Friday, July 25, 2014

Fri Jul 25th Todays News

Ukraine's PM has resigned and the turmoil in the civil war ravaged nation continues. It was not what Arseniy Yatsenyuk inherited when he overthrew the previous, legitimately elected government of Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych. Russia had declared the government illegitimate when he first overthrew Yanukovych on trumped up charges following social unrest fed by Yatsenyuk. Russia had subsequently reclaimed the Crimea in order to secure her naval dockyards. In some ways, it appears as if Putin had Obama's blessing in securing the dockyard as a quid pro quo favour for not damaging Obama's reelection in '12. Six months of the inept government of Yatsenyuk who favoured closer European, Obama friendly ties while distancing himself from Russia, and Ukraine lost Crimea and the dockyards, a civil war began and a civilian aircraft was shot from the skies of what Yatsenyuk would belatedly call a war zone. Had Yatsenyuk alerted Malaysian airways to the war zone in advance, the airplane would not have been shot down, but then Ukraine would not have been able to press the international community to get the Ukrainian separatists to stand down. Now, relatives of victims in Australia await a finding of the shooting being either a war crime, a crime against humanity or a terrorist strike. A rule of thumb is that each dead passenger is worth $600k insurance, but legal issues could easily eat into that sum so that there could be no compensation after years of litigation. It is unlikely that the incident will be declared terrorism, which would favour families of the victims with an Australian government pay out, because Yatsenyuk declares it belatedly a war zone. For it to be an act of terror, it would need to be shown that Ukraine fired the rockets to implicate Russia. And then it won't matter that Yatsenyuk resigned today. 

In 1934 we saw the difference between Fascism and Nazism. Austria's diminutive Chancellor Dollfuss had stymied Austrian Nazis. Italy, under Mussolini promised to protect Austria from the Nazis. While Mussolini had been hosting Dollfuss' wife, the Nazis assassinated Dollfuss as part of an attempted coup on this day. It failed as Mussolini guaranteed protection of Austria. He denounced Nazis as being little different to Stalinists. 

On this day in 306, Constantine I was made Ceaser by his Roman Legions. They had wanted to make his dad Ceaser, but his dad had died. He would rule and build for thirty one years. His mother had a strong impact on his life, and she had become Christian. She predeceased him by some seven years, but she seemed to have had a strong say in the execution of his son and wife for immoral behaviour. Constantine had himself baptised shortly before his death. He seemed to have done so tactically, as he seemed to be of the impression it would absolve him of his pre baptismal sin. So, he was no theologian. In 315, the Arch of Constantine was built in honour of a battle. In 1261, Constantinople was reestablished as capital of the Byzantine empire after a battle. In 864, Charles the Bald ordered defensive measures against Vikings. In 1456, Italians had learned to use firearms. In 1603, the crowns of Scotland and England unified. In 1788, Mozart completed his Symphony number 40 in G Minor. In 1799, Napoleon beat some Egyptians. In 1837, the first commercial use was made of a telegraph. In 1920, the first use of two way radio across the Atlantic. In 1866, US Grant was promoted to General of the Army, the first to achieve it. In 1908, MSG was isolated for mass production. In 1909, the first flight by airplane across the Channel, in 37 minutes. In 1917, income tax is introduced in Canada as a temporary measure. In 1946, Bikini Atoll experienced its first atomic test. On the same day in '46, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin began their partnership as a comedy team in Atlantic City. In 1959, a hovercraft was used to traverse the channel in just over two hours. In 1976, Viking took a picture of a face on Mars. In 1993, a church massacre was carried out in South Africa. The killers largest time served was five and a half years for the hate crime. 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott 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 https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.netwhich will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Lenny Timons. Born on the same day as Gavrilo Princip (1894), Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (1915), Benny Benjamin (1925), Barbara Harris (1935) and Bruce Woodley (1942). Commonwealth Constitution Day in Puerto Rico (1952)
306 – Constantine the Great was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops after the death of Constantius Chlorus.
1893 – The Corinth Canal was formally opened, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in the Aegean Sea.
1943 – The Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence against Benito Mussolini, who was arrested the same day by King Victor Emmanuel III and replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
1978 – Two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists were killed by police at Cerro Maravilla in Villalba.
1993 – Israeli forces launched a week-long attack against Lebanon to make it difficult for Hezbollah to use southern Lebanon as a base for striking Israel. On your day, something passes and is replaced by someone great. It is good that canal opened. Nobody liked Mussolini anyway. Hold your ground. Everything you have, you deserve.

