Gnu Hunter

The Gnu Hunter is retiring from the fray.

Tired from the hunt the Gnu Hunter is going to have a rest.

It has been a hoot and I've enjoyed my time with you all, but times have changed.

The forces of naughtiness are in disarray, and basically no Gnus is good Gnus.

The federal Labor Party has moved to a new level of dysfunction, one that is febrile and highly unstable. It now finds itself at a place where personal ambition and the settling of scores have a higher premium than finding a sense of common purpose or dealing with the realities created by John Howard's thumping fourth election victory.

The internal hostilities that raged between November 2001, when Simon Crean took on the leadership unopposed, and last December, when Mark Latham replaced him, have resumed.

The lark is on the wing
The snail is on the thorn
God is in his heaven
And all's right with the world.

Maybe, if times change, the Gnu Hunter will return.

Maybe I'll post an item now and again, but basically I can't see it happening, for a while at least.

Australians are now richer than ever before, new figures showed today, thanks to a buoyant sharemarket and high house prices. On average Australians are TWICE as wealthy as when Labor last ruled the roost eight years ago.

Private wealth rose 18 per cent to a new record high of $5 trillion in the year to June, or $250,000 a head, while debt averaged $19,000 a head.

Stock broker CommSec's analysis of Treasury and Australian Bureau of Statistics data found wealth doubled in the past seven years and rose almost 120 per cent in the past decade, beating the record set in the late 1980s.

"The gains in wealth over the past decade have not been equalled in at least 40 years," CommSec chief equities analyst Craig James said.

"Rising income and wealth levels combined with historically low interest rates and unemployment near 23-year lows will ensure that consumers keep spending in coming months of record petrol prices."

Mr James said the rise in wealth was due to the sharemarket - which hit successive record highs this week - and house prices, despite a dip in the early part of this year.

The will of the people was heard last weekend when they made it plain that they wanted John Howard to legislate and govern the country.

The Labor Party's apolitical arm, the ACTU, and its other affiliated unions, are being primed ready for action, to achieve Labor Party policy by proxy.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is preparing for a battle, as the re-elected Coalition Government targets industrial relations reforms.

Prime Minister John Howard is proposing a raft of changes to industrial laws governing award flexibility, unfair dismissal laws and work practices.

Some changes have already been blocked in the Senate, but the Government is likely to overcome that resistance in the Upper House with an outright majority or Family First support.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet says John Howard has made his agenda clear.

With this the ALP and the ACTU have also made their agenda clear.

Can anyone send me a list of the 6 or so current serving Labor politicians who have been "promoted" to (rewarded with) seats in parliament, rewarded for their workings in the ACTU or in Labor's other affiliated trade unions?

Simon Crean (ALP shadow treasurer and former ACTU President) is one,

Martin Ferguson (ALP shadow minister and former ACTU President) is another,

Jennie George (ALP shadow minister for Workplace Relations and former ACTU president) is yet another,

Can anyone name the rest...?

Of course in the past we had PM Bob Hawke (ACTU President) and Bill Kelty (ACTU President) etc.. etc...

Here's an ALP front-bencher of the future (the current ACTU President).

EDUCATION unions will campaign against the Howard Government in marginal seats, saying 98 per cent of schools would benefit under Labor's education policy.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow today said a union analysis had revealed every government school would be better off under Labor's plan, along with 2499 out of 2677 independent schools.

Ms Burrow said education had been chronically underfunded under the Howard government, and a fairer model was needed.

Ms Burrow could be our first female Prime Minister, if she does enough good works in support of the ALP during John Howard's term in office.

With the election over, and another chance at governing more than five years away, one of the few effective options left is to affect public opinion and government policy via the unions.

Did I mention the media? or rent-a-crowd street demonstrations? or snap strikes at Christmas ?

