Monday, November 11, 2013

Mon Nov 11th Todays News

Remembrance day affects people. Some have family connections with loss. Some not connected with a direct action, and yet all are part of a larger body which has endured loss. Endurance suggests continuity, and there is the rub. For we who stand, now is the time to reflect on those who cannot. Australians who participated in the First World War were volunteers. And yet not all so, for civilians got caught in the battles too. Some of the great poets of the age arose from the war. Some lost to it. All sacrificed much. Ginger Mick was a fictional character who asked for nothing from me. Yet I would give him his life if I could. He didn't want to be called a hero. Yet he died one. 
What can be said in such a sacred day of former PM Paul Keating branding ALP with a speech writer's words to associate with Remembrance Day? He did not write those words "He is one of them. He is all of us" for the unknown soldier. ALP don't have a proud history of governance with serving troops. Sacrificing many in Singapore, abandoning POWs, Union strikes organised to hinder troops, shaming soldiers who chose to fight. In recent years, Australia has been involved in her longest armed conflict in Afghanistan. Six years under the conservatives, and six years under the ALP. Forty deaths under the ALP, none under the conservatives. It is a compelling soccer score for people like Keating who view lives as a game through which ALP must triumph in memory. Probably it best to view Keating in paraphrased terms "He is one of them, against all of us"
Australian troops achieved much in WW1, but were quite humble. They didn't treasure awards, possibly disgusted at the reality and the cost which such things entailed. And what award compensates for the loss? I thank those who were awarded. They definitely earned it. As did many who never were given one. Some complain of the atrocities committed. Such things happen in war, but overwhelmingly, Australians fought with honour. I write 'Australians' and many might point out so many weren't, being from NZ, England, South Africa, PNG, India .. I know not the full allegiance, but I give them this gift. For the war ended at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month on 1918. Today, Australia has wounds from her local petty battles. We don't really know who is ridgy didge. Our future is clouded. And yet in freedom and liberty, we rule. People come to our land from places thousands of years rich in history. Risking all. Because of the sacrifice of those soldiers. They might not have had Australia in mind, and yet they gave her this rich gift. A bowl, drenched in their blood, giving us a drink of hope for tomorrow. 
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Kathy-Kim Pham. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
Matches
Despatches
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FORGETTERY DAY

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (12:05pm)

On Remembrance Day, Paul Keating doesn’t remember that Australia’s World War I soldiers were volunteers: 
Mr Keating said he was heartened that many young Australians find a sense of purpose in the Anzac legend.
“They are fortunately too wise to the world to be cannon fodder of the kind their young forebears became, young innocents who had little or no choice,” he said. 
Not so. By the way, “cannon fodder” could perhaps have been better expressed.
(Via CL)
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GOOD, GOOD, GOOD

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (3:44am)

Australia takes a stand
Federal cabinet has ruled that Australia will not sign up to any new contributions, taxes or charges at this week’s global summit on climate change …
The government’s document also says that Australia “will not support any measures which are socialism masquerading as environmentalism”. 
Yesterday’s people still cling to their dreams.
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THEY THINK OF THE CHILDREN

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (3:07am)

Climate crybabies usually tell us that they’re concerned about the world we’ll leave to our children or our children’s children. They’re currently upset about a new National Geographic online map that depicts Australia’s collapsing coasts 5000 years from now.
This means that the climate panic community is worried about our children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s children’s …

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DOOM CAPITAL EXCLUDED

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (2:54am)

Obamacare would never work in Adelaide, as the Boston Herald reports: 
The state website residents must use to sign up for Obamacare health plans is riddled with infuriating computer flaws that cut off people with hyphenated names and force others to falsely say they areprison inmates or mental patients before they can finish their applications, a Herald review found. 
Actually, the whole thing looks like it was designed by an Adelaidean.
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COMPLETE COVERAGE

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (2:02am)

A British terror suspect recently escaped surveillance by disguising himself in a burka. This tactic is catching on everywhere.
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LIGHTS, CAMERA, FAILURE

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (1:35am)

Julia Gillard was such a disaster as Prime Minister that her own party replaced her with someone despised by at least half the former government.
Naturally, that view isn’t shared by Australia’s creative community, who adored Gillard’s deceptive misogyny speech and thought her carbon tax lie was all in a good cause. According to film producer Richard Keddie, Gillard “wasextraordinarily successful in her performance as a Prime Minister.”
The polls somehow never reflected that extraordinary success, which is evidently measured by different methods within film circles. Labor lost 11 seats under Gillard in the 2010 election and Labor lost another 17 seats in September following three further years of Gillard’s extraordinarily successful leadership.
When next you hear anyone in the Australian film industry describing something as “successful”, keep in mind that to them this word clearly has an alternative meaning. Using the luvvie definition, Verema’s Melbourne Cup performance was an absolute triumph.

