PM Gillard Passes CO2 tax on Australians

A bad day for democracy in Australia, following on the heels of the judgement against Andrew Bolt’s right to free speech.

The West is falling badly, and democracy is losing its grip.

All politicians lie – we know that, but have a look at the video clip of Gillard’s pre-election promise (below) and I can’t really see any way that it can be misinterpreted.

She did not win in her own right but forged a coalition with the Marxist Greens, and a few ‘independents”, to hold onto power here.

Her political opponent, Tony Abbott, in spite of the leftist media bias, did remarkably well. Gillard’s party managed to entice the “independents” to stick with her.

Most Australians did not want this tax but she rammed it down their throats, much like Obamacare was rammed down the throats of American citizens.

I cannot help but wonder sometimes why politicians bother to read polls when they have absolutely no intention of taking any notice of what the average citizen really wants.

I have said before on other blog posts:

Is there any leader in the West who has not literally declared war against his/her own people?

I cannot think of anyone but am open to suggestions.

At one point I thought Netanyahu was an exception but today we find he is releasing over 1000 prisoners (aka jihadists) to obtain the release of Gilad Shalit.

Don’t misunderstand me – I am happy for Gilad Shalit – but now Netanyahu has placed his people, many more than one soldier, in harm’s way.

He has caved in to the demands of Hamas.

If he were going to do that anyway then why didn’t he do it years ago? Israel's current situation is more precarious than what it was when Gilad Shalit was first captured.

Sadly I see no Reagan or Churchill on the horizon.

(picture above of Parliament House, Canberra).

by Chris Kenny in The Australian

Tax triumphalism not a good look

Video of Julia Gillard’s pre-election promise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5pzSvSCUZo&feature=player_embedded

THE disconnect between the political/media fishbowl and mainstream Australia is often stark.

We have seen a clear demonstration of that with the Prime Minister and her team applauding, kissing and congratulating each other on the passage of their carbon tax bills through the House of Representatives.

Only yesterday Newspoll showed a massive primary vote split of 49 to 29 between the dominant, anti-carbon tax Coalition and the struggling, pro-carbon tax Labor government.

Climate change ranked as the lowest priority of the main issues for voters, and even then, more people thought the Coalition would handle the issue best. Polls have shown that well over half the population opposes the carbon tax and little more than a third support it.

Simply, the tax is unpopular.

Yet in the rarefied atmosphere of Canberra, Labor MPs publicly pat themselves on the back for passing it.

The political myopia of this self-congratulation is stunning. It only makes a bad situation worse.

Labor promised not to introduce a carbon tax and there is already a good deal of anger from voters about the broken promise. It is being expressed through talkback radio, letters to newspapers, and polling results.

So the optics of jubilant politicians is terrible politics: triumphalism at the trashing of a pledge. Away from Canberra, in the real world, the television pictures will only antagonise voters.

It suggests to voters that the government does not care what they think.

It solidifies a perception of politicians being out of touch - isolated from the daily concerns of voters.

Julia Gillard says she broke her word on the carbon tax because of political necessity and for a higher ideal - healing the planet. If we take that as a given, then a smart politician would look to pass the measure more in sorrow than triumph.

If Ms Gillard really wants to take voters with her on this crusade, she needs to tell them that it was with a heavy heart that she broke her word.

If the Prime Minister gets voters to listen, she might be able to convince some of them that the carbon tax is worthwhile.

But voters won't listen if they think Labor is celebrating how it turned its back on the wishes voters expressed through the ballot box last year.

Obviously enough, mainstream Australians like to be treated with appropriate respect.

Someone in the Prime Minister's office should be aware of these optics. The government should have been seen to pocket the win, in a sober fashion, with no sense of triumphalism.

Sarkozy: Turkey Should 'Revisit' Armenian Genocide and Israel is "silly"

Sarkozy: Turkey Should 'Revisit' Armenia Genocide from INN

What a disappointment Sarkozy turned out to be.

On one hand having a go at the Turks – a good thing - on the other calling Israel ‘silly’ for wanting to be recognized as a Jewish state! How many Islamic states are there again?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Turkey on Thursday to "revisit" its history regarding the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, AFP reported.

"Turkey, which is a great country, would be honorable to revisit its history like the other great countries in the world have done: Germany, France," Sarkozy told journalists at a joint press conference with Armenian President Serge Sarkisyan.

Sarkozy, who is on a 48-hour tour of the Caucasus, arrived in Armenia on Thursday and will visit Azerbaijan and Georgia as well. His entourage includes four ministers, film director Alain Terzian and singers Charles Aznavour and Helene Segara.

He was to meet with the Patriarch of Armenia's Christian church, and then visit the Genocide Memorial Museum to pay respects to Armenians killed by the Ottomans in 1915.

Sarkozy angered Turkey before his election in 2007 by backing a law making it illegal to deny the fact that the Armenians were victims of genocide. The French lower house of parliament later rejected the measure.

Earlier in the week, Sarkozy was quoted as saying that Israel's insistence on being recognized as a Jewish state is "silly."