Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Headlines Tuesday 31st August 2010
=== Todays Toon ===
Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie VC, GCMG, CB, DSO & Bar, PC (6 July 1872 – 2 May 1955) the tenth and longest serving Governor-General of Australia, was born in Windsor, Berkshire, the second son of Walter Hore-Ruthven, 8th Lord Ruthven of Freeland.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,”- Ephesians 2:19=== Headlines ===
As Guard Heads to Border, Deportation Policy Under Fire
As the first of more than 530 National Guard troops deploys to Arizona to help local officers secure the border, those clamoring for more federal assistance say the latest immigration policy change out of Washington shows the White House is still falling short on enforcement.CBO: Iraq War Cost Less Than Stimulus Act
As Obama prepares to tie a bow on U.S. combat operations in Iraq, Congressional Budget Office numbers show 8-year war cost less than the stimulus bill passed by Democratic-led Congress in 2009
Debate Emerges in Death of Teen Racer
Death of 13-year-old motorcycle racer Peter Lenz sparks controversy over how young is too young to be driving vehicles that top 120 mph
Panel Slams U.N.'s Climate Group
Independent audit of U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds flaws in its structure, methods and leadership, recomends 'significant reforms'
Breaking News
Man quizzed after boy drownsPOLICE are talking to a 25-year-old man about the drowning of a teenager in the Yarra River in Melbourne last night.
New Holden runs on bio-ethanol
HOLDEN has unveiled its latest Commodore range, which could eventually be powered by household waste.
Drugs found in dead WWE wrestler's home
INVESTIGATORS probing the death of former WWE wrestler Gertrude "Luna" Vachon reportedly found crushed oxycodone pills in the Florida home where her body was found..
How a drink or two may extend your life
MODERATE drinkers actually live longer than teetotalers, lending more weight to the argument that imbibing does improve health, according to findings published today.
Jews share same gene - German banker
A BOARD member of the German central bank was under fire yesterday after ranting "all Jews share the same gene."
Bus plunges into ravine killing at least 38
A BUS plunged into a ravine in central Ecuador, killing at least 38 people in the Andean nation's worst road accident of the year.
Teenager drowns after river bridge fall
FOUR people are assisting police after a teenager drowned after falling from a bridge into the Yarra River in central Melbourne.
Rottweilers maul young girl on UK street
A WOMAN has been charged after her pet Rottweilers attacked and mauled a 10-year-old girl while she was riding her bike.
Facebook post lands juror in hot water
A JUROR has been removed from a Detroit-area trial after writing on Facebook that the defendant was guilty. The problem? The trial wasn't over.
'Purse was mine, but coke wasn't' - Paris
SOCIALITE Paris Hilton now claims the purse containing cocaine that led to her Friday night arrest in Las Vegas belongs to her, but the cocaine belonged to a friend.
NSW/ACT
Man drove himself home after being shotA MAN who was shot in the head drove himself home after a drive-by incident at Granville last night.
Police search for missing 13-year-old
A SEARCH is underway for a 13-year-old girl who has gone missing from her eastern Sydney home.
We're game to host World Cup
SYDNEY is ready to help host football's World Cup despite claims the city has squandered its legacy from the Olympics.
Thieves deal motoX star's dream
HE'S fearless on a bike, but Crusty Demons star Joel Balchin may not have a chance to show his skills after thieves robbed his home.
Lane affectionate to newborn
KELI Lane told an adoption worker she "did not feel capable of being a parent yet", court hears.
Grisly find reopens Milat wounds
BENEATH a blue tarpaulin, off a deserted fire trail in Belanglo , lies the hopes of many families.
Covering up during Kiesha questions
THE biological father of Kiesha Abrahams wore a hoodies when he fronted Mt Druitt police station.
Rape kit plan for cruise ships
RAPE kits should be put on cruise ships to help preserve evidence from crime scenes, the Dianne Brimble inquest was told.
Vital links when kids go missing
IT'S like CSI for parents - a new kit allows mums and dads to record their child's DNA and fingerprints and keep it in the freezer.
Non-bank's flutter for your home
AN emerging non-bank lender has upped its fight against the major banks by removing the need for applicants to show savings proof.
Queensland
Thieves cut alarm and access safeTHIEVES have pulled off an elaborate burglary at a Toowoomba engineering company to steal a five-figure sum from the safe.
Cigarette may have sparked fire
AN unattended cigarette is thought to have sparked a fire in the bedroom of a house at Camp Hill on Brisbane's southside.
High-speed trains for southeast
HIGH-speed passenger trains will rocket between Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine coasts in just 60 minutes within 20 years, says Anna Bligh.
Hey! I know that robber
DETECTIVES have arrested a man who allegedly held up a supermarket with a knife after a witness recognised him and told police his name.
30 years and no UFOs then suddenly ...
A BRISBANE UFO tragic has finally seen his first UFO after 30 years of searching ... on election night.
Coast's underbelly laid bare
THE Gold Coast's dark and dangerous underbelly has been laid bare by a woman who drove the getaway car in a slaying outside a McDonald's restaurant.
King 'sorry' for $2.5bn collapse
FALLEN Gold Coast businessman Michael King has apologised to investors stung by the $2.5 billion collapse of his Octaviar finance and tourism group two years ago.
Safe zones 'only shift the problem'
PUB and club owners outside the State Government's new Drink Safe precincts at Surfers Paradise, Fortitude Valley and Townsville fear an onslaught of drunken louts.
Town in desperate fight to keep GP
A SMALL town is so desperate to hang on to its deregistered GP that it is taking on Queensland's Medical Board.
Eastern Busway completion in limbo
RESIDENTS and businesses along Brisbane's Eastern Busway route have been left in limbo, with the State Government clueless about when the project can be completed.
Victoria
Man critical after shootingA 27-YEAR-OLD man has been flown to Melbourne after being shot in the front yard of a house in Albury.
Dog stabbed inside kennel
A SMALL dog has been stabbed inside its kennel at a house in Lalor, in Melbourne's north.
Toddler's horror 2.5m fall
A TWO-YEAR-OLD girl has survived a sickening 2.5m fall from a balcony in Melbourne’s north.
Arrests made over body find
THREE people have been arrested over the death of a man in Melbourne's west.
Teenager drowns in Yarra
A TEENAGE boy's body has been found floating in the Yarra River in an apparent drowning.
Police can't find up to 200 firearms
ALMOST 200 shotguns, semi-automatics and revolvers held by Victoria Police can't be accounted for, an audit has revealed.
Time to ban teen booze
HEALTH experts concerned about alcohol bingeing want the legal drinking age raised from 18 to 21.
Sunny days on the way
THERE'S good news ahead for Victorians after a long cold winter. On the eve of spring, the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting balmy nights.
Save the Facebook addicts
HIGH school boys who are stuck on sites like Facebook and don't want to learn will be the focus of a big drive to engage troubled students.
Vegemite on toast and pyjamas
BREAKFAST favourite Vegemite is making a foray into fashion, collaborating with flamboyant sleepwear designer Peter Alexander.
