Categories
Open Thread

The Good War

That is, for the services, the drug package contains four tablets of 160 mg of the active substance, our Medway pharmacists are available to offer you advice on many health conditions. Concierge service and underground parking, 4 ED has a profound negative impact on the more here quality of life.

More US soldiers killed themselves than died in combat in 2010.

For the second year in a row, more American soldiers—both enlisted men and women and veterans—committed suicide than were killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Excluding accidents and illness, 462 soldiers died in combat, while 468 committed suicide.

569 replies on “The Good War”

Dick Lugar Loses To Tea Party’s Richard Mourdock In Indiana Republican Senate Primary.
************************************************

The Tea Party tossed another veteran Republican overboard Tuesday night, voting six-term Republican Sen. Dick Lugar from office in a heated Indiana primary.

With most of the precincts reporting, Richard Mourdock had 60 percent of the vote to Lugar’s 40 percent, sending Mourdock to a November match-up against Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly.

A year ago, few people gave state Treasurer Mourdock much chance against Lugar, an Indiana icon regarded as one of the U.S. Senate’s leading statesmen on international affairs.

Mourdock was not an especially good campaigner, but even observers in Lugar’s own party felt the senator did worse, arguing that Lugar let Mourdock set the tone and portray the 80-year-old — first elected in 1976 — as out of touch and a friend of Democrats. Lugar was often dubbed “Obama’s favorite Republican.”

That brings another senate seat into play.

More here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/dick-lugar-richard-mourdock-lugar-loses-indiana-republican-senate-primary_n_1501416.html

Poll Shows Obama with National Lead
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows President Obama’s lead over Mitt Romney has grown to seven points, 49% to 42%, “due to increased support from independent voters and more optimism about the U.S. economy.”
http://politicalwire.com

I am only following 235 on twitter and it’s fucken hopeless trying to keep up with it all.

How do those following 2000 go?

Everyone who is on Twitter. Here is your chance to add a lot of Twitter followers. HP comments show the Twitterers. The more followers you have the more powerful you become. It doesn’t matter if you don’t read the Twitts. Its what you link to that counts.

I hear that Romney has already released a statement in which he says he “is not going to bend over and take this.”
From the comments section of the HP.

Purging of the Senate Republicans
***************************

Nate Silver notes that of the 27 most moderate Republican senators who served in 2007, at most six will return to the Congress in 2013: John McCain, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thad Cochran, Lamar Alexander and Charles Grassley.

“The other 21 have been ousted from the Congress in some way. Eight of them retired or have announced plans to do so. One, Craig Thomas of Wyoming, died in office. Another, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, switched parties, then lost the primary election as a Democrat. Nine of them lost the general election as Republicans. And two were defeated in a Republican primary contest, not counting Ms. Murkowski, who lost hers in 2010 but won re-election anyway as a write-in candidate. In total, that’s an attrition rate of 78 percent.”

http://politicalwire.com

Brown Says He’s Independent
***********************

Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is up with a new ad for his re-election campaign which doesn’t mention his party affiliation and stresses that he’s “turned out to be unpredictably independent and beholden to no one.”

That says a lot about the current state of the Republican Party.

http://politicalwire.com

Thanks for starting a new thread Catrina, though it’s a very sobering statistic. So sad.

I must say listening to Bob Brown on ABC radio this morning talking about Obama’s announcement, I felt a bit emotional. Brown spoke from the heart, with warmth and generosity. The haters have much to learn about how to convince people of their argument.

And Obama’s announcement was beautifully done too, imo.

Coalition to decry Labor handouts.
***************************

Coalition leader Tony Abbott’s budget-in-reply speech tonight will combine promises about how the Coalition will ”deliver stronger economic growth” with cynicism about Labor’s voter-friendly hand-outs – at least if the Liberals’ internal ”speaking notes” are a guide.

In a flyer marked ”not for distribution” that was widely circulated to Liberal and National MPs this week, the Coalition says Labor has ”no coherent economic strategy to deliver stronger growth” and this morning Mr Abbott said that was exactly what he would unveil tonight.

