him his life.
'Stop my daughter getting pregnant again'
SHE'S had at least six children, all to different fathers. One, police believe, has been murdered. Now her mum begs "no more babies".
Eight fires rage in southern NSW
The Rural Fire Service is currently battling eight fires across southern NSW.
Letters naming Lin killers are false
Two anonymous letters purpotedly naming the killers of the Lin family have been proven false....
Vietnam vets begin journey home
The bodies of two Australian servicemen missing in action in Vietnam have begun their final journey...... - home to the ALP government which spurned them. - ed.
Rates rise would be 'insanity'
ECONOMISTS say Reserve Bank should wait until next year before considering raising the cash rate.
Seven dead in trailer park massacre
POLICE have discovered bodies of seven people reportedly shot to death in a trailer park in the US.
=== Comments ===
Right to a future free of UN meddling
Piers Akerman
AUSTRALIANS should be grateful to United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous human rights James Anaya for the totally unrealistic picture he has painted of Australia’s Aborigines. - I think it a mistake for Anaya to have drawn his conclusions from watching “Australia” and “Rabbit Proof Fence”. Or possibly he read extensively from Wikipedia.
On the issue of Wikipedia, I note that an anonymous person tried to edit Tripodi’s reference from this ..
The UN is less answerable to Australians than Wikipedia. The UN is more clearly influenced by left wingers. The appalling abuses of Rwanda were never a lesson to those they warned regarding UN excess.
Thank you, Piers, for highlighting another ALP magic show in which Rudd shrieks he has to ‘do something.’ Anaya is a highly paid pawn of the corrupt. - ed
===
SHE DIED SO THAT THE FOOD ALLERGEN LABELING AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT COULD LIVE
Tim Blair
Mark Steyn assembles a Mary Jo Kopechne death panel:
• Joan Vennochi wrote in the Boston Globe: “Like all figures in history — and like those in the Bible, for that matter — Kennedy came with flaws. Moses had a temper. Peter betrayed Jesus. Kennedy had Chappaquiddick, a moment of tremendous moral collapse.”
Moses, Peter, Jesus ... but no mention of Kopechne. Next:
• Ted Sorensen put it in Time magazine: “Both a plane crash in Massachusetts in 1964 and the ugly automobile accident on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969 almost cost him his life.”
Again, Kopechne isn’t mentioned. As for the accident almost costing Kennedy’s life … he was healthy enough shortly after it to swim 500 feet back to his hotel.
• As Teddy’s biographer Adam Clymer wrote, Edward Kennedy’s “achievements as a senator have towered over his time, changing the lives of far more Americans than remember the name Mary Jo Kopechne.”
Why might that be? Perhaps her name isn’t mentioned very often. By the way, more people remember this description of Clymer than remember his name. And the finest Kopechne execution of them all:
• At the Huffington Post, Melissa Lafsky mused on what Mary Jo “would have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history . . . Who knows — maybe she’d feel it was worth it.”
Via CL. In other tragedy news, Iowahawk farewells Norman V. “Norm” Snitker, whose vast achievements were overshadowed by the mysterious 1981 death of 24-year-old Rhonda Lee Reinke:
On Christmas morning, Snitker phoned the La Crosse sherriff’s department to report that, “oh yeah, I think Rhonda fell in the curd tank at the old dairy plant on Highway KR. Hurry please, help help.”
When deputies arrived with emergency graters, they discovered Reinke’s lifeless body entombed in a 2000-pound cheese wheel.
Read on for further analysis of Cheddarquidick and the Snitker curse.
===
SEAR IT INTO YOUR MEMORIES
Tim Blair
One year after the world learned not to clean lawnmowers in bedrooms while smoking, another life-extending breakthrough: don’t check fuel levels by using a cigarette lighter.
===
EGG SQUASHED
Tim Blair
Actress and filmmaker Rachel Ward watches a junior rugby game, and is put in mind of local film funding:
I went to my son’s rugby match last weekend. I saw myself and the recent crop of Australian filmmakers embodied in some small whippersnapper, who cradling the ball like a fragile egg, dared to duck and dive around snarling overgrown beasts on the field, almost making it to the try line, only to be laid flat by a succession of spoilsports who, one after the other, threw themselves on the lad, squashing the precious egg and all hopes of a rare victory.
Several readers have taken issue with Ward’s metaphor, but it’s actually perfect. Australian filmmakers are losers who will only triumph if the competition stands aside. Works for me. By the way, I hope that none of the “snarling overgrown beasts” opposing the egg boy were of Islander background, because, hey, that would be inappropriate.
UPDATE. Michael Coulter: “Why on earth do we even want an Australian film industry?”
UPDATE II. Dave Carter:
It is a revealing insight into the Australian film industry that Rachel Ward can watch a football match and think of film funding while elsewhere a creative person might look at a football match and think of a film idea.
===
HEEL THYSELF
Tim Blair
Lawyer Shana Peete:
“As awful as it sounds, I think juries want to see ladies in heels.”
Not just juries:
UPDATE. Speaking of Sarah Palin, whose heels are displayed above, here’s Ron Rosenbaum:
As a liberal myself, I was amazed by the obtuseness of the liberal reaction to Sarah Palin’s “death panels” quote. They fell into a trap because all too many were blinded by their class-conscious, snobbish disdain for Palin, who, whatever else you think of her, is one cagey operator …
They couldn’t believe that Sarah Palin was capable of something as canny as that deadly “death panels” phrase. They couldn’t see that it was a metaphoric shorthand for something real. Instead they thought she was too dumb, that she meant it literally … “Death panels” was a Lenny Bruce black-humored kind of line and she proved herself far hipper than the terminally square liberals who didn’t get it.
They’re not so good at this “nuance” thing.
UPDATE II. Palin’s doing OK, but another former US politician struggles:
Ticket sales for Bill Clinton’s speech Saturday at the CNE have been much slower than expected, forcing organizers to reconfigure the stadium layout and offer fairgoers $5 tickets at the door.
About 7,000 advance tickets are sold for the 4 p.m. event, a far cry from the 25,000 people expected when it was announced two weeks ago
===
$20m spent wisely is the big adventure for tourism
By Tim Blair
AUSTRALIA needs a new tourism theme. According to trade minister Simon Crean, we've got to have "a better way to define our identity".
Who knew that identity definition was such a crucial factor with potential tourists? Then again, I could be wrong:
Wolfgang Tourist: "I'm kind of leaning towards summer in Monaco this year."
===
ZIONISTS BULLIED
Tim Blair
Best-selling author Antony Loewenstein reports:
The bullying of the Zionist lobby is legendary and largely unreported by the Western media.
He probably means bullying by the big scary Zionists, but who knows. The boy’s been on a roll lately.
===
GIVE IT TIME
Tim Blair
Personally, I don’t have a problem with the whole minotaur program:
Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?
Australia's Governor-General has travelled to East Timor as the country celebrates 10 years of Independence. - ALP opposed this ten years ago. - ed.
Obama pays tribute to Ted Kennedy
Obama paid tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy at a funeral service in Boston today.
Northern Territory man claims his cat can swear
A MAN claims his pet cat is a bit too brainy for his own good and can speak English - a total of seven different words so far, including the F-word.
NSW asks: How many have you slept with?
The NSW government is asking people how many sexual partners they've had as part of a new campaign to get people to use condoms, get tested for STIs and seek treatment if needed.
Gov to apologise to abused, neglected
A formal apology will be made to hundreds of thousands of Australians who were abused and neglected as children. - but not to me - ed.
Schoolboy beaten to death during recess
JAI Morcom, 15, allegedly stepped in to stop a schoolyard fight over a lunch table. It cost him his life.
'Stop my daughter getting pregnant again'
SHE'S had at least six children, all to different fathers. One, police believe, has been murdered. Now her mum begs "no more babies".
Eight fires rage in southern NSW
The Rural Fire Service is currently battling eight fires across southern NSW.
Letters naming Lin killers are false
Two anonymous letters purpotedly naming the killers of the Lin family have been proven false....
Vietnam vets begin journey home
The bodies of two Australian servicemen missing in action in Vietnam have begun their final journey...... - home to the ALP government which spurned them. - ed.
Rates rise would be 'insanity'
ECONOMISTS say Reserve Bank should wait until next year before considering raising the cash rate.
Seven dead in trailer park massacre
POLICE have discovered bodies of seven people reportedly shot to death in a trailer park in the US.
=== Comments ===
Right to a future free of UN meddling
Piers Akerman
AUSTRALIANS should be grateful to United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous human rights James Anaya for the totally unrealistic picture he has painted of Australia’s Aborigines. - I think it a mistake for Anaya to have drawn his conclusions from watching “Australia” and “Rabbit Proof Fence”. Or possibly he read extensively from Wikipedia.
On the issue of Wikipedia, I note that an anonymous person tried to edit Tripodi’s reference from this ..
His early career was marked by a series of public allegations. In October 2000, he was accused of sexually assaulting an Australian Democrats staffer at a Parliament House, Sydney New South Wales Parliament House function the month before. The complainant made an initial statement to the NSW Police, but withdrew it the following day. It was later alleged that one of the police officers who investigated the original complaint was a member of Tripodi’s branch of the ALP. An investigation found no evidence of inappropriate action by the police officer.and
In 2001, the manager of a committee chaired by Tripodi took out an apprehended violence order (AVO) against the MP after he publicly opposed a development application by her husband for a tavern opposite a primary school in Tripodi’s electorate.with this
The AVO was withdrawn shortly afterward, and it was subsequently revealed that a number of similar AVO applications had been lodged against others who opposed her husband’s business interests.
Both incidents are periodically raised in parliament by the Opposition.
Tripodi was also accused of branch stacking. In 1996, it was reported that he paid almost $7000 in cash to the ALP head office to fund a “branch stack”
and from 1995 to 2001 Mr Tripodi rather than focussing on political machinations, decided that the State’s finances and infrastructure are of paramount importance.---
The UN is less answerable to Australians than Wikipedia. The UN is more clearly influenced by left wingers. The appalling abuses of Rwanda were never a lesson to those they warned regarding UN excess.
Thank you, Piers, for highlighting another ALP magic show in which Rudd shrieks he has to ‘do something.’ Anaya is a highly paid pawn of the corrupt. - ed
===
SHE DIED SO THAT THE FOOD ALLERGEN LABELING AND CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT COULD LIVE
Tim Blair
Mark Steyn assembles a Mary Jo Kopechne death panel:
• Joan Vennochi wrote in the Boston Globe: “Like all figures in history — and like those in the Bible, for that matter — Kennedy came with flaws. Moses had a temper. Peter betrayed Jesus. Kennedy had Chappaquiddick, a moment of tremendous moral collapse.”