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PETE DOES BRANDING

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (1:01am)

Bless! Peter FitzSimons, a 52-year-old man who enjoys playing dress-ups, has now incorporated that head-sock of his into a site logo:

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Adorable! Pete also claims to be a “former radio presenter (very successfully)”.
Hmmm. Perhaps he’s using the luvvies’ definition
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STRAW MAN

Tim Blair – Monday, November 11, 2013 (12:56am)

Bovine bashing from Guardian greenoid John Abraham: 
The most vocal climate contrarians came of age in the 1960s and 1970s and perceive anything (particularly computer modeling) that developed after their hay day as inaccurate and unreliable. 
Kind of like the Guardian‘s subeditors.
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Should union members’ super funds really be invested in yet another Left-wing news outfit?

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (11:23am)


It’s one thing for rich benefactors to subsidise loss-making on-line news services that push the Leftist line. Greens donor Graeme Wood is perfectly entitled to splash his cash on the struggling Global Mail. Britain’s Scott Trust can squander the last of its cash on a Guardian Australia site.  And Fairfax is entitled to preach all day about the sins of Tony Abbott.
I’m less happy, of course, that taxpayers must also spend $1.1 billion a year for the ABC to run a virulently Left-wing news organisation, plus another $200 million for the Left-wing SBS. It is surely too much of a good thing that Labor made taxpayers also subsidise the Left-wing Conversation, now busily promoting an agenda very close to Labor’s own.
But has a line just been crossed? Surely this is a highly inappropriate use of the superannuation funds of union members, especially when the market for on-line Leftist journalism is now so very, very crowded:

Some of Australia’s biggest industry superannuation outfits are using member funds to quietly bankroll a new online news venture guided by Crikey backer Eric Beecher, with plans to promote the venture to their millions of members.
The site, to be named The New Daily, is set to launch this week – the latest entrant to an increasingly crowded online news field in Australia.
The industry super funds ploughing $3 million into the venture include AustralianSuper, the country’s biggest superannuation fund, United Super, the trustee of construction industry fund Cbus, and Industry Super Holdings, a company that owns various industry fund entities.
Former Age editor Bruce Guthrie is understood to be the site’s editor-in-chief. Several Labor, union, media and industry fund identities – including industry funds stalwart Garry Weaven, former Victorian premier Steve Bracks – are believed to be, or have recently been, connected to the venture.
The directors include former ACTU official Garry Weaven and former Labor Premier Steve Bracks. Guthrie is, of course, of the Left, as is Beecher.
By the way, note one critical difference. Conservative journalism tends to survive on the support of its audience. Leftist journalism tends to survive on the support of taxpayers and rich benefactors. 
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Tony Windsor and a lucky grant

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (11:17am)


That’s your money, folks, and that’s Tony Windsor, treated by so many anti-Abbott journalists as the conscience of the Gillard Parliament:

The former member for New England helped tee up a $23 million government grant for an abattoir in Inverell run by his constituent, the meat industry patriarch John “JR” McDonald.
Windsor’s former political advisor, John Clements, is now lobbying the Clean Energy Finance Corporation for another $23 million to match the abattoir grant. The grant was made by the Department of Industry in July - before the change of government - to the McDonald family’s Bindaree Beef meatworks to finance a project to turn bio-waste into clean energy.
Company searches show that, after the election, Clements and Windsor registered the company National Grain Marketing Pty Ltd. Clements now works with Bindaree.

Clements said on Friday he “had no idea Tony wasn’t running” (for Parliament again) until two weeks before he announced the grant in July.
“There was no job offer from Bindaree or ever any discussions until well after Tony announced he would not stand. The project was funded before Tony announced he would not stand,” Clements said.
Windsor said on Friday he had no commercial arrangement with Bindaree and was not a beneficiary of the grant, and BusinessDay is not suggesting he was.
Small world.
(Thanks to readers Foehn and Baden.) 
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Tweet of the week

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (11:15am)


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Memo to Fairfax: foreign aid isn’t there for our arts graduates

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (11:11am)


I thought AusAID was for helping the poor, not giving work to graduates. I also thought helping the poor was so noble that graduates wanting to do it shouldn’t expect to a very generous wage for their first-ever full-time job.
But to Fairfax reporters in a jihad against the Abbott Government, everything is grist to their mill:

AusAID graduate program axing hits students.
Melissa Smith was keen to work in the public service and was one of the select few who had been awarded a prestigious graduate placement with AusAID, the Australian government agency responsible for managing the country’s overseas aid program.
She was looking forward to starting her first job, paying $57,762, in February. That was until Thursday, when she learnt the program had been scrapped as part of the government’s $4.5 billion cut to the foreign aid budget.
(Thanks to reader Baden.) 
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Didn’t this academic hear Abbott say “no”?

