=== Todays Toon ===
Everything Labor touches costs more to fixIt wasn't an Apple, it was a lemon.
Raymond A Foo Welcome Welcome Welcome, to that international recording sensation "Stung" with his new song "Everything she does is Tragic"
"Every Little Thing She Does Is Tragic"
Though I've tried before to tell her
That managing an economy is art not fart,
Every time that I come near her
I just lose my nerve
As the knife goes near my heart
Every little thing she does is tragic
Her economic policies stuff us up,
Before the ALP got here it was magic
Then Howard knew how the place was run
Do I have to tell the story
Of the thousand days of Government,
We said sorry to the black fellas,
But the rest just turned to excrement
Every little thing she does is tragic
Her NBN plan just stuffs us up,
The Economy's stuffed, Swan patched it,
And it will unravel in the long run
We got to put in some legislation the other day
So Bobby could marry his mate the special gay way
But my silent fears have gripped me
As I look at the Speaker's throne
Will my question time run out in front of Oakey,
And have to listen to his drone?
Every little thing she does is tragic
She's got a Carbon tax to slap on,
Now we're taxed until we're lethargic,
The cost of her fixes goes on and on!
=== Bible Quote ===
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”- Matthew 5:11-12=== Headlines ===
Outrage in Pakistan Over NATO Strikes as Militants Attack
In the wake of three incursions by NATO helicopters into Pakistani air space in less than a week, protests broke out Friday in Pakistan, with some leaders calling NATO's strikes on militant strongholds 'an act of war.'Lawmakers Bolt The Hill for Campaign Trail
Members of Congress may have fled Washington this week to campaign for their jobs back home but life on Capitol Hill hasn't come anywhere close to a halt
N.J. Suicide Renews Cyberbullying Debate
Tragic suicide of a college student who killed himself after two classmates allegedly streamed his sexual encounters online reignites cyberbullying debate, with one member of Congress calling for a tougher rules
NASA Chief Embarking On Muslim Outreach?
NASA chief Charles Bolden, who caused an uproar over the summer when he said outreach to the Muslim world might be his 'foremost' priority, embarks on a trip this weekend to Saudi Arabia
Breaking news
Recipient of Campbell diamonds chargedA FORMER trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund is facing criminal charges after supermodel Naomi Campbell told a war crimes tribunal she gave him three alleged blood diamond.
A-Team, Rockford Files creator dead
PRODUCER Stephen J. Cannell behind some of America's most beloved television shows.
Soccer club sends shirts to trapped miners
REAL Madrid invites 33 Chilean miners to attend a match at the club's stadium in once they are released.
Terrorist bombings kill eight in Nigeria
TWIN car bombs go off near ceremonies marking 50 years of the country's independence.
NSW/ACT
Magistrate blasts bikie gang membersTHREE men stood with heads bowed as a magistrate said their violence was "cowardly".
House defines Sydney values
THIS is the humble house that reveals Sydney's property booms and busts - its value is now 22 times what it was 30 years ago.
Fifteen buck cupcakes a bit rich
FEEL like paying $15 for one cupcake? Plenty of Sydneysiders seem willing to lash out for expensive, intricate creations.
Painful history of hospital rejection
THE Government rejected the upgrade of Blacktown Hospital once before without explanation.
Murdered children rest in peace
THE Government is considering using its double-jeopardy laws to recharge a man who has been twice acquitted of murder.
Sydney man faces death penalty
AN Australian man faces a death penalty after being arrested in Bali with 1.7kg of the drug ice. Michael Sacatides had lived in Bangkok.
Sisters, baby die in fatal smash
A MAN came across a fatal road accident in which two of his sisters and a baby died, and his girlfriend was seriously injured.
Night raiders over inner-city Sydney
OUR still nights are set to be interrupted by the roar of jets, with the airport's maintenance to force freight to fly over inner-city suburbs.
Candlelight vigil for missing Kiesha
A CANDLELIGHT vigil was held in Mt Druitt, two months since Kiesha Abrahams went missing.
Breath tests aren't so random
POLICE bombarding outer south and west suburbs with RBT at double the rate of the east.
Queensland
Man stabbed in KallangurA MAN has been taken to hospital with “head wounds” after an alleged stabbing at Kallangur, north of Brisbane, tonight.
