BETTING IS BAAAD
Tim Blair – Thursday, January 31, 2013 (4:27pm)
Wowser duo Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie want to ruin our election year fun:
Mr Xenophon said election betting prompted acceptance of gambling.“We’re calling for a ban on election betting,’’ he told AAP on Thursday.“At the very least, the major parties should immediately say their party officials, candidates and those with insider knowledge, including pollsters, are not allowed to bet.”If that can’t be achieved, Senator Xenophon said there should be a register of bets because the risk of insider trading was enormous.Mr Wilkie said gambling on elections was improper and should be outlawed.“I have been dismayed by the high visibility of betting odds in the election coverage so far this year,” he said in a statement.
“I have been dismayed by the high visibility of betting odds in the election coverage so far this year.” Fixed that for you, Andrew.
(Via the IPA’s James Paterson)
- 1801 – John Marshall became the fourth Chief Justice of the United States; his court opinions would help lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a coequal branch of government.
- 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh, leader of a series of major disturbances in North Borneo, was shot dead in Tambunan, but his followers did not give up for five more years.
- 1943 – World War II: American and Australian forces stopped a Japanese advance in the Battle of Wau during the New Guinea campaign.
- 1958 – Explorer 1 (pictured), the United States' first satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and became the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt.
- 2007 – Suspects were arrested in Birmingham, UK, accused ofplotting to kidnap, and eventually behead, a Muslim British soldier serving in Iraq.
===
Events
- 314 – Silvester I begins his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church, succeeding Pope Miltiades.
- 1504 – France cedes Naples to Aragon.
- 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
- 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
- 1801 – John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
- 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
- 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- 1848 – John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.
- 1849 – Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).
- 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.
- 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery, submitting it to the states for ratification.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
- 1867 – Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship bound for Algeria
- 1891 – The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
- 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion
- 1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
- 1917 – World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.
- 1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
- 1919 – The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.
- 1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
- 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
- 1942 – World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.
- 1943 – German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of World War II's fiercest battles.
- 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
- 1944 – World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby's Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
- 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
- 1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
- 1946 – Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,Serbia and Slovenia).
- 1949 – These Are My Children The first TV daytime soap opera was broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
- 1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
- 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom
- 1957 – Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpionfighter jet.
- 1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.
- 1958 – James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
- 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
- 1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
- 1968 – Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
- 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 – Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlandson the Moon.
- 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies inVietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1990 – The first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.
- 1995 – President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
- 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
- 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.
- 2000 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.
- 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
- 2003 – The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
- 2007 – Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.
- 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket inNairobi killed at least 25 people.
- 2010 – Avatar became the first film to gross over $2 billion worldwide.
- 2011 – A winter storm hit North America for the second time in the same month, causing $1.8 billion in damages across the United States and Canada and killing 24 people.
[edit]Births
- 36 BC – Antonia Minor, daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor (d. 38 AD)
- 877 – Taejo of Goryeo of Korea (d. 943)
- 1512 – King Henry of Portugal (d. 1580)
- 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan (d. 1616)
- 1550 – Henry I, Duke of Guise (d. 1588)
- 1597 – John Francis Regis, French saint (d. 1640)
- 1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
- 1673 – Louis de Montfort, French catholic priest and saint (d. 1716)
- 1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian Lutheran missionary (d. 1758)
- 1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
- 1759 – François Devienne, French composer (d. 1803)
- 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
- 1820 – William B. Washburn, American politician and 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
- 1825 – Miska Magyarics, Slovene poet in Hungary (d. 1883)
- 1835 – King William Charles Lunalilo of Hawaiʻi (d. 1874)
- 1854 – David Emmanuel, Romanian mathematician (d. 1941)
- 1857 – George Jackson Churchward, British railroad engineer (d. 1933)
- 1865 – Henri Desgrange, French sports figure and journalist (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1951)
- 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1928)
- 1872 – Zane Grey, American novelist (d. 1939)
- 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
- 1884 – Theodor Heuss, German statesman (d. 1963)
- 1884 – Nathaniel Moore, American golfer (d. 1910)
- 1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
- 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