Update:

Julia Gillard (ALP Shadow Health Minister: rewarded for her work in the Australian Union of Students)

Update II: via Felis
1. Stephen Michael CONROY(Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate): Superannuation Officer, Transport Workers' Union
2. Kerry O'BRIEN (Shadow Minister for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs and Shadow Minister for Tourism, Regional Services and Territories): Vice-President, Miscellaneous Workers' Division, Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union 1991-96.
3. Lindsay Tanner (Shadow Minister for Communications): Assistant Secretary, Federated Clerks' Union (Vic) 1987-88; State Secretary 1988-93
4. Nick Sherry (Shadow Minister for Retirement Incomes and Savings): State Secretary - Federated Liquor and Allied Industries Union (Tas) 1979-90
5. Kate Lundy (Shadow Minister for Information Technology, Shadow Minister for Sport and Recreation and Shadow Minister for the Arts): Member, ACT Trades and Labour Council Executive from 1988; President 1993-96.
6. Thomas Bishop (Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs): Union Secretary 1984-96.
7. Chris Evans (Shadow Minister for Defence Procurement, Science and Personnel): State Secretary, Fire Brigade Union (WA) 1987-90.

If the Labor Party's fortunes were reversed last weekend and the fervent wishes of the majority of the press were realized then Labor would have controlled both houses of parliament (either directly or with the help of the Greens). The Labor Party would have controlled every State government, the Federal Government and the Senate as well.

This was not a problem for the learned members of the Press Gallery.

Suddenly, with Howard's win, it has become oh, so, scary, that a party should have the numbers in both houses of Federal Parliament.

A sixty year old woman leapt onto the back of a four metre crocodile to rescue a male friend.

The pair had been asleep in their tents on a beach in far north Queensland when the saltwater crocodile attacked and dragged the man from his tent.

The man, aged in his thirties, and a woman in her sixties, were at a remote spot about 300 kilometres north-west of Cairns.

Early this morning, the woman woke to her companion yelling as he was savaged by the crocodile in another tent.

She went to his aid, jumping on the back of the four-metre reptile.

When the croc turned on her, another camper shot the animal.

The injured pair was airlifted to hospital with wounds to their arms and legs.

Dr Mark Read from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service says the outcome could have been worse.

To see how big a 4 metre croc is click here.

Update: In the darkness and confusion Nanna thought the croc had the baby so she wasn't going to put up with any of that nonsense and leapt on the croc's back.

KENYA'S new Nobel Peace Prize winner believes the virus causing AIDS was a deliberately created biological agent unleashed on Africans.

In August Kenya's daily Standard newspaper quoted Ms Maathai saying HIV/AIDS was created by scientists for the purpose of mass extermination.

"We know that the developed nations are using biological warfare, leaving guns to the primitive people," the Standard quoted Ms Maathai as telling a public workshop in the central Kenyan town of Nyeri on August 30.

"AIDS (is) not a curse from God to Africans or the black people.

"It is a tool to control them designed by some evil-minded scientists, but we may not know who particularly did."

We know who to blame, don't we...

Australians have re-elected John Howard as Prime Minister for a near-record fourth term in office.

The shrieking from the Left and from the media gave us all pause to think he might be kicked out - removed for providing us with strong border protection and for supporting the US alliance in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Instead Australians have re-elected Howard with an increased majority.

Voters appear to have also given the government a majority in the Senate. This is the first time this freedom has been bestowed on a government for decades and is a significant development in our politics.

Clearly the voters have delivered a strong mandate for the government to govern.

Australians did not appreciate the Labor Party's (and the Greens') constant opposition for the sake of it.

Australians did not appreciate them calling the Prime Minister a liar. Being proven wrong, after the fact, about some things does not make you a liar.

Our contribution in Iraq may be small but we will not cut and run on our allies.

Howard has been a man of principle who has consistently made the correct political decisions rather than politically-correct ones.

The Opposition on the other hand have had a record of appeasement and of sniping, opportunistic politics.

Over the years, in the face of enormous opposition and media pressure, John Howard has stuck to his principles. Sometimes the polls favored him and at other times they most definitely did not. Despite this, his critics said his decisions were "poll driven".

During this election campaign he appealed to voters to respect his governments record and future judgement.

He asked that they not vote out good economic managers and strong national security defenders - just to elect unstable unknowns.

His appeal worked.

Howard is an astute politician and a man of principle. He really is, as George Bush described him, "The Man of Steel".

Much fuss is being made of the small boost in votes for the Greens party, but here's the first piece of analysis that matters:

The Greens lost their only seat in the House of Representatives.

