Thursday, March 14, 2013

Thu 14th Mar Todays News


Happy birthday and many happy returns Jackie Fong and Pi. Pi celebrates its birthday on March 14 (3.14) Some people wait until 1:59 .. My jokes have come full circle. We reach to the opposite side .. full diameter .. remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
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Tyrants, and temporary PMs, fear a free press

Piers Akerman – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (7:33pm)

LABOR has not only lost its way (again), it has jettisoned any claim to be a party of principle.

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Gov attack on free press must be fought

Piers Akerman – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (7:14am)

THE Gillard government’s despotic attempt to strangle the media and particularly News Ltd, the publisher of The Daily Telegraph and my employer, justify every criticism that has ever been made by any of its journalists.
If anything, I and my colleagues have been far too forgiving.
Last night on Lateline, News Limited CEO Kim Williams was interrogated by the totally biased Tony Jones on the ABC’s Lateline program.
Jones presented the ABC point of view – that is, he ran the government line that this new crackdown on media was no big deal.
Jones even cited the totally discredited Left-winger Margaret Simons, notorious for having collaborated with former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser on a grotesquely inaccurate version of his memoirs, as some sort of authority.
Simons is to journalism what graffito is to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Williams demolished Jones’ spurious argument and made a number of significant points.
He pointed out that Communications Minister Stephen Conroy had introduced his threaten with no detail and had set a deadline for its passage – next Thursday.
Jones appeared nonplussed but even Conroy’s Cabinet colleagues acknowledge that there has been almost no discussion about this despotic bill.
Williams also made the point that the government is claiming to be supportive of media diversity when it is actually limiting television ownership in the same piece of legislation.
This move is the greatest threat to Australian democracy to come from a government in its history since Robert Menzies attempted to outlaw the Communist Party in 1950.
He managed to get the legislation passed but it was deemed unlawful by the High Court.
The same fate may well befall any legislation Conroy passes – if he gets the support of the lily-livered Independents.
Australians must stand up for their free press before it is gagged.

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LITTLEMORGAN

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (1:24pm)

Pushy lawyer Stuart Littlemore got racey last weekend at Phillip Island. Turns out the formerMedia Watch host is quite the petrol head – although, just as was the case on television, his lines are sometimes astray
Nick nearly T-boned Stuart Littlemore’s Morgan after a couple of attempts to catch the sliding Morgan didn’t take. 

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PUNISHERS AND STRAIGHTENERS

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (11:46am)

precise summary from Chris Kenny of events leading to Labor’s war against freedom, which is supported by the love media
Confronted with the greatest government intrusion into media regulation this nation has ever known, the ABC has lined up where? On the side of Big Brother. For Leigh Sales to attack The Daily Telegraph’s thundering front page on media regulation instead of a government seeking to have the last say on media standards is the ultimate inversion of reality for the left. We only have to ask ourselves one question. Imagine if the Howard government had still been in power and communications minister Richard Alston had proposed a public interest media advocate to oversee media regulation. What stand would the ABC have taken then?
We all know the answer. 
Various academics are also lining up behind the government. Read this and be amazed that the fellow is a journalism professor. The writing is abysmal.
UPDATE. An apology from the Daily Telegraph
Yesterday we ran a picture of Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy depicted as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
It has since been pointed out that this was a grossly unfair and insulting comparison to make. And so we would just like to say: We’re sorry, Joe. 

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JUST GO

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 14, 2013 (11:37am)

Former F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen takes a minimalist approach to driver education:



And in the US, NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon schools a car salesman. It’s fun but fake.

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Big rumors, little action

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(5:47pm)

TV crews rushed to the PM’s office as rumors swept Parliament that Julia Gillard had received the tap on the shoulder.
Yet there she was in Question Time. Seems nothing in it.
Rudd’s people certainly say there isn’t.
UPDATE
How febrile Labor is.
Now Channel Seven’s John Mangos has tweeted Julia Gillard is about to appoint Bill Shorten Treasurer. Shorten’s office denies it.
UPDATE
Actor Rhys Muldoon, who co-authored a children’s book with Mr Rudd, tweeted ”spill IS NOT happening. (Today)”.