- 1894 – Isham Jones, American bandleader and musician (d. 1956)
- 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1966)
- 1902 – Nat Bailey, Canadian restaurateur (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
- 1905 – John O'Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
- 1905 – Diana Napier, British actress (d. 1982)
- 1909 – Miron Grindea, Romanian literary journalist and editor (d. 1995)
- 1911 – Eddie Byrne, British actor (d. 1981)
- 1913 – Don Hutson, American football player (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Faye Wright, American spiritual figure (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (d. 1994)
- 1915 – Alan Lomax, American musicologist (d. 2002)
- 1915 – Thomas Merton, American author and monk (d. 1968)
- 1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian (d. 1993)
- 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (d. 1972)
- 1920 – Stewart Udall, American politician and 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer
- 1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress and singer
- 1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Mario Lanza, American singer (d. 1959)
- 1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Norman Mailer, American writer and journalist (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American civil rights activist (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Norm Prescott, American animation producer (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Chuck Willis, American singer and songwriter (d. 1958)
- 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Jean Simmons, English American actress (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish race car driver (d. 1972)
- 1930 – Lynn Carlin, American actress
- 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player
- 1931 – Christopher Chataway, English athlete, newscaster and politician
- 1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
- 1933 – Bernardo Provenzano, Sicilian organized crime figure
- 1934 – James Franciscus, American actor (d. 1991)
- 1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer, Nobel laureate
- 1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
- 1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
- 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
- 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1938 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
- 1938 – James G. Watt, American politician and 43rd United States Secretary of the Interior
- 1939 – Claude Gauthier, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (d. 1998)
- 1941 – Richard A. Gephardt, American politician
- 1941 – Gerald McDermott, American filmmaker, children’s book author & illustrator (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress
- 1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
- 1942 – Derek Jarman, British director and writer (d. 1994)
- 1944 – Connie Booth, American writer and actress
- 1944 – Charlie Musselwhite, American musician
- 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American conceptual artist
- 1946 – Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (d. 1978)
- 1946 – Glynn Turman, American actor
- 1947 – Jonathan Banks, American actor
- 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
- 1948 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer
- 1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
- 1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
- 1949 – Norris Church Mailer, American model and widow of Norman Mailer (d. 2010)
- 1949 – Ken Wilber, American author
- 1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Soviet bodyguard for Boris Yeltsin
- 1951 – Dave Benton, Aruban singer
- 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer and musician (KC and the Sunshine Band)
- 1951 – Phil Manzanera, English guitarist (Roxy Music, Quiet Sun, 801)
- 1952 – Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (d. 1969)
- 1953 – Ovidiu Lipan 'Ţăndărică', Romanian drummer
- 1954 – Mark Slavin, Israeli wrestler (d. 1972)
- 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch musician (Whitesnake)
- 1956 – John Lydon, English singer (Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd.)
- 1955 – Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player
- 1957 – Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer
- 1958 – Armin Reichel, German footballer
- 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
- 1959 – Kelly Lynch, American actress
- 1959 – Kelly Moore, American stock car driver
- 1960 – Akbar Ganji, Iranian dissident journalist
- 1960 – Grant Morrison, British comic author
- 1961 – Lloyd Cole, British singer (Lloyd Cole and the Commotions)
- 1961 – Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer, International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- 1962 – Sophie Muller, British music video director
- 1964 – Sylvie Bernier, Canadian diver
- 1964 – Jeff Hanneman, American musician (Slayer)
- 1964 – Martha MacCallum, American news anchor
- 1964 – Dawn Prince-Hughes, American primatologist
- 1964 – Billey Shamrock, Swedish singer
- 1966 – Dr Umar Alisha, Indian Sufi master
- 1966 – Dexter Fletcher, English actor
- 1967 – Chad Channing, American musician (Nirvana)
- 1967 – Jason Cooper, English musician (The Cure)
- 1967 – Fat Mike, American musician (NOFX and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes)
- 1967 – Irene Wan, Hong Kong actress
- 1967 – Joey Wong, Taiwanese actress
- 1968 – Matt King, British actor and comedian
- 1968 – Ulrica Messing, Swedish politician
- 1968 – Patrick Stevens, Belgian athlete
- 1970 – Minnie Driver, British actress
- 1970 – Danny Michel, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Lee Young Ae, South Korean actress
- 1971 – Patrick Kielty, Irish comedian
- 1971 – Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer
- 1971 – Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan actress and model
- 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian actress
- 1974 – Wil Anderson, Australian comedian
- 1974 – Othella Harrington, American basketball player
- 1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
- 1975 – Fred Coleman, American football player
- 1975 – Jackie O, Australian radio host
- 1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress
- 1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer
- 1976 – Tyrone Nesby, American basketball player
- 1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver
- 1976 – Paul Scheer, American comedian and actor
- 1977 – Mark Dutiaume, Canadian hockey player
- 1977 – Shingo Katori, Japanese actor and singer (SMAP)
- 1977 – Jim Kleinsasser, American football player
- 1977 – Bobby Moynihan, American comedian
- 1977 – Kate Shindle, American actress
- 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
- 1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentinian footballer
- 1978 – Brad Rutter, American game show contestant, the biggest all-time money winner on Jeopardy!
