Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Headlines Tuesday 3rd August 2010

=== Todays Toon ===
If the mob means democracy then hand me a pitchfork
by Scott Morrison
=== Bible Quote ===
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”- James 1:22
=== Headlines ===
Message From 'Cartel' Puts Controversial Sheriff in Crosshairs
Audio and text messages claiming to be from Mexican drug cartel offer rewards to anyone who will join its fight against Arizona's immigration law, including one that appears to offer $1 million for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head.

Waters Joins Rangel In Ethics Hot Seat
House investigative panel charges Calif. Dem Rep. Maxine Waters, senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, with violating ethics rules, adding to the political headache for Dems

Gift From God? Rosary Saves Soldier's Life
British soldier claims rosary beads saved his life after he stepped on a land mine while serving in Afghanistan — and rosary may have saved his great grandfather's life, too, in WWII

Danish Firm Denies Violating Iran Sanctions
Danish shipping giant Maersk rejects allegations that it was flouting U.S. sanctions by conducting business with Iran, claiming its ties are above board and legal

Breaking News
Metal band singer dies as van crashes
A VAN carrying two metal bands crashed today on a freeway, killing a vocalist and injuring two guitarists.

Charlie Sheen sentenced to 30 days rehab
CHARLIE Sheen will spend 30 days at a rehab facility after he pleaded guilty today to an assault charge on his wife.

'Playboy' book dealer in Shakespeare sting
AN unemployed book dealer was given eight years in prison for possessing a stolen first edition of Shakespeare's plays.

Plague outbreak kills one, infects 31
AN outbreak of plague has killed a 14-year-old boy and infected at least 31 people in Peru.

Shots fired at house in targeted attack
SHOTS were fired at an Adelaide house in a targeted attack early today, police say.

Man charged with attempted murder
A GUNMAN who allegedly shot at a man following an argument is facing an attempted murder charge.

Pot shots taken at walker, driver
A WOMAN has been injured and a car damaged in suspected air-rifle or sling-shot attacks near Brisbane's Airlie Beach.

Woman stabbed in domestic incident
A WOMAN has suffered a collapsed lung and is in a serious condition in hospital after a stabbing in Adelaide's south.

Taser proves useless against man
EIGHT police officers were needed to subdue a knife-wielding, drug-affected 24-year-old man in Sydney's west.

Power back on in some parts of NSW
ABOUT 4500 homes are still without power after strong winds tore across the New South Wales coast.

NSW/ACT
Eight cops in Taser tussle drug arrest
EIGHT police officers subdue knife-wielding, drug-affected man after pepper spray, batons and Taser stun gun failed to have any effect.

Skiers survive night in blizzard
TWO skiers are suffering hypothermia after storms blew their tent away near Mount Kosciuszko.

Father lied over child grab
IT was the attempted kidnapping that struck fear into every parent's heart, but police now say the father of the young girl made it all up.

Dead woman was 'not suicidal'
A WOMAN found dead on Christmas Day, 2006, near suicide spot The Gap was was "unlikely" to have been suicidal, inquest hears.

Swine flu warning for the ill
SEVERE cases of swine flu needing intensive care have increased this week, prompting a warning for the vulnerable.

'Batman' cord was almost a killer
BRODIE Phillips was emulating his favourite Batman figurine on his veranda. Then he was hanging by his neck, almost strangled.

Rarely seen, now she's gone
MISSING girl Kiesha Abrahams, who is in kindergarten, attended school just five days this year.

Snowfall signals winter's not gone
JUSTwhen Sydneysiders thought winter's worst was behind them with says of 21C maximum, the cold returned with a vengeance.

Cate's effort for suburban art
CATE Blanchett and hubby Andrew Upton are taking theatre to the 'burbs in a new community project.

Wait four days for rescue, family told
TAKE two British expats, a pair of teenage kids, one badly bogged ute and four days of rain and what do you get? Hell, apparently.

Queensland
Man pulled over by cop dies
MAN pulled over by policewoman dies on the roadside, sparking an investigation.

