Unpublished Nicholson.

and thanks for the memories.........
and another memory of Donald Rumsfeld, with the tyrant ,
16 months after the crime in Dujail for which Saddam was hung..........

New Years Resolution.

The guy has completely lost it.

The President says the American troops safety is always on his mind and that their welfare is a top priority. That is most reassuring.

"The troops, as we head into 2007, people always ask me about a new year's resolution, my resolution is that they'll be safe." His quote from here.

No George, that is not a resolution. It may be a 'wish' or a 'hope' but not a resolution. If you were to resolve not to say something dumb in '07 that would be a resolution but sadly an impossibility. A resolution could be made to bring the troops home before next Christmas. You could even work on simple sentence construction in the New Year, instead of making matters worse in Iraq.

Woof Woof and merry merry.........

Slipped through in the Silly Season.

It's official.............'bribes' are a 'tax deduction'.
Here's how it works.

1) Create a law."There should be no tax deduction for a bribe -thats my view ,and thats what we put into the law", Mr Costello said.

2) Set up an inquiry, like The Cole Report into AWB, that deems a bribe is actually a kickback.

3)Rely on Tax Department.
In a statement to the Stock Exchange yesterday, AWB said the Tax Office "accepts that for the reasons set out in the Cole inquiry report, payments made by AWB under the ... oil-for-food program do not constitute bribes to foreign public officials for the purposes of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997".

4)Pretend matters are out of your hands. (Sorry Pete, Mr Cole or the tax department are not the lawmakers, that's the role of the parliament.)
"Now I'm sorry, if a court finds or a royal commissioner finds something, whatever my personal view, that's the law." says Mr Costello.

"Take that Bob Brown", says Eric.

The Federal Forestry Minister, Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz, says it's "ironic" that the Wielangta forests that have been the focus of 33 day legal case have been burnt by recent fires.

This follows a decision by The Federal Court in Tasmania which "formed the view that the relevant operations will be, and have been ,carried out otherwise than in accordance with the RFA."

The operations being those by Foresty Tasmania that even flouted the very limited safeguards in the present laws and declared open season on old growth forests.

Eric is saying that the court's findings - that Tasmania's Regional Forest Agreement is valid - is a win for the Government. That's true. It was part of Justice Marshalls' decision. The law is the law.

Senator Abetz says an appeal to the decision is being considered, but he can't see how it would affect other Australian logging regions. Why would you appeal a decision that has caught out a group that has broken the law that you created? Unless you didn't give a damn about the environment , enjoyed the fact that Wielangta had been damaged and were more interested in the Forestry industry above everything else. Maybe we are looking at schadenfreude rather than irony.

Shark Attack at Winkie Pop!

For more, do not miss going here, wait a bit and here.









Update: That pathetic Premier Bracks has ruled out reprisal raids on all sharks in Victoria. The Shadow Minister for Sharks and Shockjocks has yet to respond to such an obvious lack of concern for the swimming public.

Mr Fish says it All.

For Catch of the Day see.

Greens New Upper House Power.

Labor 19 seats
Libs 15 seats
Nats 2 seats
Greens 3 seats
DLP 1 seat

Final and complete results for Victorian 2006 election. An excellent result for Greens despite typical misleading bi-partisan attacks. Labor loses control of Upper House. Victoria may yet get an end to logging in water catchment areas.

And just in case you were wondering, the lone DLP member looks like this. Will Labor call upon him to pass legislation and incur the wrath of the older party faithful who see the DLP as "sectarian snakes"?

Steve Bracks deserves a pat on the back for introducing these real reforms to the Legislative Council that have finally come to fruition. Maybe there is a little bit of refineing to do around the edges but Victoria now has a far more democratic house. "The biggest changes in its 150 years history" is a fair boast and introduced by politicians knowing it would reduce their power. A minor miracle, you would have to say.

The Saga continued...........

This link to a thread on Club Troppo (scroll to top to read 'A blogger the culprit' by Ken Parish) fills in a few details that some may have missed in the second and third episode of Maynelining Poison Dwarf. Two new characters have been introduced to the plot........ Kerr the younger and caustic bloghead who makes a guest appearance in comments.

While we are at it, I wish to mention the good foot work of the floor manager, seen in the picture, who was the real hero in episode one. His 'dance with the inebriated' was something to behold. If another individual deserves an apology/bravery award he does. Wrestling with aggressive drunks is always a brave call.

A Walkley , Two Murdoch 'journalists' and the role model Himself.

This is the brilliant photo that won a Walkley*.
Titled "A Windy Oakes Day" it was taken by Angela Wylie and was successful in the category of 'best daily life photography for 2006'. Reminds me of birds holding tight to a power line in a gale.

Not such a good look for two of Rupert Murdochs' employees after a tired and emotional moment by Glenn Milne in his ongoing feud with Stephen Mayne and matters in the ol' dart where Clive Goodman ended up in the courts.

Milne has apologised for his well known 'gaffe' * "Please accept this release as an apology to my esteemed colleagues, friends and family for the hurt and embarrassment caused by my actions at the Walkley Awards in Melbourne.I lamentably mixed alcohol and migraine medication with shocking consequences. I apologise too to Stephen Mayne and the organisers of the awards.There is no excuse for my behaviour." He has also inadvertently allowed a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the previously secret newspaper empire. Crikey reports today that his local boss said he "will not be patted on the back for what he did last night". Instead, he will be "disciplined internally which is a matter between myself and him" It has often been a bone of contention how writers and editors have been brought into the line by senior management. 'Boneing' is indeed believed to be the technique favoured by the competitive Packer apparachiks.

Found guilty of breaching the privacy of royalty ex-'News of the World Royal Editor', Clive Goodman, who has been suspended by the paper, apologised in court to the three members of the royal household staff concerned and their principals, princes William, Harry and Charles *. Andy Coulson, the paper's editor, said: "The News of the World will ... be making a substantial donation to charities of the Princes' choice."

A question ..... do common celebrity types get similarly well looked after by the legal system? Not so, police have no plans to press further charges. Despite the counter-terrorism group of Scotland Yard finding "that among those targeted were David Blunkett, while he was home secretary, the government minister David Miliband, the England and Portsmouth defender Sol Campbell, the editor of the Sun, Rebekah Wade, the Liberal Democrat MP Simon Hughes, the supermodel Elle Macpherson, and the publicist Max Clifford". Most interesting is that great excuse in "The Australian" ; everyone ("Voicemail snooping rife on Fleet Street") is hiring detectives these days and doing this sought of stuff.

Not to be outdone Mr Murdoch himself was out personally apologising "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project. We are very sorry for any pain that his has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson." * Its not flash to pay good ol' O.J.Simpson nearly two million pounds while going for what many saw as a tacky little rateings grabber. No doubt there.