Friday, June 28, 2013

Fri Jun 28th Todays News

Happy birthday and many happy returns Eric Lam, Gina Sleiman and Brenton Wakeford. Born on the same day, across the years. In 1846, on your day, Belgian clarinetist Adolphe Sax received a patent for the saxophone. In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip during a motorcade in Sarajevo, sparking the outbreak of World War I. In 1950, Korean War: South Korean military and police summarily executed at least 100,000 suspected North Korean sympathizers. In 1967, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, having captured it from Jordan in the Six-Day War. In 1981, Seventy-three leading officials of Iran's Islamic Republic Party were killed when a bomb exploded at the party's headquarters in Tehran. You have better parties than '81. Safer. You are creative and covetous of good things .. probably best not to start any wars over them. Hold your ground and be wary of Kim. Have a great day!
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Why Rudd is speaking from his nether region

Piers Akerman – Friday, June 28, 2013 (3:31am)

RECYCLED Prime Minister Kevin Rudd didn’t learn a thing during the three years and three days he spent in the wilderness.
Yesterday he had the opportunity to deliver a gift to the Australian people - the gift of an election - and he squibbed it.
Instead, he used his first address on his return to parliament as Prime Minister to utter platitudes dripping with hypocrisy and cant and publicly demonstrate he has not changed.
Humility is clearly not in his complex vocabulary either in terms of what he might consider “detailed programmatic specificity” or as a “complementarity that could be developed further in the direction of some form of conceptual synthesis”.
Clearly his brief tribute to Julia Gillard, the nation’s first female prime minister, the woman he had brought down less than 24 hours earlier, was as fine an example of a conceptual synthetic as so many of his other arrogant musings.
Observing him standing at the Despatch Box again and musing on the need for politicians to try and be “kinder and gentler” with each other with Gillard’s blood still dripping from his dagger was hard to stomach - but when he then went on to pay tribute to the woman he had so spectacularly deposed as a “standard bearer for women” - his performance lapsed into the delusional.
In Rudd’s world, Gillard was a major reformer with a proud record of great achievements.
If he believed this in any small portion, he would have given her a skerrick of genuine support instead of working tirelessly over the past three years to white-ant her.
Rudd says he has benefited from the perspective of spending time in what he termed “the nether regions” and a “distant place” within parliament but whatever the beneficial effects of his period on the backbench may have been they have yet to be revealed to the public.
It is now six months since Gillard launched the longest election campaign in the nation’s history - during a speech at the National Press Club. It was a huge mistake, which fed into the general paralysis of her Labor-independent-Green minority government and highlighted its serial policy failures.
That was not her intent, of course. Gillard said she believed her early announcement would permit business and consumers to “plan their year”.
They people of Australia certainly did plan their year. They effectively drew the curtains on 2013. They withheld investment, they withdrew their confidence, and the economy shrank.
Gillard said it should be “clear to all which are the days of governing, and which are the days of campaigning” but, while there was a lot of campaigning, she was fighting a raging civil war within her own party that left scant time for governing.
Rudd, had he learnt anything, had he listened to anyone during his frequent trips to shopping centres around the nation over the past three years, would have understood that the millions of Australians he claims were clamouring for his return really only wanted a circuit breaker - and they saw his resurrection merely as a means to curtail the longest election campaign in our history.
But his time in exile was wasted. Nothing he offered yesterday was new. He said the hardest thing was to offer a policy plan for the nation - and he proved his own point.
He offered no policy plans.
Yet, when last he was prime minister, he changed the Howard government’s successful border protection policy, which had emptied the camps on Christmas Island and stopped the boats, to an open border policy which has led to 45,000 illegal boat arrivals.
On the day before the 2007 election, he said that he would turn the boats around and then never did. He signed Australia up to the United Nations’ hysterical global warming agenda and opened the door to the carbon dioxide tax through an emissions trading scheme campaign - which he then turned around and dumped.
He started FuelWatch and GroceryWatch - and subsequently dumped them as well.
He launched the pink batts insulation scheme - which cost four lives and a billion dollars to fix.
He said he would fix public hospitals or take them over - but walked away from the policy - and he promised to deliver budget surpluses over the economic cycle and failed in that, too.
After Question Time, Sky News anchor David Speers astutely observed that Rudd had slipped right back into the prime ministerial chair. Nothing had changed. That’s the problem.
Three years ago Rudd did not even stand against Gillard in the leadership ballot when his disgruntled colleagues told him he was Labor’s problem.
Three years on, overnight polls notwithstanding, he remains Labor’s problem.
If the first Rudd government was dysfunctional, this incarnation embodies dysfunction on steroids.
We all know how disparaging those who worked with Rudd have been about his character, labelling him variously as an egomaniac, narcissistic, disloyal psychopath. That was on a good day.
It would be in his interest, and the interest of the Australian people, to keep the number of days voters must wait until the next election to a minimum.

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THIS MAKES PERFECT SENSE

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (5:25pm)

Taiwanese news animation explains this week in Australian politics … I think: 


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BIRD OF THE CENTURY

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (2:15pm)

The White-throated Needletail isn’t seen very often in the UK. In fact, the bird, which is the world’s fastest flying bird, hasn’t been spotted in Britain since 1991. That’s why it was such a treat for birdwatchers when the rare bird showed up today in Northumberland.