School stabbing committal resumes
A COMMITTAL hearing for a 14-year-old boy charged with the stabbing murder of a boy, 12, at a Brisbane private school is set to resume.

Gun bandit: Sorry, I was joking
A BANDIT with a fake gun apologised to a convenience store attendant and told him he was only joking during a bungled armed robbery attempt.

Family told to wait for rescue
FREEZING family from Queensland left stranded in a ute bogged in an outback ditch "told to get themselves out".

Splendour campers move to airport
DOZENS of Splendour in the Grass revellers have pitched tents at Brisbane Airport after a Tiger Airways flight to Melbourne allegedly departed hours early.

Housing sales continue to fall
A LACK of readily available land and high infrastructure charges are being blamed for the fifth consecutive drop in new home sales in Queensland.

Volunteer liability put to test
COMMUNITY groups across Queensland face potentially crippling lawsuits if a landmark court case against the Volunteer Marine Rescue succeeds.

Cool wind keeps warmth on leash
THE weekend was warm, but winter has not finished with us yet, with chilly westerly winds to drop the mercury to 8C - two below average later this week.

Going Green, but singing same song
WHEN Andrew Bartlett last contested a Lower House seat, he witnessed his Labor adversary survive the blitzkrieg that ousted the Keating government.

Fantasy turns to terror for druggies
A TOXIC batch of illicit drugs is causing "paranoia almost to the point of terror" for users from Fortitude Valley to Logan.

Victoria
Man in coma after three-car crash
A THREE-car crash blocked the Hume Freeway north of Melbourne this morning and led to a 50-year-old man being rushed to hospital with head injuries.

Hunt for gun-toting bandana bandit
A BANDIT wearing a light bandana and dark glasses has threatened a pokies club worker at gunpoint in a brazen daylight robbery.

Nude child photos are still art to me
AN artist who outraged the nation with scandalous photos of naked children has vehemently defended his work as legitimate art.

Surge in female inmates
THE women's prison population in Victoria has grown at double the rate of male prisoners in the past 15 years.

Safer journeys by car for pet dog
SUPER sturdy Volvo has just become safer for this pampered passenger.

Teacher ban for sex talk
A TEACHER who made obscene and sexually explicit comments to students told them that "what happens in class stays in class".

Doyle handy at Fashion Week launch
LORD Mayor Robert Doyle could barely contain his excitement as he announced Ruby Rose as Melbourne Spring Fashion Week's official ambassador.

Taking kids out a pain for parents
PARENTS are facing a public backlash for taking hungry babies and lively young children out in public.

We will not be moved
KINGLAKE residents rebuilding in a street destroyed on Black Saturday have vowed to stay, regardless of any Government offer to buy their homes.

Northern Territory
Nothing New

South Australia
Missing man found dead
THE body of a missing man has been found on a beach at Kingston.

Driver hurt in truck rollover
A TRUCK driver was taken to hospital with a serious arm injury after a B-double rollover in the Riverland.

Two missing in Snowy mountains
A SEARCH and rescue effort has been launched to find two South Australian men snowed in in sub-zero temperatures in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales.

More than about Mary
THE freak tornado which cut a swathe of devastation through the small South-East town of Penola is "not just about Mary MacKillop", its mayor says.

Labor fails in core subjects
ONLY one in three Year 12 students who achieves a university entry score, studies maths, physics or chemistry, a report says.

Call to ban lawyers' hourly fees
LAWYERS should be banned from charging expensive hourly rates and bill clients on outcomes, a consumer group has recommended.

Teen killed after struck by car
POLICE have pleaded for all road users to look out for each other after a boy, 13, was hit and killed by a car in Seaford Rise.

Man crushed to death by trailer
OVERCOME with grief, a woman was comforted by co-workers yesterday after her husband died in a tragic workplace accident at a Dry Creek business.

Cinema's booze bid on ice
GREATER Union's application for an extended liquor licence at its Marion cinema complex has been put on hold until the end of August.

