(Jackson carrying Van Buren into office) Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. Before his presidency, he served as the eighth Vice President (1833–1837) and the 10th Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson. He was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president who was not of British (i.e. English, Welsh, Scottish, or Irish) descent—his ancestry was Dutch. He was the first president to be born an American citizen (his predecessors were born British subjects before the American Revolution), and is also the only president not to have spoken English as a first language, having grown up speaking Dutch. Moreover, he was the first president from New York.
=== Bible Quote ===
“Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.”- Matthew 22:37-39
=== Headlines ===
Nicole McCabe says her identity was stolen as probe reveals Kevin Rudd was briefed years ago over fears spies were harvesting Australian passports
Supreme Court rejects Suu Kyi appeal BURMA"S Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Aung San Suu Kyi against her extended house arrest, her lawyer says, keeping her in detention ahead of elections promised by the junta this year. The 64-year-old opposition leader had her incarceration lengthened by 18 months in August after being convicted over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside home in Rangoon.
Addict offered second transplant TAXPAYERS may have to foot the bill for dying drug user's flight overseas for life-saving surgery.
Elin needs therapy, not Tiger, says guru Rael FRENCH UFO guru Claude Vorilhon, alias Rael, advised golf superstar Tiger Woods in an open letter to divorce his wife and embrace multiple sexual partners. "Adultery is not mental disease but a very normal behavior among both humans and animals," said the leader of the atheist Raelian Movement, whose followers believe life on earth was created by extra-terrestrials.
'Fake' doctor busted at hospital A MAN allegedly pretended to be a doctor at a major hospital for about six months before he was caught.
Crowbar brawl erupts over parking row THREE men have been charged after a wild Sydney street fight over a parking row that led to threats of a crowbar bashing and several people being hurt.
Mohd Shah Saemin's lover faces court as son detained THE lover of dead Malaysian consulate driver Mohd Shah Saemin was heard on police phone taps helping her son flee the country and asking a travel agent how to get an urgent plane ticket overseas, a court heard. Consulate accounts clerk Nita Eriza Iskandar, 46, is accused of lying to police about the wherabouts of her son Andrew Iskandar, 20, and helping him organise his flight to Singapore early on Wednesday.
Susan Templeman is Labor's Desperate Grasp to Retain Power A WESTERN Sydney soccer mum looks set to become Labor's secret marginal seat weapon in NSW following a meeting today of the party's national executive. Susan Templeman will become the second working mum from NSW likely to be chosen to run for Federal Parliament, with the party expected today to drop its plans to install its own candidate for the Blue Mountains seat of Macquarie and let local branch members fight it out.
Baby boy crushed by London lamp post dies A BABY boy hit by a falling lamp post in west London on Tuesday died today, Scotland Yard announced. The one-year-old, whose name was not released, was in his pushchair when the lamp post fell, crushing the baby inside. A 62-year-old woman, who was not related to the child, suffered back injuries but was later discharged from the hospital. At the time of the incident the child was with a female carer who was not hurt, local police said. - under UK Labor things have fallen apart - ed.
Police shot while serving arrest warrant POLICE swarmed on Fresno, California today after two sheriff's deputies and a fire investigator were shot while serving a warrant in an arson investigation. The suspect remains at large.
No F'ing Way! California's state legislature passes a resolution calling for a statewide 'Cuss Free Week'
Rocket Engine Passes Fiery Final Tests A Utah company that makes powerful booster rockets for space travel conducted its final ground test on Thursday for the nation's fading space shuttle program.
As the president makes a big push for bipartisanship, what ideas will the GOP bring to the table? Plus, are the Dems really willing to compromise to revive reform? === Advertising For Adolescents! The culture warriors speak out on what type of TV ads are appropriate! === Guest: Sarah Palin Health Care Summit aftermath! Sarah Palin reacts to the latest reform strategy on Capitol Hill. === Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes FDA Regulations - Could they cost you your life? John exposes the deadly side effects of the drug administration. === Join us March 2nd from 9am-6pm in New York City for a historic tribunal on crimes against women in Burma or tune in live via webcast by clicking this link.
Women have been particularly impacted by the regime's crimes. They face sexual violence, forced labor, forced relocations and the loss of their family members to political violence. This, despite the fact that the Burma is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discriminations Against Women (CEDAW); legally obligating the military to respect women's rights. The United Nations must wake-up and take action to end the crimes committed against women in Burma. That is why the Women's League of Burma and the Nobel Women's Initiative have teamed up for a tribunal that will make the voices of survivors loud and clear during the UN's Commission on the Status of Women.
Nobel Prize Laureates Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, and Adolfo Prez Esquivel will preside as judges to hear the testimonies of the survivors. More information below. === INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN OF BURMA
The Tribunal is a women‐directed and women‐centered justice and advocacy initiative. Judges will hear testimony from several women of Burma who will share their personal stories of surviving human rights violations and crimes under military rule in Burma. Their voices, and the findings and recommendations of the judges, will be directed to the Burmese regime and the internal community. The Tribunal will provide a powerful spotlight on the oppression of women of Burma in order to support the development of a just and peaceful Burma.
Adjudicated by
Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize (2003), Iran
Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Prize (1997), USA
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize (1980), Argentina
Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Dr. Heisoo Shin, Former Expert, UN CEDAW, Republic of Korea
March 2, 2010 9 am ‐ 6 pm Proshansky Auditorium The Graduate Center City University of New York 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street) New York City
To RSVP and for information: +1 613 569 8400 ext. 116 tribunal@nobelwomensinitiative.org
Moderator Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director and Senior Scholar Center for Women's Global Leadership
=== Comments ===
Creating Political Fear in America By Bill O'Reilly Earlier this week, we had a lively discussion about whether or not President Obama is a socialist. You may remember radio guy Rush Limbaugh mocked me for not putting the s-word label on Mr. Obama. Also, Fox News analyst Newt Gingrich agreed with Mr. Limbaugh that the president is a socialist, at least philosophically.
We then spoke with Bernie Goldberg, who agreed with me that the socialist label might be very damaging to Barack Obama because it scares people.
Most Americans don't like socialism. If the s-word sticks to Mr. Obama, it will hurt him politically.
On the other side, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an admitted socialist, was ranting about the global warming situation the other day, actually comparing it to the Third Reich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT.: The reason that this debate is so important is that it reminds me in some ways of the debate taking place in this country and around the world in the late 1930s. And during that period with Nazism and fascism growing, a real danger to the United States and democratic countries all over the world, there were people in this Congress, in the British Parliament, saying don't worry, Hitler is not real. It'll disappear. We don't have to be prepared to take it on. Global warming is real.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
I could be wrong, but I believe old Bernie is trying to scare us.
And then there is top presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, who was asked about the Tea Party movement at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIE JARRETT, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: It's always a lot easier, again, to scare people and to get them angry when they're already scared and they're already uncertain. I think that's what the Tea Party has tried to capture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
All right. Now, unlike the statement from Sanders, Ms. Jarrett may have a point. Many Americans are frightened. They see the Obama administration spending record amounts of money, funds the country doesn't have. And there are controversies over terrorism, taxation and other things important to the folks. So yes, some Tea Party people are in the game because they're afraid. But "Talking Points" doesn't think that's a bad thing.
Fear is a tremendous motivator. If you think your roof's going to collapse and you build a stronger roof, that's positive, is it not?
It is a rational and distorted fear that is damaging, that can lead to violence and heartbreak. It can also paralyze people, making them incapable of correcting problems.
So fear is a double-edged sword, and there is no question it is being wielded all over the country these days. === A lot of cash for not much better Andrew Bolt Kevin Rudd said in September that if we didn’t have an enormous stimulus package ”unemployment would be going through the roof”.
The IPA’s Professor Sinclair Davidson says the facts don’t seem to justify that: UPDATE
Reader Grant:
The left hand graph needs clarification. If it is meant to say (which I think it is) that Australia’s unemployment rate has gone up roughly 1% from (say) 5% to 6% then it should be the percentage point increase in unemployment not the % increase.
The latter for an increase from 5% to 6% would be 20% (ie 1/5)
UPDATE 2
Professor Davidson answers a reader’s query:
Unfortunately the OECD data source that I used for the Harmonised Unemployment Rate (basically to get the data a bit more comparible) doesn’t have complete data for New Zealand for 2009. If we look at the difference between the third quarter of 2009* (6.5%) and 2007 (3.7%) then their increase has been 2.8 percent. The OECD document that I relied on for the fiscal stimulus packages indicates that New Zealand’s package was 4.3 percent of 2008 GDP. So their increase in unemployment was higher than ours (1.2%), but their stimulus packgage on slight smaller than ours.* I suspect this might overstate the unemployment effect - it would for Australia. === Be warned Andrew Bolt We do our best to cut out the defamations, usually posted by cowards using false names. But every now and then one regretfully slips through in the daily flood of comments.
But by warned that it’s not just us who then may pay the price:
LEGAL counsel Martin Bennett has a short message for those who allow themselves to attack reputations over the internet, imagining they are safe under the cloak of anonymity. ‘’You can be hunted down and found,’’ he said yesterday.
Mr Bennett has done just that for a Perth client, winning $30,000 in damages and costs, an apology, and undertakings from a Colac man that he won’t post any more defamatory comments…
The action against Graeme Gladman began after highly uncomplimentary comments appeared last November under pseudonyms on the HotCopper website, a stockmarket forum.
UPDATE
A reader in comments below clears up an unfortunate confusion:
I know what it feels like to be defamed. My name is Graeme Gladman of Sydney and a Director of BrandQuest, and I have already fielded a number of calls on this subject.I am NOT the person referred to in the defamation case and would never - and have never - hidden behind the cloak of anonymity when posting on sites or blogs.I have no tolerance or sympathy for those who do - even my namesake!!! === CORRECT RESPONSE Tim Blair We live at a remarkable point of history, at which not only do eternal political divides reach moments of previously unknown volatility but the fates of humankind and the planet itself are believed to be at stake.