But when it comes to the $2.9 billion in hand-outs to low and middle income families and welfare recipients, which the Coalition will support, the message is that they won’t make up for the carbon tax and can’t be trusted.
Advertisement: Story continues below

”Labor’s cynical hand-outs will not compensate Australians for the damage the carbon tax will do,” it says.

What’s the bet the world doesn’t come to an end when the carbon tax kicks in.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/coalition-to-decry-labor-handouts-20120510-1ye6g.html#ixzz1uRxq07q8

Obama shows that to be a decent human being is worthwhile in politics, whilst Abbott went out of his way to prove that idiots can still gain traction .
aaargggh. 🙁

and Miss Cat – thanks once again for an important albeit too brief revisit
x

I am a tad concerned that the would-be prime minister can reply to the budget without actually mentioning any costings.

Evangelicals Support Romney
***********************

A new PRRI/RNS Religion News survey finds Mitt Romney holds a nearly 50-point lead over President Obama among white evangelical Protestant voters, 68% to 19%.

Key finding: “The survey also finds that even among the nearly half (49%) of evangelical voters who say that Romney’s religious beliefs are different than their own, Romney still holds a 3-to-1 lead over Obama (67% vs. 22%). Among all voters, however, Obama leads Romney, (47% vs. 38%).”

http://politicalwire.com

Democrats Eye Senate Pickup In Indiana — Can They Beat Mourdock?
*******************************************************

Democrats are chomping at the bit from the defeat of longtime Sen. Dick Lugar in his Republican primary in Indiana, saying that this state’s Senate seat is now officially on the map. Do they have a shot?

The more conservative primary winner, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, will now face Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly, who is already praising Lugar’s record of bipartisanship on national security — at the same time as Mourdock is offering an ironic definition of bipartisanship, in which it “ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.”

One national Democratic source told TPM that Dems will be making a strong commitment on behalf of Donnelly.

“There are thousands and thousands of Hoosier voters that have woken up this morning, these are H voters that have voted for Dick Lugar their entire lives,” the source said. “And they woke up this morning to find out that Richard Mourdock defeated him because he wasn’t partisan enough, because he wasn’t ideological enough. And I think that makes Richard Mourdock very poorly positioned to appeal to those voters, and Joe Donnelly is very well positioned to appeal to those voters.”

More here..
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/democrats-eye-senate-pickup-in-indiana-can-donnelly-beat-mourdock.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

33
Good article by PJK Jen, but i tend to disagree with PJK
that he is not biased. He has all the qualifications and credentials to be full of bias as well as being directed by Mr Scott, the Howard neocon right wing plant,

The ABC is nothing more than a sick fucken joke of a broadcaster and should either be shut down, sold off or put the cleaners through it from top to bottom.

Since Toolman took over the 7:30 slot the viewers have been running away by the hundreds of thousands and if it were a commercial station no doubt it would be axed for want of ratings.

Fuck the ABC and all who sail in her.

I think Toolman is creating a persona that he can market – a la Bolt, but perhaps not quite so extreme. It’s galling that its happening before our eyes on the taxpayer funded ABC. Leigh Sales comes back soon, and while Toolman will still be involved, Sales is a much more professional interviewer.

My criticism of Uhlmann is not that of bias, but of competence.

I don’t read that as PJK saying Toolman isn’t biased – just that he’s pointing out the incompetence. More of a rhetorical device than anything.

Then again, I could be wrong.

I found PJK’s demolition of Toolman, much more damning, because it concentrated on his incompetence as journalist/interviewer.
His obvious bias is so often revealed, because he is hopeless at his job.
OH FFS! I just went back to re-read it and the new editor of the Drum has stuck up the ultimate brown-nosing defense of Toolman.
(No wonder Jonathan Green finally jumped ship as editor.)