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THAT OLD FAMILIAR FEELING

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (2:12pm)

David Marr reviews Kevin Rudd’s euphoria-crushing 2007 victory speech: 
Kevin killed the party. Before his victory speech disappears into history, it has to be said the nation’s new leader turned a wild celebration into another night on the stump …
It was a performance so passionless, so grey that it raises the terrible possibility that our new leader is not channelling John Howard but Philip Ruddock. 
Six years on, Waleed Aly is similarly underwhelmed: 
Do you have that hollow feeling, too? That feeling that after months, no, years of build-up, after the arrival of the final climax, there is something oddly underwhelming about the fact that Kevin Rudd has finally reclaimed the throne? 

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ENDANGERED SPECIES

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (7:03am)

A furtive Hairdresserii mathiesonicus searches The Lodge’s surrounds for free tickets and other sustaining morsels:

image

In its native Canberra habitat, this unique mammal is mostly confined to a cushion-based environment. But it iscapable of flight and sometimes ventures great distances in search of bright colours and fast-moving objects.

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WEASEL TWINS

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (6:39am)

Now that Cthulhu has resumed Prime Ministerial form, let’s review Kevin Rudd’s ominous words from last week: 
Mr Rudd said he did not “believe there are any circumstances” under which he would return to the leadership.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey said Mr Rudd was subtly altering his stance.
“He said previously `there are no circumstances’, now he says: `I believe there are no circumstances’,” Mr Hockey said.
“These are weasel words.” 
And they proved to be. Now let’s look at ex-PM Julia Gillard’s words prior to Wednesday’s leadership showdown: 
“I believe anybody who enters the ballot tonight should do it on the following condition. If you win you are Labor leader. If you lose, you retire from politics.” 
As reader Senior Ed points out, Gillard’s challenge underwent a subtle alteration during her concession speech: 
“In accordance with the pledge I gave earlier today, I announce that I will not re-contest the federal electorate of Lalor at the forthcoming federal election.” 
Her original pledge: retirement from politics. Her subsequent pledge: not standing in a particular federal seat this year.
Theory: Julia Glllard, Victorian premier.

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THE DAY AFTER

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (6:17am)

Beautiful scenes in Kevin Rudd’s kindler, gentler government: 
As shredded documents in bulging bags piled up outside ex-ministers’ offices and scores of suddenly unemployed staffers wandered dazed, former prime minister Julia Gillard was left to contemplate life on a pension expected to be about $200,000 a year.
Departmental collectors swooped on the newly homeless staffers, swiping their mobile telephones and removing their identities from the government’s email servers. 
In Adelaide, Rudd’s ascent caused an art outbreak: 
Labor’s SA headquarters has been hit with a graffiti attack against Prime Minister Kevin Rudd overnight, with “happy now, Kevin” scrawled in fluorescent orange spray-paint.
A Labor spokesman said the vandalism had been referred to police and there were currently no suspects. 
Check inside the building.

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NO, NO, NO, NO, NO … YES

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (6:00am)

Sky’s Paul Murray reviews Bill Shorten’s change of mind:


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24 HOUR MARK

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (5:51am)

Mark Webber, whose 2011 death-or-glory pass at Spa will forever define his racing career, quits F1: 
The 36-year-old Australian is joining Porsche’s new sportscar programme and will compete in the classic Le Mans 24 Hours race for the German manufacturer. 
Monaco ace Webber last drove a German car at Le Mans in 1999. They really fly at that track. In other automotive news, a Chevrolet dealership in Nebraska opens its vault: 
Ray and Mildred Lambrecht ran the dealership with just one employee for 50 years before closing up, and later this year the Lambrechts will sell off a trove of 500-odd vehicles they’ve held onto over the decades — including roughly 50 with less than 10 miles on their odometers. It’s less a car sale than a time capsule auction. 
Click for rolling gold.
(Via Hedley T.)

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BIG MOW

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (5:04am)

I’ve visited Iowahawk’s immaculate Chicago estate and marvelled at how well-kept was his lawn. It was a lawn of lies!In Chicago, the government turns up at night and mows your lawn without even being asked.

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CYCLE OF PRIDE

Tim Blair – Friday, June 28, 2013 (4:53am)

“At last,” emails Craig M. “A bike you would be proud to use. Can you imagine the look on Elizabeth Farrelly’s face when you pass her on one of these? Assuming she still had a face that is.”

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Rudd warns us - and Indonesia - that Abbott could mean war

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (2:38pm)

Wow. A massive claim from Kevin Rudd - highly inflammatory, grossly irresponsible and damaging to the national interest:
KEVIN Rudd has claimed that electing Tony Abbott as prime minister could spark conflict with Indonesia that could escalate.
On the eve of scheduled bilateral talks in Jakarta with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, restored Prime Minister Mr Rudd said the opposition’s plan to turn back asylum-seeker boats risked “some sort of conflict with Indonesia”.
Mr Rudd said Australia needed “cool hands on the tiller” when dealing with Indonesian relations.
“What I am talking about is diplomatic conflict. But I am always wary about where diplomatic conflicts go,” he said, before referring to the 1962-66 Indonesia-Malaysia conflict.
“Konfrontasi with Indonesia evolved over a set of words, and turned into something else.’’
Pressed on the claim, Mr Rudd suggested the opposition’s boats policy could lead to a naval showdown.
Julie Bishop gives Rudd war:

Opposition immigration spokeswoman Julie Bishop immediately branded Mr Rudd’s statements as “outrageous”.
“It is not our policy to breach Indonesian territorial sovereignty,” Ms Bishop said.
“Nor is it our policy to trigger a conflict with Indonesia.
“It is an utterly, utterly outrageous statement for Kevin Rudd to make, and if this is the behaviour we can expect from the Prime Minister within 24 hours of him being sworn in as Prime Minister, then we are in for a very ugly period of Australian politics.’’