Financial, social and ecological systems are understood to be at the very brink of collapse. The most powerful nations on earth face deadly challenges that only decades ago would have been unimaginable. Many fear for their children and grandchildren, who may endure lives of torment and struggle the likes of which have not been known since the Dark Ages.
The proper response to these crises cannot be found in logic, for now even logic is a matter of dispute. Also, there is no sense pursuing reason in the viewpoints of those welded to fundamentalism of any stripe, for there is no reasoning to be had with those so afflicted.
Instead, we must seek a response reflecting the universal human condition; an unbiased, dual-gendered, multi-racial response drawing upon every tradition of communication, technology and art. From those combined forces a united and uniting voice will be heard. And it will be heard in song. === KEVNI v KERRY Tim Blair Lately demolished by children, Kevin Rudd is now dissected by Kerry O’Brien. When even the ABC isn’t picking up what Rudd is throwing down, the government is in trouble. === So where are all the triffids and dead consumers? Andrew Bolt How much has our superstitious bans on GM crops, still maintained in some states, cost us? How far do we now trail our competitors, both in the development of this science and in market share? The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Crops marks the rise and rise of the science-armed farmer:
China 3.7 Cotton, tomato, poplar, papaya, sweet pepper
Paraguay 2.2 Soybean
South Africa 2.1 Corn, soybean, cotton
Uruguay 0.8 Soybean, corn
Bolivia 0.8 Soybean
Philippines 0.5 Corn
Australia 0.2 Cotton, canola
Tasmania and South Australia still maintain bans on GM crops, and Western Australia lifted its own (partially) only last month. === Theo exposes the carbon capture con Andrew Bolt Theo Theophanous, John Brumby’s former energy minister, blows the whistle on the clean-coal technology that Labor claims will cut our emissions without huge job losses:
AUSTRALIA should debate going nuclear and Victoria should be prepared to host nuclear power stations, former state energy minister Theo Theophanous said yesterday.
In a dramatic final speech to Parliament, the retiring Labor heavyweight called on Kevin Rudd to lead a national debate on nuclear power.
Mr Theophanous said Australia could not afford to put all its eggs in the ‘’clean coal’’ basket because the ‘’Holy Grail’’ of storing carbon underground might never be viable.
That would be more of your billions wasted:
Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, has announced four projects which will move to the next stage of assessment in the $2 billion Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Flagships Program.
=== Fraser really was a trickster Andrew Bolt David Smith, once the official secretary to Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen, exposes a couple of , um, errors by the scheming Malcolm Fraser - and tells how the sneak tried to ambush Stephen, hoping to rush him into calling early election just to wrongfoot Labor.
How laughable for Fraser to now pose as the great moral sage of the Liberals, who so constantly disappoint his magisterial self. === Peer-reviewed abuse from Ove Andrew Bolt Professor Ove Hoegh-Gulberg, the prominent climate alarmist, writes a gentle reproof in comments to this post on declining faith in the warming scare:
Andrew, I guess that you believe that by trotting out the spin devoid of the facts that you’ll have us all believing in your BS. Unfortunately for you, truth is actually tougher to beat than the generation of a simple ad campaign. Those of us who believe in the truth are in it for long haul, so good luck!
This, of course, is the more civilised, rational and just-the-facts kind of dialogue that fellow alarmist Clive Hamilton says wicked sceptics should try more often. === Madden’s spin unspun Andrew Bolt Shock! Proof that another spin-spin government never launches a “consultation” without having first made sure of the results:
BRUMBY government spin doctors have been caught out with plans to engage in contrived public consultations, setting up photo-opportunities to boost ministers’ local profile and leaking stories to the media.
In an email accidentally sent to the ABC, Planning Minister Justin Madden’s chief spinner detailed plans to use the cover of a public consultation to knock back plans to build a massive 25-storey tower as part of the Windsor Hotel’s re-build.
The spin doctor’s cheat sheet also included plans for Mr Madden to set-up a misleading association with Essendon Football Club to promote the government much-trumpeted respect agenda.
The former football champion is transferring to the seat of Essendon for November’s state election.
Here’s how Madden’s spinner put it:
The document suggests the government release the report for public comment, and then use the reaction as a pretext for rejecting the project.
‘’Strategy at this stage is to release it [the report] for public comment as this affects the entire community and then use those responses as reason to halt it as we have listened to community views,’’ it says.
Do think people are wising up to the spin merchants who have so debased the political process? === Gaddafi calls for jihad Andrew Bolt All Europe’s bribes to Gaddafi just made the monster stronger: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi called on Thursday for jihad (holy war) against Switzerland over the ban adopted last year on the construction of minarets in the country.
“It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad ought to be proclaimed by all means,” Kadhafi said during a speech in the Mediterranean coastal city of Bengazi to mark the birthday of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
“Jihad against Switzerland, against Zionism, against foreign aggression is not terrorism,” Kadhafi said. === How desperate is Rudd? Andrew Bolt Kevin Rudd’s media blitz this week shows just how rattled he is, and what previously shunned lengths he’s been forced to go to to stop the bleeding over the insulation scandal.
This week he swallowed his pride and for the first time asked if he could go on Alan Jones’ show. (Jones refused.)
He then asked to go on the 2GB show of Ray Hadley for the first time since he became Prime Minister. (Hadley agreed.)
He finally accepted a standing invitation to go on the ABC’s Insiders - for only the second time since he became Prime Minister.
And while he’s often been on the safer ground of the 7.30 Report, last night’s appearance was unusual in that Rudd this time went on to defend a disaster - a job he’s tended to leave to fall guys such as Penny Wong (the Copenhagen fiasco) and Peter Garrett (take your pick).
Rudd is fighting for his political life.
UPDATE
James Jeffrey:
IT seems like hardly any time since Kevin Rudd told Ray Hadley he wouldn’t go on the naughty 2GB broadcaster’s show until “you start behaving yourself”.
Come to think of it, it is hardly any time: less than a fortnight. At the time, Hadley informed Strewth he had no intention of amending his ways, so a Hadley-Rudd interview seemed to be something you could safely file under “Tragically Unlikely”, alongside cold fusion and “Harry Jenkins 4EVA” tattoos.
And from the bookies:
Centrebet is offering $4 on Julia Gillard replacing Kev in the hot seat by the next election... === No thanks to Kerry Andrew Bolt Reader Arthur McArthur compares the end of previous interviews Kevin Rudd has done with Kerry O’Brien to the angry silence that ended last night’s:
28/1/10: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, thanks for talking with us, KEVIN RUDD: Thankyou.
2/11/09: KERRY O’BRIEN: Mr Rudd, thanks very much for joining us from Townsville tonight. KEVIN RUDD: Thanks very much, Kerry.
22/6/09: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, thanks for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Pleasure to be with you.
13/5/09: KERRY O’BRIEN: We’re out of time. Kevin Rudd, thanks for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Good to be with you.
7/4/09: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, thanks very much for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Good to be with you.
4/3/09: KERRY O’BRIEN: We’re out of time. Kevin Rudd thanks for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Good to be with you.
11/12/08: KERRY O’BRIEN: Same to you. Kevin Rudd, thanks for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Thanks for having me on the program.
9/10/08: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, thanks for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Good to be with you.
3/7/08: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd we are out of time, thanks for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Good to be with you.
21/11/07: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, we’re out of time, thanks for talking with it us. KEVIN RUDD: Thanks for having me on the program, Kerry.
15/10/07: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, we’re out of time. But again, I look forward to our next interview, too, thank you. KEVIN RUDD: Thank you, Kerry.
5/3/07: KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, thanks for talking with us. KEVIN RUDD: Thanks for having us on the program, Kerry.
And last night;
KERRY O’BRIEN: Kevin Rudd, thanks very much for talking with us.
(insert sounds of crickets chirping here) === If more Muslims are truly a problem… Andrew Bolt WE didn’t need the Rudd Government to tell us this week that, ahem, our own Muslim community is now a growing terrorist threat.
What we needed was to hear what the Government planned to do about it.
And the answers in its new White Paper on counter-terrorism?
Virtually zilch. Not even a word on whether it would be wise to cut immigration from Muslim nations, now running at about 28,000 a year.
Nor was there anything about ending the mad multiculturalism that rewards most those who integrate least.
Rather the reverse. The Government promised more of the stuff that’s clearly not doing the job - more of that “multiculturalism and respect for cultural diversity to maintain a society that is resilient to the hate-based and divisive narratives that fuel terrorism”.
Hey, guys. If multiculturalism has made us so “resilient to the hate-based and divisive narratives” of jihadism, why does your White Paper admit that “numerous terrorist attacks” have had to be “thwarted” in Australia since 2001, and that we now have 20 people jailed on terrorism charges, 38 people charged after anti-terrorism operations (presumably all, or mostly, Muslims, too) and 40 more denied passports?
That’s sure a lot of strife from just 340,000 Australian Muslims, as measured by the last census. === Making your house too good for you Andrew Bolt IT takes a special kind of madness to run out of land for houses in this huge and near empty continent.
And even more madness - of the finger-wagging sort - to have made our houses among the dearest in the world.
Yeah, sure, celebrate a small victory when the Legislative Council this week blocked a “development tax” the Brumby Government hoped to slap on new housing estates on the city’s fringe.
But did you know the Government plans three new bits of meddling legislation to make houses even pricier, including one to force builders to make every new house disabled-friendly?
True. Every new house could soon have to have wheelchair access, wider doors and corridors, and a toilet big enough for a wheelchair in order to allow “most (disabled) people to visit a home with dignity”?
Don’t have disabled visitors? Well, get some. Oh, and reinforce your bathroom walls with extra noggings so handrails can be fitted more cheaply for the day that you’re old, too, and need them.
Yes, I know the families out in those new estates actually tend to be young and fit - and short of the $4300 that the Housing Industry Association warns this latest social engineering will cost.
But there’s no cost too great when government moralists dream of ways to improve you.
