Major's Great Adventure

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Pope Benedict Coming To Give Britain The Last Rites’
March 18, 2009

Why invite the Pope to a country that revels in persecuting Christians?

Why did Gordon Brown’s anti-Christian Government ask the Pope here? Is it so that Benedict can give Britain the last rites? The poor country certainly seems to be in the final stages of a sort of national dementia.

The Prime Minister is trapped in Downing Street because his own party is so bereft of talent and guts that nobody dares put him out of his misery.

The Leader of the Opposition taunts his own supporters and sucks up to the Left-wing Establishment – preening at a film premiere in recycled gym shoes and a funky New Labour outfit, while telling readers of The Guardian that he is like Tony Benn.

And, while the economy drains away down an enormous plughole, the political class snatch up every penny that they can while the opportunity lasts. Do they know something we don’t?

The fatuous Jacqui Smith shows no sign of realising that it might be wrong for her to claim £116,000 in tax-free housing expenses. Does this utterly undistinguished person, who has never done anything noteworthy except destroy our ancient liberties, have any conception of how her crafty greed strikes the nurses, firemen and bus drivers who pay for it?

How would she like it if the surveillance methods she advocates for us were used to track her movements and decide, once and for all, where she really lives? It is hard to know how much to pity this woman, and how much to be disgusted by her behaviour.

You might also have noticed that the Tories, so given to lecturing us about the environment and so virtuously politically correct, aren’t interested in pursuing Jacqui Smith’s odd housing arrangements. And we all know why. Because there are plenty on their side who do the same.

The country’s sick, and mainly sick at the top. Millions of honest, hardworking citizens do what they can to be good, to stay out of debt and pay their way, but are dumped into bankruptcy by a ruling elite that laughs at these good old notions of right and wrong.

Here’s a thought. You’ll have noticed that openly Christian citizens are the ones who increasingly get the rough end of this society. The cultural elite jeers at them, militant atheists denounce religious education as a form of child abuse, people are threatened for doing or saying Christian things.

I think there’s a reason for this. The types who run our country and its culture actively hate the idea that there’s an absolute right and wrong because it gets in their way. They think they are so good that they can do what they like. They loathe the thought that there’s a law above them, however high they get. And here, in our post-Christian, post-democratic society, we begin to see what this means in detail.

This is Peter Hitchens’ Mail on Sunday column

Our dog Major went missing for the weekend, causing no end of distress in our household. The latch on the front door had been playing up. I had been in the bush, renovating, being out of Sydney, out of the smog, out of the stress, and had just driven back seven hours into the teeming chaos of this surly city. No one believes any more. No one loves each other. The kids grandmother had been up for the week. Even though they're teenagers, and I would have thought more than old enough to stay on their own for a few days, they, particularly Henrietta, didn't want to be left on their own, so up she came. I came back and every one had colds.

The kids had been over at their maternal grandma's for yum cha when I got back, leaving their paternal grandma on the couch with the flu. Needless to say they wanted a lift in returning for delivering their nanna down the south coast, so out we went, not thinking twice, across the street and into the car and across the city. And when we got back; where's Major? No idea. He should be here. He wasn't here, he wasn't there. A trip to the local police station produced the answer that a woman had been in there only 15 minutes before with a dog, and they had told her to take it to the pound. No, they hadn't bothered to take her phone number. No, they had no idea how to contact her.

Would have thought it was common sense, common courtesy, but you can't rely on anything in this derelict state; the nightmare of crumbling bureaucracies and the pack mentality of the left destroying all before it. He'll show up, he'll show up, we kept telling ourselves. Major was bought about six years ago, as a present to Sam from his mother, who was leaving to live in the country. We were shallow and hopeless and horrified by everything around us. That dog was everything, security blanket, emotional comfort, support; a dim, sweet little thing which was well behaved, no trouble at all. And his absence in the house left a large absence in our lives.

