Kevin Rudd made no secret of his fury at the strong anti-Labor editorial stance taken by News Corp papers during the 2013 election campaign, but a new book by one of his closest advisers reveals how hard he first tried to find favour with News after he returned to the prime ministership.

from politicoz ….

There is a report done for the Tassie Hydro in regard to birds being killed by wind turbines...  Of course the numbers are quite small (and can be counted on one hand on a good decade) as most of the bird species know how to avoid being hit by the spinning blades... But the monitoring goes on in order to get accurate statistical data...

Thanks to cost cutting measures, two of the most loathed bureaucracies in Australia could merge – and drive users of their services to a state of apoplexy

"Facts are in the way of opinions" Allan Gus Jones.

------------------------

There is no better cartoon than this one by Stan Cross, first published in Australia in 1933, to illustrate the seriousness of our predicament and the stupidity of our leaders at present while being faced by global warming.  Here we are 80 years later, still clowning around...

from Crikey …..

Abbott's $10k Pollie Pedal expenses: did he make a profit?

The expenses scandal grows deeper by the week, write the editors of Red Flag.

Good evening. Tonight I want to speak to you about honesty. And dishonesty. On honesty good government depends. Dishonesty is the seed of bad government. It is a betrayal of the people, of democracy itself.

“And then a Plank in Reason, broke / And I dropped down, and down” – as the poet said.

It is time to call a spade a spade. Lying racist, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, has ordered his department to call asylum seekers illegals and detainees.

It is not illegal to seek asylum. Oh, but the lying racist whines, they have arrived illegally. Really? Which court were they convicted in? On what charge? Or are they illegal because the Minister says so?

The spying row between Germany and America is deepening, with fresh reports that United States president Barack Obama knew his country was monitoring the German chancellor's phone calls.

from bill Rowlings ….

Not even the US President has the right to order killings without due process under the rule of law. By claiming otherwise, Emperor Obama lives in a fairy tale world.

One has a bone to pick with Ergas pushing his opinion on various platforms from the Sydney Institute to the ultra right wing rag of the merde-och press, The UnAunstralian...

Today the brave Henry (who, by the way, is far far younger than old Gus-the-Shithead) argues about the waste of Labor's NBN and that of the Collins Class submarine... Well Mr Ergas, one can say that having any weapons or armies of any sort is a waste of money...

Tony Abbott and the Australian mainstream mass media raped your soul... If you have voted for him and have not realised this, you are fucking idiots...

Tony Abbott has a heart full of stones — his asylum policies are as un-Christian as they come — and he has a head full of straw — his understanding of the danger of global warming is nil, zero. nada, nothing — and if you have not realised this— especially if your house has burnt down — you are fucking idiots...

Tony Abbott has no respect for anyone else who is not as brash, crazy or crazy as he is — while being cocky about the colour of his own boots... if you have not realised this, you are fucking idiots...