Moses, Peter, Jesus ... but no mention of Kopechne. Next:
• Ted Sorensen put it in Time magazine: “Both a plane crash in Massachusetts in 1964 and the ugly automobile accident on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969 almost cost him his life.”
Again, Kopechne isn’t mentioned. As for the accident almost costing Kennedy’s life … he was healthy enough shortly after it to swim 500 feet back to his hotel.
• As Teddy’s biographer Adam Clymer wrote, Edward Kennedy’s “achievements as a senator have towered over his time, changing the lives of far more Americans than remember the name Mary Jo Kopechne.”
Why might that be? Perhaps her name isn’t mentioned very often. By the way, more people remember this description of Clymer than remember his name. And the finest Kopechne execution of them all:
• At the Huffington Post, Melissa Lafsky mused on what Mary Jo “would have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history . . . Who knows — maybe she’d feel it was worth it.”
Via CL. In other tragedy news, Iowahawk farewells Norman V. “Norm” Snitker, whose vast achievements were overshadowed by the mysterious 1981 death of 24-year-old Rhonda Lee Reinke:
On Christmas morning, Snitker phoned the La Crosse sherriff’s department to report that, “oh yeah, I think Rhonda fell in the curd tank at the old dairy plant on Highway KR. Hurry please, help help.”
When deputies arrived with emergency graters, they discovered Reinke’s lifeless body entombed in a 2000-pound cheese wheel.
Read on for further analysis of Cheddarquidick and the Snitker curse.
===
SEAR IT INTO YOUR MEMORIES
Tim Blair
One year after the world learned not to clean lawnmowers in bedrooms while smoking, another life-extending breakthrough: don’t check fuel levels by using a cigarette lighter.
===
EGG SQUASHED
Tim Blair
Actress and filmmaker Rachel Ward watches a junior rugby game, and is put in mind of local film funding:
I went to my son’s rugby match last weekend. I saw myself and the recent crop of Australian filmmakers embodied in some small whippersnapper, who cradling the ball like a fragile egg, dared to duck and dive around snarling overgrown beasts on the field, almost making it to the try line, only to be laid flat by a succession of spoilsports who, one after the other, threw themselves on the lad, squashing the precious egg and all hopes of a rare victory.
Several readers have taken issue with Ward’s metaphor, but it’s actually perfect. Australian filmmakers are losers who will only triumph if the competition stands aside. Works for me. By the way, I hope that none of the “snarling overgrown beasts” opposing the egg boy were of Islander background, because, hey, that would be inappropriate.
UPDATE. Michael Coulter: “Why on earth do we even want an Australian film industry?”
UPDATE II. Dave Carter:
It is a revealing insight into the Australian film industry that Rachel Ward can watch a football match and think of film funding while elsewhere a creative person might look at a football match and think of a film idea.
===
HEEL THYSELF
Tim Blair
Lawyer Shana Peete:
“As awful as it sounds, I think juries want to see ladies in heels.”
Not just juries:
UPDATE. Speaking of Sarah Palin, whose heels are displayed above, here’s Ron Rosenbaum:
As a liberal myself, I was amazed by the obtuseness of the liberal reaction to Sarah Palin’s “death panels” quote. They fell into a trap because all too many were blinded by their class-conscious, snobbish disdain for Palin, who, whatever else you think of her, is one cagey operator …
They couldn’t believe that Sarah Palin was capable of something as canny as that deadly “death panels” phrase. They couldn’t see that it was a metaphoric shorthand for something real. Instead they thought she was too dumb, that she meant it literally … “Death panels” was a Lenny Bruce black-humored kind of line and she proved herself far hipper than the terminally square liberals who didn’t get it.
They’re not so good at this “nuance” thing.
UPDATE II. Palin’s doing OK, but another former US politician struggles:
Ticket sales for Bill Clinton’s speech Saturday at the CNE have been much slower than expected, forcing organizers to reconfigure the stadium layout and offer fairgoers $5 tickets at the door.
About 7,000 advance tickets are sold for the 4 p.m. event, a far cry from the 25,000 people expected when it was announced two weeks ago
===
$20m spent wisely is the big adventure for tourism
By Tim Blair
AUSTRALIA needs a new tourism theme. According to trade minister Simon Crean, we've got to have "a better way to define our identity".
Who knew that identity definition was such a crucial factor with potential tourists? Then again, I could be wrong:
Wolfgang Tourist: "I'm kind of leaning towards summer in Monaco this year."
===
ZIONISTS BULLIED
Tim Blair
Best-selling author Antony Loewenstein reports:
The bullying of the Zionist lobby is legendary and largely unreported by the Western media.
He probably means bullying by the big scary Zionists, but who knows. The boy’s been on a roll lately.
===
GIVE IT TIME
Tim Blair
Personally, I don’t have a problem with the whole minotaur program:
Is Using A Minotaur To Gore Detainees A Form Of Torture?
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sinking ship of NSW ALP
Labor's shifting of the deckchairs around the Premier's table won't save the people of NSW.
Headlines Saturday 29th August 2009
Newspapers conspicuously silent on Reese' activity. Who will replace the replacement? Will they also be linked to a pedophile?
===
Top officer says US bungling Muslim outreach
The US military is bungling its efforts to win over Muslim friends and squandering goodwill by failing to live up to its promises, the nation's highest-ranking military officer says. - Obama has CHANGED effective policy to bad policy. - ed.
52 asylum seekers stopped off WA
A boat believed to be carrying 52 suspected asylum seekers has been intercepted off Australia's northwest coast.
North Korean ship seized laden with arms bound for Iran
The United Arab Emirates has seized a cargo ship bound for Iran carrying a cache of banned rocket-propelled grenades and other arms from North Korea, the first such seizure since sanctions against North Korea were ramped up, diplomats and officials say. - they weren't carrying refugees, so Rudd isn't interested. - ed.
Kidnap victim feels guilt over captor
Jaycee Lee Dugard was bound to Phillip Craig Garrido for 18 years. Now that the bond has been broken, she feels guilty about it, her stepfather said on Friday.
Accused kidnapper says he controls sound
The California man accused of abducting a schoolgirl and keeping her prisoner for 18 years claimed on his internet site that he could control sound with his mind.
Staff locked in cold room during robbery
Staff at a western Sydney hotel have been locked in a cold room during a robbery, police say.
Prayers, song and jokes at Kennedy wake
Edward Kennedy's family and an eclectic mix of friends gathered on Friday around the senator's coffin for an Irish-style wake featuring prayer, song and humour.
'No proof' to link Hambali, Bali bombing
It's been revealed that Hambali, the terrorist mastermind believed to be behind the Bali bombings, is set to escape justice for his role in the 2002 attacks.
Taxi driver catches drunk driver
A taxi driver is being credited with preventing a tragedy after stopping a drunk driver who was......
Cheaper books split federal cabinet
The federal cabinet is split over an upcoming decision that could lower the price of overseas books.....
DJ AM found dead in New York: report
DJ AM, the sought-after disc jockey who became a celebrity in his own right with high-profile romances and a glamorous lifestyle and survived a plane crash just months ago, was found dead on Friday at his apartment. He had a history of drug problems.
Australian workers prepare to dump jobs
WORKERS are disgruntled and gearing up to change jobs when the economy improves.
'Equality' G-G joins single-sex club
QUENTIN Bryce, a former sex discrimination commissioner, joins an exclusive women's club.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Friday at 7p et: As Washington's elite pay their respects, we're there for the wake of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Saturday at 10a et: As Mass is held for the senator and President Obama takes the podium for a special eulogy, we're live on the scene!
Saturday at 5p et: Join Chris Wallace for special live coverage from Arlington National Cemetery as the senator is laid to rest.
===
Guest: Jon Voight
The Oscar winner on what health care reform would mean for your finances and freedom.
===
Crunching the Numbers!
Government run health care with billions of tax dollars at stake. Does a reform really add up? We get answers!
===
Dick Cheney Exclusive!
As the justice department steps up its investigation, the former VP speaks out on the CIA's interrogation tactics!
=== Comments ===
Controversy Over Obama Administration's 9/11 Plans
This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," August 27, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Watch "The O'Reilly Factor" weeknights at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET!
LAURA INGRAHAM, GUEST HOST: In the "Unresolved Problem" segment tonight: A controversy is brewing over President Obama's decision to remember 9/11 as a National Day of Service. Some critics believe that marking 9/11 as a day for volunteerism demeans the memory of the thousands who were killed by Muslim extremists on that fateful September morning. Joining us now from New York, FOX News analyst and my old friend, Alan Colmes.
Now, Alan, I knew it was going to be something like this when you and I were back on television together. It was one of these raw meat subjects. And look, the 9/11, the day of volunteerism, on the surface, that's fine, you know. Volunteering, isn't that great? But when I looked at the groups involved on this teleconference call they had to organize, get everything in place for the day of service, it's ACORN, AFL-CIO, the Color of Change group — the group that's boycotting Beck, or trying to — the Community Action Partnership. These are all a bunch of left-wing crazy groups, are they not?
ALAN COLMES, FOX NEWS ANALYST: Your argument is...
INGRAHAM: What does it have to do with 9/11?
COLMES: Let me get this straight. So your argument is — it's actually a day of service and remembrance, which was put together by David Payne of a group that includes 22 different organizations, which consist of families of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 and responders who were lost on 9/11. That's who really put this together. Obama did sign a bill having to do with this initiative by a nonprofit group that was not done by the government, and you want to single out — you're quoting from a Spectator article by Matthew Vadum, who was on the radio show two nights ago, who can't think of one liberal he likes, by the way. And...
INGRAHAM: I like you.
COLMES: And he's upset because of a conference call. On that call were the groups you mentioned plus a number of other groups which are not necessarily liberal.
INGRAHAM: Right. Yes.
COLMES: And then — who was on that conference call is not what this is about. This is about a day of service and remembrance, and that was initiated by a nonprofit group that was not a governmental group. Go ahead.
INGRAHAM: How is ACORN remembering...
COLMES: It has nothing to do with ACORN.
INGRAHAM: ...the Islamic jihadists, what they did to our people on that day?
COLMES: This has nothing to do with ACORN. This was initiated...
INGRAHAM: They're involved in this coalition. They're involved in the day of volunteerism and remembrance.
COLMES: It was initiated by — many groups are involved in this. If you want to extrapolate one group…
INGRAHAM: Right. Every one that I'm looking at — every one that I'm looking at is ridiculous. Rainbow/Push Coalition. Oh, come on.
COLMES: All right. Let me also mention some of the other groups in here which you don't happen to like. National Black Police Association. National Coalition of Black Civil Participation. 80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs.
INGRAHAM: Right. I'm sure.
COLMES: Those are some of the other groups. They're all a bunch of lefties.