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (9:39am)


For heaven’s sake. It’s one thing for academics on the taxpayer-funded Conversation to keep flogging the global warming scare. It’s another to not even know the most basic policy promises of the government they attack.
Michael Howes, a senior lecturer in Sustainability and Environmental Policy at Griffith University, brightly claims there’s a way for Tony Abbott to scrap the carbon tax and still impose a kind of, well, carbon tax without actually breaking an election promise:

Perhaps the Abbott government can solve its climate change problem by revisiting an old Coalition policy…
Direct action is not going to be efficient in terms of the cost per tonne of carbon dioxide reduced… The second problem for the government is that both the Labor party and the Greens are willing to block these policies in the senate…
The solution comes from the Coalition itself through one of the former Howard government’s policies… In 2007 the Howard government’s Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading recommended an ETS....
If this barrier could be breached, adopting the Howard version of an ETS would allow the government to keep its election promises.
Hmm. So Abbott should just give us an emissions trading scheme and pretend it’s not a tax - and keep all his promises.
Brilliant!
Apart from this - Abbott has already promised not to have an emissions trading scheme, either:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is scrapping the controversial carbon tax.... Labor would move to an emissions trading scheme by next July.
Tony Abbott accused Mr Rudd of trying to deceive Australians into believing he was backing away from a carbon tax…
‘’Mr Rudd can change the name but whether it is fixed or floating, it is still a carbon tax… Only the Coalition will do the right thing by families to reduce their cost of living by scrapping the carbon tax, lock, stock and barrel.’’
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Why can’t MPs keep it in the family?

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (8:56am)


GOOD news! The Abbott Government will change workplace laws, after all - laws that make it too hard for bosses to hire and fire.
Bad news! It will make it even harder for some bosses - for MPs, actually.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has finally decided to respond to a huge media beat-up about MPs expenses by cracking down.
I say beat-up because in weeks of campaigning by Fairfax newspapers, just $20,000 of expenses were identified that have since been repaid by embarrassed politicians.
(Read full article here.
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No boats in three weeks, Fairfax screams “shambles”

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (8:50am)

Boat people policy

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WOW, the beat-ups. The media’s many Abbott haters seem to really, really want the Abbott Government to fail. And to fail so badly that Labor’s last six years won’t seem such a disaster.
Just read the Sydney Morning Herald after Indonesia refused to take back more than 60 boat people rescued by an Australian warship from an Indonesian boat in Indonesian search-and-rescue territory.
“Once again the Abbott government has needlessly antagonised Indonesia,” declared the Fairfax paper’s national affairs editor.
“Attempting to return a vessel laden with asylum seekers to Indonesia at a time when the country is furious about Fairfax Media’s revelations of Australian spying activity across the archipelago was dumb.”
Pardon?
(Read full article here.
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Typhoon plus poverty equals destruction

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (8:09am)


The terrible tragedy in the Philippines shows poverty kills:

The death toll from the typhoon that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10000 people, officials said on Sunday.
The Philippines lie in a firing line for typhoons:

Haiyan is the fourth typhoon to hit the Philippines this year and the third Category 5 typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines since 2010, says meteorologist Jeff Masters of the Weather Underground…
There have been at least ten typhoons that have resulted in at least 1,000 deaths over the course of the past few centuries in the Philippines, said Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt.
“The Philippines lie in the most tropical cyclone-prone waters on Earth, and rarely escape a year without experiencing a devastating typhoon,” Masters said.
But Tacloban has many poor people without much protection, and flimsy houses had no chance:

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From the information trickling out of Tacloban over the weekend, with communication still down and all modes of transportation grounded, it looks like the city was pounded by a storm surge of about the same height. But no one died in Manila’s storm surge. In Tacloban, where many seafront houses were made of flimsy materials and there were few high-rises like those in Manila to absorb the impact of giant sea waves, Yolanda exacted a grievous toll.
Then there was sheer bad luck. There have been stronger cyclones before, but few if any in modern history that have hit a city at their peak:

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(UPDATE: The figure for wind speeds for Haiyan have been badly overestimated. See second update below.)

Note: the wind strengths in the graph referred to sustained wind speed, not gusts:

The highest recorded wind gust recorded in the Australian region is 408 km/h at Barrow Island (data courtesy of Chevron) during cyclone Olivia on 10 April 1996. This is a world record for the highest wind gust ever recorded eclipsing the previous record - 372 km/h at Mt Washington Observatory NH, USA on 12 April 1934.
UPDATE
It is shocking but not surprising that Bjorn Lomborg needs to point this out:

It is phenomenal. Climate campaigners like [John] Vidal in Guardian keeps arguing that the terrible typhoon Haiyan shows we need to do more about global warming.
Yet, even *after* Haiyan, the Accumulated Cyclone Energy of all cyclones in the Western North Pacific is below normal (99%, http://models.weatherbell.com/tropical.php). The global ACE is at 74%.
UPDATE
Reader Baa Humbug notes that some journalists and activists were too keen to announce the worst cyclone ever. From the New York Times:

Before the typhoon made landfall, some international forecasters were estimating wind speeds at 195 m.p.h, which would have meant the storm would hit with winds among the strongest recorded.