Western Australia
Curtin to expand as boats surge
PLANS are under way to expand West Australia's Curtin detention centre to hold 900 people.

Mother, son charged over stabbing
POLICE have charged a mother and son over a confrontation in North Beach last night during which a teenager was stabbed in the chest.

Knifemen hold up EasyPlus stores
POLICE are investigating two armed robberies at metropolitan EasyPlus stores overnight.

Guns stolen in overnight raid
POLICE are investigating the theft of 13 firearms, including military-style assault rifles, from a Department of Agriculture property in Karratha.

Student brings 'bomb' to class
A MUNITIONS expert has gone to a school in Geraldton to check out what teachers say is a military projectile brought to class by a student.

Police seek help to catch hoon
POLICE are seeking help to catch a hoon driver who nearly cleaned up two pedestrians in Mindarie yesterday.

Cat killer banned for life
A 44-YEAR-OLD man was today found guilty of stabbing a cat to death and banned for life from owning a domestic animal.

Accused 'defending sacred site'
TWO Aboriginal brothers accused of assault are arguing in court they were defending their land under traditional law.

New gold rush ignites West
A MODERN day gold rush is sweeping Western Australia as prices soar, new mines open and millions of dollars are ploughed into exploring.

Woman killed in collision
A WOMAN has died and a man is in a critical condition after two vehicles collided on the Brand Hwy, 220km north of Perth, yesterday.

Tasmania
Hostel fire suspicious, says police
POLICE are treating as suspicious a boarding house fire north of Hobart, in which 12 people had to be rescued.

ABC TV host in court on child porn charge
ABC presenter Andy Muirhead has faced a Hobart court on a charge of accessing child pornography.
=== Journalists Corner ===
Bill's Back!
The Factor's back in full swing! Bill takes on immigration, taxes and the hot topics America's buzzing about!
===
'Your World'
A new bill would provide tax cuts AND loans to the struggling sector. So, why won't Congress pass the plan? Neil has analysis from D.C.
===
'Hannity'
Border wars, lawsuits and national backlash ... how do Arizona residents really feel about their state's immigration issue? Frank Luntz reveals the pulse of the people.
===
On Fox News Insider
Chelsea Clinton's Wedding Extravaganza: Uncovered
Ahmadinejad to Meet Face-to-Face with Obama?
ADL Opposes Building of "Ground Zero Mosque"

We need your help launching a campaign against the military regime's sham elections!

Burma's military regime is planning to hold a sham election before the end of 2010 to attempt to legitimize military rule and silence the voices of those who want to bring true democracy to the country.

On August 8th the people of Burma will celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the pro-democracy popular uprising which brought Aung San Suu Kyi to the national spotlight and forced the Junta to hold elections in 1990 leading to the decisive victory of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. That is why we have chosen this week as the launch date of our campaign against the regime's elections that Aung San Suu Kyi and democracy forced decided to boycott.

Before even a single vote is cast, Dictator Than Shwe has ensured the outcome, military rule. In 2008, the regime drafted a new constitution, that guarantees the military will not be controlled by the new 'elected' government, but rather the military will become a new so-called 'civilian government'.

Democracy is about making your voice heard and making it count, the people of Burma will not have that option in the military regime's sham elections, which bars Aung San Suu Kyi from participating. We need to be a voice for the voiceless.

Learn more about what is wrong with the election?

What you can do:

Record a video message to President Obama and/or UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
asking them to denounce Burma's sham elections and promote dialogue between the military regime, Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic groups! Suggested action below.

In Solidarity,

Aung Din, Jen, Nadi and Mike

Directions:

You will need: a video recording devise, yourself, and a location

First: Review a few of the videos USCB has provided on our website to get some ideas for your own!

Second: Read the script USCB has provided you, below, and make any modifications that you would like.