Northern Territory
Protest continues at detention centreACCUSED Indonesian people smugglers have gone back to protesting on the roof of the Darwin immigration detention centre.
Riot continues at detention centre
ACCUSED Indonesian people smugglers have gone back to protesting on the roof of the Darwin immigration detention centre.
South Australia
Mayor rejects $33,000 pay riseTHE Mayor of Campbelltown has said thanks but no thanks to a $33,000 a year pay rise.
Water plan drip fed
WATER Security Commissioner Robyn McLeod was unaware the State Government would announce the easing of restrictions.
Desal plant toll hits three
TWO more deaths have been linked to Adelaide's controversial desalination plant.
Peak hour trains' near-miss
PASSENGERS on a Noarlunga-bound train had a near miss when the train came close to crashing into a Tonsley-bound train.
Emergency fear at airport
A QANTAS plane activated emergency procedures at Adelaide Airport but landed safely this afternoon.
Fatal car crash at Elizabeth
A MAN has died after the car he was driving hit a truck before colliding with a tree at an Elizabeth South intersection.
Garrett retains guilty plea
BANKRUPT former winemaker Andrew Garrett has abandoned his attempt to withdraw a confession to fraud allegations.
Woman attacked on Jetty Road
POLICE are searching for a man who indecently assaulted an 18-year-old woman near Jetty Rd.
Western Australia
Bombmaker charged with home explosionA 34-YEAR-OLD Ballajura man, who allegedly blew himself up with homemade explosives, has been charged.
Sprawling Perth needs to grow up
THE sprawling city of Perth must tighten up and plan for higher density living and greater public transport use, WA's planning minister says.
Coldest year on record
PERTH is shivering through its coldest year for overnight temperatures, but at the same time bathing in the sunniest winter on record.
Search for missing woman draws blank
WA police are no closer to finding missing Perth woman Ah Bee Mack despite an extensive search of her Mt Hawthorn property.
Driver incinerated in crash
A 38-YEAR-OLD man was incinerated when the car he was driving left the road and slammed into a tree at Perenjori, 350km north of Perth.
Chopper crashes at Jandakot
A HELICOPTER has flipped onto its side while attempting to take off at Perth's Jandakot Airport, leaving two people with minor injuries.
Ripper laments aged care failings
THE WA Opposition Leader Eric Ripper has spoken out about the difficulties his family has encountered in caring for his aged mother.
Youth escapes from detention centre
A 17-YEAR-OLD youth is on the run after escaping from Banksia Hill Detention Centre.
Tasmania
ABC host on new child porn chargeTELEVISION and radio personality Andy Muirhead has been charged with a second child pornography offence
=== Journalists Corner ===
Bill's Back ...And he's brought some friends! Goldberg, Krauthammer, Williams and Ham are all here. 'The Factor's' in full swing!
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Guest: Sarah Palin
Election countdown! The former governor on the biggest issues impacting the polls. And, which candidates have the right strategy for America?
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'On the Record' Goes on the Road
BIG concerns for small business. How owners across the country are surviving these tough economic times, and what D.C. is really doing to help out this independent industry.
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On Fox News Insider
Courtney Friel's Red Carpet View at the EmmysDo Americans See Obama as a Stranger?
Taliban Hopes NYC Mosque Will Fail
=== Comments ===
Is the Tea Party Toxic for the GOP?THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FROM "THE O'REILLY FACTOR," AUGUST 27, 2010. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LAURA INGRAHAM, GUEST HOST: In the "Impact" segment tonight: Is the Tea Party good for the Grand Old Party? One influential Republican, Michael Gerson, formally the chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush, doesn't think so.
In a Washington Post op-ed, he wrote that the Tea Party is "incompatible with some conservative and Republican beliefs. It is at odds with Abraham Lincoln's inclusive tone and his conviction that government policies could empower individuals. It is inconsistent with religious teaching on government's responsibility to seek the common good."
Michael Gerson joins us now from Washington. Mike, it's good to see you.
MICHAEL GERSON, FORMER CHIEF SPEECHWRITER FOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Great to be here.
INGRAHAM: Here's what I look at when I think about some of the advice that you're giving. In 2000, Republicans had majorities, barely in the Senate, but a majority in the House and the Senate. By the time President George W. Bush finished his second term, we had lost, Republicans had lost 52 congressional seats, nine Senate seats. We had an increase in the first term of discretionary spending by 29 percent. Seventy-five percent increase in the education budget. We had a demoralized Republican Party and a demoralized conservative base. With all due respect, why should we listen to you now?
GERSON: Well, actually, there were two presidential elections that were won by George W. Bush in the intervening time and large congressional majorities really until 2006 and 2008. You know, the problem here is not in these cases that Republicans had a domestic policy message. That's what George Bush brought in 2000, a message on education, a message on Medicare. You know, positive things. The next presidential candidate, whoever it is for the Republican Party, is going to need a domestic agenda.
INGRAHAM: But Michael, Michael…
GERSON: It can't just be a…
INGRAHAM: Yes.
GERSON: …kind of simplistic anti-government agenda.
INGRAHAM: Well, I agree with you absolutely, wholeheartedly. But do you say now today that Bush's policies of the last three or four years of his second term have no culpability at all? There's no culpability for what happened to the Republican Party?
GERSON: Well…
INGRAHAM: Big government conservatism, Michael, was tried and it failed. We tried to expand Medicare, the biggest expansion ever, and we ended up adding to the deficit. We tried on all these big programs. You guys gave it the old college try and it failed.
GERSON: Well, I'm not here to defend big government conservatism, but I am here…
INGRAHAM: Well, that's what it was.
GERSON: No, no, no. First of all, I substantively disagree with that in the last few years the Bush administration, who actually had a freeze in domestic discretionary spending, something we haven't seen under the Obama administration, the facts are just wrong. But I would also argue here that Obama has overreached significantly, creating a huge backlash in America. There is a risk that libertarian Republicans, anti-government Republicans, anti-immigrant Republicans will create a backlash.
INGRAHAM: Who are anti-immigrant Republicans? You and you…
GERSON: J.D. Hayworth. (More at the link)
===
Who Has Really Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement?
By Cal Thomas
The so-called mainstream media looked down at the Glenn Beck rally at the Lincoln Memorial last weekend through predictable lenses set on their very long noses.
What interested me, though, was the charge by speakers at the other rally at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., the one led by Al Sharpton, that Beck and company have “hijacked the civil rights movement.” Now there is a subject worthy of debate.
Let’s see now...
- Liberal Democrats keep African-American poor children locked inside underperforming schools, thus hijacking their futures.
- The number of births to single African-American young women in Washington is well over 50 percent, hijacking family.
- How often have we heard that more black men are in jail than in college, hijacking hope.
- Trillions have been spent on anti-poverty programs, yet there seem as many poor people as when the Great Society began in the Johnson years. That’s hijacked their economic freedom.
Conservatives talk about empowering the individual; liberals talk about groups and more power to the state. Who are the real hijackers of the civil rights movement? People like Al sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Eleanor Holmes Norton.
I’ll take the inspiring rhetoric of Martin Luther King’s niece, Alveeda King and Rev. C.L. Jackson at the Beck rally over more of the same rhetoric that helps no one.