Matches
Hatches
Despatches

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The handbag hit squad fails to show respect

Piers Akerman – Thursday, July 24, 2014 (7:24pm)

CURRENT and past world leaders and senior diplomats have paid generous compliments to foreign minister Julie Bishop for the tireless work she put in to win unanimous backing for the UN resolution calling for “full and unrestricted access” to the MH17 crash site.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The handbag hit squad fails to show respect'
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HA HA HA HA HA

Tim Blair – Friday, July 25, 2014 (7:32pm)

An adult human being wrote this and the New York Times actually published it: 
It will be remembered as one of the most ignoble moments in our history: On July 17, Australia became the first country to repeal a carbon tax. 
That’s Julia Baird, by the way, clearly aiming to upgrade her Frightbat status from “junior cave baby” to “full-blown lyssavirus.” Readers are invited to submit their own examples of Australia’s most ignoble historical moments.
(Via Chris Kenny)
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LIAR A WINNER

Tim Blair – Friday, July 25, 2014 (3:52pm)

Greens idol and convicted Whitehaven liar Jonathan Moylan dodges prison
An environmental campaigner who distributed a fake press release that caused a coal company’s share price to crash has been released on a good behaviour bond.

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Jonathan Moylan received a 20-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to disseminating false information, but Supreme Court Justice David Davies ordered his immediate release on a $1,000 bond …
He acknowledged Moylan’s contrition, apology letter and early guilty plea, saying he was discounting the sentence by 15 per cent. 
Lame.
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MIKE’S MEMORY

Tim Blair – Friday, July 25, 2014 (10:22am)

Mike Carlton recalls a debate with Andrew Bolt: 
I did do a TV debate with Blot once, for al-Jazeera, I think. Don’t wish to boast, but he was reduced to spluttering incoherence. 
Really? You be the judge.
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AWARENESS OCCURS

Tim Blair – Friday, July 25, 2014 (9:41am)

Ground-level Greenpeace dupes are furious about high-flying Greenpeace executives: 
We find it shocking that our International Programme Director has been commuting by plane … you should have the moral compass to know this crosses the line. 
(Via Brat)
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MODARN SENFELD IMAGENED

Tim Blair – Friday, July 25, 2014 (9:38am)

Not for the first time, a question is asked: 
If Seinfeld was still on the air today … 
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THREE-RING CIRCUS

Tim Blair – Friday, July 25, 2014 (8:50am)

Labor’s dying days in government contained a potential twist
An embattled Julia Gillard secretly offered to stand down as Prime Minister in June 2013 and secure the leadership for then Climate Change and Industry minister Greg Combet in order to fend off Kevin Rudd, Mr Combet has revealed. 
Within months, thankfully, all three were removed from federal politics.
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David Dale’s curious idea of “fair and balanced” in sledging Abbott

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (8:44pm)

Remember this ludicrous sledge from David Dale, which the Fairfax newspapers were only too delighted to trumpet?
Prime Minister Tony Abbott may be the most famous of the old alumni who will gather with Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday night to mark the 50th anniversary of The Australian. He will attend in his capacity as Prime Minister but the newspaper has proudly and often claimed him as one of their own. In fact, he only arrived at The Australian after encountering problems as a feature writer with the Packer-owned magazine The Bulletin.
Mr Abbott’s misadventures with a typewriter came to a head in 1988 when his editor, David Dale, asked him to rewrite an article five times. “Tony couldn’t seem to get the idea that a feature for The Bulletin had to be fair and balanced,” Dale said on Monday. “I told him if he kept going like that he had no future on the magazine.” Mr Abbott went on to work briefly in a concrete factory before joining The Australian as an editorial writer.
Gerard Henderson:
And what was David Dale’s idea of “fair and balanced” when he edited The Bulletin in 1988? You be the judge.
On 20 December 1988, under your man Dale’s editorship, The Bulletin published a cover featuring a photograph of John Howard ...: 
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David Dale’s assessment of John Howard in 1988 was neither fair nor balanced – and it proved to be hopelessly wrong. Yet Mr Dale now boasts that he once sacked Tony Abbott for journalistic unfairness? Can you bear it?