The Greens have three seats in the Senate but have lost their share of the balance of power.

It's three years in the (political) wilderness. The best they can hope for is to attempt relevance by creating sensations in the media. A Democrats' future awaits them.

Have you noticed something missing from this election coverage?

No explosions or carnage?

It's not as if we don't have a shortage within our country of those who would wreak havoc upon us and our way of life.

Someone has, more than likely, done a very good job.

We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.

- George Orwell

Thanks.

I'm off to sleep now.

So what mistakes did the Labor Party make? What do they need to know?

The mistakes they made are these:

The ALP chose Mark Latham.

Trees are not more important than people. The unions still hold the ALP in thrall.

Australians want to decide who can get into this country.

Australians are not ashamed to be Australian.

The Doctors' Wives are generally pissed all day, screw the pool guy, and do not know shit.

The Prime Minister was right to ally with the USA to invade Iraq based upon the perceived threats and knowledge pertaining at the time.

Who gives a shit about whether WMD's exist in Iraq. Arab muslim extremists flew two passenger loads of civilians into two buildings also full of civilians. Arab extremists have been butchering Western civilians for four decades. It's time for pay-back. Modern politicians can't say that explicitly but we still can. 150,000+ coalition troops and Western hardware in the heart of the Middle East gives the Wahabbi and Sunni mullahs something to think about.

Australians did not appreciate the ALP and the Greens calling the Prime Minister a liar. Being proven wrong, after the fact, about some things does not make you a liar.

Australians do not think Peter Costello is evil. They may even think him to be a better Prime Minister than the taxidermist (Mark Latham), in which case all those expensive Labor ads were in fact Liberal party advertising: comparing Latham with Costello.

Australians do not want their Prime Minister to be a man of low character who brawls drunkenly with taxi drivers in the street.

The ALP should not blame its woes on Tampa, a scare campaign, the stupidity of the Australian people, or the trickiness of the naughty Mr Howard. Instead, they must profer policies that will make us want to vote for them.

Mr Howard, Liberals and us voters may actually believe (and could even be right about) some of the things we say.

Sneering at the beliefs of your fellow man does not endear you to him.

The fact that the ALP was not elected to govern does not mean that Mr Howard tricked us stupid voters again.

The ALP, and its two-thirds of the media, underestimated again.

The Left seem to focus, not on facts, but on images and impressions. They thought they were dealing with "Little Johnnie" but were denied power for the FOURTH TIME by a wiley little nugget, the consumate politician, "The Man of Steel".

The Gnu Hunter is not pissed off. The Gnu Hunter is just pissed. (**USA readers - this does not mean that I am angry).

Thankyou.

I love us.

Australians.

We cut through the crap and together, collectively, as mates, we see it how it is, and we go over the top.

Together.

God bless us all.

Even Phillip Adams and Mark Latham.

Update: Control of the Senate! Thankyou Australia. The Greens are irrelevant.

The Chief Bastard has a nice chronology of events!

The Currency Lad instructs us on the advantages of Four on the Floor.

New Zealand is interested.

Senator Nick Minchin tore strips off Kerry O'Brien, in prime-time, on the ABC tonight about Kerry's quips concerning the legitimacy of the Family First Party. Minchin pointed out that the party is as legitimate, in every way, as any other democratic party. Kerry just sat there, po faced, and took it. O'Brien has looked like he's been biting on lemons all night.

Pollster Gary Morgan put his reputation on the line and .....

Slatts reports that Centrebet is on the money again.

Uncle Kim Beazley says it could have been worse. How?

Tasmania has been a Labor nightmare. Blue collar workers supporting the Liberals.

A unique treat. An ABC website photo of a pleasantly smiling John Howard. Normally their photos of him depict him almost with horns.

Neo-Conservative just means newly-conservative.

A neo-con is a small-l liberal who has seen the light and now votes conservative. This is why neo-cons attract so much vitriol from small-l liberals.

A new neo-con writes:

Hi, Gnu Hunter.

I read your post gladly. It got me charged up to do something I intended to do anyway, but which I'd never done before: I voted the straight Liberal ticket in the lower house and above the line in the Senate.

