Shame New Idea

I think I'll buy a copy of New Idea wipe my backside with it and send it back to the publisher.

Prince Harry decides to do the right thing, serve his country in Afghanistan, and what happens, sleazy gossip rag New Idea decides to reveal this to the world. They not only put his life at risk but also the lives the other British soldiers around him.

Claiming no knowledge of the embargo is no excuse, they should have known. It says something about their journalistic skills if they missed something so important. They would rather have a playboy prince, an eternal adolescent who wastes his life partying , then a prince who's a responsible adult.

All I can say is good on you Prince Harry and I hope you get to serve your full tour.

Gale blows out

above Megan Gale at DJ's winter collection launch

David Jones's top clothes horse , Megan Gale, has decided to quite modeling to seek an acting career.

MEGAN Gale's swan song last night drew a deafening round of applause as she bid a tearful farewell to the catwalk at Melbourne Town Hall.

The 32-year-old model opened the David Jones winter launch to a standing ovation, in a Sass & Bide sequinned robe and star-spangled shift.

The label's designers Heidi Middelton and Sarah-Jane Clarke watched admiringly from the front row.

Embodying the collection's Japanese Story theme, Gale closed the show in a finale fit for an emperor: a one-off Akira Isogawa cream creation hand-crafted from antique Kimono fabric.....

I look forward to seeing her as Wonder Woman.

Nelson's change

Dr Nelson, do you really think playing me-too on climate change with the government is really a good idea? Its true that people are concerned about water restrictions, but I sceptical climate change has much to do with it. Have a look at the graph below from the Bureau of Meteorology.

I don't see anything unusual there. Maybe the water restrictions have to do with something else. Like state Labor governments poor planning and general incompetence. You might want to have a chat with some of your state Liberal leaders like Mr O'Farrell about it. I really think some healthy skepticism would be useful, especially if it allows you and your state leaders to attack Labor.

No turbans at Ormiston

I expect public schools to have enough range in their school's uniform wardrobe to allow children of all faiths to attend. However private schools are different they have every right to restrict entrance by whatever requirement they want. So if the private Ormiston College wants to ban turban wearing Sikhs so be it.

THE Sikh community is outraged at what it says is a lack of cultural awareness after two incidents involving the wearing of turbans.

A Sikh family is fighting a landmark case after Ormiston College in Brisbane told them their 12-year-old son could only be enrolled if he complied with its uniform rules by cutting his hair and not wearing a turban.

The family, who cannot be named, has lodged a claim with the Anti-Discrimination Commission Queensland.....

No Raptors for us

At last, a journalist who hasn't fallen for the wannabe top gun F-22 Raptor nonsense. Greg Sheridan had enough sense to ask someone who knows what he's talking about, US Secretary of defense Robert Gates.

HERE'S a hot tip. There is not the slightest chance Australia will buy any F-22 Raptor aircraft, and there is almost no chance that we will ditch the F/A-18 Super Hornets that the previous government was going to buy. US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates was yesterday polite but dismissive of the possibility of the US selling us the Raptors. We won't buy the Raptors because the Americans don't sell them to foreign countries, we haven't asked them to sell us Raptors and nor are we likely to, they're too expensive, they don't do the jobs we need them to do and we are committed to an alternative path of phasing out the F1-11s, using F/A-18 Super Hornets as an interim measure and ultimately moving to a fleet made up predominantly, if not entirely, of F-35 joint strike fighters....

I have been saying as much for months. In years to come Brendan Nelson will be seen as having been an effective Defence Minister.

Fitzgibbon congratulates shooter

I'll bet Defence Minister Fitzgibbon will be trying to get the SM 3 for our destroyers:

Mr Fitzgibbon confirmed missile defence was discussed but declined to reveal details. The former coalition government expressed an interest in acquiring a missile defence capability through fitting advanced Standard SM-3 missiles to new air warfare destroyers.

But Mr Fitzgibbon said the government had observed this week's US shootdown of a rogue satellite with a SM-3 with great interest.

"Can I say Bob, nice shot,'' he said.

Centrelink cuts

As a former Centrelink employee I'm sure most of those 2000 will be happy to take their redundancies and get out.

However I wish the Opposition would get more guts. They should be demanding Centrelink be privatised not complaining about the cuts. If the government really wanted to save money they would out source Centrelink's business to a competitive market. Centrelink is just a government administration organisation. Theres no reason most of the functions could not be done by the private sector.