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The Bolt Report on Sunday - Abbott, Costa, Costello

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (2:25pm)

A huge show on Network Ten on Sunday - 10am and 4pm.
Has Kevin Rudd really changed? What has he learned from his past disasters?
I’ll interview Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on what Rudd’s return as Prime Minister means for his own campaign. And how he rates Julia Gillard now she’s gone.
Peter Costello and Michael Costa on the rise of Kevin Rudd. What’s his pitch? Will it work?
And a prize for women behind the shortest-lived political movement in Australian history.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear. 

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Liberal slogan: sounds like they couldn’t decide

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (1:45pm)

Not much of a slogan, really - which is probably why they went with two in one:

THE Coalition has unveiled the slogan it will take to the election: ”Choose a stronger Australia. Choose a better future.”
They should have gone with my choice - and Bob Hawke’s: Bringing Australia together. 

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Where the brawls will be

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (1:31pm)

Likely battle lines:
Kevin Rudd is likely to promise no carbon tax under a government he leads.
He will talk tough on boat people, but will refuse to turn back the boats, attacking the Coalition as likely to trigger a “conflict” with Indonesia.
He will add to the deficit with more big spending, scrapping welfare cuts and cutting the carbon tax.
He will resist as “slash and burn” the budget cuts we need.
He will not provoke the unions by scrapping any workplace restrictions imposed by Gillard, including the new 457 laws.
He will promise cooperation with business, but is unlikely to back that up with action.
He will sell sunshine and denounce scrutiny of his past record as mindless negativity.
He will hope the poll bounce stifles any internal hatred of him.
Tony Abbott will want to use Kevin Rudd’s past disasters as a predictor of his future.
He will contrast Liberal unity with Labor disunity.
But other than that, the Coalition now has choices to make.
Abbott will have to decide whether to run the election as the frontrunner (positive, not engaging with the alternative leader) or the opposition (attacking, seeking close battle). The first polls will be decisive in deciding what to do.
Abbott will not want a battle on the cuts we need, but he cannot avoid a battle on the economy. The deficits - and who started the rot - must be the battleground. 

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Rudd press conference: cautious, big-spending, no to cuts and turning back boats

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (12:34pm)

Kevin Rudd holds his first press conference as PM today. It is impressive politically, but very vague on details and potentially dangerous economically.

(NOTE: this post has been modified and some original material bumped to a post below)
Rudd says he’s not going to make any big decisions soon. He’s learned from the last time that promises need to be made with “proper process”.
As for the “Gonski” reforms, Rudd says David Gonski is on his wife’s board and doesn’t want his name associated with the schools’ funding scheme promoted by Julia Gillard.
Rudd says it was too confusing a name, and he then explains it should be referred to be what it actually aims to do - lift standards, give principals more ability to hire and fire, make schools create school improvement plans, and fund schools on the basis of need. It is now a schools improvement plan.
First decision on policy: Rudd will now support this schools improvement plan and extend by two weeks the June 30 deadline that states had to sign up.
So no change to policy. Just to the badging.
Rudd challenges Tony Abbott to a debate on debt at the National Press Club. This is an inversion of the normal paradigm of Opposition leaders desperate to get debates, and Prime Ministers reluctant to grant them that status.
Rudd for the first time will take questions from journalists.
Q&A SESSION
As I suggested in last week’s Bolt Report, Rudd has taken up the slogan of “bringing Australians together”. He says this is a rebuttal of Tony Abbott’s approach. In fact, it’s a repudiation of Gillard’s.
He attacks Abbott’s turn-back-the-boats strategy as likely to antagonise Indonesia (giving us a “diplomatic conflict"), and therefore against the national interest.
On Gillard’s planned changes to the single mothers’ benefit, Rudd says he’ll leave that to Cabinet discussion. Nor will he endorse Wayne Swan’s Budget parameters.
On party reform, he says he was “revolted” by what he has seen in NSW at the ICAC inquiry. Will talk about a “new direction” for NSW and overall party reform across the country.
On carbon pricing, will talk to Cabinet colleagues. Won’t walk away from earlier comments saying should move sooner to emissions trading, but is aware of the impact on the Budget.
Rudd repeatedly states the need for “orderly Cabinet processes” as the reason for not announcing policy changes.
Rudd on Carr’s claim that so many boat people are just “economic migrants”: “you would have to be deluding yourself” not to realise there were “a bunch of people” who weren’t just economic migrants.
Does not rule out intervening in any pre-selection deals, after being asked if he’d overturn the Nova Peris nomination - Julia Gillard’s “captain’s pick”. Says he hasn’t had time to think about it.  Asked about Batman, in which Gillard backed David Feeney (who then abandoned her in the leadership ballot) Rudd did not comment directly, but said he’d like preselectors to consider supporting women. There’s a hint for you.
Rudd is hitting the right notes here with voters - drawing a line with his chaotic past, acting like he’s more consultative, hinting he’ll be tougher on boat people and more generous to single mothers. He’s also suggesting he’ll get rid of the carbon tax and generous with schools.
But warning: he’s promising as he did before. But is he any more likely to deliver? And at what enormous cost to the Budget? Is his refusal to turn back the boats truly the recognition of diplomatic reality, or will it be seen as just more of the same surrender?
UPDATE
Rudd says allegations that he stalked and tore down Gillard are “absolutely untrue”.
On gay marriage, he says after the election Tony Abbott should agree to a conscience vote on gay marriage. If Abbot won’t, Rudd’s wants to look at perhaps a plebiscite or referendum.
On the Budget, he will be motivated by “economic responsibility”. But then he warns against “austerity”.  Claims Abbott’s cuts will tip us into unemployment and recession. Says he’s against “slash and burn”. [Hello more deficits.]
On 457 visas, Rudd will only consider “real” examples of business being hamstrung by Labor’s new laws after they are passed today. 