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Michael Smith’s speech shouldn’t be free

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(5:15pm)

Michael Smith is rattling the tin. A good cause. Click and keep the blog going. Don’t let him be silenced after his dumping.
UPDATE
Not “dumping” but “resigning under pressure”. After asking “unauthorised questions” of the Prime Minister.

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The pompous one loses

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(4:40pm)

No contest, not least because one of the two once again has trouble with maths.

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Why did I think Craig Thomson was ethical?

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(4:26pm)

Labor MP Craig Thomson’s opposition to Labor’s bill for more controls on the media seems to be just a lousy trick, after all.
It;s not principle, but politics - designed to try to “embarrass” the Opposition over its refusal to accept his vote without actually stopping the media crackdown: 
THE Coalition will refuse to accept independent MP Craig Thomson’s “tainted vote” on Labor’s media reforms, in a surprise twist that gives the Gillard government a glimmer of hope it can turn its plans into law.
The former Labor MP’s opposition to the media reforms bills had threatened their passage through federal parliament’s lower house.
However manager of opposition business Christopher Pyne’s office has confirmed Mr Thomson will be paired with an opposition MP if he votes with the Coalition as flagged, cancelling out his vote.
The Coalition has vowed to resist curbs on press freedom. But a spokesman for Mr Pyne said the opposition had to be consistent with its previous position in rejecting Mr Thomson’s vote.
For a moment I admit thinking well of Thomson. “Three cheers for Craig Thomson,” I even said on 2GB today.
I should have known better.

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Jobs grow

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(4:17pm)

Good news - especially for the Gillard Government - but it doesn’t quite feel real: 
UNEMPLOYMENT has stayed steady at 5.4 per cent as the economy continues to outperform expectations with the creation of almost 71,500 jobs last month - the largest amount in almost 13 years.
The surprise result has lessened the prospects of future interest rate cuts but economists warn the strength of the new jobs numbers meant they may need to be revised down in coming months.

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Climategate hero speaks; releases email cache

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(4:05pm)

The hero who leaked the Climategate and Climategate II emails has revealed his motives - and released to selected climate science bloggers the password to further emails for them to assess.
This may lead to more revelations of the groupthinking, bullying and manipulation of evidence than were exposed by the original leaking of emails of the scientists most involved in devising the great warming scare,
From the email (click the above link for the whole text):
Releasing the encrypted archive was a mere practicality.  I didn’t want to keep the emails lying around.
I prepared CG1 & 2 alone.  Even skimming through all 220.000 emails would have taken several more months of work in an increasingly unfavorable environment.
Dumping them all into the public domain would be the last resort.  Majority of the emails are irrelevant, some of them probably sensitive and socially damaging.
To get the remaining scientifically (or otherwise) relevant emails out, I ask you to pass this on to any motivated and responsible individuals who could volunteer some time to sift through the material for eventual release…
I don’t expect these remaining emails to hold big surprises.  Yet it’s possible that the most important pieces are among them.  Nobody on the planet has held the archive in plaintext since CG2.
That’s right; no conspiracy, no paid hackers, no Big Oil.  The Republicans didn’t plot this.  USA politics is alien to me, neither am I from the UK.  There is life outside the Anglo-American sphere.
If someone is still wondering why anyone would take these risks, or sees only a breach of privacy here, a few words…
The first glimpses I got behind the scenes did little to garner my trust in the state of climate science—on the contrary.  I found myself in front of a choice that just might have a global impact.
Briefly put, when I had to balance the interests of my own safety, privacy\career of a few scientists, and the well-being of billions of people living in the coming several decades, the first two weren’t the decisive concern.
It was me or nobody, now or never.  Combination of several rather improbable prerequisites just wouldn’t occur again for anyone else in the foreseeable future.  The circus was about to arrive in Copenhagen.  Later on it could be too late… We’re dealing with $trillions and potentially drastic influence on practically everyone…
We can’t pour trillions in this massive hole-digging-and-filling-up endeavor and pretend it’s not away from something and someone else.
If the economy of a region, a country, a city, etc.  deteriorates, what happens among the poorest? Does that usually improve their prospects? No, they will take the hardest hit.  No amount of magical climate thinking can turn this one upside-down.
It’s easy for many of us in the western world to accept a tiny green inconvenience and then wallow in that righteous feeling, surrounded by our “clean” technology and energy that is only slightly more expensive if adequately subsidized.
Those millions and billions already struggling with malnutrition, sickness, violence, illiteracy, etc.  don’t have that luxury.  The price of “climate protection” with its cumulative and collateral effects is bound to destroy and debilitate in great numbers, for decades and generations…
Even if I have it all wrong and these scientists had some good reason to mislead us (instead of making a strong case with real data) I think disseminating the truth is still the safest bet by far.

