Saturday, April 05, 2014

Sat Apr 5th Todays News

John Tran wrote
Quote from Tacitus: “the more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” Dear Members, If you are wondering if there are a list of rules on this site, I have found that there is not a list, but there are expectations of common behavioural standards. One such standard is that the admin of this page assume members are adults and should act like such. The other common standard is that we would like the discussion page to be family friendly, it doesn’t always happen, but the idea is to refine your expression so that an adult discussion can be followed. Similarly, goading others into personal character attacks, and claiming to be a victim of continuous attacks on one discussion thread may hold merit, but may also end up with the admin of this page seeing through such claims.
Many thanks John. Also on this day in 1566, 200 Dutch nobleman led by the Big Beggar, Hendrik van Brederode, forced themselves onto the presence of the Governor of the Netherlands and presented a petition of compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. Whereupon it was suspended and a petition was sent to Spain. It is difficult to understand these things with modern sensibilities. One might hear a Monty Python take on the issue, but it was more serious than that. The issue was political and suggests a change of the guard during the eighty year war. Anyone wanting an insight into life of the time should check out the movie "The Last Valley" which is set in 1637. 

For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/nsw-premier-barry-o-farrell-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball?
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Faz Musharate and Catherine Olwyn Ball. Born on the same day, across the years. 1961 Newcastle for Cathy ..
Matches
Despatches
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STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 05, 2014 (3:27am)

Wild-eyed warmist Bill McKibben calls for a climate scientist strike: 
At this point it’s absurd to keep asking the scientific community to churn out more reports. In fact, it might almost be more useful if they went on strike: until you pay attention to what we’ve already told you, we won’t be telling you more …

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Down tools, warmist workers of the world!

Because it’s perfectly clear by now that you can’t scare politicians with the news that the world is ending. 
McKibben’s piece was published by MSNBC, which evidently is comfortable running his line about the end of the world. Leftist media is now deeper than ever in crazy old man territory.
As for the strike, go for it. Let’s make it global. Australian taxpayers will be grateful for the savings.
UPDATE. The strikers will have to stop lying.
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THE SUN ISN’T THE ONLY THING SINKING IN THE WEST

Tim Blair – Saturday, April 05, 2014 (3:17am)

Today’s Senate election in Western Australia could deliver the final blow to Labor’s idiotic carbon tax. Here’s where the issue stood just three years ago:



WA readers are invited to provide updates.
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STOP! GRAMMAR TIME

Tim Blair – Friday, April 04, 2014 (8:23pm)

Count the errors in this Richard Ackland sentence: 
The senior brass at Fairfax, no doubt have something up their french cuffed sleaves. 
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Barry Cohen: the law should not make this debate so dangerous

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (11:39am)

Free speech

Former Labor Minister Barry Cohen, himself Jewish, says the Racial Discrimination Act is a dangerous limitation on free speech:

Much of our legislation is designed to shut people up instead of widening the debate and have important issues placed under public scrutiny. No better example exists than the definition of who is an Aborigine. I have never witnessed a debate where people are as terrified of stating their views. Ask Andrew Bolt. Almost anything one says can be branded as racist.
You don’t think so? Let’s start with a few more of the more obvious ones.
A person states they are Aboriginal but doesn’t look remotely like one. Their skin is as white as snow, their features are Anglo-Celtic and they have little if any knowledge of Aboriginal history, culture and language. They can take their place in society without fear of racial vilification. What assistance should be provided to those whose great-great-grandparents suffered bru­tality, hum­iliation and deprivation in the 19th century? Despite them showing no signs of Aboriginal descent and no longer being publicly discriminated against, should they be compensated for injustices perpetrated a century ago? When they have had a good education, healthcare, housing and social justice, and are free of persecution, should they and their children continue to receive compensation for injustices that occurred in the distant past?
If we do believe that, why stop at Aborigines? Why not take up the cause of the millions who have been similarly treated in their countries of origin? Of course it’s ridiculous. All of the above should be assisted only on the basis of need — black, brown or brindle. It’s called equality.
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The bruvvers, united, will always give each other nice contracts

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (11:31am)

Perfectly legal, and yet it stinks. That is members’ money, folks:
FORMER NSW Labor powerbroker and senator Mark Arbib was paid more than $60,000 by the now jailed Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson for a six-month consultancy between leaving his job as the party’s state secretary and taking a seat in federal parliament. 