Editor’s Note
Paul Keating’s attack on Chris Uhlmann’s interview of a fellow Labor Prime Minister demonstrates an understandable tribal loyalty. Keating sent it unsolicited to The Drum and we published it because this site has a culture of open and robust debate. But it cannot pass without comment. It is a personal and unreasonable assault on one of this country’s best political journalists and interviewers. Uhlmann’s interview with the Prime Minister canvassed the decisions made by her government to achieve a forecast budget surplus. He asked questions in the public mind – questions about savings made by breaking or shifting previous promises on business tax cuts, defence and foreign aid. He asked reasonably whether broken promises reflect on the credibility of the government and on its forecast. When the theme of credibility is infused into the very being of the current parliament, it’s a fair enough line of inquiry. Later parts of the interview were about cash bonuses, the carbon price and Julia Gillard’s judgement about Craig Thompson and Peter Slipper. These are matters that go to the heart of Julia Gillard’s prime ministership. I’ve just re-watched the interview. Chris’s tone throughout was respectful but probing, the appropriate tone for a political interviewer doing what political interviewers have always done – acting devil’s advocate for a public seeking to better understand its leaders. I’ve been around long enough to remember Prime Ministers and their acolytes levelling similar charges of impertinence against ABC political anchors, from Richard Carleton to Kerry O’Brien. Chris Uhlmann, widely respected in Canberra and amongst his colleagues as a decent, intelligent and no-nonsense journalist, continues a fine tradition.

Bruce Belsham

Head ABC Current Affairs

what a crock!
we have all been saying since Red Kez’s retirement how fucking hopeless Toolman is – apart from his bias (which is obvious) he is just a goddawful interviewer as Keating rightly says.
Leigh Sales is coming back according to twitter and thank christ for that although she is also up against is with the tabloid crap format that is 7:30.
I still hate it that they dont have bloody chairs.
As for comparing Toolman to Richard Carleton and Kezza – delusional.
Bruce Belsham needs to be sternly spoken to if he thinks the current standard is acceptable. It’s absolute substandard rubbish. 😡

and Im not sure I like twitter too much – so confusing! – although good after a few wines when Sophie is on Qanda 🙂

Rebekka Brooks was a bit of an anti climax. On the other hand.
.
Jeremy Hunt ‘Sought News Corp’s Advice On Phone Hacking Scandal’
.

Jeremy Hunt’s office sought private guidance on how the government should deal with the phone hacking scandal from News Corporation – the company that owned News of the World, it has been alleged.

The claim was made by the firm’s head of public affairs, Fred Michel, in an email sent on 27 June last year to News International’s then chief executive Rebekah Brooks. The correspondence was seen by the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics on Friday.

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/11/jeremy-hunt-sought-phone-hacking-advice-news-corporation_n_1509073.html?ref=uk

Health Care Game Changer?
**********************

The Obama administration will soon announce $1.3 billion in rebate checks to nearly 16 million Americans from health insurance companies.

Mark Halperin: “From almost the moment the Affordable Care Act (a/k/a “ObamaCare”) was signed into law, the administration has been playing defense… But the rebate provision of the law — the fruits of the so-called ’80/20 rule’ — is about to kick in big time, as millions of Americans receive rebate checks or premium reductions from insurance companies who have failed to spend enough on patient care. This cash could be a true game changer in public attitudes about whether the law actually is beneficial and good public policy.”

.
http://politicalwire.com
.
The hip pocket nerve has always helped win elections. From memory it helped Fraser win an election. People will start receiving the so called climate change tax rebates on July the 1st. The watch the polls change. Will you vote to hand your money back?

Halperin’s Take: Why ACA Rebates Are A Big Deal
***************************************

From almost the moment the Affordable Care Act (a/k/a “ObamaCare”) was signed into law, the administration has been playing defense, trying to convince a skeptical public and a hostile Republican Party that the measure has some real benefits for real people.

The White House has touted some provisions that poll well, such as ensuring coverage for pre-existing conditions and keeping adult children on their parents’ health plans into their twenties. Nevertheless, the law overall remains unpopular with the American people.