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Changing leader works for SA Liberals. Maybe Victoria’s

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(3:40pm)

THE South Australian Labor government will lose next year’s state election in a landslide, if the results of new poll are repeated.
The Advertiser poll has put the Liberal Opposition ahead 59-41 per cent on a two-paty preferred basis in a result that would have Labor losing as many as 11 seats.
The poll is the first since Steven Marshall took over as Liberal leader earlier this year and comes ahead of his public debate on Friday with Premier Jay Weatherill which also marks one year until the election.
Mind you - small sample.
In Victoria, new Premier Denis Napthine has made a good start.
He’s made clear he was no plotter against his friend Ted Baillieu. No blood on his hand.
He has dumped Nationals leader Peter Ryan as Police Minister - which is a big move for a minority government, but distances the otherwise able Ryan from the scene of the, er, mishap.
He’s moved Kim Wells from Treasury, where he looked as sound as a sword juggler with the DTs, replacing him with the capable and ambitious Michael O’Brien.
He’s promised better cooperation with Canberra, which sounds nice even if it means nothing. And he’s offered a small peace offering to the TAFE sector.
Moreover, he’s again and again stressed he’ll be making decisions and getting on with things.
So far, so capable. 

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Read the front page while it’s still legal

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(11:21am)

image
This front page has flushed out the totalitarian instincts of the politicians planning more controls over what Australians choose to read:
Don’t read it. Especially before criticising it. ABC News Radio yesterday: 
MARIUS Benson: Can I start with The Daily Telegraph’s front page today, which reads: “These despots believe in controlling the press.” There is a large photo of you with an expression of you deliberately chosen to make you look dopey. And you are bracketed with the despots Stalin, Mao, Kim Jong-un, Ahmadinejad. Does that front page pass the public interest in your mind?
Conroy: It’ll be (laughs) ... I think I said the News Limited reaction will be hysterical; this morning just proves it yet again. But I’ve said for some time that people in Sydney should read The Daily Telegraph for its sport and back pages because the sort of commentary you see like this morning’s is just, it does a disservice to journalism and a disservice to (News Limited).
Benson: But is it grounds for complaint, for official complaint, for an official arbiter?
Conroy: Look, I haven’t actually seen the story yet ... Whether or not it’s breached any laws or any standards, ah, it certainly breaches a bad taste standard. Whether it breaches others, I’d have to take advice and have a look. But I haven’t actually seen the full copy yet.
That front page has also flushed out the censorious instincts of Labor’s media friends: 
LEIGH SALES: So tabloid newspapers don’t have to adhere to the same standards of fairness and accuracy as other newspapers?
CAMPBELL REID: Um… this is provocative… I reject that it’s unfair, and I reject that it’s inaccurate.
LEIGH SALES: Has News Limited…
CAMPBELL REID: There’s a difference between provocation and inaccuracy and unfairness, and if we’re thinking that really what we need in Australian society is a tort of politeness, and a shut-down media where you’re not allowed to be provocative, you’re not allowed to be interesting, you’re not allowed to be…
CAMPBELL REID: So… so, under provocation the media has to be very quietly… oh, please don’t offend that nice Mr Conroy…
LEIGH SALES: Well, I think fairness and impartiality are a pretty good standard...
An astonishing pre-emptive cringe. Depressing. An ABC host suggesting we be nice to the Government to avoid media curbs.
Can’t she hear what’s she’s saying - about this Government and about herself?
UPDATE
The self-righteous bloviating from press interests, and the shrill coverage from News Ltd papers in particular, leads to the suspicion that Senator Conroy can’t be far wrong with his tiny package of media reforms.
Ackland strikes me as another of the partisan Left who are very strong on the right to free speech of everyone except those with whom they disagree.
UPDATE
Reader Malcolm Colless, a distinguished former journalist, writes:
Your call to arms to journalists on the Conroy censorship policy on Sydney radio tonight was spot on. They cannot be called reforms because they are not making anything better-in fact quite the contrary.
The working press should be particularly outraged at the Government’s decision to appoint an overlord to set and administer media standards.
Labor spin implies that this legislation is needed to pull media management into line and this is what gives comfort to the Left who want a critical media and News Ltd in particular shackled.
UPDATE
The Daily Telegraph apologises for its satire, which risks being unlawful under this authoritarian government: 
image
UPDATE
Utterly astonishing. Another ABC presenter accuses the Daily Telegraph of “supporting the Government’s argument in their hysterical and silly way that they’ve responded” - of supporting, that is, the case for censorship of satire when that satire is directed at this Labor Government.
You may find it impossible to believe this presenter is actually supporting my own argument that this vindictive government is out to muzzle criticism of itself and its causes, to the cheers of the Left, but read for yourself:
BARRIE CASSIDY/JON FAINE
ABC 774 MELBOURNE 
JON FAINE:

