NEWS and OPINION
Conroy should go back to drawing board
THERE are occasions in politics when an embattled minister is forced to put on a brave face, hold the line and try to sound tough and decisive, despite deep down knowing the decision they are announcing will almost certainly lead to tumultuous and more worrying times ahead. Nick Minchin
Labor’s decision dodgers
AS Treasurer Wayne Swan and other senior ministers urge employers not to sack their workers after Christmas, Environment Minister Peter Garrett has put more obstacles in the way of 3500 new jobs in Tasmania. Welcome to Kevin Rudd’s world, where almost nothing is quite what it seems. Tony Abbott
Flawed: NZ republic opinion poll
A recent widely reported poll by Research New Zealand was seriously flawed. The poll was reported to have shown increased, but still minority, support for New Zealand becoming a republic. It did not. David Flint
The warmaholics’ fantasy
THE warmaholics are fond of using the phrase “official records going back to 1850″, but the simple facts are that prior to the 1970s, surface-based temperatures from a few indiscriminate, mostly backyard locations in Europe and the US are fatally corrupted and not in any sense a real record. Jon Jenkins
O’Farrell faces test of mettle
ON the face of it, last month’s Newspoll - which put the NSW Coalition comfortably ahead of the beleaguered state Labor Government - should have been the best possible Christmas present for the conservative Opposition. Malcolm Colless
Older News and Opinion »
Obama escapes media scrutiny
The US media have been in awe of Barack Obama’s physique, his workouts and basketball skills. But his lies about the proposed federal “stimulus” plan are what really deserve scrutiny, writes Cliff Kincaid, editor of the AIM Report.
Tourism needs another Hoges
Paul Hogan said he was “not crazy” about this year’s Australian Tourism campaign—the one based on Baz Luhrmann’s Australia movie. Presciently, Hoges had reflected what world opinion would say about the movie.
A response to Patrick Buchanan
I don’t know why an American patriot like Buchanan seems to be trying so very hard to “root cause” the Nazi extermination program to the western powers which resisted Nazism, writes M.P. MacConnell.
The Little Black Schoolbook
When you understand how the education system works, really works, then you can turn both its strengths and weaknesses to your advantage.
“On Burchett” by Tibor Méray
The author examines carefully Burchett’s assertions and his writings, confining his analysis to matters of which he had a particular or personal knowledge.
Waleed Aly – ABC presenter for a week
John Styles | January 6 2009
Waleed Aly
With the return of Jon Faine about three weeks away, 774 ABC Melbourne has given the job of presenting its morning program to author, university lecturer, lawyer and Muslim spin doctor Waleed Aly.
The ABC overlooked full-time staff members in favour of Aly who was a regular co-host on the Conversation Hour segment of the program in 2008. Aly has also provided commentary on other ABC shows.
With the Israeli response to Hamas terrorism the biggest story on the news agenda, the elevation of Aly to full-time presenter for the week would be extraordinary – were it not for the fact that it is the ABC doing the elevating. It is the kind of thing one would expect of the broadcaster, given its ingrained antipathy to Israel. More
Civilian massacre next on Hamas agenda?
AC | January 6 2009
From HonestReporting today: “The media is a potent weapon in the hands of terrorists and Israel has been on the receiving end many times. As HonestReporting has documented in its interactive Big Lies resource (click on the image), Palestinians have scored PR victories in the cases of Mohammed al-Dura, the Jenin ‘massacre’, the Gaza Beach incident, staged photos from the 2006 Lebanon War and many other Pallywood productions. More
In a fervour for a Fuhrer
AC | January 6 2009
Imre Salusinszky
‘WE are all fascists now” would seem to be the message of Liberal Fascism, an original, well-written and occasionally barmy new study by US social commentator Jonah Goldberg.
Subtitled The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, Goldberg’s book searches for the philosophical roots of social phenomena as diverse as the US progressivism of the early 20th century, contemporary environmentalism, Hollywood activism, the organic produce cult, identity politics, gay marriage, More
Age profiles great acting helmswoman
John Styles | January 4 2009
Following a puff-piece by its Sydney stablemate, the Spencer Street Soviet yesterday ran its own profile of the acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard. The Age opted for an interesting headline and layout treatment (right), given Gillard’s history with the Victorian Labor Left and, in particular, her membership of the Socialist Forum. The SF was set up in the mid-1980s as a gateway through which members of the declining Communist Party of Australia could enter the ALP. That is not to infer that Julia Gillard was ever a member of the CPA, but to indicate the position she occupied on the political spectrum. More
Trip hasn’t changed Jon Faine’s mind-set
John Styles | January 3 2009
Jon Faine, morning radio presenter for 774 ABC Melbourne, reports today on his 6-month 40,000-kilometre road trip from Melbourne to London that, he says, “Has revealed fundamental truths about mankind and a fundamental truth about Australia - we need to change our name.”
And what does one of the ABC’s most enthusiastic Islamophiles suggest the new name for Australia should be? “Kangarooistan”. Of course. More
SMH barracking for Gillard
John Styles | January 2 2009The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday used the experience of an impressionable 12-year-old girl, who met the acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, to declare a national love affair …
The gushing puff piece by Mark Metherell, focusing on politics by gender, reported the meeting of Gillard and 12-year-old Amanda Tangas More
Happy 108th birthday, Australia
AC | January 2 2009Professor David Flint, national convenor of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, said on Tuesday that as Australians celebrated the new year, it was important to remember that on 1 January 1901 the Commonwealth of Australia was established. More
Refuse Guantanamo Bay inmates
AC | January 2 2009
Malcolm Turnbull
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to immediately reverse his decision to accept Guantanamo Bay inmates for resettlement in Australia.
“It would be difficult to imagine the circumstances in which any claims on humanitarian grounds should take priority over the many applicants for humanitarian entry currently awaiting approval,” Mr Turnbull said.
“It is understood that there are around 250 inmates currently detained in the military prison, with 60 considered by the United States authorities suitable for release. More
Choice needed for education revolution
AC | January 2 2009
Kevin Donnelly
Kevin Donnelly writes: On being elected as leader of the then Opposition in 2006, and now as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has signalled education as a key policy issue. Mirroring then British prime minister Tony Blair’s cry of education, education, education, Rudd and Julia Gillard define their Government’s success in terms of overcoming disadvantage, raising standards and making Australia’s education system more internationally competitive.
Over the past 12 months state and federal More
A return to common sense is needed
Cory Bernardi | January 1 2009
Sen Cory Bernardi
Australia is facing a number of immediate and future challenges. Yet the global financial crisis, rising unemployment and climate change are potentially less damaging to our long term interests than the death of plain old common sense.
In recent decades, what was painfully obvious to previous generations has been lost in a plethora of big government programs and politically correct babble.
The wisdom of past ages that included such gems as “only buy a home you can afford” and “money you borrow always needs to be repaid” lent themselves to a prudent society. More