  • Say who you are and where you are from. Hi, my name is ( ), and I am from (city), (state).
  • Say why you are involved. I care for the people of Burma and I am trying my best to help them in their non-violent struggle for freedom and democracy. The beautiful country of Burma has been under successive military dictatorships for more than four decades and has been conducting crimes against humanity with a system of impunity.
  • Tell them why you are speaking out: Now, the regime is seeking to legitimize it's military rule through sham elections. The people of Burma denounce this sham election and leaders of Burma's democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, call for the international community to not recognize the election. I support them, I agree with them, and I am now calling for President Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to denounce this sham election.
  • Tell them NO!!! to Sham Election, YES!!! to Dialogue, MORE PRESSURE REQUIRED.
Third: Record yourself reading the script.

Fourth: Upload the video, titled "Oppose Burma's Sham Election", onto YouTube. When you are done, send a copy of the link to our Development Assistant, Nadi at nadi@uscampaignforburma.org. We will then add your video to the list of videos made by other supporters.
=== Comments ===
Israel Shouldn’t Be Forced to Bow to U.N.
By Anne Bayefsky
President Obama has now blackmailed the government of Israel into submitting its defense forces to the toxic oversight of the United Nations. Today U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon created, with Israel’s approval, a UN investigation of last June’s flotilla incident in which Turkish-backed extremists sought to shatter Israel’s lawful naval blockade of Hamas-run Gaza.

Despite the fact that Israel has already launched an inquiry with international participants, the Obama administration insists that the Israel Defense Forces, and the Israeli legal and political establishment governing their actions, must be subject to UN supervision. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice welcomed Ban’s announcement.

Obama’s move is a far cry from claims of a recent rapprochement with Israel. Instead of pressuring Israel in front of the cameras, the administration is now using the U.N. as its foil. The sword of Damocles that hung over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s head was withdrawal of American veto protection in the Security Council, a United States sitting on the sidelines in the General Assembly and the other U.N. bodies where new forms of anti-Israel censure are always percolating, and a firm U.S. no to any Israeli military effort to stop an Iranian nuclear weapon.

Even Ban Ki-moon today called the development “unprecedented”. The U.N. team will be second-guessing the actions taken in self-defense by a democratic state, governed by the rule of law and at war with a terrorist entity committed to its destruction -- on account of an undisputed figure of nine deaths. In the course of war, hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq have been killed by American and coalition forces, while undemocratic regimes regularly and deliberately murder thousands, without a peep from the U.N.

If the president tried the same stunt in America, ordering U.S. generals to report to Ban Ki-moon and company and to seek their seal of approval, the uproar would be deafening. But this president has evidently embraced the defining attribute of the U.N. approach to Israel -- double-standards.

Obama’s support for the U.N. investigation is part of a major realignment of U.S. foreign policy to synchronize it with an organization dominated by Islamic interests. Within 24 hours of the flotilla incident, the U.S. agreed to a hasty Security Council presidential statement on May 31 that called for "a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other State Department officials let it be known that “credible” to this administration meant credible in the eyes of the U.N. In the Israeli case, the United States is prepared to make the requisites of self-defense subservient to the U.N. mob.