Williamson authorised the payment of four cheques to Mr Arbib totalling $61,600 when he employed him between January 2008 and July that year.
The revelation that Williamson hired the influential former party secretary and national convener of the ALP’s dominant Right faction comes a week after the disgraced union chief was sentenced to five years’ jail for defrauding his low-paid members of almost $1 million.
At the time of hiring Mr Arbib, Williamson’s corruption was not publicly known, and payments made to Mr Arbib were legal transactions recorded in the HSU’s accounts. But the job Williamson gave to Mr Arbib is an indication of the patronage and power network that operated between the ALP and its key trade union backers, and how Williamson may have used that network to further his own political ambitions.
Nine months after Mr Arbib entered the Senate, Williamson was elected unopposed as ALP national president.
When in Canberra as an MP Arbib stayed in a unit leased by Williamson’s daughter, then working for Prime Minister Julia Gillard:
Mr Arbib told The Weekend Australian he paid his share of rent for the Canberra flat directly to Ms Williamson’s bank account because, as far as he knew, the lease was in her name and she had rented the flat before he moved in.
The Weekend Australian has confirmed the apartment was owned by a Canberra resident with no known connection to Ms Williamson or Mr Arbib.
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How juvenile can Fairfax get?

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (11:14am)

I gave several other examples just the other day, and here’s the latest from The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.  Did Fairfax journalists get a memo insisting that every story on Tony Abbott be decorated with the most gratuitously unflattering picture they can find?:
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Fairfax wants silly? Why not have a competition to spot the mistakes in a single sentence from Herald columnist Richard Ackland.  
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Hanson-Young takes offence at having the law explained

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (11:07am)

Child Senator Sarah Hanson-Young does not only support laws which dangerously restrict our freedom to debate issues she deems too sensitive. She also doesn’t much like being corrected even in a Senate committee by a public servant patiently explaining the law:
Who the hell does she think she is?
(Thanks to reader Les.) 
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What else does warmist Tony Jones not know?

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (10:30am)

A strange passage in the debate between ABC host Tony Jones, a fervent warmist, and Clive Palmer, who wants the carbon tax gone:
CLIVE PALMER: In New Zealand, they’ve got a fart tax because sheep give out the most methane. They’ve introduced things like that …
TONY JONES: Yeah, that’s not – well that’s not carbon, that’s methane.
Is Jones, who campaigns so stridently for the global warming cause, really unaware that methane is a far more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide?
America’s EPA:
Methane (CH4) is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted in the United States from human activities. In 2011, CH4 accounted for about 9% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Methane is emitted by natural sources such as wetlands, as well as human activities such as leakage from natural gas systems and the raising of livestock. Natural processes in soil and chemical reactions in the atmosphere help remove CH4 from the atmosphere. Methane’s lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than carbon dioxide (CO2), but CH4 is more efficient at trapping radiation than CO2. Pound for pound, the comparative impact of CH4 on climate change is over 20 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period.
(Thanks to reader Harry.) 
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If we let in this man, who on earth do we block?

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (10:17am)

Yet again I ask: who is minding the door?
Father-of-three Wassim Assafiri, 35, has been rejected for citizenship a third time because of his criminal history…
He was on Centrelink benefits when arrested in 2005 after a bank officer noticed the driver’s licence he was using to send $200,000 to Lebanon was false…

Assafiri arrived­ in Australia from Lebanon in July 2002, with wife Ghazwa Baltaji, a Lebanese-born Australian citizen. He was granted residency in March 2005.
In 2006 he was jailed for three years and nine months — reduced on appeal to one year and five months — after pleading guilty to three counts of money laundering, possessing money believed to be the proceeds of crime and making 19 false statements…
Ms Toohey said “at some point” after being released from jail in February 2008, he was assessed by Centrelink as eligible for a disability support pension on the grounds of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms “although he did not meet the diagnostic criteria for this condition"…
He is still on a disability support pension — which begins at $577.40 a fortnight — while working part-time as a driver with a kitchen company and doing voluntary work at a mosque.
Who let him in?
Who failed to throw him out?
Who gave him benefits the first time, when he was fit and able to indulge in criminal activity?
Who gave him benefits this time, when he is fit and able to work as a truck driver and volunteer - and did not meet the eligibility criteria?
Whose interests are being protected here?
(Thanks to reader chriss.) 
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The racism of “anti-racist” crusaders against free speech

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (9:58am)