But local forecasters later disputed those estimates. “Some of the reports of wind speeds were exaggerated,” Mr. Paciente said.
The Philippine weather agency measured winds on the eastern edge of the country at about 150 m.p.h., he said, with some tracking stations recording speeds as low as 100 m.p.h.
UPDATE
It seems initial reports confused kilometres with miles, leading to wildly exaggerated claims of wind speeds of this “super typhoon”.
What the Philippine Met Agency actually reported:
image
What the Daily Mail and other outlets like CNN reported:
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Readers at Watts Up With That check with the Philippine Met Agency:

So at landfall the sustained wind was 235 kmh or 147 mph, with gusts up to 275 kmh or 171 mph. This is 60 mph less than the BBC have quoted.
The maximum strength reached by the typhoon appears to have been around landfall, as the reported windspeeds three hours earlier were 225 kmh (140mph).
Terrible though this storm was, it only ranks as a Category 4 storm, and it is clear nonsense to suggest that it is “one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall ”
Compare this to Cyclone Yasi, which hit rich Australia with stronger winds yet caused just one death - a man who suffocated in a shelter where a generator was running:

Tropical Cyclone Yasi was making landfall as a powerful Category Four cyclone with maximum sustained winds near 135 knots (155 mph/ 250 kmh) on Feb. 2, at 1500 UTC (10 a.m. EST/ 1 a.m. Australia local time on Feb. 3).

UPDATE
Reader Lisle detects more politicking over this tragedy:

Virginia Trioli was at her very worst this morning on ABC News24 Breakfast when she interviewed Robert Tickner, the head of Red Cross in Australia - and former Labor Federal MP. She set out to have him agree that because the new Australian Government had cut back on overseas aid, that this would prejudice any effort that Australians could make to assist to the Philippine disaster.
Each time she tried, the reply was that over the years all Australian governments had been very generous in such situations.
She persevered in her attempt, but finally had to say “what I am leading up to, is that by cutting out overseas aid, Australia would only be able to offer very little assistance.” Tickner indicated that this was not correct, because crisis money in a situation like the present one, was quite different to the concept of general overseas aid.
Same story, sadly, on ABC Radio National Breakfast.
I don’t think think I’ve ever heard the ABC more partisan as it’s been this past month.
Bottom line: the tragedy is overwhelming:
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To help:
Donations to World Vision’s appeal can be made on 13 32 40 or through the website.
To donate to UNICEF go online or call 1300 884 233.
Donations to Care Australia on 1800 020 046.
I expect and hope we’ll do more:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has offered the Philippines’ leader more disaster support after the devastating Typhoon Haiyan.

The government pledged almost $400,000 in immediate humanitarian aid after Haiyan slammed into the Philippines on Friday, killing more than 10,000 people.
But Mr Abbott says the government is prepared to do more.
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Sorting wheat from chaff in angst over Grain Corp

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (6:54am)


Henry Ergas says farmers aren’t stupid to worry about the proposed acquisition of GrainCorp by Archer Daniels Midland:

This company was at the centre of the lysine price-fixing conspiracy, which inflicted enormous harm on farmers worldwide and resulted in record fines and criminal convictions against three of ADM’s most senior executives. More recently, it has been tangled in corruption allegations, with its latest quarterly report doubling the provision it has made for penalties arising from probes by US government agencies.
And Washington’s free-market Cato Institute has characterised ADM as a rent-seeker “drunk on tax dollars” that, thanks to massive investments in ethanol, has derived 30 per cent to 40 per cent of its profits from taxpayers…
ADM ... will be juggling a wide range of competing priorities, including maintaining the flow of payoffs to farmers in the US congressional districts on which its lobbying prowess relies. And it is far from obvious Australian growers will emerge from that competition as winners.
That said, Ergas says Treasurer Joe Hockey should not knock back ADM’s bid:

There is, to begin with, little reason to believe GrainCorp can remain as it is… On the contrary, the Grain Growers Association, which should have the most to gain from GrainCorp’s independence, dumped its 8.5 per cent stake ...

The reality is that GrainCorp operates in an increasingly competitive environment… [Y]esterday’s soaring towers are being replaced by tarpaulin-covered bunkers, each reserved for a particular quality grade.
That dramatically reduces the investment required to bypass GrainCorp’s services, be it through on-farm storage, domestic demand from flour mills or feedlots or new storage providers. Growers are therefore less exposed to GrainCorp than they once were; and, should ADM hike its charges or reduce its service standards, it can expect to face a sharp market reaction, devaluing the $2.7 billion acquiring GrainCorp will have cost it.  
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Victorian Liberals slide

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (6:45am)


Voting for Tony Abbott might have made Victorians feel safer voting against the Liberals in the next state election:

Labor recorded a 53 per cent to 47 per cent two-party-preferred lead, aided by soft polling for the Nationals.
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Still, a good start in dismantling the warming scare

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (6:41am)


I wanted Christopher Pyne yesterday to be more frank about the global warming beat up, but this is not bad:
FEDERAL cabinet has ruled that Australia will not sign up to any new contributions, taxes or charges at this week’s global summit on climate change, in a significant toughening of its stance as it plans to move within days to repeal the carbon tax…
The government’s document also says that Australia “will not support any measures which are socialism masquerading as environmentalism”. 
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Gillard regrets not lying about her carbon tax lie. Trust women?