- 1978 – Ray Shah, Irish radio presenter
- 1978 – Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, English noble
- 1979 – Daniel Tammet, British savant and author
- 1979 – Emmett Scanlan, Irish actor
- 1980 – James Adomian, American actor
- 1980 – Tiffany Limos, American actress
- 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian footballer
- 1981 – Amrita Arora, Indian actress
- 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer ('N Sync)
- 1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
- 1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German footballer
- 1982 – Salvatore Masiello, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish football player
- 1982 – Bruno Nogueira, Portuguese actor, comedian and TV host
- 1982 – Elena Paparizou, Greek singer (Antique)
- 1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian hockey player
- 1982 – Brad Thompson, American baseball player
- 1983 – James Sutton, British actor
- 1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
- 1983 – Tom Vangeneugden, Belgian swimmer
- 1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player
- 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American track and field athlete
- 1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
- 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Kalomira, American/Greek singer
- 1985 – Mario Williams, American football player
- 1986 – Yves Ma-Kalambay, Belgian footballer
- 1986 – Pauline Parmentier, French tennis player
- 1987 – Sargon Duran, Austrian footballer
- 1987 – Kenny McKinley, American football player (d. 2010)
- 1987 – Marcus Mumford, English Musician
- 1987 – Raúl Richter, German actor
- 1988 – Justine Ozga, German tennis player
- 1990 – Nicolò De Cesare, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese actor and singer (Hey! Say! JUMP)
- 1992 – Tyler Seguin, Canadian hockey player
- 1994 – Kenneth Zohore, Danish footballer
- 1996 – Joel Courtney, American actor
[edit]Deaths
- 1216 – Theodore II Eirenikos, Patriarch of Constantinople
- 1398 – Emperor Sukō (b. 1334)
- 1418 – Mircea the Elder, ruler of Wallachia (b. 1355)
- 1435 – Emperor Xuande of China (b. 1398)
- 1561 – Bairam Khan, Great Mughal General, regent for Akbar
- 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch Mennonite leader (b. 1496)
- 1580 – King Henry of Portugal (b. 1512)
- 1606 – Guy Fawkes – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1570)
- 1606 – Ambrose Rokewood – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. c.1578)
- 1606 – Thomas Wintour – Gunpowder Plot conspirators (b. 1571)
- 1615 – Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (b. 1543)
- 1632 – Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
- 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
- 1686 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist (b. 1604)
- 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councillor (b. c. 1654)
- 1729 – Jakob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
- 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect (b. 1678)
- 1788 – Charles Edward Stuart, the exiled Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland (b. 1720)
- 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (b. 1718)
- 1794 – Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
- 1811 – Manuel Alberti, Argentine priest and head of state (b. 1763)
- 1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
- 1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Phanariot Greek military commander and national hero of the Greek War of Independence (b. 1792)
- 1836 – John Cheyne (physician), British physician, surgeon and author (b. 1777)
- 1844 – Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
- 1856 – Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
- 1870 – Cilibi Moise, Moldavian-born Wallachian and Romanian peddler, humorist, aphorist, and raconteur (b. 1812)
- 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
- 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
- 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
- 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (b. 1869)
- 1933 – John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
- 1942 – Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
- 1942 – Rolf Wenkhaus, German actor (b. 1917)
- 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
- 1945 – Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
- 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor of the FM radio (b. 1890)
- 1955 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
- 1966 – General Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army Officer (b. 1887)
- 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
- 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian guru (b. 1894)
- 1970 – Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
- 1971 – Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian, linguist (b. 1891)
- 1973 – Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
- 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born film studio executive (b. 1882)
- 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
- 1976 – Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (b. 1890)
- 1987 – Yves Allégret, French film director (b. 1907)
- 1989 – Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid. Inspiration for James Bond. (b. 1896)
- 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (b. 1935)
- 1991 – Kostas Mountakis, Greek musician (b. 1926)
- 1995 – George Abbott, American stage director and producer (b. 1887)
- 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
- 1999 – Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1938)
- 1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
- 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
- 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
- 2002 – Francis Gabreski, American, fighter pilot ace (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
- 2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and ballerina (b. 1926)
- 2007 – Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin, Finnish singer (b. 1950)
- 2007 – Lee Bergere, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist, widow of Oliver Tambo (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug dog (b. 1997)
- 2009 – Nagesh, Indian comedian and actor (b. 1933)
- 2011 – Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian Orthodox bishop, translator, writer and poet (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Mark Ryan, British musician (Adam and the Ants) (b. 1959)
- 2011 – Eunice Sanborn, American supercentenarian, world's oldest living person at time of her death (b. 1896)
- 2012 – Leslie Carter, American reality star, sister of Nick and Aaron Carter (b. 1986)
- 2012 – Dorothea Tanning, American visual artist (b. 1910)
[edit]Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Nauru from Australia in 1968.
===
THOMSON ARRESTED
Tim Blair – Thursday, January 31, 2013 (1:34pm)
Suspended Labor MP Craig Thomson has been arrested by NSW police.
(No comments allowed on this post)
UPDATE. The ABC’s Lyndal Curtis asks:
Does this mean the Coalition will now refrain from commenting on Mr Thomson, given the possibility of impending court proceedings?
Curtis followed a similar line, repeatedly, during an interview today on ABC 24.
===
ROXON ROLLS
Tim Blair – Thursday, January 31, 2013 (4:42am)
Labor’s fringe reconsiders:
Attorney-General Nicola Roxon has rolled back Labor’s proposed anti-discrimination reformsto remove the prohibition on causing offence, which has been criticised by the media, judicial figures and the human rights lobby as an attack on free speech.Ms Roxon will today announce that her department is drafting a series of options for the new laws that includes the removal of the section that prohibits conduct that offends, insults or intimidates.
Elections change everything.