Sammy, suffering a severe cold, was clearly upset. He's 18 and I would have thought tougher, but here in the dark ages, making the dash between crumbling artifices, my son was fragile and the dog was part of his emotional security, a replacement for the teddy bears that had surrounded him as a child. The dog didn't show. Sam drove to the Animal Rescue Hospital in Strathfield, where the police had told the woman to take the dog, but she never showed. They waited, on the way to the south coast, but finally threw it in, driving through the inclement weather and wild storms, sick, heart broken. And the dog never showed.

Another day passed and still it had not appeared. He rang everywhere, the vets, the pound, the animal rescue types. There's been a Chihuahua. There's a black and white Schitzu. Found in Burwood. Nothing like the tan and white Schitzu missing from Redfern. He made lists, labelled the page The Search, as if beginning a new novel. The hours passed and nothing happened and the absence grew larger in our life. He couldn't believe this was happening. Nothing stays still in Redfern unless it's nailed down, the locals down the Block a pack of thieves. They bashed Gersch the other day. Maybe when the police said a woman had brought a dog in, they meant one of our indigenous sisters. Which would mean it had been sold, or they would want money for its return.

Monday dawned and still no sign of Major. The posters of a pathetically endearing bundle of fur I had posted all around the station, with the large heading LOST, attracted plenty of attention. Everyone in the neighbourhood was aware there was a missing dog; and were expressing far more sympathy and concern than if it had been a person. But the day war on in a terrible lurch, nothing, nothing. Nothing worked, nothing went right, and Major never came. Then finally, at about 4.30, the text message came from Sam. These are the people who found Major. Breathe a sigh of relief.

Shortly afterwards, I rang them, and they were waiting at the station with him, two little Chinese girls, university students, holding a bewildered Major. He had been to Hurstville for the weekend. They had spoilt him rotten. They live in these tiny apartments and can't have animals, and dote desperately on the touch of another living thing. They could barely speak English, God knows how they get through university, but they were all smiles and concern. Major, who had been spoilt stupid, wasn't exactly wagging his tail with delight saying, Thank God I'm back. He was confused; and we waved goodbye to them, I held his paw and waved, and they waved back, after handing over a can of the most expensive dog food you can buy. I offered them a reward but they didn't want one. All they wanted in the end was visiting rights; they would like to come and see Major now and then.

He's a very sweet dog, I texted them later, when they asked if they could visit. All's well that ends well. In this neighbourhood, where I've been robbed within seconds the only times I've ever put my guard down, it was a very good outcome. And Major and Sam are sitting on the couch once more, having breakfast, getting ready for the day. And everything is back to a semblance of normality. And the days go on.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/19/josef-fritzl-jailed-for-life

Josef Fritzl sentenced to life in psychiatric institution

Austrian who kept daughter enslaved for 24 years and fathered seven of her children to spend rest of life behind bars

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian engineer who kept his daughter as a sex slave in a secret cellar underneath the family home for 24 years, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, having been found guilty of a catalogue of crimes including the negligent murder of one of the seven children he fathered with his daughter.

The jury at St Pölten court found him guilty on all counts – of negligent murder, enslavement, incest, rape, coercion and false imprisonment. Fritzl quietly accepted the verdicts and waived his right to appeal.

It has not been decided exactly where the 73-year-old will serve his sentence, though he will initially be transferred to the psychiatric wing of a prison in the capital, Vienna, for assessment, the court authorities said.

The life sentence would entail a minimum of 15 years in prison, according to Franz Cutka, vice president of St Pölten courts. The 11 months he has already spent on remand count towards that sentence, he added.

After 15 years, he could apply to three judges for parole, but Fritzl's lawyer said his client expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.

The homicide count of "murder by neglect" was the most serious of the charges against him, and the jury gave him the maximum punishment allowed by law.

The jury was not swayed by Fritzl's 11th-hour confession of guilt, or his claim to be sorry "from the bottom of my heart".

In what was seen as a last-ditch attempt to mitigate his punishment, the 73-year-old defendant had made an emotional statement to court this morning.

