Bully Boy McTernan

John McTernan

Former adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and various other Scottish politicians has been caught out abusing Nine Network and 2GB Finance Editor Ross Greenwood.  Mr McTernan was accused of an "absolute tirade" that involved him dropping the "f bomb" 30 times over 12 minutes. "He got angry, super angry...he was trying to bully me," Mr Greenwood said on his programme.

Mr McTernan is an aggressive bully and thug. He belongs in the gutter. He is intent on squashing dissent, free speech and opinion. Australian's don't want this ''whatever it takes'' attitude, and McTernan will be responsible for an even more savage defeat of Labor if he continues with these vile and despicable tactics.

The infighting must stop

Whoever is right in this bitter battle between former friends Michael Kroger and Peter Costello, the pair should stop their factional infighting for the good of the party. Tony Abbott will hope to win up to another 10 seats in Victoria at the next election, and the party must unite behind the current team.

There is no doubt Peter Costello would make a fantastic contribution in Canberra. He is popular, has a good sense of humour, and his economic credentials are beyond question. But his failure to be loyal to John Howard, his comments about Tony Abbott and economics (despite Abbott having an Economics degree) and his cowardly decision to pull the plug as soon as the Party lost an election make it very hard for Costello to return.

It is absolutely clear senior figures in the party like Joe Hockey, Julie Bishop, Andrew Robb, Malcolm Turnbull and others see Costello as a threat to their ambitions.

Joe Hockey would certainly be under pressure to consider vacating his post of Shadow Treasurer for Costello.

If he does want to return, he should contest a seat a marginal Labor held seat like Corangamite, held by only 0.3%.

Outrageous sentence for killer

While I certainly don't condone the violence seen inside and outside court; I am disgusted by the pathetic sentence handed to convicted killer, Jay William Cook. Cook was sentenced to a mere 4 years imprisonment for murdering 16-year-old teenager Todd Burrows. Taking into account time already served, Cook will be eligible for parole in December 2014.

Cook was sentenced by Justice Peter Garling, who claimed the 20-year-old killer ''...is a relatively young man. He was of reasonably good character. He is intelligent and his prospects of rehabilitation are good''

Another betrayal of justice by our out of touch judiciary.

Taxpayers fund Holden profit

Taxpayers have funded Holden's $89.7 million profit with a $89.7 million grant.

Holden has claimed it was a ''coincidence''.

Gillard invokes class warfare. Again.

Julia Gillard has again tried to invoke class warfare, with this pathetic attempt: ''Mr Abbott's got to get off Sydney's north shore and go and talk to some real families and get himself in the real world''

Well, Miss Gillard, there are a lot of people doing it tough on the Northern Beaches, where Mr Abbott's electorate is. There are single parent families and pensioners. What a disgusting, revolting smear. What a foul attack on the families of the Northern Beaches.

The Global Fail

The Global Mail, funded by Wotif Group founder Graeme Wood has failed to attract readers as the above graph shows. Not only that, but now editor Monica Attard has been cut loose after disagreements with Mr Wood, just three months after the site was launched.

Budget ''progressive and fair'' says former Greens candidate

Former 2010 Greens Senate Candidate and current National Director of UnitingCare Australia, Lin Hatfield-Dodds has said of the federal budget: ''We think it's a progressive budget and it's fair''

Ah, of course, Lin, but you're a member of the Labor-Greens Coalition!

Budget night coverage

Tonight, Labor will hope that it's budget will be well received, and detract attention away from the ongoing scandals involving Peter Slipper and Craig Thomson.

This is unlikely, considering everything Prime Minister Gillard touches turns to mud.

UPDATE: Swan praises ''sucess'' of policies, announces surplus

• Surplus years are here, says Swan
• Read the Budget online in full
• Peter Phelps NSW Liberal MLC on Twitter: ''The strength of the Australian economy owes more to the Chinese Communist Party than it does to this embarrassment of a Treasurer''
• Swan stumbles in speech badly ''Mr Speaker, this government, Madam...''
• Swan claims he has ''gone into bat for low income earners''
• 2011-2012 deficit: $44 billion - compared with $27 billion Swan predicted
• The Courier-Mail reports $52 million over five years to establish new diplomatic posts in China and Senegal
• Latika Bourke reports the Green Buildings Programme tax breaks worth $390 million have been scrapped
• More than 4000 government jobs to be cut
• Duty free cigarettes cut
• Indigenous Literacy and Numeracy Program worth $56.3m axed
• $1 billion in funding for National Disability Insurance Scheme
• Minor cuts, but massive new spending. Have Labor 'cooked the books'?
• New spending: E-Health: $234 million, Pacific Highway: $3.6 billion, NDIS: $1billion, Dental health (a greens demand): $300+ million, $2.1 billion school bonus, $54 million ''to encourage school kids to study maths and science'', $5.8m for Gonski review consultation, Aged Care $1.8 billion, $1.5 billion remote jobs programme,
• Budget an attack on the successful, rich
• Cuts: $5.4 billion defence, 1000 defence jobs, $2.9 billion foreign aid,
• Nine Political Reporter: ''So Fed Labor was happy to pay 80% of Pacific hwy upgrade when NSW was Labor now only wants to pay 50%''

Ken's anti-semitism cost him

An excellent letter was published in the left-leaning British newspaper The Guardian on the 6th of May, after 'Red' Ken Livingstone, the Labour candidate for Mayor of London was defeated by Tory Boris Johnson despite the national landslide to Labour. The letter-writer identified the anti-semitism as a reason for Mr Livingstone's loss.

Ken lost by 62,000 votes, close to the population of Jews in London. He could not, or did not, differentiate between Israeli government policies and simple, old-fashioned anti-semitism.
Dr Robert Dourmashkin
London

Spot on.

Crook joins Coalition

Congratulations to Tony Crook, the WA Nationals MP for O'Connor who defeated Wilson Tuckey at the last election, for making the right call and joining the Federal Coalition.

Although my cynicism makes me think he is trying to save his own skin: now he is part of the Coalition, the Liberals most likely won't run against him.

Bob Carr's sick attack on victim

Bumbling Blogger Bob has suffered another gaffe, this time attacking James Ashby, the victim of alleged sexual harassment as ''more rehearsed than a Kabuki actor''. Senator Carr, known for his bizaree statements, like this: ''I thought of this over breakfast: Tony Abbott is like a cheapskate hypnotist in a rundown circus. He's trying to hypnotise the electorate with these slogans. It's a very cheap performance. And if you paid five bucks to get into Wirths Circus and that's all you got from the hypnotists, you'd ask for your money back''

Is Bob Carr losing his marbles?
How low will Labor go to hold onto power?