I'd laugh if the Abbott-Hockey ploy didn't presume Australian voters were idiots

To date the Abbott Government has run up at least an additional $29.3 billion dollars in national debt over the last 135 days.

This means as of today the nation owes in excess of $189,422.8 billion in gross public debt.

Having mapped out this level of rising debt some months ago, the Abbott Government abolished the legislated debt ceiling late last year.

On 22 January the Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey made this nonsense announcement:

"I direct that the maximum total face value of stock and securities that may be on issue is $500 billion"

The directive apparently expires rather appropriately on April Fool’s Day 2024, as at the rate it is currently borrowing this $500 billion debt cap (now unsupported in law and therefore meaningless) will be exceeded by Abbott, Hockey and Co in under three years.

After all, Abbott still hasn’t said how the nation will fund his proposed personal $250 million VIP aircraft and other little prime ministerial luxuries or compensate for the reduced revenue his industry level taxation cuts will produce before the next federal election in 2016.

In which Australian PM Tony Abbott realises how many times he embarrassed himself and prepares excuses for non-attendance at future Davos forums

AFTER a flying three-day visit to the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps, Tony Abbott believes the Prime Minister of Australia should attend such conferences but not all of them and not every year. As the chair of the G20 this year, the world leaders' premier economic forum, the Prime Minister attended the World Economic Forum for three days with 2500 delegates, 40 world leaders and scores of chief executives for the world's biggest corporations. [The Australian, Dennis Shanahan In Davos, 25 January 2014]

Abbott reveals his grasp of international affairs

Video evidence of Abbott's poor sense of geography: http://youtu.be/o5QWqmrh47E

Australian Prime Minister hangs on for dear life as cameras click

Obviously determined to make the most of any photo opportunity with world leaders or their representatives, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has taken to employing a stick-like-glue handshake.

Using both his hands to either clasp the other's hand or sometimes the hand and arm, until enough cameras have clicked enough times to satisfy his ego.

Photographs found on Google Images

Recalling yet another taxpayer-funded hotel bill run up by a Federal Liberal MP

As Federal Liberal MP for the Gold Coast and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Steve Ciobo, has been busy this month announcing the closure of more government agency offices in regional areas such as the Northern Rivers in order to reduce government expenditure, I was reminded of his own record of spending at taxpayers’ expense.

News.com.au 13 July 2012:

Liberal MP Steve Ciobo and wife Astra's luxury lodgings in New York at the Bristal Plaza. 

Source: The Daily Telegraph

FEARING a diplomatic incident, Australian consular officials in New York have had to step in and settle an outstanding $8000 hotel bill for a Liberal MP who is still refusing to pay.

Federal politician Steve Ciobo has vowed to fight the federal government in court over the account for a three-month stay at New York's ritzy Bristol Plaza late last year while he was on a US exchange program.

An email obtained by The Daily Telegraph revealed the incident reached the highest diplomatic levels in New York, after the hotel issued a letter of demand for the bill to be paid.

"The lack of payment is causing irreparable damage to the relationship (consulate) Post has enjoyed with the Bristol Plaza dating back more than 10 years," said the email to the Department of Finance from the Australian Consulate-General in New York City, dated May this year.

"Furthermore we fear it may negatively affect the reputation of the Australian Government more broadly throughout the network of hotels and agencies in New York."

The consulate warned that the hotel was threatening to take the Australian government to court to recover the money which had been in arrears for six months.

The outstanding amount of $7486 was finally paid by the Australian mission in New York to prevent a diplomatic controversy.

But the Department of Finance in Canberra is refusing to reimburse the mission and has issued several letters of demand to Mr Ciobo to pay up......

In 2011 the Dept. of Finance recorded total overseas travel expenses of $93,828.49 by Mr. Ciobo -  $23,041.53 from January to June and $70,786.96 from July to December.

A total of $65,696.90 is listed as expenses incurred in the U.S. between 10 September and 16 December 2011, with $41,471.33 of that being costs of accommodation and meals.

It is uncertain as to whether Mr. Ciobo ever repaid the debt he incurred in New York in 2011 while reportedly on a United Nations exchange program funded by the Australian government.

In 2012 an apparently chastened Member for the Gold Coast was recorded as only spending $7,522.45 on overseas travel during a six-day ‘study’  trip to Israel over the end-of-year parliamentary break and, in the first half of 2013 he spent nothing at all.

ReachTEL poll shows support may be plummeting for Abbott Government

On 23 January 2014 ‘phones began to ring ........

Question 1:

If a Federal election were to be held today, which of the following would receive your first preference vote? If you are undecided to which do you even have a slight leaning?

Question 2:

Please rate the performance of Tony Abbott as Prime Minister?

Question 3:

Please rate the performance of Bill Shorten as Leader of the Opposition?

This survey was conducted using an automated telephone based survey system among 3,547 voters. Telephone numbers and the person within the household were selected at random. The results have been weighted by gender and age to reflect the population according to ABS figures. Please note that due to rounding, not all tables necessarily total 100% and subtotals may also vary. Copyright ReachTEL Pty Ltd.

The complete seven question poll conducted on behalf of Channel 7 can be found here.

Scientist bites back at climate change denialist claims

Mother Jones 24 January 2014:

In 2012—after writers for National Review and a prominent conservative think tank accused him of fraud and compared him to serial child molester Jerry Sandusky—climate scientist Michael Mann took the bold step of filing a defamation suit. The defendants moved to have the case thrown out, citing a Washington, DC, law that shields journalists from frivolous litigation. But on Wednesday, DC Superior Court Judge Frederick Weisberg rejected the motion, opening the way for a trial.

Although public figures like Mann have to clear a high bar to prove defamation, Weisberg argued that the scientist's complaint may pass the test. And he brushed aside the defendants' claims that the fraud allegations were "pure opinion," which is protected by the First Amendment:

Accusing a scientist of conducting his research fraudulently, manipulating his data to achieve a predetermined or political outcome, or purposefully distorting the scientific truth are factual allegations. They go to the heart of scientific integrity. They can be proven true or false. If false, they are defamatory. If made with actual malice, they are actionable.

Weisberg's order is just the latest in a string of setbacks that have left the climate change skeptics' case in disarray. Earlier this month, Steptoe & Johnson, the law firm representingNational Review and its writer, Mark Steyn, withdrew as Steyn's counsel. According to two sources with inside knowledge, it also plans to drop National Review as a client.

The lawyers' withdrawal came shortly after Steyn—a prominent conservative pundit who regularly fills in as host of Rush Limbaugh's radio show—publicly attacked the former judge in the case, Natalia Combs Greene, accusing her of "stupidity" and "staggering" incompetence. Mann's attorney, John B. Williams, suspects this is no coincidence. "Any lawyer would be taken aback if their client said such things about the judge," he says. "That may well be why Steptoe withdrew."

Steyn's manager, Melissa Howes, acknowledged that his commentary "did not go over well."* But Steyn maintains it was his decision to part ways with his attorneys.......

Order made in MICHAEL E. MANN, PH.D. Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL REVIEW, INC. et. al., Defendants, Case No. 2012 CA 8263 B, Judge Frederick H. Weisberg:

MICHAEL E. MANN, PH.D. Plaintiff, v. NATIONAL REVIEW, INC. et. al., Defendants, Case No. 2012 CA 8263 B, Ju...