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Open Thread

Are The GOP Running Dead for 2012 or are they simply total goof-offs?

The Republicans seem to be handing the Democrats the next election on a platter. Newt Gingrich has ripped the Paul Ryan Budget.

On top of The Huffington Post Article I received this email from The Daily Kos.
We often don’t know what’s at stake in an election until it’s too late. Fortunately, Republicans in DC have been up front with us. (I know crazy, right?) Over the past month, they made it clear they will hand over Medicare to private insurance companies if they win the 2012 elections.
This is a good thing, because now we have another excellent reason to stand up and fight them. That’s why we’re sending John Boehner a cake, with the signatures of Daily Kos community members underneath it, thanking him for guaranteeing we will be fired up for 2012.
Click here to add your name to the petition that will appear underneath the thank you cake.
Here’s what happened:
On April 5, Paul Ryan released the Republican budget plan, which called for deep cuts to Medicare and the privatization of whatever is left.
On April 15, only two House Republicans voted against this budget.
On May 5, John Boehner said that Republicans wouldn’t push for this budget now because it can’t pass while Democrats control the Senate and the White House. However, Boehner made it clear that Republicans still strongly backed the plan.
That’s about as straight forward as Republicans are ever going to be. They are going to slash and privatize Medicare as soon as they control the House, the Senate and the White House.
The rowdy reception Republicans received at town halls last month was a sample of the blowback they are getting from this, but let’s give them another taste—in cake form! Click here to thank John Boehner for finally being honest about the Republican plan to destroy Medicare.
Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers
Campaign Director, Daily Kos

As well each of their potential presidential candidates has imploded shortly after they announced their decision to run. Well at least two have, and one announced he won’t run. As they self-destruct or withdraw, and they are slowly eliminating the potential candidates, one person is quietly sitting on the sidelines watching the carnage: Sarah Palin, my personal choice for the destruction of the Republicans. There is a LONG WAY to go yet. But after the let down of last year I am beginning to become more optimistic.

As I write this, something has clicked which had not previously occurred to me. My best hope for the senate, in my wildest dreams, would be to pick up two extra states over and above a swing of 5% on the 2008 elections for the Democrats to get anything done. Those states would preferably be the difficult to obtain ones of Arizona and Texas. Both states have retiring senators, and given the path of self destruction that the Republicans are currently on, (and will hopefully continue on till November 2012) the Democrats will nab them. They would then attain 62 seats in the senate, giving them a gap of 4 votes, not two as I had been wrongly assuming. This may be enough to bypass any Blue Dog block and enable a flood of legislation to pass. Meanwhile back in the real world, Walter Mitty says tell im ya dreamin. I am not a praying man, but till November 2012 I will be facing Mecca an awful lot.  I think another sex scandal would be really nice. About 3 months out from the election and running right up to Election Day.

The unpopularity of certain state governors will also help the Democrats, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Florida, Maine and Ohio in particular. Massachusetts has a BIG party machine behind it so Scott Brown should be swept away with the Democrat tide. The Democrats have a big voter registration. Just paint him Republican. Lets hope we get two strong liberals in Connecticut & Massachusetts would REALLY help the Democrats. No Blue Dogs allowed. Tip for the Democrats: if you are lucky enough to get 62 in the senate pass 2 years of popular things with the voters to wipe them out in 2014. It’s called governing by popularism.  Copying Australia’s National Broadband Network would be a great start.
United States Senate elections, 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2012

911 replies on “Are The GOP Running Dead for 2012 or are they simply total goof-offs?”

That is really, really big gaffy. I sent it to The Huffington Post. Well done.

Do Early Polls Mean Anything?
Taking issue with Nate Silver and others, John Sides posts a nice chart which essentially shows that polls 300 days out from a presidential election have very little predictive value. They begin to have a little more predictive power during the next 3 months or so — when the eventual nominees are becoming better known during the primaries — and then increase more sharply again in the 3 months before the election, when the general election campaign is underway.

Jonathan Bernstein: “The only two things to watch, this far out, are: Indicators about the state of the economy, especially how it will likely look next year; and Obama’s approval ratings, which incorporate both economic factors and anything else that matters to people. When it comes to predicting who’s going to win in the end, nothing else really counts.”

http://politicalwire.com

Sarah Palin Motorcycle Ride & Bus Tour Kick-Off Stir 2012 Speculation!
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WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin rumbled through Washington on the back of a Harley as she and her family began an East Coast tour Sunday that renewed speculation the former Alaska governor would join the still unsettled Republican presidential contest.

Wearing a black leather jacket and surrounded by a throng of cheering fans, Palin and family members jumped on bikes and joined thousands of other motorcyclists on the Memorial Day weekend ride from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Veterans’ memorial. Palin didn’t mention politics as she visited with participants, but she smiled broadly when many in the crowd urged her to run.

“How do you wear all this leather and stay cool?” she asked one woman as Palin took off a leather jacket and worked her way through a crush of fans, photographers and reporters.

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/29/sarah-palin-motorcycle-_n_868585.html

Oh dear. The rogue apostrophe strikes again. 🙁
hear’s = hears. I should get a job at pagemaster. 👿

Election 2012: The GOP’s Swing-State Governor Problem.
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The bad economy, Democrats’ terrible political handling of health care reform and an unusually high number of positions up for election allowed a wave of Republican governors to be swept into office across the country last year. Yet this wave of success, and the poor economy which enabled it, could become a real political headache for the GOP in 2012 as the try to take the White House.

In most of the countries biggest and important swing states (Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa) there are currently new Republican governors that have poor job approval numbers.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott: 29 approve – 57 disapprove (Quinnipiac 5/17-23)
Ohio Gov. John Kasich: 33 approve – 56 disapprove (PPP 5/19-22) 38 approve – 49 disapprove (Quinnipiac 5/10-16)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: 43 approve – 54 disapprove (PPP 5/19-22)
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder: 32 total positive – 60 total negative (EPIC-MRA 4/27-5/3)
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad: 41 approve – 45 disapprove (PPP 4/15-17)

Also Maine whose governor wants to get rid of child labour laws and Indiana also has problems.