My reason: if we hold one principle sacred in this country it's mateship. We are not going to buckle and run out on our American, British and other friends, not at all, not against murdering scum like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, not when we're winning, and above all not in a global war against terrorism that we can't avoid and will have to fight anyway.

Today is a beautiful day for trying something new.

The Professor appears to this Gnu Hunter to have hit the turps early, so confident is the bunyip.

Mar-go! Johnny, go! go!
Mar-go! Johnny, go! go!
Mar-go! Johnny, go! go!
Mar-go! Johnny, go! go! Johnny B. Goode

And he is in good company. John Howard was asked last night on a Current Affair if he'd be having a scotch tonight and he said, "either way he'd be having more than one.".

The Greens have alleged that a Liberal candidate in the marginal seat of Melbourne Ports hired young people to dress like Greens supporters to hand out fake vote cards.

You may wonder what mode of dress identifies Greens supporters, but wonder no more because the Gnu Hunter has tracked down some pictures of the offending Liberals caught in the act of masquerading as Greens supporters.

Please feel free to add your own evidence in the comments.

Update: On the other side of the ledger up to 100 booth workers, mostly backpackers, were paid up to $200 each to impersonate Liberals and to hand out fake vote cards. A bar of soap and instructions were also provided to each booth worker.

If next year the Western world is caught up in another S11 attack, or one that is much worse, or one closer to home, who would you want weighing up all of the alternatives and making the life and death decisions?

John Howard and the Liberals? or Mark Latham and the Labor Party ?

Howard, the proven leader, who guided his party and the country through the perilous events of East Timor, of Bali, September 11 and Afghanistan ?

Howard, the statesman with the ability, nerve and principle to stare down the Indonesian generals over East Timor ?

Howard, the cool man of steel, who eased Australian troops into Timor under the very noses, and right alongside, the same Indonesian troops who were perpetrating that slaughter?

More than likely East Timor was as close as you've come to war.

Or would you rather elect a Prime Minister who recently decided to brawl, drunkenly and in the street, with a taxi driver, over a fare?

I'll vote for John Howard not just because I can't contemplate voting for the other guy.

I'll vote for John Howard because he is a proven leader.

I'll vote for John Howard to preserve our way of life.

Who will you vote for?

Under John Howard, at home in Australia, our nation is prospering and our nation has remained at peace at home.

The fight has been taken to the enemy abroad.

Forget the shit about whether Afghanistan or Iraq had WMD, or whether there were provable links to Osama bin Laden and S11. The islamo-fascists ploughed two jets laden with passengers into the heart of modern civilization and the arabs danced in the street.

The yanks took the fight to bin Laden and the Taliban and then on into the midst of the islamo-fascists - and Australia went too.

Mid-east theocrats and dictators are on notice. There are now 150,000+ pairs of yank boots on the ground, and as many tonnes of high-tech hardware situated in the middle of the middle east. Right in the middle: between Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and Jordan. Each capital about thirty minutes away, as the Tomahawk flies.

There have been no S11 attacks since we went.

Despite our current peace and prosperity, post 11th September 2001, we live in a very dangerous world.

We still have a choice of voting.

We can vote for a proven leader who has guided our nation through some very difficult situations; or we can vote for the mercurial man with a history of poor judgement and a lack of character.

I will not vote for the ALP, or the Greens, both of them with their sad record of appeasement and their sniping, opportunity politics.

I will not vote out good economic managers and elect unknowns.

I will not vote in favor of finger wagging correctness, or a black armband view of history, or for parties riddled with, just for the sake of it, opposition to everything.

That's why I'm voting for John Howard, and that's why you should vote for him too.

Many ALP politicians and journalists continue to allege that Tony Abbott met with Sydney's Archbishop Pell to formulate a response to Mark Latham's policy to take money from 67 "elite" private schools.

The problem with their widely reported and totally inaccurate story is that it never happened.

Abbott met on a private matter with the Archbishop a full two weeks before Latham even announced the policy. See here for the details, and also here.

As is their wont, the ABC's Chaser Decides ran this story in prime time last night two nights before the Federal election.

Bernard Slattery researches why it is not cool to vote Green.