INGRAHAM: Right.
COLMES: You want to just see a couple of...
INGRAHAM: What I don't — what I don't understand, Alan...
COLMES: This is just an amalgam of groups, a number of people who are coming together to make it a day of remembrance and service. This is what this is about.
INGRAHAM: What I don't understand is what does this have to do with the fact that we had these fanatics who took it upon themselves to try to bring down the mighty United States of America on that day? They hate our freedom. They hate our way of life. They hate who we are. They hate our liberty. They hate our liberal ideas with a capital "L." That's what they hate about us.
COLMES: All right. They...
INGRAHAM: Why — this day of volunteerism and remembrance, that might be fine to have. But on 9/11, that just doesn't seem to — the connection, I don't get it.
COLMES: I disagree with you and, in fact, I disagree with your run-up and your question why we were attacked on 9/11 in the first place. In fact, as was said, they hate us because of what we do, not because of who we are. And that's what was said by Anonymous, who wrote that CIA book, the head of the bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer. But the fact of the matter is that to remember 9/11 and to make it a day of service to your country, I can't think of a better way to honor 9/11. Why don't — what is your problem, Laura, with making it a day of service and remembrance.
INGRAHAM: What I think — what I think would be nice...
COLMES: What is your problem with that?
INGRAHAM: What I — well, what's obvious is that, you know, a smattering of left-wing groups is trying to co-opt 9/11 and make it their day.
COLMES: But it's not just left-wing groups. It's a number of other groups that I just mentioned, Laura. You are only mentioning those groups you don't agree with. Why do you have a problem with a day of service and remembrance?
INGRAHAM: Well, first of all, I just said that I don't. What I am saying is that it blurs the importance of what happened on that day. And what I think would be really helpful is if we actually spent the day educating our young people on the threats to freedom and liberty, representative democracies that exist around the world, to women and gay people and all these, you know, all these minorities who are threatened on a daily basis by the Islamic jihadists.
COLMES: You educate people by service and remembrance. That's exactly what this day is. That's exactly what's going to happen here.
INGRAHAM: All right. Alan, we appreciate it, as always.
COLMES: Thanks for having me.
===
FLUSH WITH CASH
Tim Blair
The great Cuban toilet paper shortage rolls on, leading to an outbreak of capitalism:
A Cuban retiree says the country’s toilet paper shortage has created a lucrative business for seniors – buying and reselling newspapers as an alternative.
Key fact: the newspapers are worth 1,014,185 per cent more as toilet paper than as sources of information.
===
BEARS IMPROVED
Tim Blair
Global warming is causing poley bear shrinkage:
Scientists in Denmark are warning that polar bears are getting smaller. The researchers say the reduction is linked to climate change …
Score this as a clear win. See, your modern full-sized poley bear is a human-chomping, truck-molesting brute:
But squinch ‘em down a little – thanks to the warmening – and they become ever so cute:
If this delightful trend continues:
UPDATE. Buy your polar bear slippers here. Or, if you’d prefer just the paws …
UPDATE II. Coquimbojoe notes: “But the polar bears are getting fatter." And from Lyle:
Bob the Canadian Polar Bear Addresses the Head-Tilters:
I’ve been looking anorexic
And I guess I’m eating less,
And my coat has lost its lustre,
Which I think is due to stress.
But I’ve got to laugh at people
So concerned about my fate
While they’re buying semen takeout
From the lower forty-eight.
===
FAT AND STUPID IS NO WAY TO GO THROUGH LIFE
Tim Blair
Back in January, Britain’s climate-frightened Met Office bought itself a genuine carbon monster:
It has spent £33m on a new supercomputer to calculate how climate change will affect Britain – only to find the new machine has a giant carbon footprint of its own.
“The new supercomputer, which will become operational later this year, will emit 14,400 tonnes of CO2 a year,” said Dave Britton, the Met Office’s chief press officer.
This Gore-capacity beast has since become operational:
It is capable of 1,000 billion calculations every second to feed data to 400 scientists and uses 1.2 megawatts of energy to run – enough to power more than 1,000 homes.
One thousand homes? What a terrible waste of resources. Owen Glubiak will be shocked and stunned.
The machine was hailed as the ‘future of weather prediction’ with the ability to produce more accurate forecasts and produce climate change modelling.
However the Met Office’s HQ has now been named as one of the worst buildings in Britain for pollution – responsible for more than 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
It says 75 per cent of its carbon footprint is produced by the super computer meaning the machine is officially one of the country’s least green machines.
And the big dumb ‘puter still can’t predict the weather.
===
FROZEN NORTH
Tim Blair
Mark Steyn: “Canada’s future is now in American hands.”
UPDATE. “Yeah, right,” comments Lyle. “Exactly how am I going to write a nice, clean, family-oriented poem about this?”
===
LIGHT NON-WORKERS
Tim Blair
Blessed be the bulbmakers, who now face economic darkness:
“Government did us in,” says Dwayne Madigan, whose job will terminate when General Electric closes its factory next July.
Madigan makes a product that will soon be illegal to sell in the U.S. – a regular incandescent bulb.
Madigan and his 200 co-workers weren’t done in solely by government. General Electric itself supported the bulb ban, seeking green cred, among other things:
The workers don’t buy the green arguments, pointing to the mercury gas that’s in the fluorescents. “It’s illegal to dump mercury in the river, but not in the landfill,” two of them say in unison—it’s become a dark joke at the factory.
Robert Pifer, who will also be laid off in July if he doesn’t find a new job by then, has an explanation for GE’s support of the light-bulb law and its shift to the more expensive fluorescents. “Are they not just trying to force-feed people stuff they don’t want to buy?”
Pifer has just described the core mission of the entire green movement. Read on.
===
MEDIA HERO OUT
Tim Blair
The last word on Ted Kennedy, by Daniel J. Flynn.
===
RICH WHITE GUY TRASHES POST-RACIAL PREZ
Tim Blair
John Pilger suggests that Barack Obama – President of the “land of slavery” – might have been a CIA-assisting stooge (from the 1:40 mark):
There’s also this hint from Pilger that Obama, vile lackey of corporate America, is an Uncle Tom: “What matters, I believe above all, is the class one serves.” Really, John? Or does it matter more what one is served in business class?
===
STATUS: UNLIKELY
Tim Blair
Phillip Garrido predicts:
“You are going to be completely impressed.”
===
LAST SONG
Tim Blair
Nick Tabakoff, soon to join us at The Daily Telegraph, farewells his colleagues at The Australian:
People said we were cruel and wrong to enforce a zero-tolerance singing policy at the Telegraph. They’re not saying it now.
===
TERROR CELL
Tim Blair
A phone bomb in Saudi Arabia:
A suicide bomber detonated explosives hidden inside his mobile phone on Friday in an attempt to assassinate the head of Saudi Arabia’s antiterrorism efforts, the official news agency reported from the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, lately stomping down hard on Al Qaeda, survived. Phone boy is with the virgins.
Crowd Cheers McCaskill... After She Says "You Have Every Right to Fire Me"
Sen. Claire McCaskill held a town hall at Jefferson City, MO on Wednesday August 26.
The corwd went wild when she said, "You have every right to fire me."
Friday, August 28, 2009
Headlines Friday 28th August 2009
ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan
The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June hosted at the White House
Victims reject serial rapist's apology
THE serial rapist who terrorised Brisbane in a series of brutal attacks on 11 women has begged for their forgiveness.
Body parts 'dumped at rubbish dump'
INVESTIGATION launched after claims body parts and fetuses were dumped and buried.
$50 fines for leaving kids in filth
GUILTY of gross child neglect, parents walk free from court with barely a slap on the wrist.
Sex and nudity lands Foxtel in trouble
Cable TV network Foxtel is in hot water for broadcasting sexual footage of nude college students and Swiss swingers under an incorrect MA rating.
Heathcliffe the giant burrowing cockroach may be world's heaviest insect
MEET Heathcliffe, the giant burrowing cockroach and contender for the title of world's heaviest insect.
Toddler's killer wants compo for 'pain'
DRUNK who killed his girlfriend's three-year-old son sues after he caught hepatitis C in jail.
'Porno fruits having sex on lolly wrapper'
ROMPING limes and lemons cause an uproar as complaints roll in to confectionery company.
Model Arrested for Posing Nude in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art
All these knights in shining armor couldn't save a maiden in undress from a female security guard. Kathleen Neill, 26, was busted yesterday among the other classic nudes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for posing naked. Cops charged her with public lewdness. She's the latest project of photographer Zach Hyman, who makes a habit of shooting nude models in public places. "Everything was going perfect until the very end," said Hyman. "Then it became a worst-case scenario."
=== Journalists Corner ===
He's the legendary bad boy of tennis!
From the U.S. Open to America's hot-button issues, he serves up his opinion -- Johnny Mac style!
===
A Retail Twist?
Oh, baby -- it's another clunker program! So, what impact will it have on consumers?
===
The CIA Oversight!
Will agents be prosecuted for enhanced interrogation techniques? What it could mean for the agency and our national security!
===
Inside Health Care!
Breaking down health care from the beginning... and taking you inside the real issues. Greta gets answers!
=== Comments ===
Powerful arguments for Rudd to go underground
Piers Akerman
NEWS broadcasts yesterday headlined reports of power outages across Victoria which left thousands of homes without electricity.
On Monday and Tuesday, it was Sydney’s turn to succumb to winds generated from a strong cold front which cut power to nearly 10,000 homes as electricity lines came down.
The weather was by no means unusual, nor was the loss of power. It’s the price we pay for having power lines strung from poles across the metropolitan area. They will come down whenever the wind blows.
So it doesn’t make much sense for the Rudd Labor Government to string its much-vaunted hi-tech glass fibre national broadband networks (NBN) lines on the same rotting wooden poles. - putting aside the sleaze related to Chappaquidick and Mary Joe’s death, Ted was related to some rich people who avoided murder charges through patronage. Some would feel that corrupt. Putting aside the appalling sex parties and proximity to drugs and drunkenness, we still have the case of the election of Obama to the Presidency. Obama was endorsed by Kennedy and we are not privy to his reasons, but we can make educated guesses. We know the Governor of Illinois sold influence and Obama had no track record on which to base a judgement. So the anger evident from Hilary Clinton seems to be related to her having spent up big on influence and some people reneging on their deal. Kennedy may not have bought the Presidency, but he seems to have sold it. You want some more? - ed.
===
RESPECT FOR THE DEAD
Tim Blair
“Is now the time to remind everyone,” emails KP, “that Obama’s babysitters Ayers and Dohrm dedicated their communist manifesto to Robert Kennedy’s assassin, amongst others?”
===
The Death of Senator Edward Kennedy
By Bill O'Reilly
Early this morning, the 77-year-old senator died from brain cancer, leaving behind a 46-year legacy in the U.S. Senate.