"I regret from the bottom of my heart what I have done to my family. Unfortunately, I cannot make amends for it. I can only try to look for possibilities to try to limit the damage that's been done," he said.

But prosecutor Christiane Burkheiser urged the jury not show mercy just because he had pleaded guilty.

She told them: "Don't be duped like Elisabeth was 24 years ago."

At a press conference after the verdict, Erich Huber-Günsthofer, the deputy director of St Pölten prison, where Fritzl has been held since his arrest last April, said the prisoner would initially be sent for assessment at the Mittersteig prison in Vienna. At Mittersteig, there is a psychiatric wing where Fritzl's mental health will be assessed.

Huber-Günsthofer, said that five questions would be asked: "Can he have therapy? Is he willing to undergo therapy? Can he change his ways? Is he ready to change his ways? And how much of a risk does he pose to others?"
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/20/2521274.htm

The Senate has unanimously passed the Government's Fair Work Bill after debating it into the early hours of this morning.

One of the key changes is that it has expanded the number of firms that will be considered as small businesses for unfair dismissals.

Despite the unanimous vote, a stand-off still looms because the Government is unlikely to accept the Senate's amendments, when the bill is returned to the House of Representatives later today.

But the Deputy Opposition Leader Eric Abetz has praised the Government for its approach in the Senate.

"The compromises that have been reached over the past few days are sensible and reflect well on the operations of the Senate," he said.

The Senate made a range of changes to the Government's industrial relations laws.

The major change it made was to define a small business as one with the equivalent of 20 full-time staff in the Fair Work Bill.

There are also changes to restrict unions right of entry to businesses and to increase privacy for non-union members.

http://www.climatechangefraud.com/content/view/3550/223/

Obama and Your Electric Bill
Written by Ernest Istook, Human Events
Thursday, 19 March 2009

President Obama’s energy tax plan -- a version of the failed European “cap and trade” global warming fiasco -- may cost families $1,800 yearly in higher utility bills, far exceeding his promised $800 a year tax cut for 95% of Americans.

While campaigning, Obama admitted that his energy plan would cause electric bills to “skyrocket.” Few took note, perhaps because Sen. John McCain also backed some form of a “cap-and-trade” energy tax.

Obama’s official budget claims that his proposed energy tax would add $646 billion to energy costs over 8 years. But that’s low-balling it.

As the Washington Times reported:

President Obama's climate plan could cost industry close to $2 trillion, nearly three times the White House's initial estimate of the so-called "cap-and-trade" legislation, according to Senate staffers who were briefed by the White House. . . . At the meeting, Jason Furman, a top Obama staffer, estimated that the president's cap-and-trade program could cost up to three times as much as the administration's early estimate of $646 billion over eight years.

Put another way, Furman estimates the cap-and-trade scheme will cost, on average, $250 billion annually. That estimate must be taken seriously because Furman is deputy director of Obama’s National Economic Council.

So what does this mean to everyday Americans? Let’s put those numbers into context.

Total electricity sales (business and residential combined) run about $343 billion a year (according to 2007 Department of Energy figures). Throw in our other energy expenses -- gasoline, natural gas, etc. -- and the U.S. Department of Energy estimates our total energy spending at “over $500 billion.”

So Obama’s $250-billion a year energy tax could approach a 50% increase in what you, as a consumer, pay for energy, since all costs are passed along to consumers. Yet the Obama budget audaciously claims that it will “reduce utility bills”

According to the White Fence Index, the average home utility bill is $297 per month, which is about $3,600 per year. So a 50% increase would be $1,800 per year under the Obama proposal. This far exceeds a Heritage Foundation projection of $467 a year in higher utility bills under an earlier U.S. Senate energy tax plan. That less-aggressive plan, though, could have cost 500,000 to 1 million jobs, according to Heritage. Who knows how many jobs would be lost under Obama’s more burdensome plan? The lost jobs would become “gangrene jobs,” a counter to Obama’s claim to create new “green jobs.”

Our dog Major.