Q&A panelist Mona Eltahawy last Monday indulged in the fashionable racism of the anti-racist:
[The] people who go on the most about freedom of expression and it’s my right to say this and my right to say that are usually old, rich, white men who parade under the term libertarian. And what it ends up basically meaning is: I have the right to be a racist and sexist shit ..
They have deep pockets, these libertarian, you know, old rich white men… This is why I am bringing in the rich, old, white men… I don’t have rich - you know, rich, old, white men who are racist who are going to provide the money for this.
Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson:
[On] last Monday night’s episode of ABC1’s Q&A, the “human rights” panel unsurprisingly debated the Abbott government’s proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act…
But there is an insidious argument now creeping into the debate: that free speech protects “old rich white men”.
Getting past the obvious hypocrisy of using race and gender-based abuse to defend a law that seeks to outlaw unjust prejudice, the intention of the argument is that “old white rich men” have both money and power to communicate their views and therefore restrictions on their speech are justified to make things fairer for those who are weaker…
But it is actually a dangerous argument for censorship. First, it misrepresents what the universal human right to free speech is. Free speech is for everyone....
[This] is a deliberate tactic to dehumanise and delegitimise the opinion of anyone who doesn’t conform to identity-based politics and fit into a minority group.
Putting aside Monday night’s silliness, this attitude was amply demonstrated on an episode of Q&A a few weeks earlier where Lisa Wilkinson asked Attorney-General, George Brandis, if his position on 18C was based on being a “white, able-bodied, heterosexual male”?
I’d add that stopping an “old rich white male” from speaking also means stopping many other people, not necessarily rich, white or male, from hearing and deciding an argument for themselves. It is to treat people as fundamentally stupid, to be trusted only with the news and views that a political class deems fit.
It is the mindset, in short, of the totalitarian. 
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Why can’t the ABC find conservative talent when Sky can?

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (9:26am)

Gerard Henderson on the refusal of the ABC to fix a bias that is against the state-broadcaster’s charter:
[ABC managing director Mark] Scott sees fit to offer gratuitous comments on the commercial media while presiding over a public broadcaster that does not employ one conservative presenter, producer or editor for any of its prominent television, radio or online outlets. One ABC board member has said privately that board members have been advised that there are no qualified conservatives for such positions...
How strange. Why, then, has the commercially successful Sky News managed to find what the ABC boss declares he can’t? Sky’s most popular show is hosted by Paul Murray, not actually a conservative but certainly not a man of the Left as are the ABC’s more recently appointed presenters - Jonathan Green, Waleed Aly, Ellen Fanning, Julian Morrow and so on. Sky hosts also included Chris Kenny, recently vilified on ABC as a “dog f...er” and shown in a doctored picture sodomising a dog. Yesterday Sky News tried out as a fill-in host former Liberal MP Ross Cameron. One of its regular commentators is the highly articulate Rowan Dean, my guest on tomorrow’s Bolt Report.  It’s just signed up Peter Reith.
Why is Sky able to find the conservatives Mark Scott tells his board just don’t exist? And why does the board continue to take Scott at his word, and continue to permit this flagrant breach of the ABC’s charter?
Is Scott in denial, is he lazy or is he just not being frank? Henderson continues:

In this year’s AN Smith Lecture, Scott once again went into denial — boasting that the ABC remains the most trusted and respected source of news and inform­ation in the country. This simply ignores the recent opinion polls that demonstrate that a significant proportion of Coalition voters regard the ABC as biased or politically imbalanced: 35 per cent according to Newspoll and 46 per cent according to AC Nielsen.
This is a serious problem, which Scott refuses to acknowledge. Not surprisingly, Greens voters are the most supportive of the ABC.
The ABC receives $1.1 billion a year from taxpayers to run Australia’s biggest media organisation by far. In exchange it has a very important duty - to ensure balance. It is not just failing that duty but actively betraying it.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Labor fears its about-to-be Senator will help Tony Abbott

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (9:12am)