===
STABILIDY AND CERDAINDY
Tim Blair – Thursday, January 31, 2013 (4:37am)
The eternal election begins:
Ms Gillard claimed she was acting in the national interest by providing much-needed stability and certainty to voters, businesses and investors.But government sources suggested last night the move may have also provided an insurance policy for Labor against by-elections caused by any possible resignations which could bring down the government.
With the election date set in stone, the government could legally argue for a delay for any by-election to coincide with the poll date, thwarting the potential fallout of an early resignation by Peter Slipper.
Slipper is just one Labor problem:
Senior members of the government last night confirmed the move was also partially designed to head off any further challenge to her leadership from Kevin Rudd.
Labor’s internal divisions explain why the election date was concealed from Cabinet:
She kept it a secret from her Cabinet, which met on Tuesday night and was given no hint of what was planned.Leader of the House Anthony Albanese, Labor Party national secretary George Wright and a handful of trusted staff are believed to have been the only ones in the loop.
Well, not the only ones:
The independents and The Greens were also given advance warning but the Labor caucus had to wait to find out along with the rest of the country, leaving many in shock.
Last week ALP minders were defending an ALP candidate from ALP members. Now a Labor Prime Minister hides election information from Labor ministers. Solidarity, comrades.
===
YOUNG AND NAIVE
Tim Blair – Thursday, January 31, 2013 (4:27am)
Check out the head tilt on bolshie student Julia.
===
DAN BEATS MAN
Tim Blair – Thursday, January 31, 2013 (3:22am)
===
Thomson arrested
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(7:22pm)
Craig Thomson, the suspended Labor MP who props up the Gillard Government, is arrested by police.
UPDATE
Members of the NSW fraud squad today executed an arrest warrant on behalf of the Victorian Fraud and extortion squad.
Victorian detectives flew to Sydney this morning where they accompanied NSW police to Mr Thomson’s Central Coast electoral office.
The Victorian police have spent almost 18 months investigating claims that Mr Thomson improperly used Health Services Union funds to spend on prostitutes, air travel, entertainment and cash withdrawals in excess of $100,000.
Thomson insists on his innocence.
Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister who stood by him for so long, this week declared there would be no election until September 14. That may make it easier to stall on a by-election for Thomson’s seat, should that become necessary.
UPDATE
Thomson faces 150 charges:
Thomson faces 150 charges:
“An arrest warrant had been issued for the 48-year-old man by Victorian authorities following investigations into allegations of fraud committed against the Health Services Union,’’ a police statement said.
“He was taken to Wyong Police Station where he is expected to be charged by virtue of the arrest warrant with a fraud offence.
“It is expected he will go before Wyong Local Court where a further 149 fraud charges are to be laid.’’
Craig Thomson’s new solicitor, Chris McArdle, has issued his first defamation threat over the suggestion that his embattled client used union funds to pay for prostitutes.
‘’Our client has never used other people’s money or his own money to pay people for sex with him. Anyone who says the opposite will be sued,’’ Mr McArdle said.
Still 227 days until the election.
(No more comments, please.)
UPDATE
INDEPENDENT MP Craig Thomson has been bailed on fraud charges on condition he doesn’t attempt to contact any person he allegedly sought sexual services from.
The bail condition was one of three read out to Mr Thomson by magistrate Susan McIntyre when he appeared at Wyong Court this afternoon on fraud charges.
===
US economy shrinks
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(1:55pm)
Shock growth figures from the US:
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that the economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter. That’s a sharp slowdown from the 3.1 percent growth rate in the July-September quarter.
Too late to get a fresh economic team on the job. Obama has four more years to keep this going.
===
How NSW Labor heavies helped themselves
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(12:37pm)
NSW Labor became the greatest ATM in the world for the Obeid family:
ICAC is investigating claims that Mr Macdonald rigged a 2008 tender process for coal exploration licences in the Bylong Valley.
A NSW Labor minister and his cronies seem - or are alleged - to have effectively transferred tens of millions of dollars from NSW taxpayers and landowners to a NSW Labor crony.
It is utterly revolting.
===
Surprised he hasn’t yet blamed racists
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(11:33am)
Anthony Mundine, beaten by Daniel Geale, shows all the sportsmanship for which he is so famous:
I knew that, I said before the fight that the only way they were going to beat me is if they rob me, but I didn’t think it was going to be so obvious and I didn’t think it was going to be so blatant.
Sonny Bill Williams may have an appointment soon with a defamation lawyer:
Williams, who posted a photo on Twitter of himself and Quade Cooper with Mundine said: “Hanging out with @Anthony_Mundine celebrating a victory. We don’t pay attention to corrupt judges!”
However Williams stepped back from his comment this morning, tweeting “Sorry about the tweet last night. Emotions were running high just very disappointed for my brother and that’s how I saw the fight.”
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More boat people missing
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(11:11am)
Yet more boat people apparently lured to their deaths:
AN Indonesian crewman from an asylum-seeker boat has been found alive, washed up on Christmas Island, after surviving for days at sea on a raft made from inner tubes.
Three Burmese men who were with the man on the raft are still missing...
