Monday, June 10, 2013

Mon Jun 10th Todays News


Tick, tock, Gillard can’t hear the clock

Piers Akerman – Monday, June 10, 2013 (6:41am)

LABOR’S clock is ticking but Julia Gillard isn’t listening.
Kevin Rudd hears the sound and welcomes it.
It is the sound of the NSW option relentlessly approaching - when a government fails, change the leader.
But the clock is meaningless for the nation.
It is sideshow music now.
Ask Kristina Keneally, Nathan Rees, Morris Iemma and Bob Carr.
Voters eventually see through leadership shuffles and punish those who play the geat leadership con.
Would second time Prime Minister Rudd be any better than first time Prime Minister Rudd?
No.
Same lying populist, say anything, promise everything, failure that he was in 2007.
Why should anyone believe Labor can get it right now when it was wrong with Rudd then, wrong with Gillard in 2007, and about to get it wrong again.
It’s not the leader, it’s Labor that’s on the nose.

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SNOW CONE TONE AND THE VOLCANO

Tim Blair – Monday, June 10, 2013 (3:40pm)

Camera-smashing former Labor leader Mark Latham, lately offering a free character analysis to Kevin Rudd, is scheduled to appear tonight on the ABC’s leading nerd-based infotainment show. Place your bets:

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CIGARETTE AND COURAGE

Tim Blair – Monday, June 10, 2013 (3:00pm)

Ohio man Jim Walpole survives a terrifying injury thanks to a fast-acting stranger: 
“I went out for a walk and just stumbled,” said the 77-year-old retired General Motors auto worker. “Bang. I fell right into the scaffolding along the hotel wall.”
Down he went.
What happened next was a horror — he slit his throat as he fell down the scaffolding.
“The blood was coming out so fast,” said [Jim’s wife] Marilyn, who started to yell for help.
Out of nowhere — believed to have been having a cigarette at the side of the King St. E. hotel — a man darted in and quickly assessed the situation.
“He started to press on my neck,” said Jim. “He said he was trying to stop the bleeding.”
Driving by at that point was Ben Quinn …
“The guy really seemed to know what he was doing,” said Ben. “We didn’t know who he was. I just asked if I could hold the man’s head and he said yes …”
As the paramedics took over, Jim said he looked up at him and said, “What’s your name?”
“He said, ‘my name is John and you are going to be all right.’ ” 
Click for the hero’s identity. Turns out he’s an old pal of ours. 

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GUILT SHIFTED

Tim Blair – Monday, June 10, 2013 (6:52am)

The Age reports: 
Australia’s border protection service has been accused of causing lives to be lost by responding too slowly to the latest asylum seeker boat tragedy off Christmas Island.
A former Australian ambassador has called for a coronial inquiry into the response by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. The Greens also want a more thorough inquiry than the standard internal review. 
That report from Fairfax (which campaigned for weaker border protection policies, causing hundreds of lives to be lost) cites the Greens (who campaigned for weaker border protection policies, causing hundreds of lives to be lost) and an ex-ambassador (who campaigned for weaker border protection policies, etc, etc). Now that weaker policies are in place and tens of thousands of asylum seekers are risking death at sea, they’re blaming … the border protection service.
These people are incapable of shame.

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CRUSH THE KRONG

Tim Blair – Monday, June 10, 2013 (6:25am)

Entirely by accident, Labor backbencher Laurie Ferguson may have come up with a perfect device for calming Australia’s continuing racism anxieties.

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ELECTORAL LADYLAND

Tim Blair – Monday, June 10, 2013 (6:18am)

Squeeee! Labor ladypower is set to revive Julia Gillard’s doomed leadership: 
An independent campaign arm, partly funded by the Labor Party, the Women For Gillard campaign will seek online “micro-donations” from supporters’ credit cards to run digital, print and television ads.
The Prime Minister – who is resisting internal Labor calls to stand aside for a resurgent Kevin Rudd – will on Tuesday officially launch the outfit, which will highlight her famous “misogyny” speech accusing Tony Abbott of being anti-women, as well as raising the Opposition Leader’s views on abortion …
Headed up by a former Gillard government staffer, Clarabella Burley, the organisation has already won the support of celebrity actors and authors who will join the fight in the lead-up to the September 14 election.
“The misogyny speech had a huge impact,” Ms Burley said. 
Whatever you say, Burley girl. Clarabella and Gillard spin midget John McTernan recently thrilled thousands with their femme-tastic social media skills. If you wish to join this crusade of diversity and inclusion, turn up at Trades Hall later in June for an evening of womanly delights. Or, alternatively, go swimming in molten alloy.

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AIM FOR PAIN

Tim Blair – Monday, June 10, 2013 (6:01am)

On Saturday night Australia’s cricket team played the first match of a marathon against England. By next February, we’ll have opposed England in 26 games across all forms of international cricket: Test, one-day and Twenty20.
The timing isn’t great. England is in powerful form while Australia is struggling. Captain Michael Clarke missed that first match due to a recurring back injury, possibly caused by carrying the entire Australian team by himself.