So why pick a fight with the Murdoch papers right now?
BARRIE CASSIDY:
Therefore why should we be critical of them for taking it on?
JON FAINE:
Well I’m not being critical, I’m wondering what’s going on. I don’t understand. Because the response was utterly, I mean it’s over the top, but you knew you’d get some form of strident response.
BARRIE CASSIDY:

Of course but I think they’ve played into their hands in a sense by being as hysterical as they have been because the Telegraph for example probably is supporting the Government’s argument in their hysterical and silly way that they’ve responded to the issue.
JON FAINE:
Now, my understanding is that the editor of The Australian and the editor of The Daily Telegraph have got some sort of internal competition to see who can most claim to bring the Gillard Government down as they fight each other over the ‘it was me that brought them down,’ ‘No, no, no, it was me that brought the government down’. That’s the sort of internal competition that they’ve got going.
It is? To Faine’s conspiracy theory I have no polite reply.

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We’ve all lost our lolly

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(8:10am)

 Free speech
For heaven’s sake. I’m amazed the managers of the CSIRO’s Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex over-reacted to the absurd lolly claim in the first place: 
Former worker Jack Hoffman lodged a compensation claim last March after he allegedly broke a tooth on a CSIRO-supplied sweet a week earlier.It led to a ban on lollies at meetings and training sessions and, Mr Hoffman says, generated a fierce backlash from CSIRO colleagues.
In his claim to Comcare for psychological injuries arising from his workplace, Mr Hoffman said co-workers blamed him for the lollies being deemed unsafe. “You f---ed it up for everyone at CDSCC,” one co-worker is alleged to have told him. 
Mr Hoffman resigned from the CSIRO in July after facing disciplinary action for unauthorised use of an official vehicle to buy burgers. The 50-year-old had received two written warnings about inappropriate behaviour and was told to stop using a work car to go to McDonald’s.

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Christians “unsafe” at Muslim conference

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(8:03am)

image
A Christian writes about the Islamic “peace” conference in Melbourne that invited a bunch ofhate-preachers
Some Christians who had approval to hire a stall giving away Bibles at the Islamic ‘Peace Conference’ at the Melbourne Showgrounds this weekend have had this approval withdrawn. The Christians, from various churches around Melbourne, had been offered a 6 x 3 metre stall for $600. The Islamic Research and Educational Academy (IREA) contacted them last night and said that the Bible stall could not go ahead because it would be “unsafe”.

The Christians were told that, due to expected anti-Islamic protests outside the Showgrounds, IREA “could not guarantee your safety.” An IREA spokesman, who identified himself as ‘Sami’, was concerned about radical elements among the Muslim attendees “taking it out” on the Christians, and said that IREA security personnel “could not protect the Christians”. IREA claimed they had consulted Victoria Police about security and had come to this decision. Another Christian group was told last night that all the stalls had been allocated and there was no room left. According to the IREA website, there are over 200 stalls available, but their stall map shows that only 44 stalls have been hired so far.