A massive search for the missing men began after a Royal Australian Navy crew found a vessel carrying about 16 Burmese asylum-seekers last Friday about 20 nautical miles from Christmas island…
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Bradbury invents a class war
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(10:42am)
When you’re down to class war talk, you’ve got nothing to sell but envy and division:
Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury, who holds the Western Sydney seat of Lindsay, sought to portray the opposition as being out of touch with everyday Australians.
“Frankly, I think we’re getting sick of hearing the likes of Joe Hockey and other North Shore types talking about what’s going on in western Sydney,” he told ABC radio.
Truth is, Bradbury is simply inventing a class division with Hockey.
Around 170 years ago, my great-grandfather’s grandfather, Walter Bradbury, settled in the Penrith area. He had travelled to the new colony on convict escort duty as a member of the 80th Regiment of Foot, Staffordshire Volunteers… A century after Walter Bradbury’s arrival, my mother and her parents, Anthony and Paola Tedesco, came to these shores from war-torn Malta in search of new opportunities.
[His grandfather] was an Armenian trader and landowner based in Syria… He moved to Jerusalem and took a job with the British government. In 1917 he helped oversee the reconstruction of Beersheba after it was taken from the Turks following the charge of the Australian Light Horse Brigade.
Joseph left Jerusalem before his son was born, and [Hockey’s father] Richard spent his first years in an orphanage. Like his father, Richard served the British in Palestine. Fudging his age, he enlisted in the army at 16, and was a warrant officer working in intelligence by 18.
Richard came to Australia in 1948 seeking a better life. Early on he was a Labor Party foot-soldier.
David is a graduate of the University of Sydney, holding an Arts Degree and an Honours Degree in Law… Prior to his election to Federal Parliament, David was a Senior Associate practising in taxation law with the corporate law firm Blake Dawson.
Joe attended the University of Sydney where he completed degrees in Arts and Law and became involved in student politics… After university Joe worked as a finance and banking lawyer.
Bradbury should drop that class warfare. It’s a con. The only real or relevant difference between these two lawyers lies in their ideas. And character.
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For sale: one national defence force
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(10:25am)
The cuts:
The Australian defence budget was cut by almost 5 per cent in 2010-11 and then in last year’s budget it was cut again by 10.47 per cent. This reduced our defence spending to 1.56 per cent of GDP, the lowest it has been since 1938. Further cuts can be expected in this year’s white paper.
The sale:
AUSTRALIANS will soon be able to own, and use, a slice of military history, as a huge sale of second-hand vehicles kicks off the largest disposal of defence equipment since World War II…
THE DEFENCE GARAGE SALE12,000 vehicles (3300 Land Rovers variants, 2500 light trailers, 2430 medium trucks)Up to 24 ships; (Landing ships HMAS Manoora and Kanimbla, supply ship, frigates, barges)70 combat aircraft; (F/A-18 Hornet fighters)110 other aircraft; (C-130 Hercules, King Air)* 120 helicopters; (Sea King, Seahawk, Blackhawk)* 600 armoured vehicles; (Armoured personnel carriers)
* A range of communications systems, weapons and explosive ordnance (M2A2 Howitzers, 30 calibre machine guns, Hamel guns, M60D Machine guns, SLRs, torpedos).
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Our life of Pi: 227 days trapped with an angry redhead
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(10:05am)
Fiction:
‘Life of Pi’ follows the story of a young man stranded at sea for 227 days with a Bengal tiger ...
Fact:
Julia Gillard has now burdened us with a 227-day election campaign...
(Thanks to reader Phil.)
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A desperate move, but September too far away
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(9:45am)
JULIA Gillard may seem smart to call an election for September 14. But the Prime Minister is also desperate.
There is no way Gillard would have called an unprecedented eight-month election campaign if she’d thought Labor could win a snap election before then.
Talk - fed by Gillard’s spinners - of a Labor recovery over the past few months is plainly false.
Two polls this week confirmed Labor was still mired in the death zone. Essential Media says Labor is 46 to 54 per cent behind, two-party preferred.
A mega poll by JSW Research of marginal seats says it’s even worse, with Labor at risk of losing 18 seats.
Gillard is in awful strife, and has little to hope for with Parliament resuming next week.
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Gillard’s gamble attacked - by Labor
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(8:56am)
LABOR MPs loyal to Kevin Rudd yesterday labelled Julia Gillard’s decision to call an election date almost eight months out “incomprehensible”.
MPs given no warning the September 14 date had been set, although the Greens and independents were informed, were seething yesterday.One warned that if Ms Gillard’s polling slipped back once voters were focused on a polling date, she would be vulnerable to a move to replace her with Mr Rudd…
Mr Rudd declared yesterday he would campaign in every state to help Labor, but he did not reveal his thoughts on Ms Gillard’s announcement of an election date so early in the year.
A LABOR backbencher will not take part on the Federal Election day because it falls on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.Victorian Michael Danby said Labor had to make special voting arrangements for the nation’s 107,000-strong Jewish community or lose support from voters.