Tourist spots try to woo Winfrey
TOURISM bosses have gone into Oprahdrive to lure the star to their corner of Queensland offering surfing, lamburgers and even a night in an aboriginal township.
Brisbane bike scheme starts
BRISBANE'S first public short-term bike hire scheme has debuted to mixed reviews from city workers.
Newstead heads boom in 'burbs
A MIXTURE of modest and exclusive residential areas make up the top 10 growth suburbs in southeast Queensland.
Bash shame cop keeps job
A POLICE officer who bashed handcuffed prisoners at a Brisbane station - and even challenged one to a fight - will be allowed to keep his job.
Workplaces rife with bullying
WORKPLACES are rife with bullying and harassing managers, costing organisations hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity and legal bills.
Bursting dams must be drained
THE wettest September ever sees Queensland dams threatening to burst within days - so water must be drained from them for the first time in 11 years.
Results to stand despite cheating
NEARLY 30 children are involved in substantiated cheating allegations on this year's national tests at Coorparoo State School.
Match-making for millionaires
THE Millionaires Club, a Gold Coast based match-making service for rich people, has just announced its move into the Brisbane market.
Meeting to ease fear of Muslims
THE Gold Coast's Islamic community has extended an olive branch to the city's Christians as anger rages over a new mosque planned for the region.
Victoria
Rampaging teens trash houseA GANG of teenagers have trashed a house in a crazed rampage after a 14-year-old was left home alone while her mother was in hospital.
MCG buzzing as fans roll in
FOOTY fans have started pouring into the MCG for today's blockbuster AFL Grand Final rematch between St Kilda and Collingwood.
Missing fisherman's body found
THE body of an elderly Pakenham fisherman who went missing in Westernport Bay last night has been found.
Don't forget daylight saving tonight
DAYLIGHT saving starts tonight - and don't forget the smoke alarm battery.
Armed robbers strike at hotel
POLICE are appealing for witnesses to a brazen armed robbery at a Northcote hotel on Friday night.
OPI chief hits back at Baillieu
OFFICE of Police Integrity boss Michael Strong has picked a political fight with Ted Baillieu for saying the OPI had "run its race".
Online proposal brings woman to tears
WHEN Clinton Hosking decided to propose to his girlfriend, he turned to the second love of her life.
Star still shines two years after death
TWO years after Rob Guest's death during the Melbourne run of Wicked, a framed portrait of him is to hang in the Regent Theatre.
Ella gives hope to heartbreak mum
A MUM is clinging to the hope of a beautiful life for her newborn as she struggles to come to terms with the tragic loss of her other daughter.
Read a book to your baby
PARENTS are being urged to read to their babies to boost their literacy skills before they start school.
Northern Territory
Police re-examine death of 8-year-old boyNORTHERN Territory detectives are re-investigating the 2007 death of an eight-year-old boy in a remote Aboriginal community
South Australia
Three rescued from KI cliffTHREE people were winched to safety from a cliff on the coast of Kangaroo Island, after the boat they were travelling in began to take on water.
Family escapes fire, house gutted
FIVE children and two adults were lucky to escape a house fire in Murray Bridge early this morning, which left a $250,000 damage bill.
New Boys turn on their mates
THE New Boys street gang is collapsing internally with former mates turning on each other with guns as Adelaide's underworld war intensifies.
Principals want school councils to set fees
SCHOOL governing councils should be given the power to set higher compulsory fees without consulting all parents, peak principal bodies say.
Vaughan ends fight for quiet time
BUSINESS SA chief executive Peter Vaughan has withdrawn an objection lodged with Walkerville Council about a business' weekend trading hours.
Act up, children - it does you good
BABIES and young children should be encouraged to attend "real" theatre instead of watching commercial entertainers to aid creative and emotional development.
Gang war in our city's streets
WHERE, and when, Adelaide's underworld gangs have clashed.
Parks sale put on hold
THE Parks Community Centre has been thrown a lifeline, as the Government backs down from plans to sell the valued western suburbs land for housing.
Man charged with theft of Harry
A NORTHFIELD man has been charged with the theft of Harry the chihuahua.
Ferguson focused on tragedy's lessons
FORMER Country Fire Service boss Euan Ferguson has vowed to "make a difference" in his new role as Victoria's Country Fire Authority chief.