Labor has good reason to fear Joe Bullock, its lead Senate candidate in today’s rerun Senate election in Western Australia:
Senior Labor MPs told The Weekend Australian yesterday they feared that the deeply ­conservative [Joe] Bullock would resign from the party to sit on the crossbenches after he arrived in Canberra, a move that would boost Tony Abbott’s ability to pass key legislation…
Labor MPs scrambled to defend Mr Bullock publicly, but ­privately admitted it was impossible to disendorse him only a day before the election.
Several of the MPs predicted he would be ostracised in the federal caucus if, as expected, he wins a Senate seat today."Canberra is a very, very lonely place,” said one federal Labor MP from Western Australia."If Joe is ostracised by everyone in the Labor Party, then he can’t have any impact (and) if that means sitting on the cross-benches, he will give that ­consideration.”
Another MP said: “I don’t think he’ll do a (Mal) Colston and do a formal deal with the Libs, but I do think it’s possible that he will sit on the cross-benches.”
And why wouldn’t he, given the views he passed on last year in a dinner speech?:
I think Tony Abbott could potentially be a very good Prime Minister.
Why not, when he has such contempt for Labor figures such as his running mate, Louise Pratt.
A lesbian I think although after her partner’s sex change I can’t be quite sure, but I think she’s a lesbian. So she’s a key spokesperson for that persuasion. And they were very keen to see that a person like me couldn’t get into the senate.
Why not, when he thinks Labor has sold out the working man and woman:
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But more importantly, why wouldn’t he sit on the crossbenches in the Senate, rather than allow a Labor and Greens bloc to paralyse this country for the next two years?
Hear some of the Bullock comments on my show last night (audio courtesy of The Australian.)
UPDATE
I still think the Coalition will hang on to its three WA Senate seats, but might go backwards if the sixth seat falls to Clive Palmer or someone even less friendly:
But most others think Abbott will go backwards - which means a virtually gridlocked Senate for the rest of his term:
At the federal election last year, the Liberals won three Senate seats in the west and held those seats in the recounts after challenges from the Greens.
On the other side of the Senate ticket, the winners were a combination of the ALP, the Greens and PUP…
(S)enior party sources from the Liberal and Labor parties were suggesting the most likely scenarios from their respective positions as: two Liberal and two ALP senators elected first with a Greens next and then a fight for the sixth spot between the Liberals and PUP candidates; and two Liberals and one ALP with one Greens elected first, with the possibility of a second Greens and then a fight between PUP, the Liberals and HEMP candidates.
A quick history of how we got here:
The contest for the final two Western Australian seats had been so close last September that a re-count was ordered to make sure the result was accurate. It was the first time a Senate re-count had been held since 1980 and the first to be conducted under the current Electoral Act.
The first count had elected Labor’s Louise Pratt and Palmer United’s Zhenya Wang to the final two seats. The re-count saw them defeated and the final two seats won by the Greens’ Scott Ludlam and the Australian Sports Party’s Wayne Dropulich.
But between the original count and the re-count, 1,370 ballot papers went missing. The Court of Disputed returns ruled that the missing ballot papers made it impossible to determine who won the final two seats and voided the writ declaring six Senators elected. A new writ has been issued for the re-election
And let’s say it works out as the first two counts had it, with the Coalition winning three seats, Labor/Greens two and Palmer or some independent the last. Here is the balance - and you can see why that sixth seat result is so vital:
The Government could end up with 33 senators next July, facing around 35 combined Labor/Green votes.
This means a crossbench of around eight in the 76-seat Chamber. Two of them — independent Nick Xenophon and Democratic Labour Party’s John Madigan — will back the Government on carbon pricing. The Government will need at least three more votes [actually four] from the remaining six cross benchers, with Mr Palmer controlling most of them, depending on Saturday’s result.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Our constitution is not racist, and Goodes and his supporters will only make it so

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (8:06am)

The constitution is racist, says Adam Goodes - so racist, in fact, that it produces a country which makes Goodes Australian of the Year:

AUSTRALIAN of the Year Adam Goodes has described the Constitution as “very racist” as he campaigns to have indigenous people recognised in the nation’s founding document…
“In Section 25 in the Constitution, the states can ban people from voting based on their race,’’ he said.
It does? So where in the country is a single person banned from voting on the grounds of their race?
In fact, Anne Twoomey, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney, points out section 25 was meant to fight racism, not entrench it:
Section 25 says that if a State law disqualifies all the people of any race from voting in State elections, then those persons shall not be counted when working out how many seats each State gets in the House of Representatives. It has been described as a “racist” provision that should not appear in a modern democratic Constitution. But is it really racist or was it intended as a weapon against racism?…
It was originally inserted in the draft Constitution at the initiative of politician, Andrew Inglis Clark.... [with the aim of] penalising any State that enacted racially discriminatory voting laws…
This is not necessarily a reason to keep section 25 in the Constitution. Hopefully we no longer need such a provision to discourage the States from enacting racially discriminatory voting laws. But in repealing section 25, let us not treat it as a disgusting and shameful remnant of past attitudes. Let us remember it more fondly as a small seed of civil rights planted by a noble man in a different age. 
Keith Windschuttle makes the same point:
The framers of the constitution included [Section 25] to force recalcitrant states into giving Aborigines the vote. The two principal targets were Western Australia and Queensland, which in the 1890s denied the vote to full blood Aborigines. Section 25 held as long as they did this the comparatively large Aboriginal populations of those states could not be used to inflate the number of lower house seats each state would get in the new Federal Parliament. In other words, states that denied Aborigines the vote would get fewer representatives.
And look what happened. it long ago produced this very society in which Goodes is a free man with all the rights of an Australian citizen - a country so free, in fact, that people of all “races” and from all corners of the world come to join us.