Continuing on our theme… more here….
http://elections.firedoglake.com/2011/05/27/election-2012-the-gops-swing-state-governor-problem/#comments

Can anybody tell be who the right wing nutters are on Insiders since Bolt started his own show? Did Piers go over there too?

111
Chris

There are only ever right wing nutters on Insiders including the host, and only the depth of bile varies.
No leftys are welcome there.

The only lefty that would qualify is Marieke Hardy and she was banned from the right wing/IPA controlled ABC Drum blog after one blog.

David, I agree Dick Smith is being ironic. But it’s the nature of his “celebrity status” to always want to be the centre of attention.
(Hence the Murdoch reference in his article that grates.)
BTW I ‘ve just noticed over on twitter that ghostwhovotes has popped up with some slightly better newspoll figures for the saner side of politics.
Primary Votes: ALP 34 (+1) LNP 44 (-2) GRN 14 (+4)
2 Party Preferred: ALP 48 (+2) LNP 52 (-2)
Gillard Approval 35 (+1) Disapproval 54 (-1)
Abbott: Approval 37 (-1) Disapproval 53 (+2)
Preferred PM: Gillard 44 (+2) Abbott 37 (-1)

Brisbane Times is a Fairfax rag and it is good to see some realistic reporting of what may be, not the usual Roo rubbish.

Smaller and middle power players, however, countries like ours, they’ll get bent over the negotiating table for some rougher than usual handling. If Tony Abbott is PM at that point – and he is convinced he can ride Gillard and Brown’s carbon tax back into office – he’ll huff and he’ll puff but in the end he’ll drop trow and take it, because the pain imposed by Europe will far outweigh any pain he needs to impose via a carbon price to avoid their sanctions.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/blogs/blunt-instrument/no-carbon-tax-europe-will-make-us-pay-instead-20110530-1fcu9.html

WI-Pres: Obama has solid leads in Badger State.
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It seems like ages ago, but it was only six months ago that Wisconsin looked very bleak for Democrats in general, and Barack Obama in particular. The state had just gone heavily Republican, costing the Democrats a statehouse, a Senate seat, a pair of House seats, and legislative seats by the boatload. The state’s ten electoral votes, which had gone handily to Barack Obama in 2008 (a fourteen-point edge), seemed destined to be a toss up.

Funny what six months of a Scott Walker-led Wisconsin has done for the Democrats in the Badger State. Walker’s numbers are sinking like a turd in a well, and Democrats are starting to look awfully good in comparison. This resurrection, it seems, includes the man at the top of the ticket.

More here…
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/27/977879/-WI-Pres:-Obama-has-solid-leads-in-Badger-State?via=blog_1

Ryan Sought Blue Dog Support
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Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) met with leaders of the 26-member Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats in early April in an unsuccessful effort to gain their support for his budget proposal, reports The Hill.

Said Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), the Blue Dog’s communication chair, “we quickly realized that the difference were too great… I’ll never vote to privatize social security or Medicare.”

http://politicalwire.com

That means their is at least 26 Blue Dogs on top of the Republicans for the real Democrats to hold power. Unfortunately more Blue Dogs will elected to make it even more difficult in 2012.

Silvio Berlusconi loses Milan and Naples in local polls.
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition has lost control of Milan and Naples in local elections.

The run-off polls are seen as a key test of Mr Berlusconi’s popularity, as he faces multiple corruption trials and sex scandals.

Centre-left candidate Giuliano Pisapia won in Milan with about 55% of the vote over Mayor Letizia Moratti.

Milan, Mr Berlusconi’s power base, has been run by conservatives for 18 years.

The city, Italy’s financial capital, is Mr Berlusconi’s birthplace and where he got his start in business and politics.

Some six million voters were eligible to cast their ballots in 90 towns and six provinces, but the results in Milan and Naples are seen as most important.

Ms Moratti got 45% of the vote in Milan.

In Naples, Luigi de Magistris of the Italy of Values party won 65% of the vote in a landslide victory over Mr Berlusconi’s candidate, Gianni Lettieri.

Mr Lettieri had been seen as the favourite, but failed to win an outright majority in the first round of voting earlier in May.

Landslide that’s not a landslide. That’s a slaughter!

More here…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13591870

118 They are the sort of figures we need to see in the USA in 2012. Some states are already close to that. Espcially the 65% 🙂

More on Berlusconi.
****************

Ms Moratti, a former minister for Mr Berlusconi, spent an average of US$400 (280 euros, £240) for every vote she obtained – 100 times more than her opponent.

Earlier in May, five TV stations – including several owned by Mr Berlusconi’s Mediaset – were fined by Italian regulators for giving Mr Berlusconi more coverage than his opponents.

From the same article as above.

No matter how much money they threw at the election and how much they controlled the media. It did not prevent a massive landslide.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13591870

Chris @ 111

I haven’t watched Bolt’s show, so I can’t tell you who is on it, but I was just thinking to myself while watching The Insiders that it had improved since Bolt had gone.

Germany’s decision to close down their nuclear industry by 2012 is a terrible one. While they have pledged to replace most of it with wind and solar, even if they do they will reduce their emissions not at all, as switching from a zero emission source to another zero emission source achieves nothing.

And they will not replace all of it with wind and solar: coal will boost its share of German energy production, increasing German CO2 emissions.

What we need is to close down coal stations and replace them with zero emission sources. This decision by Germany sets them back a decade in dealing with climate change. Thank goodness that they are only a small part of global emissions – less than three per cent.

Republican 2012 Presidential Contenders Drift To The Right.
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WASHINGTON — In the first presidential election since the tea party’s emergence, Republican candidates are drifting rightward on a range of issues, even though more centrist stands might play well in the 2012 general election.

On energy, taxes, health care and other topics, the top candidates hold positions that are more conservative than those they espoused a few years ago.