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CHRISTOPHER PEARSON

Tim Blair – Monday, June 10, 2013 (1:49am)

Christopher Pearson – speechwriter for John Howard and Alexander Downer, columnist, and a very kind supporter of this site – has died at 61. He’ll be deeply missed, particularly by Tony Abbott: 
Christopher was one of our country’s finest conservative intellects. He was also a steadfast friend.
I valued Christopher’s counsel and his wisdom.
I suspect he never fully appreciated the impact he had on others and the sense of gratitude we have for him. 
Well said. In 2009, Pearson wrote movingly about his decade-long conversion to Catholicism.

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How Rudd fooled us about his “triumphant” visit

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (2:11pm)

Kevin Rudd fooled the media - me as well - with his “triumphant” tour of Geelong, where locals allegedly hugged him and shouted they wanted him back.
The pictures on every TV news bulletin that night shocked Labor - just as Rudd intended. Here was Rudd doing what the widely loathed Julia Gillard did not dare - visiting a shopping centre to be swamped by adoring voters.
And he did this during what he billed mostly as a rescue bid for Labor’s most marginal seat:
In a move to shore up the collapsing Labor vote, Mr Rudd will tour Australia’s most marginal seat of Corangamite as well as Corio, which could become marginal after the next election…
There has been talk Labor is preparing to cut spending in Corangamite because it fears the seat is lost.
But Mr Rudd said the party should not abandon the seats.
“I think it’s plain wrong to walk away from any of these seats...”
But how much of this triumph was really Rudd winning the hearts and minds of local voters in Labor’s most marginal seat? How much was in fact Rudd getting local Labor activists to cheer him in a tightly-managed event in next-door Corio, near one of the safest Labor booths in the country?
Was this really Rudd wooing voters or trying to game the media and his Labor colleagues?
I was first alerted to the con yesterday by reader Palszy:

Andrew...as I posted Friday Corio Village shopping centre is the bogan capital of Australia. I do not intend to be derogatory, but it is a fact of life. Corio is Geelong’s version of Broadmeadows on steriods. Labor could install Mikey Mouse as the leader, and the Corioites would vote for him.
What amuses me is Dick Marles seat is one of the safest Labor seats in the country, while Darren Cheeseman’s Corrangamite seat is one of the most marginal...why didn’t Kev weave his magic at the Waurn Ponds shopping in Grovedale (bigger than Corio) in Cheeseman’s electorate?
I will tell you why.. The public response there would be abhorring...definitely not adoring ...believe me, the average IQ rises considerably once you cross to the southern side of the Barwon River in Geelong.
BTW...just spoke to mate who’s daughter works .... at Corio Village. She said that Friday was a circus, totally scripted from start to finish...a bus load of Labor supporters arrived a half an hour before Kev and his entourage. All the TV was shot outside John Eren’s (local state member) megazine floor office with his staff and the bus people. My mates daughter reckons Kev was exposed to the general public for less than a couple minutes, always surrounded by the ‘bus people’. She also noted that the comments from [her clients] when Kev wandered past her shop was not what we seen on the TV Friday night.

Reader reaver adds:

Yep, that’s all inside the Corio Shopping Centre. The Centrelink/Medicare office in the background is the Corio office and you can even read John Eren’s name on his office door and exterior office wall in the video. 
Reader Peter notes more evidence that Rudd’s adoring crowd was made up of Labor plants:


image
The Australian’s caption:
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd in Geelong yesterday with local MP Richard Marles, left, and Rudd supporter Josh Gilligan.
From Josh Gilligan’s Linkedin entry:

Josh works part-time as an advisor to Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Major Projects, Ports, Employment and Industrial Relations, Tim Pallas MP. Josh also works as a part-time advisor to Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Regional and Rural Development, Jaala Pulford MP.
In fact, reader Peter says Rudd held his public event near one of the safest Labor booths in the country, where few Liberal voters might be found to ruin the shot:
This map shows the polling booth 2 party preferred results in the Corio electorate at the 2010 election.
The shopping centre where Rudd did his walkabout is located in an area where the 2 party preferred result was 72.96 for the ALP, with individual booths around the shopping centre returning up to 81 per cent 2PP for the ALP.

And reader A. says we’re missing the bigger picture - that Rudd was trying to save not the marginal seat of Corangamite but the once-safe seat next door:

The key seat in this election is not Corangamite but Corio. This seems to be the line in the sand where the ALP wants to stem the electoral bleeding.

Consider the evidence:

Julia Gillard has been down to Corio and tried to link Corio, not Corangamite, to her most popular policy - the NDIS. Both leaders have done town halls in Corio - Abbott, Gillard and now Kevin Rudd.

There was recently a poll in the Geelong Advertiser that showed that 28% of Corio (not Corangamite) voters who voted for the ALP in the last election intend to vote Liberal this election. If the Geeelong Advertiser poll is correct then the Liberal Candidate will win a narrow victory. 

That is why I think Rudd was down there, to show the backroom Union bosses and operatives in the Party that he can save Corio and hold the strategic line that the ALP has set itself to defend.
Fantastic spin by Rudd. But if he was really the vote magnet he claims, why resort to such tricks? 

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Why bring in refugees who make Australians less safe?