Ted Kennedy was a dominant force in American politics, but also a controversial one. His legacy breaks down along ideological lines. Liberal Americans revere him. Conservatives, generally speaking, thought he was misguided, and sometimes worse. Unfortunately, there have been some vicious postings on the Internet about Sen. Kennedy. They are disgraceful.
If you're a religious person, you know the Bible states quite clearly that personal judgments should be made by God and God alone. All of us are flawed, and none of us have the right to demean a public servant who has just died. What is legitimate is an honest look at Sen. Kennedy's record, and we will do that this evening.
There is no question that the Chappaquiddick incident, where a young woman drowned in Kennedy's car, haunted the senator throughout his life. On the other hand, Kennedy was responsible for some excellent legislation, including increasing cancer research and joining with President Bush to get the No Child Left Behind legislation passed. Kennedy, of course, was a liberal and proud of it:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED KENNEDY: I have often been called a liberal, and it usually was not meant to be a compliment. But I remember what my brother said about liberalism shortly before he was elected president. He said, if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people, if that is what they mean by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
"Talking Points" believes the senator was well-intentioned in public policy, but made a singular mistake that liberals often make: He did not apply discipline to his programs.
The disastrous McCain-Kennedy immigration bill, for example, did not secure the border or provide assurances that criminal aliens would be deported. It was a pure amnesty play, and most Americans quickly rejected it. The senator also held up the Sex Offender and Registration Act in 2006 until "The Factor" reasoned with him. Once Kennedy got on board, it quickly became law.
In 1962, Kennedy was elected to the Senate, taking his brother's place after JFK was elected president. Ted Kennedy had the third longest tenure in the Senate ever.
So like him or not, he was a patriot, a man who was well thought of by conservatives like Sen. Orrin Hatch and even Laura Ingraham.
I said a prayer for Sen. Kennedy and his family today, and it was sincere.
The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June hosted at the White House
Victims reject serial rapist's apology
THE serial rapist who terrorised Brisbane in a series of brutal attacks on 11 women has begged for their forgiveness.
Body parts 'dumped at rubbish dump'
INVESTIGATION launched after claims body parts and fetuses were dumped and buried.
$50 fines for leaving kids in filth
GUILTY of gross child neglect, parents walk free from court with barely a slap on the wrist.
Sex and nudity lands Foxtel in trouble
Cable TV network Foxtel is in hot water for broadcasting sexual footage of nude college students and Swiss swingers under an incorrect MA rating.
Heathcliffe the giant burrowing cockroach may be world's heaviest insect
MEET Heathcliffe, the giant burrowing cockroach and contender for the title of world's heaviest insect.
Toddler's killer wants compo for 'pain'
DRUNK who killed his girlfriend's three-year-old son sues after he caught hepatitis C in jail.
'Porno fruits having sex on lolly wrapper'
ROMPING limes and lemons cause an uproar as complaints roll in to confectionery company.
Model Arrested for Posing Nude in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art
All these knights in shining armor couldn't save a maiden in undress from a female security guard. Kathleen Neill, 26, was busted yesterday among the other classic nudes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for posing naked. Cops charged her with public lewdness. She's the latest project of photographer Zach Hyman, who makes a habit of shooting nude models in public places. "Everything was going perfect until the very end," said Hyman. "Then it became a worst-case scenario."
=== Journalists Corner ===
He's the legendary bad boy of tennis!
From the U.S. Open to America's hot-button issues, he serves up his opinion -- Johnny Mac style!
===
A Retail Twist?
Oh, baby -- it's another clunker program! So, what impact will it have on consumers?
===
The CIA Oversight!
Will agents be prosecuted for enhanced interrogation techniques? What it could mean for the agency and our national security!
===
Inside Health Care!
Breaking down health care from the beginning... and taking you inside the real issues. Greta gets answers!
=== Comments ===
Powerful arguments for Rudd to go underground
Piers Akerman
NEWS broadcasts yesterday headlined reports of power outages across Victoria which left thousands of homes without electricity.
On Monday and Tuesday, it was Sydney’s turn to succumb to winds generated from a strong cold front which cut power to nearly 10,000 homes as electricity lines came down.
The weather was by no means unusual, nor was the loss of power. It’s the price we pay for having power lines strung from poles across the metropolitan area. They will come down whenever the wind blows.
So it doesn’t make much sense for the Rudd Labor Government to string its much-vaunted hi-tech glass fibre national broadband networks (NBN) lines on the same rotting wooden poles. - putting aside the sleaze related to Chappaquidick and Mary Joe’s death, Ted was related to some rich people who avoided murder charges through patronage. Some would feel that corrupt. Putting aside the appalling sex parties and proximity to drugs and drunkenness, we still have the case of the election of Obama to the Presidency. Obama was endorsed by Kennedy and we are not privy to his reasons, but we can make educated guesses. We know the Governor of Illinois sold influence and Obama had no track record on which to base a judgement. So the anger evident from Hilary Clinton seems to be related to her having spent up big on influence and some people reneging on their deal. Kennedy may not have bought the Presidency, but he seems to have sold it. You want some more? - ed.
===
RESPECT FOR THE DEAD
Tim Blair
“Is now the time to remind everyone,” emails KP, “that Obama’s babysitters Ayers and Dohrm dedicated their communist manifesto to Robert Kennedy’s assassin, amongst others?”
===
The Death of Senator Edward Kennedy
By Bill O'Reilly
Early this morning, the 77-year-old senator died from brain cancer, leaving behind a 46-year legacy in the U.S. Senate.
Ted Kennedy was a dominant force in American politics, but also a controversial one. His legacy breaks down along ideological lines. Liberal Americans revere him. Conservatives, generally speaking, thought he was misguided, and sometimes worse. Unfortunately, there have been some vicious postings on the Internet about Sen. Kennedy. They are disgraceful.
If you're a religious person, you know the Bible states quite clearly that personal judgments should be made by God and God alone. All of us are flawed, and none of us have the right to demean a public servant who has just died. What is legitimate is an honest look at Sen. Kennedy's record, and we will do that this evening.
There is no question that the Chappaquiddick incident, where a young woman drowned in Kennedy's car, haunted the senator throughout his life. On the other hand, Kennedy was responsible for some excellent legislation, including increasing cancer research and joining with President Bush to get the No Child Left Behind legislation passed. Kennedy, of course, was a liberal and proud of it:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED KENNEDY: I have often been called a liberal, and it usually was not meant to be a compliment. But I remember what my brother said about liberalism shortly before he was elected president. He said, if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people, if that is what they mean by a liberal, I am proud to be a liberal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
"Talking Points" believes the senator was well-intentioned in public policy, but made a singular mistake that liberals often make: He did not apply discipline to his programs.
The disastrous McCain-Kennedy immigration bill, for example, did not secure the border or provide assurances that criminal aliens would be deported. It was a pure amnesty play, and most Americans quickly rejected it. The senator also held up the Sex Offender and Registration Act in 2006 until "The Factor" reasoned with him. Once Kennedy got on board, it quickly became law.
In 1962, Kennedy was elected to the Senate, taking his brother's place after JFK was elected president. Ted Kennedy had the third longest tenure in the Senate ever.
So like him or not, he was a patriot, a man who was well thought of by conservatives like Sen. Orrin Hatch and even Laura Ingraham.
I said a prayer for Sen. Kennedy and his family today, and it was sincere.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Barry O'Farrell supporting Blue September
Please go to http://www.blueseptember.org and donate or volunteer your time to Blue September, proudly supporting the Cancer Council and helping men face up to cancer.
Headlines Thursday 27th August 2009
Kennedy's Death Triggers Start of Race to Succeed Him
The political implications loom large for both parties: A victory for Republicans could begin a rebound in Congress while Democrats need to hold onto Kennedy's seat to maintain a filibuster-proof majority. - I'm thinking Gore is fat enough to fill that pork Barrel. - ed.
Premier breaks his silence: I won't resign
NSW Premier Nathan Rees has broken his holiday silence to declare in five simple words that he won't be going anywhere. - he is still on vacation and while he is NSW is seen to be running more smoothly. - ed.
Troops killed in ambush, Obama election legacy
AT least two Peruvian army troops have been killed in an ambush by Shining Path rebels while on patrol in the country's mountainous south, the army says. - The Shining path have been emboldened by the election win of Obama. -ed.
Three men charged for huge weapons haul
Police raids and an undercover operation have netted more than 100 illegal firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition in a crackdown on an alleged Wollongong-based gun trafficking network.
Life sentence sought for bikeway rapist
Prosecutors have asked for a life sentence for a Brisbane father whose two-year spree of sexual assaults on women exercising along bikeways triggered one of Queensland's biggest police operations.
Price of alcohol, tobacco to rise under government blueprint
THE price of alcohol and cigarettes would rise and glitzy marketing campaigns pitched at teenagers would be curbed under a radical blueprint to make Australians healthier and leaner.
Drunk mums 'pickle kids in womb'
EXPERT warns the next stolen generation will be children with fetal alcohol syndrome.
Man forced to 'dig his own grave'
The sons of a Gold Coast millionaire will stand trial in Brisbane District Court next February over allegations they made a man dig his own grave before shooting him in the hand.
Hundreds fined over fake street sign
As many as 200 motorists are thought to have been fined over a fake street sign planted in Sydney's north.
Hot August nights fuel our warmest winter
AREAS of Australia experienced their hottest day of the year this month, and it's not over yet. - highly misleading headline .. the nights have been cold .. even colder than normal. The day time temps have been fuelled by clear skies and winds from the North. - ed.
Vatican paper slams pro-choice Kennedy
THE Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has paid homage to the late US Senator Edward Kennedy but criticised his championing of abortion rights.
Astronomers discover gigantic planet spiralling toward star
Astronomers have found what appears to be a gigantic suicidal planet.
Missing newlywed found after three days
A man who's been missing in north Queensland bushland for three days has been found.
Microsoft apologises for racial editing
Some racially motivated photo editing has landed Microsoft in hot water, with the offending image doing the rounds on social networking sites.
Boy stabs mother's partner in the face
A teenage boy used a kitchen knife to stab his mother's "intoxicated and obnoxious" partner in the face, a court has been told.
AFL grand final could face cancellation
The AFL grand final could be postponed or even cancelled after MCG security guards won the right to strike on the sport's showcase day, their union says.
Man wrestles kangaroo
A man has suffered cuts as he wrestled a large kangaroo that attacked him as he took a morning walk, in the third such attack in the Sunbury area in the past year. - the man took ridiculous risks. Kangaroos respect Queensbury rules, although you got to watch for the head butt - ed.
=== Journalists Corner ===
White House vs. CIA!