The shifts reflect the evolving views of conservative voters, who will play a major role in choosing the Republican nominee. In that sense, the candidates’ repositioning seems savvy or even essential.

But the eventual nominee will face President Barack Obama in the 2012 general election, when independent voters appear likely to be decisive players once again. Those independents may be far less enamored of hard-right positions than are the GOP activists who will wield power in the Iowa caucuses, the New Hampshire primary and other nominating contests.

“The most visible shift in the political landscape” in recent years “is the emergence of a single bloc of across-the-board conservatives,” says the Pew Research Center, which conducts extensive voter surveys. Many of them “take extremely conservative positions on nearly all issues,” Pew reports. They largely “agree with the tea party,” and “very strongly disapprove of Barack Obama’s job performance.”

Thats what we like to see.

More here…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/30/republican-2012-president_n_868698.html

Abbott swings in on tobacco reform.
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New laws to sell cigarettes in plain packets are set to pass parliament after the coalition swung behind the Gillard government move.

But some Liberal MPs want the party to go further and follow Labor and the Greens in banning political donations from tobacco companies.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott today said the coalition would not oppose the laws when they were presented to parliament later this year, but would propose a number of amendments.
Advertisement: Story continues below

However, if the amendments – which Mr Abbott did not spell out in detail – were not carried, coalition MPs would allow the bill to pass.

“We will seek to amend the legislation to ensure it really does bring smoking rates down,” Mr Abbott said.

I didn’t see that one coming.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/abbott-swings-in-on-tobacco-reform-20110531-1feav.html#ixzz1NujRRRuv

Hispanic Population, Rising Faster Than Anticipated, A ‘Huge Weapon’ For Obama.
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When you talk about Democratic secret weapon — it isn’t so much a secret because everyone sees it coming — but this is the year it could come,” said Carlos Odio, Deputy Director for the Latino Vote Program during Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. “No one ever expects the flood to happen, but there is so much room for growth. If Democrats and progressives really played this, it could be a huge weapon. The census reinforces that.”

This is stunning news. Especially for the progressives. Taking this into account and the fact that huge swings appear to be on (at the moment) in the progressive north. Maybe the 26 Blue Dogs isn’t as hard to overcome as I first thought.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/hispanic-population-rising-faster-than-anticipated_n_869209.html

More on the Latino revolution.
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“Every 30 seconds a Latino turns the age of 18,” he told The Huffington Post. “There are about 11 million Latinos over the age of 18 who are U.S citizens and not yet registered to vote. 2.4 million of them reside in Texas, 2.2 million reside in California. Can you imagine if half of them got registered in Texas, how it would change the politics there?”

Awesome!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/hispanic-population-rising-faster-than-anticipated_n_869209.html

Even more on the coming revolution!
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In recent weeks, a number of stories have referenced the Obama reelection campaign’s plans to play in Texas in 2012. His Chicago campaign headquarters has a map of North Carolina, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio, Colorado, Texas, Georgia, Florida and Arizona — all growing or major Hispanic states — tacked the wall

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/hispanic-population-rising-faster-than-anticipated_n_869209.html

The Republicans are looking at winning 30 – 40 Hispanic seats in Texas with the redistricting. With that in mind 26 Blue Dogs won’t be hard to over come. That could be done by the Democrats in California alone.

House Debt Limit Vote: Republicans Vote Against Raising Debt Ceiling.
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WASHINGTON — Republicans are using the lopsided outcome of Tuesday’s failed debt ceiling vote as a means to push through Medicare reforms.

Not everyone was open to the idea, pushed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), that a plan by Rep. Paul Ryan to privatize the program for future seniors remain “on the table” for debt limit talks. But what was clear from Tuesday night’s vote, in which a clean debt ceiling bill went down 318 to 97, was that GOP lawmakers felt emboldened to try to push entitlement reform yet again.

“There’s no way to get there without having some examination of the entitlement programs that we have,” Freshman Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said. “There’s no question that to get the House back in order, we’re going to have to do something revolutionary.”

Vice President Joe Biden is leading talks with both parties over the debt limit, which was reached on May 16. The Treasury Department estimates the government would begin to default on its loans by August 2 if Congress does not vote to raise the debt limit, a move that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has warned have a “catastrophic economic impact.”

Bloody hell! The lunatics are in charge of the asylum!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/house-debt-ceiling-vote-budget-cuts_n_869395.html

Why Did Florida Snub A $35.7M Grant To Keep People Out Of Nursing Homes?
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Is this just plain incompetence, or is Gov. Soylent Green making yet another one of his wingnutty libertarian points? Whatever the explanation, I’m sure it’s just fine. It’s not as if there are any sick or elderly people in Florida anyway!
In March, Gov. Rick Scott’s staff said he would accept a $35.7 million “Money Follows the Person” federal health grant.

But the Legislature appears to have decided otherwise. In the 2011-12 budget Scott just signed, lawmakers failed to give the Agency for Health Care Administration budget authority to draw down and spend the money.

Patient advocates were dismayed at the omission, because the money was to have been spent on home- and community-care programs that let disabled and elderly people move out of nursing homes or avoid them in the first place.

The loonies just keep on going!

More here..
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/why-did-florida-snub-357m-grant-keep-

I am quite enjoy these loonies. The longer they are in the worse it gets for the Republicans in 2012. How unpopular will the Republicans get? Will Gov. Rick Scott hit 70%? 80%? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Unpopular Freshman GOP Governors Could Help Obama’s Reelection Bid.
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When several newly minted Republican governors began pushing through broad, unpopular legislation this year, they may have unintentionally aided President Obama’s reelection odds.

Emboldened by their party’s midterm election day romp, freshman GOP governors in a few crucial swing states immediately began to advance radical legislation upon taking office. But as the cost of those unpopular legislative agendas has now become clear in the form of free-falling approval ratings and incredible buyer’s remorse, polls have shown that that same voter discontent could translate into a big 2012 boost for President Obama.

