I'm almost tempted to say...

Truffles Turnbull and Co attempting to buy themselves out of trouble?

THE Supreme Court has cleared the way for a multi-million dollar settlement of a legal action involving failed insurer HIH, giving new Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull the chance to avoid a potentially legal embarrassment.

NSW Supreme Court Justice Patricia Bergin today granted an application by HIH to put preparations for the case on hold for 90 days while the parties negotiate a settlement over the $500 million claim.

A settlement would mean Mr Turnbull, the former chairman of investment bank Goldman Sachs Australia, would avoid the unwanted attention of a protracted court case involving himself and eight other defendants and 118 cross-claims.

However, if the matter cannot be settled, the court will most likely hear from witnesses such as disgraced former HIH chief executive Ray Williams and former FAI chief Rodney Adler, who is also a defendant, in what would be the lead-up to the next election.

Is Turnbull willing to risk having to personally pay out a considerable sum in an out-of-court settlement in the hope of becoming Australian prime minister in 2010?

Is he that driven? That desperate?

Did the Pope put his money where his mouth is?

ABC Radio's AM program reported that Pope Benedict who flies on the chartered Alitalia Flight commentators dubbed Shepherd One was praying for the airline which is on the brink of collapse. (Read the transcript here.)

Airline companies collapsing has become such a common occurrence that the British online betting agency Paddy Power offered punters odds on which airline company will be the next to hit terminal turbulence.

Thirty people made $30,000 when they successfully wagered on the collapse of XL, the third largest package holiday group. (Read about XL going down the gurgler here.)

Paddy Power rated Qantas a 66/1 prospect of being the next airline company to go belly up. Virgin was rated as the rank outsider at 100/1.
Alitalia was given the dubious honour of being the favourite.

Hence, the question arises. Did Benny put his money on another airline?

BTW, Paddy Power still rates Australia's George Pell a 66/1 chance of being the next Pope. Perhaps George is 'investing' the weekly plate collections on himself. (The odds of other wouldbes if they couldbes are listed here.)

Here comes the Son

The amount of religious imagery in the 2008 U.S. presidential election is astounding.

Here is a small selection from Google Images using the search term jesus OR christ OR god "Obama".

A similar search for McCain yielded far fewer examples.

US 08: lose your house lose your vote?

Just when one thinks things couldn't get dirtier in the 2008 presidential election, the Michigan Messenger reports on campaign tactics reminicient of Bush v Gore:

The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan over the Michigan GOP's plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls, as first reported by the Michigan Messenger.

Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign, and Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, announced the lawsuit in a conference call with reporters this afternoon. It was filed on behalf of the campaign, the party and three Michigan residents who have had their houses foreclosed upon in recent months.

Bauer called the GOP plan to use foreclosure lists "a new and especially repellent version of caging." Caging is a technique of challenging voters where they take lists of addresses, mail to them with a "do not forward" marking and if for whatever reason those mailings are returned, they use this as a basis for claiming that the voter no longer lives at the address at which they are registered.

Bauer noted that using foreclosure lists to challenge a voter's address is "false and illegal" for several reasons. First, because getting a foreclosure notice is not evidence that the person's address has changed. In Michigan, homeowners have the opportunity to redeem the foreclosure even after a sheriff's sale has occurred, which means they can stay in the home for many months after a foreclosure notice has been sent. Second, because under Michigan law a person can vote at their old precinct if they lost their home within 60 days of the election.

Brewer noted that in July alone 11,000 Michigan residents received foreclosure notices. The McCain campaign, he argued, "wants to add insult to injury" by denying those residents their right to vote. "The right to vote is one of our most fundamental rights as Americans," said Brewer, "To try to strip our fellow citizens of their right to vote is un-American and unconscionable."

The Republicans are denying that this is their intention, however Obama's legal team hopes to use the lawsuit to subpoena GOP emails and memos.

Former GOP operative explains why Republicans will use foreclosure lists to block voters

Just can't take a trick....

Retiree to mate at the newsagent yesterday as stock markets around the world continue to wobble:

"You work hard all your life, go without to build a nest egg, and then whoosh - your investments start to disappear because fat cats on Wall Street decided to gamble with other people's money.

I don't know where it's going to end. I just can't take a trick"

I have to feel sorry for the bloke as the Herald Sun yesterday ran with the following:

"MORE than $100 billion has been wiped out of Aussie superannuation funds as the global financial meltdown worsens.
At yesterday's close of business the average balanced superannuation fund had lost almost 12 per cent during the past year, according to estimates by research firm SuperRatings.
The losses are being caused by a writedown in share values as markets around the world continue to take a beating.
The Australian market took another 0.6 per cent dive yesterday.
Property markets and other investments are also now suffering as many investors lose confidence and consumers cut spending.
"Some people will have lost 20 to 25 per cent during the past year depending on their investment option," SuperRatings managing director Jeff Bresnahan said.
"Bad news just keeps pouring out of the United States which affects their market and, in turn, our market.
"The reality is most of us are 55 per cent invested in the sharemarket so these sharemarket falls are feeding straight through to our super fund returns," he said. "But it's getting really serious for those people in and around retirement."

Four new NSW North Coast mayors announced

The Far North Coaster online magazine tells us:

Winners of mayoral elections in four Far North Coast local government areas have been declared
In Lismore, Country Labor's Jenny Dowell is the new mayor.
In Byron, Greens candidate and incumbent mayor Jan Barham was elected with almost 50 per cent of the vote.
In Ballina Shire, Phillip Silver has won the race to become the shire's first popularly elected mayor.
In Richmond Valley, Col Sullivan, a former mayor, has won the vote and will replace Charlie Cox.

As of last night:

• Preference vote distribution in the Clarence Valley has not been completed yet. Final result here.
• Coffs Harbour vote count underway.
• Ballina has three-quarters of preference votes distributed.
• Kyogle has distributed all preference votes. Final results all three wards here.
• Vote count underway in Lismore.
• Tweed vote count underway.
• Richmond Valley vote count underway.

Full details are available at the NSW Electoral Commission website.

On the Libs trying for a new look....

By the way, the Coalition are not taking a different TURN they are all BULL.

APPSIE
Clarence Valley

GuestSpeak is a feature of North Coast Voices allowing Northern Rivers residents to make satirical or serious comment on issues that concern them. Posts of 250-300 words or less can be submitted to ncvguestspeak@live.com.au for consideration.