Could a major shake-up cause heads to roll? 'The Factor' has it covered!
===
Guest: Sen. John McCain
John McCain reflects on the life of his colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy.
===
Prognosis Negative!
Can Obama recover, or has his reform already flatlined? Karl Rove reveals the Dems' true concern!
=== Comments ===
Powerful arguments for Rudd to go underground
Piers Akerman
NEWS broadcasts yesterday headlined reports of power outages across Victoria which left thousands of homes without electricity. - For some reason many in the press seem to admire policy failure by ALP governments. Adding to your list, Piers, is the deaths related to public transport whenever the ALP are in power. These are essentially related to the constipating of private transport, funneling people into a straining public transport .. resulting in a Granville or Berala style disaster which happens regularly under the ALP .. overworked and tired train drivers being placed in impossible situations. Sure the ALP splash around a lot more money, but it is spent so inefficiently and people die.
Or, take the corruption and nepotism related to ALP endeavors. So that crime figures cannot be trusted and processes are bodgied under apparently corrupt praxis. So that apparently corrupt action cannot be prosecuted by watchdogs because they just can’t work out what happened.
Ted Kennedy died at last, and may the US never again have such a powerful force for corruption eating away at their public institutions. - ed.
===
YOU CAN’T PREDICT THE FUTURE
Tim Blair
Tim Flannery, March 2008:
The water problem is so severe for Adelaide that it may run out of water by early 2009.
And Flannery in 2007:
Adelaide is our most water-stressed capital.
Not any more. Adelaide is now water-relaxed:
More water has flowed into Adelaide’s reservoirs in the past eight weeks than the whole of last year.
The total capacity of the city’s 10 reservoirs is now 76.4 per cent, compared to 64.6 per cent at the same time last year when water was being pumped from the River Murray.
As Flannery said in 2005:
Well, you can’t predict the future; that’s one of the things that you learn fairly early on …
===
BROTHER PROTECTED
Tim Blair
Banned in Egypt, welcome in Australia:
A follower of a radical Islamic movement that seeks to introduce sharia law and has been linked to terrorist groups is being granted asylum in Australia.
The Refugee Review Tribunal has recommended a protection visa for an Egyptian man, who is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group with links to al-Qaida.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed in several countries, including Egypt …
The Egyptian man initially was denied a protection visa by the Department of Immigration, but the decision was overturned by the tribunal.
The man’s connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, among other things, actually helped his case:
The tribunal is of the opinion that there is a real chance that this could place the applicant at risk of facing arrest, detention and ill-treatment [in Egypt].
A full visa is still subject to investigation.
===
DOMINICK DUNNE
Tim Blair
Author and columnist Dominick Dunne has died at 83.
===
NEW SPARKY
Tim Blair
In Australia:
A man was engulfed in flames after a police Taser hit him on the bridge of his nose while they were investigating claims of petrol sniffing.
And in the US:
A homeless man caught fire after U.S. police shocked him with a Taser gun, it has been revealed.
Daniel Wood, 31, was allegedly sniffing gas from an aerosol can as he ran through traffic when he was chased by two officers in Lancaster, Ohio.
===
GOMBIE DAWN
Tim Blair
According to advanced computer modelling, this will cause Gore zombies – Gombies – to forget all that stuff about isolated weather events not being anything to do with long-term climate trends and suddenly begin shrieking about global warming again.
These people lead stressful lives. Mark Steyn:
I’d be willing to bet that by the end of this century the anguished western liberal environmentalist will be on the endangered species list.
It could happen, simply due to exhaustion, but probably not unless our economies completely tank. Extreme western greenism is a disease of affluence.
UPDATE. The headline won’t lower warmy anxiety:
Australia enjoys warmest winter ever
We did, too. A friend just got back from Fiji, complaining that the weather there was colder than in Sydney.
===
GLOBAL TILTING
Tim Blair
We’re all tilters now:
Warming oceans could cause Earth’s axis to tilt in the coming century, a new study suggests.
If it tilts the right way, this remarkable tilt cat might finally have a straight head:
UPDATE. A 24-year-old boygirl – and obvious tilter – trashes Colorado’s Democrat HQ in an apparent attempt to implicate opponents of Obamacare. It’s turning out to be a great year for fakes.
===
Leadership and President Obama
By Bill O'Reilly
Unless you are a hardcore Obama-hater, you've got to feel a bit sorry for the president. On his first day of vacation, his attorney general announces an investigation of the CIA, something Obama has publicly stated he does not want. Then the administration announced the deficit is $2 trillion more than the White House thought it was. All of this within 24 hours of Mr. Obama arriving on Martha's Vineyard.
And there's more. Stratfor reports things are now going badly in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and some analysts believe the president has not only lost control of the health care situation, he's lost control of just about everything. That's not exactly fair, but what is true is that President Obama's leadership is being tested in a major way, and Americans know it.
Let's take the CIA deal first. ABC News is reporting that CIA chief Leon Panetta screamed at a top Obama official in the White house, using profanity. Mr. Panetta is a dedicated liberal Democrat, but does understand that an investigation into the CIA for alleged abuse after the 9/11 attacks harms the country today because it makes intelligence gathering much more difficult, as foreign nations who might cooperate with us do not want to be caught up in any public controversy. And there are folks who believe the president secretly wants an investigation to placate the far left and divert attention away from the health care debacle. Of course, that is pure conjecture.
On the money front, after the president appointed Ben Bernanke on Tuesday for another term at the Fed, FOX News business guy Stuart Varney said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STUART VARNEY, FOX NEWS BUSINESS ANCHOR: This is a deliberate — what you just saw from the president is a deliberate attempt to bury bad news. The Bernanke announcement diverts attention from this massive increase in the federal budget deficit that we are now looking at. It also diverts attention from the fact that the president's previous economic forecast have been very, very wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Again, that is Stuart's opinion, but it is shared by many.
So what we have here is a crisis of leadership, there is no question. Health care is in chaos, Afghanistan and Iraq are getting worse, the deficit is $2 trillion more than anybody thought, and Gallup reports Tuesday that consumer confidence in the economy continues to drop.
Seems to me it would be very hard to relax on vacation with all that staring you in the face.
The political implications loom large for both parties: A victory for Republicans could begin a rebound in Congress while Democrats need to hold onto Kennedy's seat to maintain a filibuster-proof majority. - I'm thinking Gore is fat enough to fill that pork Barrel. - ed.
Premier breaks his silence: I won't resign
NSW Premier Nathan Rees has broken his holiday silence to declare in five simple words that he won't be going anywhere. - he is still on vacation and while he is NSW is seen to be running more smoothly. - ed.
Troops killed in ambush, Obama election legacy
AT least two Peruvian army troops have been killed in an ambush by Shining Path rebels while on patrol in the country's mountainous south, the army says. - The Shining path have been emboldened by the election win of Obama. -ed.
Three men charged for huge weapons haul
Police raids and an undercover operation have netted more than 100 illegal firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition in a crackdown on an alleged Wollongong-based gun trafficking network.
Life sentence sought for bikeway rapist
Prosecutors have asked for a life sentence for a Brisbane father whose two-year spree of sexual assaults on women exercising along bikeways triggered one of Queensland's biggest police operations.
Price of alcohol, tobacco to rise under government blueprint
THE price of alcohol and cigarettes would rise and glitzy marketing campaigns pitched at teenagers would be curbed under a radical blueprint to make Australians healthier and leaner.
Drunk mums 'pickle kids in womb'
EXPERT warns the next stolen generation will be children with fetal alcohol syndrome.
Man forced to 'dig his own grave'
The sons of a Gold Coast millionaire will stand trial in Brisbane District Court next February over allegations they made a man dig his own grave before shooting him in the hand.
Hundreds fined over fake street sign
As many as 200 motorists are thought to have been fined over a fake street sign planted in Sydney's north.
Hot August nights fuel our warmest winter
AREAS of Australia experienced their hottest day of the year this month, and it's not over yet. - highly misleading headline .. the nights have been cold .. even colder than normal. The day time temps have been fuelled by clear skies and winds from the North. - ed.
Vatican paper slams pro-choice Kennedy
THE Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has paid homage to the late US Senator Edward Kennedy but criticised his championing of abortion rights.
Astronomers discover gigantic planet spiralling toward star
Astronomers have found what appears to be a gigantic suicidal planet.
Missing newlywed found after three days
A man who's been missing in north Queensland bushland for three days has been found.
Microsoft apologises for racial editing
Some racially motivated photo editing has landed Microsoft in hot water, with the offending image doing the rounds on social networking sites.
Boy stabs mother's partner in the face
A teenage boy used a kitchen knife to stab his mother's "intoxicated and obnoxious" partner in the face, a court has been told.
AFL grand final could face cancellation
The AFL grand final could be postponed or even cancelled after MCG security guards won the right to strike on the sport's showcase day, their union says.
Man wrestles kangaroo
A man has suffered cuts as he wrestled a large kangaroo that attacked him as he took a morning walk, in the third such attack in the Sunbury area in the past year. - the man took ridiculous risks. Kangaroos respect Queensbury rules, although you got to watch for the head butt - ed.
=== Journalists Corner ===
White House vs. CIA!
Could a major shake-up cause heads to roll? 'The Factor' has it covered!
===
Guest: Sen. John McCain
John McCain reflects on the life of his colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy.
===
Prognosis Negative!
Can Obama recover, or has his reform already flatlined? Karl Rove reveals the Dems' true concern!
=== Comments ===
Powerful arguments for Rudd to go underground
Piers Akerman
NEWS broadcasts yesterday headlined reports of power outages across Victoria which left thousands of homes without electricity. - For some reason many in the press seem to admire policy failure by ALP governments. Adding to your list, Piers, is the deaths related to public transport whenever the ALP are in power. These are essentially related to the constipating of private transport, funneling people into a straining public transport .. resulting in a Granville or Berala style disaster which happens regularly under the ALP .. overworked and tired train drivers being placed in impossible situations. Sure the ALP splash around a lot more money, but it is spent so inefficiently and people die.
Or, take the corruption and nepotism related to ALP endeavors. So that crime figures cannot be trusted and processes are bodgied under apparently corrupt praxis. So that apparently corrupt action cannot be prosecuted by watchdogs because they just can’t work out what happened.
Ted Kennedy died at last, and may the US never again have such a powerful force for corruption eating away at their public institutions. - ed.
===
YOU CAN’T PREDICT THE FUTURE
Tim Blair
Tim Flannery, March 2008:
The water problem is so severe for Adelaide that it may run out of water by early 2009.
And Flannery in 2007:
Adelaide is our most water-stressed capital.
Not any more. Adelaide is now water-relaxed:
More water has flowed into Adelaide’s reservoirs in the past eight weeks than the whole of last year.