Western Australia
Jetstar delay 'devastates' AFL travellersCRICKET legend Terry Alderman was forced to spend the first half of the AFL Grand Final aboard a plane after a Jetstar flight was delayed by 15 hours.
Navy intercepts more asylum seekers
THE navy has intercepted another asylum seeker vessel off north-west Australia.
Bunbury crash claims Grandma's life
A WOMAN has died after a car accident in Leschenault, 16km north east of Bunbury.
Police hunt Maddington car thieves
TWO car thieves remain on the run this morning after a police chase through the streets of Maddington.
Gatecrashers launch bottle attack
GATECRASHERS stormed a house party in Cooloongup last night launching bottles at homes and injuring one man.
Accountant accused of $133,000 theft
A PERTH accountant has been arrested and charged with stealing $133,000 from her employer.
Jailed extortionist leaves victims in fear
A MINING executive and his wife remain in constant fear for their lives after a convicted extortionist terrified the man into handing over $200,000.
Boilermaker dies in work accident
WORKSAFE has launched an investigation into the death of a 34-year-old boilermaker at a Welshpool worksite this morning.
Sprinkler bans come into force
PERTH and parts of WA's South-West are allowed to use sprinklers only one day a week under a new state government restriction which comes into force today.
Tasmania
Nothing new=== Journalists Corner ===
Michael Steele Speaks Out!The RNC Chairman stops by to discuss his party's latest policy push and its impact on midterm polls. Steele reveals election strategy.
===
UN Hires Extra-Terrestrial Ambassador?
Welcome to our planet! Is the UN's newest hire an ambassador to ... aliens? Plus, Obama calls Fox News destructive. So, what does Beck think about the president's comments? Glenn speaks out!
===
Guest: Jack Welch
Is the president's job plan working? Former Chairman & CEO of General Electric Jack Welch weighs in!
===
On Fox News Insider:
VIDEO: Whitman Blames Brown for Housekeeper ScandalRaw & Unedited: O'Reilly's Full Interview with Bill Maher
Go Dancing with Dr. Manny!
=== Comments ===
Dirty TricksBY BILL O'REILLY
Dirty tricks, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." As you may know, "The Factor" does not endorse political candidates. We believe you are smart enough to know how want to vote for, so we don't need to tell you.
In California, there are two strong people running for governor. Jerry Brown on the Democratic side has a long history of public service and Meg Whitman on the Republican side is a very successful businesswoman. The race is very close. But now, Ms. Whitman is being attacked in a personal way.
Lawyer Gloria Allred is representing Ms. Whitman's former housekeeper, an illegal alien from Mexico named Nicky Diaz. Ms. Diaz claims she was fired by Ms. Whitman before the campaign began and also says the candidate knew she was illegal and continued to employ her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICKY DIAZ, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT AND FORMER HOUSEKEEPER FOR MEG WHITMAN: She treated me as if I was not a human being. I'm doing this because I know there are a lot of Megs out there who are mistreating the Nickys who worked so hard for them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
All right, she is reading that statement interestingly enough. In response, Ms. Whitman told Neil Cavuto yesterday, she did not know Ms. Diaz was illegal and the whole thing is a political assassination job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE MEG WHITMAN R-CALIF.: It's simply a lie, and I feel terrible for Nicky. Nicky is a wonderful individual. She was an extended part of our family for nine years and something has happened. She is being manipulated. This is a political gimmick, you know, led by Gloria Allred.
NEIL CAVUTO, HOST OF "YOUR WORLD WITH NEIL CAVUTO": Is it true that during any of that time you suspected that she was not a legal citizen of this country.
WHITMAN: No. Absolutely, not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Well, today Ms. Allred produced a document from the Social Security Administration informing Ms. Whitman in 2003 that Ms. Diaz's social security number was bogus. Allred also has the alleged signature of Ms. Whitman's husband on a note that asked Ms. Diaz to look into the matter. Today Ms. Whitman said this:
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITMAN: This neither my husband nor I received any letter from the Social Security Administration. And, if there is a letter out there, I don't know how they got it. It's not in our house. And, so, you know, somehow it ended up in, you know, Jerry Brown's hands or Gloria Allred's hands.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Now, whatever the truth of the matter, the fact that Ms. Whitman just yesterday called for enforcing tough penalties on employers who hire illegal aliens, means the issue is explosive for her. And, it also points put the personal nature that many campaigns are taking this year.