As Politico pointed out, Florida is perhaps the best case of this. With 29 electoral votes, Florida is an enormous prize in presidential elections, and one that is sure to be hotly contested in 2012. Obama won the state by a mere 3-point margin in 2008, and now, as Gov. Rick Scott’s approval rating has nosedived, Obama’s standing in hypothetical matchups of the 2012 race has improved.

Scott riled his constituents right off the bat by pushing to scale back teacher’s benefits, trying to tie performance to pay and seeking to eliminate tenure for future hires. Then last week, he signed a budget that slashed $4 billion dollars in spending, including major cuts to education and Medicaid — but not before vetoing an additional $615 million for items such a public broadcasting and public universities.

A Quinnipiac poll released last week found that just 29% of voters approved of Scott’s job performance, while a 57% majority disapproved. At the same time, Obama’s approval rating rebounded from a negative 44% to 52% split in April to a positive 51% to 43% in May, and he increased his leads over each of several high-profile 2012 GOP contenders. Certainly some of that Obama bump is wholly unrelated to Scott — the killing of Osama bin Laden, for one — but Scott’s unpopularity is sure to be a weight on his party’s candidates next year if his standing doesn’t improve.

More here…
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/unpopular-freshman-gop-governors-could-help-obamas-reelection-bid.php?ref=fpb

Pollster: If Dems negotiate cuts to Medicare with Republicans, it will doom them.
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Greg Sargent has posted a great interview with a Democratic pollster who says that the Democrats have made huge gains with the American people as supporters of the working class and caretakers of health care and Medicare. That could all be lost, though, if VP Biden, Congress and the Obama administration agree to cuts in benefits as some sort of grand bargain to appease the Beltway media elites.

Dem pollster: Dems agree to Medicare benefits cuts at their peril

If Democrats in deficit negotiations agree to a compromise that cuts Medicare benefits to seniors, they risk squandering the advantage they’ve built up over Republicans on the issue since 2010 and risk losing their more general edge as defenders of the middle class, a top Dem pollster who just completed an extensive health care poll tells me.

Jeff Liszt, of the respected Dem firm Anzalone Liszt, has just completed a poll for two liberal-leaning groups finding that the Paul Ryan Medicare plan is deeply unpopular with voters, and particularly with seniors and independents, when the plan is described to them. The poll also found that Obama and Dems have increased their advantage over Republicans on Medicare, on health care in general, and on who can be trusted to defend the middle class.

I followed up with Liszt to ask whether his polling indicated that Dems could lose those advantages if they agree to a deficit reduction deal that cuts Medicare benefits and shifts costs to seniors. His answer was unequivocal.

“Agreeing to benefits cuts takes the foot off the gas in terms of going on the offensive against Republicans,” said Liszt, who did the poll for the Herndon Alliance and Know Your Care. “You have to draw a bright line somewhere and Medicare benefits are the best place to do that.”

More here…
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/pollster-if-dems-negotiate-cuts-medicar

Peak Abbott (as phyrric as it was) has been reached. His slide to the inevitable knifing has begun.

The man was/is/forever will be totally unelectable.

He could enter an election period with a 55 Newspoll and he would still lose. He couldn’t even beat an opponent who had just announced to the people “we are shit, so shit that we are sacking your PM”.

Libs will never again go through the embarrassment of presenting him to the electorate.

The truly intriguing part is who next?

Which major Party will throw off the religious conservative millstone around their necks first?

A receptive voting public is waiting.

142 HarryH “Which major Party will throw off the religious conservative millstone around their necks first?” Not the Liberals as they are inextricably tied to the Republican Party.

David Gould
Find out what Rabbott said to Greg Combet when Combet said i am not scared of you mate.

Jen re your The Age article on the 7.30 Report:

I am one of the apparent hundreds of thousands who no longer bother with 7.30 Report. I used to be an every night viewer but i would be lucky to have watched more than half a dozen eps this year.

I just have no trust in the show to get important and relevant interviewees and to credibly and/or honestly interview or grill them or to summarise the days happenings.

The article is correct. Something is missing.

I used to devour political news but now not so much, although i still remain interested in being across things and am interested in issues and intrigued with politics . There is just so much shit to wade through though.

7.30 Report used to be a sort of filter.

No more.

HarryH….
“Something is missing.”

Red Kerry
Gravitas
Courage
Independence
Chairs

so many things 😉

and yeah Gaffers –
I am hanging my hopes on Combet.
Otherwise Malcs – which means I’d be hoping a member of the Liberal Party was PM.
…
which means we are fucked.

Jen
Things will go like clockwork after July 1st and the new BOP in the Senate takes hold.

Everything will be basically really thrashed out in the HOR before it gets to the Senate and they should only have to rubber stamp it.

All of a sudden we will have CC legislation, NBN, MRRT and any other big ticket items through the Senate before Xmas.

Malcs or Joe or Mesma or Morrison or some other retard from the Lieberals will roll toxic tone to take charge of the New Tea Party.

The ALP and Greens can then get on with some more progressive legislation until election 2013.

Unfortunately i don’t have a recipe to get rid of the religious nutjobs that infest Parliament and there are quite a few.

At least my mispent youth was gainful as when i wagged school i either went to the beach or the pool rooms. :mrgreen: I was never guilty of gracing the halowed halls of some ficticious characters hall of fame where some creep with a white band round his neck told blatant lies.

I think that is where the religious nutjob pollies get it from, going to these places every sunday morning to listen to a pack of lies. They must walk out after saying to themselves, well if that prick can get away with selling that shit so can I.

As far as their ABC goes Chris toolman is a reject seminary mate of Toxic Tone so no more needs said there. The right wing nutjobs have control of that and are succesfully shedding viewers quicker than the LtdNews Australian paper.

I hate putting my tin foiler on but the pessimest in me tells me that those at the ABC are on a deliberate mission to destroy it so that Roo can scoop it up at a bargain basement price which will give him even more outlets to spew his bile and right wing venom.

I don’t watch it any more so they have got me.