In today’s U.N. announcement, Ban Ki-moon named former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer to head his inquiry. Palmer is closely associated with one of the U.N.’s top officials, Helen Clark, who is currently chief of the U.N. Development Program and chair of the U.N. Development Group. Clark was Palmer’s deputy during his time in office and, after becoming prime minister herself, named him to a number of important posts. U.N. officials clearly believe that Palmer shares, or will be influenced by, the biases of those who appointed him. In the midst of the Gaza war in January 2009, Clark blamed Israel for the conflict saying the impact of Hamas rocket attacks “has been but a tiny fraction of that of the Israeli strikes on Gaza.” In August 2006 during the Lebanon war, Clark said she found it “hard to believe” that the accidental Israeli bombing of a U.N. observation post in Lebanon was anything but deliberate. (More at the link)
===
SWARM OF JULIAS
Tim Blair
Fake Julia, real Julia, campaign manager Julia, candidate Julia … there are so many Gillards around at the moment that it’s difficult to know which one should be blamed for her desperate debate pleading. Correllio makes a good point:
PMs don’t ask for debates. Gillard is asking to be Opposition Leader.
So that’s yet another Julia. At this rate she’ll be able to fill Labor’s campaign launch all by herself.
===
BEWARE THE NIGHT-SWINE
Tim Blair
Fun times for a family stuck in remote western NSW:
All four of them, plus Diesel the family dog, slept in the car each night for fear of being attacked by wild pigs.
Such attacks are infrequent, but not to be dismissed. The real problem is when pigs go radioactive. Ain’t nobody ever survived an attack from a nuclear glow-hog.
===
HE’S EVERYWHERE
Tim Blair
“Unless I’m much mistaken,” emails Cuckoo, “our young backward-walking friend from the Greens campaign ad is also earning an honest living flogging beer for CUB.” Indeed he is; you can see him at the four-second mark. Naturally, Greens are opposed to alcohol advertising.
===
RUDD REBOUNDS
Tim Blair
The Gold Coast Bulletin‘s Peter Cameron previews Labor’s last-minute campaign launch:
Labor officials want Kevin Rudd out of the way for good. They fear a Rudd appearance at the campaign launch will derail the occasion and divert attention from Prime Minister Gillard.

Particularly if he arrives conspicuously early or late.

Labor tradition says former prime ministers are given pride of place up front. Friction demands that former PMs Hawke and Keating will be unlikely to sit together. Imagine if Mark Latham showed up in the same row as Mr Rudd!
Bad news for Labor: Rudd has bounded out of hospital and is looking younger than ever! He’s joined in his Gillard-stomping quest by a vengeful Ruddette:
Fresh anger in Labor yesterday over Kevin Rudd after it emerged the launch of a book by the former prime minister’s daughter, Jessica, had been brought forward by two weeks to coincide with Labor’s official campaign launch on August 16. The book, Campaign Ruby, is spruiked as ‘’Bridget Jones on the campaign trail’’ and is about a prime minister who, can you believe it, is rolled by his female deputy to become the nation’s first woman prime minister. Both launches are in Brisbane.
Which launch will Kevni attend? Labor won’t be happy either way. Nor will they – or Rudd, for that matter – be pleased that The Australian has withdrawn its 2007 endorsement:
We acknowledge we were misled by Kevin Rudd, who we endorsed at the 2007 election. He told the nation he was an economic liberal, a lighter version of Mr Howard … Voters should learn from the failure to spot the truth about Mr Rudd.
Voters are currently spotting the truth about Julia Gillard, whose “real Julia” campaign relies on disguise:
Every now and then, during happier times, Julia Gillard’s office would have a ‘’dress-like-a-Tory day’’. A string of pearls or other subtle accoutrement was worn as a bit of light-hearted fun by the deputy prime minister and her staff at the expense of the opposition.

These days as PM, Gillard is doing it for real. Barely a day of the campaign has passed without her appearing in a string of pearls. They were there yesterday, despite the shift to the new and real Julia.
Just like Rudd in 2007, she’s pretending to be conservative. Punters aren’t buying it:
“We have the extraordinary situation where Labor under Gillard is now a longer price than Labor was under Kevin Rudd when they got rid of him,” Centrebet spokesman Neil Evans said yesterday.

“Rudd was $1.52 when they put him out to pasture for Gillard. Now she’s a longer price.”
One more week of this and Labor might be toast.
===
PERMANENT HATE
Tim Blair
They just can’t help themselves. Given the choice between government and a face-scratching all-in bitch fight, Labor chooses the brawl every time.

It isn’t often that you learn something from people named Ferrett or Bullfrog, but even bikie gangs have shown Labor it’s possible to put aside differences in pursuit of a common cause. Stabbings, shootings and bashings among bikies have noticeably declined since gangs last year formed the United Motorcycle Council of NSW.