There is no question the Democrats are on the defensive, because President Obama's policies have proven ineffective so far in general. All the polls say Republicans could make gains five weeks from now in a big way. So, the personal stuff, the personal stuff is flying, and we expect things to get even nastier as the election comes closer.
===
5 Reasons Why Democrats are the REAL 'Party of No'
By Jon Kraushar
Heading toward November’s midterm elections, Republicans are gaining strength as the party shouting “Enough!” while Democrats look more like the real “Party of No.”
On April 19, 2009 on ABC’s “This Week,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel slapped a label on Republicans that stuck when he said, “…when you're the party of 'no'; when you're the party of never; when you're the party of no new ideas, that's not constructive.”
But Emanuel’s invective has boomeranged. He’s leaving his job to run (run away from President Obama’s sinking administration?) for mayor of Chicago. Meantime, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that the Tea Party movement’s “push to cut spending and oppose the Democratic agenda” is shaking up the images and positions of both parties in a protest of “business as usual.” The Journal writes, “The most popular issue motivating [the Tea Party movement] is cutting government spending and debt, followed by reducing the size of government.”
On these and other issues, the Democrats are showing themselves to be the real “Party of No” for five reasons:
1. No end to out-of-control spending. The president and Democrats continue on an unsustainable spender bender. They’re driving under the influence of spendaholic lawmakers like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, labor unions, AIG, green extremists, and a variety of other protected and paid off special interest groups eagerly feeding from the big government trough. The $13.4-trillion debt bomb the Democrats have strapped on the country threatens to blow up, putting America at the mercy of its foreign creditors and risking our national solvency.
2. No tax relief. Americans don’t know what tax burden they’ll face in 2011. Democrats in the House and Senate pushed off until after the November 2 elections a vote on extending across-the-board Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at year-end. By punting the question of the size and scope of taxes until a “lame duck” session after the midterm elections, Democrats add to the uncertainty bedeviling the stalled economy.
Upper income small business owners (who employ 25% of the U.S. workforce), and investors are sitting on trillions in cash. They don’t want to hire, expand, finance or spend with a tax Sword of Damocles hanging over them.
Tax uncertainty is also hurting spending and planning by consumers in lower tax brackets. Many voters will resent that Democrats are playing political games in a futile attempt to avoid looking like tax and spenders going into Election Day. Democratic dithering also means that several members of Congress who lose will still cast a vote on a key tax matter after the elections but before they formally leave office.
3. No recovery. The Democrats’ “summer of recovery” has become the voters’ “autumn of outrage.” Voters are exhausted, frustrated and irate about a stimulus that didn’t stimulate, millions of jobs “saved or created” only in Vice President Biden’s imagination, and an economy that draws this blunt assessment from legendary investor Warren Buffet: “We’re still in a recession."
4. No credibility on health care reform. All the early indications on Obamacare are that it increases costs, insurance premiums, mandates, burdens on small businesses, restrictions on treatments, bureaucratic controls, and limitations on doctor-patient choices. It decreases competition and innovation such as the development of breakthrough medicines and new, cutting edge medical procedures and practices.
5. No security rewards from appeasing enemies and squeezing allies. Iran, terrorists who are at large or apprehended, Russia, North Korea and America’s many other adversaries worldwide are becoming more defiant. They’re emboldened by President Obama’s unrequited apologies, concessions, slap-on-the-wrist gestures, legal softness and “diplomatic overtures” to those seeking to kill U.S. citizens generally and, in particular, Jews.
Obama’s weakness in standing up to hostile powers that use or develop lethal weapons against America and its allies (including nuclear build-ups and terrorist acts) threatens American forces, civilians at home, and U.S. friends, including Israel, Poland and the Czech Republic.
And why stop at five? Add Democratic “no” lapses on issues such as illegal immigration, corruption by elected and appointed officials, school choice, and entitlement reform into the mix. -- This gives Republicans the opportunity to embrace an identity as the “party of enough!” going into the midterm elections and to disgrace Democrats as the “party of no,” and one which is seriously undermining economic and national security.
Whatever happens on Election Day, voters are already signaling a message of “no”: no more excuses, just results, from whoever wins.
