Apply after an election not before. There is one lesson that criminals coming up to being eligible for release on parole should keep in mind. They are much more likely to be released just after an election than just before one. Malaysian national Phillip Choon Tee Lim now knows that.

The NSW Parole authority recommended back in September that he be released after serving his minimum 18 year sentence for his part in the murder of the heart surgeon Victor Chang. The Sydney Daily Telegraph and some populist radio and television programs thought otherwise.

The NSW Government bowed to the pressure and intervened to persuade the authority to think again. It duly did so and this morning announced that justice would not be served by releasing Lim. It says that it’s not in the public interest to release him because he would be immediately deported to Malaysia, virtually expunging the remaining six years of his sentence.

When the nest state election is out of the way in March 2011 perhaps four years of unexpired sentence will not be deemed an impediment.

Descending to their level. Kevin Rudd did himself no favours yesterday when he tried to link the current high temperatures as being related to global warming. Arguing from the short term is the weapon of the global warming sceptics but even most of them baulk at using a week or so of cool temperatures as an argument.

Our Prime Minister’s mouth is starting to run away with him I fear in trying to make anything of a couple of days of heat. His spinners are spinning out of control.

Appearance more important than being green. There’s plenty of hard work ahead if Australians are going to be encouraged to consider the impact on the environment when they choose a motor car. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported this morning that environmental impact/exhaust emissions was the least considered factor when purchasing a motor vehicle.

Quote of the day: “I do not say that all practitioners of woman-hating, anti-Semitic, sadomasochistic suicide immolations are themselves insane, but I do say that the teaching itself is demented. In the same way, I do not say that all Muslims are terrorists, but I have noticed that an alarmingly high proportion of terrorists are Muslim.” — Christopher Hitchens in Slate on Major Nidal Malik Hasan