Goodes, wrong on section 25, continues:
[The constitution is] a lengthy document, but there are some areas in the document that are very, very racist towards indigenous people.
Again, just wrong. Goodes is talking about section 51. Windschuttle explains:
It reads in full: “The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to: (xxvi.) The people of any race, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws.”
Again, the panel [proposing its removal] failed to research its topic. Its members should have been well aware that not once since federation has this section lent support to discrimination or racial abuse of Aboriginal people. Every time state and commonwealth laws in this field have been tested in the High Court, their intention has been found to be for the benefit of Aboriginal people.
This is so true that the “reconciliation’’ movement itself admits that simply repealing it could well stop the Commonwealth from running programs and paying benefits meant to help a particular “race”. That is something I’d actually support, being against racism, but this thought horrifies the fashionable adherents of the new politics of racial identity. So what they propose to remove with one hand, then intend to replace with the other, as the Law Council of Australia explains in its discussion paper on constitutional recognition (which it unfortunately backs):
The Law Council further supports the repeal of the anachronistic race power in section 51(xxvi) which ... provides a source of power for the enactment of racially discriminatory laws....
There would arise, however, a need to provide a new power to legislate with respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. One option would be to replace section 51(xxvi) with a power of Federal Parliament to make laws “with respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples” (such laws not being based on race rather, as the Chief Justice, the Hon Robert French, has commented, “on the special place of those peoples in the history of the nation"14).
What weaselly equivocation. There’s the Law Society proposing a race-based law but squealing that’s it’s not race-based because its heart is good.
And that’s the enormous hypocrisy of this who recognition push. As Goodes himself argues - it wants the “racist” constitution changed by actually making it more racist. It wants to fight racism by honoring one “race” and thus elevating all its members above those of other “races” on the basis of the “race” of some of their ancestors:
Adam Goodes has described the Constitution as “very, very racist’’ as he campaigns to have indigenous people recognised in the nation’s founding document…
It’s time to change it and recognise Aboriginal people… First of all, Aboriginal people have been here a lot longer than anybody else, so just remember whose lands you are on..
Most Australians would instinctively feel the racism and divisiveness underlying such sentiments. Goodes has not been here longer than I have - unless you consider him not as Adam Goodes, individual, but Adam Goodes, representative of the Aboriginal “race”.  And see where Goode’s position leads: not to unity but to racial division, with some Australians declared to have a superior right to this land by virtue of the ‘race” of some of their ancestors. Here are the seeds of apartheid.

Change the constitution as Goodes and his supporters demand and our most fundamental legal document will enshrine a new and dangerous principle: that henceforth all Australians will be recognised not as individuals alike, but as representatives of their “race”, to be judged on whether or not some great-grandparent or two in their tangled ancestry was Aboriginal. To be divided between the first and rest, on the basis of whose ancestors have been here longest. 
Say no to racism. Say no to racial division. Say no to changing our constitution. 
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The Bolt Report tomorrow

Andrew Bolt April 05 2014 (12:18am)

On the show tomorrow – Network 10 at 10am and 4pm....
The end of the world is nigh is a joke.
Labor’s Andrew Leigh, the wonderful Niki Savva and former Keating Minister Gary Johns.  And on NewsWatch Rowan Dean cuts loose. I wouldn’t watch if were Mark Scott.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Teach a man to fish, or, vote Democrat?
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she sees how I see her





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This story will warm you better more than a coffee on a cold winter day...

"We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we're approaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter -

'Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended'

They pay for their order, take the two and leave.
I ask my friend: 'What are those 'suspended' coffees ?' 'Wait for it and you will see' she replies...

Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made for three lawyers - three for them and four 'suspended'.

While I still wonder what's the deal with those 'suspended' coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square in front of the café.

Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in through the door and kindly asks 'Do you have a suspended coffee ?'

It's simple - people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm beverage.

The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich or a whole meal."

Please Share :) Why not ask your local cafe if it's something they'll consider participating in
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WHEN SOCIAL MEDIA IS A SOCIAL DISEASE Larry Pickering

In the wake of an outrageous attempt to gag the Press, McTernan has arranged through the PM’s office to close Twitter accounts critical of Gillard and censor messages. This was achieved with the cooperation of Twitter’s roving publicist, Mike Brown.

Hundreds of complaints have been made to Twitter about messages being deleted and in some circumstances altered to appear as pro-Gillard Tweets.

Whether serious money changed hands or not cannot be established but why, immediately after a visit from McTernan, did a grubby little Yank going by the name of Mike Brown, start censoring Tweets?

Tweets critical of Abbott have remained untouched. Among those emanating from the PM’s office are particularly offensive such as from the account of AshGhebranious: “They will send Abbott’s daughters to Indonesia to have sex with Ministers till they allow coalition to tow back boats.” That tweet remains.

Another from the same account: “You planning to murder any refugees today? Putting it live stream for your fans” #730# Auspol @MathiasCorman.

There are too many instances to itemise, but these filthy messages remain uncensored while those critical of Gillard instantly disappear.

There have been many posts of incriminating material, regarding Gillard’s involvement in the AWU fraud, simply disappearing from my Facebook page.

No explanation and no reply from Facebook. If I repost I am immediately banned.

I understand that the strapon could be seen as offensive, but not a copy of a fraudulent application form in Gillard’s handwriting.