Keep hope alive!
Cal Thomas is America’s most widely syndicated newspaper columnist and a Fox News contributor.
===
BUSTED
Tim Blair
Immediately following the election, Julia Gillard played her strongest hand:
“It now appears clear that Labor has won the two-party vote. That means the majority of Australians who voted yesterday prefer a Labor government. I think this is a critical fact to weigh in the coming days.”But with the two-party count now 80 per cent complete, Labor is losing. Labor trails by nearly two thousand votes. I think this is a critical fact to weigh in the coming days. Further from Matthew Franklin and Patricia Karvelas, Lanai Vasek, Malcolm Farr, Sarah Collerton, Mark Kenny and Michelle Grattan.
UPDATE. More bad news for Labor:
“A number of clients have been on the roof at different times today,” an Immigration Department spokesman said.UPDATE II. Tony Abbott:
“We are no longer an opposition, we may very well be a government in waiting,” he told shadow ministers.UPDATE III. ABC news just showed footage of a reporter asking Abbott: “Do you think that the two-party vote is important? Does it really matter?” Well, it mattered to Julia Gillard.
UPDATE IV. Labor back in front:
Labor has regained a slender lead in the national two-party preferred vote, one of the key elements Prime Minister Julia Gillard has relied on to argue her party has the better right to form a minority government.UPDATE V. Numbers-watcher Peter Brent:
From election night until yesterday afternoon, the Australian Electoral Commission’s website was overstating the ALP’s after preferences lead by about 0.3 percent … the national figure has gone from understating the Coalition’s 2pp to overstating it.UPDATE VI. Julia Gillard at the Press Club: “I stand ready to form the next government of Australia.”
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THE LOOK OF LOSS
Tim Blair
Wayne Swan didn’t exactly tick all the options boxes when facial expressions were being handed out. The treasurer went with the basic package; a kind of one-look-fits-all model.
Shock apparently isn’t included. Even when he was being torn to bits by Liberal power broker Michael Kroger during Nine’s election night broadcast, Swan barely registered much beyond mild confusion. It’s a common enough appearance among senior Labor people these days. Swan blends right in.
But if you’d told him just one year ago that in mid-2010 he’d practically be begging Bob Katter for a job, even Swan’s frozen dial might have displayed some emotion. Dismissive scorn, most likely.
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DUMBRELLA
Tim Blair
Two Harvard graduates attempt to solve a perplexing mobility and transference dilemma:
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CNN vs CS
Tim Blair
Three errors in seven (or possibly eight) words! A CNN caption may have broken Australian academic Christopher Sheil’s record for the most mistakes per word count:
As Jim Treacher points out:• “Happening now” – clearly not.
• “Sara Palin” – first name misspelled.
• “(R) Former Presidential candidate” – Palin has never run for President.
Of crucial importance: does the abbreviation “R” count as a word? If so, CNN merely ties Sheil, who accomplished an eight-word triple-error play. If not, we have a new seven-word champion. Judgment awaits in comments.
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NO APOLOGY FROM CHARLES
Tim Blair
Charles Johnson, 2010:
Today Glenn Beck said he’s sorry he called Obama a ‘racist with a deep seated hatred of white culture‘.Charles Johnson, 2007:
Here’s a piece on Barack Obama’s past, based on his own account of his shockingly racist anti-white attitudes.UPDATE. In the manner of a pancake, Charles keeps flipping.
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HELP A BROTHER OUT
Tim Blair
Iowahawk sends out the call. Unless everyone donates at least $20, I will put this site behind a paywall. Don’t think that I won’t.
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SO YOU THINK YOU CAN IMAM
Tim Blair
Reality television in Malaysia:
Cash and a new car are up for grabs, but the winner will also be offered a job as an imam, or religious leader, a scholarship to study in Saudi Arabia and an all-expenses-paid pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.It’s a big hit, especially with the young:
In preparation for the show, producers surveyed young people about the type of imam they wanted to see in their mosques.Nothing is cooler than rappin’ about UFOs with a imam. Certain elements of the show possibly wouldn’t appeal outside of the host country:
“They said, ‘We want someone who can talk on the same wavelength, who can be one of us, an imam who can play football, can talk about the World Cup, can talk about the environment and U.F.O.’s, for example,’ “ Mr. Izelan said.
Challenges include washing corpses in preparation for burial and ensuring that animals are slaughtered according to Islamic law.Tip for competitors: getting these two mixed up may result in disqualification.
UPDATE. Copenhagen police blame Ramadan for an outbreak of the usual youthy car-burning:
“It’s Ramadan, and it is our impression that the unstable eating patterns, combined with the fact that these youths have nothing to do at night, leads to unrest. We see this every year.”The local Presbyterian Faith Society finds this absurd. Says a spokesman:
“The Copenhagen police should be very careful in concluding why the youth are acting they way they do.”Maybe they’re just cold.
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China’s central bank chief rumored to have fled
Andrew Bolt
Only a rumour, but STRATFOR reports:
Rumors have circulated in China that People’s Bank of China (PBC) Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan may have left the country. The rumors appear to have started following reports on Aug. 28 which cited Ming Pao, a Hong Kong-based news agency, saying that because of an approximately $430 billion loss on U.S. Treasury bonds, the Chinese government may punish some individuals within the PBC, including Zhou. Although Ming Pao on Aug. 30 published a report on its website indicating that the prior report was fabricated by a mainland news site that had attributed the false information to Ming Pao, rumors of Zhou’s defection have spread around China intensively, and Zhou’s name has been blocked from Internet search engines in China.On the other hand:
But George Friedman, chief executive officer of Stratfor, said that the swirling rumors, which also accuse Zhou of overseeing a $430 billion loss on U.S. Treasury bonds, have little basis in fact and may instead signify a power struggle in advance of a leadership change in 2012.(Thanks to reader Warwick.)
“We don’t believe it either,” Friedman told SpyTalk, referring to the alleged $430 billion investment loss. But he added, “I’m less concerned about the number and the specific charges than the politics of a senior banker clearly under attack without the government stepping in and backing him...”
Two knowledgeable government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had no evidence of Zhou’s defection and that he was not in U.S. custody.
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Worse than warming, but more boring
Andrew Bolt
Something a little more likely and potentially a lot more devastating for the global warming alarmists to fret over:
An asteroid more than a mile wide is heading for earth, posing the greatest threat yet by an object approaching the planet, scientists have warned.Same apocalyptic scenario as the global warmists’ own, but missing that vital ingredient for a new mass faith - a narrative of human sin and the punishment to come.
The asteroid – called 2002 NT7 – was spotted only three weeks ago, but could strike on 1 February 2019, the US space agency Nasa said…
Gerrit Verschuur, an astrophysicist and radio astronomer at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the impact would create a fireball so intense it would kill anyone who could see it, after which material thrown into the air would shower half the world with flaming debris. “It would be as if the sky itself had caught fire,” he said.
The heat would set fire to forests and cities, after which dust would fill the atmosphere, obscuring the sun for a month. That in turn would kill plants and animals, so that only creatures that lived underground would have a strong chance of survival.