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (1:38pm)

To say something risks making law-abiding African refugees the target of racists.
To say nothing risks making law-abiding Australians the target of violence.
But we are importing a problem, however some may wish to hide that ugly fact. If we can’t find ways to make African refugees fit in better, we must ask if it is fair on Australians in poorer suburbs to bear the costs to their safety.
From Melbourne and Dandenong in just the past two months (and note, these are allegations only):
May 23:

SIX thieves armed with bottles threatened a 30-year-old man and woman, 32, in a car park in McCrae Street, Dandenong, about 8.30pm on 16 May.
They were walking to their vehicle when four men and two women, described as African, approached and demanded their money and belongings, saying “give me your money or I’ll stab you”.
May 7:

POLICE are looking for three young men who attacked and robbed a man in Sunshine…
Brimbank’s Inspector Chris Gilbert said the men hit the victim in the head before stealing two mobile phones.  Police said the men were believed to be under 18 and were of African appearance.
May 7:

POLICE are searching for a man who attempted to snatch a handbag from a woman in Sunshine… He was described as being aged about 20 and of African appearance.
May 7:
[Two men] were ruthlessly bashed by the gang of youths, who repeatedly kicked and stomped on their heads even after they had handed over all of their possessions.
The pair were attacked in the Fitzroy Gardens… They are of African appearance and are described as tall and skinny.
May 5:

A GANG of girls who punched a woman [in St Kilda West] and tried to steal her phone and handbag is being hunted by police… They are described as African, in their late teens to early 20s, with braided hair.
April 26:

... a 25-year-old Dandenong man was attacked after he withdrew cash from an ATM about 12.50am…
His attackers, described as two men of African appearance, took his wallet and fled.
April 21:


Two men assaulted a taxi driver and attempted to rob him in South Melbourne on 21 April 2013… Both men are described as being of African appearance.
April 13:

POLICE are investigating after men carrying an axe and bat wearing a scream mask attempted to raid an Endeavour Hills milk bar last week…
The first man is described as being of African appearance, about 180cm tall, he was wearing a hooded jumper and had a bandana or something similar covering his face. The second man was also of African appearance, about 175cm, was wearing black clothing and a Scream mask.
From last August a rare admission - of the kind made dangerous under our racial discrimination laws:

POLICE have blamed a lack of support services for high levels of crime among Somali and Sudanese youth…
Victoria Police statistics showed that Sudanese or Somali-born residents were five times for likely to commit a crime that the wider community and a high number of offenders were aged under 21.
A previous police commissioner, Christine Nixon, deceived Victorians about this, falsely claiming:

Sudanese refugees are actually under-represented in the crime statistics… (W)hat we’re actually seeing is that they’re not, in a sense, represented more than the proportion of them in the population. 

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Wetter, drier, whatever

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (12:00pm)

Warmists then - global warming means a dry Murray-Darling:
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, September 2008: 
There is a great deal of scientific advice about the impact of climate change on rainfall, particularly in southern Australia… We also know that in the two years before our election, what we saw were the lowest inflows into the River Murray in history, 43 per cent lower than the previous lows… So there is a very, very sound body of evidence that indicates that climate change is and will have an impact on rainfall in the Murray-Darling Basin and in southern Australia.
Alarmist of the Year Tim Flannery, 2007:


...Although we’re getting say a 20 per cent decrease in rainfall in some areas of Australia, that’s translating to a 60 per cent decrease in the run-off into the dams and rivers. That’s because the soil is warmer because of global warming and the plants are under more stress and therefore using more moisture. So even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems, and that’s a real worry for the people in the bush.
Warmists now - global warming means a flooding Murray-Darling:
The projections by University of Tokyo researchers, using 11 global climate models, ... studied the likely frequency of floods in 29 international river basins, including the Murray-Darling.

Almost all, including the Murray-Darling, were expected to have increased flooding by the end of the century, with the 100-year flood event occurring every 10 to 50 years in many of the rivers by late this century.

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Women for Gillard, who’s for a man instead

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (9:29am)

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Women for Gillard:
JULIA Gillard is to launch a new Women For Gillard campaign based on the United States’ successful fundraising movement Women for Obama…
The Prime Minister - who is resisting internal Labor calls to stand aside for a resurgent Kevin Rudd - will on Tuesday officially launch the outfit, which will highlight her famous “misogyny” speech accusing Tony Abbott of being anti-women, as well as raising the Opposition Leader’s views on abortion…
Headed up by a former Gillard government staffer, Clarabella Burley, the organisation has already won the support of celebrity actors and authors who will join the fight in the lead-up to the September 14 election.
Gillard for men:

What [Labor numbers man Senator David] Feeney gained for his role in the coup [against Kevin Rudd] was undying loyalty from Gillard. She made him Parliamentary Secretary for Defence after the 2010 election.
Feeney says he’s not being installed in the [safe seat of Batman] and will contest a rank and file preselection of up to 900 voters. But he has the support of his erstwhile enemies - key Right faction powerbrokers Bill Shorten and Stephen Conroy. They wouldn’t be shifting their weight behind Feeney if Gillard were not on board… Gillard has made much of her feminist credentials but has shirked the opportunity to support a woman for Batman.
Yet Labor ministers Jenny Macklin and Penny Wong have urged the party to support a female candidate. So have former Victorian premier Joan Kirner, Victorian Labor president Cath Bowtell and Labor women’s advocacy group Emily’s List…
Feeney’s closeness to Gillard is being repaid with Labor’s most valuable real estate in parliament.