Communications consultant Jon Kraushar is at www.jonkraushar.net.
===
So Much for 'Draining the Swamp'
By Andrea Tantaros
So much for draining that swamp.
Pelosi dismissed Congress yesterday, mainly so that her troubled caucus could return to their districts to campaign, especially for cash as the GOP fundraising advantage is eclipsing that of Democrats. But still left on the table was a lot of unfinished business – including a vote to extend the Bush tax cuts. Pelosi’s a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. She didn’t have the votes to only partially extend the cuts because members of her own party were breaking ranks with her. If she brought a vote to the floor, she’d lose. And no Speaker will call a vote unless victory is all but guaranteed.
Democrats also left some unfinished business when it comes to trials for ethically challenged members of their party – Charlie Rangel and Maxine Waters. Guess you have to have your own show on Comedy Central to get some attention around the Beltway. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the same member who invited Stephen Colbert to testify on the Hill last week, is also the Chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, the same committee that is responsible for setting the schedule for Rangel and Waters’ trials.
Also, two other party members gave Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarships to relatives. Most importantly, lobbyists, corporations and special interests still have unimpeded ways to buy access to members of Congress.
According to Politico, all five Republican members of the House ethics committee released a letter earlier this week slamming Lofgren for not scheduling hearings for Rangel and Waters before the November elections.
“The chairwoman has repeatedly refused to set either the Rangel or Waters trial before the November election,” the Republicans wrote in a letter released Tuesday. “While we regret that the committee has not worked together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the transparent and fair resolution of these matters to date, we look forward to working with the chairwoman in a bipartisan manner to accomplish this – and other important unfinished committee business – in the coming weeks.”
(For the record, Pelosi thought the Colbert testimony was “great.” Seeking justice for members of her own caucus? Not so great.)
It should be noted that Rangel, in particular, is a close political ally of Pelosi’s. She has relied on him in past, especially when she originally ran for the leadership position in 2006. Same with Waters.
It’s when you are not friends with Pelosi that she will impose “justice.” The current Speaker and then minority leader embarked on a political witch hunt against then-former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay was known as the most effective members of the GOP so she set her sights and had him impuned. DeLay left Congress because of the charges but has since been cleared after millions of dollars in legal fees and major reputational damage. But Pelosi pays no price.
So will her friends, Rangel and Waters? It’s rumored that their hearings won’t be scheduled til 2011. Pelosi’s fate isn’t as speculative.
If Republicans don’t recapture the House, Pelosi will likely run – and win – Speaker again. Many of the conservative Democrats that she fed to the wolves in order to pass Obamacare will have lost their re-elections and will not be there to oppose her. Her majority will be slimmer, but more leftist.
If the GOP takes the House, Pelosi won’t run for minority leader. She will be responsible for the forfeiture of the majority – and she will be the primary reason for it as she is the star in many campaign ads used against Democrats this Fall. She will go away.
And what about her promise in 2006 that she will run “the most honest, most open most ethical congress in history?” I guess she forgot to mention she’d be running the most hypocritical congress in history, as well.
I guess in the politically perverse world of Nancy Pelosi, promises are meant to be broken.
===
COLLINGWOOD 2010
Tim Blair
The greatest team wins the greatest game. - Magpies collect the silver - ed.
Mick Malthouse’s victory speech: “They are my boys and I love them dearly.”UPDATE. Twitter is going off. Pies!
UPDATE II. Alan Didak salutes the supporters: “We knew the atmosphere would be different this week. Get rid of the corporates and bring the Collingwood army.”
UPDATE III. Pictures and more pictures.
UPDATE IV. Heath Shaw’s miracle smother led to Dennis Cometti’s finest call of the game: “He came up behind him like a librarian.”
===GREEN DREAM
Tim Blair
Caring environmentalists demonstrate their love of humanity:
(Via WUWT and Garth Godsman)
UPDATE. Oh dear. The eco-Brits suddenly don’t want anybody looking at their murder video, so they’ve made it private. Luckily, Comrade Morshu had already nabbed a copy:
UPDATE II. James Delingpole, among the earliest to post on this debacle, is fascinated by green reaction to diminished eco-fears:
Kyoto is dead. Copenhagen was a flop. Cancun is going to make a mockery of all those green dreams about global carbon emissions legislation. And how do the environmentalists respond?It’s all they’ve got left. Interestingly, 10:10 – the organisation responsible – was founded by Franny Armstrong, director of enviro-panic film The Age of Stupid. How stupid is it to launch a campaign that has to be abandoned within 24 hours? The clip itself was directed by cloying Brit romance specialist Richard Curtis, who doesn’t exactly seem an obvious choice to advocate reduced consumption:
By force of argument?