Energy:
The principal plank of the policy is to reduce energy consumption
by reducing production. The biggest “gain” will be through phasing
out use of coal by 2050. No new coal fired stations would be built
and the existing ones would not be refurbished (presumably even to
reduce emissions).
Nuclear power is the only really credible, clean, large-scale alternative
and there is no question that the Greens would acquiesce to
Australia using this to generate electricity.
The Green’s policy proposes “small scale distributed generators”
but, especially as these will not be using fossil fuels, they are not a
solution.

And much more. Read the whole thing.

Philosopher and writer Bill Whittle has put out another essay.

As I watched that speech unwind, I knew, instantly and unequivocally, that this President understood what we were up against, the moment he said:

We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions -- by abandoning every value except the will to power -- they follow in the path of fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way, to where it ends: in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.

Yes, precisely: not desperately aggrieved parties, not freedom fighters, not anything more than thugs and murderers who want to impose their way of life on the world. Fascists. Ruthless, fanatical bastards sworn to our destruction.

Then, three paragraphs later, this:

Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.

This line, this doctrine – either you’re with us or the terrorists – has drawn derision and scorn from the nuanced sophisticates from around the world. What they refuse to see is that in one brilliant stroke it cuts the camouflage away from terror, and in effect neutralizes the very lever that makes International Terror so effective a tool: deniability. More on this in a moment.

I sat amazed at the confidence and the vision President Bush outlined in that speech. I remember saying out loud, to no one in particular, “I was wrong about this man.” A few of the grips nodded in silence. None of us took our eyes off the TV screen.

It is my hope that in the months and years ahead, life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines, and that is good. Even grief recedes with time and grace. But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day, and to whom it happened. We'll remember the moment the news came -- where we were and what we were doing. Some will remember an image of a fire, or a story of rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever.

And I will carry this: It is the police shield of a man named George Howard, who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, Arlene, as a proud memorial to her son. This is my reminder of lives that ended, and a task that does not end.

I will not forget this wound to our country or those who inflicted it. I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people.

And there stood a man I had not seen before – and sadly, have not seen often since – holding the shield of a dead hero in his hand, promising not to tire, or falter, or fail, until this vague and mysterious war was won. And I swore to myself, right then and there, that I would support this President, come what may. And in the intervening years, as the criticisms and hysteria rose in pitch to the point where only dogs can hear, I have stood by him and his policies, and I do so proudly, to this day.

And having heard John Howard and watched him guide our own nation through the events of East Timor, Bali, September 11, Afghanistan, Iraq and Jakarta I will stand by him proudly.

Monday's "End the Lies" march was attended by six brave young people who faced profane abuse, intimidation and (for one person) blows to have their say, voicing an alternative opinion, differing from the herd.

... we met at Starbucks before the protest to drink coffee and discuss tactics. We decided to simply state our opinions, not participate in any confrontations or heated discussions which could lead to violence, stay well clear of the main group of protestors and in general take and hold the high moral ground.

So, how was their presence received by those who so constantly screech of their own right to free speech? The answer is not very well. Peace protestors are not well known for actual peacefulness.

As we proceeded further down George St, we made the mistake of allowing the main group of protestors to proceed around us. Emboldened by the fact that we were now mixed in with their crowd, the anti-war protestors became steadily more physical in their challenges to us. Nudges and jostling progressed into outright shoving and, as M discovered, actual blows.

Thanks to a strong police presence the youngsters lived to tell the tale and took lots of pictures of their outing with the Greens.

My favorite pic is this one below. Our heros leading the march, behind the fake John Howard, Matrix-style agent Smith, and the "Not Happy John" organiser. Nice.


via Sho Fukamachi at http://advance-west.blogspot.com/ and Leigh Cartwright at http://wheels128.blogspot.com

If it wins power Federal Labor will introduce a nationwide version of Victoria's divisive and expensive Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

Yes, it's a very bad law. Within months of being enacted, the excesses of this legislation became self-evident. The first test case, Islamic Council of Victoria v Catch The Fire Ministries, has cost more than $1 million in legal fees and achieved nothing but enmity.