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A plan to stop you reading stuff like this

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(7:54am)

 Free speechPolitics - deceits and stuff ups
I NEVER dreamed - never feared - Australia would have a government plotting to control journalists it didn’t like.
Do not trust a word Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says about needing a new government supercop to check what’s published and by whom.

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Abuse of Gillard is as bad as abuse by her

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(7:50am)

 Politics - federal
SOME of the abuse now hurled at the Prime Minister shows respect for her office is dangerously debased.
Take the foul tattooed lady filmed hurling expletives at Julia Gillard in Sydney last week, or the three protesters evicted from Parliament on Tuesday after shouting “liar”, “Juliar” and “moll” during Question Time. 

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Why do Leftist schemes always cost so much?

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(7:12am)

The answer, though, is not to tame financial markets through the socialization of equity, but to cut them down to size. A prerequisite for any positive program is a comprehensive attack on the power of financial markets, including the breakup of all “too big to fail” institutions, taxes on high-volume financial transactions, stringent restrictions on the creation of new financial instruments, and reductions in the share of national income going to the profits of financial enterprises. That’s a radical program, but (unlike Ackerman’s) every element of it is on the table right now, and commands support well beyond the Left.

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All spin, no substance

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(7:01am)

 Politics - federal
HOST: You and the Minister have said that these visas have been abused, but we haven’t been given any examples. Can you give us an example of where a 457 visa has been abused?
PM: Around the country, I and members of parliament in the Labor team do hear concerns from people about them being ready to take a job and with the appropriate qualifications, and not getting a go… 
HOST: Feedback and anecdotal evidence – can you understand why people see this as kneejerk reaction? We haven’t been given an example of where 457 visas have been abused.
PM: We make policy based on evidence, but community concern is there. People have raised examples, and of course, when we get that kind of feedback we should respond.
JOURNALIST: Can you give us an example of self-regulation where it hasn’t worked?
PM: Well, I think when you look across – I am not pursuing a personal case here so you would need to ask people who have taken up something with the press council and who have thought that there wasn’t a satisfactory dealing with it.
I think you would be aware that because there obviously have been some concerns in the past about the operation of the press council, that there has been a move over the last few years to increasing rigour in the press council. 

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Pope Francis I

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(6:45am)

A new Pope:
The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires has taken the name Francis and is the first pope to come from the Americas…
He has long specialised in the kind of pastoral work - overseeing churches and priests - that some say is an essential skill for a pope.
In a lifetime of teaching and leading priests in Latin America, which has the largest share of the world’s Catholics, the former Cardinal Bergoglio has shown a keen political sensibility as well as a self-effacing humility, according to his official biographer, Sergio Rubin. His personal style is the antithesis of Vatican splendour.
Hmm: 76.

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Media controls from a government that treats its own ministers like mushrooms

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(6:12am)

Cabinet sources revealed that most ministers were denied time to properly read Communications Minister Stephen Conroy’s proposed media reform rules before they were rubber stamped…
A small number of ministers are believed to have been kept in the loop, including Treasurer Wayne Swan and Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
But other key cabinet ministers said they had been given no notice of what was to come before the Tuesday meeting, nor were they given sufficient time to digest the document before it was agreed to.
Conroy, who boasted he could force telco bosses to wear red underpants on their heads,forces Cabinet colleagues to wear a sell-out of free speech
AT Tuesday morning’s snap cabinet meeting to consider Stephen Conroy’s proposed media laws, there were a number of empty seats around the oval table.
A Qantas flight from Sydney with three cabinet ministers on board - Tanya Plibersek, Bob Carr and Peter Garrett, as well as cabinet secretary Jason Clare - was delayed and then cancelled…
Those who were there, ostensibly to discuss the new policy on coal-seam gas exploration from Tony Burke, were given the impression no further discussion would be brooked. The Communications Minister’s policy and strategy were to be endorsed quickly on a crash or crash-through basis.
They were told a number of ministers were trapped in Sydney, the meeting would proceed without them and that the cabinet “decision” was to be announced within two hours.
None of those objecting had the guts to protest?
Labor MPs are treated with the same contemptuous we-know-best authoritarianism that lies behind this whole sinister attempt to further control the media. Henry Ergas:
ARROGANCE is the curse of those long on power and short on wisdom. Little wonder, then, that Stephen Conroy has announced his media reforms as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, giving parliament no time to consider, much less amend, legislation it has not yet seen and will not see until the last moment… Yet, from the few details he has disclosed, his proposals seem unfounded on evidence, poorly designed in practice and deeply at odds with democratic principles.
The reform details make it clear that the public interest media advocate will be appointed by the communications minister unilaterally, although there is a requirement to consult the opposition…
The advocate will have unfettered power to rule on the facts of a case, exposed only to appeals on judicial process rather than the fundamental merits of his or her decision. “A decision by the public interest media advocate will be subject to the general administrative review but will not be subject to merits review,” the paper said.
Shameful. The independents are being bribed to swap our free press for food: 
The government is planning a crackdown on big supermarkets to help Australian grocery suppliers in a move that acts on some of the independents’ concerns and could smooth the ground for media legislation to be introduced into parliament today.
UPDATE
How impressive has Malcolm Turnbull been recently?