Gov. Christie Thinks A Family Making $6,000 A Year Is Too Rich To Qualify For Medicaid.
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Despite recent polls that show Americans are just as protective of Medicaid as they are of Medicare, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is trying to gut the popular program in his state and prevent 23,000 people from receiving benefits. Christie has proposed cutting Medicaid eligibility to absurdly low levels: from the current maximum income of $24,645 to $5,317 a year for a family of three. Apparently, the governor believes a family of three making $6,000 a year is simply too rich to receive Medicaid.

The New Jersey press has reported that the main effect of his proposal would be to slash help for the working poor, tearing a huge hole in the state’s social safety net:

The Republicans are certainly on the path to self destruction. It will well worth watching New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s polls to see them plumet even further. The closer to70% the better.

More here…
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/02/231147/christie-medicaid-recipients-rich/

Gov. Rick Scott May Personally Benefit From New Law That Hands Medicaid Program Over To Private Companies.
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Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed “a landmark Medicaid overhaul” yesterday that will put “hundreds of thousands of low-income and elderly Floridians into managed-care plans.” The proposal “gives managed care companies more control over the program that’s paid for with federal and state money,” a shift the state GOP claims will “hold down spiraling costs in the $20 billion program.” However, as TP Health editor Igor Volsky pointed out, a five-county pilot program in Florida already revealed that such a plan produces “widespread complaints and little evidence of savings.” Under managed care, states “have to ensure that private payers aren’t looking out for short term profits by denying treatments or reducing reimbursement rates” and — given what occurred during the pilot program — the results “are already less than promising.”

But Scott may have another reason to push a dubious bill into law. As Mother Jones reported, one of the private managed-care companies that stand to gain from the new law is Solantic, “a chain of urgent-care clinics aimed at providing emergency services to walk-in customers. Solantic was founded in 2001 — by none other than Rick Scott:

He just keeps getting worse.

More here…

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/06/03/235858/gov-rick-scott-signs-law-to-hand-medicaid-program-to-private-companies-may-personally-benefit/

Barack Obama Needs More Jobs To Keep His Job.
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama cannot escape one giant vulnerability as he bids to keep his job: Millions of voters still don’t have one.

Suddenly, the snapshot of the American economy is depressing again.

Job creation is down. So is consumer confidence. And homes sales, auto sales, construction spending, manufacturing expansion.

The brutal month of May was a reminder of the economy’s fragility and the risks for an incumbent president.

Nothing that Obama oversees, not even a success as dramatic as finding and killing Osama bin Laden, will matter as much as his handling of the economy. It is the dominant driver of voter behavior. People hold their president accountable if they can’t find work in the richest country in the world.

The weakening recovery is testing the entire foundation of Obama’s optimistic economic message, that the nation is getting stronger all the time. As much as the White House says it never dwells on any single jobs report, and Obama never even mentioned the troubling one released Friday, the stakes get higher by the month.

A finally forming field of Republican presidential competitors is maneuvering into the space for the public’s attention with this message: Obama has failed.

Election Day 2012 is 17 months away, and Obama’s campaign knows incremental job growth won’t do. The unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. If it stays anywhere near there, Obama will face re-election with a higher jobless rate than any other post-war president.

In his favor, Obama still has the loudest voice to sell his message that the longer term trends, including job growth every month, are good.

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/04/barack-obama-jobs_n_871375.html

Eddie McGuire has a go at the racism by our politicians in the refugee issue connecting it to racial vilifacation in football. When interviewed on the Sunday Football Show.

Everything is so fucken wierd i might go off and join the Mad Hatters Katters Orstrayan Party. :mrgreen:

Study says majority believe in climate change.
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A national survey reveals most Australians believe in, and are concerned about, climate change.

The study by Queensland’s Griffith University surveyed more than 3,000 Australians across the country and found 74 per cent believe the world’s climate is changing and 90 per cent believe human activities are playing a role.

The research found less than 6 per cent of Australians are true climate change sceptics.

Griffith University Professor Joseph Reser says the results show public opinion has been greatly misrepresented in the media.

Then the Lieberals are in for a thrashing when the Climate Tax is REALLY known.

More here…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/03/3234342.htm

Good advertising for Bank of America.

Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It

Instead of Bank of America foreclosing on some Florida homeowner, the homeowners had sheriff’s deputies foreclose on the bank.

It started five months ago when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn’t owe a dime on their home.

The couple said they paid cash for the house.

The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn’t owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay.

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=132674

One can only hope that todays rally across Oz has some profound effect on the do nothings though one suspects it will be buisness as usual tomorrow for Toxic and his ever decreasing circle of deniers.

We had a massive cyclone up here this year and there are thoughts that the size of Yasi and ferocity of todays cyclones are somewhat connected to Climate Change.

Spare a thought for those people living in the Tornado belt in the US and whether climate change is affecting the number of tornadoes.

It is the first week in June and they have already had a 106% increase in the number of tornadoes.

If it seems like this year’s tornado season has been unusually severe, that’s because it has. The Weather Channel and weather.com’s Tornado Expert Dr. Greg Forbes says the 2011 tornado numbers are a mind-boggling 106% above average. And the year is not over yet.

“It took until December in 2010 to have as many tornadoes as we’ve already had this year,” says Dr. Forbes.
Needless to say, by virtue of an inconceivable April, we’re on a record pace.”

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=132672

Keith Olberman.

Sarah Palin visited Donald Trump today.
How would you have liked to be in that room listening?
One things for sure you’d be the smartest one in there. 😆

agffers – re climate change impacts.
-can’t help wondering if we get another soaking like last year but without a previous 10 years of drought where will the water go this time?
the Denialists are immoral .

Abbott dogged by old carbon comment.
*******************************

Tony Abbott’s past as a climate change “weather vane” has come back to haunt him – again.

The opposition leader has been shown spruiking a carbon tax in an old interview that was aired on ABC Television yesterday.

“If you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with a simple tax?” Mr Abbott argues.