Read on as Henderson demonstrates the selection indignation - and selective indifference - of Waleed Aly, writing what Hamas must surely think useful indeed. 
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Mike Carlton’s fancy: omne ignotum pro magnifico.

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (8:31pm)

Tim Blair:
Mike Carlton recalls a debate with Andrew Bolt: 
I did do a TV debate with Blot once, for al-Jazeera, I think. Don’t wish to boast, but he was reduced to spluttering incoherence.
Really? You be the judge.
Carlton wouldn’t provide the links to the debate. I am only too delighted to do so. That difference suggests the truth.  
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How Plibersek hates

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (8:57am)

How the Left hates

Piers Akerman says world leaders have noted the obvious:
Netherlands foreign minister Frans Timmermans made it clear Australia’s leadership and Bishop’s direction were crucial to the success of the UN move.
“I want to start by wholeheartedly thanking Australia for taking the initiative with this resolution, and especially the personal commitment from Julie Bishop that has made this possible,” he said after the vote.
“Without her perseverance we would not be standing here today with this resolution adopted by the Security Council.”
.... former US president Bill Clinton told a Melbourne audience he was proud to be in Australia when Bishop secured the UN resolution and Abbott said the council’s unanimous support for Australia’s resolution was a tribute to Bishop, “who called it for Australia” and “for the world”.
But Tanya Plibersek is a hater:
When asked whether she supported Abbott’s response on behalf of Australia to the heartbreaking disaster, she replied: “I think emotions have run very high. We know now at least 37 Australian citizens and permanent residents have lost their lives. It’s a very emotional time for our country. It is important that we establish a proper investigation now so that those who are responsible can face the consequences of their actions.”
Nothing doing there.
She was as truculent when asked on Tuesday if Abbott and Bishop “deserve an enormous amount of credit for this, not only getting a UN resolution through in only a matter of days but also taking a very strong stand very early on this matter?”
“Look,” she said, “I think it shows that organisations like the Security Council can, when they’re operating well, be very effective.
David Crowe:

There is now more than a suspicion within the government that Labor is ready to switch from bipartisan to belligerent at any time during the long investigation into the missile attack on the flight.
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What ISIS intends for women and Christians

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (7:39am)

Australian jihadists are actually fighting for and supporting these bloody Neanderthals:
The United Nations, expressing deep concern, said on Thursday that militant group Islamic State had ordered all girls and women in and around Iraq’s northern city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation.
But doubts emerged on social media about the basis for the report. One document posted on Twitter suggested it may be a year old and have been issued by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, the group’s previous name…
A UN spokesman in Geneva said that they were seeking clarity and trying to establish the facts.
Such a “fatwa” issued by the Sunni Muslim fighters would potentially affect 4 million women and girls, U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq Jacqueline Badcock told reporters in Geneva by videolink from Arbil.
And:
Iraqi Christians who were forced to flee the northern city of Mosul under threat of forced conversion or execution by jihadists have spoken of their terror as churches were turned into mosques and their homes and property confiscated.
The expulsion of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities provoked condemnation and anguish from figures as diverse as the pope and Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who lambasted the Islamic State (Isis) for its “criminality and terrorism"…
“If Isis stays, there is no way the Christians can return,” Father Boutrous Moshi told the Guardian from Qara Qoosh, a Christian area south-east of Mosul. “It is up to God whether we return or not. They have not burned the churches but they did set fire to the pictures and the books and broke the windows.”
Monks at the fourth-century Mar Behnam monastery, a major pilgrimage site run by the Syriac Catholic church, were allowed to take only the clothes they were wearing.
Meanwhile:
Islamic State (Isis) militants have blown up a revered Muslim shrine traditionally said to be the burial place of the prophet Jonah in Mosul, residents of the city said.
The kind of enemy you can only destroy. 
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Gillard’s final offer: anyone but Rudd

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (7:25am)

Hatred too often drove Julia Gillard, ungoverned by any political judgement. Former Minister Greg Combet tells of Gillard’s bizarre offer to make him Prime Minister just a couple of months before the last election:
Julia surprised me at that discussion by suggesting that she would support and she’d stand down in favour of me if I stood.
Combet saw instantly what any fool would know - that trying to hold off Rudd by imposing yet another leader was doomed to fail both with the party and the public:

It would have been extremely difficult, firstly, to gain the support of colleagues, I think, and then the support of the Parliament and then to run an election campaign. So, politically, I thought it was a pretty hard manoeuvre to pull off. And secondly, Kevin Rudd’s momentum for his return was very strong
How could Gillard have proposed anything so mad?  Only hatred of Rudd could explain it. 
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Why is the ABC pushing al Jazeera, voice of a regime which backs the Muslim Brotherhood?