Those wimps wouldn’t last a single day in the ALP. And that’s despite a history of factional differences involving shotguns and iron bars. Labor just plays meaner. Let’s review ...
===
IN AUSTRALIA, HE’S ONLY ALLOWED TO HAVE SPARKLERS
Tim Blair
The Daily Telegraph‘s Peter Brown, currently in Dillon, South Carolina, emails:
So after my chili dog I went across the road and found the Fireworks Supermarket ...
I’m not coming back, sorry. This whole shop was crackers ... everything, all of those boxes you see ... crackers. And then there was another fireworks shop behind it.

South Carolina is it. The capital of the world.
UPDATE. Also in the US is former SMH writer-turned-Newsweek-deputy editor Julia Baird, whose latest column receives attention from Frank Ross.
===
Taking offence
Andrew Bolt
Without clicking the link, try to guess how this earns the headline ”Abbott trips at paid parental leave launch with ‘no’ gaffe”:

Mr Abbott has knocked back the Prime Minister’s offer for a debate on the economy, saying she initially refused his request for three debates and had changed her mind because she was now in panic mode.

“Are you suggesting to me that when it comes to Julia, no doesn’t mean no?” he said.

===
Tanner thrice refuses to deny he leaked
Andrew Bolt
The day after I asked why Linday Tanner was so silent, the retirning Finance Minister bobs up on MTR 1377 and Melbourne 774. But not in a way that helps Labor.

On the ABC he three times refuses to deny he has leaked against Julia Gillard.

On MTR, he refuses an invitation to explain why Labor had to get rid of Kevin Rudd and go for Gillard instead, saying only “we are where we are”.

Tanner, who falsely claimed on air yesterday that I had accused him of being the leaker and attacked me as an “entertainer” and “not a serious commentator”, actually despises those who backed Gillard’s rise. Given this - and now his ill-informed or deceitful verballing of me - I’m wondering if he is quite as honourable and discreet as I’ve said.

UPDATE

Tanner’s non-denial:
Mr Tanner said he was ”not in the habit of responding to claims ... that are made without the slightest shred of evidence.”

“This is just one of those things that’s got the entire political class whipping itself into a lather and has no significance to ordinary people, so I’m not going to add to this furore, I’m not going to respond to any of those suggestions.

“If people want to speculate about me, that’s fine, I don’t care.

“I’m not going to be drawn, I’m not going to add to this nonsense and anybody out there who wants to form a judgment about my track record and my integrity is entitled to do so.”
Oddly enough, while Tanner says he’s “not in the habit of responding to claims ... that are made without the slightest shred of evidence” he’s not half as reluctant to actually make claims without the slightest shred of evidence, as I discovered this morning.
===
So which organisation is implicated in this dishonesty?
Andrew Bolt
It shouldn’t need saying, but I do not have a Twitter account and the fake one seems to be the work of people whose employer will be very embarrassed to find its staff once more engaging in deceitful slurs. A little warning there. A tearful sorry afterwards will be both too late and insincere, especially from people with their record of sliming.

UPDATE

Reader I See Stupid People notes a belated attack of the guilts - or of fear:
I see that they’ve changed the “bio” now, they’ve belatedly added that it’s a fake account, but if you look at the wayback machine or even just the google cache you will see that they’ve only just added that. Idiots.
No apology for the lying, of course. This is only a small instance, but as I’ve so often noted among Leftist activists from the French Revolution to the Internet revolution, many have a curious belief that their moral cause entitles them to act as barbarians. It’s this loss of conscience in the collective that makes them such a menace.

UPDATE 2

Reader inside man:
Andrew,I work for one of those employers who think it’s amusing to setup these fake feeds. The organisation is juvenile, unprofessional and not worth the trouble they cause.
I’ve been given names, and at some stage may use them. Parody is perfectly fine, but identity theft is low.
===
The Rudds hold a rival launch
Andrew Bolt
Now what else will be launched in Brisbane on August 16?
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s daughter wants to stand up to the bullies who “cut down” a man who worked his “guts” out for the country.