(Thanks to reader Warwick.)
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What genocide, Julian?
Andrew Bolt
Remember the wild claims by human rights advocates and Greens that Tamil boat people should be welcomed since they were facing “genocide” back home? Take Julian Burnside:
Tamils from Sri Lanka are fleeing [to Australia on boats] because they face genocide in Sri Lanka…You don’t often hear of victims fleeing towards a genocide, though, do you?
UNHCR statistics show that in the first six months of this year, 852 refugees returned from India with UNHCR’s help compared to a total of 823 for all of 2009. A further 1,005 refugees returned on their own accord – what UNHCR calls ‘spontaneous’ returns – and approached UNHCR offices in Sri Lanka for assistance…Fact is that the Tamil Tigers and members of the Tamil diaspora are hyping the genocide claims - and infiltrating the Greens - to keep open an easy conduit for their members.
But now, tens of thousands of internally displaced people are returning to their homes in the north and it seems that some refugees abroad are also opting to return. The Menik Farm site in Sri Lanka, once a huge camp hosting 228,000 internally displaced people at its peak, now has a dwindling population of around 35,300. The camp continues to diminish in size with some 3,000 people returning to their homes every week.
(Thanks to readers H. and analyst Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe.)
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Hawker sticks like glue to Oakeshott
Andrew Bolt
Guess who was by the side of independent Rob Oakeshott at Canberra airport yesterday as they collected their luggage after the flight from Sydney?
Oakeshott, of course, is one of the Three Amigos whose votes will decide whether Labor or the Coalition form government. He is also a Left-leaning warmist, desperately looking for an excuse to support Labor even though his own electorate is strongly conservative.
And by his side, to help him decide, was hired Labor spin-merchant Bruce Hawker. Riding shotgun?
Hawker helped to run Labor’s disastrous marginal seats campaign, working from Labor headquarters, and is desperate to salvage his reputation. He is also the man the independents asked Labor to provide them as a “wise elder”. And he’s the cousin of another of the independents, Tony Windsor, whose phone conversation with friend Alby Schultz, a Liberal backbencher, was somehow leaked to the papers as lurid evidence of the Coalition’s dirty tricks and “threats”.
Just how much is Hawker driving Oakeshott’s increasingly erratic demands and scripting his lines?
I’ll later post a link to my confrontation with Oakeshott on MTR this morning. You may find it very illuminating about his frame of mind.
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Rescued by Robb
Andrew Bolt
Niki Savva singles out the hero of the Liberals’ campaign - besides Tony Abbott himself, of course - and says he should be rewarded:
Abbott should do it by putting Andrew Robb in the Treasury portfolio… .She’s right, of course. And Turnbull also deserves promotion:
It was Robb as the finance spokesman who had main carriage of the opposition’s economic arguments in the past few months and during the campaign. Not Abbott, and not the present shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey…
Inside the Liberal Party, in the organisation as well as the parliamentary party, people are quick to lavish praise on Robb for his performance in the campaign.
He was reliable, available, and well-informed. A few might complain about his presentation but he knows his stuff and he invariably gets the tone and content right.
A decent consolation prize for good behaviour should go to Turnbull… In finance he would have to show his colleagues he can be tough, play with his team on the same ground at the same time, and that he is capable of setting aside past grievances, especially with Robb.
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Don’t blame Bert
Andrew Bolt
Patti Newton explains why she and husband Bert went on A Current Affair last night to talk about their son Matthew and his drug taking, mental illness and bashing of girlfriends:
Bert’s had a very long, good career, over 60 years. I feel very sad about the fact that he might be remembered for the fact that Matthew cause so much trouble and so much heartache for everybody. And I don’t want that to be the case.It was the most jarring of many lines in the interview.
UPDATE
Desperately unfortunate timing by Channel 9 - or so I hope:
20 to 1: Madness & Meltdowns(Thanks to reader Rocko.)
Next episode Tue 31 Aug 10:00 PM
Hosted by Bert Newton, counting down the most hilarious brain explosions caught on tape. From sensitive superstars to politicians under pressure, these tears and tantrums would be shocking - if they weren’t so funny. But who gets the biggest public meltdown?
===
Just look at Wilkie’s wish list, for a start
Andrew Bolt
Alan Anderson, adviser to former treasurer Peter Costello:
WHEN I hear “consensus government”, I reach for my wallet—it means I’ll have to pay for all the crazy ideas instead of just half of them.
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What’s Gillard’s argument now?
Andrew Bolt
Let’s recall Julia Gillard’s argument last week for three rural independents’ to hand government to Labor:
It is clear that neither party has earned the right to govern in its own right ... (But) the Labor Party is the political party that received the biggest share of the two-party preferred vote.And again:
It now appears clear that Labor has won the two-party vote. That means the majority of Australians who voted yesterday prefer a Labor government. I think this is a critical fact to weigh in the coming days.Gillard’s own argument is now destroyed by the latest counting from the Australian Electoral Commission:
Australian Labor Party 5,345,241One reason for the change:
Liberal/National Coalition 5,347,150
One reason is that officials have now removed all eight seats where the final contest was not between the Coalition and Labor - including the six seats won by the independents, Greens and WA Nationals, and two seats where the Greens were runners-up.As I said yesterday, that would leave Tony Abbott’s Coalition with all the moral arguments for winning the casting votes of the Three Amigos - Tony Windsor, Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott. Abbott’s Coalition has:
Adding them, Labor’s vote now is about 50.1 per cent. But with a million votes still to be counted, the odds are that the Coalition will end up the winner.
- won the most votesTwo independents are unmoved:
- won the most seats, 73 to 72
- won the most votes, after preferences
- won the most support in the three independents’ seats, as measured by the Senate vote
- won the most support in the three independents’ seats, as measured by two polls since the election.
Rookie Hobart-based independent MP Andrew Wilkie says the two-party vote count is not relevant to him.UPDATE
Another independent, New England MP Tony Windsor, says it will not play a big part in his decision-making.
“I think it’s all part of the mix - and all of these things are what we should consider,” he said.
“But I haven’t changed my view from the start of this - the objective here is to see whether we can form a stable government that will last and operate for the term of Parliament.”
More from Gillard on the importance of the two-party-preferred vote that’s just gone to the Coalition instead:
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you just led the Labor Party to the brink of a disastrous defeat. Why should the independents the Greens and the people of Australia imagine you’ve got control of the party that you’ll retain the leadership?UPDATE 2
GILLARD: Well, can I say firstly, number one – the majority of Australians through the two-party preferred vote have indicated that they want a Labor Government.
(Julia Gillard, Press Conference, 23/8/2010)
“I do want to say that even as votes continue, voting continues, it is clear that the government has attracted the majority share of the two-party preferred vote. What that means is that the majority of Australians wanted a Labor Government. Now I note that the Leader of the Opposition in the context of the South Australian election said that it was the two party preferred vote, the majority of what people wanted, that was the key indicator to be taken into account in circumstances such as these.”
(Julia Gillard, Press Conference, 23/8/2010)
JOURNALIST: What is the criteria for forming a legitimate government if you win 72 seats, will you try to form government or is it only if you win 73?