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (7:09am)

I this week asked: why is the ABC broadcasting an hour of Al Jazeera TV, twice a day, when it is the voice of a regime which backs the Muslim Brotherhood?
The ABC and SBS are also regularly using al Jazeera reporters and analysts in their regular news and current affairs shows to give a very decided perspective:
ABC News Radio yesterday:  
THERE is a strong possibility that Israel is committing war crimes … Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston filed this report.
Guess who funds Al Jazeera and which side they back? Armin Rosen, Business Insider, yesterday:

HAMAS’S apparent hard-line position ... with Israel is a partial function of Qatari support, as the emirate is the financial underwriter for the militant group’s policies and hosts ... Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said in a Doha press conference — carried in its entirety on Qatari-funded Al Jazeera’s Arabic channel — that Egypt would have to open the Rafah border crossing as a condition before his group would agree to a ceasefire. It’s a request Egypt is unlikely to agree to ...
No mention that Al Jazeera’s backers fund Hamas? ABC News Radio’s Weekend Breakfast, Sunday:

AL Jazeera commentator Marwan Bashara: The Egyptian initiative for a ceasefire, that was ... an Israeli initiative with Egyptian wrappings. This time around, there’s a genuine, apparently, Hamas initiative ...
Al Jazeera interview with Dr Mads Gilbert.  SBS World Radio News, Monday:

BRIANNA Roberts: A Norwegian doctor in Gaza, Mads Gilberts, told Al Jazeera people are growing increasingly desperate.
Gilberts: The Israeli forces do not allow ambulances to access those people who are trapped in Shejaiya. There may be more than a hundred or hundreds. We don’t know the exact number of injured in the area but the access of ambulances is a major problem. A father just came running with his daughter screaming that “we need ambulances, we need ambulances, we need ambulances.”
That would be Mads Gilbert, the doctor who supported 9/11. Kristian Sarastuen, Dagbladet, September 30, 2001:
DR Mads Gilbert: The attack on New York (on 9/11) did not come as a surprise after the policy that the West has led during the last decades ... The oppressed also have a moral right to attack the USA with any weapon they can come up with ...
Interviewer: Do you support a terror attack against the USA?
Gilbert: ... yes, within the context which I have mentioned.
No prizes for guessing which network Waleed Aly chooses? ABC Radio National, July 21:
WALEED Aly: Joining me now … Nic­ole Johnston Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza ...
Johnston: ... Shejaiya (was) hit … more than 60 people in that one neighbourhood were killed, many of them were women and children … Israel has said that there is a so-called “terror network” — that’s what they’re calling it — of tunnels under that neighbourhood. The bottom line is that it’s still a residential area. It’s a densely packed area; it’s been full of civilians, ...
Aly: Israel is warning people to flee. Are they fleeing? …
Johnston: Yeah, they are, especially after this incident in Shejaiya …
Why doesn’t the ABC at least show balance by broadcasting Israeli television news as well? I am sure Israel’s i24news would be glad to offer the ABC an hour a day of its feed. And, unlike al Jazeera, it is independent of government.
So, why is the ABC handing over its broadcasting facilities for two hours a day to the state broadcaster of a Muslim Brotherhood sponsor? 
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Follow Italy! Get more boats, more deaths, more criminals

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (6:30am)

Refugee advocate Pamela Curr wants us to learn from Italy:
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In fact, Curr’s numbers are way out. Following Italy’s lead would mean taking in more than 400 boat people every day:
The Italian navy rescued 824 migrants from North Africa who were trying to make it to the European nation during the night... Since the beginning of the year, Italy has received 80,791 immigrants coming mainly from North African countries.
In fact, following Italy’s lead would mean facilitating horror. Last week:
A total of 19 people have been found dead on board a crowded boat of African migrants as it was travelling to Italy.
The migrants are thought to have died from poisonous carbon monoxide fumes emitted by the old boat’s engine…