The September 14 election falls on Yom Kippur and critics have lined up to take issue with Julia Gillard’s timing.
I HAVE run up the white flag. I am obviously past it because I simply don’t understand Labor politics any more…
In the hours after the announcement so many senior Labor figures rang me to express their bewilderment, dismay and disgust that at least I had one consolation - I was not alone in my ignorance and lack of understanding. I was in the best of company…Tony Abbott can now plan his campaign with a certainty that no opposition leader in our history has ever had. The spending of every dollar, the appearances in every marginal seat, the fundraising, the advertisements, the timing of every policy release (they may lack detail but they will be called “policies") - this is a gift to the opposition the like of which we have never seen before…
I just can’t follow why this Labor government and this Prime Minister does what it does. It is a mystery to me and to millions of Australians as well.
BRIAN Loughnane must be the happiest man in Australia.
By announcing an election for September 14, Julia Gillard has ceded one of her biggest advantages to the Liberal Party’s federal campaign director.
UPDATE
Turns out Gillard’s move is in part to help defend her from other Labor MPs and fellow travellers:
Ms Gillard claimed she was acting in the national interest by providing much-needed stability and certainty to voters, businesses and investors.
But government sources suggested last night the move may have also providedan insurance policy for Labor against by-elections caused by any possible resignations which could bring down the government.With the election date set in stone, the government could legally argue for a delay for any by-election to coincide with the poll date, thwarting the potential fallout of an early resignation by Peter Slipper…
Senior members of the government last night confirmed the move was also partially designed to head off any further challenge to her leadership from Kevin Rudd.
UPDATE
Not so, insists Gillard:
Nothing about this decision is in any way related to that [Kevin Rudd]. We decided that last year.
The PM explains why she announced the election date so early:
I DO not do so to start the nation’s longest election campaign. Quite the opposite, it should be clear to all which are the days of governing and which are the days of campaigning.
Nobody bought that. The Australian’s website yesterday:The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald websites:DESPITE her denial, Julia Gillard has indeed called the world’s longest election campaign by nominating September 14 as polling day.GILLARD launches longest election campaign.The website of radio 3AW:GILLARD launches the longest election campaign in Australian political history.The Conversation website:GREGORY Melleuish, associate professor in the school of history and politics at University of Wollongong, said the move would deliver “the longest election campaign in the nation’s history”.ABC election analyst Antony Green on The Drum website:
IN announcing the date of the 2013 federal election as September 14 ... Gillard has given the longest notice of an election, certainly since 1943, but probably since Federation.
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Smile for the cameras, Craig
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(8:37am)
I suspect we’ll hear a lot more about this scandal in election year:
FAIR Work Australia’s legal battle against former Labor MP Craig Thomson over alleged misuse of union funds has yielded its first CCTV evidence, with the Westin hotel chain ready to release screen shots taken from security cameras in one of its hotels.
A Federal Court registrar yesterday allowed FWA’s lawyers to inspect the footage, taken from the chain’s back-up system, and also granted them access to a partially redacted document provided by a company director linked to an escort agency.FWA’s legal case also expanded into the heart of the NSW Labor Party, with details emerging of a subpoena for a document related to Mr Thomson’s 2007 bid for the NSW seat of Dobell and payments to the NSW ALP from the Health Services Union, which Mr Thomson then led…
The case against Mr Thomson will reappear in court tomorrow for its first directions hearing.
UPDATE:
Gillard’s 227-day election campaign seems to be getting off to a rocky start:
Senior legal sources believe the Victorian fraud squad - which has spent more than a year investigating the former Health Services Union boss - could announce criminal charges before the end of the week…
It is understood Victorian detectives - who have been investigating allegations that Mr Thomson spent thousands of dollars in union funds on prostitutes and other personal items - have concluded their long-running inquiry.
(Thanks to reader Peter.)
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Gillard complains she hasn’t yet got enough of our money
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(7:51am)
Conventional economic forecasts are also being severely tested by the persistence of relatively low government revenue.What we know for a fact is this: in Australia, revenue to government for every unit of GDP has been at its lowest since the recession of the early 1990s.In other words, for a given amount of economic income generated, less money is finishing in the public purse, to be used for the Australian people…While within our medium-term fiscal strategy, spending is tightly constrained, the amount of tax collected from all sources – particularly from company tax – is significantly lower than independent forecasters or the Treasury have anticipated.Compared to the public revenue which was forecast on the eve of the global financial crisis in 2008, what has actually been collected in tax since is far lower – on average, lower by more than thirty billion dollars every year.Even compared to what was forecast once the worst of the global financial crisis had passed, annual revenue is tens of billions of dollars below what was expected…Put another way, we are in an era when new structural calls on the Budget need to be associated with new structural savings.
Check the Budget forecasts over the years:
Henry Ergas:
In 2008-09 and 2009-10, Labor massively increased government spending, taking it to a higher share of GDP than at any time since 1993-94. That surge was meant to be wound back once the economy recovered; but though growth was well above trend by 2011-12, the increase was never reversed, with new spending programs being ramped up as stimulus measures were phased out.
