Australia's next top politician - Sarah Murdoch?

Sarah launching Tony Abbott book Battle lines

Am I the only person who thinks Sarah Murdoch would make a good politician? Shes highly presentable, can give a good speech, has the right connections and seems interested in social issues. Seems to be a sensible, level headed woman too. Perhaps not now but in a decade or so when her children are older.. Nahh.. shes far too pretty, politics is supposed to be theater for ugly people after all.

Kayser Trad is a racist

Thats what a judge has found:

"There is little doubt that many of the plaintiff's remarks are offensive to Jewish persons and homosexuals," Justice McClellan said in his judgment.

"Many of his remarks are distasteful and appear to condone violence.

"I'm satisfied that the plaintiff does hold views which can properly be described as racist.

"I'm also satisfied that he encourages others to hold those views. In particular he holds views derogatory of Jewish people.

"The views which he holds would not be acceptable to most right-thinking Australians."

Mr Trad, who founded the Islamic Friendship Association, faces up to $400,000 in court costs and there are question marks over his credibility after Justice McClellan's scathing judgment.

Lets take look at the Islamic Friendship Association. Just how many members does it have? It seems to have been set up to avoid scrutiny. From their website:

The Islamic Friendship Association of Australia is an incorporated association, with both formal and informal members. We were established in 2003 and have since held a number of interfaith programs. We generally work in partnership with other organisations and individuals. A person does not need to be a member to work with us, our organisation is not based on any fee structure and we have thus far resisted establishing a bank account. This practice has worked for us as some of our key members are affiliated with other organisations and this means that the Islamic Friendship Association does not need to handle money directly and therefore, will not need to account for finances.

The only member I'm aware of is Mr Trad himself. Its main function seems to be the promotion of Mr Trad. I'll be interested in knowing how much support he has from the Muslim community.

Hopefully journalist will now find someone else when they want a Muslim spokesman to interview.

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O are sleazy jerks

By now just about everyone has heard about the stunt the two radio jerks tried yesterday. They tied a 14 year old girl to a lie detector and asked her about her if she ever had sex were she revealed she was raped.

Proving they are no more then irresponsible clowns they are now blaming the media:

Meanwhile Kyle and Jackie O today hit back at media who "skewed" reports of their child rape revelation scandal in "an evil way", and said the controversy "just happened".

The pair criticised "twisted" and "false" reporting, saying they were in shock over the incident.

Just what made them think it was OK to ask a 14 year old girl about her sex life on radio show in the first place?

Sydney's transport problems solved

I have found the solution to our transport problems, its green , cheap and even fight obesity!

Introducing the Shweeb:

What could be more fun than gliding along on an eco-chic bicycle? How about shooting through the skies in a pedal-powered monorail capsule! A bunch of entrepreneuring New Zealanders has created just such a human-powered monorail system, known as the Shweeb. Their creation does double duty, acting not just as an innovative transportation system, but also an amusement ride. Are our cities the next step?

The technology behind the Shweeb is remarkably simple - the only infrastructure required is a network of interconnected single rails. A number of pods are hung from this these lines, which are powered by the people sitting inside them. In principle, these pods are no different than recumbent bicycles - they can achieve close to 25 mph, are comfortable to use, and can be used by nearly anyone.

Bob Brown and Labor not fair dinkum

This morning we read that Rio Tino has publicly come out in support of nuclear power:

MINING giant Rio Tinto has urged Kevin Rudd to immediately begin work on a regulatory regime allowing use of nuclear energy in Australia, arguing the viability of energy alternatives has been dramatically overstated.

The company has advised the government to consider "every option" for power generation because its pledges on reducing carbon emissions and using renewable energy will expose industry and consumers to huge increases in their power bills.

And it says that overly optimistic assumptions on the viability of alternatives such as wind and geothermal power, as well as so-called clean coal technologies, have created a "false optimism" which the government must challenge by commissioning new research.

As to be expected the Rudd government wants to have nothing to do with nukes:

Earlier yesterday Mr Ferguson dismissed any need for an examination of Labor's prohibition of nuclear reactors at next week's national conference in Sydney.

"Australia is an energy-rich nation possessing abundant sources of low-cost conventional fuels such as coal and gas, as well as many renewable options, such as wind, solar, geothermal and wave energy," Mr Ferguson said through a spokesman.

Unfortunately solar and wind can't provide base load power, and Labor's ETS will make coal and gas more expensive. Nuclear will increasingly become competitive.

My view has always been if you want to reduce carbon emissions and don't support nuclear energy you are just not fair dinkum.

Which brings us to Green leader Bob Brown, who had this to say:

"Australians hate the idea of nuclear power stations," he said.