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Are the Liberals ready for Kevin Rudd and an August poll?

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (9:00am)

There should be nothing bigger on the Liberals’ agenda this week than preparing for Kevin Rudd’s return.
Only Rudd can now lift Labor’s vote. Only Rudd remains a danger to the Liberals, if not by snatching an impossible win, then by saving enough seats to make the following election a contest.
Rudd may still not manage to replace Gillard, but just the possibility of Rudd is more dangerous than the reality of Gillard.
Part of the preparation must involve planning for an election not on September 14, but one called in two or three weeks for the end of July or early August.
Rudd the campaigner is more potent than Rudd the ruler. There will be no advantage to him in governing for a while that outweighs the advantage of the sugar hit.
For the Liberals it is now more important to prepare for Rudd in August than Gillard in September.
In fact, I’d start campaigning against him now.
UPDATE
But as Antony Green as pointed out, the earliest date - realistically - is August 3:
Section 13 of the Constitution prevents writs for a half-Senate election being issued before 1 July 2013. With the minimum 33 day election campaign, this means the first possible date for a House and half-Senate election is Saturday 3 August 2013. The election can be announced before 1 July but the writ cannot be issued before 1 July.
Any election held before 3 August would be for the House of Representatives only.
Still, Labor might even figure an election for the House of Representatives only gives them a better chance of clinging to Senate seats at a later half-Senate election. But Green now adds:

The major problem for an election on July 20 or 27 is the passage of the Appropriation Bills. These have passed the House but must pass the Senate before an election can be held. This timetable probably rules out an election on July 20, leaves July 27 possible.

But it would be a rush.
(Thanks to reader Dominic.) 

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Only Kevin Rudd can save the Labor he destroyed

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (8:14am)

Politics - federal
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PRIME minister Kevin Rudd helped destroy the Labor Party. Yet only backbencher Kevin Rudd can now save Labor seats.
That last bit is what Rudd wanted to show in Geelong last Friday.
That’s what he wanted to shove into colleagues’ faces - those scenes of huggy voters - shouting they wanted him back.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits schools and even children throw sandwiches at her. Rudd visits supermarkets, and gets thrown only kisses.
How cynically his Geelong coup was organised. 

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The difference with the Left is the bodies in the sea

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (7:44am)

Boat people policy
WHAT’S the difference between conservatives and the Left? It’s another 150 boat people feared dead off Christmas Island.
Those dead, and 1000 others drowned since Labor scrapped our tough border laws, are the price of one of the deadliest characteristics of the Left.
(Read full column here.)
UPDATE
As I write in today’s column, when Labor scrapped the Howard Government’s tough border laws in 2008, luring back the boats, The Age cheered:

... a stain was removed from the soul of this nation.
Now that more boat people have been lured to their deaths by what the paper welcomed, The Age deflects the blame:


Australia’s border protection service has been accused of causing lives to be lost by responding too slowly to the latest asylum seeker boat tragedy off Christmas Island.
A former Australian ambassador has called for a coronial inquiry into the response by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. The Greens also want a more thorough inquiry than the standard internal review.
Tim Blair puts it perfectly:

That report from Fairfax (which campaigned for weaker border protection policies, causing hundreds of lives to be lost) cites the Greens (who campaigned for weaker border protection policies, causing hundreds of lives to be lost) and an ex-ambassador (who campaigned for weaker border protection policies, etc, etc). Now that weaker policies are in place and tens of thousands of asylum seekers are risking death at sea, they’re blaming … the border protection service.
These people are incapable of shame. 

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AWU faction wavers, but Bill Shorten says Gillard stays

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (7:36am)

Bill Shorten’s AWU faction is Julia Gillard’s last, shaky prop:

The Daily Telegraph understands Mr Shorten last Friday conceded for the first time to the PM that the government “had problems” after a meeting of the automobile industry in Melbourne…
It is believed both Mr Shorten and Ms Gillard were made aware of secret ACTU national polling revealing unprecedented federal swings of between 12 per cent and 15 per cent in Labor marginal seats across the country…
Last night Mr Shorten was standing firm, telling The Daily Telegraph reports yesterday on the ABC that he had shifted his support were wrong and that he remained loyal to Ms Gillard.
But sources have confirmed Mr Shorten has been spooked in the past week by polling he personally paid for in his own suburban Melbourne seat, which revealed a 13 per cent swing against the man touted as the next Labor leader - a result which would relegate the safe seat of Maribyrnong to a marginal one…
Supporters of Kevin Rudd have now also claimed that, with Mr Rudd refusing to challenge, the only course of action to prevent electoral wipeout was for Mr Shorten to join a delegation of senior figures, which would have to include Foreign Minister Bob Carr, Families Minister Jenny Macklin and party elder John Faulkner, and ask Ms Gillard to step down.
Dennis Shanahan:

IT’S now a question of how and when Julia Gillard’s blighted leadership will end.
Barrie Cassidy:
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has lost significant support in the caucus, with key players now planning when and how she should be approached to step aside.
Peter Hartcher and Mark Kenny:
Labor power broker Bill Shorten - widely considered pivotal to Julia Gillard retaining her grip on the prime ministership - remains committed to her continuing as leader despite the urgings of panicked colleagues for a switch to Kevin Rudd…
Sources in both the Left and Right factions of the ALP concede the movement of the influential Mr Shorten would be crucial, and carry about seven votes from the Labor caucus.