But the rebate provision of the law — the fruits of the so-called “80/20 rule” — is about to kick in big time, as millions of Americans receive rebate checks or premium reductions from insurance companies who have failed to spend enough on patient care. This cash could be a true game changer in public attitudes about whether the law actually is beneficial and good public policy. The rebate provision of the law has been known and discussed in health care policy circles for months, but has largely flown below the radar in the political world and for voters—until now.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius explains the measure in a Friday blog post on the department website: “You can be sure that insurance companies are spending generally at least 80 cents of every dollar you pay in premiums on your health care or activities that improve health care quality,” she writes. “If the insurance company fails to meet this standard, or the ‘medical loss ratio,’ in any year, they have to pay you a rebate.”

Read more: http://thepage.time.com/2012/05/11/halperins-take-why-aca-rebates-are-a-big-deal/#ixzz1uca7zuqX

The culture of smashing whistleblowers never changes does it.

A whistleblower is always discredited and accused of being all kinds of low life by those whom his story will affect.

The controversy over Jeremy Hunt’s dealings with Rupert Murdoch’s empire took a bizarre twist last night after it emerged he held a meeting with one of the mogul’s former drivers to discuss his alleged role in illegal payments to police.
Paul Maley, who worked as a News International chauffeur for four years until 2009, is preparing extraordinary evidence for the Leveson Inquiry in which he is expected to reveal a 40-minute encounter with the Culture Secretary.
Mr Maley told Mr Hunt during the meeting last September that he handed more than a dozen packages containing cash to police officers while working for the company………………………….However, one senior source last night questioned his ‘credibility’ and accused him of ‘going around trying to hawk his story for months’.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143502/Murdoch-driver-I-told-Jeremy-Hunt-cash-drops-Met-police-Hyde-Park-tennis-courts.html#ixzz1uhEeU4ab

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143502/Murdoch-driver-I-told-Jeremy-Hunt-cash-drops-Met-police-Hyde-Park-tennis-courts.html#ixzz1uhE1hgpO

47
Gaffy
I think that might just be the straw that breaks Rupert in the US.
Bundles of money to bent coppers (with a witness) sounds pretty terminal. The other News shareholders might want to throw the Murdoch clan overboard to save the Titanic.
It certainly doesn’t look good for Hunt. 👿

48
Yes Paddy
I would dearly love to see the payments to he plod be proved beyond any doubt as deep down i thing the Dems in the US would be in raptures if they could introduce the full force of the FCPA to SeweRoo and son with a decent stretch behind bars for both, especially as he has spent hundreds of millions in the last five years on lobbyists trying to water down the FCPA legislation and penalties contained within.

One can only say bad luck Seweroo and fuck you and your evil sons and myrmidons.

After watching Ms Brooks in full and her actions leaves me in no doubt they have no intention of telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

They appear to be Jeckyl and Hyde with their sudden losses of memory.

Barack Obama 2012 Takes Multiple Pages From GOP Playbook.
*************************************************

As he tries to become only the second Democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt to win reelection, Barack Obama is adopting much of the strategic playbook Republicans have developed and used for 40 years.

Of course, on the core substance of policy — tax rates, regulation and the size and role of government in the economy — Obama and the post-Reagan Tea Party Republicans couldn’t be further apart as the fall campaign begins. And no matter how shrewd or cold-blooded his game plan, the president probably will lose if the economic outlook does not improve more by fall.

But campaign strategy does matter, and there the GOP has a track record and a theory that Obama has always found to his liking as a candidate.

It is more confrontational and definitive than the model used by Bill Clinton, who won election twice (but never with an outright majority) essentially by blurring his party’s differences with a conservative GOP.

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/13/barack-obama-2012-campaign-republican-playbook_n_1510801.html

Princess Diana’s Lover Hasnat Khan: Police Believe My Phone Could Have Been Hacked.
****************************************************

Diana, Princess of Wales’ former lover Hasnat Khan has revealed that police believe his phone may have been hacked in the months before her inquest, it emerged today.

