Huckabee surges in CBS News/ New York Times Poll

The huge upsurge in support for Mike Huckabee has amazed many political pundits.It is all the more remarkable considering the fact that his campaign is run on a shoe string. According to the CBS News/ New York Times Poll Huckabee and Giuliani are now neck and neck. This is in sharp contrast to the corresponding poll on 10/07 .

REPUBL ICAN CHOICE FOR THE NOMINATION(Among Republican Primary Voters)

• Giuliani 22% (-7% )
• Huckabee 21 (+17%)
• Romney 16(+4%)
• McCain 7 (-11%)
• Thompson 7 (-14%)

Huckabee has made huge gains among conservatives, white evangelicals and those who attend church weekly. Both Giuliani’s and Thompson’s standing among those voters has declined. Romney receives support from those who attend religious services weekly (43% of Republican primary voters), and ties Huckabee among this group of voters.

Comment:

Huckabee's compassionate conservatism has struck a chord with GOP voters. Now some Democrat strategists fear that Huckabee's conservatism on social and fiscal policy could pose major problems for their candidate. He has the capacity to win African -American votes and also votes from Independents and conservative Democrats. Huckabee has clear cut policies on major issues. What you see is what you get. He supports the Fair Tax so he is a tax cutter. He is strong on the Federal Deficit. He is implacably opposed to abortion. He stresses the importance of God. Increasingly support from Fred Thompson appears to have gravitated towards Mike Huckabee.

Mitt Romney has targeted Huckabee. It is estimated that Romney is spending $85,000-plus a day on TV ads. Huckabee lacks the financial muscle to compete with this war chest. However he could win sympathy votes from an electorate which has become increasingly cynical about massive spending in electoral campaigns. Hopefully the Huckabee campaign can amass sufficient funds to counter negative advertising from opponents.

Renee Fleming sings "Ave Maria" by Schubert

This Concert at Mainz Cathedral was Conducted by Trevor Pinnock. The Choir Was The Mainzer Cathedral Choir ( Boyschoir) and the Orchestra was The Bremmer Kammerphiamonic Orchestra. Renee Fleming is an American soprano who sings mainly opera and jazz. She is one of the world's leading sopranos.Renée is famous for her high, floating pianissimos (the money notes).

The Northern Lights

This video combines the song "The Northern Lights", by the band Renaissance, with images from the cartoon movie "Balto". Northern Lights, reached #10 in England during the summer of 1978. The single was taken from the album A Song for All Seasons.

Rugby Union-Will Deans coach Wallabies?

NZRU has reappointed Graham Henry as All Blacks coach for another two years. This is a rather surprising turn of events considering the bloodletting that ensued in the wake of the All Blacks failure at the World Cup.

Robbie Deans coach of the Crusaders was one of the favourites for the New Zealand position. He also won the New Zealand Rugby Coach of the year award in 2002. John Mitchell appointed Robbie Deans as his assistant when Mitchell became All Blacks coach in late 2001. Deans held the position until Mitchell was replaced after the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Under Mitchell and Deans the All Blacks won the 2002 and 2003 Tri-Nations titles, as well as the Bledisloe Cup in 2003. He has expressed a strong interest in coaching Australia.

The Australian Rugby Union’s manager Pat Howard has contacted him.The selection panel will interview Deans early this week. It is expected that the new coach will be chosen by next Friday. Other candidates include radio broadcaster Alan Jones, NSW coach Ewen McKenzie, Brumbies boss Laurie Fisher, Auckland's David Nucifora and Wallabies assistant coach John Muggleton .

If Deans is chosen he will become the first non-Australian to coach the Wallabies and will continue to coach the Crusaders in next year's Super 14 competition before turning his attention to the Wallabies.

Deans was a fine full back and won five All Black caps. He is regarded as a superb coach. There has been some criticism within Australia of the decision to interview him. At this juncture he appears to be the favourite to secure the position.

EU-Africa summit-Merkel launches blistering attack on Mugabe

Today German Chancellor Angela Merkel launched a blistering attack on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at an EU-Africa summit being held in Lisbon. She told representatives from 80 EU and African states that "the current situation in Zimbabwe damages the image of the new Africa". She said that "the situation in Zimbabwe concerns us all, in Europe as in Africa. We don't have the right to look away when human rights are trampled on."
Mugabe sat impassively through her keynote speech. He is banned from the EU but has received a special visa from the Portuguese government to attend the summit. This followed pressure from African nations. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotted the summit because of Mugabe's presence.