Yet, on August 4, in the Great Hall of Parliament in Canberra, Labor's shadow attorney-general, Nicola Roxon, speaking before at a forum attended by 1000 people, announced Labor would introduce a federal version of the Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

A ragtag collection of the permanently disaffected marched in the "End the Lies" rally in Melbourne today. The rally was supported by the Greens, socialists, unionists and various activists. The rallies organised in the capital cities had speakers who promoted religious intolerance and social division.

At today's "End the Lies" rally in Melbourne the Islamic Council of Victoria addressed the crowd and railed against the Christian religious bigots of the "Family First" conservative party who he said were racist and neo-nazi.

He said (without laughing, apparently) that they were styled like Afghanistan's Taliban:

The Islamic Council of Victoria told a 2,000-strong rally in Melbourne that the socially conservative Family First party was a front for religious bigots responsible for spreading the new racism of "Islamophobia".

"Islamophobia is the new racism, a new racism being used by religious bigots and neo-Nazis," ICV's human rights coordinator Bilal Cleland said.

"We've seen an attempt by the conservatives to set up a stooge party like Family First, with its fundamental Taliban-style Christianity being funded to try and snatch seats from the Greens and Democrats in the Senate."

Similar rallies were also held in Canberra, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart, Perth, Newcastle, and Lismore and Armidale in regional NSW.

The Islamic Council of Victoria funded Afghanistan "mujahideen" up until September 11th 2001 - but never had any contact with the Taliban.

In Sydney the islamist addressing the crowd there said:

Muslims for Peace spokesman Paul White said his group was marching against Australia's involvement in the war in Iraq.

"Striving for peace is one of the duties of Muslims," Mr White said.

"Our religion tells us to struggle peacefully against any injustice and so that's what we're doing."

Uh, huh. Obviously, Mr White doesn't read his Koran:

"Koran:47:4: When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks, then when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds, then set them free, either by grace or ransom, until the war lays down its burdens."

or the newspapers.

Thousands of useful idiots clogged the streets outside Sydney's town hall today in a colorful "End the Lies" protest organised and attended by a motley collection of socialists, Greens, muslims, ALP and unionists.

In the sky above a sky-writer airplane fouled the sky with its message pouring out from its Left wing.

Sydney's skies are often fouled by advertising.

It's nice that even working in the city people can look up and see the pristine blue sky and the natural wonder of clouds and forget for a moment that they're in the fetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city.

Not any more.

The sky over Sydney is more often than not plagued by a sun-bane of advertising.

Messages from Toyota, radio stations and TV, Coke and now messages from the Greens and the Left of politics smeared incoherently like suburban grafitti across the sky.

On a windy day like today the sky-writer's message is illegible before it is finished and smudges into a huge smear across the sky smudging the sun for the thousands of residents suffering beneath it.

Instead of the natural beauty of the blue sky, sun and lovely white clouds, in all their patterned glory, we have the sky sprayed like a defiled, grafitti'd train.

Half legible across the sky is the left-wing political message: "Not Happy John".

Fcuk.

Mark Latham refused four times to rule out tax increases.

OPPOSITION Leader Mark Latham has refused to guarantee taxes won't rise under a Labor government.

In an interview, Mr Latham was asked four times to give a commitment that he would not increase taxes.

Mr Latham repeatedly refused to give an unequivocal pledge, instead referring to the tax and family policy he announced earlier in the campaign.

"We're going to implement our policy as presented to the Australian people. But there's no hidden agenda. There's no hidden plan about taxation. What you see is what you get," he said.

Many headlines and much publicity is being given to the story that Health Minister Tony Abbott conspired with Sydney's Catholic Archbishop Cardinal Pell to criticise Labor's education funding policy.

The Cardinal is alleged to have met in private with Tony Abbott after Mark Latham's controversial funding policy was announced. It is alleged that a conversation occurred which lead to the cardinal issuing a statement to the media criticising the ALP schools policy.

The allegation is a lie.

You need to know that Abbott met with the cardinal over two weeks BEFORE Latham even announced his policy.

Abbot met with the Cardinal on August 31. This is the only private meeting that they had.

Latham announced his divisive policy on September 14th.

The four archbishops (2 catholic, 2 anglican) issued their media statement on September the 28th, criticising Latham's policy.