The 53-year-old heart surgeon said he had been contacted by detectives after his name and mobile telephone number were found in paperwork uncovered during their investigations into phone-hacking.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Dr Khan said he felt “violated” to discover his voicemails may have been intercepted ahead of the belated inquest in 2008.

He said: “To know that someone has been listening to your private messages is awful.

“It is absolutely terrible. It feels as if you have been robbed. We live in the UK. We are supposed to have civil liberties. I feel really, really violated. I am very angry.”

Its getting closer.
More here..
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/05/13/princess-diana-lover-hasnat-khan-police-phone-hacking_n_1512482.html?ref=uk

German State Elections: Opposition Seen Winning Major Vote In North Rhine-Westphalia.
**************************************************

Voters in Germany’s most populous state on Sunday strengthened a regional government that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives had portrayed as irresponsibly spendthrift, inflicting an embarrassingly heavy defeat on the German leader’s party, projections showed.

The center-left Social Democrats and Greens – Germany’s main opposition parties – won combined support of up to 51 percent in the election in North Rhine-Westphalia state, according to ARD television projections based on exit polls and partial counting.

That would give them a majority in the state legislature, which they narrowly missed in the last regional election two years ago. Meanwhile, support for Merkel’s Christian Democrats plunged to some 26 percent from above 34 percent, their worst showing in the state since World War II.

The outcome boosted Germany’s center-left opposition, and gave food for thought to Merkel’s conservatives as the country looks toward national elections due late next year and the chancellor grapples with Europe’s stubbornly persistent debt crisis.

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/13/german-state-elections-2012_n_1512953.html

Former Murdoch journalist: stories made up, lived in culture of fear.
****************************************************

Anyone who has been paying attention can’t be surprised. The Rupert Murdoch empire has been bullying opponents for years so it’s perfectly believable that they also bullied employees.

The former Murdoch journalist raises a key point about the way Murdoch’s News Corp is run. News Corp desperately needs to be investigated because there’s too much smoke around its operations. The Guardian:

More here..
http://www.americablog.com/2012/05/former-murdoch-journalist-stories-made.html

Mitt Romney Bain Capital Record Targeted By Obama Campaign.
**************************************************

President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign on Monday morning opened a new front in its election faceoff with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney, releasing documentary-style videos and a full website portraying Romney as a job-destroying corporate takeover artist.

At the top of this article is Facebook Share. Twitter and Google Plus. I want all the Progressive supporters on here to click on each of those. Also on the two video’s there is a share facility. It is vitally important that we Progressives share those video’s if we are to help the Progressive cause.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/mitt-romney-bain-capital_n_1514135.html

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is unlikely to heed calls from activists to revoke the U.S. broadcasting licenses of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., experts say.
******************************************************

Watchdog groups are pushing the FCC to cancel the licenses over the scandal that has enveloped News Corp. in the United Kingdom. Employees of the company allegedly hacked voice mail accounts and bribed public officials, and a British parliamentary committee ruled earlier this month that Murdoch is “not fit” to run an international media company.

20 years! It takes 20 years?
More here.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/227039-fcc-unlikely-to-revoke-broadcasting-licenses-for-fox-say-experts

Vulnerable Democratic senators balk at Obama’s gay marriage endorsement.
*************************************************

Senate Democrats facing difficult reelections are breaking with President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, a sign the issue is politically dangerous in battleground states.

Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), the two most vulnerable Democratic senators, have declined to endorse Obama’s call for the legalization of gay marriage.
Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Bob Casey (Pa.) and Bill Nelson (Fla.), Democrats who have easier races but in states that could become more competitive by November, have also backed away from Obama’s stance.

More here..
They all represent states with constitutional amendments or laws banning same-sex marriage.

Gay Donor Pulls Support From Mitt Romney Over Gay Marriage, Asks For Money Back.
***************************************************

An openly gay Mitt Romney donor has decided to pull his support for the presumptive GOP nominee and instead support President Obama’s reelection bid, citing the former Massachusetts governor’s opposition to same-sex marriage as a dealbreaker.