The decision to give Mugabe a special visa -to attend - was the correct one. He can gauge the strength of European public opinion which is nauseated by the barbarism of his regime. He has crippled the Zimbabwean economy. The eviction of the mostly white farmers has been largely responsible for Zimbabwe's worst famine in living memory. Zimbabwe was once the "bread basket" of Southern Africa. It is estimated that about two thirds of the 11.6 million people face severe food shortages. Hyper inflation has rendered Zimbabwean dollar practically worthless. Inflation runs at c15,000%. Many political opponents have been tortured and imprisoned.

Undoubtedly Mugabe will return to Zimbabwe and attempt to turn criticism at the summit to his advantage. He will argue that former colonial powers are anti African and hanker after their colonial past. He is impervious to criticism. In addition the opposition Movement for Democratic Change is riven by dissensions. All in all he is unlikely to be too worried by European criticism.

Sweden's ABBA museum to open in 2009

According to the heraldsun
FANS of Swedish group ABBA can dance down memory lane when their museum opens in Stockholm, featuring costumes, instruments and rare memorabilia."We're going to open the ABBA museum from June 3 to 7 (2009). It will be an inaugural week," said Ulf Westman, who masterminded the world's first ABBA museum along with his wife, Ewa Wigenheim-Westman. "It will be an international museum with a lot of technological and multimedia aspects," he said, adding visitors will be invited to take part in various activities related to the group's heyday in the 1970s.

ABBA stars Bjoern Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faeltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad became international sensations with hits such as Money, Money, Money, Waterloo, Fernando and Dancing Queen. All four members have given their backing to the project and will provide clothes, instruments and music, though they are not formally involved in the creation of the museum. Visitors will be able to take the microphone and record their own version of Take A Chance on Me or Voulez Vous in a model of the Polar Studio in Stockholm where the quartet recorded their hits. .........

Ireland -FF turns €4bn surplus into €2bn deficit in 3 years

FF has turned €4bn surplus into €2bn deficit in 3 years. To plug the gap Brian Cowen has resorted to borrowing and stealth taxes in budget 2007.

RTE has painted a very positive picture in relation to the budget. Its analysis is myopic. This budget is laced with booby traps.


It has marked similarities with the post election budget of 2002. Stealth taxes are back with a vengeance. The increase in Motor Tax represents a direct stealth tax of €82 million hitting every household and every family. This is painted as a green tax. It is nothing of the sort. It is a sly raid on the pockets of motorists who are regarded as soft touches. There is an increase in stamp duty on cheques. Tonight we had the announcement of a whole range of increases in health charges. Contrary to what the Minister states there is no full indexation of tax credits and bands in line with wage inflation. Consequently more taxpayers will pay tax at the higher rate.

As petrol prices have risen this year the Government has benefited strongly from the increased inflow of VAT and Excise Duties. It is well to remember that motorists have not benefited from EU membership.

Just look at the following examples. There is a price difference of c€3,000 between a Fiat Grande Punto in Ireland where the pre-tax price is €10,707 and Hungary (€7,756) and over €3,400 difference on the price of a Renault Megane (€10,683 and €14,103). An Audi A8 sold in Ireland last year for €65,000 pre-tax and in Britain for €56,450. Those who purchase a cheaper car outside Ireland will find the price difference disappears when they import it into the country, with punitive rates of Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) of up to 30%.
This is contribution enough to the environment by the Irish motorist. Green Ministers and Brian Cowen please take note.


Alterations in today’s budget further discriminate against wives who to choose to remain at home to rear their children. This inequity is so great that it threatens the family unit.

Business rates, water rates, waste charges will increase as Local Authorities are starved of an adequate government subvention.
Experts on RTE when analyzing the alleged benefits do not factor in stealth taxes and increased charges.

Health Expenditure is projected to increase by 8%. This is down from c13% for 2007. The health service is facing huge unrest in 2008.

Of course there are some good measures in the budget. The Government has finally u-turned on the Stamp Duty. Richard Bruton has been vindicated on this issue. This change of heart by the FF/PD/Green coalition has been six months too late to avert a housing crash. Social welfare measures are in many cases reasonable.

The budget fails to tackle the child care issue. Most of the promises in the Programme for Government have been binned. Stealth Taxes and increased charges will bite in 2008. The budget is skilfully constructed to conceal the booby traps.