Cardinal Pell's rejection of any collusion with the Coalition over the religious leaders' criticisms has been backed by revelations that a private meeting Mr Abbott did have with Cardinal Pell at St Mary's presbytery in Sydney, was at 7am on August 31, a clear two weeks before the Labor policy was released on September 14.

How could the big lie have got started? How could it run so long in the headlines?

Claims that Mr Abbott met Cardinal Pell after the release of the Labour policy led Mr Latham on Friday to mock Mr Abbott's Catholic beliefs by calling on him to go to "confession now and 'fess up" about the meeting.

The attack followed a claim by the ABC's Lateline program on Thursday that Mr Abbott denied meeting Cardinal Pell during the election campaign to discuss Labor's education policy. Lateline host Tony Jones challenged Mr Abbott to admit he met Cardinal Pell "I think, 10 days ago", but Jones was wrong.

On Lateline, on September 30th (a month after Abbott met the Cardinal) the ABC's Tony Jones asked Abbott if he had met with Cardinal Pell "recently".

Confused, Abbott said that he couldn't recall such a meeting, but then remembered the previous month's meeting.

It was Tony Jones who put the wrong date on the meeting, "Why couldn't you recall meeting him, I think, 10 days ago?".

30th - 10 = 20th September;

Other media use the Lateline transcript as fact, the ALP latch on, and a media myth is born.

TONY JONES: Tony Abbott on another matter, have you met Archbishop Pell during the election campaign?

TONY ABBOTT: Not that I can recall.

TONY JONES: Not that you can recall, because we believe that you've had at least one meeting with him quite recently?

You don't recall that?

TONY ABBOTT: Well, when?

Where?

TONY JONES: At the presbytery in Sydney.

TONY ABBOTT: Ah, actually now that you do mention it, I did met with Cardinal Pell.

So what?

Why shouldn't I meet with Cardinal Pell?

TONY JONES: Why couldn't you recall meeting him, I think, 10 days ago?

The media and the ALP are all still running with it - hard.

Senior catholics are shocked that Mark Latham is trying to implicate the Cardinal in a political conspiracy.

It stinks. Good luck if you try to clear the air now with the oxygen of fact.

Cardinal Pell had been in regular contact with ALP officials for about a fortnight before the joint statement by the archbishops seeking clarification on ALP education policy and advance copy of the statement was sent by his office to Mr Latham.

Tony Jones and the ABC, with that stinky little interview, and the resulting headlines, may well have damaged the coalition's chances at the election.

If you are weary with the manipulation of the news headlines, please read this, as a simple obvious example of what news editors do.

The headline reads "Rover Takes Over: More Dogs than Children". The ONLY conclusion possible, by relying upon the headline, is that the number of dogs is larger than the number of children.

Drawing your conclusions based on a news headline is a mistake:

NSW boys: 673,898
NSW girls: 639,452
NSW children: 1,313,350

NSW dogs: 809,000

The concept is a simple one. Create a sensational headline that attracts attention, and which fits what you want to say. It doesn't matter that it contradicts the facts in the actual story.

There are two ways to solve the problem of the Greenhouse Effect, if indeed that phenomenon exists.

One way is to turn back or slow the tide of progress and the other way is to innovate.

With just one invention the naughty USA will reduce greenhouse emissions by four percent.

A new plastic light bulb that will burn for 10 years is certain to reduce headaches around the house - and could also combat global warming.

Using light emitting diodes, the new superbulb's long life is only surpassed by its real promise of savings: it uses one-tenth the electricity of a standard bulb.

Its mass adoption could go a long way to reducing global warming, research groups say. Sandia Labs in the United States says one-fifth of the world's electricity is used for lighting. In Australia, lighting accounts for 4.5 per cent of greenhouse emissions, the Australian Greenhouse Office says.

The new superbulbs are so tough they can be bounced. And the first consumer models, to be marketed in the US by the end of the year, will cost only three times that of cheap standard bulbs.

The distributor, Westinghouse, would not say when the superbulb would come to Australia, but the technology is expected to become widely available next year.

Internet legend says that low journalism in the Fairfax swamp has oft stirred the Professor Bunyip from the comfortable depths of his billabong.

Around the midnight hour slackers, plagiarists, or journalistic incompetents, who rile the bunyip are set upon, in bold print.