On Friday, Ansa reported that migrants that had been rescued by a merchant ship earlier in the week had spoken of a shipwreck in which between 40 and 60 people are thought to have drowned, but Italian authorities have not confirmed this.
In fact, following Italy’s lead would mean encouraging the brutal in cross your borders. This week:
Italian police have arrested five men on suspicion of murdering and throwing overboard dozens of migrants crossing by fishing boat from Libya
About 561 surviving migrants on the boat were rescued and brought to the Sicilian city of Messina on Sunday.
Survivors say a life-or-death fight broke out over the weekend when those who were riding in the vessel’s hold, suffocating from heat and a lack of oxygen, desperately tried to find room on the packed deck.
To keep the migrants below the deck, the five men indiscriminately stabbed and assaulted an estimated 60 of their fellow migrants before throwing them overboard, according to police…
Twenty-nine bodies were later recovered from the hold of what had been a badly overcrowded fishing boat…
According to the testimony of “numerous” migrants, the five men - two Moroccans, a Saudi Arabian, a Syrian and a Palestinian - “randomly” assaulted dozens with knives and their fists, throwing overboard their victims as friends and relatives watched, police said.
Never mind the consequences, admire the compassion!
(Thanks to reader Andrew.) 
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Meet Australia’s latest export: the suicide bomber

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (6:18am)

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What culture did we import that produced this deadly export? And why?
THIS is the Australian teen authorities believe became a suicide bomber in Iraq last week, killing five people. But the family of Adam Dahman, 18, last night denied he was the bomber, saying he is alive in Syria and had contacted them last week. His father said ASIO agents had interviewed his son but let him go, and he believed he was doing humanitarian work in Syria. 

The teen, from Northcote, Melbourne is suspected of detonating a bomb near a Shiite mosque in Baghdad last week.

Pictures on Adam’s Facebook page date back to December 21 and appear to show him posing in front of Islamic State flags in Iraq which read “There is no God but God; Mohammed is the messenger of God”.
But Sam Dahman, did not believe his son was the suicide bomber: “Where is the proof?”
UPDATE
I don’t believe Australia has been greatly enriched on the whole by immigration from Lebanon, despite many obvious success stories:
POLICE have condemned violent threats made by the family of a Sydney mother who is facing jail in Lebanon over adultery charges. 

Mahassen Issa ... is facing a six-month jail term under Islamic law after she separated from her husband and met a man in Lebanon…

Her brother Ahmed ...  said it was against Islamic law for a woman to remarry unless she had been divorced for at least a year. He claimed his sister married her new partner while in Lebanon, but she has denied this.
She’s my sister, I would put a bullet between her eyes, I couldn’t give a shit,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
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The Age accuses Labor of stealing its tape

Andrew Bolt July 25 2014 (6:01am)

The Age accuses Labor of being a party of thieves and frauds:
Senior staff from Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews’ office and Labor Party chiefs were involved in the theft of a journalist’s recording device as part of a dirty tricks campaign to destabilise the Napthine Government.
The Age can reveal that a dictaphone belonging to Sunday Age political editor Farrah Tomazin was handed in to lost property by security at Labor’s state conference in May, before it was obtained and listened to by one of the top officials in Victorian Labor ranks.
The dictaphone contained a private conversation between Tomazin and former Liberal premier Ted Baillieu in which he was critical of colleagues. More than a month later a link to the conversation, now posted online, was emailed to hundreds of Liberal Party members by a person claiming to be a Liberal Party member - using a false name.
It is understood that copies of the taped conversation were made by a senior Labor official and scrutinised by others in the party’s organisational wing, as well as senior strategists in Mr Andrews’ office.
The group is believed to have debated whether the recording could be released publicly to fuel tensions in the Liberal Party ahead of the November 29 state election,,,
The Age is aware of the identities of the people involved but at this stage has chosen not to name them.
Not name them? How kind. So much kinder than The Age was when it tried to deflect blame on the Liberals instead in what is fast becoming a scandal not just for Labor. I am very suspicious about the way The Age has played this story.