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Kevin Rudd refusing to say what he’ll do. UPDATE: But contemplating more big deficits

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (11:43am)

Kevin Rudd is actually more nervous than he seems, and is dodging scrutiny to a remarkable degree.
He did not take questions from journalists after his very brief announcement that he was standing for the leadership.
He did not take questions from journalists after his short yet rambly speech after winning the leadership.
He did not give a press conference or a single interview the morning after winning the leadership.
In his first and last Question Time as Prime Minister in this Parliament he three times cut short his answer and sat down smartly when an Opposition member rose to raise a point of order, thus denying them a chance to comment on the verbose or deceptive reply.
Last night he dodged the usual ritual of a new leader of explaining himself and his plans on the ABC’s 7.30, sending new Treasurer Chris Bowen instead to explain that, er, he didn’t know what Rudd really stood for, either:
LEIGH SALES: How will a Rudd Mark II government differ from the Gillard Government we just had?
CHRIS BOWEN: Well of course you will see some continuity and some change. Every new Prime Minister will bring their own approach and their own touches and Kevin will obviously make those clear in the days and weeks ahead. But we’ll see continuity as well. We’ll see the continued commitment to the great reforms that this government has introduced. You’ll see continued commitment to disability care, for example. You’ll see continued commitment to carbon pricing. You’ll see continued commitment across the board to many of our important policies. But Kevin will bring, of course, both in presentation and policy terms, his own approach....
LEIGH SALES: OK. Well let me ask you about your approach as the new Treasurer. You mentioned a commitment to carbon pricing. Do you see room to tinker around the current policy or indeed do more than tinkering?
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Leigh, the current policy is the law of the land. It’s been legislated. We’re committed to carbon pricing and that remains the case. And of course we’ll always take a responsible approach to these matters. And if there’s matters that need to be addressed in the future, then the Prime Minister and I and the relevant ministers would address them…
LEIGH SALES: Is it possible that you would suggest some changes to that policy and take some changes to the election?
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Leigh, if you’re asking me today on my first day as Treasurer to say that I will never recommend any change to any government policy at any point in the future, well I’m not going to do that.
LEIGH SALES: No, I’m just asking what’s in play.
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I’m not going to do that. But what I am saying is that our policy is in place…
LEIGH SALES: Let me ask you about perhaps a more pressing matter, which is the Gonski education reforms. There is a deadline on the table for agreement from the states on that for this Sunday. Is that now off the table?
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, again, I know the Prime Minister is working through the issues and I know he’s looking forward to discussing those issues with various state premiers…
LEIGH SALES: And just to be clear, do they still have to sign up by Sunday?
CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Leigh, the Prime Minister is obviously looking forward to discussing these issues with the premiers ...
LEIGH SALES: What, tomorrow?
CHRIS BOWEN: Well he’s being briefed on a whole range of issues on his - he’s been Prime Minister now for less than a day, Leigh, and I know he’s been taking calls from foreign leaders ...
Does Rudd need to call another summit of our “best and brightest” like last time to give him some ideas, some plan, to do what he knows not?
UPDATE
True, Rudd might just be trying hard to seem more consultative before making some changes:

KEVIN Rudd will push to dump the carbon tax and go straight to an emissions trading scheme in a bid to unshackle the government from the politically toxic policy.
The Daily Telegraph understands the carbon tax, which is due to rise by $1.15 per tonne to $24.15 next week, will top the agenda when the new Prime Minister convenes his first cabinet meeting, scheduled for Monday…
However, in a signal that he would conduct a consensus government, Mr Rudd indicated to colleagues no changes would be made without approval of the cabinet.
Rudd’s move would blow a hole in the budget and make his climate change rhetoric seem hollow.
Moving to carbon trading would drop the carbon price here from $23 a tonne to around $6.20, the European price.  It would strip the government of more than $3 billion a year of revenue, unless the Government strips away the carbon tax compensation. It would give business almost no incentive to invest in technology to cut their emissions. It would just be a pesky revenue-raising tax.
This could be the costliest retreat since Moscow:

Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare told Channel Nine on Friday that Australia would move to a floating carbon price as soon as it could be done and that he wants Labor to make the change..
Mr Butler told ABC radio on Friday that an earlier shift to an emissions trading scheme would have significant implications for revenue and for household assistance, and the cabinet would need a lot of information to make a decision.
UPDATE
Dennis Shanahan is puzzled that Rudd seems so unready for the job he’s plotted for for three years:

Being unable to oppose the unions’ agenda on a xenophobic crackdown on 457 foreign working visas within hours of declaring he wanted to work with business and expand the economy was a singularly spectacular example of a failure to shift policy.
Rudd’s first parliamentary performances gave the impression of a lack of preparedness, a lack of commitment and an almost surprised reaction…
So far, he has delivered eulogies and praise for Julia Gillard and proffered slogans and themes empty of substance or direction. It is as if Rudd did not look beyond the conduct of a challenge...
Rudd seems not to have overcome one of his weaknesses - a lack of confidence that leads him to try to be all things to everyone, whatever the cost to the Budget:

… senior Labor sources have told The Australian Mr Rudd will reverse some of the cuts to the welfare payments of single parents and commit to an in-principle pledge to increase Newstart, in a radical departure from the Gillard government’s welfare agenda…
In a clear reference to Mr Rudd’s 2010 warning to the party not to “lurch to the Right” on asylum-seekers, made at the time of his removal as prime minster, Senator Sterle said Mr Rudd promised not to “lurch to the Left” either. “Kevin said to me (after the ballot), he will not be taking a lurch to the Left,” Mr Sterle told The Australian yesterday…
Mr Rudd’s vow to rebuild bridges with the business community, made after he reclaimed the leadership, came under immediate pressure after the government pushed through a crackdown on 457 temporary work visas. The pro-union policy passed the House of Representatives yesterday and is expected to pass the Senate today.
So far Rudd’s suggested changes mean the deficit will be blown out by billions more as the carbon tax is modified and welfare cuts abandoned. But restrictions on business freedom to earn the income Rudd is taxing is being increased - although, true, power prices should fall.
UPDATE
As mentioned above:

LABOR is facing a multi-billion-dollar blow to its budget bottom line as Kevin Rudd prepares to fast-track a cut to the carbon price to blunt Coalition attacks…
Such a cut, while retaining carbon tax compensation measures, would rip $15 billion from the budget, according to the opposition…
A more rapid switch to a floating carbon price, currently not due until 2015, would have to be legislated.
Parliament has now risen so any change to the timetable would have to be an election commitment.
The massive cost is one thing.
But this would mean Rudd becomes the second Labor leader going into an election promising:

There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.

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Reachtel poll: Rudd’s Labor 48, Coalition 52

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (9:26am)

Less bounce than Labor would have liked and less than measured by Morgan on Wednesday night, but enough to justify the change:

The 7News Reachtel poll of 3000 respondents, taken on Thursday night, still has the opposition leading the government despite a big improvement in the Labor vote.
The coalition leads 52-48 per cent after preferences.
But Rudd hasn’t been the target of Coalition fire and hasn’t been under pressure to perform. That has now changed.
If the polls now start to fall for him, Labor’s brawling could - unbelievably - become even uglier. His enemies in Labor will feel utterly unrestrained. 

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Bill Shorten: watch a Labor liar lie

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (8:52am)

What’s Bill Shorten’s word worth?
UPDATE
What is the word of Labor MP Steve Gibbons worth, especially when he now expresses good wishes for Kevin Rudd?

STEVE GIBBONS, LABOR BACKBENCHER: I wish him well.
JOURNALIST: Really? You’ve called him a psychopath in the past. Is he worthy of being Labor leader?
STEVE GIBBONS: Well I think you better have a good, hard look at that because I don’t think I’ve called anybody that.
Must be another Steve Gibbons, Labor MP:

image
(Thanks to reader Peter.)
UPDATE
Bill Shorten is a power broker no longer:
Ms Gillard lost the ballot by seven votes but at the very most Mr Shorten contributed three votes, including his own, even though he was widely touted as a “kingmaker” in the lead-up to the vote. Others linked to Mr Shorten were Victorian senator and former Gillard loyalist, David Feeney, and Queensland MP Shayne Neumann…
As of Thursday, Mr Shorten was a much-loathed figure among his old union and MPs associated with it. He has been cut off by national secretary Paul Howes, all but disowned by union godfather Bill Ludwig, and has fallen well and truly foul of colleagues such as Wayne Swan. He has made lifelong enemies.

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Ask Plibersek what she thinks of her new leader

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (8:34am)

Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill notes at least some very unhappy Ministers in the new Rudd Government:

AB, the handshakes O’Connor and Plibersek offered the PM as he entered the chamber tell their own story (vid: 3:20 to 3:24), as did Plibersek’s ongoing reaction (vid: 4.14 to 4:17).
Unity.
Pictures tell a thousand words. 

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The proximate materialisation of a Rudd-like substance

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (8:08am)

Jacqueline Maley on the return of a Rudd that sounds unchanged:
The moment he arose to deliver his first question time answer, it all came flooding back.
The grandpa slang from the 1950s. The idiosyncratic hand gestures. The Olympic capacity to patronise. The complex legalistic syntax that transforms even the simplest sentence into a brain-boggling affair.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott asked the newly installed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to explain to the House why the Julia Gillard-necking events of the previous evening had been necessary, and requested he end the uncertainty those events had created, by confirming the date of the election.
“‘As the honourable gentleman knows, the timing of the election is governed by the Australian constitution,’’ the Prime Minister began.
‘’It is worth taking a look at that document, as it is the law which governs all Australians.’’
The verbosity of Rudd’s answer had a Proustian effect on the opposition members.It was as if they had bitten into a giant madeleine. And they were choking on it.
‘’He’s back!’’ cried shadow treasurer Joe Hockey, to a groan-guffaw chorus from the backbench.
Rudd was undeterred.
‘’I draw his attention to facts which are material to the consideration of the government,’’ he went on and, ignoring the mirth of the Opposition Leader, he listed the potential clashes with the current election date.
‘’I will therefore go through these issues [pronounced iss-yews] with my cabinet colleagues and the Leader of the Opposition can be assured, there’s going to be an election. It will be held consistent with the constitution … ‘’
And so it went.
(Thanks to reader Peter.) 