CENTRELINK will make about 2000 workers redundant to achieve budget savings demanded by the Rudd Government's razor gang. Centrelink chief executive Jeff Whalan said his budget would be cut by at least $150 million next financial year. The vice-president of the Community and Public Sector Union, Lisa Newman, last week called for a guarantee there would be no forced redundancies. "I wouldn't have been able to have given and cannot now give a guarantee of no redundancies," Mr Whalan said. "We will have to pull down our staff significantly. My best estimate at the moment is some 2000 staff."

Satellite disinformation

This is just such an obvious case of disinformation by DOD that I’m surprised no one has commented on it yet.

MISSILE fired from a US Navy warship has hit a dying spy satellite 247km above the Pacific Ocean but it is not yet known whether the strike has nullified the threat of a toxic fuel landing in a populated area, the Pentagon says.

Australia is one of the countries that has been placed on alert because of the risk.

The SM-3 missile was fired from the USS Lake Erie in the Pacific at about 10.26 EST (2.26pm AEDT) and scored a direct hit on the bus-sized satellite, the Pentagon said.

Theres nothing unusual about a satellite re-entering the atmosphere, it’s a common event. The “toxic fuel” was hydrazine, dangerous yes, but it would have burnt up well before reaching Earth. There was never a threat to anyone. The real reason for this little bit of target practice is that the Chinese tested there own killer sat system last year. The Americans are demonstrating what they can do in return. As well it’s a test of the US Navy’s Aegis Combat System which has been upgraded to take down ballistic missiles so it would have been a good test of the Navy’s new hardware. The exercise will bound to give pause to any missile happy Iranians or North Koreans. The success is a good sign for Australia too as our new destroyers will be getting the Aegis system.

Robo-taxi

Michael Sutcliffe thinks Unmanned Aerial Vehicles would make a great military evac vehicle. What I’m interested in is Unmanned Land Vehicles, especially when I’m squeezed in a train trying to get home.

Can we develop a radically better form of public transport? Maybe. Lets start by getting rid of buses on bus transit lanes. Instead replace them with robot taxis; Robo-taxi. The basic technology for driverless cars seems to be here now. They can be electric with quick swap battery packs. Network them so they can be aware of each other and road conditions. They can be electronically linked to each other so they can speed up or slow down together like a train. The robo-taxis travel on set routes , commuters can call a robo-taxi at a taxi ramp or by mobile phone. You now have a responsive system that has the privacy and comfort of the private car with the advantages of the public transport , and unlike bus drivers, they don’t to take sickies or strike.

If the AI gets good enough they can operate on conventional lanes and would make most private cars redundant. Cars generally spend most of their time in a garage or parked waiting for the next drive. The robo-taxi could work nearly 24 hours a day, I therefore expect them to be cheaper then private vehicles. But theres more. Dump City Rail and pave over those tracks. convert them into highways and install electric power cables in the new roads. That way the robo-taxis can just power their motors from the highways saving battery power. Now the robo-taxi has nearly unlimited range they can travel at high speeds on the former train tracks and go pack to batteries on conventional roads.

This will probably remain a fantasy but I think the main obstacle to any radical change to public transport will be entrenched interests rather then technology.

Rudd's Apartheid

Looks like the Rudd government will sign the UN declaration on indigenous rights . A racist declaration that will effectively allow Aboriginals to set up sovereign communities within Australia. This is outrageous. Andrew Bolt has been covering the issue. The declaration states:

"Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to belong to an indigenous community or nation . . .

"(States must give) due recognition to indigenous peoples' laws . . .

"Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their education systems . . .

"States shall consult and co-operate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions . . .

We are supposed to be living in one country with a legal system serving all Australians, not separate laws for Aboriginals. Its politically correct apartheid. The government claims it will be non binding but if so why sign it? And does anyone think Aboriginals will see it that way?

Westies politically incorrect

This is hardly surprising, we like the hard core stuff out here:

In the east, they say, audiences like their humour cleaner and politically correct; in the west, the raunchier the better.

According to Jimbo and Vicky B, two regulars on the Sydney comedy circuit, a venue's location dictates the variety, rudeness and, ultimately, the quality of their acts.

"Sex, profanity and politics are all discouraged in the eastern suburbs, to the detriment of our acts,'' Jimbo declares.

"Out west, it's game on when it comes to audience participation.

"They'll do anything for a free drink, and they just love to heckle the stage - something every experienced comic thrives on.''

Driving on Air

Heres an alternative to paying the OPEC jizya. Manufacture motor fuel from air and water. The scientists at Los Almos National Labs have developed a way to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide and water into synthetic gas (syngas) which can then be converted into methanol or even petrol. (full paper here) They use a “carbon neutral” power source - nuclear power but if ever solar or wind become economic there’s no reason why they couldn’t be used. The basic chemistry has been known for a long time but they claim to be able to do it more economically and intend to build a demonstration unit.