"Coal and nuclear are both last century. This is a century of renewables".

No they don't senator, public support for nuclear energy is increasing.

Daniel Hannan in the USA

British Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan become known to the blogosphere a few months ago when he criticized PM Gordon Brown. Below is a speech he gave in Denver Colorado. He compares the American and European ideas of democracy. Well worth watching. I wish we had politicians here who were strong supporters of direct democracy.

Petrol wars

A few weeks ago some petrol station proprietor discounted heavily his petrol become a local hero. Now whole chains are discounting fuel but are being branded as villains:

It was revealed this morning that supermarket giant Coles would offer the largest petrol discount of 40c a litre for shoppers across Australia who spend more than $300 on groceries.

Under the scheme, shoppers spending more than $100 get 10c a litre off, those spending more than $200 save 25c a litre, and customers spending more than $300 get a 40c a litre discount, the Herald Sun reports.

Rival Safeway has since announced that it would match the discounts from 12pm (AEST) today for Victorian customers only.......

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon blasted the offers as proof of "obscene" power in the petrol market.

"If they can offer discounts at this level, surely this is proof that the big oil companies and the supermarket chains are overcharging massively when they aren’t offering discounts," Senator Xenophon said......

It proves no such thing. Retailers do loss making markdowns on selected items all the time. Its an incentive to get people into their shops. The hope to make up the loss on increased sales overall.

When petrol prices were going up people were complaining now that they are going down they are still complaining. You can never please some people.

Why Michael Costa was useless

Many Liberals like former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa. He even has his on Facebook Fan Page. I myself enjoy reading his articles but the latest shows whats wrong with the NSW government and his fatal flaw.

In last week's Australian he wrote on the Woolworths/Coles duopoly and good free markeeter he is, wants to remove barriers to competition:

The real danger in the government's decision to walk away from its election commitment is not lack of consumer information but rather that the major underlying problem in retail competition, planning barriers to entry, will not be addressed effectively.....

Problems here are in jurisdictions normally outside the control of the federal government: state government planning departments and local councils. The ACCC correctly identified that state planning laws which contributed to a lack of suitable sites for new grocery retailers were a significant barrier to entry for competitors to the majors.

Look, those departments and Councils are under the control of the State government. Mr Costa was a member of that government and rose to the position of Treasurer . So why didn't you do something about Michael? How about Accepting some responsibility?

Instead he reverts to the Labor State politician's mindset- its the Feds fault:

The federal government needs to deal with urban planning and land use as part of its national competition reform agenda. The argument that this is a state and local government issue does not have credibility given the federal government intrusion through its environmental legislation into what were traditionally state and local government issues.

Bumping the problem upstairs is not going to help, the Feds will meet the same opposition to change that State politicians find. What is required are real state leaders who accept responsibility and are willing to make tough decision and see them carried out. Mr Costa proves he was never the man for the job.

Americans

When Robert Kennedy was running for president he was asked if he feared what happened to his brother would also happen to him. His reply was "Men are not meant to lead safe lives" Have a look at the picture below. Construction worker Jason Oglesbee from Iowa saves the life of a woman. A picture of pure manly strength and courage.

Here's another courageous American, Gov Palin. Look at her, shes in her mid 40's has had five children and has a figure many woman die for. No wonder some women can't stand her. Envy is a sin girls.

Update: Palin to resign as Governor. Is this the end? Or the start of something new? Time will tell but I just love the folksy nature of her press release.

Banning School League tables

The NSW Liberals have decided to ban the publishing of school league table. The Shadow minister gives his reasons here:

What the Bill stopped was ranking of schools from best to worst. A ranking system that is simplistic and wrong because it does not take into account the challenges that individual schools face. Issues like isolation for schools in western NSW, the level of wealth of families, or the fact that kids come from a non English speaking background all effect school performance in tests.

This ranking might make great media headlines but they can also do significant harm to the schools affected. Some of the toughest schools in NSW have the best Principals and the best teachers with the hardest working kids working from a low base. They do not deserve public humiliation by being the subject of simplistic league tables...

What rubbish. The government is not obliged to use league tables they can use and publish a weighted system if they like. The issue here is one of freedom of speech, something I though Liberals believed in. Here is what Brendan Nelson had to say:

Dr Nelson, who pioneered the release of school information as federal education minister between 2001 and 2006, was "flabbergasted" by the Coalition's support for the amendment.

"I'm not an advocate of government-constructed league tables, but if somebody wants to construct a league table on the basis of publicly available information, they should be able to do so," he told The Australian.

"The last time I looked this was a free society."

I thought so too.