GILLARD: Well, as I’ve indicated to you, I will be continuing to offer during this caretaker period, effective and stable government. I’ll be entering into discussions with the independents and the Greens to form a government in the future. The Labor party is the political party that received the biggest share of the two party preferred vote. Ok last one.
(Julia Gillard, Press Conference, 22/8/2010)
Now Labor is back in front in the preferred vote, by just 778.
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Media twits
Andrew Bolt
It’s a poll of sorts. Five journalists - using the term broadly - won media attention for these recent tweets about politics.
Geoff Hutchison, ABC Perth Mornings host:
[On Tony Abbott’s alleged views on gays] morally dubious, but big tobacco is all right by meCatherine Deveny, sacked from The Age and now writing for the ABC:
Tony, why are you frightened of intercourse with Julia? Is it because we will be watching and measuring?
I have gay Muslim friends, says Tony. But I don’t really like them.
Get f.. ed you frigid mole [Family First candidate Wendy Francis]. With a crucifix if possible. And guess what? I can’t be sacked because I don’t have job.Marieke Hardy, ABC literary critic and commentator:
“The most conservative instinct of all - the instinct to have a family’. Tony Abbott, I hope your cock drops off and falls down a plughole.Adam Turner, Fairfax freelancer and former Melbourne deputy editor of Next, the business IT section of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald:
Tony Abbott finds the burqa ‘confronting’. OH YEAH? I FIND YOUR F**KING FACE CONFRONTING, DOUCHEBAG.
Listen to this c-------er [Abbott] gloat when he hasn’t even won…Daniel Burt, comedian and freelance arts writer for the ABC:
this a---hole is trying to make a victory speech, complete with cheersquad...
Call it maturity, but I have officially lost the desire to hate f..k Julie BishopYes, only five, but all attacking from the Left, with the ABC and barbarians strongly represented.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Headlines Monday 30th August 2010
=== Todays Toon ===
Still no government, although the ALP are unbackable, the independents apparently aren't. A leftoid, Wilie, has his eat with some 11000 primary votes when his opponent got 23000 and the Liberals got 15000 .. and now he holds the nation to ransom.=== Bible Quote ===
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”- Galatians 3:28=== Headlines ===
5 YEARS AFTER: Obama Vows to Assist City 'Until Job Is Done'
The president applauds New Orleans as a 'symbol of resilience' while speaking to an audience at Xavier University on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina striking the Gulf Coast.Six Dead in Shooting at Arizona Home
Police say gunman — who was later found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound — kills the mother of his two children and four others in shooting at Arizona home
Support Pours In for Devastated Pakistan
Nearly $1 billion in cash and relief supplies pledged to help Pakistan recover from the worst floods in the country's history
Feds Investigate Fire at Tenn. Mosque Site
Spokesman for federal arson investigators says they are looking into a fire that damaged construction equipment at the site of a proposed Islamic center in suburban Nashville
Breaking News
Oakeshott questions 'smear campaign'INDEPENDENT MP Rob Oakeshott has questioned Coalition tactics after receiving a "Rambo-style" phone call from a senior Liberal.
First gene link to common migraine
GENE detectives say they have found the first inherited link to common types of migraine.
Skinheads attack concertgoers
SCORES of bare-chested skinheads have attacked a crowd of about 3000 people at a rock concert, beating them with clubs.
Warning about sexual disorders company
CONSUMERS are being warned to exercise caution when dealing with a firm selling treatment programs for sexual disorders.
Driver of crashed school van charged
POLICE have charged the driver of a van that was hit by a train, killing 10 school children.
Climber's body found after 21 years
THE body of an American mountain climber has been discovered in the Rocky Mountains 21 years after he disappeared.
Two service stations held up overnight
POLICE are investigating two armed robberies at Melbourne service stations.
Kiesha's biological father to meet police
THE natural father of missing six-year-old Kiesha Abrahams will reportedly meet police today in connection with her disappearance.
Trapped miners move to drier spot
THE 33 trapped miners are moving camp to a drier, cooler site deeper inside the San Jose gold and copper shaft.
Obama hails New Orleans' 'resilience'
US President Barack Obama, marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, pledges support for rebuilding.
NSW/ACT
Dawn brings rude surpriseDOZENS of planes are flouting the airport curfew, landing before 6am and infuriating locals.
Hillsong church to fight for $38m site
HILLSONG Church has applied to build a $38m estate in Sydney's east after locals rejected them.
Council haunted by $20m blaze
LIVERPOOL Council meets in an alleged haunted old power station tonight after its $20m blaze.
Women have number for Della's job
STATE Labor is expected to select a female expert to replace John Della Bosca.
University centre goes up in smoke
MORE than 100 firefighters battled to contain a blaze on the University of NSW campus.
Cops search Belanglo after bones found
POLICE will begin searching the Belanglo State Forest today after discovering skeletal bones.
New Year booze bans on the table
NEW Years Eve could turn dry as councils consider new booze bans.
Queensland
Jack-knifed truck stuckA JACK-knifed truck at the intersection of Progress and Boundary Roads has thrown traffic into chaos at Wacol in Ipswich.
Missing man guilty of armed robbery
A man who went missing on the fourth day of his court trial has been found guilty of armed robbery - even though he remains on the run.
Knife bandit flees on bicycle
POLICE are hunting a bicycle bandit who held up a supermarket armed with a knife.
Accused bandit misses the bus
BRISBANE man accused of robbing bank in Kingaroy arrested while waiting for bus out of town. "He probably missed a couple," say police.
Syringe used in store hold-up
POLICE are on the hunt for a man after he held up a video store with a blood-filled syringe at Birkdale.
Queensland the fraud capital
QUEENSLAND has become Australia's fraud capital, with 19 major cases so far this year, as thieves target the wealth of the state's cashed-up retirees.
Young road deaths under lens
A YOUNG filmmaker wants to expose the poor road safety attitudes of her peers, in the hope of preventing more teens from being killed in car accidents.
Red tape delays bush doctors
AN inquest into the death of a little girl has highlighted an ongoing severe doctor shortage in the bush which has been exacerbated by registration delays.
Accident delays Watson kill case
ALABAMA'S Attorney-General, caring for his son after an accident, is yet to give assurances to the State Government in his bid to extradite Gabe Watson.
Stores decking the halls already
CHRISTMAS is four months away but department stores have already begun rolling out their Yuletide displays – to the disgust of consumers.
Victoria
Man trapped after car crashUPDATE 7am: EMERGENCY crews have freed a man trapped when his car struck a power pole outside Bendigo early this morning.
Help crack a cold case
VICTORIA'S worst serial killer is likely to die a free man if police are not presented with vital new information.
Ruby's shining for us all
ALL eyes will be on Ruby Rose and what's she wearing during Melbourne's most fashionable seven days.
Government cut EastLink cameras
THE State Government wrongly interfered in the EastLink speed camera strategy, says Victoria's former top traffic cop.
Mine's a story of making history
SWOOPING into enemy territory dropping mines in a hail of gunfire, Stan Guilfoyle and his mates helped win the Battle for Australia.