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Flannery’s heat wave vs a reader’s snow

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(6:04am)

 Global warming - propaganda
What we’re seeing is a whole slew of new records, new territory, new climatic territory, which we’re seeing in Australia and the US and in the Arctic. And that’s part of a longer trend...
Reader Andrew challenges Flannery:
Here I am stuck in Germany , in Worms actually, and I am snowbound.
I cannot leave my hotel. All this in mid March (I am particularly annoyed as I am stuck in a rather dreary hotel here. 
Now I am very serious about this. I will donate $5000.00 to Prof Tim Flannery if he, on behalf of the Climate Commission, will fly to England and explain to them at a public meeting his proof that the world is warming, (If you or he doubt my bona fides then I will pay that sum into a bank account to be paid to him when he agrees).
I am sure he would be a big hit in England where it has had the coldest March day in 26 years.

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On it goes…

Andrew BoltMARCH142013(12:48am)

 Boat people policy
No end to the boats in sight, with rescue by the navy taken for granted:
Early reports indicate the group may have been in the water for up to an hour before they were picked up by the Navy ship HMAS Childers.

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ACT 4 her .. a beautiful image
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We've heard PM Julia Gillard has just been tapped on the shoulder by her delegates and told to move aside. Could KRudd be back? Maz x
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WHO VOTED FOR A DOUBLING OF ELECTRICITY PRICES ?
Thanks Julia. Thanks Kevin. Thanks Labor.
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ALP campaign poster, found in gutter in Carramar
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Teresa, I agree. Michael, without dismissing any of your arguments as merely historical, I would point out that the way to address the issue of culture is to praise it. There isn't enough money to do everything that is a good idea, and not all ideas are good. Utilising resources and optimising that use allows progress. Nothing is optimal in education. You don't have to agree with Thatcher policy or religious fervour to recognise that truth that Jesus isn't recognised as being great for his compromises, but for his adherence to principle. We know how to recognise who can add or subtract with or without a calculator. That isn't cultural. But a cultural argument can be mounted for how it is examined. I am reminded of a year 7 boy I met at a selective school in Sydney. It was an agricultural boarding school, and the boy, Hamidur Rahman (I can use his name now) was Indian ethnic and despised support but was proud of his Hindu heritage. The school was gung ho with Rugby. This boy didn't fit in, but he was willing to work to excel. He had a peanut allergy, as he told me one evening over dinner. I told my supervisors about the serious issue and was assured the issue would be addressed. I left the school soon after. The following year, the boy was at a year 8 school camp. He had successfully completed an activity involved with running, and the teacher had run out of rewards so, thinking outside the box, said the student's reward was to lick peanut butter from a spoon. The teacher was not aware of the allergy as my supervisors hadn't told them, although the boy had been hazed for trying to let people know. So the student, in front of his year group, did as he was told, and died in seconds. The school and education department went into damage protection mode and the Principal retired soon after, claiming no one had told him. Coroner investigated and said it was an accident, criticising the parents for not telling the school of the allergy. I was targeted by the Department following and instructed not to speak on the issue .. I resigned to speak out six years ago and have had no work since.