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (12:52am)


Talk about denial. One of her biggest regrets now is that she didn’t lie about the tax she imposed with a lie:
JULIA Gillard says the greatest regret of her government was not explaining to Australians why she toppled Kevin Rudd in 2010.
And “another bad error” had been effectively conceding the use of the term “carbon tax”, the former prime minister said today.
Neither would have saved her.
For a start, Gillard was absolutely right in March 2011 to work out that playing semantic games with what the public knew full well was in fact a carbon tax would just damn her more completely as a liar:

Julia Gillard during a press conference on Thursday:

People have heard a lot of debate about a carbon tax, and today can I say to Australians the debate that they are hearing about a carbon tax is a debate about what Tony Abbott calls a carbon tax . . .
Gillard’s presser yesterday:


Journalist: Does the climate change policy you’re about to announce include a carbon tax, you seemed a bit reluctant to talk about the tax side of things yesterday?
Gillard: Certainly not at all reluctant and very happy to explain the way carbon pricing will work. . . . whatever you want to call it, this isn’t about the terminology, whatever you want to call it, a carbon tax is temporary, an emissions trading scheme is permanent.
Journalist: You say it’s like a tax, but it is a tax, isn’t it?
Gillard: It works through a permit system, it’s the start up of getting ready for the emissions trading scheme, but I’m happy to say yes it works effectively like a tax. But the point here is with the design of the scheme, I’ve been working hard to ensure that the period of the carbon tax is as short as possible and we get to the emissions trading scheme.
Wayne Swan on ABC 612 yesterday:

Yes, some people call that a carbon tax and it can be called a carbon tax . . .
Gillard is just fantasising to claim she could have got away with denying the tax was a tax.
UPDATE
Gillard gives this chat about wishing she lied about her lie to a meeting of the Victorian Women’s Trust, which is an oxymoron in the circumstances.
The Trust repays her with a serenade, honoring a lie she told about Tony Abbott hating women.
Hmm. Is the Victorian Women’s Trust actually determined to destroy trust in Victorian women? 
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Sniffles Palmer contemplates giving Parliament a miss

Andrew Bolt November 11 2013 (12:10am)


I never thought the people of Fairfax would get much service from their new member:

MINING magnate and federal MP Clive Palmer could call in sick for his first week of parliament after coming down with a cold.
The Queensland businessman failed to front for a scheduled interview with Network Ten’s Meet the Press today.
When contacted for the reason behind his no-show, an ill-sounding Mr Palmer advised he had a cold.
Mr Palmer said he couldn’t guarantee he would be in Canberra for his first day of federal parliament on Tuesday, saying he would see a doctor in the meantime.   
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The Bolt Report today

Andrew Bolt November 10 2013 (12:37pm)


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A strong confrontation of the "blame Israel" industry.
“The basic assumption is apparently that only Israeli policies must have caused anti-Semitism in the region. Whatever contradicts this axiom of being ‘politically correct’ – i.e., Israel is guilty – is not taken into consideration. This is not only a result of being uninformed. It is an expression of active and conscious targeted ignorance – the corruption of scholarship and truth.”
The Continuing Nazi Influence on Arab Attitudes - Op-Eds - Israel National News
Interview with political scientist, Dr. Matthias Kuentzel: "Nazi influence upon the Middle East is nevertheless almost systematically overlooked by Middle East and Islam scholars." Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
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Very strong statement about the settlements and about the biased and hurtful basis of Secretary Kerry's threats to and blackmail of Israel.
Hurray! for Ambassador Baker.

Please call your congress/lawmakers. Now is the time. Vitally important letter from Former Israeli Ambassador and law expert, Alan Baker, to US Secretary of State, John Kerry. This letter takes Kerry to task for misuse of language to falsely position Israel and the d...
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Prominent figures from a number of Gulf and other Arab states are meeting secretly with Netanyahu of Israel because they afraid Iran will be allowed by US's Kerry and Obama to build bombs and the entire ME will be the first victims.
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"I hope all you Obama supporters enjoy having a traitor in office! You voted for the bastard, and now you have what you richly deserve! Understand well! When push comes to shove, WE'LL NUKE THE PERSIAN BASTARDS WITHOUT BATTING AN EYE. 

Our survival here in Israel means more to us than your piece of shit "president". When your dollar goes down the drain, so do you. There will be NO SYMPATHY from me!