Taxpayers slugged for renos
TAXPAYERS have forked out almost half a million dollars to do up a kitchen and refurbish five ceilings in the Victorian Governor's home.
50,000 unruly pupils suspended
TEACHERS want help dealing with unruly pupils as figures show more than 50,000 have been suspended in the past three years.
Northern Territory
Nothing newSouth Australia
Pay rise win for Burnside CouncilBURNSIDE councillors will be handed a 10 per cent pay rise after the elections, despite an ongoing government investigation into claims of misconduct.
Adelaide's plans up in the air
A LACK of builders qualified to build structures more than three storeys high threatens plans to cope with a growing population, industry says.
Loaded gun found on Marion Rd
A LOADED revolver has been found dumped on the Marion Rd footpath.
Man arrested after pursuit
A POLICE evader's getaway attempt has resulted in his arrest.
Female diver dies off Whyalla
A WOMAN has died while diving off the coast near Whyalla on Eyre Peninsula.
New tram service 'free forever'
TRAM travel between Adelaide's Entertainment Centre and the city will always be free, the South Australian government says.
Student's $27,000 fines waived
A LAW student has racked up more than $34,000 in fines for 160 traffic infringements over the past five years.
Western Australia
Kenyans dominate City to Surf marathonKENYAN Chelimo Luka Kipkemboi has won the 2010 Perth Rebel Sports City to Surf for Activ marathon in a thrilling finish from compatriot Lilan Kennedy Kiproo.
Tasmania
Nothing new===Comments ===
LINE CROSSED
Tim Blair
Take another look at Pakistani gambling scammer Mazhar Majeed arranging cricket bets before the Lord’s Test. Note again how he specifies that Mohammad Amir will overstep on the first delivery of the third over, and that Mohammad Asif will do the same for the sixth delivery of the tenth over:
This might be the least subtle fix in gambling history. The contentious no-balls from Amir and Asif were the first they’d delivered during the innings. Scroll further through the match report and you’ll find that Amir didn’t overstep again until the 19th over – and that Asif didn’t overstep again until the 22nd. In fact, Amir’s 19th over foot-fault was the third ordered by Majeed. The precision of these bowlers is telling. But nobody within the team is talking, for obvious reasons:
Scotland Yard detectives have confiscated the mobile phones of three of the Pakistan cricket team’s leading players as part of an investigation into one of the biggest betting scandals in the sport’s history …Pakistan tour manager Yawar Saeed digs in, unlike his team’s crumble-prone batsmen:
“As far as the allegations are concerned, I would still call them allegations.Maybe 24 hours isn’t long enough. But similar allegations have been around for at least seven years:
“It’s not really for me within 24 hours to pass a judgment on whether they are true or not.”
Former test batsman Basit Ali said he blamed the authorities for middlemen and bookmakers continuing to soil cricket.No, wait. Make that ten years:
“Rashid Latif (former Pakistan captain) had in 2003 in a letter warned the ICC to beware of this new trend of spot fixing in international cricket. No one took it seriously and this is the result,” Ali said.
A former judge who reported on match-fixing allegations in Pakistani cricket ten years ago said Sunday the current scandal had broken out because his recommendations were not put into practice.Hey, why not crank things back by more than thirty years:
Allegations go as far back as 1979-1980 when Pakistan were accused of throwing matches on their tour of India.It’s almost as though there’s some kind of pattern. An ex-Australian captain’s view:
Pakistani players were also accused of throwing their semi-final against Australia in the 1987 World Cup.
Ian Chappell, who has been actively raising money for Pakistan flood relief, said he knew corruption was rife throughout cricket and slammed the International Cricket Council.The ICC heard none of it:
Chappell said he had suspicions about the Sydney Test, and concluded that Pakistan was either “the worst cricket team” or “the best at match-fixing”. Players involved in the Indian Premier League tell of extraordinary events during games.
The ‘spot-fixing’ scandal that has rocked Pakistan cricket has shocked former ICC President Ehsan Mani, who is baffled how a bookie managed to get in touch with the players despite restrictions imposed by the anti-corruption unit.Er … nothing? Osman Samiuddin pursued events more closely. Among reactions: Allan Lamb wants life bans; Nathan Hauritz is shocked; and Imran Khan – who dismissed earlier match-fixing allegations as the product of racism – thinks the problem is isolated:
“This latest scandal has come as a total shock to me. It is so bad for the image of cricket which we are trying to globalise,” Mani told ‘Geo Super’ channel.
“How this happened is beyond me, what was the Pakistan team management or the ICC anti-corruption unit doing?” he added.
Speaking to ITV News in Islamabad, Khan said: “Why should Pakistan cricket suffer if some players have indulged in a crime? Why should Pakistani supporters suffer because of that?”Easy answer, Imran. Because the players are cheats. No-ball ballboy Mohammad Amir scored zero in what should be his final Test innings:
Amir walks off head bowed to a silent Lord’s crowd. He started this match on top of the world and ends in utter disarray.Amir next tasted his future:
England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke provided the coldest of receptions for Amir as the young paceman collected the Pakistan player of the series award.“Player of the series” is a good call. But not for the right reasons.
===
NOT AS MUCH AS EATING THEM
Tim Blair
An important question from the wife of a former Prime Minister:
Does looking at a giant vase full of daffodils in the sunlight make you happy too?
===
ALWAYS KEEP GOING
Tim Blair
Motorist and popular entertainer 50 Cent considers traffic issues:
• Man old people shouldn’t be able to drive man. This old man cut me off and shit I know he didn’t mean it but damnThere’s a lesson in that for all of us.
• I pulled next to him to scream on him but he looked a hundred years old so I just kept going. I aint say nothing
===
ONLY CHARLES MAY CHANGE
Tim Blair
Charles Johnson used to approve of people changing their minds, since he’s a changeling himself. But now he’s changed his mind.
UPDATE. “The transcript linked by Charles does not support the headline.”
UPDATE II. Johnson deploys his famous photographic skills:
Here we go again with the claims that there were eleventy gazillion people at the Beck rally.Wrong. The photograph is genuine. Further analysis of that shot and others taken from similar angles here. Having implicitly admitted that the crowd appears “eleventy gazillion” strong, Johnson turns to a trusted source for a far lower estimate. That source? Former Johnson target CBS.
Check out this overhead photo posted at a wingnut blog.
This looks like a photo of a different rally to me …
A lot has changed since 2004. Charles Johnson now believes CBS rather than his own eyes.
UPDATE III. Charles offers a nuance defence, including this line: “Blair’s outraged today that I don’t believe there were eleventy gazillion people …” Actually, Johnson did believe that the site photograph represented gazillions. That’s why he thought the image was of another rally. Keep on nuancing, pal.
===
Greens either communists or fools. But I repeat myself
Andrew Bolt
As ringing endorsements go, this one makes a clunking sound:
A FEDERAL Labor-Greens coalition would hold together, says a former Labor state MP who sat as a Green for three years.UPDATE
But, says Kris Hanna, who was an MP and member of the Labor Left in South Australia, unrealistic expectations from rank-and-file Greens could threaten the arrangement.