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Was serving under Rudd the deal-breaker for Stephen Smith?

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (7:57am)

Another example:

Meet The Press June 23:
BRENDAN NICHOLSON: Minister, just back on to politics – there have been suggestions that you might not actually contest your seat in the coming election. Is that a possibility?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, it’s a bit late, Brendan. I think I was endorsed by the National Executive some time last year. The election is in September, and I’m planning my campaign. So once we get out of the Parliament and my Ministerial responsibilities start to wind down, as they will when the Parliament gets up, then I’ll be on the hustings in Perth. So, I don’t quite know where that suggestion has come from, but I think it’s a bit late in the process for any of that.
Four days later:

The fallout from Labor’s leadership switch continues, with Defence Minister Stephen Smith announcing that he will quit politics at the next election…
“This is something that I cannot in all good conscience say to the people of Perth that I can continue to do win lose or draw at the next election for another three years,” he told Parliament.
“Twenty years I can do, 23 years I can’t."…
He says the dramatic events of the past two days have given him the “clarity of thought” to make the decision to go.
So was serving under Rudd again the final straw?
(Thanks to reader Neil.) 

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When they wrote off Rudd

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (7:46am)

The maths was simple. Under Gillard, destruction. Under Rudd, some salvation. Yet:
Rudd is finished! Labor is kidding itself. Laura Tingle, The Australian Financial Review, February 28, 2012: 
YESTERDAY’S result finished Rudd’s prospects of challenging again, and the expectation is that, if Gillard flounders, a new contender may emerge for the leadership. But Labor really is kidding itself if it thinks it can change leaders again before the election.
No second challenge. Michelle Grattan, The Age, February 28, 2012:


THE size of the Gillard win has key Rudd backers writing off the possibility of a second challenge…
It was never going to happen. Phil Coorey, AFR, March 25:
MORE significantly, Rudd categorically ruled out ever becoming Labor leader again. By saying there would be no circumstances under which he would return, he closed thedoor on the already rapidly dwindling prospect he would be drafted by a cross-factional majorityof colleagues closer to the election. It was never going to happen anyway. There is too much anger and dismay…
No ideas. Mark Kenny, The Sydney Morning Herald, June 25:
A THIRD push to reinstall Kevin Rudd as Labor leader was in disarray on Monday evening . . . With no plan B, it now looks increasingly likely there will be no change of leader as time for a final showdown runs out . . . Pro-Rudd forces . . . privately admit they are out of ideas.
Laurie Oakes, March 22:
The former PM said there were no circumstances in which he would return to the Labor leadership. It was a statement of the bleeding obvious.
A few rusted-on Ruddites were trying to keep the dream alive, suggesting the party might still turn to him in June if there is no recovery in its vote by then. But they are kidding themselves.
Rudd’s failure to contest the leadership ballot, after all the efforts of his henchmen to bring it about and their big talk about the numbers in caucus, made him look ridiculous. It is impossible to imagine any future bring-back-Rudd speculation being taken seriously. Or, for that matter, many MPs sticking their necks out for him. He has no political future, even in opposition.

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Three boats arrive for Rudd’s first day. His greatest error is still with us

Andrew Bolt June 28 2013 (12:37am)

Kevin Rudd’s worst and deadliest mistake was to scrap in 2008 the tough border laws which had cut boat arrivals to just three a year.
Yesterday we were told of three arriving in 24 hours:
27 June 2013
HMAS Larrakia, operating under the control of Border Protection Command, intercepted a suspected irregular entry vessel east of Christmas Island on Wednesday night.
Initial indications suggest there were 64 passengers and two crew on board.
27 June 2013
HMAS Larrakia, operating under the control of Border Protection Command, intercepted a suspected irregular entry vessel north of Christmas Island on Wednesday.
Initial indications suggest there were 65 passengers and two crew on board.
27 June 2013
HMAS Larrakia, operating under the control of Border Protection Command, intercepted a suspected irregular entry vessel north-east of Christmas Island on Tuesday.
Initial indications suggest there were 79 people on board.
This not just a mistake in Rudd’s past. It is a mistake he must fix today.
It’s all very well for Foreign Minister Bob Carr to now talk tough, five years too late, and complain that the tribunals Labor stacked are actually as soft as Labor always wanted:

BOB CARR: ... The people coming here by irregular means, irregular maritime arrivals, in the language of the bureaucracy, are being brought here by people smugglers - all of them, being brought here as part of a criminal commercial organisation. Second change: they’re not people fleeing persecution. They’re coming from majority religious or ethnic groups in the countries their fleeing, they’re coming here as economic migrants. And the third: there is an unsustainable spike in their numbers. It’s not the old days where their number were so few, a person with noble instincts could say let them just slide into the population.
TONY JONES: Do some mathematics here. If they’re economic migrants, why do nine out of 10 of them pretty much get accepted as genuine refugees? Are you saying we’ve got that wrong?
BOB CARR: Yeah, we’ve reached the view that as a result of court and tribunal decisions, it’s coming up wrong. We need a tougher, more hard-edged assessment.
Thanks to reckless Labor we’ve gone from too few to worry about to too many to stop.
Rudd was the man most responsible. The cost in lives and money has been enormous. 