I understand why the Republican establishment is going after the "Tea Party", by the way. The Tea Party is exposing them for the ball-less cowards they are..."
Reuven Kossover
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Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו's photo. 5 minutes ago Over the weekend I spoke with US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron. I told the
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****PLEASE DO NOT FORGET ****....We are very excited to welcome back Aryel Tsion to Dublin. Cannot wait for his visit .We really enjoyed last year,it was so inspiring. Please if you are available on that evening,do come. Aryel is a great guy and does amazing work in Israel, he truly is a pleasure to listen to. You will really enjoy it ,I can ensure you of that. Here are the details . See you there 
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November 11Armistice Day in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Serbia; Remembrance Day in theCommonwealthIndependence Day in Angola (1975) andPoland (1918); Veterans Day in the United States
Gottfried Leibniz
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“God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’”Job 37:5-6 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The eternal God is thy refuge."
Deuteronomy 33:27
The word refuge may be translated "mansion," or "abiding- place," which gives the thought that God is our abode, our home. There is a fulness and sweetness in the metaphor, for dear to our hearts is our home, although it be the humblest cottage, or the scantiest garret; and dearer far is our blessed God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. It is at home that we feel safe: we shut the world out and dwell in quiet security. So when we are with our God we "fear no evil." He is our shelter and retreat, our abiding refuge. At home, we take our rest; it is there we find repose after the fatigue and toil of the day. And so our hearts find rest in God, when, wearied with life's conflict, we turn to him, and our soul dwells at ease. At home, also, we let our hearts loose; we are not afraid of being misunderstood, nor of our words being misconstrued. So when we are with God we can commune freely with him, laying open all our hidden desires; for if the "secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," the secrets of them that fear him ought to be, and must be, with their Lord. Home, too, is the place of our truest and purest happiness: and it is in God that our hearts find their deepest delight. We have joy in him which far surpasses all other joy. It is also for home that we work and labour. The thought of it gives strength to bear the daily burden, and quickens the fingers to perform the task; and in this sense we may also say that God is our home. Love to him strengthens us. We think of him in the person of his dear Son; and a glimpse of the suffering face of the Redeemer constrains us to labour in his cause. We feel that we must work, for we have brethren yet to be saved, and we have our Father's heart to make glad by bringing home his wandering sons; we would fill with holy mirth the sacred family among whom we dwell. Happy are those who have thus the God of Jacob for their refuge!

Evening

"It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master."
Matthew 10:25
No one will dispute this statement, for it would be unseemly for the servant to be exalted above his Master. When our Lord was on earth, what was the treatment he received? Were his claims acknowledged, his instructions followed, his perfections worshipped, by those whom he came to bless? No; "He was despised and rejected of men." Outside the camp was his place: cross-bearing was his occupation. Did the world yield him solace and rest? "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." This inhospitable country afforded him no shelter: it cast him out and crucified him. Such--if you are a follower of Jesus, and maintain a consistent, Christ-like walk and conversation--you must expect to be the lot of that part of your spiritual life which, in its outward development, comes under the observation of men. They will treat it as they treated the Saviour--they will despise it. Dream not that worldlings will admire you, or that the more holy and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceably people will act towards you. They prized not the polished gem, how should they value the jewel in the rough? "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" If we were more like Christ, we should be more hated by his enemies. It were a sad dishonour to a child of God to be the world's favourite. It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout "Well done" to the Christian man. He may begin to look to his character, and wonder whether he has not been doing wrong, when the unrighteous give him their approbation. Let us be true to our Master, and have no friendship with a blind and base world which scorns and rejects him. Far be it from us to seek a crown of honour where our Lord found a coronet of thorns.
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Today's reading: Jeremiah 48-49, Hebrews 7 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 48-49

A Message About Moab
1 Concerning Moab:
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
“Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined.
Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured;
the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered.
2 Moab will be praised no more;
in Heshbon people will plot her downfall:
‘Come, let us put an end to that nation.’
You, the people of Madmen, will also be silenced;
the sword will pursue you.
3 Cries of anguish arise from Horonaim,
cries of great havoc and destruction.
4 Moab will be broken;
her little ones will cry out.
5 They go up the hill to Luhith,
weeping bitterly as they go;
on the road down to Horonaim
anguished cries over the destruction are heard.
6 Flee! Run for your lives;
become like a bush in the desert.
Since you trust in your deeds and riches,
you too will be taken captive,
and Chemosh will go into exile,
together with his priests and officials.
8 The destroyer will come against every town,
and not a town will escape.
The valley will be ruined
and the plateau destroyed,
because the LORD has spoken.
9 Put salt on Moab,
for she will be laid waste;
her towns will become desolate,
with no one to live in them....

Today's New Testament reading: Hebrews 7

Melchizedek the Priest
1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
4 Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! 5 Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham. 6 This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. 9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, 10 because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor....
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Abiathar