I’m not surprised that Los Almos is researching this. They are a military lab and the US military is the world’s largest user of oil. The cost is still high, $4.60 a gallon for petrol and $1.65 for methanol, but the DOD would properly be willing to pay a premium to insure its fuel supplies. However if there is a major move to alcohol fuels then you can bet people would be trying very hard to bring the cost down.

Which brings me to General Motors Vice President Bob Lutz. He is developing GM’s electric car the Volt and has been reported to say :

–Hybrid cars like those made by Toyota “make no economic sense,” because their price will never come down, ……

Global warming is a “total crock of ****.” Then he added: “I’m a skeptic, not a denier. Having said that, my opinion doesn’t matter. (With the battery-driven Volt), “I’m motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2 (argument).”….

Sounds good to me. I note GM is also investing in Coskata ethanol process (which as it uses syngas, would work with the Los Almos air fuel idea). Of course in Australia we have Labor’s Kim Carr wanting to build hybrid cars in Australia. Typical leftists nonsense.

Stay away Mr Nelson

Mr Nelson please stay away from Mr Rudd's Aboriginal welfare groups. Even if you think they are a good idea the Opposition's job is to keep a critical watch on them, not join them. Surely you and Mr Abbott can visit Aboriginal communities under your own steam. Surely the Liberals can come up with its own policies not just follow Rudd's lead. After all the Howard government came up with intervention. Which reminds me, if you still feel apologetic how about apologizing for the Howard government taking so long to introduce intervention?

Social Policy Bonds and Aboriginal Welfare

Several years ago economist Ronnie Horesh came up with the idea of Social Policy Bonds. These would be tradeable non interest bearing bonds issued by government or some other organisation that would be redeemed at a set date if certain social goals were reached and sustained. That social goal could be reducing long term unemployment, improving health , reducing international conflicts or just about anything else. The securities would be auctioned at issue and may only originally sell at a small percentage of their face value. However anyone who has an idea on how to achieve the goal could buy then cheaply. As the bonds are tradable their value would increase if the social goal became more likely to be achieved. The bond holders could then sell some of their bonds to realise a capital gain, effectively providing them a reward for their success before the redeem date.

The big advantage to government is that they only need to pay out if the results are achieved. They would have effectively contracted out public policy to the market.

Recent talk on how to improve Aboriginal welfare reminded me of Horesh’s idea. How much would it be worth to say, improve Aboriginal health in the Northern Territory? Offer the amount as a Policy Bonds and lets see if they would energize community action. The government would have nothing to lose and it just might work.

Roger Rogerson's help to taxpayers

Ex cop and ex jailbird Roger Rogerson has been reviewing Nine's Underbelly mini series. This part of the review got my attention.

We had nine killed in a year which was pretty good. It cleaned the streets up a bit and saved the taxpayer money, instead of sending them to jail.

Well, ehh... yeah I suppose it did... thanks Roger.

Yes, we can

Dear God I wish we had politicians with the principles and character of this man. "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem. We are a nation that has a government not the other way around.... our government has no power except that granted to it by the people" I can't imagine any Australian politician having the guts to say that. Instead we get
"I'm Kevin Rudd and I'm here to help"

Via instapundit and Professor Bainbridge.

Stylish Kylie

Heres something much more pleasant then the previous post. Our Kylie has been voted Elle Style Woman of the Year in the UK:



Another pic.


one more:

Pioneers of Tomorrow

Meet Assud the Jew eating rabbit, training the next generation of self detonating Muslims:

Arise Sir John?

I keep falling in the libertarian sector of the Political Compass graph but I’m pretty conservative on cultural matters. I’m no republican and wish we still had knighthoods. The Monarchy links us to a thousand years of history and is a clear reminder of our Anglosphere heritage . If we are going to honor someone as a nation we should do it properly. Lets face it, adding AO to someone’s name is never going to match being called Sir or Dame. So I was please to read John Howard may get a knighthood:

Former prime minister John Howard could be in line to join one of Britain's most prestigious orders.

Speculation is mounting that Mr Howard has been personally selected by Queen Elizabeth to receive the Order of the Garter, the most senior and oldest British Order of Chivalry.

A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace refused to confirm or deny the speculation.

"We have made no announcements on that whatsoever and we wouldn't speculate on who is in line to receive one," she told AAP.

"It's a great honour and a rare one."......

