Pakistan's interior minister has said the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud has destroyed the country's nascent peace process.

"This is not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said.

Pakistan summoned the US ambassador to protest over Friday's drone strike that killed Mehsud.

It came a day before a Pakistani delegation had been due to fly to North Waziristan to meet Mehsud.

In opposition, Tony Abbott promised Australians they would get a "no-surprises" government.

"We do not kill our cattle the way the US is killing humans in Waziristan with drones." - Rafiq ur Rehman

Rupert Murdoch says Australia needs to embrace high immigration to add dynamism to the economy, enhance its human capital and create strong bonds with the rest of the world.

from new matilda …..

The rest of the world agrees that Tony Abbott's climate policy is crap. Standing firm on the carbon tax is Bill Shorten's chance to prove he's PM material, writes Ben Eltham

Kevin Rudd made no secret of his fury at the strong anti-Labor editorial stance taken by News Corp papers during the 2013 election campaign, but a new book by one of his closest advisers reveals how hard he first tried to find favour with News after he returned to the prime ministership.

from politicoz ….

There is a report done for the Tassie Hydro in regard to birds being killed by wind turbines...  Of course the numbers are quite small (and can be counted on one hand on a good decade) as most of the bird species know how to avoid being hit by the spinning blades... But the monitoring goes on in order to get accurate statistical data...

Thanks to cost cutting measures, two of the most loathed bureaucracies in Australia could merge – and drive users of their services to a state of apoplexy

"Facts are in the way of opinions" Allan Gus Jones.

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There is no better cartoon than this one by Stan Cross, first published in Australia in 1933, to illustrate the seriousness of our predicament and the stupidity of our leaders at present while being faced by global warming.  Here we are 80 years later, still clowning around...

from Crikey …..

Abbott's $10k Pollie Pedal expenses: did he make a profit?

The expenses scandal grows deeper by the week, write the editors of Red Flag.

Good evening. Tonight I want to speak to you about honesty. And dishonesty. On honesty good government depends. Dishonesty is the seed of bad government. It is a betrayal of the people, of democracy itself.

“And then a Plank in Reason, broke / And I dropped down, and down” – as the poet said.

It is time to call a spade a spade. Lying racist, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, has ordered his department to call asylum seekers illegals and detainees.

It is not illegal to seek asylum. Oh, but the lying racist whines, they have arrived illegally. Really? Which court were they convicted in? On what charge? Or are they illegal because the Minister says so?