[Ăbī'athär] - father of superfluity orexcellent fatherSon of Ahimelechand the eleventh high priest in succession from Aaron (1 Sam. 22:20-22; 23:6, 9).
Abiathar escaped and fled to David in the cave of Adullam when Doeg the Edomite slew his father and eighty-five priests. He went back to Jerusalem with the Ark when David fled from Absalom. He was joint high-priest with Zadok and conspired to make Adonijah king. He rebelled against David in his old age, was spared by Solomon for the sake of his first love, but dismissed from office for his treachery at the last.
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November 10, 2011
Grandma's Hands
Today's Truth
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy (Proverbs 31:20, NIV).
Friend to Friend
On a shelf in my living room sits a black-and-white photograph of a young girl taken in the early 1900s. Her hair is pulled back with an oversized bow peeking from behind the edges of her head. Her dress is typical of the times, with puffed sleeves and a brimming lace collar resting on her shoulders. She isn't smiling, and she appears to be somewhat awkward, timid, and, I dare say, even afraid. This is a picture of Grandmother Anderson on her wedding day. She was 14 years old.
As I gaze at this amazing woman who bore 12 children and miscarried 11 others, I am always drawn to her hands. Hanging uncomfortably at her side are hands that seem much too large for her petite frame. "Anderson hands," my mother calls them. I surmise that God must have known this little lady would need a big heart and big hands to embrace all that life would send her way.
Like Grandmother Anderson, all mothers need big hearts and big hands. A mother's hands grip the bed rail in pain in the delivery room and then gently caress a newborn for the first time. Before long, those hands are changing diapers, washing bottoms and faces, cleaning spit-up, wiping tears, rocking sleepyheads, and placing babies in a crib. Then they are holding a toddler's chubby hand and grabbing him to keep him out of harm's way. Tossing a ball, preparing holiday dinners, setting a festive table, tying packages for birthday parties and Christmas presents. Coloring and cutting out shapes in workbooks. Picking up leaves and bugs for collections.
Pushing a swing and letting go of a bike as a child first learns to peddle on his own. Sewing party dresses and mending torn baseball jerseys, washing scraped knees and spooning out medicine. Holding the sweaty palm of an awkward adolescent while dancing around the den, tying the knot of a necktie and pinning on a boutonniere for a first party. Writing letters to children away at camp, or folding hands in prayer asking for the Lord's protection while they are away. Tightly grasping the steering wheel while chauffeuring children from one place to the next or gripping the seat as a teen learns how to drive.
Hands that wave goodbye as a son drives off to college and hands that adjust a cherished daughter's wedding veil. A mother's hands are loving hands, disciplining hands, grieving hands, protecting hands, and providing hands. They embrace the child and then, when the child is ready, she opens them and lets them go.
Take a look at your hands today and ask God how He would have you use them. If you are are mom, thank God for all the ways He lets you use your hands to bless your children. If you are not a mom, thank God for all the hands that He has used to bless you.
Let's PrayDear Lord, thank You for holding me always in the palm of Your hands. I pray today that I will use my hands for good: to help a child, to give a hug, to pat a back, to cook a meal, to touch with kindness, to caress with love. I lift up my hands to praise You and fold them in prayer to intercede.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn
Additional Scripture Reading: Proverbs 31:10-31

Today, take a good look at your hands. Think about your hands. Thank God for your hands. Throughout the day, make a list of all the ways God allows you to use your hands to minister to other people. Let's make a list! Visitwww.facebook.com and share how you used your hands to bless others today. Don't be shy! This will be fun. You can also list how someone else used her hands to bless you.
More from the GirlfriendsDo you find yourself longing to hear God's voice - not as a once-in-a-lifetime experience but on a daily basis? If so, Sharon's new 15-Minute Devotional book, Listening to God Day-by-Day,will help you do just that. It is an expanded version of the smaller book, Extraordinary Moments with God. In it you will find 100 devotions to help you become a woman who detects God's still small voice in all of life. This is a warm, fun, tender look at recognizing some of the wonderful and unexpected ways God reaches out to us in the middle of our everyday life. And if you are a mom who needs some encouragement today, see Sharon's book, Being a Great Mom-Raising Great Kids. 
Seeking God?
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P.O. Box 725
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Glynnis Whitwer
November 10, 2011
Feeling Trapped
Glynnis Whitwer
"Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress." Psalm 107:13 (NIV)
Feeling trapped, with no way out, is a horrible place to be. I know. I've been there several times in the past few years.
When the housing market crashed in my hometown, our family-owned consulting firm almost crashed along with it. Contracts were canceled, potential jobs shriveled, credit maxed and investments bombed. Most of the trouble was out of our control, but some was from our unwise decisions.
One month dragged into another. Some weeks we barely squeaked by. I didn't lose my faith in God's provision, as He took care of our basic needs. But His timing to pull us out of the depths of our trouble was not mine. I cried out for a quick fix; He had another plan.
Before help came, God let us sit in the mess for a long time. In fact, we had to sit in a place of helplessness for longer than we wanted. All of our previous abilities to help ourselves were gone. Places that had previously been willing to extend a helping hand weren't able to help. At times it felt like we had been abandoned. Was it because of something we had done? Maybe our unwise choices? Questions abounded.
But then God stepped in. And because we'd been sitting in that mess so long, our gratitude doubled. We clearly saw His hand at work. In hindsight, if we'd been able to help ourselves, we would have patted ourselves on the backs at our cleverness. Now, God gets all the glory.
You may be trapped right now and wondering if God will rescue you. Maybe you've made bad choices. Perhaps you have disqualified yourself from being saved. If that's you, then I've got good news. No matter if your situation is of your own making or someone else's, God cares and has a plan to save you.
Psalm 107 sings this truth. In this amazing passage we learn of God's faithfulness to people in all kinds of difficult places: deserts, darkness and the foolishness of their deeds. Yet no matter where they were or what they had done, when they cried to God, He heard them. And He hears us today.
This Psalm isn't just literature. It's a message from the faithful of old, to the faithful of today. It was captured in writing so that when we feel lost, trapped, overwhelmed and afraid, we would read it and believe ... believe that the God who brought deliverance then, will do so today.
Here's just a portion of that scripture. When you have time, please read the entire passage. Psalm 107:10-13(NIV):
Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains, because they rebelled against God's commands and despised the plans of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
God specializes in rescuing the trapped - no matter how they got there. He did it for me and He will do it for you.
Dear Lord, You alone know the fullness of my desperate situation. You know how trapped I feel right now. I haven't done everything perfectly, and I confess my rebellious ways. Lord, You said if we called out to You in our distress, You would answer. So I'm calling out now. Please help. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:Visit Glynnis' blog for encouragement in tough situations, and how Glynnis has learned to pray differently because of those difficult times.
If you need some practical help in bringing order to your life, consider I Used to Be So Organized by Glynnis Whitwer.
When you purchase resources through Proverbs 31 Ministries, your purchase supports the many areas of hope-giving ministry we provide at no cost. We can't compete with prices offered by huge online warehouses, therefore, we are extremely grateful for each and every purchase you make with us. Thank you!
Application Steps:
If you are in a desperate situation right now, first make sure everything is right between you and God. Humbly confess any wrong thoughts, words or deeds. Then pray and ask God for help.
Reflections:
Has God ever let me sit in a difficult place for longer than I wanted to sit? What did I learn during that time?
Why is our humility an important component to God's rescue of us?
Power Verses:
Psalm 107
© 2011 by Glynnis Whitwer. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
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Word Choice