UPDATE
How can Labor campaign under a leader who isn’t game to give a press conference or interview?
How can Ministers campaign under her when they have to demand no-talk clauses?:

As Prime Minister Julia Gillard maintained a wintry silence and Kevin Rudd confined himself to chattering with his 2.33 million Twitter followers, Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr offered an exquisite insight into the high anxiety afflicting federal Labor politicians and the dilemma in which the past week’s madness has placed them.
Appearing on the Ten Network’s Meet the Press on Sunday, he was greeted by presenter Kathryn Robinson asking him to confirm that he’d agreed to speak only on the basis that the Labor leadership was not raised.
(Thanks to reader Mick.) 

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Labor’s policy: yet more of what doesn’t work

Andrew Bolt June 10 2013 (7:26am)

Henry Ergas goes to the heart of Labor’s economic madness:
Thank goodness Craig Emerson is there to remind us we are the happiest people on earth.
Now, Emerson is a thoroughly decent, intelligent man, whose daily impersonation of a well-coiffed halibut on uppers melts the iciest heart. But with more than $150 billion of resource projects cancelled or on hold, not even Emerson can deny that the promised 100-year boom is refusing to proceed as planned.
Little wonder: according to Port Jackson Partners, investment costs in Australian mining now exceed international benchmarks by a third - and the cost penalty on major LNG ventures is even greater than that.
Yet the trivial fact that the boom has ended is hardly sufficient to dissuade Gillard & Co from wanting to spread its benefits. Having found a good thing, their mission is to push it along.
The Fair Work Act has played to mixed reviews? Make it even more punitive on business, aggravating the cost overruns and locking in rigidities that will ensure the downturn is more painful.
The minimum wage is already the world’s highest? Increase it, despite a steadily weakening labour market, because “the outlook for the Australian economy remains favourable”.
And do events prove that the carbon tax, also the world’s highest, is damaging our competitiveness for no environmental benefit? Raise it, too, as of July 1, by a further 5 per cent, to more than four times the price of European emissions permits.Lesser mortals might struggle with Labor’s theory that if a policy isn’t working it should be scaled up, placed at the centre of one’s program and thrust down the electorate’s throat.

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Did Kevin Rudd con the media with his “triumphant” tour?

Andrew Bolt June 09 2013 (7:44pm)

Reader Palszy says Kevin Rudd’s triumphant tour of Geelong was actually stage-managed down to almost the last cheering supporter. For a start, the crowd scenes were not filmed in the marginal seat of Corangamite, but the safe seat of Corio next door:

Andrew...as I posted Friday Corio Village shopping centre is the bogan capital of Australia. I do not intend to be derogatory, but it is a fact of life. Corio is Geelong’s version of Broadmeadows on steriods. Labor could install Mikey Mouse as the leader, and the Corioites would vote for him.
What amuses me is Dick Marles seat is one of the safest Labor seats in the country, while Darren Cheeseman’s Corrangamite seat is one of the most marginal...why didn’t Kev weave his magic at the Waurn Ponds shopping in Grovedale (bigger than Corio) in Cheeseman’s electorate?
I will tell you why.. The public response there would be abhorring...definitely not adoring ...believe me, the average IQ rises considerably once you cross to the southern side of the Barwon River in Geelong.
BTW...just spoke to mate who’s daughter works as a hairdresser at Corio Village. She said that Friday was a circus, totally scripted from start to finish...a bus load of Labor supporters arrived a half an hour before Kev and his entourage. All the TV was shot outside John Eren’s (local state member) megazine floor office with his staff and the bus people. My mates daughter reckons Kev was exposed to the general public for less than a couple minutes, always surrounded by the ‘bus people’. She also noted that the comments from the women in the chairs in her salon when Kev wandered past her shop was not what we seen on the TV Friday night.
Well, well, well.
UPDATE
Reader reaver:
Yep, that’s all inside the Corio Shopping Centre. The Centrelink/Medicare office in the background is the Corio office and you can even read John Eren’s name on his office door and exterior office wall in the video.  