It’s thanks to their sort that the latest annual Demographia study of housing affordability shows our houses are already far too expensive for most young couples just trying to get a start. === Our passports, but also our cause, too Andrew Bolt Kevin Rudd is right to protest - up to a point:
AUSTRALIA yesterday warned Israel its standing as a friend would be jeopardised if it were found to have condoned the suspected theft of three Australian citizens’ identities by its Mossad spy agency to carry out a political assassination.
As Kevin Rudd demanded answers over Israel’s role in the growing international scandal - and ASIO and the Australian Federal Police launched investigations - it was revealed that Australia had previously warned Israel not to use fake Australian passports for intelligence operations.
A diplomatic row broke out yesterday when three Victorians, all living in Israel, were confirmed among 26 people from four nations whose tampered passports were allegedly used by a team of suspected Israeli Mossad agents who assassinated Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last month.
But Greg Sheridan sums it up well:
ISRAEL has every right to wage war against those who wage war against it but Israel certainly does not have the right to misuse the passports of innocent Australians in the process.
This was a very bad mistake by Jerusalem....
(But) let’s be clear what Israel deserves criticism for.
Israel has every right to defend itself against terrorists and murderers. The international community cannot condemn Israel for waging too indiscriminate a war against Hamas in Gaza, then condemn it all the more for a targeted strike against a key terrorist murderer.
Morally, there is no difference in Israel’s actions from those of the US when it targets al-Qa’ida and Taliban leaders in Afghanistan for strikes by unmanned drone aircraft. === But it was a great speech Andrew Bolt Yet another example of Kevin Rudd’s words being mightier than his deeds:
Australia’s largest city has recorded a 22 per cent increase in those sleeping rough.
The rise comes more than a year after the federal government’s pledge to halve the number of homeless nationally by 2020.
Wayside Chapel’s Graham Long defends his Prime Minister:
… a lot of the talk is very good talk.
UPDATE
Would any of those extra homeless be farmers?
THE Federal Government’s rush to buy water for the environment has cost regional Australia 5599 jobs in irrigated agriculture, according to the Victorian Farmers Federation.
(Thanks to readers and now and mh.) === O’Brien shows just why Rudd must go Andrew Bolt Kevin Rudd last night was given his toughest interview yet on the 7.30 Report by Kerry O’Brien, whose controlled indignation was devastating.
What came out from Rudd was little but spin - how often was he going to “step up to the plate” - yet even so O’Brien managed to expose a central and defnining characteristic of this Chief Bureaucrat. O’Brien kept pointing out the devastating consequences of Rudd’s rushed insulation scheme, while Rudd kept defending the process. I’ve never seen this essential flaw in Rudd teased out so effectively.
Example:
KERRY O’BRIEN: But what went wrong, where did it go wrong?
KEVIN RUDD: Well, compliance means that you have a compliance system within it which provides quality control and assessment of the installations which go into each home. The compliance…
KERRY O’BRIEN: Yes, I understand-I understand what the compliance is, I’m saying what went wrong with the compliance system? How did it fail?...
Example:
KEVIN RUDD: The Minister had established a series of risk management strategies across the program, mindful of the advice which had come forward from the risk assessors originally, but plainly the point.
KERRY O’BRIEN: Okay, but it failed.
Example:
KERRY O’BRIEN: But who will take real responsibility for this failure? There were very clear early warning signs to your Environment Department from various authoritative resources very early - from industry, from various State and territory agencies. Quite bleak warnings, months before your program was rolled out.
Despite all the steps your Department of Environment says it took and that Peter Garrett accepted as a result of those warnings, we now know that the very things warned against happened. There’ve been house fires, there’ve been deaths, there’ve been untold shoddy and unsafe installations. You’ve now been forced to collapse the scheme.
And especially this:
KEVIN RUDD: And what the document (prepared by Minter Ellison for the Government last year) demonstrates, as I have read it, is that the strategies put forward at that time were judged by Minter Ellison to be capable of managing the risk. That is…
KERRY O’BRIEN: And that was presented to the Government on April 9 and on April 29, your Environment Department had a phone hook-up, as you’re well aware now, with all the State and Territory agencies that would have been involved in part at least in oversight of how this program was to be implemented in terms of things like quality control and health and safety requirements.
The very clear message that came from those State and Territory agencies was, it doesn’t matter how perfect your regulations are going to look on paper, we simply do not have the wherewithal, the manpower, the expertise to deliver on this. Because it is such a massive program and you are trying to do this too quickly.
KEVIN RUDD: What I would say in response to that, Kerry, is that the Minter Ellison report which you’ve just handed to me has about three specific sections which go to the question of safety and of quality control and the proper training of workers. Those three sections of the report, which you’ve actually just skipped over in what you’ve just said - the conclusion by Minter Ellison was that the strategies put in place by the Minister were either effective or capable of tolerably managing the risk.
KERRY O’BRIEN: But, Mr Rudd, you are ignoring the fact that this was on April 9, but on April 29, the people who would have been charged around this country via the States with the supervision of the regulations and the processes and the procedures, were yelling loud and clear that the risks were huge and that the regulations could not be enforced.
That was after you got this reassurance.
KEVIN RUDD: From the period when this report was delivered, which as you said was in April, and when the guidelines for the program were introduced at the end of June and early July, the Minister, I’m advised, received not just input from risk assessment documents, risk assessment meetings involving not just Minter Ellisons, but a whole range of other people, and the Department in response to that put together the guidelines for the program.
Now…
KERRY O’BRIEN: But the bottom line, Mr Rudd, is that those State agencies in that phone hook-up and the warnings they gave were right.
That is what’s happened.
KEVIN RUDD: Well, let me…
KERRY O’BRIEN: Their warnings came true.
Game’s up. Someone has to be sacked. In my opinion it must be Rudd, since he’s demonstrated beyond question that the seeds of this disaster lie in him. A man still so satisfied with the process that actually produced a catastrophe is sure to produce yet more catastrophes still. === Gore’s Katrina con exposed Andrew Bolt Ever since Al Gore cynically exploited Hurricane Katrina to sell his warming scare, warming alarmists have claimed that global warming is making hurricanes and cyclones worse.
Most shamelessly, Gore even seized on the cyclone which devastated Burma in 2008 as proof of a warming world.
Yet the evidence for this scare has always been dubious at best.
And now the World Meteorological Organisation nails the exaggeration - or lie. Professor Roger Pielke Jr explains:
A team of researchers under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization has published a new review paper in Nature Geoscience (PDF) updating consensus perspectives published in 1998 and 2006…
On North Atlantic hurricanes the paper states...:
Hurricane counts (with no adjustments for possible missing cases) show a significant increase from the late 1800s to present, but do not have a significant trend from the 1850s or 1860s to present… Landfalling tropical storm and hurricane activity in the US shows no long-term increase…
The paper’s conclusions about global trends might raise a few eyebrows.
In terms of global tropical cyclone frequency, it was concluded25 that there was no significant change in global tropical storm or hurricane numbers from 1970 to 2004, nor any significant change in hurricane numbers for any individual basin over that period, except for the Atlantic (discussed above). Landfall in various regions of East Asia26 during the past 60 years, and those in the Philippines27 during the past century, also do not show significant trends.
...The paper states that projections of future activity favor a reduction in storm frequency coupled with and increase in average storm intensity, with large uncertainties:
These include our assessment that tropical cyclone frequency is likely to either decrease or remain essentially the same. Despite this lack of an increase in total storm count, we project that a future increase in the globally averaged frequency of the strongest tropical cyclones is more likely than not — a higher confidence level than possible at our previous assessment.
....What about more intense rainfall?
. . . a detectable change in tropical-cyclone-related rainfall has not been established by existing studies.
What about changes in location of storm formation, storm motion, lifetime and surge?
There is no conclusive evidence that any observed changes in tropical cyclone genesis, tracks, duration and surge flooding exceed the variability expected from natural causes.
Bottom line (emphasis added)?
. . . we cannot at this time conclusively identify anthropogenic signals in past tropical cyclone data.
James Monroe (April 28, 1758 – July 4, 1831) was the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825). His administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida (1819); the Missouri Compromise (1820), in which Missouri was declared a slave state; the admission of Maine in 1820 as a free state; and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine (1823), declaring U.S. opposition to European interference in the Americas, as well as breaking all ties with France remaining from the War of 1812. Monroe was the last U.S. President to wear a powdered wig and knee breeches according to the men´s fashion of the eighteenth century === Bible Quote === “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”- Jeremiah 29:11-13 ===
On the eve of Obama's most aggressive push yet to pass a national health care plan, a 50-year-old audio recording of Ronald Reagan speaking out against 'socialized medicine' has become a million-hit YouTube sensation
Toyota Chief 'Deeply Sorry' Akio Toyoda apologizes for accidents and recalls during grilling on Capitol Hill, vows to correct problems
Two teachers' performance of a dirty dance at a Canadian high school rally has led to their suspension without pay, The Globe and Mail reported. After footage of the graphic lap dance was posted online, the Winnipeg School Division launched an investigation into the incident at Churchill High School.
Hunt is on for a brunette travelling as Nicole Sandra McCabe, one of the three "Australians" suspected of taking part in the killing of a top Hamas chief
Estate agent made a real killing IT was a grave attempt at humour that buried the crafty marketing trick of this Sydney real estate agent and killed off two homeowners - at least in print anyway. See what he did.
Child sex anti-smoking ads cause uproar A SERIES of deliberately shocking anti-smoking adverts that compare nicotine addiction to sexual abuse sparked lively debate in France today. The images, published earlier this week, show a man pushing a kneeling child's face towards his crotch. Two feature boys and one a girl. In each, the children look fearfully up at the man, holding in their mouths a cigarette that appears to protrude from his groin. Under the image runs the slogan, "Smoking makes you a slave to tobacco".
Cannibal star devouring planet LIKE the Roman god Saturn who ate his own children, a star 600 light years from Earth is slowly gobbling up one of its own planets. The planet, whose discovery was reported last year, is a "gas giant" with a mass about 40 per cent greater than that of Jupiter, the biggest planet of our Solar System, and with a radius 79 per cent bigger, according to a study published today in Nature.