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Team! @aliceinframes . Just completed my 395th episode on Kitchen Whiz #Channel9 #GO!#teamwork #kungfuAction
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WALKING IN ERETZ YISRAEL: REDISCOVERY & REAFFIRMATION
(by Bat Zion Susskind-Sacks)
"Even though I own a car, I choose, on many occasions, to walk into town when I need to run errands.
I do it because of what I see and experience along the way. This simple walk becomes a journey each time I embark on it, a journey to rediscover and reaffirm the right decision in coming back to Eretz Yisrael.
It should take no more than about 15-20 minutes of a brisk walk to get to my destination. However, the journey ends up taking much longer. I guess one loses track of time when one enters the path of falling in love with a nation, with a place, with a HOME.
How can I walk by a young mother who is pushing a stroller
where a cheerful young baby is smiling at me? How can I not stop and return a smile, bend down and play with or hold the hand of that tiny spark of hope for Israel and my Jewish people?
How can I pass by a group of youngsters and not stop and express a silent prayer that G-d will watch over them and keep them safe for many years to come?
How can I not stop and offer help to the elderly lady who is carrying the heavy load of groceries and help relieve, at least momentarily, her worries about the hardships of life?
How can I not stop and marvel at these wonderful, brave people, who by no choice of their own were born in this country, caress them with my eyes in an effort to reassure them that all will be well?
How can I not stop and congratulate those I end up striking a conversation with on their decision to move Home when I find out that they are new in this country?
How can I ever stop loving my people? How can I ever stop loving my country? How can I ever stop loving my HOME!?
Shabbat Shalom~"  from Kosher Culture Foundation ✡www.facebook.com/KosherCulture
[image via www.kulfoto.com]
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What he said was that Oslo was over, the Peace ‘process’ is over and there is no purpose in flogging an idea that was stillborn 20 years ago and hasn’t magically come to life since. He said simply, that Israelis are fed up with pretending there’s anyone on the other side of the table at all. There is not. Not an enemy, not a partner, nothing. No one. He said that the tactic of talking to yourself at the behest of the President of the US or Tony Blair is a dead end. That the so called “Arab Plan” which was concocted by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and pulled off the shelf last month is still the dead letter it always was. He said the details don’t matter because the whole farce is imaginary.
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Letting go is hard. for 20 years they were a friend, but I had to walk away 14 years ago .. they weren't good friends .. scratching, gouging taking. Recently I welcomed them back. They wrote "This is why we cannot be friends anymore ... and that breaks my heart It really does ... . Yes, duh, violence breeds violence. you have just been violent to me; now I am violent to you. Look and learn
I am not beating N#### to death and i am molesting you, either. You cannot be a man of justice till you get things in proportion, David."
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LABOR’S GONSKI CONSKI EXPOSED

Yesterday the Auditor General confirmed that Labor’s so-called Gonski education reforms will result in net spending on education FALLING $20.6m in 2014-15 and $135.6m in 2015-16.

Those running around the place proclaiming “I give a Gonski”, have been hoodwinked.

The Auditor General has made it clear – those that support Labor’s education “reforms”, are supporting CUTTING FUNDS to education by $20.6 million in 2014/5 and a further CUT of $135.6 million in 2015/16.

Just another reminder that Labor can’t be believed or trusted.
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Thavee Rose Ftk
The Lord is my light and my salvation-
whom shall i fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?
I am still confident if this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord 
in the land of the living.
WAIT FOR THE LORD; 
BE STRONG AND TAKE HEART
AND WAIT FOR THE LORD.
(Psalms 27:1,13-14)

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‘Ima kill me a cracka’: Death threats against George Zimmerman, random white people explode during trial ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/06/27/ima-kill-me-a-cracka-death-threats-against-george-zimmerman-random-white-people-explode-during-trial/
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Sikh children being hacked to pieces in front of their mothers.

1752 Punjab ... "Their children were transfixed on javelins before their very eyes. Their children were cut into pieces and garlands of those pieces were put around their mother's necks."

From
"Umdat-ut-twarikh" by Sohan Lal Suri (Attorney and Historian at the Lahore Court ) in Persian describing what Mir Mannu Governer Lahore/Multan done after his armys were defeated by the Khalsa
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An Egged bus traveling through the 'Palestinian' village of Harawa in northern Samaria came under fire on Tuesday morning. You won't read about it in any mainstream media, because thank God no one was hurt. 
Terrorists opened fire Tuesday on a bus that was traveling through the village of Hawara, south of Shechem, in Samaria.
No one was hurt.
Large police and army forces arrived on the scene, and located a bullet lodged in the bus's luggage compartment. The security forces are combing the area in search of the shooter.
A similar attack took place in Hawara less than three weeks ago.
Just another morning preparing for 'peace talks'....

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What do you think ? There were Nazis who never hurt or killed anyone. Does this mean that these Nazis were all wonderful moderate peace-loving people? Or that only the Nazis who actually murdered were evil?
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4 her
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There is poetry in the following exchange in Elie Wiesel’s story, “A Man and His Little Sister”:
shoah holocaust
One more thing.
Yes?
When you speak of your little sister leaving you like that, without a hug, without a goodbye, without wishing you a good journey, will you say that it was not her fault?
It was not your fault.
Then whose fault was it?
I shall find out. And I shall tell. I swear it to you, little sister. I shall.
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Even so, when a video surfaces of Palestinian terrorists firebombing Israeli Defense Forces while hiding behind journalists, you might expect the media to cover it; especially considering that the human shields in the incident are the colleagues and friends of the very reporters and editors ignoring the story. And yet… not a peep from the popular press.
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2013/06/wheres_the_coverage_palestinia_6.html#comments
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this video captured his style and shows it to the world - ed===

4 her
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firearms_allowed
PIC: “No Firearms Allowed” at the Safeway in the City of ClaytonIt is good the doors are automatic .. so law abiding citizens don't have to shoot their way in - ed
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Bridges of New York.

