Brookes News Update

How China's monetary policy drives world commodity prices: Since China's monetary pumping relative to real economic activity has been accelerating while in the US relative pumping has been decelerating, it follows that China's Yuan has to depreciate against the US dollar
The Australian economy and recession: It now looks that recession might be much closer than many economists realise. Combine a monetary flattening with the possibility that China's central bank might tighten credit and things begin to look very gloomy
Michael Kroger's shabby ambition is destroying the Victorian Liberal Party: The unofficial head of the Victorian State Liberal Party is the blue blood Michael Kroger whose arrogance and incompetence is wrecking it. And if he thinks sliming people is a good idea, this headkicker had better think again while there is still a Party. Better still -- throw the grasping cream puff out
Republican answer for alternative energy and cheap gasoline: The US has massive reserves of natural gas easily and safely accessible on its offshore continental shelf and federal lands -- enough for centuries. Energy companies must be allowed to extract it no matter what greens say or do
Another lefty economist who thinks cars and oil are bad for us: `Rising petrol prices are good for us' is the title of an article by Ross Gittins of the Sydney Morning Herald. The title and thinking behind it neatly sums up just how bad economic commentary is in Australia

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ELSEWHERE

Lesbian genes? "Lesbians' brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women, new research indicates. That's in line with an earlier study that had indicated gay men's brain responses were different from straight men ? though the difference for men was more pronounced than has now been found in women. Lesbians' brains reacted somewhat, though not completely, like those of heterosexual men, a team of Swedish researchers said in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A year ago, the same group reported findings for gay men that showed their brain response to hormones was similar to that of heterosexual women. In both cases the findings add weight to the idea that homosexuality has a physical basis and is not learned behavior".

Italy to elect ex-communist as president: "Italy's incoming government is set to elect the country's first former communist president on Wednesday in the face of opposition from most of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative bloc. Prime minister-in-waiting Romano Prodi has vowed to ram through his candidate, Giorgio Napolitano, after two days of wrangling and inconclusive ballots.... Napolitano, an 80-year-old life senator for the Democrats of the Left, failed to gain the two-thirds majority needed in previous voting rounds, but from Wednesday an absolute majority will be enough to elect Italy's 11th post-war head of state... The post of president is largely ceremonial but under the constitution the head of state names the prime minister and dissolves parliament - prerogatives which could be crucial for Prodi as he prepares to form a government."

Murdoch keeping his powder dry: "Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch will host a fundraiser to support New York Democratic US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's re-election bid in November, her campaign office said. The fundraiser by the head of News Corporation, with such media outlets as Fox News cable television and the New York Post, would be held by July, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the story. A Clinton campaign spokesman said her office was not contradicting the report, and a Murdoch source confirmed the fundraiser would take place."

Australia now debt-free: "We have now eliminated the $96 billion of net debt that Labor left the Australian Government when it left office. Our Budget is in surplus for the 9th time in 10 years: in 2006-07 a forecast surplus of $10.8 billion. We have established a Future Fund which has begun to save for the future. With these savings the next generation will be able to meet the challenges of their time. Now the Australian Government is debt-free in net terms. We do not have to collect taxes to pay the Government's interest bill. We are saving over $8 billion per annum in interest payments."

Iraq: Local men gather arms, work shifts to guard families : "As night fell, young men emerged from their homes, pulled a tree trunk across the entrance to their street and took their positions for another shift guarding their families from the armed groups that roam Baghdad. Beside them, in a residential Sunni area in the southwest of the city, lay their weapons. At the moment it is only Kalashnikovs. But they seek more, especially heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. ... 'The groups we are nervous of have many guns and are well-organized. If they come, can we beat them? If not, we would die knowing we fought to save our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters.' This is neighborhood watch Iraqi-style. ... the U.S. Army in the most troubled spots has started to issue weapons licenses to people guarding their homes."

Blogger beats lawsuit: "The effort to silence Maine blogger Jeffrey Dutson, with a libel suit brought by the advertising firm of Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, ended in ignominious failure. Warren Kremer Paino withdrew its suit, and the Media Bloggers Association, a blogger-defense organization, claimed victory.... A big round of thanks is in order for the lawyers who volunteered their time on Lance's behalf including MBA General Counsel, Ronald Coleman of the Coleman Law Firm, Greg Herbert of Greenberg Traurig and private attorney Jon Stanley. "This demonstrates precisely what we have said all along," said Coleman, "Suits like this are premised solely on the anticipation that there will be no push back from the little guy. Here, there was.""

Antisemitic British academics again: "The largest university and college lecturers union in Britain is likely to decide shortly to recommend that its 67,000 members boycott Israeli lecturers and academic institutions that do not publicly declare their opposition to Israeli policy in the territories. The boycott motion, which was drafted by the southeast region of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), will be brought to a vote at its annual national conference, which will be held May 27-29. It comes about a year after the last boycott by British lecturers."

Surprising! French forces rejoin Operation Enduring Freedom: " The French Navy Carrier Air Wing returned to the coalition fight last week, flying their first missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom since November. "Our main mission while we are here is to support troops on the ground and contribute to reconnaissance efforts as well," said Lt. Col. Gerard Brunel, commander of the French detachment at the Combined Air Operations Center. It is Central Command Air Forces policy not to disclose the specific location of its forward headquarters or the CAOC... "We welcome the return of our French allies to the CAOC," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Allen Peck, deputy Combined Force Air Component commander. "With continuing rotations of airpower provided by our allies from around the world, the effort to support our troops on the ground is a truly a coalition operation.""

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE and AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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