“I feel that I no longer wish to support your presidential campaign and ask you that you please return the maximum contribution that I gave to you last year,” Bill White wrote in a letter to Romney, according to a report by CNN. “You have chosen to be on the wrong side of history and I do not support your run for president any longer.”

White, a registered independent who runs a New York-based consulting firm, had given $2,500 to the Romney campaign.

Yes!

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/14/mitt-romney-gay-marriage_n_1516200.html

McCaskill Holds Small Leads Over Possible Rivals.
**************************************

A new Mellman Group (D) poll finds Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) holds a single-digit lead over all three of her Republican opponents.

McCaskill leads Sarah Steelman (R), 45% to 36%, tops John Brunner, 46% to 38%, and beats Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) 44% to 39% .

http://politicalwire.com
.
Seems like a pretty good margin to me.

Budget gives Labor a three point boost.
*******************************

Wayne Swan’s budget, which delivered generous handouts to lower-income households, has given the Gillard government a timely boost in the polls.

The latest Newspoll in The Australian on Tuesday shows Labor gained three points to push its support amongst voters back to 30 per cent for the first time in two months.

The coalition’s primary vote, on the other hand, slumped six percentage points to 45 per cent.

In the two-party preferred vote, the Tony Abbott-led coalition still holds a comfortable 55-45 point lead.

The poll showed that while the budget was well received by families earning less than $90,000 a year, more people believe they will be worse off.

Its a start.

More here…
http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2012/05/15/Budget_gives_Labor_a_three_point_boost_750350.html

‘C’ word scrubbed right out of latest carbon tax ads
****************************************

IF CARBON could be removed from the atmosphere as efficiently as it has been scrubbed from the latest government carbon tax ads, our problems would be solved.

The Gillard government was under fire from all sides yesterday after kicking off its advertising blitz spruiking the carbon tax ”household assistance package” – with no mention of carbon, climate change or clean energy.

The TV ads, part of a $36.1 million campaign to explain the assistance package – the first payments for which will flow from tomorrow – premiered on Sunday night and will be followed by print and radio ads. As previously reported by The Age, government market research has found that the word ”carbon” in particular is a turn-off for voters.

Apparently tomorrow.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/c-word-scrubbed-right-out-of-latest-carbon-tax-ads-20120514-1yn2n.html#ixzz1utyf6wAC

Thrones anointed year’s ‘most-pirated TV show’
*************************************

HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones looks destined to become this year’s most pirated TV show.

BitTorrent-tracking and analysis firm Big Champagne estimates the second season of the show has been downloaded more than 25 million times from public torrent trackers since it began in early April.

Its piracy hit a new peak following April 30th’s episode, with more than 2.5 million downloads in a day, Forbes reported.
Advertisement: Story continues below

“It certainly appears to be the most pirated show of the year,” John Robinson, a senior media analyst with Big Champagne told the magazine.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/thrones-anointed-years-mostpirated-tv-show-20120515-1ynmd.html#ixzz1utzm0a00

Good piece in The New Yorker
on the *serious* trouble Rupe is now in.

Murdoch’s Shakespearean Tragedy
Posted by Steve Coll
Last Thursday, in Surrey, England, shortly after sunrise, British police arrested a fifty-seven-year-old retired Scotland Yard detective. He was the twenty-seventh person arrested in a bribery investigation known as Operation Elveden, which is the most opaque but arguably the most important of the multiple investigations of journalism and crime at News Corporation, the media giant controlled by Rupert Murdoch. News Corp. has its headquarters in the United States and is the parent company of Fox News, among other properties. …..

http://is.gd/gwkz7O

Paddy

Fucken YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEE :mrgreen:
Now we just have to wait and see if SeweRoo will stump up her legal fees or throw her under the bus in which case she may become very friendly toward uncovering some more information.

The charges are pretty straight forward so she had better have some very good defence otherwise i think she may be toast.