This week's reading: Proverbs 15:1–15
The ability to master our mouths, watch our words and tame our tongues demonstrates a level of spiritual and emotional maturity. The opposite is true as well. An inability to control our speech shows immaturity, and it can inflict great harm on our relationships.
Solomon addresses the importance of controlling our words by contrasting positive and negative speech. In each case, the effects end up as opposites: peacefulness or wrath, knowledge or folly, healing or a crushed spirit. In other words, when we fail to control our tongue, we don’t just fail to give, or be, a blessing. We also cause a wound that can rupture a relationship.
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author of Words That Hurt, Words That Heal, states that he asks audiences whether they can go 24 hours without saying any unkind words about or to anyone. Invariably, a few people answer “yes,” but most call out “no!” He responds, “Those who can’t answer ‘yes’ have a serious problem. If you can’t go 24 hours without drinking liquor, you’re addicted to alcohol. If you can’t last 24 hours without smoking, you’re addicted to nicotine. And if you can’t make it 24 hours without saying unkind words about others, you’ve lost control of your tongue.”
How can you tell whether your tongue is under control? You won’t say anything about an individual that you can’t say directly to that person. You resist the urge to exaggerate. You consciously examine your thoughts and remove gossip and rumors from your conversations. You keep in confidence a personal matter that someone else shares with you. Further, you learn to speak positive words. Appropriate words communicate affirmation, comfort and healing.
When was the last time you said something to another person that you instantly regretted? Maybe it was something intended as a joke that was instead taken as an offense, or perhaps it was a sharp word spoken in anger that you wish you could have taken back. Think of a specific situation, and then challenge yourself to rectify the hurt. While you may not be able to take back the words themselves, you can humbly submit yourself to that person and begin to rebuild the relationship.

To Take Away

  • Do you think most men struggle with controlling their words? Why or why not?
  • How would others evaluate your speech? Would they say that your words more frequently heal or wound?
  • What steps can you take to gain tighter control over your tongue?
Recommended Reading: Psalm 34:13–14; James 3:1–12
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New Men's Devotional BibleToday's reading is from theNew Men's Devotional Bible
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The New Men's Devotional Biblehelps apply God's Word to a new generation of Christian men. It includes a full year of all-new devotions by well-known and not-so-well-known men of God.


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What Was Jesus' Self-Identity?

Today's reading: Matthew 16:13-20
Jesus could be a bit mysterious about his identity. He tended to shy away from forthrightly proclaiming to be the Messiah or the Son of God. Though some people read into his mysterious statements, there were very good reasons for him to remain vague. New Testament scholar Dr. Ben Witherington III addresses this topic straight on: "If he had simply announced, 'Hi, folks; I'm God,' that would have been heard as 'I'm Yahweh,' because the Jews of his day didn't have any concept of the Trinity. They only knew of God the Father-whom they called Yahweh-and not God the Son or God the Holy Spirit.
"So if someone were to say he was God, that wouldn't have made any sense to them and would have been seen as clear-cut blasphemy. And it would have been counterproductive to Jesus in his efforts to get people to listen to his message.
"Besides, there were already a host of expectations about what the Messiah would look like, and Jesus didn't want to be pigeonholed into somebody else's categories. Consequently, he was very careful about what he said publicly. In private with his disciples-that was a different story, but the Gospels primarily tell us about what he did in public."

Adapted from interview with Dr. Ben Witherington III.
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Today's reading is from theThe Case for Christ Study Bible
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Investigate the Bible's most compelling claims: the existence of a compassionate God and the promise of eternal life through His Son, Jesus.


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