By presenting new evidence which supports their cause?
Nope.
By threatening to blow up anyone who disagrees with them.
Curtis lives in Notting Hill and has a country house in Walberswick, Suffolk … with script editor and broadcaster Emma Freud. They have four children; daughter Scarlett Rachel Anne, and three sons, James, Charlie and Spike. They have another country retreat in Henley, Oxfordshire.The pasty little hypocrite.
UPDATE III. Naturally, 10:10 is partially taxpayer-funded. And the Guardian – previous backers of another successful campaign – is their media partner. Beautifully, the Guardian‘s initial report now carries this update:
Please note that 10:10 took down the original video and the version above is a copy uploaded elsewhere on YouTube.The Guardian is media partner to a group that is ashamed of its own work. They’re a nice fit.
UPDATE IV. 10:10 apologises:
Sorry.They’ve self-detonated. Oh, well.
Today we put up a mini-movie about 10:10 and climate change called ‘No Pressure’.
With climate change becoming increasingly threatening, and decreasingly talked about in the media, we wanted to find a way to bring this critical issue back into the headlines whilst making people laugh. We were therefore delighted when Britain’s leading comedy writer, Richard Curtis - writer of Blackadder, Four Weddings, Notting Hill and many others – agreed to write a short film for the 10:10 campaign. Many people found the resulting film extremely funny, but unfortunately some didn’t and we sincerely apologise to anybody we have offended.
As a result of these concerns we’ve taken it off our website. We won’t be making any attempt to censor or remove other versions currently in circulation on the internet …
At 10:10 we’re all about trying new and creative ways of getting people to take action on climate change. Unfortunately in this instance we missed the mark. Oh well, we live and learn.
Onwards and upwards,
Eugenie, Franny, Lizzie and the whole 10:10 team
UPDATE V. Franny is out of her mind:
UPDATE VI. Pajamas Media:
No video has ever provided such a revealing and shocking peek into the mindset of the Global Warming alarmists …UPDATE VII. Alex Massie:
If someone set out to intentionally discredit the Global Warming movement, they couldn’t have made a video more devastating than this one. It’s as if the eco-fascists have an irrepressible urge to expose their unconscious fantasies to those whom they seek to dominate — like a serial killer who sends taunting letters to the media.
it’s good to discover that Richard Curtis, long-time purveyor of smug, self-satisfied tripe, has produced this ad for something called the 10:10 campaign. Watch it and see if you don’t feel like starting your own oil company or burning anything you can just because you can ...UPDATE VIII. Grand understatement from Vicki Woods:
I’m not sure having Richard Curtis doing your ads is a good idea.===
What’s the big secret with Gillard’s mining tax fiddle?
Andrew Bolt
Peter van Onselen wonders why the figures behind the improbable mining tax compromise announced by Julia Gillard just before the election are being kept secret:
Initial calculations by Treasury suggested the Rudd mining tax would secure $12 billion of revenue over the forward estimates for the government. Gillard’s amended version would still collect $10.5bn. She announced it to much applause but, privately, sources close to Rudd wondered how on earth such numbers could be sustained under the new arrangements.===
The deal had been struck with the big three miners—BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata—but something just wasn’t right.
How could the government reduce the effective tax rate from 40 per cent to just 22.5 per cent, increase the bar at which it was applied and exclude numerous mining interests from having to pay it, yet see revenue fall by only $1.5bn?…
(In fact) the old tax undervalued what it would collect, by $12bn in fact, as we found out when Swan gave his budget update. Rudd’s tax would have accidentally collected a whopping $24bn in total, not $12bn. Of the $10.5bn in revenue from the new mining tax, $6bn of it came from changed assumptions associated with higher commodity prices attached to the varied projections Swan announced. It isn’t hard to see how important the newly calculated commodity prices were to Gillard’s quick fix.