The ALP has had a couple of good weeks. Whether it translates to the polls is another matter. I do feel the tide is turning.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/abbott-dogged-by-old-carbon-comment-20110607-1fprb.html#ixzz1OXjBwDyI

Blue America Welcomes Wisconsin Heroes Sandy Pasch And Chris Larson.
*****************************************************

You’d have to be living under a rock not to know there’s a battle in Wisconsin that’s crucial for the whole progressive movement and for the future of our country. That’s why Blue America started a new Wisconsin Recall page and it’s why we’ve invited state Senator Chris Larson and state Senate candidate Sandy Pasch here for a Blue America live chat today (2pm, CT, noon, PT).

As you no doubt recall, earlier this year the newly elected extreme Republican governor of the state, Scott Walker, pushed through a radical attack on basic labor rights. His plan to strip workers of the right to bargain collectively for protections against unfair treatment and unsafe worker conditions was one of the greatest assaults on working families in the last half century. And now he’s pushing a radical, destructive agenda that guts priorities like education, health care and help for seniors while giving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to huge corporations. He couldn’t have done it with an equally extremist state legislature, which has rubber stamped every single point on his destructive agenda.

The recall elections next month matter far beyond the borders of Wisconsin. The Walker agenda is being duplicated in state after state by the extreme Republicans who swept into power in last November’s elections. This fight for rights and the basic values we all hold dear will reverberate across the nation, impacting elections in every region of the country. With the help of Blue America’s most trusted friend in Wisconsin, Sen. Chris Larson, we looked at all progressives running to replace the six Walkerites and we invited Assemblywoman Sandy Pasch to talk with us today about the elections. She and Chris are both open to answering questions about the campaign and about Wisconsin politics.

More here..
http://blueamerica.crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/blue-america-welcomes-wisconsin-heroe

my local member, who was elected to HOR at the last election, is having a “I like to hear your views” meeting in a local park at 4 pm today.
It just happens to be on the track where i go for my daily bike ride for exercise.

He has been Yellow carded almost every day in QT and red carded on at least one occasion.
I think i will stop by and if he gets any dorothy dixers from the locals i might just interupt his answers to see how he reacts.

Could turn in to a bit of a hoot. 😀

Cmon spill Gaffy.

Did you get ejected from Park Parliament?

What was your style? Who is your interjecting mentor?

Were you more mincing poodle like Christopher?
or
Were you more perfumed steamroller like Bronnie?
or
Were you more howling wolf from the sidelines like Sophie?
or
Were you more bag-o-wind like Sloppy Joe?
or
Were you just a rude, boorish, useless turd like Dutton?

Back from my bike ride and my endorfins are bouncing around in my smugglers.

Just happened by Mr Ewen Jones tent on the bike track so pulled over for a chat.

Prize for anyone who can guess how many turned up, between 1 and 6.

Prize is a wire netting canoe paddle with Toxic Tone.

The first lady started by telling him that she was one of those battlers on round about $150k per year and doesn’t the Govt realise we have debts as well and what figure is the assistance going to stop.
Ewen being ever helpful told her it would be round the $80k per year.

I butted in and said here you go again with your fear and smear, how can you say a figure when there is no figure, it is just lies and fear and smear.

Don’t think he was ready for that i think he thought he had a cosy little audience of back scratchers.

Bit of to and fro about the science, he said he accepts the science, but the libs policy was a good one.

I said your policy robs us and pays the big polluters to keep on polluting whereas the ALP policy taxes the big polluters and gives us low income earners generous compensation to help us change our lifestyle.

He then got on about coal fired power stations and the trials at JCU about algae pond sequestration thinking nobody there would know anything about it.

I said it’s good that you bring that up here as though it’s your partys idea but it has been going on for quite a while and they are in fact trialling it at three power stations now. Why doesn’t Toxic tone come out and say that the LNP are in bipartisan support of these trials instead of saying nothing about it.

He said you mean the ALP, they are the ones saying nothing.
I said, no, that is not correct the ALP has thrown $10mil at the project so they are saying and doing something about it.

He said the Gov has only thrown $5mil at it when they should have thrown $300mil at it.

I said they would have except your party gave that $300mil to Saddam Hussein as bribes for wheat for oil remember, and they could have thrown another $10mil at it if MT had not thrown it at the rainmaker.

I then said to him that Toxic has today come out and said if the soldiers tell him that Afghanistan is not working he would seriously think of a change to their policy.

I said there are no economists that back direct action but if the scientists and econimists come out and tell Toxic that his CC policy is crap will he change the LNP policy and support the Govt.

He said we already have a good policy so no need to change.

I said your policy is going to cost us, the taxpayers, billions and your ideas of soil sequestration are a myth as you are saying you are offering the farmers $8 per ton to bury it when it is common knowledge that it is going to cost 15 times that amount for the farmers to bury it. Malcolm Turnbulls figures are more closer to the truth when he said it will be costing $18bil a year by 2050.
The others were starting to squirm a bit and he started going on about Xstrata and i just imediately interjected and said there you go again all smear and fear, Xstrata will not be going anywhere in a hurry and when you smear and fear about costing jobs over a carbon tax why did the fruit cannery go to NZ where there already is an ETS.

One of the others then said, hey mate we aren’t here to listen to you all day, hear him out.

I pulled his flyer out of my pocket and read the words to him that said, I am Ewen Jones and “I’d like to hear your views”. I try to listen to answers to questions in Parliament but all i hear is “the Member for Herbert is warned” so he should not be worried about a few small interjections, so if you don’t want to listen to me go and stand over there under that tree and then come and have your say when i am finished.
I said i am not here to hear him out i am here to give him my views, like his flyer says, not listen to his fear and smear.

I then said i’m off, have your say, but don’t listen to his fear and smear, have a nice
day.

Answer to the Ques is 5.

At least three of them were rusted ons and one bloke could have been either way.

Woah Gaffy

That performance is more like P.J.Keating than any of the rabble i mentioned above lol.

Must have felt good.

When do you pick up your Press Gallery accreditation pass?