The total capacity of the city’s 10 reservoirs is now 76.4 per cent, compared to 64.6 per cent at the same time last year when water was being pumped from the River Murray.
As Flannery said in 2005:
Well, you can’t predict the future; that’s one of the things that you learn fairly early on …
===
BROTHER PROTECTED
Tim Blair
Banned in Egypt, welcome in Australia:
A follower of a radical Islamic movement that seeks to introduce sharia law and has been linked to terrorist groups is being granted asylum in Australia.
The Refugee Review Tribunal has recommended a protection visa for an Egyptian man, who is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group with links to al-Qaida.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been outlawed in several countries, including Egypt …
The Egyptian man initially was denied a protection visa by the Department of Immigration, but the decision was overturned by the tribunal.
The man’s connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, among other things, actually helped his case:
The tribunal is of the opinion that there is a real chance that this could place the applicant at risk of facing arrest, detention and ill-treatment [in Egypt].
A full visa is still subject to investigation.
===
DOMINICK DUNNE
Tim Blair
Author and columnist Dominick Dunne has died at 83.
===
NEW SPARKY
Tim Blair
In Australia:
A man was engulfed in flames after a police Taser hit him on the bridge of his nose while they were investigating claims of petrol sniffing.
And in the US:
A homeless man caught fire after U.S. police shocked him with a Taser gun, it has been revealed.
Daniel Wood, 31, was allegedly sniffing gas from an aerosol can as he ran through traffic when he was chased by two officers in Lancaster, Ohio.
===
GOMBIE DAWN
Tim Blair
According to advanced computer modelling, this will cause Gore zombies – Gombies – to forget all that stuff about isolated weather events not being anything to do with long-term climate trends and suddenly begin shrieking about global warming again.
These people lead stressful lives. Mark Steyn:
I’d be willing to bet that by the end of this century the anguished western liberal environmentalist will be on the endangered species list.
It could happen, simply due to exhaustion, but probably not unless our economies completely tank. Extreme western greenism is a disease of affluence.
UPDATE. The headline won’t lower warmy anxiety:
Australia enjoys warmest winter ever
We did, too. A friend just got back from Fiji, complaining that the weather there was colder than in Sydney.
===
GLOBAL TILTING
Tim Blair
We’re all tilters now:
Warming oceans could cause Earth’s axis to tilt in the coming century, a new study suggests.
If it tilts the right way, this remarkable tilt cat might finally have a straight head:
UPDATE. A 24-year-old boygirl – and obvious tilter – trashes Colorado’s Democrat HQ in an apparent attempt to implicate opponents of Obamacare. It’s turning out to be a great year for fakes.
===
Leadership and President Obama
By Bill O'Reilly
Unless you are a hardcore Obama-hater, you've got to feel a bit sorry for the president. On his first day of vacation, his attorney general announces an investigation of the CIA, something Obama has publicly stated he does not want. Then the administration announced the deficit is $2 trillion more than the White House thought it was. All of this within 24 hours of Mr. Obama arriving on Martha's Vineyard.
And there's more. Stratfor reports things are now going badly in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and some analysts believe the president has not only lost control of the health care situation, he's lost control of just about everything. That's not exactly fair, but what is true is that President Obama's leadership is being tested in a major way, and Americans know it.
Let's take the CIA deal first. ABC News is reporting that CIA chief Leon Panetta screamed at a top Obama official in the White house, using profanity. Mr. Panetta is a dedicated liberal Democrat, but does understand that an investigation into the CIA for alleged abuse after the 9/11 attacks harms the country today because it makes intelligence gathering much more difficult, as foreign nations who might cooperate with us do not want to be caught up in any public controversy. And there are folks who believe the president secretly wants an investigation to placate the far left and divert attention away from the health care debacle. Of course, that is pure conjecture.
On the money front, after the president appointed Ben Bernanke on Tuesday for another term at the Fed, FOX News business guy Stuart Varney said this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STUART VARNEY, FOX NEWS BUSINESS ANCHOR: This is a deliberate — what you just saw from the president is a deliberate attempt to bury bad news. The Bernanke announcement diverts attention from this massive increase in the federal budget deficit that we are now looking at. It also diverts attention from the fact that the president's previous economic forecast have been very, very wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Again, that is Stuart's opinion, but it is shared by many.
So what we have here is a crisis of leadership, there is no question. Health care is in chaos, Afghanistan and Iraq are getting worse, the deficit is $2 trillion more than anybody thought, and Gallup reports Tuesday that consumer confidence in the economy continues to drop.
Seems to me it would be very hard to relax on vacation with all that staring you in the face.
Wall Street Journal Reporter Steve Moore: US Borrowing $5 Billion Each Day
Wall Street Journal reporter Steve Moore reported on Greta Van Sustern's show tonight on FOX News that the Obama Administration is borrowing $5 billion each month just to stay afloat. The US is paying $1.2 billion each month just on interest on the US debt to China.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Headlines Wednesday 26th August 2009
Rumours abound as Rees takes a holiday
Try as he might, Nathan Rees cannot escape speculation that he's on borrowed time as NSW premier. - Channel 9 announced the fact that Mr Reese would be disendorsed by senior ALP members of the right, ending his premiership by Monday. - ed.
Pakistan Taliban chief dead
PAKISTAN Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud died this month after a US missile strike, militant commander Hakimullah has confirmed, declaring himself the new leader of the militia.
School forces pupils to drink tap water
A SCHOOL has banned bought bottled water, despite worries over "dodgy" container reuse. - Rudd and Reese campaigned for this outcome. - ed.
Rudd condemns 'cowardly' attack on MP
Rudd has condemned violence against women after one of his female MPs was allegedly punched by her partner.
Terror supporters told to stand or leave
The decision by two Islamic alleged terrorists and their supporters not to stand when required in court was not based on religion but designed to make a political point, a magistrate says.
Woman 'felt justified in poisoning kids'
A Sydney woman who killed her children with rat poison felt her husband's infidelity justified her actions, a court has been told.
Boy stabs mother's partner in the face
A teenage boy used a kitchen knife to stab his mother's "intoxicated and obnoxious" partner in the face, a court has been told.
Texting and driving - the graphic ad 2 die 4
A BRITISH ad on the dangers of texting while driving is the most graphic yet, but one road safety expert says if it saves just one life then it’s a good ad.
Rose planted in memory of Jane McGrath
A delicate pink rose inspired by the late Jane McGrath has been planted in one of her favourite Sydney locations as a living tribute to her memory.
'Ted' Kennedy dies of brain cancer
US Senator Edward 'Ted' Kennedy has died of brain cancer at the age of 77. - may the US never again be subject to the corrupt activity of a wealthy family. - ed.
Steve Irwin key to scientist's discovery
Scientists have descended on a series of unique springs found on a wetland reserve created by the......
Huge fares take commuters for a ride
It is claimed Sydney commuters are getting their money's worth, despite a new report showing they......
New twist over drunk 'technical rape'
Prosecutors in a controversial rape case have admitted they were wrong to say a drunken woman......
=== Journalists Corner ===
Attacking the airwaves!
How the FCC plans to muzzle conservative talk radio... and the impact on free speech in the media industry.
===
Miley Tongue Tied?
Body Language looks at the teen queen's reaction when asked about her former flame!
===
Guest: Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Hidden costs, add-ons and red tape. Tim Pawlenty on the real price of health care reform!
===
The Perfect Health Care Plan?
Michael Steele on why the GOP's plan is just what the doctor ordered!
=== Comments ===
TED KENNEDY
Tim Blair
Senator Ted Kennedy has died at 77.
===
WHO’S THE INFIDELS NOW, BITCHES?
Tim Blair
Raw combat footage (and commentary) from Afghanistan:
===
BUSINESS GETS BUSY
Tim Blair
Nationals senator Ron Boswell calls on Australian industry to defend itself against Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scam:
It is in the hands of business now: whether it wants to see Australian industry eaten away inch by inch through a Senate-controlled ETS or whether it will stand firm against it. If business fails to hold the line that enabled us to block the ETS the first time, then the Labor-Greens alliance will carve up its investments.
The Nationals are not alone on this. We have many Liberals on side. A strong and public show of leadership from business will seal the fate of the ETS.
More strength to them. And in the US:
The nation’s largest business lobby wants to put the science of global warming on trial.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trying to ward off potentially sweeping federal emissions regulations, is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a rare public hearing on the scientific evidence for man-made climate change.
Chamber officials say it would be “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century”—complete with witnesses, cross-examinations and a judge who would rule, essentially, on whether humans are warming the planet to dangerous effect.
“It would be evolution versus creationism,” said William Kovacs, the chamber’s senior vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs. “It would be the science of climate change on trial.”
Bring. It. On. Meanwhile, greenoid Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull keeps trying to lure business to the dumb side:
Emboldened by a lift in his Newspoll ratings, Mr Turnbull challenged colleagues today, telling a business breakfast in Melbourne: “Those people who say an emissions trading scheme is an anathema must have been asleep during the last term of the Howard government.
“Not only did we establish an emissions trading scheme, which is a market-based way of putting a price on carbon, we commenced legislating for it. It remains our policy.”
And hasn’t it worked out well. Your party lost the last election, Malcolm. And you’ll lose the next one.
UPDATE. Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce:
“I can tell you the mood is changing,” the senator told this column about Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme. “I am now getting hundreds of emails a day from people. They hate this [ETS] policy. They just hate it. It was marvellous when it was a thought bubble but people are saying, ‘We can hardly afford to live in our home.’ People see this as madness. And they actually get the gist of it. They know it’s a new tax and they are asking: ‘How does putting another new tax on me change the temperature of the globe?’
“And the more they think about it, the madder they get. In the coal industry they know it’s a new tax that will cost their jobs. In rural Australia they know it’s a new tax that will send them broke.”
Rural Australia’s population isn’t as dense as you’ll find in the inner cities.
===
OBVIOUS FACT OBSERVED
Tim Blair
Former treasurer Peter Costello enjoys an ABC moment:
I was doing an ABC radio interview last week. A listener sent in a text message - which was read out - suggesting the ABC should engage me as a radio host. I said: “I don’t think I have the right political views for the ABC.” It was not said with any malice, just an observation of an obvious fact …
When I dropped my inconvenient truth in last week’s interview it didn’t provoke any outrage or comment. It just hung there. There was a mild effort by my interlocutor to defend the corporation. He pointed out there is a Liberal employed on ABC local radio in Perth. Which says it all. It is quite an oddity that they know about this man in Melbourne. Out of the 4500 ABC employees, they know there is one Liberal.
To be fair, the ABC also employs Michael Duffy, a friend of mine often described as conservative. He votes Green.