He resigned in 2003 after a disagreement over changes to compensation laws and joined the Greens, but then left his new party after failing to win Greens preselection for the upper house.
Mr Hanna admits he “failed to do his research” about the Greens.
He describes the party as ”a small communist core and a great mass of politically naive people.
“The communists, even though they didn’t have the numbers in any significant sense, were masters of disruption,” Mr Hanna said.
But he contrasts the “absolutist” position of much of the Greens’ rank and file with the “increasingly pragmatic and hard-nosed” parliamentary representatives.
Speaking about the hard Left of the Greens:
GREENS senator-elect Lee Rhiannon has insisted she will support leader Bob Brown’s pragmatic approach to politics. And, she says, she has no leadership ambitions.Only those under Stalin? Not those committed under Lenin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev?
The former NSW upper house MP brushed aside suggestions her past membership of the Socialist Party means she will want to steer the Greens towards a more radical agenda…
Ms Rhiannon has been labelled a “watermelon”: green on the outside, red on the inside… But she strongly rejects terms such as “Stalinist” and other “Cold War warrior language” to describe her politics…
”I am not a communist, and I and Greens members condemn the crimes committed under Stalin.”
===
Big Nanny declares: bad teeth are worse than poor beggars
Andrew Bolt
Big Nanny would rather the needy went without your donations than that you eat lollies:
THEY’VE been a staple of hospital waiting rooms and reception desks for decades, but charity fundraiser chocolates, mints and lollies will be banned from all SA Health buildings under a crackdown on “unhealthy” food.
===
How many Afghan civilians must die to make Wilkie feel better?
Andrew Bolt
Whom to trust? Andrew Wilkie, the new MP from Tasmania, so far from trouble:
Look yes I did support the invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001, that was warranted… I don’t know the solution from here, if we stay people will die. If we go people will die, but I do know that ultimately peace will only come to Afghanistan when foreign troops are out and I think they should be out as soon as possible. And that will allow that country to find its natural political level.Or Sakena Yacoobi from Afghanistan:
PULLING Western troops out of Afghanistan will condemn mothers and children to suffer, a leading Afghan women’s advocate has warned.Perhaps Wilkie could explain what he means by Afghanistan’s “natural political level” and how that’s likely to be found. In terms of women and children killed, for example.
Sakena Yacoobi said yesterday that foreign soldiers - including from Australia - were needed for at least another five years in a conflict where extremists deliberately poison the drinking water at schools to scare away children.
‘’The women of Afghanistan completely depend on the NATO allies,’’ Dr Yacoobi told The Age in Melbourne yesterday. ‘’At this moment, I think it would be unfair for the people of Afghanistan - especially for the women and children, who have been suffering for 20 and 30 years - to just leave them and walk out. As soon as allied soldiers walk out and leave Afghanistan, the first blood shed will be women and children.’’
UPDATE
Wilkie has now issued Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard with his 22 demands - the price of his vote. They comprise:
- 18 demands to spend more (more on Tasmania, more on all forms of pensions and more on the independents)All spend, no earn, and a nod to identity politics.
- not one demand to cut spending or lift productivity.
- two demands to choke industries that raise revenue for government (stop a planned pulp mill, restrict betting on pokies)
- one demand for more protection for whistleblowers
- one demand for a conscience vote for same sex marriage
The independents do not represent a new paradigm of governance but a new paradigm of irresponsibility.
===
A subtraction lesson
Andrew Bolt
Queensland parents donate:
PARENTS have donated more than $15 million to state school coffers in voluntary contributions towards funding classroom resources and elective subjects.Queensland teachers claim:
WorkCover Queensland handed out more than $10 million in the past five years for various school incidents, which also included slipping on a banana peel, having a dizzy-spell while carrying a lunch box and staring at the sun for too long on a brisk walk.(Thanks to readers John and Bonnie.)
===
Which crowd takes more responsibility - and for the planet, too?
Andrew Bolt
The mall in Washington after 300,000 evil conservatives gather in a plot to “restore honor”:
The mall in Washington after 300,000 enlightened Lefitsts gather to celebrate the election of president promising to clean up the planet:
Via Michelle Malkin, who marvels at how desperate the media is to portray the giant Beck/Palin rally as racist, even when it was endorsed and addressed by Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King:
Strangely, the same media that’s suggesting the whiteness of the Beck crowd is a sign of racism shows not the slightest concern at an even more pronounced racial stamp of the simultaneous rally of race-baiter Al Sharpton:
(Thanks to reader Spencer.)===
One of these pandas is doing a good job
Andrew Bolt
Or maybe listening to all that green yammering is more than even a panda could bear. So that when some punter won’t even say cheese....
===
That pain you feel is another green promise no one costed
Andrew Bolt
Noticed your power bills going up already? Wait until these uncosted government green schemes really kick in:
THE chief executive of one of the country’s biggest energy retailers has warned that power prices are set to increase dramatically.No kidding. And the difference all this makes to the climate is...?
Origin Energy boss Grant King said that complying with the mandatory renewable energy target (RET) and network spending would put upward pressure on energy prices.
“That’s not of our making, or anybody other than policymakers,” Mr King told The Australian…
His comments follow both federal Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson and his opposition counterpart Ian Macfarlane warning in separate interviews with this newspaper that power prices were likely to double in the next five to seven years…
Wind farms would cost between $100 and $125 per megawatt hour, compared with $30 to $40 per MWh for coal. Moreover, the intermittent nature of wind means that it would need to be backed up with big-ticket investment in gas turbine power plants.
Mr King said he suspected that policymakers “didn’t truly know the cost” of policies that had been introduced.
===
When the drummer doesn’t turn up…
Andrew Bolt
(Thanks to reader Jeff of FNQ.)
===
The Left is racist, too
Andrew Bolt
In fact, some of the most vicious slurs I’ve seen levelled at Ken Wyatt have come from the Left:
INDIGENOUS Australians must take matters into their own hands if they want to see more Aborigines in Parliament, according to the first Aborigine to win a seat in the House of Representatives.
Ken Wyatt claimed victory in the marginal West Australian seat of Hasluck yesterday, amid revelations he was subjected to racist taunts during the election campaign…
He said they had come from both white and Aboriginal people, some accusing him of selling out his cultural heritage by joining the Liberal Party.
===
Migrants aren’t just victims
Andrew Bolt
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination demands only the data which may confirm its suspicion that migrants to Australia are victims of crime, not pepetrators:
23. The Committee is concerned by information related to the personal security of international students, and in particular, the series of racially motivated assaults of Indian students, including one death, in the state of Victoria. It regrets the failure by the Government and police (both at a state and federal level) to address the racial motivation of these acts, as well as the lack of available national data on the prevalence of migrants as victims of crime (arts. 2, 4, and 5).In fact, many of the attacks on Indians here are perpetrated by thugs from other immigrant communities, which have among the highest imprisonment rates in the country. Example:
The Committee recommends that the State party further intensify its efforts to combat racially motivated violence, including by requiring law enforcement authorities to collect data on the nationality and ethnicity of victims of such crimes and ensuring that judges, prosecutors and the police consistently apply existing legal provisions which consider the motive of ethnic, racial or religious hatred or enmity an aggravating circumstance. It recommends that the State party provide updated statistical data on the number and nature of reported hate crimes, prosecutions, convictions and sentences imposed on perpetrators, disaggregated by age, gender and national or ethnic origin of victims.