And for a really hard question, will you then turn into just another lemming when your accreditation arrives?

Y’know….job prospects n all that.

Harry

My Grandfather was a federal member of Parliament for 18 Years 1928-1946.

Therefore i know that MPs are not honourable and at my stage of life i have no wish to move to a place where you can piss the bed, snap it off and throw it out the window.

I did have a very active life in unions though for a number of years and at one stage nearly made the plunge.

I love the look on their faces when they are not expecting you and you nail them with a few facts and they have nearly nowhere to hide.

One year we were at a townhaller and the budding pollie was bashing unions and said how lazy they were etc, and take the railway workers for instance, everytime you go past them they are standing there breastfeedin their shovels watchin the train go by.

I yelled out at him, what the fuck do you expect them to do, stay on the track and get fucken run over by the train you idiot.
Brought the house down.
There were three of us spaced strategically round the theatre and in the end the three of us got ejected. Good fun though.

My new Member of arliament has gone from being a real estate agent to a politician.
Doesn’t say much for him but doesn’t say much for the idiots who voted fo him either.

A bit more scandal which may help. This stuff should come ripe sometime early next year perhaps.
Ms Canary was the one responsible for Don Siegelman being locked up.
How loud can a canary sing.

Technically, Canary has been under investigation by the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) since June 2008. But we’ve seen no sign that Canary actually has been under genuine scrutiny. Sources, however, say that changed about two months ago–and the investigation now is serious enough that it prompted Canary to “retire.”……………………………………………….
Leura Canary played a leading role in creating that cesspool, and sources say the seat under her fanny is getting warm. If justice still matters at all in this country, Canary’s seat soon will become scorching hot. And some of her puppeteers might start feeling a tad uncomfortable, too.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Bush-Era-U-S-Attorney-Is-by-Roger-Shuler-110606-248.html

Well done Gaffy. Sounds like a bloody glorious exchange. 😆

Meanwhile, over the big pond in the land of lunacy……
It seems that vile communist Jon Stewart, is taking the lead in the ratings war. :mrgreen:
Jon Stewart: Daily Show’s ratings now higher than most of FOX News
http://tinyurl.com/3ccpjpe

Rob Zerban Is The First Wisconsin Democrat With A Chance To Beat Paul Ryan.
*****************************************************

JANESVILLE, Wis. — Democrats are looking to voters like Lenore Green to help defeat Rep. Paul Ryan next year.

Sipping a coffee at a farmer’s market down the street from Ryan’s hometown office, the 76-year-old retired teacher said she voted for the Wisconsin Republican last time. “I don’t agree with everything he’s doing, but he is trying,” she said.

But Green finds the debate over Ryan’s plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system confusing. “It should stay a government program,” the former teacher said. She’s “suspicious” of the impact the House Budget Chairman’s proposal could have on the health insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

“It could affect my vote” in 2012, Green said.

This Wisconsinite is typical of older voters who dislike Ryan’s plan. Green doesn’t know much about his would-be Democratic challenger, Kenosha County Supervisor Rob Zerban, but she’s eager to learn more.

Most Democrats on the ballot next year will run against the GOP plan for Medicare. Only Zerban will go mano-a-mano against the guy who “wrote the plan,” as the Wisconsin Democrat put it to an ecstatic crowd at Saturday’s state party convention.

“People see this as very extreme,” Zerban told The Huffington Post in an interview in Milwaukee the following day. “What gives me the most confidence that I will be able to unseat him is that this budget plan is being rejected completely all around the country.”

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/rob-zerban-wisconsin-democrat-paul-ryan_n_872735.html

181 gaffhook Sounds very promising gaffy.
178 You certainly paid out on him. 🙂

Mornin Bludgers.
It sure will feel good to wake up one morning and find out that Roo is playing euchre with Conrad Black.

I wonder if there is anyone who knows how deep the hacking pit is.

Kate Middleton and Tony Blair were today revealed to be two of the highest profile names linked to the News International phone hacking scandal.
Prince William’s wife and the former Prime Minister were allegedly hacked by private investigator Jonathan Rees and an MP has now called for the investigation into hacking to be widened to include the pair

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2001047/Kate-Middleton-Tony-Blair-victims-News-International-hacking-scandal.html#ixzz1Oie3uOA7

A more comprehensive report at the guardian.

One of the blaggers who regularly worked for him, John Gunning, was responsible for obtaining details of bank accounts belonging to Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex, which were then sold to the Sunday Mirror. Gunning was later convicted of illegally obtaining confidential data from British Telecom. Rees also obtained details of accounts at Coutts bank belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Kent. The bank accounts of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, are also thought to have been compromised.

The Guardian has been told that Rees spoke openly about obtaining confidential data belonging to senior politicians and recorded their names in his paperwork. One source close to Rees claims that apart from Tony Blair, Straw, Mandelson and Campbell, he also targeted Gaynor Regan, who became the second wife of the foreign secretary, Robin Cook, the former shadow home secretary, Gerald Kaufman; and the former Tory minister David Mellor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/08/phone-hacking-kate-middleton-tony-blair

And so it goes on unrelenting.

The untold story of hacking: burglary, fraud and computer viruses

Rees was a key figure in a network of private detectives working for Britain’s newspapers in the 1990s and the last decade. After a period of earning six-figure sums from the NOTW and frequent commissions from other titles, he was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in December 2000 after he was caught plotting to frame a former model by planting cocaine in her car.

After he was released from jail in 2004, only News International continued to employ the disgraced investigator after he was rehired by the NOTW under the editorship of Andy Coulson, who resigned from that role in 2007 after taking responsibility for the phone hacking scandal. Coulson, who has always denied any knowledge of Mr Mulcaire’s activities, resigned as Mr Cameron’s director of communications in January over continuing disclosures which destroyed the NOTW’s insistence hacking had been restricted to a single “rogue” reporter.