The Senate called for Treasury and the government to release details of how such calculations were arrived at. They refused, directly on Swan’s say so… Before the election Labor refused to release the calculations without just cause. Now it uses commercial-in-confidence as an excuse…
I can hardly think of a more secretive, dysfunctional and undemocratic way to arrive at a public policy outcome. All this in the so-called new paradigm.
The breeding out of the Enlightenment
Andrew Bolt
It’s still legal to discuss this, I trust:
In 1900, the West, including Russia and eastern Europe, accounted for 35 per cent of the world’s population; today it accounts for 17 per cent, and that number is expected to fall to about 10 per cent by 2050.UPDATE
In 1959, Europe had 2.5 times the population of Africa. By 2050, according to UN estimates, Africa will have more than four times Europe’s population and almost 40 per cent of Europeans will be over 60…
According to Eric Kaufmann, reader in politics at Birkbeck College, London, and author of Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth? Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century, the kicker is that these changes don’t just indicate rational adjustment to economic opportunity, humans as work units being shuffled around by the invisible hand of capitalism. They presage a deep cultural shift: a coming eclipse of the secular, the scientific and the religiously moderate by the militantly devout…
Despite Kaufmann’s impeccable liberal credentials, it’s blindingly clear from his argument that the faultline of the future will be between Muslims, who are becoming more numerous and more religious, and the rest, who are dying off.
Muslim migration to the West is filling demographic needs but also brings a new (or, rather, ancient) set of morals and mores.
The new fault line now runs straight through even Holland, long famed for its tolerance but now having to defend it from the intolerant:
Geert Wilders, the maverick Dutch anti-Islam campaigner, has emerged triumphant as the linchpin of a new rightwing minority government pledged to banning the burqa in the Netherlands, cracking down on immigration, strengthening the police and slashing public spending.===
Almost 16 weeks after a general election in which Wilders’ Freedom party almost tripled its vote but from which there was no clear winner, Liberals and Christian Democrats in the the Netherlands agreed a minority coalition pact supported in parliament in The Hague by Wilders’s 24 seats…
Wilders has won pledges to introduce legislation banning Islamic headgear, joining France, Belgium and Switzerland in a growing campaign across Europe to ban a veil that relatively few Muslim women wear.
The coalition will aim to halve immigration, emulate Denmark in making it difficult for the spouses and children of immigrants to join them, and deport immigrants found guilty of crimes meriting sentences of 12 years.
Songs to make a man cry
Andrew Bolt
Really?
Sentimental R.E.M ballad Everybody Hurts has been voted the song most likely to make men cry.Listen here.
In a survey by songwriters and musicians group the Performing Right Society for Music, published online, the 1992 hit topped the list of men’s top tear-jerkers, followed by Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven at number two.
Leonard Cohen’s stirring Halellujah came in at number three ahead of Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U.
===
Finance warns Gillard her surplus is at risk
Andrew Bolt
The truth is no surprise, but had to be chiseled out of this Government:
THE Gillard government has been warned it will struggle to achieve its key economic goal of a budget surplus in 2012-13.That’s three no-gos for the Government, I suspect, which makes the next three years even more interesting. Has Wong just been given her second unsalable brief?
It could achieve this only by making cuts to government spending and implementing a new reform agenda on productivity.
In a blunt assessment of the state of the government’s books as it took office last month, the Finance Department declared: ”The government’s fiscal policy objectives will be difficult to achieve.”
The warning is contained in the department’s “Red Book” incoming government brief to the new Finance Minister, Penny Wong, which was released under Freedom of Information laws late yesterday.
The brief calls for a sweeping reform agenda and demands immediate details of savings measures from government ministers. Senator Wong has been given a savings hit-list that includes: dumping the government’s commitment to keeping defence spending growing by 3 per cent a year for the next 20 years; tightening eligibility for the pension; and denying people access to their superannuation for at least five years. Social welfare is another area slated for savings.
===
Beattie agrees: the Greens are Labor’s One Nation
Andrew Bolt
As I said on August 25:
MAULED Labor must belatedly do to the Greens what John Howard did to One Nation. ... This will keep hurting Labor until it challenges the Greens’ moral standing and exposes the lunacy and hidden agendas under the koala suit. This would parallel what Howard did so well with One Nation, the populist party of Pauline Hanson that snatched an astonishing 9 per cent of the vote in 1998, mostly from the Coalition.And as former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says now:
Howard defanged it by agreeing with as much as he could but disowning what he couldn’t… Now Labor must do something similar with the Greens before this malignant party eats it alive.
