Abbas should intervene over Palestinian death sentence

Whaleoil reports on a man issued the death penalty by a Palestinian Authority military court for selling land to a Jew. He has also had all his property confiscated.

Reason? It breaches Palestinians "laws" dating back to 1953 (what country was that then?) than include bans on trade with Israelis, a trade embargo with Israel and banning selling land to Jews.

He has no right of appeal

The death penalty must be confirmed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, hopefully President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton will give him a short phone call to confirm this.

UK leaves Iraq

The British Army officially ends its presence in Iraq today. Well done!

The Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein was not a moral government, but rather an illegal dictatorship of aggression founded on lies and torture. The multiple aggressive attacks on neighbours (Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel) and its own citizens simply reinforced that crime. It was an illegitimate tyranny that a coalition of like minded states had the moral right to overthrow.

The British Army can be proud of its legacy in Iraq, despite some mistakes and instances of appalling behaviour. It is hoped that some accountability can be had for instances of inappropriate use of force against civilians. However, one should bear in mind the cruelty and mass murder of the Iranian and Al Qaeda backed militia and terrorists who sought to transform Iraq into an Islamist tyranny. Part responsibility for this was appallingly poor planning on behalf of the US and its allies about what to do after overthrowing the Hussein tyranny. That was by far the biggest mistake.

Basra is better off now that the British Army has seen off both the Hussein tyranny and the Islamist insurgency. The Stop the War Coalition would have preferred Basra live under the Ba'athist gangster like Hussein tyranny - because governments that oppress their own people are apparently better than wars to overthrow them.

Tragically 179 British men and women lost their lives to this cause, and there are rightful calls for an inquiry into the British participation, with my concern being accusations the troops were poorly equipped and under resourced, as well as the lack of planning and follow up after the initial mission had been completed. Many lives, both civilian and military might have been saved had planning been more thorough. For now, perhaps British taxpayers will be relieved that the withdrawal will save them money!

(Unlike some, I don't believe that attacking a dictatorship to overthrow it is illegal or immoral)

Chrysler bankrupt but wait...

it's not that simple as the BBC reports

You see Chrysler isn't going bankrupt, being wound up and sold. It is Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

No.

US taxpayers will pour US$8 billion into the "new" Chrysler, to be 20% owned by Fiat, 8% owned by the US Federal Government, 55% by VEBA (union trust fund), 2% owned by the Canadian Federal Government and Ontario government jointly.

6 out of 9 member board will be appointed by the US Federal Government.

"No jobs will be lost in the short term" and No Chrysler plants in the US will close, says President Obama. So opportunities for efficiencies are where?

It already had a US$4.5 billion loan from the Federal Government.

The lesson is simple in the USA of Barack Obama - if you have a big enough business, don't worry, you wont take the consequences of bad decision making, everyone else will.

4 billion to watch the Rugby World Cup?

Sorry John? You must mean every time an individual watches a game.

It doesn't stack up.

World population in 2011 will be about 7 billion.

Over 4 billion of those are in Asia, and let's face it, you'd be lucky if 1% of that population were rugby fans. The big countries (China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia) are not rugby nations, it is a minority activity in all the others, so let's assume 40 million watch in Asia.

Another 1 billion are in Africa, South Africa is 50 million and Zimbabwe has 12 million. Let's assume all of them, and 1% of the remainder, so another 10 million to be generous. That's 72 million in Africa.

Around 730 million are in Europe. Let's be ridiculous and assume all of the UK, Ireland, France and Italy watch, and 5% of the rest. 200 million or so.

Around 600 million are in Latin America/Caribbean. Assume all of Argentina, and 1% of the rest, so say 100 million.

Around 340 million in North America. Be generous and assume 5% give a damn, that's 17 million.

And let's assume all 35 million in Oceania, including Australia are keen.

So that's less than half a billion. Assuming every man, woman and child watches, which is a bit mad, so we should round it down to 400 million.

Plus ça change - government advisors aren't new

Idiot Savant damns the Nats for installing their own handpicked "purchase advisors" taxpayer paid, to provide advice that the Nats presumably don't think the state sector can.

It does not particularly surprise me, partly because I can't see any real shift from what Labour did.

Idiot Savant says:

"As for why English is doing this, it seems he trusts neither the public service, or his newer Ministers - so he's planting personal spies in their offices to micromanage them and ensure that they "[produce] outputs that align with government priorities".

Not surprising, neither did Helen Clark. Heather Simpson was her personal appointment as Chief of Staff, but was often referred to as the "Associate Prime Minister" as Cabinet papers would go through her first, as Helen's trusted sidekick. Ministers regularly got a roasting for not reflecting "government priorities" with their papers, and that was partly because after 15 years of a public sector advising governments from Lange to Shipley (which all had a free market bent), many departments were not trusted.

It went further, Ministers appointed their own political advisors, but had to get approval for this. Michael Cullen had more than one. These political advisors were on the Ministerial office payroll, but personally selected by Ministers, and would be the primary interface many departments would have with Ministers. It was helpful when senior Ministers had large or multiple portfolios, as it meant Ministers devolved workload to the political advisors, but it also kept Junior Ministers in check.

Political advisors would co-ordinate together, and would run cabinet papers past Heather Simpson, before the Minister concerned would submit the paper to cabinet committee. Few Ministers were brave enough to submit papers themselves without Heather's approval, only the most senior Ministers could do so (Cullen and Anderton are ones known to do it).

So for Idiot Savant to say "So under National, we'll have the public service, and a parallel bureaucracy of handpicked hacks overseeing them. And all at taxpayer expense, of course." I'd say, well, just like Labour then?

He is right though in saying "If this is what National calls a "cleanup", I'd hate to see what they think is a "problem"..." unless, of course, these "purchase advisors" are temporary, and a different approach to Cabinet is now apparent.

UPDATE: The Standard is adopting its usual "see no evil" view of the Labour Party saying what National is doing is unprecedented. Labour had its own political advisors, but The Standard is willfully blind when its own political allies do something it accuses the Nats of.