===
LET THE PEOPLE DRIVE
Tim Blair
Deepak Lal sticks it to progress-denying Western eco-imperialists:
Nothing is more hypocritical and immoral than rich Westerners driving their gas-guzzling SUVs emoting about the threat to Spaceship Earth from the millions of Indians who want to drive Nanos. Whilst the salving of their consciences by buying carbon offsets (as Al Gore claims to do every time he jets around the world) is akin to the Papal indulgences sold by the Catholic Church, which allowed its richer adherents to assuage their guilt and ‘fornicate on clean sheets’.
For Gore to have the lights on his mansion blazing throughout the night, and seek to restrict the emissions from Indian power stations, when most Indians don’t even have an electric light bulb, is deeply wicked.
A recent edition of Car, the ethically-poisoned once-readable Brit mag, mentioned that the Tata Nano would provide Indians with inexpensive transport “for better or for worse”. The same magazine seems just fine with English people owning all the cars they want. And now India is catching up:
Indian car sales jumped by nearly a third in July – the country’s sixth monthly rise in car sales – as new model launches and cheaper loans prompted customers to flock to automobile showrooms.
Think of this as offsets to carbon offsets. India is working while we whine.
===
TWO TONS
Tim Blair
It’s been a long, strange journey for British Labour politician John Prescott:
In 1999, as Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Prescott was criticised for taking an official car 250 yards from his hotel to the Labour party conference centre.
But now:
John Prescott has landed his most bizarre job yet – as professor of climate change at a Chinese university.
Prezza has confounded his critics with his new role at Xiamen University on the south east coast of the country where he will give occasional lectures on global warming.
Prescott’s qualified to lecture on so much more:
He was originally nicknamed Two Jags due to his personal Jaguar car and his ministerial Jag.
The nickname later became Two Jabs when he punched a protester who threw an egg on him in 2001. And it later turned into Two Shags when he had an affair with his secretary Tracey Temple behind wife Pauline’s back.
The tubby Labourite will deliver his first climate change lecture on September 9. Mr Eugenides asks: “I wonder how he plans to commute to his lectures on climate change.” Why, possibly in a private jet, funded by another project:
He is also working on an eco-film along the lines of ex-US vice president Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.
They’ve got a great deal in common.
===
IT WAS A FULL-SCALE RIOT IS WHAT IT WAS
Tim Blair
An old-fashioned Alabammy hootenanny:
Two Alabama families that had been fighting for years turned their feud into a full-scale riot Monday outside a small-town city hall, with up to 150 screaming people hurling tire irons and wielding baseball bats.
Eight people were arrested, and at least four were hurt, Trooper John Reese said. Two were taken to hospitals. The town’s police chief was hit in the head with a crowbar but was OK.
The two- or three-year-old feud apparently prompted a fight earlier in the day at a high school, after a window was shot out of a home Sunday night. Then, “all hell broke loose” later in the day, said Sgt. Carlton Hogue of the Perry County Sheriff’s Department.
“It was a full-scale riot is what it was,” said Tony Long, mayor of the town of 3,300 about 85 miles west of Montgomery.
According to Hogue, rioters were “throwing jack irons, throwing tire irons, anything they could get their hands on.”
The mayor said he wasn’t sure what sparked the fracas.
“Everybody’s trying to point the finger at everybody,” he said.
They were doing rather more than that. I once made the innocent mistake, in a Victorian country town, of mentioning a member of a certain local family who had made a name for himself in Australian Rules Football. The table fell silent. Eventually, a matriarch spoke: “We do not discuss those people in this house.”
Much later, I asked another elder about the source of the feud. He couldn’t remember.
===
RIGHT REJECTED
Tim Blair
Only last week, this site noted with concern the tragedy of global roadal divergence:
We drive on different sides of the road …
Samoa now steps forward to set things right … er, left:
Sometime in the early morning hours of Sept. 7, residents of this small Pacific island nation will stop their cars, take a deep breath, and do something most people would think is suicidal: Start driving on the other side of the road …
The main reason for Samoa’s switch is that two of its biggest neighbors, Australia and New Zealand, drive on the left-hand side, whereas Samoa currently drives on the right, as in the U.S. By aligning with Australia and New Zealand, the prime minister says, it will be easier for poor Samoans to get cheap hand-me-down cars from the 170,000 or so Samoans who live in those two countries.
It’s ”cash for clunkers”, except the clunkers stay on the road, where they belong. Hidebound right-laners, however, oppose the change:
Opponents have organized two of the biggest protests in Samoan history, and a new activist group – People Against Switching Sides, or PASS – has geared up to fight the plan.
They’d really lose it if Samoa introduced the hook turn, a charming Melbourne manoeuvre whereby one turns right from the left lane. Some of us have performed that same move politically.
===
HOPE AND CHANGE
Tim Blair
Hollywood was different in 1940: - and better - ed.
===
On expecting a mass killer to be “sensitive”
Andrew Bolt
LET Kenny MacAskill explain himself how stupid - how criminally clueless - he was to have freed Abdul Baset Ali Al Megrahi.
Al Megrahi is the Libyan intelligence agent who just eight years ago was found guilty of planting a bomb on a passenger jet that exploded over Lockerbie, killing 270 people.
And MacAskill is the Scottish Justice Secretary who this week freed him out of “compassion”, because the poor mass murderer now has cancer.
MacAskill says he is now surprised and dismayed that Al Megrahi, on returning to Libya, was not only given a hero’s reception by the country’s dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, but was seen saluting cheering crowds.
Good lord, he protested. Al Megrahi promised he wouldn’t celebrate his release. He was showing the families of his 270 victims “no sensitivity”.
Is MacAskill mad? Did this fool really expect a twice-convicted killer to show sensitivity?
The more we learn about the freeing of Al Megrahi the more unreal—and recklessly dangerous—it seems.
===
President Obama on Vacation
By Bill O'Reilly
Following in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, Mr. Obama will take a week off on Martha's Vineyard with his family. The president will rest and recharge, and boy does he need it.
The health care chaos has damaged the president's credibility and his job approval ratings as well. The latest Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll has 28 percent of Americans strongly approving of the job the president is doing, with 40 percent strongly disapproving. That, of course, is not good.
As far as health care is concerned, there is another significant problem coming down the road. Forcing Americans to buy health insurance of any kind may be unconstitutional. According to a number of scholars, the feds can't force us to buy anything. Just another annoying thing for the president to consider as he enjoys his $35,000 a week estate in the Chilmark section of the Vineyard.
By the way, the Obamas are paying most of the rent themselves, as the president made big bucks from his books.
"Talking Points" hopes the Obamas have a good time and that the president understands not all of those who oppose his policies are doing so for nefarious reasons. Yes, there are some who despise the president, but most of us want what is best for the country, and bankrupting it certainly does not fit that mindset. With the president paying so much for a week of leisure, he might think about money a bit, because it looms large in the health care debate.
Finally, the president must know that his health care vision is in serious trouble and he must adjust quickly. Blaming dissenters and news agencies like FOX who do not demean legitimate protest actually hurts the president.
On Monday, "Factor" producer Jesse Watters asked presidential spokesman Bill Burton this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE WATTERS, "FACTOR" PRODUCER: Why does the administration seem to be so thin-skinned with regards to FOX News?
BILL BURTON, PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN: Thin-skinned? That's interesting. I wouldn't say they were thin-skinned. I would say that we — we appreciate that there are people not just at FOX, but in all aspects of the media who are — who come to this with sometimes very sharp opinions, sometimes very tough questions. And the president has, in the past, obviously been happy to take tough questions.
WATTERS: It seems like on a number of occasions, we've been singled out for maybe being a little more critical than some the other cable networks and some of the other media outlets. Is that a strategy, or is that more haphazard?
BURTON: Yeah, like I said, I don't agree with the premise of your question. And so I wouldn't really know how to answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
With all due respect, I think Mr. Burton is being a tad disingenuous.
Try as he might, Nathan Rees cannot escape speculation that he's on borrowed time as NSW premier. - Channel 9 announced the fact that Mr Reese would be disendorsed by senior ALP members of the right, ending his premiership by Monday. - ed.
Pakistan Taliban chief dead
PAKISTAN Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud died this month after a US missile strike, militant commander Hakimullah has confirmed, declaring himself the new leader of the militia.
School forces pupils to drink tap water
A SCHOOL has banned bought bottled water, despite worries over "dodgy" container reuse. - Rudd and Reese campaigned for this outcome. - ed.
Rudd condemns 'cowardly' attack on MP
Rudd has condemned violence against women after one of his female MPs was allegedly punched by her partner.
Terror supporters told to stand or leave
The decision by two Islamic alleged terrorists and their supporters not to stand when required in court was not based on religion but designed to make a political point, a magistrate says.
Woman 'felt justified in poisoning kids'
A Sydney woman who killed her children with rat poison felt her husband's infidelity justified her actions, a court has been told.
Boy stabs mother's partner in the face
A teenage boy used a kitchen knife to stab his mother's "intoxicated and obnoxious" partner in the face, a court has been told.
Texting and driving - the graphic ad 2 die 4
A BRITISH ad on the dangers of texting while driving is the most graphic yet, but one road safety expert says if it saves just one life then it’s a good ad.
Rose planted in memory of Jane McGrath
A delicate pink rose inspired by the late Jane McGrath has been planted in one of her favourite Sydney locations as a living tribute to her memory.
'Ted' Kennedy dies of brain cancer
US Senator Edward 'Ted' Kennedy has died of brain cancer at the age of 77. - may the US never again be subject to the corrupt activity of a wealthy family. - ed.
Steve Irwin key to scientist's discovery
Scientists have descended on a series of unique springs found on a wetland reserve created by the......
Huge fares take commuters for a ride
It is claimed Sydney commuters are getting their money's worth, despite a new report showing they......
New twist over drunk 'technical rape'
Prosecutors in a controversial rape case have admitted they were wrong to say a drunken woman......
=== Journalists Corner ===
Attacking the airwaves!
How the FCC plans to muzzle conservative talk radio... and the impact on free speech in the media industry.
===
Miley Tongue Tied?
Body Language looks at the teen queen's reaction when asked about her former flame!
===
Guest: Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Hidden costs, add-ons and red tape. Tim Pawlenty on the real price of health care reform!
===
The Perfect Health Care Plan?
Michael Steele on why the GOP's plan is just what the doctor ordered!
=== Comments ===
TED KENNEDY
Tim Blair
Senator Ted Kennedy has died at 77.
===
WHO’S THE INFIDELS NOW, BITCHES?
Tim Blair
Raw combat footage (and commentary) from Afghanistan:
===
BUSINESS GETS BUSY
Tim Blair
Nationals senator Ron Boswell calls on Australian industry to defend itself against Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scam:
It is in the hands of business now: whether it wants to see Australian industry eaten away inch by inch through a Senate-controlled ETS or whether it will stand firm against it. If business fails to hold the line that enabled us to block the ETS the first time, then the Labor-Greens alliance will carve up its investments.