MP Ian West muscled up to me too, says NSW Speaker Tanya Gadiel THE state MP accused of assaulting a property executive was allegedly also physically restrained by colleagues during an incident with a female Labor MP. Police yesterday served a notice to Upper House Labor MP Ian West to appear in Burwood Court on April 13 on an assault charge. Police also served the former union official with an interim personal violence order. As the court order was served fresh allegations emerged about Mr West's behaviour yesterday. === Journalists Corner === As the president makes a big push for bipartisanship, what ideas will the GOP bring to the table? Plus, are the Dems really willing to compromise to revive reform? === Toyota's Auto Union Impact! Will the company's latest struggles accelerate the market for union-heavy U.S. car makers? === Tiger's Sorry Story! It's a "Body Language Breakdown" as our expert analyzes Woods' apology! === Guest: Newt Gingrich An even bigger health plan? Newt takes you inside the president's proposal! === Comments === Get Ready for Higher Taxes By Bill O'Reilly President Obama says his health care initiative will cost almost a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, but some analysts believe the cost will be double that. And because the USA is nearly bankrupt now, higher taxes are coming.
The group Americans for Tax Reform estimates that over the next 10 years, the feds will raise nearly $750 billion in new taxes. That, of course, will affect everybody, not just the rich. So get ready.
Already some states are taxing car accidents. If you have one, you could pay for the cleanup.
Also, some places want 911 calls taxed. You make one, you pay. If police or firefighters respond to your emergency, you could be taxed. The government calls this a fee for services.
President Obama wants to tax tanning salons. And you can expect higher taxes on everything that might not be good for you like Frosted Flakes, Haagen-Dazs and gummy bears.
Here in New York state, they are now charging sales tax when you buy stuff out of state. So if I'm down in Florida and New York state people find out I buy a boat there, they'll come after me.
In addition, expect higher tolls on roadways, higher fees for licenses, registrations, inspections and just about anything else the government can think of.
So the big government expansion President Obama wants will affect every American. We will all pay a lot more money to the government.
The question then becomes: Is a health care entitlement, or increased aid to the poor, or more money to the Pentagon worth the toll, pardon the pun, it will take on working Americans?
"Talking Points" believes we are taxed to the max right now. Just look at every bill you get. There is a tax included, and those taxes are going up, and no one will tell you that.
Obamacare is perhaps the biggest entitlement expenditure in America's history. It will bring relief to Americans who do not have health insurance, but it will also punish working Americans who are barely getting by right now.
So Americans need to wise up and figure this out. It's not all about illness. A big part of this is government control, the ability to spread the wealth around.
We have put forth common sense solutions to getting health care premiums down, but they are not included in the president's latest bill, things like tort reform and interstate insurance company competition.
President Obama has never denied that he believes in income redistribution, and that's what's underway right now: taking more of your money to fund programs. Is that healthy? You make the call. === Teaching us how to waste billions Andrew Bolt A builder writes to me of another scandalous waste of money by the rush-rush-Rudd Government:
You touched on the BERS (the $15 billion Building the Education Revolution) programme. If anyone could be bothered to investigate, consult and pursue this sham like the insulation was pursued, it won’t take long to find out about the hundreds of millions of dollars ( if not billions) of tax payer money pissed down the drain by a process that was ill conceived from day one. Read fraud and rip offs like never seen before in this country.
The limited group of Architects and consultants and government appointed project managers skimmed all the cream off the top before a sod was turned and bragged about it. The big Multi nationals came out the big winners because they were the ones with the capacity to service ludicrous tender times and packages of twenty schools at a time.
The problem is, there is no hope these Companies can operate efficiently and economically to service a sector that is traditionally serviced by second and third tier builders. These large companies have completely drained the resources for the rest of us and you watch, they will dump everyone without blinking an eyelid the minute this whole sham ends. === Flannery’s mates clean up with Garrett’s help Andrew Bolt One company got very lucky in the Rudd Government’s Green Loans scheme that’s since all but collapsed:
THE federal government’s Green Loans scheme was in further crisis last night over allegations of preferential treatment, failure to set minimum training standards and late payments.
About 143,000 Australian households that have had environmental assessments are still waiting to receive $50 reward cards promised by the government to buy items such as low-flow shower heads and energy-saving light bulbs, seven months into the scheme…
However, the Environment Department has been accused of giving the NSW-based company Field Force preferential treatment by giving an IT link to the department to make bookings.
Last night it was revealed that 30 per cent - or 61,500 assessments - of all assessment bookings so far have been allocated to Field Force. Field Force has 385 assessors on its books, or 7.7 per cent of all assessors in the scheme
Which company is this Fieldforce exactly?
Why, the one that’s got Tim Flannery as its front man for Green Loans business.
And, my goodness, is Flannery sure lucky for some green companies with a hand out for Rudd dollars:
2007 - We learn of a vested interest:
High profile Geodynamics shareholder and Monash University geology graduate, Tim Flannery, was named Australian of the Year on Thursday 25th January, obviously in recognition of his support of geothermal energy.
...November 2009 - We learn that Geodynamics gets yet another big grant from the Rudd Government, regardless (of the failure of its test plant), this one for $90 million for a demonstration plant.
Ah, the profits of doom. But, it must be stressed, all honestly earned.
(Thanks to reader Peter.) === TWENTY TEN TENDULKAR Tim Blair Former Australian captain Steve Waugh once predicted that brother Mark would be the first player to hit 200 runs in a 50-over game. But the younger Waugh never quite made it; his 50-over peak was 173. And now India’s Sachin Tendulkar claims that double-hundred milestone, 126 years after the same mark was first reached in Tests. Remarkably, Tendulkar’s 200 came off one delivery fewer than Waugh faced in compiling his highest score …
UPDATE. Highlights:
=== OUR JOB IS TO CHANGE REALITY Tim Blair Joe Hildebrand analyses a remarkable Cate Blanchett speech. SMH readers also attempt to work it out. === HIGH FLYER Tim Blair We haven’t heard much about sensitive former Age editor-in-chief Andrew Jaspan since he was fired a couple of years ago. You can’t keep a good midget down, however. Our little mate has recently been occupied at something called Kite Mag, the “quarterly magazine for Australia’s thriving kite surfing community”:
Andrew Jaspan (Editor - digital & conversations): Andrew is a former editor in chief of The Age (2004-08). He formerly edited the prestigious British national broadsheet The Observer and is a well-respected and influential journalist and media commentator.
Next for Jaspan, according to VexNews, is a similarly high-profile role running an academic blathersite for Melbourne University. If he adds just one more micro-publication to his roster, Jaspan might overtake his former newspaper’s readership level. === Bucks stop with Gillard, instead Andrew Bolt
Julia Gillard discovers for herself how Kevin Rudd can promise the world, but delivers only bills and hangovers:
KEVIN Rudd may claim the buck stops with him, but apparently not when it comes to footing a $1800 bill for champagne and canapes.
The bill - for a party celebrating Labor’s new workplace relations system - went unpaid for months after the Prime Minister’s office and that of his deputy, Julia Gillard, bickered over who was meant to pay.
About 75 people whooped it up with 29 bottles of wine, beer and snacks in Ms Gillard’s ministerial suite on March 20 last year, at a cost of $1767.
The catering was ordered by Mr Rudd’s office as a “gesture of thanks for all the hard work that went into this reform”, The Canberra Times reported today.
Hounded for payment, Ms Gillard’s office was forced to email Mr Rudd’s people in September, reminding them the Prime Minister had promised to pick up the cheque.
But his office refused, with a government source claiming a reluctance to being seen as having hosted an indulgent party at the height of the global financial crisis.
Ms Gillard’s department ended up paying the full amount, marking it down as a “portfolio-related expense”.
Mind you, once again it’s us who must pay.
(Thanks to readers Bonnie and John.) === Tell me exactly how bad the ABC is Andrew Bolt Er, what headline exactly was Lateline angling for with its last two questions last night to business chief Heather Ridout?
TONY JONES: The Opposition has called for big downscaling or winding back of the stimulus spending. Clearly, you don’t agree with that?
HEATHER RIDOUT: Look, we’re quite comfortable with the process of winding down the stimulus package. We’re already seeing interest rates go up, which is putting a further withdrawing the stimulus.
TONY JONES: A final and very quick question - we are nearly out of time. But, essentially, the call is “keep the stimulus going”. That’s the call from business.
HEATHER RIDOUT: The stimulus - the call from business is, we support the current program for the withdrawal of stimulus.
(Thanks to reader Arthur.) === What trash did Rudd buy with our billions? Andrew Bolt As I said when Barnaby Joyce’s loose talk on Australia going bankrupt had him scolded around the country, what would Keating have done? Back off, or go in harder?
It’s a bit late now for the Opposition’s finance spokesman to attack, when his own team (notably shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey) have already made clear he goofed.
Yet I think his piece today is the start of a campaign on this Government’s frittered-away debt that could really cut through:
Debt is less of a problem when it is backed by an asset that is readily exchangeable to restore the wealth of the public coffers. However, I do not know how exchangeable the ceiling insulation will be when we need to repay the debt.
I’m not quite certain what the international market is like for second-hand school halls if we need to send them back. I suppose we could have a crack at getting the $900 cheques off the public, but I don’t like our chances.
We have, approximately, a $90bn package of eclectic economic trinkets, noted as stimulus, that would look good hanging from any rear-vision mirror in a car doing hot laps on a Friday night in downtown Dubbo.
Did we get something substantial, clearly identifiable in the form of the Snowy Mountains Scheme, or inland rail or massive water infrastructure to alleviate the problems of future droughts? Did we invest in a method to encourage people in a growing population to settle away from the crowded capitals of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane? No, we didn’t.
What we did get were big contracts to big firms with big price tags, to make big statements that didn’t deliver big outcomes.