Thus the website The Pickering Post was born yet that website has also suffered continual hacking and DoS attacks rendering it unusable for days at a time until we can invent ways to stop them.

A female in the PM’s Office by the name of Tadlette and using the account name of “Apparatchik Tads”, appears to be the driving force behind this gutter level of Twitter bastardry.

Tadlette tweeted “Hi @TwitterAU the right wing trolls are posting personal info inciting harassment IRL... please monitor @anonOz1 bit.ly/YJMj8q

Gillard and McTernan’s stated determination to emulate Obama’s re-election using social media techniques is starting to take shape.

There will be much more to come and the PM’s coffers are overflowing with hard union cash.

PS AshGhebranious just came up as the source of a corrupted link which has prevented me posting for a while. We will see what happens from here.
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Clara: What chapter you on?
Artie: Ten
Clara: Eleven's the best. You’ll cry your eyes out. The good kind of crying...

'Summer Falls' (written by Amelia Williams and featured in 'The Bells of Saint John') is now available to purchase as an ebook. Get more info and links to buy on doctorwho.tv:http://bit.ly/SummerFalls
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It is important that they be hot
This Week's Business Advice:

Open up a hot cake shop. Hot cakes sell like hot cakes....
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How amazing does this Chocolate lasagna look! Thanks for sharing XposedByEye PhotoArt :)

1 package regular Oreo cookies (Not Double Stuff) – about 36 cookies
6 Tablespoon butter, melted
1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cold milk
1- 12 ounce tub Cool Whip, divided
2 – 3.9 ounce packages Chocolate Instant Pudding.
3 1/4 cups cold milk
1 and 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by crushing 36 Oreo cookies. I used my food processor for this, but you could also place them in a large ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. When the Oreos have turned into fine crumbs, you are done.
2. Transfer the Oreo crumbs to a large bowl. Stir in 6 tablespoons melted butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the cookie crumbs. When the butter is distributed, transfer the mixture to a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator while you work on the additional layers.
3. Mix the cream cheese with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add in 2 Tablespoons of milk, and sugar, and mix well. Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups Cool Whip. Spread this mixture over the crust.
4. In a bowl, combine chocolate instant pudding with 3 and 1/4 cups cold milk. Whisk for several minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the previous cream cheese layer. Allow the dessert to rest for about 5 minutes so that the pudding can firm up further.
5. Spread the remaining Cool Whip over the top. Sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly over the top. Place in the freezer for 1 hour, or the refrigerator for 4 hours before serving.
  
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Good luck Melanie .. meditate .. be one with the universe
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Director Brendan Nelson and Peter Pickering at today's Open day Media event.
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Classic Hollywood: ‘The Searchers’ camps for night at Aero

John Ford’s classic western starring John Wayne screens. Glenn Frankel will sign his new book about the film and the true story that inspired it.

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/classic-hollywood-the-searchers-camps-for-night-at-aero/
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Urgent prayer request from our brothers and sisters in North Korea to Christians all over the world.

Underground Christians describe the current atmosphere in North Korea as warlike, with many cars on the road concealed under camouflage nets and soldiers carrying guns and wearing helmets covered with dried branches. Despite Kim Jong-Un declaring all citizens need to be “combat ready”, Christians and other citizens of North Korea greatly fear war and its consequences.

Prayer seems more important now than ever, please join with us in praying for our brothers and sisters:

- Thank God for the bravery of all Christians in North Korea, to stand boldly for Him in a country where discovery of their faith can mean death.

- Pray for the protection of Christians in North Korea, especially those imprisoned in labour camps, and all those assisting believers who have escaped into surrounding countries.

- Pray for a calm resolution to the current crisis – that it will result in the peaceful release and restoration of the North Korean people, rather than war.

- Pray for the leadership of North Korea, that Kim Jong-Un and those around him will come to know Jesus as their saviour.

A letter smuggled out of North Korea reads, “We know that our journey will not be an easy one, but we are sure that our faith, desperate hope and passionate desire will someday bear many fruits.”
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A collection of vicious weapons made of shark teeth reveals that two species of sharks vanished from the reefs of Kiribati, in the Pacific Ocean, before scientists even noticed the species were there. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3m5r
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HISTORY IN THE HEADLINES: Forty-five years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was tragically shot in Memphis. Explore 10 things you may not know about the inspiring civil rights leader here:http://histv.co/16spZjS (Flip Schulke/Corbis)
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For the first time, migrating great white sharks have been tagged and their movements around the oceans tracked for years, as opposed to a few months, according to a researcher.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3m6b
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To be fair shadow MP's such as Phillip Ruddock would be the same as these but you have to wonder how the heck Ministers like Tanya Plibersek who have been in Parliament for a realtively short space of time in comparison can be entitled to such large pensions. Also bear in mind that the individual super fund balances are irrelevant and don't justify the pension payments when compared to a retiree who has been frugal enough to have accumulated a super fund worth over one million dollars over their entire 40+ year working life.
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A new national poll reveals that Americans differ along political party lines even in their endorsement of conspiracy theories, including the belief that President Obama is the Anti-Christ to the idea that global warming is a hoax.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/3mf7