In a 1,300-word article for women’s magazine Madison, Jessica Rudd defends her dad…

Jessica has brought forward the launch of her debut novel Campaign Ruby to August 16 to capitalise on the election hype. The book is published by Text Publishing and will be launched in Brisbane.
Labor may be furious that it’s campaign launch on the same day will have competition for unflattering attention, but, looking on the bright side, at least Rudd will have a clashing commitment that prevents him from haunting the event like Banquo’s ghost.

(Thanks to reader Spin Baby, Spin.)
===
Britain faces a cultural war. With blood
Andrew Bolt
One of these two men - and their fans - is a menace to the freedoms and even safety of fellow Britons.

There’s Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson:
Honestly, the burka doesn’t work. I was in a cab in Piccadilly the other day when a woman in a full burka crossing the road in front of me tripped over the pavement, went head over heels and up it came, red g-string and stockings.
And there’s preacher Anjem Choudary:
Clarkson may think he was funny or was telling a joke when he said these things. But this is not funny to everyone. And by making fun or disrespecting the burka and Muslim women he has deeply offended many people. It is a grave offence to disrespect a Muslim woman. People have gone to war to protect the honour of Muslim women. And they will go to war again. Clarkson has stirred a hornets’ nest among young Islamic fundamentalists. He has fanned the flames of their cause. I believe that one day Britain, and indeed every part of the world, will be governed by and under the authority of the Muslims implementing Islamic Law. And it will happen. It may come peacefully. But it may come through a holy war that will see rivers of blood on the streets. Clarkson has brought this day closer.
One of the two doesn’t belong in the country and its culture. And it’s the one who, oddly enough, echoes precisely Enoch Powell’s famous warning in 1968, made to the cost of his career and reputation:
For these dangerous and divisive elements the legislation proposed in the Race Relations Bill is the very pabulum they need to flourish. Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organise to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see “the River Tiber foaming with much blood.”
UPDATE

Powell was right, says Simon Heffer of London’s Telegraph:
The assault on him at the time was conducted on the basis of scaremongering. His population projections could not possibly be accurate, it was said. In fact, they understated the case. He was accused of blatant racism, even though he had merely been highlighting the danger of the racism of others.
(Thanks to reader Miles.)
===
Clinics aren’t so super
Andrew Bolt
Why is Labor spending taxpayers’ money to supply what the private sector does anyway?
DOCTORS have demanded Julia Gillard scrap her GP super clinics program. They have warned that the taxpayer-funded clinics are stealing patients from existing surgeries.

The Australian Medical Association has also questioned whether the clinics are being built in marginal seats for Labor’s political gain, rather than in the areas where they are needed
(Thanks to reader CA.)
===
Abbott cuts a deal with Nauru
Andrew Bolt
As if Julia Gillard’s dithering and fumbling on her “East Timor” non-solution didn’t look bad enough:
TONY Abbott is promising to reopen the two Nauru detention centres and restore temporary protection visas within weeks if he wins the August 21 election as part of his strategy to ‘’stop the boats’’.

The Liberal leader said yesterday he believed he could bring back the controversial temporary visas without introducing legislation and vowed to ring the president of Nauru on ‘’day one’’ of an Abbott government.

‘’I’ll pick up the phone to the president of Nauru on day one and my understanding is that Nauru could have the detention centres open within a matter of weeks,’’ Mr Abbott said yesterday.
This is a policy Labor could have announced a month ago, if it hadn’t been too proud to admit it was wrong. Now it will be made to pay.

Meanwhile, it takes an Iraqi asylum seeker in Indonesia to tell Four Corners what so many ABC journalists have so long questioned - that there is indeed a queue, and boat people are crashing it:

SARAH FERGUSON: Hussain Nassir and his family are refugees from Iraq, recognised by the UNHCR. They’ve been in Indonesia for three years, waiting for a country like Australia to offer them resettlement… For three years they’ve watched as thousands of asylum seekers have passed through Indonesia on their way to Australia.