As a result, since Labor was elected, per capita government expenditure has increased by 3 per cent a year in real terms, more than double the rate at which it grew under John Howard.
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Gillard’s wicked law would put her boyfriend in the dock
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(7:40am)
The tape doesn’t lie. When Tim Mathieson told his harmless joke, most people in his audience laughed.
Yet what the Prime Minister’s partner and his audience thought funny, the Prime Minister plans to make illegal.
That is how sinister Julia Gillard’s proposed Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination bill truly is.
That should wipe the smile not just from Mathieson’s face, but yours.
That should wipe the smile not just from Mathieson’s face, but yours.
No one’s free speech is safe. No one’s jokes are, either.
No, Mathieson’s joke was not particularly good, but it was told without malice and in a good cause.
Speaking at The Lodge at a function for the Prime Minister’s XI cricket match , he’d urged the men in the room to get checked out for prostate cancer.
“The digital examination is the only true way to get a correct reading on your prostate, so make sure you go and do that, and perhaps look for a small, Asian, female doctor is probably the best way,” he said.
“The digital examination is the only true way to get a correct reading on your prostate, so make sure you go and do that, and perhaps look for a small, Asian, female doctor is probably the best way,” he said.
The “small, Asian female” reference is curious and, to the very sensitive, might signify a certain patronising or even racist attitude.
Gillard herself criticised Mathieson, saying he “could have picked his words a lot better”, and made him say sorry for a joke he called “offendable”.
Mind you, she had no choice but to shop her own boyfriend after being so deliberately and cynically hypersensitive to sexism – especially to the purely imagined sexism of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
“Misogyny,” she shrieked at Abbott last year for no particular reason other than political advantage.
And when Abbott chanced mid-tirade to check his watch, Gillard seized on that, too: “Now looking at his watch because, apparently, a woman has spoken for too long.”
Can you imagine what Gillard would have said if Abbott, not Mathieson, had joked of wanting a “small, Asian, female doctor” to probe his backside?
We would have heard the trumped-up outrage 24-7 for a month.
But since it was just her Tim, Gillard satisfied herself with sniffing his joke was in “poor taste”.
And so it might have stopped, as just an example of Gillard’s hypocrisy.
But Gillard has not simply declared her boyfriend’s joke to be bad taste.
Her proposed new laws to regulate speech would make that joke unlawful.
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Roxon forced to loosen muzzle - but not remove it
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(7:08am)
Nicola Roxon is forced into an embarrassing retreat:
ATTORNEY-GENERAL Nicola Roxon has rolled back Labor’s proposed anti-discrimination reforms to remove the prohibition on causing offence, which has been criticised by the media, judicial figures and the human rights lobby as an attack on free speech.
Ms Roxon will today announce that her department is drafting a series of options for the new laws that includes the removal of the section that prohibits conduct that offends, insults or intimidates…It is understood the draft legislation will still contain the provisions in the existing Racial Discrimination Act that impose liability for actions that offend or insult.
This is good, but far from enough. The whole elephantine exposure bill must be be junked. It is a minefield. That Labor should suggest such a muzzle for the country is truly shameful.
UPDATE
“Poorly drafted”? No, it was the intention, not the wording, that was most sinister, or Roxon would have junked this junk months ago:
ATTORNEY-General Nicola Roxon has admitted her proposed anti-discrimination laws were poorly drafted, confirming the government has dropped controversial provisions that would have prohibited offensive conduct.
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Like minds
Andrew BoltJANUARY312013(7:02am)
Twitter helpfully suggests a few likenesses with the Twitter account of Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young:
An ALP/ABC/SBS/Greens same-same? Twitter is acute.
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( Yom Kippur ) then Thomson's arrest would have force a bi election. This way Gillard gets eight more months of prime ministership plus her $600k life time annual pension.
Now if only Gillard could run the country as shrewdly as she has led her manipulative selfish life style.>===
This morning I met with commuters at Tuggerah. People are sick of the cost of living pressures and want rid of the carbon tax. A Liberal Coalition Government will help Central Coast households get ahead by freeing them from the burdens of the carbon tax to reduce cost of living pressures especially on rising electricity and gas prices. Karen McNamara, Liberal Candidate for Dobell
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Looks like some sort of Tim Burton-esque nightmare, right? This is the Brahmin moth (Brahmaea wallichii), found in India, China, and Japan. The moth has a wingspan of around 6 inches.
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How about one of our juicy burgers for dinner tonight, this is the one I had last night in our Wentworthville store, delicious with an ice cold Big Bloke. Outback Steakhouse Australia
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Follow Joseph Prince on Twitter to receive powerful and liberating inspirations on Grace for your busy schedules!https://twitter.com/
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Long-forgotten remains of a giant dolphin-shaped crocodilian "super-predator" have now been discovered in a museum drawer in Scotland, researchers say. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/23v9
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After Twitchy’s report, MSNBC is reportedly ‘reviewing’ video of Newtown dad’s testimony ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/
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DAY 1
Off to a flying start - thanks to everyone in our signage team for getting scores of corflute signs out before sunrise today on all the major roads around Hughes - Sutherland, Bankstown and Liverpool
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We even played out when it was freezing cold.