New Liberal leader

Saw this on Andrew Bolt's blog. Its so funny I just had to blog it!

No tax cuts for us slaves

Well, I'm back from sunny Queensland and what do I find, Mr Swan wants to stop any further tax cuts.

Mr Swan has said he intends to hoard unspent budget surpluses rather than hand them back as tax cuts.

Asked later whether taxpayers would have to get used to no future tax cuts, Mr Swan said told ABC Radio: "The federal government has to show restraint."

"Australia faces a very significant inflation problem - it has to be dealt with."

So the Rudd government will be hoarding more billions in the F%^&ing future fund, a fund set up to pay for public servants retirement.... Great. .. That surplus is our money, rightfully earned by the Australian people, collected through over taxation.

Tax cuts are NOT a "reward for hard work", my wage is that. Taxes are for funding the proper functions of government, not to refund unneeded taxes is outright theft.

Housing affordability

Before I go. Pommygranate over at the ALS blog comments on the stupidity of giving tax breaks to help home buyers. All the tax breaks will do is increase demand and push up house prices. The problem is one of supply not demand. Besides making available unwanted Commonwealth land I can't think of anything the federal government can do to increase supply, its really a state government issue.

However I would like to know how much extra regulation, taxes, charges, development restrictions etc are now required compared the the baby boom era of the 1950s and 60s. I'll bet that has a lot to do with it. Considering that people are happy to pay top dollar for homes of that era I'm sceptical current extra cost charges achieve much. Besides increasing the price of real estate that is.

I'm off!

I'm off to the Sunshine Coast for the rest of the week. Hope the rain stop!

Education chief tells teachers to get stuffed

Well, not quite, but he might as well have:

AUSTRALIA'S new education chief is supporting big classes, calling any reduction in class sizes "a waste of money".

Barry McGaw, charged with co-ordinating a new national curriculum, said the emphasis should instead be on helping struggling students by appointing more specialist teachers.

The decorated academic and policymaker argued slow learners slipped through the cracks just as easily in smaller classes as they did in bigger ones.

Teachers unions have pushed for reduced class sizes, but I hink it's not the most important thing," he said. "It's a waste of money - you don't get the best bang for your buck." ......

Crikey, we don't need more teachers, imagine that. But the teachers unions don't agree.

Mr McGaw's comments on class sizes have angered Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Mary Bluett. She labelled the remarks as "absurd" and said smaller classes were the best way to improve academic results and retention rates.

Sorry, I'm a complete cynic on this debate, the call for smaller class sizes makes sense if employing teachers is your goal, but less so if you want to increase teacher productivity and general education effectiveness. Mr McGraw has a duty to look at all alternatives not just the ones teachers support. I keep thinking of a comment science fiction author Ben Bova made,: "the best classroom in history was under an olive tree with Aristotle in the middle."

It ain't over yet

This shows the level of depravity and desperation of the Iraqi islamists:

TERRORISTS have used two mentally disabled women as bombs in an attack which killed more than 72 people who were shopping at two popular Baghdad pet markets.

In what has been described as the Iraqi capital’s deadliest bombing in more than seven months, the women were reportedly exploded by remote control, probably from a mobile phone.

Police said a female suicide bomber killed 45 people and wounded 82 at the Ghazil pet market in central Baghdad. Another blast just minutes earlier killed 27 people and wounded 67 at a bird market in southern Baghdad, police said.

The US military, which gave a lower death toll, said both attacks were caused by female suicide bombers and blamed al Qaeda. An Iraqi military official said the two women were mentally disabled and the bombs detonated by remote control....

They have run out of willing martyrs and have to resort to mentally disabled women. Perhaps children will be next. It hardly shows they have much support. We are winning but the war ain't over yet. I hope most of the providences can be turned over to local security forces by the end of the year. If that happens I would think Iraq would be reasonably secure no matter who's the next US President.

One question, why are these women called "suicide bombers"? They were mentally retarded and the bombs had to be set off by remote control. I doubt they were fully aware of what was going to happen.

Krystal does her duty

Its good to see that model Krystal Forscutt has been doing her patriotic duty.:

The Big Brother babe has spent the past few days entertaining Aussie troops on a tour of duty funded by lad's mag Zoo Weekly.

Confidential hears the pin-up has spent her time signing copies of her mag spreads for the peace keepers and showing off the singing skills she acquired on Channel 7 karaoke contest It Takes Two.

"If anything's going to calm the situation there, it'll be Krystal in a khaki bikini," Zoo editor Paul Merrill said. "Hopefully her's will be the only bazookas going off."