Friday 29th of March 2024

Gus Leonisky's blog

billionaire grass roots...

grassroots

It likes to present itself as a grassroots insurgency made up of hundreds of local groups intent on toppling the Washington elite.

But the Tea Party movement, which is threatening to cause an upset in next month's midterm elections, would not be where it is today without the backing of that most traditional of US political supporters – Big Oil.

The billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries, a private company with 70,000 employees and annual revenues of $100bn (£62bn), used to joke that they controlled the biggest company nobody had ever heard of.

huflungdung...

huflungdung...
Abbott AWOL on rule of law and morality

Tony Abbott (''Soldiers thrown to wolves, says Abbott,'' October 13) seems to be suggesting that Australian troops should not be subject to the rule of law. Imagine the outcry if he were to suggest that a priest accused of sexual abuse should not have that claim tested in court because we should support priests who are working for the good of the community.

nobel peace prizes...

nobel prizes

China overnight slammed the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo as a violation of the award's ideals, while the laureate's joyful wife led calls for his immediate release.

Beijing - which has repeatedly branded the 54-year-old writer a criminal following his December 2009 jailing for 11 years on subversion charges - also warned Norway that ties would suffer over the Nobel committee's decision.

"The Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to those who work to promote ethnic harmony, international friendship, disarmament and who hold peace meetings. These were [Alfred] Nobel's wishes," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.

the standard tony rubbish...

RUBBISH

While Ms Gillard said yesterday she no longer intended to comment on the saga and thus fuel it, Mr Abbott said he needed to keep defending himself because he was the gatekeeper of the nation's values.

''One of the things that so disappoints me about the election result is that I am the standard bearer for values and ideals which matter and which are important and … as the leader of the Coalition, millions and millions of people invest their hopes in me and it's very important that I don't let them down.

''When I am unfairly attacked, I've got to respond and I've got to respond in a tough way.''

the dingoes of canberra...

bitchiness

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has responded with a firm "no" to claims she has been involved in "back alley bitchiness" over her spat with Tony Abbott about visiting Afghanistan.

Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne yesterday suggested Ms Gillard was using "back alley bitchiness" to hurt the Opposition Leader.

"It's not my intention to add to this matter in any way, shape or form," Ms Gillard told the Queensland Press Club today.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/i-am-not-being-bitchy-gillard-20101012-16hc5.html

comrad arnie....

arniemedvie

sweet memories...

memories

The Israeli cabinet has approved a controversial bill that would require all non-Jews taking Israeli citizenship to swear loyalty to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state".

The law, which has angered Israel's Arab minority, still has to be passed by the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

A similar measure was rejected by the cabinet in May 2009.

If approved, the new law will affect a small number of non-Jews who seek Israeli citizenship.

Correspondents say it will mainly apply to Palestinians married to Israelis who seek citizenship on the basis of family re-unification, foreign workers, and a few other special cases.

gunning for the redhead

low blow...

Abbott accuses Gillard of leaking the fact that she had invited him to join her to visit Afghanistan a week earlier, but that he had declined.

"I regard it as an act of low bastardry given what Gillard knew based on the conversation I'd had with her personally," Abbott charged.

Even by the robust standards of Australian political biffo, this is a startling insult.

The worst part for Abbott was that he couldn't defend himself. Politicians' visits to Afghanistan are secret till they're over. That's why he was left blathering about jet lag.

sun capers...

sunset

 

Picture by Gus

The Sun's influence on modern-day global warming may have been overestimated, a study suggests.

Scientists found unexpected patterns in solar output in the years 2004-2007, which challenge existing models.

However, they caution that three years of data are not enough to draw firm conclusions about long-term trends.

Writing in the journal Nature, they say it may become necessary to revise the way that solar influences are dealt with in computer models of the climate.

the future of books...

books about books

"Technology has made virtually anything possible," says Neill Denny, editor-in-chief of the publishing industry magazine The Bookseller. "If you look at it conceptually – there's a five-link chain between the person who writes and the person who reads. You've got Author-Agent- Publisher-Retailer-Reader. Theoretically, the three middle bits could all now vanish and the author could write online directly to the reader."

of food and honey...

bee

picture by Gus

the blame game...

blamegame

The Federal Opposition has accused Prime Minister Julia Gillard of playing dangerous political games over the war in Afghanistan.

Ms Gillard's office invited Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to accompany her on her weekend trip to visit Australian troops in Afghanistan as a show of bipartisan support for the war effort.

The invitation came after a week in which the Opposition called for more men and materiel, including tanks, to be sent to bolster Australia's troops in the strife-torn country.

happy hour...


gunsinbars
More States Allowing Guns in Bars and Restaurants


By MALCOLM GAY

NASHVILLE — Happy-hour beers were going for $5 at Past Perfect, a cavernous bar just off this city’s strip of honky-tonks and tourist shops when Adam Ringenberg walked in with a loaded 9-millimeter pistol in the front pocket of his gray slacks.

protests and fears...

unrest...

 

From Chris Floyd

weak right arm...

lefthand

President Barack Obama is losing his strong right arm. Dark days lie ahead, in which the president will lose traction with Congress, needlessly offend key constituencies, lose control of his legislative agenda. Why? His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is quitting the White House, maybe to try and become mayor of Chicago, certainly to cash in and make a bundle on Wall Street.

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