June 24, 2014

The recording is sent to many, but not all, Liberal members, suggesting the mailing list used by the peddler is not up to date. That in turn suggests the peddler might not be someone currently working in Liberal politics. Meanwhile, the story from The Age changes as it develops from 10am. There are lots of hints of Liberal involvement, but not much about Labor’s possible role in the theft of the Dictaphone at a Labor conference.  Only after 6:26pm does The Age editor-in-chief say - on the ABC - the theft has been reported to police, six weeks after the event:

ANDREW HOLDEN: We’ll certainly record the fact that the tape recorder has gone missing and record that with police and just let them know that we’re concerned as to how it’s been misused.
7:51pm
The Age editor-in-chief isn’t keen on any suggestion the recording was stolen at a Labor conference:
He said any suggestion the recording was stolen or misplaced was “speculation”, however. “I don’t think it gets us anywhere as to how it went missing the first place,” he said.
June 25, 2014:
The Age news editor is happy to blame Liberals instead:
Mark Forbes on who stole the tape: “I think you have to look at people who are opposed to Ted and that’s a wide range of people.”
June 26, 2014:
The Age now confuses the issue by claiming a second recorder is missing – something denied by Age reporter Josh Gordon.
But The Age editor in chief Andrew Holden maintained there were “no dirty tricks”. He assured Neil Mitchell it was not a cover up.
“What I do know is the tape recorder went missing, I don’t know exactly where, I don’t know exactly when,” he said…
He added another tape was also missing – that tape belonged to Josh Gordon.
“I have absolutely no idea whether they’re connected in any way whatsoever,” he said, adding they went missing within the same week…
The Age state political reporter again implicates the Liberals, this time the office of federal minister Kevin Andrews:
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June 27, 2014:
Premier Dennis Napthine on 3AW discusses reports that one Dictaphone went “missing” at the state Labor conference. The Age’s Gordon tweets:
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The Victorian Labor Party strongly denies any involvement in the theft and distribution of the tape. 
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Meh, there is no such state in modern times as Palestine. The reference is to a Roman name of a Jewish state under secular administration, like Israel is today. The Balfour agreement or British mandate Palestine was supposed to create Israel, but British bigots forgot. Jordan seized some of Israel's promised land and after a civil war in Jordan, the losers claimed the land as their own. Those Jordanians called themselves Palestinians in 1967. The UN has made the situation worse by declaring these called Palestinians as refugees and claiming those born in Israel are not Israeli. This is different to all refugee conventions everywhere else. Palestinians have no right to that land, but no other Arab state wants them. They have employed terror to achieve their goals. They should not be allowed to win. - ed
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4 her, so she can see how I see her - ed



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Andreas Herrmann
Auf alle Fälle führt die Hoffnung weiter als die Furcht (Ernst Jünger)
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Beautiful views over the Tuscan valley
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‘Peace Talks? The Mideast is Going Up in Flames’ - Israel National News

Nobel Prize-winning professor baffled by peace talks. “It’s obvious that a signed agreement would be meaningless.” - Maayana Miskin
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Below the Mists, Above the Clouds... — withDarvin Atkeson at Muir Beach Overlook.
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Kevin Rudd's net debt ads are highly deceptive. His net debt does not include the $148 billion we owe to pay for the superannuation of public servants, but it does use the money in the Future Fund that Costello put away for that purpose. Rudd's using Costello's prudence to make him look good!

Graph below corrects for this anomaly. You actually owe more than $20,000 per person in net government liabilities (up from having money in the bank a few years ago). 

(My figures use the IMF World Economic Outlook and are slightly different probably because I use current US$ exchange rates.)
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Doctor Who’s Starry Night…
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“Words are what men live by… words they say and mean.” - JOHN WAYNE
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DEAR UNCLE KEV....

I tried to get a photo with you at the shopping mall for show-and-tell, ‘cos I think you are famous. My dad says you’re a narcissistic megalomaniac. I’m not sure what that means but it sure sounds important.

Anyway Uncle Kev, the teacher says we have to do an essay on what a silly man Mr Abbott is and how you will stop all these people drowning. 

My friend Chloe says you should teach them all to swim but when I asked my dad he said you couldn’t teach a bloody fish to swim (my dad only swears when we talk about you).

I’m really confused ‘tho Uncle Kev because when you send everyone to PNG (I hear it’s a really awful place) you say they will hate being there and stop coming, is that right?