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I awoke tonight to the sound of thunder…. started humming a song from 1962...
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Pedophiles are bad .. as are those who behave like them but might not be. - ed
Content

I went to a dinner party at a friend’s home last weekend, and met her five-year-old daughter for the first time.
Little Maya was all curly brown hair, doe-like dark eyes, and adorable in her shiny pink nightgown. I wanted to squeal, “Maya, you’re so cute! Look at you! Turn around and model that pretty ruffled gown, you gorgeous thing!”
But I didn’t. I squelched myself. As I always bite my tongue when I meet little girls, restraining myself from my first impulse, which is to tell them how darn cute/ pretty/ beautiful/ well-dressed/ well-manicured/ well-coiffed they are.
What’s wrong with that? It’s our culture’s standard talking-to-little-girls icebreaker, isn’t it? And why not give them a sincere compliment to boost their self-esteem? Because they are so darling I just want to burst when I meet them, honestly.
Hold that thought for just a moment.
This week ABC news reported that nearly half of all three- to six-year-old girls worry about being fat. In my book, Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World, I reveal that fifteen to eighteen percent of girls under twelve now wear mascara, eyeliner and lipstick regularly; eating disorders are up and self-esteem is down; and twenty-five percent of young American women would rather win America’s next top model than the Nobel Peace Prize. Even bright, successful college women say they’d rather be hot than smart. A Miami mom just died from cosmetic surgery, leaving behind two teenagers. This keeps happening, and it breaks my heart.
Teaching girls that their appearance is the first thing you notice tells them that looks are more important than anything. It sets them up for dieting at age 5 and foundation at age 11 and boob jobs at 17 and Botox at 23. As our cultural imperative for girls to be hot 24/7 has become the new normal, American women have become increasingly unhappy. What’s missing? A life of meaning, a life of ideas and reading books and being valued for our thoughts and accomplishments.
That’s why I force myself to talk to little girls as follows.
“Maya,” I said, crouching down at her level, looking into her eyes, “very nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too,” she said, in that trained, polite, talking-to-adults good girl voice.
“Hey, what are you reading?” I asked, a twinkle in my eyes. I love books. I’m nuts for them. I let that show.
Her eyes got bigger, and the practiced, polite facial expression gave way to genuine excitement over this topic. She paused, though, a little shy of me, a stranger.
“I LOVE books,” I said. “Do you?”
Most kids do.
“YES,” she said. “And I can read them all by myself now!”
“Wow, amazing!” I said. And it is, for a five year old. You go on with your bad self, Maya.
“What’s your favorite book?” I asked.
“I’ll go get it! Can I read it to you?”
Purplicious was Maya’s pick and a new one to me, as Maya snuggled next to me on the sofa and proudly read aloud every word, about our heroine who loves pink but is tormented by a group of girls at school who only wear black. Alas, it was about girls and what they wore, and how their wardrobe choices defined their identities. But after Maya closed the final page, I steered the conversation to the deeper issues in the book: mean girls and peer pressure and not going along with the group. I told her my favorite color in the world is green, because I love nature, and she was down with that.
Not once did we discuss clothes or hair or bodies or who was pretty. It’s surprising how hard it is to stay away from those topics with little girls, but I’m stubborn.
I told her that I’d just written a book, and that I hoped she’d write one too one day. She was fairly psyched about that idea. We were both sad when Maya had to go to bed, but I told her next time to choose another book and we’d read it and talk about it. Oops. That got her too amped up to sleep, and she came down from her bedroom a few times, all jazzed up.
So, one tiny bit of opposition to a culture that sends all the wrong messages to our girls. One tiny nudge towards valuing female brains. One brief moment of intentional role modeling. Will my few minutes with Maya change our multibillion dollar beauty industry, reality shows that demean women, our celebrity-manic culture? No. But I did change Maya’s perspective for at least that evening.
Try this the next time you meet a little girl. She may be surprised and unsure at first, because few ask her about her mind, but be patient and stick with it. Ask her what she’s reading. What does she like and dislike, and why? There are no wrong answers. You’re just generating an intelligent conversation that respects her brain. For older girls, ask her about current events issues: pollution, wars, school budgets slashed. What bothers her out there in the world? How would she fix it if she had a magic wand? You may get some intriguing answers. Tell her about your ideas and accomplishments and your favorite books. Model for her what a thinking woman says and does.
And let me know the response you get at www.Twitter.com/lisabloom.
Here’s to changing the world, one little girl at a time.

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Holly Sarah Nguyen
 Dear God, Thank-you for the valleys, for without them I would not recognize the blessing of the mountain.

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Holly Sarah Nguyen
If you feel that you have wasted your life, Jesus can take the fragments that are left and make sure nothing is wasted. (John 6:12)

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This is typical of Hanson's bigotry .. she also opposed the Pacific Solution which actually worked until Gillard/Rudd weakened it. I don't blame people for wanting to come to Australia. I blame a bad government for putting in place bigoted murderous policy under the guise of compassion. - ed

  • John Tran her solutions are over-simplified repeats of what Liberals will do.

  • David Daniel Ball Worse, like the independents, Gillard and Rudd who claimed to be conservative before election, Hanson is not conservative .. give her power and she will behave stupidly. She did that before.

  • David Daniel Ball Jon writes like a Hanson supporter, not a Liberal supporter ..

  • David Daniel Ball ws that would probably love to be here and fit in quite well yet we don't defend our country from known criminal que jumping scum. I have been a strong lib supporter for a long time and yes I will vote for Pauline she is great and I think she will fit in well in the senate and will protect the things that I am concerned about. Go Pauline. But my supporting Pauline has fuck all to do with my views>

  • David Daniel Ball That last was his response to my observation. He was supposed to argue it, not prove it

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4 her
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4 her
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By Larry Pickering
LABOR TIED TO A TOXIC GILLARD

The true believers are preparing to take their punishment on the chin. All are aware that Gillard is about to lead them into oblivion, and there’s not a damned thing they can do about it.