HUSSAIN NASIR: These people right now you know when they come in by the boat, they stolen our place and take it our place and the place of my wife and my children so we waiting here, this right? You take a lot of the people from the sea and you keep us for what? So this not right.

===
It could be cheaper for all if we just hardened up
Andrew Bolt
Yes, unpleasant behaviour from a boor, if true, but on the scale of human depravity is merely hurting someone’s feelings truly deserving of $37 million of punishment?
DAVID Jones has been hit with a $35 million sexual harassment law suit following claims that triggered the shock resignation of DJs boss Mark McInnes.

Publicity Coordinator Kristy Fraser-Kirk alleges in a statement of claim filed in the Federal Court in Sydney that the David Jones’ chief executive Mark McInnes made unwelcome sexual advances to her.

She has also lodged claims of $2 million in damages against Mr McInnes.

She claims that during a lunch on May 23 this year hosted by the store to celebrate the renewal of a contract between racing identity Gai Waterhouse and David Jones, Mr McInnes urged Ms Fraser-Kirk to try a dessert by saying it was “like a f--- in the mouth”.

She also claims he put his hand under her clothes and touched her bra strap.

She claims he repeatedly asked her to accompany him to Bondi - where he lived - with “the clear implication that such a visit would be for the purpose of sexual intercourse.”
Fraser-Kirk says she’ll donate the punitive damages to a charity, but I doubt there will be much public charity in return for what many may see as a massive overreaction to rudeness and an alleged assault by groping, however unpardonable I find it.

SPEAKING of court cases that may threaten more harm than what they seek to have compensated:
COMMUNITY groups across Queensland face potentially crippling lawsuits if a landmark court case against the Volunteer Marine Rescue succeeds.

In a case that will be watched with concern by the likes of surf lifesavers and rural firefighters, New Zealand mariner Bill Goodhue is suing the VMR for negligence after his yacht was allegedly moved from its mooring in the Southport Broadwater and swamped.

Mr Goodhue argues civil liability laws that protect volunteers from legal action do not extend to the organisations they belong to… Mr Goodhue, who is representing himself, countered that community groups were not immune from being sued if they had been negligent or shown ``reckless disregard’’.

Mr Goodhue is seeking almost $90,000 in damages after his ocean-going ketch, Warlock, keeled over and filled with water after it was allegedly moved from its mooring by the VMR in November 2003.
Now what have those volunteers allegedly done?
He said the VMR acted in ‘reckless disregard’ and not in good faith when they moved his boat on October 25, 2003, and as a result several days later it was knocked on its side, filling his boat with salt water, destroying personal possessions and electronic equipment.

VMR state secretary-manager Harry Hubner said there was a bad storm, Mr Goodhue’s boat was in danger of damaging other boats in Bum’s Bay where it was anchored and they only moved the boat at the direction of water police.
(Thanks to reader CA. With court cases pending, comments have been blocked.)
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Cartoonish party
Andrew Bolt
Greens candidate Elissa Jenkins gets her science from a talking penguin:
According to Greens Candidate for Moreton, Elissa Jenkins, Abbott’s announcement in Mackay that a Coalition Government would freeze the gazetting of new marine parks around the country is appalling, populist politics that shows he has no real understanding of the issues at stake
with marine sanctuaries…

”Anyone’s who’s seen the animated children’s film Happy Feet would know that overfishing is the biggest threat facing our fishing and tourism industries – not sanctuaries.”
(Thanks to reader Mick.)

UPDATE

We can now guess at the inspiration for some of the Greens’ most visionary policies.

The Greens’ social welfare policy:

The Greens’ competition policy:

The Greens’ defence policy:

The Greens’ health policy:

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This backflip shows how desperate Gillard has become
Andrew Bolt
The “real Julia” wants a second debate because the fake Julia stuffed up the first:
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has backflipped on campaign debates, declaring it’s ?game on?? for another clash as long as it’s about the economy.

Ms Gillard had previously dismissed the need for another debate, saying she had been head-to-head with Tony Abbott a number of times before.

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