Australians will continue to spread their votes to the Greens and independents if, by the end of this term, confidence has not been restored in what the main parties stand for.(Thanks to reader Spin Baby, Spin.)
The squabbling over such things as the Speaker’s position serves only to undermine public confidence and has the potential to lead to a repeat of this year and 1998, when disillusionment with the main parties saw Pauline Hanson and One Nation shake up national and state politics…
All too quickly the One Nation lesson has been forgotten… One Nation took advantage of disillusionment with the main political parties and argued for a protectionist policy for Australia advocating the restoration of import tariffs. It was strongly opposed to multiculturalism, immigration policies and assistance to Aborigines.
When most Australians became aware of what these polices meant for our nation of only 22 million people, who rely on exports to underpin our standard of living; support for One Nation stalled. For too long superficial media coverage of Hanson the personality hid One Nation’s policies. When that ended so did her growing support.
This is the same challenge for the Greens, even though it is much more established than One Nation.
UPDATE
Paul Kelly identifies the issue which will most test whether the Greens will remain the party of ruinous purity or reinvent itself as the party of pragmatic compromise, as it joins Labor’s committee to work out a price on carbon dioxide emissions:
Referring to the Greens targets of 25 per cent to 40 per cent emissions reductions, compared with Labor’s 5 per cent, Brown said: “All things are on the table.” Maybe.Everything about the Greens screams that they cannot compromise. Purity is their calling card, and always demanding more is their reason for being.
This suggests recognition of a new reality. Consider the committee: chaired by Gillard, it has Combet and Milne as co-chairs and includes independent Tony Windsor. Its aim is to reach a consensus by the end of 2011…
Can the Greens adjust enough to become a serious partner for Labor? How will Milne manage the gulf between her belief and the cost of a compromise?
When asked if the Greens still stood by their 25 per cent to 40 per cent targets, Brown delivered the immoral line: “Our targets are different but our targets are the same.” His point is that the Greens are not disowning their targets but they do want to work with Labor…
But if Labor fails, yet again, after another herculean political effort, there will be hell to pay and open political war between Labor and the Greens at the ballot box.
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Life suddenly too hot for the eco-fascists of 10:10
Andrew Bolt
It took barely a day to shame tjhe eco-fascist 10:10 campaign, partially funded by taxpayers of course, to scrap what’s surely the vilest and most threatening global warming “awareness” campaign yet:
Sorry.What is it with greenshirts and threatening people?
Today we put up a mini-movie about 10:10 and climate change called ‘No Pressure’.
With climate change becoming increasingly threatening, and decreasingly talked about in the media, we wanted to find a way to bring this critical issue back into the headlines whilst making people laugh. We were therefore delighted when Britain’s leading comedy writer, Richard Curtis - writer of Blackadder, Four Weddings, Notting Hill and many others – agreed to write a short film for the 10:10 campaign. Many people found the resulting film extremely funny, but unfortunately some didn’t and we sincerely apologise to anybody we have offended.
As a result of these concerns we’ve taken it off our website. We won’t be making any attempt to censor or remove other versions currently in circulation on the internet.
(Thanks to reader climatescam.)
UPDATE
Tim Blair says the clip’s director, Richard Curtis, isn’t the obvious spokesman for a campaign to cut our environmental footprint:
Curtis lives in Notting Hill and has a country house in Walberswick, Suffolk … with script editor and broadcaster Emma Freud. They have four children; daughter Scarlett Rachel Anne, and three sons, James, Charlie and Spike. They have another country retreat in Henley, Oxfordshire.UPDATE 2
Meet the latest warming alarmist, who doesn’t stop at merely threatening people to get his way:
OSAMA bin Laden expressed concern about global climate change and flooding in Pakistan in a reported audio recording that hit the internet on Friday.There’s something about the green cause that really appeals to this man.
‘’The number of victims caused by climate change is very big ... bigger than the victims of wars,” said the voice, whose authenticity could not be immediately verified and was made available by SITE Intelligence Group.
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