Is it loyalty to their dying heroine? Not really. The factions can be ruthlessly disloyal when it suits but they have stuffed up big time this time.

Union factions, who decide the structure and future of the ALP, have led their Party to the most frustrating political dilemma in history and the blame rests squarely with Ludwig, Carr, Shorten and to a lesser extent, Howes.

When the unions’ Left and Right called a temporary truce to bestow a socialist Left woman of criminal background and limited ability with a Prime Ministership it could only ever have ended in tears... but the tears are not shed by her. It is we the people who are crying for her removal.

Of course Shorten is pivotal in the Gillard dilemma. It was he who organised her anointment. The factions are now saying to Shorten, “You got us into this mess, Bill, now you damned well get us out of it!”

But does anyone seriously believe that good little Bill will organise the reinstatement of the despised Rudd?

Okay, so polling shows Rudd might save three front benchers. The truth is he can’t save anyone. Rudd would simply force a regurgitation of all that is historically wrong with this Labor Government.

The LNP has a vault of advertising material ready to run that would make cat’s meat of Rudd, including what his own Party says of him: “A psychotic megalomaniac”, and much more.

The factions might also consider that the focus of this election campaign will be illegal immigration and thousands of drownings.

And who was responsible for dismantling our borders? Oh yes, I remember now, it was the good ol’ recently well-fed Rudd.

His busloads of staged backslappers in shopping malls across marginal seats merely grate on Gillard. They have no electoral significance.

Six weeks of Coalition advertising would condemn Rudd to a worse electoral liability than Gillard. More Labor seats would be at risk.

Even Shorten isn’t that stupid... well, maybe he is that stupid because Labor’s powerbrokers rarely consider recent history.

Like Rudd, there was another Labor PM who was unceremoniously knifed in Office. People showed outrage and this time they weren’t busloads of paid backslappers.

Hundreds of thousands filled the capitals’ streets to declare their allegiance to the assassinated one. It seemed the whole nation was in outrage.

But when the nation came to vote it was jolted by massive memory recall. The reasons why this PM was killed off became crystal clear, the nation voted accordingly, and it was a Labor wipeout.

Could the assassinated Rudd’s chances be any different? Not really, but they could be much worse.

Whitlam was a statesman who had presence, vision and unfinished reforms to attend to. Rudd is an earwax-eating grubby public servant with a nasty history and women's hands who craves attention... and his Party detests him.

At least Whitlam’s Party was steadfastly behind him and even that wasn’t enough to attract the electorate. What hope does Rudd have to save some furniture? Zero and none.

Common sense dictates Rudd should never be reinstated but this is an ALP run by intellectually challenged unionists who have never entertained common sense.

If I was Abbott I would be wetting my pants with excitement at the prospect of a Rudd return... and if I was Shorten I would be shitting my pants at the very thought of it.
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Volumetric representation of water and atmospheric air, in spheres, in comparison to earth.
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Merle Haggard – The Fightin’ Side Of Me
- Music Video -

At this link:
http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/merle-haggard-the-fightin-side-of-me/
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Simple .. some metals like Gold are easily acquired in natural form .. no metal work needed .. ed
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The evidence keeps mounting against global warming extremism.

Award-winning NASA climate scientist Dr. Roy Spencer posted this graph which shows 73 climate computer models projecting a warmer Earth than real world observations from satellite and weather balloons show. 

Share this important information with everyone who needs the facts on global warming (including delegates to the UN climate conference in Bonn):http://www.cfact.org/2013/06/06/no-one-told-the-un-conference-that-theres-been-no-warming-for-16-years/

Details from Dr. Spencer at: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/06/still-epic-fail-73-climate-models-vs-measurements-running-5-year-means/
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Is the violin a part of your heritage? -http://bit.ly/18IOu0b
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Nachhauseweg - in the morning ~ Germany 
Also, check our updates on REAL MOTIVATION
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A memorial ceremony was held Thursday, 6 June 2013, on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem for Yonatan Netanyahu, who fell during the 1976 operation to rescue the hostages in Entebbe.

Members of the Netanyahu family, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon and security establishment heads attended the ceremony.

The brothers Benjamin and Ido Netanyahu recited Kaddish at Yoni's grave.

Ruth Gross spoke on behalf of the hostages: "Thirty-seven years have passed since the hijacking to Entebbe, since you Yoni have no longer been with us. You are no longer with us but your legacy and that of your comrades lives on with the next generation. You gave us life and we gave life to children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren."

Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO
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Tap, baby, tap? Hilarious: Dennis Miller shreds Obama over NSA surveillance as only he can ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/06/09/tap-baby-tap-hilarious-dennis-miller-shreds-obama-over-nsa-surveillance-as-only-he-can/
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This might come in handy someday. Share so you can go back to it when you need to.

Clothes – Hand sanitizer
Walls – Toothpaste or hairspray*
Carpet – White vinegar
Wood – Rubbing alcohol
Dry Erase Board- Dry erase marker

***Don’t scrub too hard with hairspray, you don’t want to remove the paint!

Join here for more >>> http://bit.ly/LoseItForever

http://bit.ly/ChangeYourLife4Ever
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Real Hollywood Heroes: The Gunny on Obama

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/real-hollywood-heroes-gunny-obama/

“I think we should rise up, and we should stop this administration from what they’re doing because they’re destroying this country.” R. Lee Ermey
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Via: en.www.lensart.ru
Take a tour of the world’s apparently robust supply of statues, buildings, and temples–and witness the surprising grandeur of dilapidation.