A gang of racist youths nearly killed a man during an armed rampage in an Indian grocery store in Melbourne’s west for the “sheer thrill” of the attack, a judge said today… Judge Jenkins said ... it was “particularly shameful” that the Somali immigrant had vented his rage on international students and other young immigrants.And, on cue:
For the businessman and gym junkie Hakan Ayik, 32, .... was a main target of one of the most significant investigations into organised crime in this country. Code-named Hoffman, it has spent two years inquiring into a drug dealing network whose tentacles reach throughout Australia, in the NSW Police and prison system, on the nation’s docks, and overseas…
It reveals with unprecedented clarity the extent of the threat from organised crime in Australia and highlights the difficulty authorities face in fighting a new breed of borderless criminals…
Perhaps the most telling clip is one that pictures him travelling to Hong Kong with Daux Ngukuru, the sergeant-at-arms of Sydney’s notorious Comanchero outlaw bikie gang.
Ayik has also posted a photograph of himself on this trip with Mark Ho, a Chinese gangster linked to the triads. Ho served a prison stint in Australia in 2001 for heroin trafficking before moving back to China…
By mid-2008, the ACC was wrapping up a three-year operation that had uncovered at least 300 million narco-dollars being moved overseas, mainly by Vietnamese and Chinese drug syndicates, via four money remitting agencies in Sydney and Melbourne.
===
Pakistan shamed again
Andrew Bolt
A few Pakistani cricketers may well face jail for what’s just gone down at the Lord’s Test.
And the alleged match-fixer, filmed promising exactly when in the Lord’s Test two no balls would be bowled by Pakistan’s opening bowlers, boasted that the 2nd Test in Pakistan’s last tour of Australia was fixed, too, as long suspected:
An alleged match-rigger has also boasted to the newspaper about the second Test between Australia and Pakistan in Sydney in January, when Ricky Ponting’s men pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind victory after trailing by 206 runs on the first innings.It’s only a claim, of course, but Pakistan’s surrender in Sydney was sure remarkable:
The International Cricket Council anti-corruption unit and the Pakistan Cricket Board investigated the performance of the Pakistan side in the Sydney Test, but nothing was proved.
However Mazhar Majeed told the News of the World a betting syndicate had made $1.3 million from the Test.
“Let me tell you the last Test we did,” he told the newspaper. “It was the second Test against Australia in Sydney. Australia had two more wickets left. They had a lead of ten runs, yeah. And Pakistan had all their wickets remaining.
“The odds for Pakistan to lose that match, for Australia to win that match, were I think 40-1. We let them get up to 150 then everyone lost their wickets. That one we made 1.3 (million dollars). But that’s what I mean, you can get up to a million. Tests is where the biggest money is because those situations arise.”
UPDATE
It’s somehow made more explicable:
Majeed said many players were desperate to take part in match fixing. “You’ll find there’s only a few players who are genuine and who are actually here for the love of the game. A lot of them are just looking for money, women and food.”The shame of cheating is, of course, merely a cultural construct, stronger in some cultures than in others.
UPDATE 2
Malcolm Conn:
Any Australian player in the Test and one-day team is on at least $1 million a year, rising to about $2m, leaving no incentive for corruption.UPDATE 3
Dean Jones believes Pakistani players are on about $35,000, making them obvious targets.
The game is ruined for everyone, as you could tell from the sombre award ceremony after the Lord’s Test - a ceremony attended by only one Pakistan player, who at just 18 may have played his last game:
Such was the ill feeling that England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke provided the coldest of receptions for Amir as the young paceman collected the Pakistan player of the series award.Sir Ian Botham reviews the Lord’s Test, in which England handed Pakistan its worst Test defeat, thanks to what seemed a brilliant world-record stand for the eighth wicket after a terrible collapse:
“All that,” he said with a wave in the direction of the last action of a Test match which for the previous three days had seemed so brilliant and tumultuous, “is meaningless. It is destroyed”.UPDATE 4
As I said, the shame of cheating is a cultural construct, stronger in some cultures than in others:
In similar research, Waugh, Godfrey, Evans, and Craig (1995) compared Australian student’s attitudes toward cheating to the attitudes of students from other countries. They concluded that Australian students are less tolerant of cheating because of a “cultural emphasis on fair play combined with personal achievement” .In contrast, government colleges in Pakistan are deeply corrupt, according to this report in Pakistan’s Daily Star last week:
A keen observer can see that government institutions are nothing more than hubs of corruption, and that officials appointed at important posts are supervising this corruption. These government examination officials are allegedly responsible for distributing fake result cards and degrees among parliamentarians and we can see the results of this in today’s government.UPDATE 5
These corruption ‘mafias’ exist in government departments and education boards and the tragedy is that the government never deals with the issue, since parliamentarians from the ruling party are themselves among the fake degree holders.
I suspect the inquiry into the alleged fixer, Mazhar Majeed, will stop at cricket:
Mazhar is a 35-year-old property tycoon, who also owns Croydon Athletic Football Club.The club announces its reaction:
Croydon Athletic Football Club were both devastated and appalled to hear of the alledged match-fixing of international cricket matches by its owner Mazhar Majeed.UPDATE 6
Via Tim Blair, who traces the history of alleged corruption in Pakistani cricket, comes this reminder of how Imran Khan once dismissed claims of match fixing as evidence of western racism:
Memo to Imran: the reason why Pakistani teams are accused of match fixing and “white” teams are not is simple. The Pakistani ones cheat.
But whenever I hear Imran moralising like this, I’m reminded of the time I interviewed this newly devout Muslim at his Lahore home during Ramadan. From upstairs came the call from then wife Jemima, “Imran, lunch is ready!”:
Imran shot me what seemed a shamefaced look, and called back: “Don’t you know I am fasting?”
Oh, and there was a rat in the room. A real one, I mean.
===
Who framed Alby Schultz?
Andrew Bolt
The front-page leak, damaging to the Liberals:
TONY Abbott has pleaded for calm after a Liberal MP threatened the independents who will decide the next government, accusing them of holding the nation to ransom.But wait a minute. Here’s Windsor himself, pooh-poohing the story:
In an outburst that will undermine Tony Abbott’s chances of forming a stable government, Liberal Alby Schultz unleashed on the rural independents.
Mr Schultz rang two of the independents, telling them to pull their heads in and support the Coalition. The call to Tony Windsor was so threatening that Mr Abbott had to apologise to the Tamworth-based MP.
Alby is a mate of mine. And I think we all know that Alby gets a bit on his bike occasionally.How did this story get beaten up like this?
He’s been ringing me through the week, wishing me well actually and hoping I’m okay and concerned for my welfare.
But he did make one call that he suggested we should get back to the polls and get on with it. But I’m getting advice from a lot of people. So I take Alby’s advice in the spirit in which it was meant.
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