A lot of the shoreline was closed off due to damages caused by the mega storm Sandy. The weather on this night was very warm and there was a host of people hanging out where I took this. My travel companion and friend Deepak stood watch to make certain I was not mugged. A great night! Taken while I was on tour with Yahoo!, as their weather photographer. The new Freedom tower glows on the right side of this image. — in New York, NY.
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Cooked gluten free chicken schnitzel with lemon zest and parsley and a sweet potato and coriander mash #wifey #masterchef #glutenfree #schnitzel
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Abba Father,I thank You for Your hand of victory upon my life. Thank You for making a way even when there seems to be no way. I choose to stand in faith. I choose to believe, knowing that You are ready, willing and able to cause me to overcome in this life in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
So, Believe.
But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “ ‘Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well (Luke 8:50, NKJV)

In Scripture a man came to Jesus and said, “My little daughter is very sick. She is close to death. Will You come to my home and pray for her?” Jesus agreed. But along the way He kept getting stopped, one interruption after another. Finally, word came back to Him saying, “No need to come. You’ve waited too late. The little girl has died.”

The people were upset and very distraught. But Jesus said to them in Luke 8:50 “Don’t be afraid. If you will only believe, the little girl will be well.” Notice the phrase, “Only believe.” Jesus went to the home, laid hands on the little girl, and she came back to life.

Are you facing a situation that seems impossible? In the natural, you don’t see how you can get well, or how you can overcome the addiction, or how your family can ever be restored? God is saying to you what He said to them, “If you will only believe, I will turn the situation around. If you only believe, breakthroughs are headed your way!” So,believe that He will do it.Amen.

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fbtwytfw
Friend,
Patriot Voices is celebrating its first anniversary this month, and we've done a lot to impact change in our government. 
With all our country is facing, most notably an activist Supreme Court who is ruling on the great moral issues of our time, Patriot Voices is standing strong to fight for our conservative values.  But we need your help to keep it up. 
That's why I am asking you to donate to our Stand up for the Grassroots moneybomb. 
We've done a lot in our first year.  Here's a recap, by the numbers:
  • 140,000: That's how many members we've recruited in the past 12 months. That's nearly 12,000 members a month!
      
  • 100,000: The number of grassroots activists just like you who have actively advanced our causes by signing a petition, emailing their legislator, hosting a house party, or making a generous contribution to Patriot Voices. 
      
  • 900: The number of grassroots events we've held across the country. 
      
  • 340: The number of state and local chapters Patriot Voices has across the country. 
      
  • 60,000: That's how many emails Patriot Voices activists sent opposing Chuck Hagel's confirmation as Secretary of Defense. 
      
  • 11,000: The number of Patriot Voices grassroots activists who signed our petition exposing the hypocrisy of Obamacare. 
      
  • 700,000: The number of marchers Rick Santorum & Patriot Voices joined at this year's March for Life.
  • 1: We produced one very important video, calling on Hillary Clinton to come clean with the truth about what happened in Benghazi, Libya where four brave Americans were killed in terrorist attack.
      
  • $600,000: Total dollars that Patriot Voices PAC raised in 2012 and used to help our endorsed candidates.
And perhaps our most significant achievement this year was was the defeat of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).  

By mobilizing our grassroots army and partnering with the Home School Legal Defense Association, Patriot Voices encouraged many in the U.S. Senate to vote against this flawed treaty, and it was defeated last year. CRPD is likely to come up again in July, and Patriot Voices is mobilizing forces to defeat it once again.  Over 12,000 emails have been sent through our new digital tool to senators in the last month, asking them to vote no on CRPD.
We've done a lot in just one year, and we need your help to keep doing a lot more.  

I'm asking you to make a donation now and become a founding member of Patriot Voices.
As we celebrate all that we've accomplished in our first year, we are also preparing for the year ahead. 
  • We must keep the Obama administration in check.
  • We must keep standing up for life.
  • We must keep fighting for our 2nd Amendment freedoms.
  • We must keep pushing Congress to balance the budget.
But we can't do all we need to if we don't have the resources to get the job done. 
Right now, I'm asking you to make a first-time donation of $2, $5, $10 or whatever you can afford today to help Patriot Voices keep fighting to restore the American Dream for working families!  
Thanks for standing with us,
Rick Santorum signature 
Rick Santorum 
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IMAG0101
Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for June 27th. Enjoy!

From the Blog

Heh: Bill Clinton praises those who fought tirelessly to overturn a law he signed into existence

Bill and Hillary Clinton would like to express their sincere appreciation to the Supreme Court for taking DOMA off the table as a potential thorn in the side of Hillary’s 2016 run...
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More From the Right Side of the Web

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This morning on "FOX & Friends," Michelle talked IRS scandals, HHS desperation, and liberal racism.

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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And that's how you class it up.

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An alto saxophone

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Events[edit]

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Your posts are long but interesting [I didn't read them all]Uncertain political times, I note.Hope you like my post.
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