1. Christ of the Abyss, San Fruttuoso, Italy

(Italian: “Il Cristo degli Abissi”) is a submerged bronze statue of Jesus, of which the original is located in the Mediterranean Sea off San Fruttuoso between Camogli and Portofino on the Italian Riviera. It was placed in the water on 22 August 1954 at approximately 17 metres depth, and stands c. 2.5 metres tall. Various other casts of the statue are located in other places worldwide, both underwater and in churches and museums.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_of_the_Abyss
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Viewer discretion advised! Do not scroll down unless your brain is made of steel and your nerves are Teflon. Some people simply cannot stand optical illusions. For the rest of you: Check out the awesommmmmmmez.
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well (Psalm 139:14, NKJ)

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Larry Pickering
ONE MAN’S BOAT TRIP TO OZ

Esmail is a 22yo Iranian man. His family of four is considered middle class. His father, who works as an engineer for an Iranian oil company, decided to move his family to Australia but first Esmail had to get there using the services of an Indonesian people smuggler. This is how Esmail did it.

Esmail’s father had located a phone number in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was told to transfer $US10,000 to an Indonesian bank account and, once received, Esmail was to go by bus to Kabul where he would be met by a Pakistani man who would arrange for his passport and ID.

The cost of the ID would be $US3,000 and Esmail would need another $US4,000 for air fares and $US500 for his own expenses. He must take only a minimum of belongings.
All was arranged.

Esmail was met at the Kabul bus terminal and was taken by car with four other men to Jalalabad, close to the Pakistan border.

There, in a dirty office and along with the other men, Esmail was photographed, given a different birthdate (he didn’t understand why until later, but for now he would be 19). His new ID details were sent to Peshawar in Pakistan.

Esmail was then told that he must wait in Jalalabad until his passport was processed.

Ten days later the Pakistani man bundled Esmail and 14 other men of different nationalities into a van and drove over the border to Islamabad in Pakistan where Esmail gave the Pakistani $US4,000 for his airfare.

All the men were left at a staging point while the Pakistani man went to purchase the airfares. Soon the men were being driven to Islamabad airport and they were talking excitedly about the boat trip.

At the airport they were all given their new passports and air tickets and were told they would be landing in Bangkok, Thailand, where they would wait two hours in a transit lounge before flying to Jakarta where they would be met by an Indonesian man. All went as planned.

The first thing the Indonesian man did was collect all the passports. They were told they would be leaving without any ID. (Esmail understood the passports were sent back to the Pakistani forgers for reprocessing using different photographs.)

No-one complained as they were now completely at the mercy of the smugglers.

From Jakarta they were driven south for around four hours to a small coastal town and parked at another staging point where they were told some of them would be leaving the next day. Esmail was one of those who departed in the morning.

The sea trip was uneventful. The cramped boat stank of fumes and the toilets became blocked after a few hours. Fifty or more people, mostly men, took turns at cooking rice and bits of chicken soaked in salty water, much of which finished up overboard as half the occupants were seasick.

Esmail lost count of the days but the boat was soon being escorted to Christmas Island where he was interviewed for two hours and sent to a detention area.

A week later he was flown to Darwin where he was again interviewed, issued with a bridging visa, and flown to Melbourne.

Esmail is now on the Gold Coast, Queensland, sharing a flat with four bridging visa holders. He now has permanent residency and is studying English at school. He cannot work due to his poor English and intends to go to Griffith University next year.

He says he has no interest in Islam but claims he attends a local mosque (only to improve his English he explains). He has applied to have his family accepted under a family reunion provision but believes this may take years, if at all.

Now, I can’t say everything Esmail told me is true but one thing is certain, the level of sophistication in people smuggling has grown exponentially since Rudd dismantled our borders.

The route that Esmail took is just one of the many well-oiled ways for an illegal immigrant to get to Australia.

The pre-Abbott rush with the inevitable loss of life is set to continue and, interestingly, it appears that these passports are not chucked overboard as we have been told, but are returned to Pakistan for recycling.

I wonder if our insulated Canberra politicians understand what is really happening out there.
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Clint Eastwood Explains Chair Speech, Says Hollywood Conservatives are Intimidated (Video)

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/clint-eastwood-explains-chair-speech-says-hollywood-conservatives-are-intimidated-video/

The acting icon gives a bit more insight into his accidentally iconic RNC speech, and speaks about the quiet conservatives in show business.
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Don't provoke him - ed
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
PRAY ALONG.
Heavenly Father,I thank You for Your Word which lights my path and transforms my life. I choose today to turn my thoughts toward You. I choose today to meditate on Your Word and Your promises so that I can be empowered to live in the victory You have prepared for me. I thank You for Your Word which says that You have not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. I receive peace in my heart and mind and stand strong in faith knowing that the greater One lives in me in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Frederick I Barbarossa

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