The Nationals are not alone on this. We have many Liberals on side. A strong and public show of leadership from business will seal the fate of the ETS.
More strength to them. And in the US:
The nation’s largest business lobby wants to put the science of global warming on trial.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trying to ward off potentially sweeping federal emissions regulations, is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to hold a rare public hearing on the scientific evidence for man-made climate change.
Chamber officials say it would be “the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century”—complete with witnesses, cross-examinations and a judge who would rule, essentially, on whether humans are warming the planet to dangerous effect.
“It would be evolution versus creationism,” said William Kovacs, the chamber’s senior vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs. “It would be the science of climate change on trial.”
Bring. It. On. Meanwhile, greenoid Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull keeps trying to lure business to the dumb side:
Emboldened by a lift in his Newspoll ratings, Mr Turnbull challenged colleagues today, telling a business breakfast in Melbourne: “Those people who say an emissions trading scheme is an anathema must have been asleep during the last term of the Howard government.
“Not only did we establish an emissions trading scheme, which is a market-based way of putting a price on carbon, we commenced legislating for it. It remains our policy.”
And hasn’t it worked out well. Your party lost the last election, Malcolm. And you’ll lose the next one.
UPDATE. Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce:
“I can tell you the mood is changing,” the senator told this column about Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme. “I am now getting hundreds of emails a day from people. They hate this [ETS] policy. They just hate it. It was marvellous when it was a thought bubble but people are saying, ‘We can hardly afford to live in our home.’ People see this as madness. And they actually get the gist of it. They know it’s a new tax and they are asking: ‘How does putting another new tax on me change the temperature of the globe?’
“And the more they think about it, the madder they get. In the coal industry they know it’s a new tax that will cost their jobs. In rural Australia they know it’s a new tax that will send them broke.”
Rural Australia’s population isn’t as dense as you’ll find in the inner cities.
===
OBVIOUS FACT OBSERVED
Tim Blair
Former treasurer Peter Costello enjoys an ABC moment:
I was doing an ABC radio interview last week. A listener sent in a text message - which was read out - suggesting the ABC should engage me as a radio host. I said: “I don’t think I have the right political views for the ABC.” It was not said with any malice, just an observation of an obvious fact …
When I dropped my inconvenient truth in last week’s interview it didn’t provoke any outrage or comment. It just hung there. There was a mild effort by my interlocutor to defend the corporation. He pointed out there is a Liberal employed on ABC local radio in Perth. Which says it all. It is quite an oddity that they know about this man in Melbourne. Out of the 4500 ABC employees, they know there is one Liberal.
To be fair, the ABC also employs Michael Duffy, a friend of mine often described as conservative. He votes Green.
===
LET THE PEOPLE DRIVE
Tim Blair
Deepak Lal sticks it to progress-denying Western eco-imperialists:
Nothing is more hypocritical and immoral than rich Westerners driving their gas-guzzling SUVs emoting about the threat to Spaceship Earth from the millions of Indians who want to drive Nanos. Whilst the salving of their consciences by buying carbon offsets (as Al Gore claims to do every time he jets around the world) is akin to the Papal indulgences sold by the Catholic Church, which allowed its richer adherents to assuage their guilt and ‘fornicate on clean sheets’.
For Gore to have the lights on his mansion blazing throughout the night, and seek to restrict the emissions from Indian power stations, when most Indians don’t even have an electric light bulb, is deeply wicked.
A recent edition of Car, the ethically-poisoned once-readable Brit mag, mentioned that the Tata Nano would provide Indians with inexpensive transport “for better or for worse”. The same magazine seems just fine with English people owning all the cars they want. And now India is catching up:
Indian car sales jumped by nearly a third in July – the country’s sixth monthly rise in car sales – as new model launches and cheaper loans prompted customers to flock to automobile showrooms.
Think of this as offsets to carbon offsets. India is working while we whine.
===
TWO TONS
Tim Blair
It’s been a long, strange journey for British Labour politician John Prescott:
In 1999, as Secretary of State for Transport, Mr Prescott was criticised for taking an official car 250 yards from his hotel to the Labour party conference centre.
But now:
John Prescott has landed his most bizarre job yet – as professor of climate change at a Chinese university.
Prezza has confounded his critics with his new role at Xiamen University on the south east coast of the country where he will give occasional lectures on global warming.
Prescott’s qualified to lecture on so much more:
He was originally nicknamed Two Jags due to his personal Jaguar car and his ministerial Jag.
The nickname later became Two Jabs when he punched a protester who threw an egg on him in 2001. And it later turned into Two Shags when he had an affair with his secretary Tracey Temple behind wife Pauline’s back.
The tubby Labourite will deliver his first climate change lecture on September 9. Mr Eugenides asks: “I wonder how he plans to commute to his lectures on climate change.” Why, possibly in a private jet, funded by another project:
He is also working on an eco-film along the lines of ex-US vice president Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.
They’ve got a great deal in common.
===
IT WAS A FULL-SCALE RIOT IS WHAT IT WAS
Tim Blair
An old-fashioned Alabammy hootenanny:
Two Alabama families that had been fighting for years turned their feud into a full-scale riot Monday outside a small-town city hall, with up to 150 screaming people hurling tire irons and wielding baseball bats.
Eight people were arrested, and at least four were hurt, Trooper John Reese said. Two were taken to hospitals. The town’s police chief was hit in the head with a crowbar but was OK.
The two- or three-year-old feud apparently prompted a fight earlier in the day at a high school, after a window was shot out of a home Sunday night. Then, “all hell broke loose” later in the day, said Sgt. Carlton Hogue of the Perry County Sheriff’s Department.
“It was a full-scale riot is what it was,” said Tony Long, mayor of the town of 3,300 about 85 miles west of Montgomery.
According to Hogue, rioters were “throwing jack irons, throwing tire irons, anything they could get their hands on.”
The mayor said he wasn’t sure what sparked the fracas.
“Everybody’s trying to point the finger at everybody,” he said.
They were doing rather more than that. I once made the innocent mistake, in a Victorian country town, of mentioning a member of a certain local family who had made a name for himself in Australian Rules Football. The table fell silent. Eventually, a matriarch spoke: “We do not discuss those people in this house.”
Much later, I asked another elder about the source of the feud. He couldn’t remember.
===
RIGHT REJECTED
Tim Blair
Only last week, this site noted with concern the tragedy of global roadal divergence:
We drive on different sides of the road …
Samoa now steps forward to set things right … er, left:
Sometime in the early morning hours of Sept. 7, residents of this small Pacific island nation will stop their cars, take a deep breath, and do something most people would think is suicidal: Start driving on the other side of the road …
The main reason for Samoa’s switch is that two of its biggest neighbors, Australia and New Zealand, drive on the left-hand side, whereas Samoa currently drives on the right, as in the U.S. By aligning with Australia and New Zealand, the prime minister says, it will be easier for poor Samoans to get cheap hand-me-down cars from the 170,000 or so Samoans who live in those two countries.
It’s ”cash for clunkers”, except the clunkers stay on the road, where they belong. Hidebound right-laners, however, oppose the change:
Opponents have organized two of the biggest protests in Samoan history, and a new activist group – People Against Switching Sides, or PASS – has geared up to fight the plan.
They’d really lose it if Samoa introduced the hook turn, a charming Melbourne manoeuvre whereby one turns right from the left lane. Some of us have performed that same move politically.
===
HOPE AND CHANGE
Tim Blair
Hollywood was different in 1940: - and better - ed.
===
On expecting a mass killer to be “sensitive”
Andrew Bolt
LET Kenny MacAskill explain himself how stupid - how criminally clueless - he was to have freed Abdul Baset Ali Al Megrahi.
Al Megrahi is the Libyan intelligence agent who just eight years ago was found guilty of planting a bomb on a passenger jet that exploded over Lockerbie, killing 270 people.
And MacAskill is the Scottish Justice Secretary who this week freed him out of “compassion”, because the poor mass murderer now has cancer.
MacAskill says he is now surprised and dismayed that Al Megrahi, on returning to Libya, was not only given a hero’s reception by the country’s dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, but was seen saluting cheering crowds.
Good lord, he protested. Al Megrahi promised he wouldn’t celebrate his release. He was showing the families of his 270 victims “no sensitivity”.
Is MacAskill mad? Did this fool really expect a twice-convicted killer to show sensitivity?
The more we learn about the freeing of Al Megrahi the more unreal—and recklessly dangerous—it seems.
===
President Obama on Vacation
By Bill O'Reilly
Following in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, Mr. Obama will take a week off on Martha's Vineyard with his family. The president will rest and recharge, and boy does he need it.
The health care chaos has damaged the president's credibility and his job approval ratings as well. The latest Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll has 28 percent of Americans strongly approving of the job the president is doing, with 40 percent strongly disapproving. That, of course, is not good.
As far as health care is concerned, there is another significant problem coming down the road. Forcing Americans to buy health insurance of any kind may be unconstitutional. According to a number of scholars, the feds can't force us to buy anything. Just another annoying thing for the president to consider as he enjoys his $35,000 a week estate in the Chilmark section of the Vineyard.
By the way, the Obamas are paying most of the rent themselves, as the president made big bucks from his books.
"Talking Points" hopes the Obamas have a good time and that the president understands not all of those who oppose his policies are doing so for nefarious reasons. Yes, there are some who despise the president, but most of us want what is best for the country, and bankrupting it certainly does not fit that mindset. With the president paying so much for a week of leisure, he might think about money a bit, because it looms large in the health care debate.
Finally, the president must know that his health care vision is in serious trouble and he must adjust quickly. Blaming dissenters and news agencies like FOX who do not demean legitimate protest actually hurts the president.
On Monday, "Factor" producer Jesse Watters asked presidential spokesman Bill Burton this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE WATTERS, "FACTOR" PRODUCER: Why does the administration seem to be so thin-skinned with regards to FOX News?
BILL BURTON, PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESMAN: Thin-skinned? That's interesting. I wouldn't say they were thin-skinned. I would say that we — we appreciate that there are people not just at FOX, but in all aspects of the media who are — who come to this with sometimes very sharp opinions, sometimes very tough questions. And the president has, in the past, obviously been happy to take tough questions.
WATTERS: It seems like on a number of occasions, we've been singled out for maybe being a little more critical than some the other cable networks and some of the other media outlets. Is that a strategy, or is that more haphazard?
BURTON: Yeah, like I said, I don't agree with the premise of your question. And so I wouldn't really know how to answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
With all due respect, I think Mr. Burton is being a tad disingenuous.
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