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San Francisco Celebrating New Year's Eve 2013 — at San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
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it went to the other side to get stuff Phil Box got us.
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"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure"
In 2009, I lost to Anthony Mundine via a split decision. I had two options. I could have called it quits and give up my career. Or I could have used it as a source of motivation to push myself even harder, so that I can exact my revenge. I chose the second option, and all the blood, sweat and tears have paid off. This goes to all you guys out there. No matter what you do, whether it be school, college, sports, being a music artist etc, don't be afraid to fail. Instead use it as a lesson, learn from your mistakes and be the best that you can.
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FLYING START - 1 DAY DOWN, 225 TO GO !!!
It's game on, and great to get a run on Channel 9 News tonight, and also a further follow up radio interview with Steve Price on 2GB later.
We'll continue to take it up to Labor, and spread our message of hope, reward and opportunity for every single one of the next 225 days, right up to 6pm when the polls close on 14th Sept.
http://www.youtube.com/
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./\_¸_/\.
(=•_•= )
ღ♥*♥ღ.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
..(")_(") (¸.•* (¸.•*¨*•♥♥.
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Yeah we did it!! And grappled after!! :)
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And now the hard part... Letting is set without eating it all! Lol
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VIC POLICE CLOSE IN ON GILLARD
Information out of Melbourne is that more than a dozen detectives on an unlimited budget are on the brink of laying charges in the AWU Wilson/Gillard fraud case.
One reliable source has said two major law firms should expect raids within days and explanations will be demanded regarding instances of missing documents.
More than 50 people have been, or are yet to be, interviewed including Bill the Greek Bullshit Artist Telikostoglou, (as Julia Gillard affectionately refers to him as). He missed his flight from Athens but is now expected in Melbourne next week.
Another reliable source has said to me, “We expect to have this all wrapped up in a few weeks, hopefully no later than March, and there will be people charged.
"We are treating this matter extremely seriously and no stone will be unturned in ensuring the alleged culprits face justice.”
There was no indication given as to who would be charged but the level of urgency and thoroughness indicated to me (and I say indicated) there is little doubt Julia Gillard is viewed as a major player and very much a person of interest.
Ralph Blewitt, Bob Kernohan and others, including Nick Styant-Browne, have been busy giving statements and disclosing further information to police in a veritable revolving door of witnesses coming and going at StKilda headquarters.
In a future article (Part X of the Gillard files) I will give what I believe are the four main areas where Gillard is in serious trouble and will need to explain herself.
But in the meantime, as cricket commentator Bill Lawrie says, “It’s all happening!”
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A FAST NEWS DAY MEANS NO-ONE GETS HEARD
It’s a Sheraton smorgasbord and I can’t decide on what to devour for fear of leaving no room for something better. So I’ll just pick at lots of little things.
• Gillard’s glasses: I thought initially they were hiding an eye tuck, but not certain. Anyway she had the same glasses for reading her speech at the Press Club as she had for inspecting the floods. Mmmm, that tends to imply they are not prescription, just for show... the feminist executive look maybe.
• The election date: She had her reasons but none that could assist her except, if there is a by-election needed, it will be now be held concurrently with the general election. But she also wanted to grab the agenda from Abbott and show a nervous Caucus that she wasn’t going anywhere. That didn’t work and a silly move really. It will suit Abbott.
• Abbott’s performance: Not too bad. But I’m still worried about his parental leave policy. Eighteen months paid leave is overkill and will not assist mums to be. A woman planning pregnancy would be crazy not to first apply for a job with a thriving company. The trouble is would the thriving company take the risk? Don’t think so. Employment officers could become averse to ripe ovaries.
• Dumping the “school kids’ bonus” is a good thing (although it will hurt me) because it’s no more than a deposit in a recipient’s bank account. The money will simply be used when needed. It could just as easily be called the “car registration bonus” or the “new lawnmower bonus”. It’s just another poorly directed Gillard give-away to convince you to like her. But Abbott did brighten up when the news came through that...
• Craig Thomson was charged: We knew it was coming and it won’t make any difference to Gillard’s numbers. It could be two years before he even gets the smell of the jail time that would prevent him sitting in Parliament. There are charges also imminent in the AWU matter but if you think someone will step aside while under a cloud of fraud charges, think again.
• That leaked email: This is a strange one because the email had the subject matter blacked out. Why would that be if it didn’t emanate from Abbott’s own office? Someone wanted to only let the cat half out of the bag. Mmmm.
• Isobel Redmond quits: Well, the SA Lib Leader was on borrowed time anyway and Alexander Downer is overly coy about replacing her. But somehow I was never able to get a hard-on over SA politics.
There’s much, much more. NBN ordered to disclose costs. Mundine cries into his prayer mat. Tim Flannery’s comedic weather forecasting. Huge fire north of Melbourne. Queensland floods.
Blimey, can’t even play golf, the course is still under water.