Here, a REAL image of Buzz Aldrin saluting the U.S. flag on the surface of the moon.
Fascinating what they call a hoax - ed
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The arguments sound over stated .. if they didn't want Obama they shouldn't have voted for him
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Same can be said of a katana or atom bomb. But children don't play with them either .. they are regulated and licensed. Private citizens don't use an atom bomb for self defence.
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Gnu York
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Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge
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Events[edit]

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“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” - Ephesians 1:7
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
2 Corinthians 5:21
Mourning Christian! why weepest thou? Art thou mourning over thine own corruptions? Look to thy perfect Lord, and remember, thou art complete in him; thou art in God's sight as perfect as if thou hadst never sinned; nay, more than that, the Lord our Righteousness hath put a divine garment upon thee, so that thou hast more than the righteousness of man--thou hast the righteousness of God. O thou who art mourning by reason of inbred sin and depravity, remember, none of thy sins can condemn thee. Thou hast learned to hate sin; but thou hast learned also to know that sin is not thine--it was laid upon Christ's head. Thy standing is not in thyself--it is in Christ; thine acceptance is not in thyself, but in thy Lord; thou art as much accepted of God today, with all thy sinfulness, as thou wilt be when thou standest before his throne, free from all corruption. O, I beseech thee, lay hold on this precious thought, perfection in Christ! For thou art "complete in him." With thy Saviour's garment on, thou art holy as the Holy one. "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Christian, let thy heart rejoice, for thou art "accepted in the beloved"--what hast thou to fear? Let thy face ever wear a smile; live near thy Master; live in the suburbs of the Celestial City; for soon, when thy time has come, thou shalt rise up where thy Jesus sits, and reign at his right hand; and all this because the divine Lord "was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Evening

"Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord."
Isaiah 2:3
It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is well for us to cut down these thorns and briers, for heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest; and where shall we find a better sickle with which to cut them down than communion with God and the things of the kingdom? In the valleys of Switzerland, many of the inhabitants are deformed, and all wear a sickly appearance, for the atmosphere is charged with miasma, and is close and stagnant; but up yonder, on the mountain, you find a hardy race, who breathe the clear fresh air as it blows from the virgin snows of the Alpine summits. It would be well if the dwellers in the valley could frequently leave their abodes among the marshes and the fever mists, and inhale the bracing element upon the hills. It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this evening. May the Spirit of God assist us to leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety, and all the ills which gather in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of anticipated joy and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the cords that keep us here below, and assist us to mount! We sit too often like chained eagles fastened to the rock, only that, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain, and would, perhaps, if it came really to the test, be loath to have it snapped. May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, attain the top of the mountain, there to indulge in communion with the Most High.
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Gaius 
[Gā'ius] - i am glad.
This common Roman name is shared by four men, and some writers find it difficult to differentiate between them.
1. A companion of Paul and native of Macedonia. He was seized in the riot at Ephesus (Acts 19:29).
2. A man of Derbe in Lycaonia and likewise a companion of Paul. This Gaius of Derbe (Acts 20:4) is sometimes identified as Gaius at Corinth - see next Gaius.
3. The Corinthian converted and baptized by Paul, and who was the apostle's host while he was in Corinth (Rom. 16:23; 1 Cor. 1:14).
4. The godly man to whom John sent his third epistle (3 John 1). It is evident that the Apostle of Love had a deep affection for this saint he called "the wellbeloved." It would seem as if John had at sometime led him to Christ (3 John 4). John desired the material, physical and spiritual prosperity of Gaius (3 John 2, 3). The apostle also commended him for his faithful care of ministering brethren - a responsibility some seem to neglect these days ( 3 John 5-8).
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Mary, Mother of John Mark
Among the Marys mentioned in the New Testament, Mary, the mother of Mark who wrote the second gospel, is spoken of but once (Acts 12:12 - readActs 12:1-19), yet this brief description of her is suggestive of her life and labors. She was probably the aunt or sister of Barnabas, the one-time companion of Paul (Colossians 4:10 ), and such a relationship accounts for Barnabas' choice of Mark as his companion-a selection over which Paul and Barnabas parted. Further, being related to Mary would account for the leadership among the saints gathering in her spacious home. Evidently the family belonged to Cyprus, hence the choice of such by Barnabas as the first station in his journeyings (Acts 4:36; 13:4). Sir William Ramsay holds that the narrative of Mary in the Acts was by Mark, which would account for the details of his mother's large house becoming a well-known center of Christian life and worship. There is a legend to the effect that this same house was the scene of a still more sacred gathering when, in its upper room, Jesus observed the Lord's Supper on the night of His betrayal.
It was to Mary's home that Peter found his way after his miraculous escape, for he knew that a company of believers had gathered there to pray for his release. Peter had a peculiar affection for the godly home. He called Mark, "his son" (1 Peter 5:13 ) - a spiritual son, having led him to yield his life to the Saviour. The way in which the saints met in Mary's home bespeaks her tried steadfastness and the bond of intimacy that existed between them. That Rhoda was one of the maids indicates that the household was considerably large, implying that Mary was a widow with means to maintain such a commodious home. As Barnabas her relative gave up his land for Christ, Mary gave up her Jerusalem home to be used as an infant church.
Mary was a woman of sterling qualities and was loyal to her Christian ideals. At that time Christians were a persecuted sect, yet she faced the consequences of yielding up her home as a center of spiritual power and influence, and was self-sacrificing in time, effort and money to serve the Lord. It has been suggested that young Rhoda who went to open the door for Peter was hesitant thinking perhaps it was the soldiers of Herod who had come to arrest some of the homeless Christian friends whose benefactress and patron Mary had become.
As for Mark the evangelist, her son, he was deeply attached to his mother which was probably one reason why he returned to Jerusalem from Perga (Acts 13:13). He wanted to be nearer the one who had meant so much in his life. Doubtless he derived something of Mary's straightforward and decided character so prominent in the gospel he wrote portraying Jesus as the lowly servant of God.
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Today's reading: Ruth 1-4, Luke 8:1-25 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Ruth 1-4

