Almost every political observer recognises that unless something altogether unexpected happens, by late 2013 Australia will have an Abbott government. The more contentious question is what has gone wrong for Labor. This piece is offered as a contribution to a necessary debate.

Last week, the order came down from the Vatican. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization that represents 80% of the nuns in the US, was chastised for "focusing its work too much on poverty and economic injustice, while keeping ‘silent' on abortion and same-sex marriage." The LCWR is having none of it. In a statement Saturday, the LCWR said, 

Preferential treatment of judges under the Baillieu government's plans for an anti-corruption commission has come under attack from Victoria's powerful police union and a key integrity group.

illustrated presentation doing the email rounds...

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Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

When the Foreign Office urges British motor racing fans to stay away from Bahrain, this ain't no sporting event, folks, it's a political one. The Bahraini authorities prove it by welcoming sports reporters but refusing visas to other correspondents who want to tell the world what's going on in this minority-run, Saudi-dominated kingdom.

Transcript of the Prime Minister's press conference. Parliament House, Canberra, April 21.

from Crikey …..

Customers snore on hold as federal cardigans rebel over Wong's cuts

The federal opposition wants Peter Slipper to step aside as Speaker of the House of Representatives while allegations of sexual harassment are before the court.

I must have written this when I was drunk last night. but here it is anyway...

I am going to stick my neck out... I am going to say that Tony Abbott is worse than Anders Behring Breivik. 

Breivik if you don't know is a murderer in Norway who killed 77 people in July 2011. Breivik acted under a Nazi philosophy of purity of race and a way to de-emotionalise himself... 

from Crikey .....

Who stopped Robinson? The inhibition of responsibility

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow state" which launched a dirty tricks campaign against MPs and now faces a salvo of phone-hacking claims in the United States.

On a tumultuous day for the media mogul, the lawyer who brought the first damages claims against the News of the World in Britain said he had uncovered new allegations of the use of "dark arts" by News Corp in America and was ready to file at least three phone-hacking lawsuits in the company's backyard.

International summit split over cost-cutting exit strategy that would see security forces radically depleted as soon as West leaves