The dossier of evidence compiled about Mr Rees suggests that illicit newsgathering techniques were more serious and widespread even that suggested by the phone hacking affair, in which the NOTW eavesdropped on a swath of public figures including Princes William and Harry and Sienne Miller.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/the-untold-story-of-hacking-burglary-fraud-and-computer-viruses-2294967.html

The dirty tricks brigade of the GOPPers are out in force using a tactic to force Democrats in recall elections in Wisconsin to have primaries by nominating false Democrats.

The season of dirty political tricks is now officially under way.

In letters obtained by No Quarter, local Republican Party officials are encouraging their GOP colleagues to collect enough signatures to get a fake Democratic candidate on the ballot in each of two upcoming recall elections.

The spoiler Democrats, who are identified by name in the letters, would run in the Democratic primaries for the seats now held by Republican Sens. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac and Luther Olsen of Ripon.

Both of the fake Democrats have a history of giving almost exclusively to major Republicans.

“We need to make sure Democrat challengers face primaries to allow our Republicans time to mount a campaign,” Dan Feyen, chairman of the 6th Congressional District Republican Party, wrote in the letter to “fellow conservatives” on Friday.

“A Democratic primary,” Feyen continued, “will push the general election back by one month, so that Senator Hopper can have more time to organize a campaign against his liberal challenger.”

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=132881

Kate Middleton’s bank details hacked, says MP.
*************************************

LONDON: The Duchess of Cambridge had her bank details hacked by a private detective working for a tabloid newspaper, a British MP has claimed.

Her account was accessed in 2005, when she was the girlfriend of Prince William and known as Kate Middleton, by Jonathan Rees, a private investigator who once worked for the News of the World, it was alleged in Parliament.

Other high-profile individuals said to have been targets for Mr Rees, who was cleared of murder this year, include the former PM Tony Blair, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and the Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner, John Yates, who once headed the phone hacking inquiry.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/people/kate-middletons-bank-details-hacked-says-mp-20110609-1fv12.html#ixzz1OpODpOXE

Mr Gingermick will have to get his shit together pretty quick if he wants to be a chance in 2012.

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s campaign manager, senior strategists and key aides in early delegate-selection states all resigned on Thursday, a mass exodus that leaves his hopes of winning the Republican nomination in tatters.

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=132938

I said before the election that the Government should ask Roo to explain why he is a fit and proper person to to have a licence to run news media i Australia.

Prescott un the UK is now getting stuck in to the same argument.
Whether Roos best friend, Cameron, takes any notice is of course another matter.

However it is prime time in Australia for the minority coalition Government to be asking the question given the absence of reporting the facts here as well as them having control of the Senate after 1st July.

“When the News of the World apologised for hacking Sienna Miller’s phone papers like The Independent and The Guardian reported it properly but it was tucked away in Murdoch’s Times so you’d hardly notice it,” he said.

“If they get hold BSkyB is he going to do the same thing on the television? We need a proper inquiry to establish whether Murdoch is a fit and proper person to run the company.”

Lord Prescott used a debate on media ownership regulations in the House of Lords to suggest that diversity and plurality were not the only tests which the Government needed to apply when deciding whether to allow the takeover to go ahead.

“If you want a healthy democracy and a healthy media, it is not simply diversity and plurality you need – we now need something more than that.

“We need an independent public inquiry. We need to know what the facts are. If you are in any doubt about that, read what the settlement on Sienna Miller said.

“It said we settle, we did wrong, we should not have printed it, we should not have paid for it. But how did they do it? The settlement means she will be told in private how the company did it.

“There is no open court situation exposing it and all the hypocrisy we get about super injunctions about our press who tell us we should have open courts and be told information, but when it comes to a criminal act they don’t want an open court – they settle with money, they settle with power and they settle with an agreement not to tell the public how they did it.

“That is unacceptable, that is not a force and influence that creates a democratic society.”
Lord Prescott added: “This Government must now consider an independent public inquiry for the health of our own democracy, for the health of the media.

“What worries me is it (the hacking scandal) has polluted a number of institutions in this country in the process of that.

“The first is the Metropolitan Police who in the initial stages refused to accept even though they had the evidence that this has been going on and constantly for years said it was a rogue reporter, we now know that not to be true.

“Having told me personally that my phone messages had not been tapped at all, there was no evidence, the new inquiry comes along and tells me there were 44 occasions.

“You can’t trust the police if they are producing misleading information, deliberately so.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/prescott-delay-bskyb-decision-2295562.html

Meanwhile the whole hacking saga is expanding to include computer hacking as well.

Like i said earlier i do hope Roo gets the opportunity to have a few games of euchre with Conrad Black.

Like Pinochios nose the bigger this issue gets the more embarrasing it is for Roo and sooner or later he will have to come clean.
Thanks to all his myrmidons here in Australia we have to go overseas for our juicy news.

The row over phone-hacking has widened dramatically, with the police now investigating computer hacking in addition to their pre-existing inquiries.

The development comes days after Labour MP Tom Watson told the prime minister that “powerful forces may be involved in a cover-up” during PMQs.

Visibly angry, Mr Cameron responded to that question by insisting there was no limit to what the police could investigate.

http://www.politics.co.uk/news/culture-media-and-sport/phone-hacking-scandal-expands-to-cover-computers-$21389216.htm

Who Polices the police?
What answers will the fox give when he is in charge of the henhouse.
Old Roo is a laugh a minute as he spends millions of dollars trying to dodge the cluster grenades being lobbed in fort news.
He has already had his NoW execs trawl through thousands of emails and they found fuck all so now he sends in a bunch of crack seppo lawyers to see if they can say, hey, look over there.

Rupert Murdoch has sent a team of external American lawyers to Britain to investigate the extent of phone hacking at the News of the World.

The Independent understands that the four independent investigative attorneys were dispatched to London to supervise the trawl through all evidence held by the company to establish who knew what and when.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/murdoch-sends-in-crack-us-lawyers-to-clean-up-news-international-2296116.html

If someone will give me good odds i would bet they find that Roo knew fuck all about it because he was asleep in the dunny when it happened.

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