What we got was appalling management of programs and costs as seen in the ceiling insulation fiasco, the biggest flop since the Leyland P76. === This isn’t the gas that Gillard’s laws should be cutting Andrew Bolt Business is getting snippier with Kevin Rudd the more he weakens and the more it sees what he’s wrought:
WOODSIDE chief executive Don Voelte has called on the Rudd government to toughen up laws to deal with illegal strikes.
He declared the resource giant’s timetable for shipping the first gas from its $12 billion Pluto liquefied natural gas project was contingent “on a productive industrial relations environment”.
While Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard has repeatedly labelled wildcat strikes by Pluto workers as unacceptable, Mr Voelte said the laws should be changed to ensure employees returned to work sooner once their action was deemed illegal.
“It’s like a pendulum swung it too far one way with Work Choices. We’re concerned maybe we swung it a little too far the other way,” he said. === Labor expected to be a dominant force in Tassie - with greens. Andrew Bolt Tasmanians must pray that Labor and Liberal know that madness lies in joining with the Greens, rather than each other:
LABOR is heading for a wipeout at the March 20 Tasmanian election, with its support now level-pegging with that of the Greens, the latest opinion poll shows…
The EMRS poll suggests the Liberals would win most seats, 10, to Labor’s nine and the Greens’ six. This would result in a minority Liberal government reliant on Labor or the Greens for its survival and ability to pass legislation. === Einfeld suffers the presidential disease Andrew Bolt That’s nothing. I know even world leaders who suffer this mental illness, too:
IT was about the time former judge Marcus Einfeld claimed he had found the solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict that his psychiatrist was convinced he suffered from “hypomania”, a mental disorder...
Doctor, doctor, we have another patient in the next ward:
Barack Obama on Monday pressed a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict... === Rudd weakens. He’ll be on Insiders Andrew Bolt Kevin Rudd must be panicking. Not only did he try to get onto Alan Jones’ show this morning (Jones knocked him back), but he’s ended his ban on Insiders.
He’ll appear on the show on Sunday. I won’t.
UPDATE
Rudd in his interview on Sydney’s 2GB this morning called Ray Hadley “mate” 10 times. In his interview on Melbourne’s 3AW he did not call Neil Mitchell “mate” once.
Maybe chameleon Rudd knows that mate-mate-maaaate is a Sydney thing. === The climate faith crumbles Andrew Bolt Doubts are rising fast not just here, but in Britain:
Reports yesterday said the proportion of adults who believed climate change was “definitely” a reality dropped by 30 per cent over the past year, from 44 per cent to 31 per cent, in the latest survey by Ipsos Mori.
Overall, about nine out of 10 people questioned still appeared to accept some degree of global warming, The Guardian reported. But the steep drop in those without doubts raised fears that it would be harder to persuade the public to support actions to curb the problem, particularly higher prices for energy and other goods, the paper said.
When doubts are allowed again, faith vanishes and evidence once more becomes king. That is what makes this change so profound. === Bolt Backs Gillard on this Andrew Bolt Julia Gillard’s extravengant spending on computers and schools halls will prove a terrible waste of money and opportunity. But her more conservative and cheaper initiatives deserve support: THE Education Minister, Julia Gillard, has flagged the possibility of sending in inspectors as part of a second wave of reforms to fix underperforming schools.
Speaking at the National Press Club yesterday, Ms Gillard said she would examine ways to provide the support and scrutiny necessary to drive schools to improve, which could include ‘’physical inspections’’ or ‘’quality audits’’.
‘’I believe that you’ve got to have the doors open,’’ she said.
‘’Gone are the days when we could have teachers in classrooms with the door closed. === A reporter’s reason is buried with the medicine man Andrew Bolt The Australian’s Nicolas Rothwell pays tribute to Aboriginal medicine man Jackie Giles, but with a disturbing lack of the respect for facts and reason that should be the hallmarks of good journalism - and our civilisation:
Mr Giles also displayed the gifts of insight and intuition that lie at the heart of traditional healing: while still young he was marked out for training in this field and embarked on a series of ordeals and vision quests designed to hone his skills. These were protracted affairs; they involved solitary journeys, encounters with spirit beings and the acquisition of acute sensory powers. He could see distant locations, he was attended by dreamtime dog familiars on long leashes that he could dispatch afar; above all, he was able to detect the body auras of troubled patients and soothe and calm their sufferings.
All this rhapsodising cannot completely blind Rothwell to the fact that Giles’s magical and tribal ways led only to disaster, and that in the end even he relied on the Western medical tradition to ease the pain that no Aboriginal magic could ever touch:
Mr Giles’s last months were bleak. Success in the art world had enabled him to buy a fleet of Toyota troop-carriers for his children and relatives. These vehicles translated into access to distant towns such as Kalgoorlie and Alice Springs, with their drinking camps, courts and jails. The influx of money helped to empty out Patjarr community, which is barely functioning today.
Mr Giles himself suffered the familiar medical collapse of old desert people caught up in the cycles of modern community life. What ailed him was not traditional: he could not heal himself. He lived his closing days in Warburton; the onset of diabetic symptoms triggered a general physical and sensory collapse. One afternoon he walked on to a smouldering fireplace; the resulting injuries resulted in a medical evacuation to Royal Perth Hospital where, sedated, far from his country, trapped in a foreign world, he died.
Note that rather than draw the obvious moral, Rothwell prefers to suggest that what hurried Giles to his death was not Aboriginal culture but the white which rendered his magic impotent:
What ailed him was not traditional: he could not heal himself. === Honest analysis, but too timid solution Andrew Bolt Greg Sheridan says Kevin Rudd’s new white paper on counter terrorism is much better than its many critics claim:
For example, have you heard Hezbollah terror groups are operating in Australia? It’s in the white paper, but not the media.
Have you heard the government has declared the level of terror threat a society faces depends on the size and composition of its Muslim minority? It’s in the white paper but not the media....
For example, the white paper states of violent jihadism: “The scale of the problem will continue to depend on factors such as the size and make-up of local Muslim populations, including their ethnic and-or migrant origins, their geographical distribution and the success or otherwise of their integration into their host society.”
This is a statement of the obvious but it is normally not allowed to be said. It begs the question: is it necessary for a liberal Western society to encourage immigration from predominantly Muslim countries with histories of significant minority support for extremism, when it is obvious such immigration will lead to big problems?
So far I’m with Sheridan. But I can’t quite buy his defence to the most obvious criticism - that a paper which announces the real threat now comes from within the Muslim community in Australia prompts measures almost entirely aimed at stopping boat people and visiting jihadists instead.
First, Sheridan caricatures the argument, and draws a false analogy with a country facing a far bigger and more entrenched Muslim minority, drawn from a more radicalised part of the globe, and brought into a country without our strong immigrant tradition:
Two chief lines of criticism of the government have emerged. One is that because the white paper and Kevin Rudd’s remarks concentrate on the growing home-grown terror threat, he should have announced millions of dollars for domestic counter-radicalisation programs, as is done in Britain. This would be a catastrophe… Britain’s anti-radicalisation program is a cross between a fiasco and a disaster. It has empowered extremists, defined extremely conservative Islam as mainstream and demoralised moderates.
And he draws also a false distinction between Australia’s society and Britain’s in suggesting an alternative solution:
The best counter-radicalisation program is a good, open decent society. Our settlement model is infinitely better than Britain’s. === Me? A Sydney operation? Andrew Bolt It seems the new station that will broadcast from 1377 I’m joining has some people spinning like Rudd:
Already, senior staff at 3AW and 774 ABC are falling over themselves to portray it as a Sydney operation in Melbourne clothing.
Boys, boys, boys. The only two confirmed signings are Steve Price, who was 3AW’s program director and drive host, and me, who for years has been on 3AW and on 774 ABC before that. The other big name I’ve heard discussed for the station is thoroughly Melbourne, too.
Why were we very Melburnian when we were on 3AW, but very Sydney when we’re somewhere else? Someone seems too scared to make sense. === What did Rudd know of this boat and when did he know it? Andrew Bolt Already the 15th boat to arrive just this year, lured by Kevin Rudd’s weakening of our boat people laws:
Australian authorities have intercepted another boat carrying asylum seekers off the Western Australia coast. It is believed 47 people were on board the boat stopped by an Australian Customs ship near Ashmore Islands this morning
The red dot marks the date Rudd said he go soft: And why did this spin-mad Government delay telling us about this latest boat?
THE Rudd government denies it is playing politics by delaying news of asylum boat arrivals, despite Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor taking more than 10 hours to announce the latest interception…
The 15th asylum-seeker boat to be stopped this year, it was intercepted at 10.45am AEDT. Mr O’Connor’s office normally issues a press release within three to four hours of a boat arrival, but yesterday’s was not notified until shortly before 9pm, about 10 hours after the boat was stopped.
The interception occurred as the government sought to emphasise its security credentials, particularly in border security.
After its counter-terrorism white paper, released on Tuesday, the government spent much of yesterday promoting new laws that would allow ASIO to focus on people-smuggling… The Rudd government has been accused of playing politics with national security, with the white paper having been extensively redrafted on orders from the Prime Minister’s office. === Rudd pays to fix what he paid to break Andrew Bolt Astonishing. A $2.5 billion scheme to put people into work is so bungled that Kevin Rudd must pay another $60 million to fix up the unemployment he’s caused:
KEVIN Rudd has announced a $41.2 million package to soften the blow of job losses in the insulation industry as a result of his government axing its free installation scheme.
Businesses will be offered funding to keep workers on until June when a new scheme starts or help them find another job.
President Obamas envoy, Rashad Hussain, to the Islamic bloc acknowledged Friday that he was accurately quoted in 2004 as calling the treatment of activist Sami al-Arian, then facing trial for supporting a Palestinian terrorist group. FOX news reported on the controversial envoy.