Their fakery is exposed and, kicking and screaming, their works are dragged through the mud at the billabong to be dissected, piece by piece before our very eyes.

A shattered man carries his shattered son's body away after freedom fighters attacked a mass of children seeking sweets.

Children gathering for sweets from American soldiers at the opening of a sewage treatment plant bore the brunt yesterday of a series of guerrilla bombings that killed at least 35 youngsters and 14 adults.

About 200 people - many of them children - were wounded in the attacks.

It was the worst single death toll of children since the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.

"We were standing in front of the tank and they attacked the tank," said Ziad Ismael Ibrahim, nine, who was being treated at Yarmouk Hospital for shrapnel wounds to an arm and leg. "The bomb exploded. I could not see anything - it was all dust and blood."

35 children died and 200 others were horribly wounded when an activist militant fought them with his car bomb, while driving himself, in religious ecstasy, up the off-ramp to heaven. Who knows what heavenly rewards await him there?

"They were there for a celebration, a normal celebration," said Ali Hassan, 46, whose nine-year-old nephew, Ahmed, was a mess of bandages and tubes and ointments. The boy, his face sallow, his eyelids fluttering, had already been operated on to remove shrapnel from his stomach, yet he lay there in the same bloodied T-shirt he wore when they brought him in.

"I don't know who they were targeting," Hassan said. "Were they targeting men? Were they targeting children?"

They were targeting the opening of a new sewage treatment works.

The ABC and others have shouted Hoorah! Russia Signs the Kyoto Accord.

The Kyoto accord basically limits the economic activity of the developed world in return for an insignificant reduction in Greenhouse gas emissions.

There are no such restrictions on the developing nations.

No one seems too concerned that the Russians were coerced into signing.

The Associated Press reported President Vladimir Putin's economic adviser as saying the Kremlin had been "forced" to support the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.

Andrei Illarionov, Putin's top economic guru, made his statement during a Cabinet session that mulled over the ratification of the pact.

"It's a political decision, it's a forced decision" to ratify Kyoto, Illarionov reportedly said.

"It's not the decision we are making with pleasure."

It is the price they are being forced to pay by the Europeans for their support in Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation.

By signing, the Russian's may have resurrected the Kyoto agreement.

The small print in the treaty says it must be ratified by 55 countries responsible for 55 per cent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions in 1990.

John Howard, sensibly, wants to keep us out of it. Why drag our economy down over a feel-good exercise that will achieve precisely nothing by way of reducing global warming? Australia will meet its Kyoto targets anyway...

The Australian coalition government, along with the US, has withstood pressure from signatory countries, particularly those in Europe, to sign, saying it would disadvantage Australian industry and threaten jobs.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said: "Australia will reach its Kyoto target and it will reach it without ratifying Kyoto, without introducing carbon taxes, without putting up the price of electricity, without costing jobs in Australia which, even by the Labor Party's own studies in Victoria, could see over 10,000 jobs lost through the ratification of Kyoto.

"Australia has taken a practical approach which will see Australia as one of the only three or four countries in the world that will achieve its greenhouse gas targets.

"We're actually doing the practical things to ensure greenhouse gas reduction, not signing a diplomatic piece of paper which still sees the signatories exceeding their greenhouse gas emissions."

It's Keating's level playing field, again. The only one playing on it would be Australia.

This sort of thing is becoming ever more popular. Wrinkly grannies all over the world are stripping off their gear and posing in erotic (or should that be neurotic?) calendars - all in the name of good causes, of course.

NORTHERN Territory chief minister Clare Martin has stripped off for a calendar to raise awareness of breast cancer.

Ms Martin joined a swag of high profile NT women, including the Administrator Ted Egan's wife Nerys Evans, to pose for the Dragons Abreast Australia calendar "Territorial", which was launched in Darwin tonight.

Other calendar girls included Alice Springs Mayor Fran Kilgariff and Palmerston Mayor Annette Burke.

Ms Martin, aka Miss June, is pictured tastefully wearing only her arafura pearl.

I couldn't give a rat's if she was pictured showing only her brown date, the elected heads of governments should not be posing in mild porn calendars.