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons
1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelek, his wife's name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
3 Now Elimelek, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 8:1-25

The Parable of the Sower
1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out;3 Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown...."
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Today's Lent reading: Luke 13-14 (NIV)

View today's Lent reading on Bible Gateway
Repent or Perish
1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
8 "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down....'"
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Knowing Him - An Easter Devotional

WHAT MUST BE

“‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Christ of God.’ Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.‘” (Luke 9:20-22).
It must have been a moment of extreme wonder and extreme bewilderment. Jesus had taken his disciples to a remote spot far to the north of Galilee, out into Gentile territory, and there he asked them if they understood who he was. Peter got it. Perhaps he was the first, or perhaps he was the only one to see it–their rabbi whom they had left their homes to follow was actually the Messiah of God, the one wrapped in prophecy and mystery. “You are the Christ,” (anointed one, Messiah) Peter said.
But then, just as quickly, Jesus told them that he would be killed. It would happen not at the hand of someone deranged, and not by the Romans, but by the spiritual leaders of the land. They would reject him, and they would kill him. This did not add up. Messiah was to be the great ruler, the ultimate king, the deliverer. He was supposed to be victor, not victim.
Peter and the rest could not at this time see the plan of God for the ages. They had no inside information on what had been arranged between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They could not see millions of people in the twenty-first century bowing before the Lord Christ, thanking him for making them clean.
Ponder This: What do you think your reaction would have been if you had been one of Jesus’ followers and had heard these words?
WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Resources
About The Author - Mel Lawrenz serves as minister at large for Elmbrook Church and leads The Brook Network. Having been in pastoral ministry for thirty years, the last decade as senior pastor of Elmbrook, Mel seeks to help Christian leaders engage with each other. Mel is the author of eleven books, the most recent for church leaders, Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement.
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Today's Prayer

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. -- adapted from the Book of Common Prayer

Today's Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:4-10 

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Today's Quote

"The death of Jesus Christ has turned our whole lives into one continued sacrifice--whether we eat or drink, whether we pray to God, or do any thing to man, it must all be done out of a love for and knowledge of him who died and rose again, to render all, even our most ordinary deeds, acceptable in the sight of God.

"If we live by this principle, if Christ is the Alpha and Omega of all our actions, then our lowliest actions are acceptable sacrifices; but if this principle is lacking in our lives, our most pompous services avail nothing: we are nothing but a spiritual idolater; we sacrifice to our own gain and make an idol of ourselves. We make ourselves, and not Christ, the end of our actions: and therefore such actions are so far from being acceptable by God, that according to the language of one of the Articles of our Church, 'We doubt not but they have the nature of sin, because they spring not from an experimental faith in and knowledge of Jesus Christ.'" -- adapted from George Whitefield's sermon "The Knowledge of Jesus Christ the Best Knowledge"

Something to Think About

Christ's salvation is offered to us freely, and cannot be earned by our actions. Despite this, Christians have struggled since the earliest days of the church with the temptation to try and earn God's forgiveness by doing good works, following the law, or just living "good" lives. Why is it so hard for us to accept Christ's gift? Is this a struggle for you?
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