=== Todays Toon === James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817) and is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The "Father of the Constitution," he was the principal author of the document. In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution. The first president to have served in the United States Congress, he was a leader in the 1st United States Congress, drafting many basic laws, and was responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution (said to be based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights) and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". As a political theorist, Madison's most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority. === Bible Quote === “Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.”- Proverbs 14:22 === A 20-year-old man faces court today over the death of eight-year-old Trinity Bates whose body was found in a drain after she was taken from her family home / The Courier-Mail
Alleged killer of schoolgirl Trinity Bates behind bars A MAN accused of killing Bundaberg schoolgirl Trinity Bates has faced court in prison clothes and handcuffs. Allyn John Slater, 19, of the Queensland town of Bundaberg, sat with his head bowed after police escorted him into the Bundaberg Magistrates Court this morning. Once inside, Mr Slater's legal aid lawyer, Thomas Bray, immediately asked magistrate Jennifer Batts to hear an application for his case to be heard in a closed court. But the magistrate later dismissed the application. Mr Slater was remanded in custody for committal mention on May 17.
Rudd's home-grown terrorism risk is overstated A LEADING security expert says the focus on the threat from home-grown terrorism in the Government's long-awaited Counter-Terrorism White Paper is overstated. In releasing the document yesterday, Rudd warned the threat from terrorism was "permanent'' and "persistent''. Rudd said home-grown terrorism was also an increasing threat. "Another apparent shift has been the increase in the threat from people born or raised in Australia, who have become influenced by the divisive narrative espoused by al-Qaeda,'' Rudd said. But Professor Hugh White, a former deputy defence secretary and professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University, says the focus on home-grown terrorism appeared to be exaggerated.
Westmead Children's Hospital charging $16 for parking PARENTS of sick kids will be charged $16 to park their car at a major children's hospital, abolishing a scheme which allowed families of seriously ill youngsters to park free. The money grab by the Children's Hospital Westmead comes more than a year after the State Government intervened after desperate parents contacted The Daily Telegraph. The hospital yesterday quietly released a statement announcing it planned a "moderate" increase to the daily rate, lifting it by $4. Hospital spokeswoman Leonie Leonard said the increase was necessary to "maximise the amount of parking available to parents and to maintain the multi-level carpark". Not only will casual parkers be charged more, a new concession system will also be introduced to replace the existing Bear Pass - which provided parents of long-term seriously ill children free parking. - thank you Rudd and Kristina - ed.
Fatter pay packets on the way MOST bosses plan to increase workers' salaries over the next 12 months as economy rallies. - rubbish, inflation will eat away any possible gains .. always happens under the ALP. - ed.
Boy, 11, charged with assault and attempted robbery in Surry Hills AN 11-year-old boy and his teenage companion have been charged with assault and attempted robbery of a Sydney man who they mocked during the alleged attack. Police say a 20-year-old man was walking along Prince Alfred Park around 11.40am yesterday in the inner-city suburb of Surry Hills when the boy and his 17-year-old companion set upon him, grabbing his satchel. The older boy allegedly joined in and laughed at him as the man was kicked in the thigh when he tried to resist the attack. Both boys moved on but the victim telephoned police and followed the pair before officers in the immediate vicinity arrested them.
Stabbed 15 times for a mobile phone A SYDNEY female student has been stabbed 15 times by a man who stole her mobile phone and another man is fighting for his life after a mysterious attack. The 33-year-old woman was walking along East Street, Lidcombe, about 8.15pm on Monday, when she was attacked from behind and repeatedly stabbed in the back, neck and chest. Police believe the attacker stole the woman's mobile phone and fled the area where a University of Sydney campus and a TAFE facility are located. Moments later a passing motorist stopped to help the woman before rushing her to Concord Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery. She remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.
US would lose cyberwar, says security chief THE United States would lose a cyberwar if it fought one today, a former US intelligence chief has warned. Michael McConnell, a retired US Navy vice admiral who served as ex-president George W Bush's director of national intelligence, also compared the danger of cyberwar to the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. "If we went to war today in a cyberwar, we would lose," Mr McConnell told a hearing on cybersecurity held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. "We're the most vulnerable, we're the most connected, we have the most to lose. "We will not mitigate this risk, and as a consequence of not mitigating this risk, we are going to have a catastrophic event."
Ancient Wall Possibly Built by King Solomon A section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem from the tenth century B.C. (between 1000 BC and 901 BC), possibly built by King Solomon, has been revealed in archaeological excavations. The section of wall, about 230 feet long (70 meters) and 19 feet (6 meters) high, is located in the area known as the Ophel, between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
Cuban Political prisoner dies in hunger strike A CUBAN political prisoner has died after an 85-day hunger strike to demand better prison conditions, a human rights group said. Orlando Zapata Tamayo, 42, died at a Havana hospital where he had been receiving fluids intravenously in an attempt to keep him alive, Elizardo Sanchez of the independent Cuban Human Rights Commission said. Mr Sanchez said Cuban authorities should have force-fed Zapata, a plumber from the eastern province of Holguin, to prevent his death. Mr Zapata had been in prison since 2003 serving a sentence of at least 25 years for the crimes of disrespect, public disorder and resistance against the communist government of the Caribbean island, according to Amnesty International, which listed him as one of 58 "prisoners of conscience" in Cuba.
Ask a duly sworn member of the United States House of Representatives to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a public meeting, and most Americans would expect a patriotic hand-over-heart response — then there's Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., and his good friends at the Service Employees union.
English the most understaffed subject ENGLISH has topped the list of the most understaffed subjects, with new figures revealing the true extent of the state's teacher vacancy rate.
$10,000 to save this drunken idiot A NIGHT of drunken skylarking has left a Ukrainian tourist with a hangover he will always remember - and taxpayers with a huge bill. After a night on the drink, the 19-year-old man scaled down a cliff near Manly but got stuck half way and passed out.
Online masturbating priest 'knew' 13-year-old girl was fantasy A SYDNEY priest who used a webcam to broadcast himself masturbating to a person he believed was a 13-year-old has told a court it was all part of a fantasy world. Robert MacGregor Fuller, 54, has pleaded guilty to grooming and procuring a child under the age of 16. During online chat sessions the priest, who served for some six years at All Saints church in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool, used a webcam to show himself masturbating to a police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl. Fuller told his sentencing hearing at Parramatta District Court the chat rooms were part of a fantasy world and he did not truly believe the person watching was a pre-pubescent girl. === Journalists Corner === It's the film hailed at the last national tea party! This explosive documentary argues how 40 years of liberal policies have led to America's financial collapse. === Toyota's Capitol Grilling The CEO heads to the Hill! How will he answer for the company's current safety issues and will Congress buy it? === Education Espionage Schools spying on kids over the internet! Our "Is it Legal" team investigates === Health Care Summit As the president makes a big push for bipartisanship, what ideas will the GOP bring to the table, & are the Dems really willing to compromise to revive reform? === Comments === Thunder on the Right By Bill O'Reilly Last week we debated the tactic of Obama-bashing with a variety of guests. My conclusion was that criticism of policy must be made.
Obviously we are having big problems in the country, but personal attacks are useless. The point was made that vicious far-left personal attacks on President Bush hurt him, so President Obama is fair game. You make the call on that.
Well, those debates continued outside this program, and on Friday Rush Limbaugh spoofed me, saying this:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSH LIMBAUGH: I am Bill O'Reilly. What do you think of me? Tell me where I've gone wrong today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, he does say that a lot.
LIMBAUGH: Well, no, look, all I'm telling you is that we've got to give socialism a fair shake for the folks. I'm not going to sit here and condemn it like these really right-wingers are. We've got to give socialism a fair shake. And we here at "The Factor" are going to give socialism, even communism, a fair shake. We'll do an in-depth investigation. We'll report back, because we're not knee-jerk, and we are looking out for you, the folks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
I have no problem with that riff. Mr. Limbaugh is entitled to his opinion, and he's not alone in his fear about socialism.
As we reported, a Gallup poll says 36 percent of Americans now believe socialism is OK, including 53 percent of Democrats.
From the beginning, "The Factor" has criticized Mr. Obama for his socialist tenets, primarily that of income redistribution. When I interviewed then-Senator Obama on the campaign trail in September 2008, the subject came up:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL O'REILLY: You're taking the wealthy in America and the big earners, OK?
BARACK OBAMA: Right.
O'REILLY: You're taking money away from them, and you're giving it to people who don't. That's called income redistribution. It's a socialist tenet.
OBAMA: Bill, Bill…
O'REILLY: Come on, you know that. You went to Harvard.
OBAMA: Teddy Roosevelt supported a progressive income tax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The question becomes: Is the president a socialist? Remember, the definition of socialism is that the government controls property and commerce. Does Mr. Obama want to seize your house? I say no; others say yes.
But there is no question the president wants income redistribution and more government control over things like health care.
On Sunday, Mr. Obama put forth that the feds should be able to regulate insurance companies when they want big premium increases, like Blue Cross does in California. Some conservatives howled, but 29 states currently oversee health insurance rate hikes.
Is that socialism? Again, you have to decide.
"Talking Points" believes that the feds should have some oversight on health insurance companies, but prices can be driven down if the companies are allowed to compete nationwide. Why doesn't the president try that before he sets up another Big Brother operation in Washington?
Look, these things are complicated. To call Obama a socialist or communist is oversimplifying the situation.
Americans need health care relief. There's no question about that. But it can be done using competition and common sense like tort reform, where lawsuits against medical personnel are scrutinized.
As we said last week, name-calling gets us nowhere. Good solutions to complicated problems will rule the day. === Media Watch impugns Oakes Andrew Bolt Media Watch presenter Jonathan Holmes seems to think Channel Nine’s Laurie Oakes is the kind of person who lets a personal grudge infect his reporting.
Even more, Holmes criticises not that sin, but the Opposition Leader who risks being a victim of it. Observe:
A cosy, secret deal (by the Rudd Government), handing back perhaps a quarter of a billion dollars of government revenue to the free-to-air commercial networks. A good get by The Oz…
The ABC was happy to jump onto the story. But not a word about it on the commercial TV news, until Opposition Leader Tony Abbott came out with his ‘election year bribe’ taunt.