Well ticsters, you know me. Normally I wouldn’t *dream* of recommending anything to do with ABC730 and that unctuous toad Uhlmann. 😆
However…..There’s a *very* good extended interview with Ken (the wombat) Henry from tonight’s program. here.
is.gd/6tdVmU
Fortunately, Uhlmann is *far* too frightened of Ken to interrupt, so it’s actually an informative 30 mins with one of the country’s best minds.
Recommended.

82
Jen
Justice Leveson has just said he’s going to make a statement “on an important matter” at 11pm our time tonight.
Haven’t a clue what it’s about, but watch this space. :mrgreen:

Ah! The new kinder, gentler Jen. 😉

Thanks for the 7.5 link Paddy: couldn’t bring myself to face it unprepared.

Well Leveson’s “little chat to parliament” last night was a hoot.
Shorter Leveson…. “Dear Parliament, fuck off and leave my inquiry alone!” 😆
I note that various parliamentarians, have since taken certain questions on notice off the menu and have agreed to wait until Leveson has heard the evidence before jumping the gun.
Brian Leveson is definitely one of the best, most entertaining figures around right now.
Here’s a link to his full statement. http://is.gd/OykMSn

This piece from The Independent gives a good, brief account of the judge’s spray.

The House of Commons this week stated that its constitutional supremacy meant it should be given full disclosure of any evidence relating to the bid and that Parliament should be the first authority to judge Mr Hunt’s conduct.

In line with his refusal to grant Mr Hunt a fast-tracked appearance at the inquiry, Lord Justice Leveson yesterday called on the Speaker, John Bercow, to back off, threatening to dump the entire BSkyB issue from his inquiry unless he was given adequate time to question Michel, Smith and Hunt ahead of Parliament.

The appeal court judge said he hoped there would be “sufficient respect” from Mr Bercow to allow the inquiry to proceed and “ensure that the principles of fairness were maintained”.

Although he said he would not tell Parliament how far it should go, he said if he couldn’t adduce the evidence of Mr Hunt and the BSkyB bid fairly, he would not do it at all. Last night Labour withdrew a parliamentary question calling on Mr Hunt to give evidence to the Commons first.

A political allegation that the Commons’ work was being blocked, was also withdrawn by the party. Lord Justice Leveson’s threat appeared to have paid off.

http://is.gd/gbUNSD

87 Gaffhook Forgoodness sake Gaffy. Twitter it! Share on Facebook. Google Plus. But more important Digg it! All down the bottom of the page. This one is very important!!!!!

OPPOSITION powerbroker Christopher Pyne made direct email contact with Peter Slipper staffer James Ashby within minutes of leaving late-night drinks in the Speaker’s office earlier this year.
Pyne emailed Slipper’s accuser.
*************************

The revelation contradicts the impression Mr Pyne has given about his dealings with Mr Ashby, whose legal action against Mr Slipper for alleged sexual harassment has undermined Julia Gillard’s already fragile majority.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/pyne-emailed-slippers-accuser-20120516-1yre1.html#ixzz1v5IVgOPS

Obama Raised $43.6 Million Last Month
“President Obama and the Democrats raised $43.6 million in April, adding to the president’s edge over his rival, Mitt Romney, even as money continues to pour in to outside groups ahead of the fall campaign,” the New York Times reports.

“The $43.6 million is a slight dip from March, when Mr. Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $53 million. But it does not count several large fund-raisers — including one in Hollywood that reportedly raised $15 million — that took place in early May.”
http://politicalwire.com/

I wonder how gullible some people are?
The copyright for Gone with the Wind in Australia has expired. But in the USA it has not expired. (The Disney rule). Keep extending your copyright laws to protect Disney programs that are coming out of copyright. With the internet that will start to have problems. I have posted Gone with the Wind on my site and asked the Americans to read it with and Australian accent. Can you imagine a Southern drawl with an Australian accent?

http://www.femme-classic-art.com/Love-Story-Romantic-Stories/Love-Story-Romantic-Stories.html

Comments are closed.