My point is that there are cultural issues that need to be addressed, but those aren't academic tests where anyone can quibble over nothing. Hamidur was doing well in a hostile environment. Some students do. Some don't. Our tests don't need to be culturally sensitive. We do. No student of mine who cannot speak English well is going to be encouraged by me to study English literature at university. Instead, I would suggest they might try to improve their own language and bilingual skills. A new push is on by local Anglican researchers promoting the concept of cultural assets. Culture is not a weakness, but a strength which needs to be buttressed from those that devalue it and promoted so as to improve outcomes for all.

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Late last week, a Russian news outlet reported that scientists at Antarctica's Lake Vostok, buried under miles of ice, said they had found bacteria that appeared to be new to science. Now, the head of that lab has said the signature is actually just contamination. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/2xpb
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Start sowing seeds in the area that you are believing God for a harvest or breakthrough! Check out today's devotional. Be sure to click "like" to help spread the word! Thanks, all! http://bit.ly/XW3KBY
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When does God's blessings flow unhindered in our lives and churches? When His grace takes center place in these areas! Discover in this message how God wants you to live conscious of, and put your trust solely in His grace. Unpacking revelatory truths through the biblical story of Hagar and Ishmael's dismissal from Abraham's household, Joseph reveals how grace makes you a mature son of God, skilled in the word of righteousness and able to enjoy your inheritance. Get ready to live like an heir of God when you listen to only the voice of grace!
http://josephprince.com/


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When you place your trust wholly in God’s grace, rest assured that your provision is making its way to you (Gen 22:13–14)!
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For You have made him [man] a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned [surrounded] him with glory and honor.—Ps 8:5

As God’s beloved child, redeemed and ransomed by Christ, not only are you surrounded by His favor, but you are also crowned (surrounded) with glory and honor. You have the same glory and honor that Jesus has at the right hand of the Father! 

As you step into your school or workplace today, be conscious of the Lord’s anointing upon you, and watch His glory manifest through you!
http://josephprince.com/
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Theatrical poster for "The Mikado"

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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BAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

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Friend,
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The U.S. Senate is nearing completion of its "universal background checks" gun control bill.  Problem is, it's not universal; criminals and madmen don't comply with background checks.
This awful measure will also lead to the creation of a national database of gun owners.  A leaked Obama Administration memo says that this is the most important step towards national gun registration!
When Barack Obama declared that he wanted a gun control bill passed this year, he wasn't kidding.
His campaign organization has mobilized their millions of left-wing grassroots activists to pressure the Senate to pass this bill.  And it seems they will get exactly what they want:
A bill that effectively bans the private sales of firearms and begins the process of creating a national gun registry!
This is the most brazen and unconstitutional assault on the Second Amendment in years.  If it becomes law it could change our country forever.
We have to stop this bill!
That's why I am mobilizing all of Patriot Voices' resources to fight this, but I need your help.
Please make the most generous donation you possibly can We need bombard Senators with calls and emails.  We need to be prepared to launch waves of ads warning American gun owners about this bill.
Frankly, I had hoped Obama's gun-control scheme would simply die in the backrooms of the Senate. 
However, with the entire White House political operation working overtime for this bill, and millions of liberals bombarding Congress with calls and faxes, that's not going to happen.
I expect that the Senate will vote on Obama's gun grab within the next few weeks!
We don't have much time.  That's why I am emailing you today.
Obama and his allies have been very clever.  They are selling this proposal as a "commonsense" measure that will merely close some "loopholes" in the law.
That sounds fair to a lot of my former colleagues.  And it appears sensible to many ordinary Americans, too.
But this proposal is so much more than it appears.  It establishes the groundwork for a national database of gun owners!
Just imagine if Attorney General Eric Holder had a master list of the names and addresses of every single gun owner in America, and what types and numbers of firearms they possessed!
It's terrifying to even contemplate what he would do with that information.
So, we must stop this bill in the Senate.  Failure simply is not an option when our liberty is at stake!
Because the Senate is moving very fast, we don't have much time to prepare to win this battle.   Please do what you can right away.
Thank you, and may God Bless America.
Sincerely,
Rick Santorum signature 
Rick Santorum

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