That brought Nine’s big gun - an indignant Laurie Oakes - into the fray:
Laurie Oakes: Well Peter, my message to Tony Abbott is this: When Kerry Packer owned the Nine Network, he knew that he couldn’t tell me what to say, so the bunch of private equity investors who own it now have got no chance Peter. — Channel Nine News, 17th February, 2010
Annoying the redoubtable Mr Oakes might not be the smartest move for the opposition. After all, it is an election year.
So Oakes would do what unprofessional thing, Jonathan? Explanation, please.
(Thanks to reader Mark.) === Dear Hitler. Since we’ve now disarmed, it’s only fair that you…. Andrew Bolt Age diplomatic editor Daniel Flitton says all the West need do to disarm Iran is to lay down its own weapons. Sweetness and light will then break out:
...the spread of nuclear weapons should be urgently resisted, with abolition the ultimate aim. And the way to achieve this is to avoid public posturing of the type Clinton is engaging in, instead applying maximum quiet pressure, backed up with disarmament by the countries that already possess nuclear arsenals. In such circumstances, nuclear weapons could suddenly lose their persuasive appeal.
Absolutely! China, for instance, will decide that since the US has thrown all its nukes into the sea, it would only be fair to do the same. Iran, seeing Israel destroy its nuclear warheads, would realise it’s a bit mean to attack a helpless enemy.
Can’t think why no leader of a nuclear-armed country hasn’t thought of this already. === The list of actors who died for their craft is long Andrew Bolt Cate Blanchett makes acting sound so, so dangerous:
We change people’s lives, at the risk of our own.
I’d love a for-instance, but Blanchett is now in another dimension:
We change countries, governments, history, gravity.
UPDATE
Hmm. Maybe Blanchett is right, after all. Here’s one actress who has indeed changed gravity: (Thanks to readers David and MD.) === WHERE IS CRAIG? Tim Blair July, 2009:
Senator Arbib urged his audience to follow the lead of Craig, from the Central Coast, who had finished his building apprenticeship, but was laid off because his boss did not have enough work.
Inspired by the Government’s insulation package, he started his own business, and now has so much work he has employed his girlfriend and is looking to employ more staff.
February, 2010: The office of Senator Mark Arbib, former Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for co-ordinating stimulus spending, admitted it had lost contact with the young Central Coast man named Craig who Mr Arbib held up as an example of one of the unemployed people who would gain work under the rebate scheme. === DEATH BY DIVERSITY Tim Blair The Boston Globe‘s Bryan Bender:
Army superiors were warned about the radicalization of Major Nidal Malik Hasan years before he allegedly massacred 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, but did not act in part because they valued the rare diversity of having a Muslim psychiatrist, military investigators wrote in previously undisclosed reports.
More about this from Mark Steyn ("‘diversity’ is not a virtue; it’s morally neutral") and Anthony Kang ("politically-incorrect conservatives were right all along”). === NO TOOLS OF FUEL Tim Blair Now three-fifths of the way through his five-part ABC anti-sceptic whining epic, Clive Hamilton’s paranoia seems to have declined:
The army of denialist bloggers and cyber-bullies is sometimes accused of being the tool of fossil fuel companies. Although there is certainly a concordance of interests, that is as far as the relationship goes.
This better not mean the end of my Exxon cheques. Those yachts won’t gold-plate themselves, you know. Further from Clive:
The bloggers are motivated not by financial gain (indeed, their activities may have a financial cost) but by political grievances and an anti-elite worldview at odds with the mainstream.
Leftoids used to think that was a good thing.
UPDATE. Warming explained … “all of you will get dead”:
=== URBAN INCIDENT Tim Blair A detailed analysis of two wild minutes aboard an Oakland, California, bus. They should sell tickets. Oh, wait …
Now that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced he will take full responsibility for the national insulation debacle, it is only fair that The Daily Telegraph withdraw its demand that Environment Minister Peter Garrett resign over his role in the scandal.
Instead, it is Mr Rudd who should resign. After all, he’s the one responsible.
Seems right.
UPDATE. During the worst week of his Prime Ministership, Kevin Rudd appears on Good News Week:
=== Africa might actually love that warming rain Andrew Bolt Yet another climate alarmist on Jon Faine’s ABC Melbourne morning show was allowed this morning to claim, unchallenged, that global warming would cause devastating droughts in Africa.
No sooner claimed than disproved:
Desertification, drought, and despair—that’s what global warming has in store for much of Africa. Or so we hear.
Emerging evidence is painting a very different scenario, one in which rising temperatures could benefit millions of Africans in the driest parts of the continent.
Scientists are now seeing signals that the Sahara desert and surrounding regions are greening due to increasing rainfall. If sustained, these rains could revitalize drought-ravaged regions, reclaiming them for farming communities.
This desert-shrinking trend is supported by climate models, which predict a return to conditions that turned the Sahara into a lush savanna some 12,000 years ago... Images taken between 1982 and 2002 revealed extensive regreening throughout the Sahel, according to a new study in the journal Biogeosciences.
(Thanks to reader John.) === The ABC hands a new soap box to the Left Andrew Bolt The ABC’s new blog site has been captured by the Left - and especially by the angry Crikey branch of it. Gavin Atkins demonstrates:
It’s been less than three months since the editor of Australia’s left wing gossip website, Crikey, Jonathan Green was appointed to head up the ABC online site, The Drum…
In just the past seven weeks we have seen columns from crikey darlings, Scott Bridges, Greg Barns, Simon Chapman, Jeff Sparrow, Melissa Sweet, Mungo Maccallum, John Quiggin, Clive Hamilton, Ben Sandilands, Pamela Curr and Ben Pobjie. Every one of these people is a left-wing mate of Green’s from his days at Crikey…
In case any of us are unsure what to think, Green has started up a special Twitter round-up on ABC online while Question Time is on in the House of Representatives.
Those who took part in a recent twitter event included former Crikey editor, Jonathan Green; Crikey’s Canberra correspondent, Bernard Keane; Crikey cartoonist, First Dog On The Moon; and Crikey blogger, Possum Comitatus…
But can we demonstrate that this has otherwise affected the content at ABC online?
Let’s have a look at one hot issue, for example – anthropogenic global warming…
During January and February, we have been treated to columns on ABC online by Alex Cook, John Hewson, David Horton, Christine Milne, David Shearman, Clive Hamilton (soon to be a set of five articles over five days), Arek Sinanian, Kellie Tranter and Malcolm Turnbull - that’s 13 articles with very similar points of view about global warming.
Over the same period there have been precisely no articles by anthropogenic global warming skeptics.
No, our university chiefs agree. The real sin is that all this has been exposed by the nasty tabloids:
UNIVERSITY leaders are pressing for a public campaign to restore the intellectual and moral authority of Australian science in the wake of the climate wars.
Peter Coaldrake, chairman of Universities Australia and vice-chancellor of Queensland University of Technology, told the HES yesterday he was “concerned about the way the climate change debate has flowed”, and would address the role of science in the formation of public policy at his National Press Club address next week.
“It worries me that this tabloid decimation of science comes at a time when we have a major national issue in terms of the number of people taking science at university,"Professor Coaldrake said.
Margaret Sheil, chief executive of the Australian Research Council, said she was deeply concerned about the backlash generated by emails from the East Anglia Climate Research Unit, the criticisms of Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, head of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, and poor research on the rate of glacial melting in a 2007 UN report on climate change.
Professor Sheil said she feared that these black marks would spread to a “broader negative public perception” of science…
Ian Chubb, vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, said some populists had found it easy to denigrate science because many scientific conclusions in the field of climate change rested on a balance of probability rather than incontestable proof.
“What concerns me is when you get people who are purporting to comment on the science and all they’re doing is seeking to turn themselves into celebrities.” he said.
I think some people are about to reinforce the very cynicism they deplore. A little less elitism may suit them better, just for a start.
(Thanks to reader Tony.) === Whale of a blunder Andrew Bolt Philip Bowring advertises our embarrassment in the International Herald Tribune:
It must count as one of the more bizarre bits of diplomacy in recent times. Last week, on the eve of a visit by Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia threatened to take Japan to the International Court of Justice if it did not stop whaling in the Southern Ocean, the part of the Indian Ocean south of Australia…
Harpooning whales may be cruel and does excite emotions even among those who regularly eat red meat. But Australia is in scant position to complain when it shoots upward of 3 million wild kangaroos a year to protect crops and grazing for sheep and cattle ..
Australia’s elevation of its selective emotion into a diplomatic feud with its major Asian ally is nothing short of ridiculous.
(Thanks to reader Murf Oscar.) === iTunes presents warming for dummies Andrew Bolt ITunes comes to the rescue of all those believers now finally being asked just why they assumed man was heating the world to hell:
Ever heard someone claim Global Warming isn’t happening? Did their explanation seem wrong but you didn’t know why?
Then click on its app: Oddly enough, iTunes offers no such help to the sceptic.
(Thanks to reader Newt.) === It’s Rudd who batts badly Andrew Bolt Terry McCrann agrees that the insulation fiasco is actually emblematic of a bigger Rudd disaster:
(T)he insulation debacle raises much broader and deeper questions about the government’s hurried, even panicked, fiscal pump-priming to ‘fight’ the Global Financial Crisis.
Indeed, it poses the question whether such pump-priming, even if well-designed and executed, - which this most decidedly was not - would still be fundamentally flawed.
Because of the distortions it causes. In setting out to ‘save the economy’ the government has succeeded in destroying the insulation industry, killing good businesses and real jobs.
Think of the bitter irony. Kevin Rudd and Ken Henry’s “Go early. Go Hard. Go Households” multi-billion dollar fiscal spending splurge was supposed to fight the bust after the financial bubble burst.
And how did it seek to do so? By creating a new bubble, and not just in insulation but building more generally - with the first home-owners grant and the rush to put a Julia Gillard hall in every school yard.
And now that we have a new bust, but with yet more waste and debt, we are surprised?
The Daily Telegraph calls on Rudd to resign:
Now that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced he will take full responsibility for the national insulation debacle, it is only fair that The Daily Telegraph withdraw its demand that Environment Minister Peter Garrett resign over his role in the scandal.
Instead, it is Mr Rudd who should resign. After all, he’s the one responsible.
But Good News Week did indeed have some good news for Rudd, who performed much better in front of a friendly audience, and when fed friendly questions by a friendly panel, than he did on Q&A:
UPDATE
On the other hand, some Labor voters were much less impressed:
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd was yesterday invited to Borroloola - to learn how to pronounce the name of the township and be told that its good citizens don’t vote for the “Country” Party.
Mr Rudd made a hash of trying to get his tongue around the name on national television. “Brrr-lll-rrr-rrr,” was the best he could come up with.
When it was suggested that his mumbling blooper would could cost him the seat at the next election, he replied: ”Judging by the name, it’s probably in a Country Party seat.”
In fact, Borroloola - pronounced Bo’-rro-loo-la - is a Labor Party stronghold. Federally, it is part of Lingiari, one of the safest ALP seats in Australia.
And in the Territory political make-up, the township is part of Barkly, which is held by Labor Cabinet Minister Gerry McCarthy.
(Thanks to reader Bernie.) === Put Gore in the dock Andrew Bolt Al Gore must indeed be held to account: Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) today asked the Obama administration to investigate what he called “the greatest scientific scandal of our generation” — the actions of climate scientists revealed by the Climategate files, and the subsequent admissions by the editors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).
Senator Inhofe also called for former Vice President Al Gore to be called back to the Senate to testify.
“In [Gore’s] science fiction movie, every assertion has been rebutted,” Inhofe said. He believes Vice President Gore should defend himself and his movie before Congress.
Just prior to a hearing at 10:00 a.m. EST, Senator Inhofe released a minority staff report from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, of which he is ranking member. Senator Inhofe is asking the Department of Justice to investigate whether there has been research misconduct or criminal actions by the scientists involved, including Dr. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University and Dr. James Hansen of Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. === Blame not Garrett but Rudd Andrew Bolt KEVIN Rudd’s refusal to sack Peter Garrett is now the greatest threat to his survival as Prime Minister.
But that’s not just because keeping Garrett on as Environment Minister keeps alive the story of the most colossal government mismanagement since at least the days of Gough Whitlam.
It’s because Rudd may have truly meant it when he praised Garrett last Friday as his idea of a “first-class minister”.
You see, this scandal is not just about the every-which-way bungling by Rudd’s “first-class minister” of a $2.5 billion free-insulation scheme that has since killed four people, set fire to more than 90 homes, and left 1000 more with lethal faults in their ceilings.
Nor is it just about a mad money-shovelling plan to stimulate local business and fight “global warming” that wound up doing almost nothing it was meant to achieve, instead blowing up to $400 million on dangerous or useless insulation for some 240,000 homes, and buying shiploads of dodgy batts and foil from foreign makers with dollars meant for spending right here.
Nor is it even just about the farce of having a make-work scheme that ends with the Government spending another $10 million to “retrain” 2000 of the people it’s just thrown out of work.
Step back. The fact is this catastrophe is not the making of one hapless minister, but the inevitable and predicted result of rush-rush-Rudd’s entire style of governing.
Garrett, this “first-class minister”, did no more than Rudd’s will, and in Rudd’s way. And the results are little different to what we’ve seen - or will keep seeing - from so many other areas under the control of this Prime Minister.
Sack Peter Garrett? But then Rudd would have to sack himself.
Let’s first identify just what created this particular epic failure. === Flogging thugs with press releases Andrew Bolt HOW good is this bloke? The minute we learned another seven Victorians were stabbed last weekend, Premier John Brumby took action.
Well, he announced new advertisements. Same diff.
Here’s how we broke the news in the Herald Sun:
The Brumby Government is planning a shock TV campaign aimed at young males who think it is cool to carry knives.
Bound to work, of course. Many shiv merchants just needed an ad to teach them it’s naughty to stab people.
So I predict this campaign will work as brilliantly as every other one Brumby has announced each time there’s more blood in the streets.
In fact, so effective have Brumby’s campaigns been, and so ungrateful has been The Alfred hospital by bitching instead about a 70 per cent rise in stabbed patients this year, that it’s only fair in this election year to remind voters of all that their Premier has done to make their streets, nightclubs and railways stations so safe as they are.
Right from the very start of his time in the top job, Brumby was issuing press releases to keep the thugs in their place. Here’s a beauty from August 30, 2007:
The Premier, John Brumby, today announced new legislation would be introduced this year to address a rise in assaults in and around licensed venues.
Hot stuff. And there was more just like it the following May:
Premier John Brumby says Victoria’s binge-drinking problem justifies a ban on drinkers entering Melbourne city bars, pubs and clubs after 2am.
Brumby was now on a roll, and last April did his some of his best work:
Victorian Premier John Brumby has pledged to bring Melbourne’s mean streets under control by early next year.
Following another spate of alcohol-fuelled violence in the CBD, Mr Brumby ... said the Government was tackling the problem through more police, tougher liquor licensing controls and beefed-up police powers.
In fact, if press releases could stop crime, Brumby had the problem licked just three months later: === Moscow buried in the snows that were meant to vanish Andrew Bolt It’s weather, not climate, which we should also remember the next time alarmists scream that some snow failed to fall:
Thousands of snow-clearing machines have been working to dig the Russian capital Moscow out of a record-breaking fall of 63cm (nearly 25 inches).
After a weekend of heavy snow showers, the regional weather centre announced that the previous record of 62cm, set in 1966, had been broken.
Meanwhile the warmist scientists at Britain’s Met concede that not even the temperature data is settled, let alone the science:
At a meeting on Monday of about 150 climate scientists, representatives of Britain’s weather office quietly proposed that the world’s climatologists start all over again to produce a new trove of global temperature data that is open to public scrutiny and “rigorous” peer review.
After the firestorm of criticism called Climate-gate, the British government’s official Meteorological Office apparently has decided to wave a white flag and surrender.
At a meeting on Monday of about 150 climate scientists in the quiet Turkish seaside resort of Antalya, representatives of the weather office (known in Britain as the Met Office) quietly proposed that the world’s climate scientists start all over again on a “grand challenge” to produce a new, common trove of global temperature data that is open to public scrutiny and “rigorous” peer review.
Yes, the Met is sure the records won’t change much, but this time they hope the data will be believable.
(Thanks to reader Steve.) === The rising cost of Garrett’s failure Andrew Bolt This is utterly crazy. A big-money government makework program collapses, returning the once-unemployed to unemployment yet again.
Only this time the Rudd Government writes out a huge cheque as a sorry - and a shut-up:
A CHARITY in Victoria says it will have to retrench 67 workers tomorrow following the closure of the federal government’s home insulation program.
Try Youth and Community Services is appealing to the government for an emergency grant to keep its workers employed in Melbourne and the La Trobe Valley… The majority of them were previously long-term unemployed....
A spokeswoman for Senator Arbib said the department of employment was in the process of forwarding the charity a $250,000 milestone payment from the government’s Jobs Fund to help the group with its cash flow.
First they spend billions to make work, then millions more to say sorry for failing. All this is with your money, folks.
KEVIN Rudd toughened his terrorism blueprint to highlight the threat from jihadist and home-grown terror despite resistance from officials within his department and the Attorney-General’s Department who were concerned the language was inflammatory and counter-productive.
It is understood that the Prime Minister’s office hardened the language of an earlier version of the counterterrorism white paper and also insisted it should include an ‘’announceable’’.
The revelation comes as Mr Rudd is under fire from terrorism experts and the Opposition for using the issue to divert attention from embattled Environment Minister Peter Garrett and the government’s bungled insulation scheme.
Had John Howard done such a thing…
UPDATE
But The Age editor is not just unfair to Rudd, but to his readers:
Mr Rudd warned of the threat ‘’from people born or raised in Australia, who have become influenced by the divisive narrative espoused by al-Qaeda’’, yet spoke of ‘’jihadist terrorism’’. He thus framed the terrorists in terms of their own distorted narrative, which portrays them as holy warriors and martyrs fulfilling the religious duty of jihad. Terrorists should not be dignified with any terms that reinforce their false identification with Islamic belief.
When all but one of the 18 terrorist organisations proscribed by Australia are Islamist, and most announce their religious mission in their title, how can The Age editor be so sure that this identification with Islam is false? Wishing something does not make it true.
UPDATE 2
Rudd actually achieves a doube unicorn with his white paper on terrorism, announcing measures not just to distract attention from Garrett but from the very problem the paper warns of most:
Critics of the white paper have been quick to point out that while the paper focuses on the threat of homegrown jihadism, the government is spending its money on border security rather than on counter-radicalisation programs.
Meanwhile, there’s more cash to stem the flood that Rudd himself unleashed by weakening our laws, as our spies are diverted to stopping the boats instead:
THE government will unleash the full resources of its major spy agencies, including phone taps and satellite surveillance, against people-smugglers and other criminal gangs threatening Australia’s border security. That will mean significantly increasing the agencies’ powers to deal with criminal activity rather than their present focus on direct threats to national security posed by foreign states and their agents.
UPDATE 3
Carl Ungerer of the Australian Strategic Policy Insitute sums up this bizarre response:
Early on in the document we are told a significant number of Australian extremists have been radicalised to the point of committing violence....
(But) aside from a small section on resilience and reference to community engagement in the Australian white paper, the government offers no new funding or programs to counter home-grown extremist ideology.
Instead, media attention will focus on the two main deliverables: $200m for aviation security measures including body scanners at airports and next generation x-ray machines; and $69m for enhanced visa restrictions for individuals from 10 as yet unnamed countries.
Each of these measures is warranted and probably overdue. But neither is directly related to the paper’s principal strategic assessment. If home-grown terrorism is the problem, why is border security and a better visa system for foreigners the answer?
(Jackson carrying Van Buren into office)
James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817) and is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The "Father of the Constitution," he was the principal author of the document. In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution. The first president to have served in the United States Congress, he was a leader in the 1st United States Congress, drafting many basic laws, and was responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution (said to be based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights) and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". As a political theorist, Madison's most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.