Uncle Kev, I saw on TV all the horrible places where we keep them now, where they do awful things to each other, and then there’s probably 2,000 of them who have already drowned! So if that hasn’t stopped them coming, how could having to go to PNG stop them?

I know I’m missing something here, Uncle Kev, and I know you are a lot cleverer than me but isn’t PNG closer to Australia? On my atlas it’s very close.

Please Uncle Kev, I want to get top marks for my essay so it can’t sound really silly.

Aren’t all these people coming from Indonesia? I mean, why wouldn’t you stop all the boats leaving from there first so they don’t get drowned?

Let me put it this way Uncle Kev, when my naughty brother Shamus turned the hose on full pelt and it was squiggling everywhere making everything wet, my dad went and turned the tap off and it stopped.

I don’t think my Dad is as smart as you ‘cos he’s just a bricklayer so you must have a secret plan that nobody understands and I want to be the first to tell my class.

I try to listen to you explaining this secret plan but my Dad keeps throwing his beer cans at the TV and yelling bad words. He says everything you touch turns to poo.

When he’s not there I turn on the ABC and I get even more confused. So please reply to my letter Uncle Kev or I’ll just have to copy my essay from the Sydney Morning Herald.

Then I know I’ll get top marks but I really want my essay to make sense.

Loved the pic of you cutting yourself. That was so funny. Dad says a lot of people on Narau do that too.

Love,
Phoebe (8)

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Heartwarming: Bush 41 shaves head in solidarity with 2-year-old leukemia patient ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/07/24/heartwarming-bush-41-shaves-head-in-solidarity-with-2-year-old-leukemia-patient-pics/
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Happy Ride
Sexshop365 has created the Happy Ride, a discreet black bicycle seat that vibrates as you ride. The seat’s vibration level can be adjusted to provide stimulation for both men and women using a set of controls attached to the back of the seat. Claire Bowden of Sexshop365 told Daily Mail, “Thanks to the UK’s cycling boom and the building obsession around next year’s Fifty Shades Of Grey movie, both adult toys and cycling are firmly on the public radar. It was only a matter of time before the two were combined to make your daily cycle even more pleasurable.” The Happy Ride vibrating bicycle seat is currently available to purchase from Sexshop365.

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Matt Granz
Your work powerfully illustrates your position - ed
I was just reading through some posts by a person in San Diego who runs workshops. It was an interesting read and had some good basic information. He did however make a lot of noise about doing most everything "in camera" and not post processing. If he wasn't so bent on making statements such as telling his followers that its a crutch and shows a certain lack of imagination on the part of the photographer who uses the digital darkroom, I might have let it go. I think in part that he's right. You have to know your camera and have the tools that make for a good photograph. A lot can be done in camera, and I'm a believer in doing all that you can, to come away with an image file that has all the characteristics and emotional impact that you want to convey. He talks about only shooting in jpeg and not in RAW (uncompressed) because it allows the photographer to cheat. I want to state that if you are an artist who uses a camera, that you should block out the Photoshop naysayers such as this guy. It is another tool, and not simply for the "inept" to correct their in camera mistakes. This feeling of superiority for not using post processing is to my mind a limiting and negative look on a wonderful technology that is part of our short time on this planet. It allows for artistic expression and can even make an image all the more appear like what our eyes saw, which is a limitation of the modern day camera sensors. To make such assertions also seems to take away from the artistic expression that should and does freely come from all the various ways of capturing what is around us through the devices that have been given to us by genius... the same genius that has given us the ability to manipulate the digital files... sometimes to bring that feeling of being there and at other times to take the viewer somwhere that can only exist in the mind of the artist.
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Rudd has turned over a new leaf.

He now consults prior to any policy decision
 — atThe Mental Institution Hospital.
Sometimes he argues violently, but he gets his way - ed
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Sunrise at Fort Point. A little long exposure fun at dawn.
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The Ranch. My girls contributed to the colors seen here, though not the first nor last to add their touch to the half buried cars. Many thanks to my wife Laura who spotted these from far off as we were passing them. — at Cadilac Ranch Amarillo TX.
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Cthulhu is warm goes the saying. But that is wrong. Cthulhu is hot and it's heat will sear the crackling off the belly of any unfortunate who comes too close.
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Anacapri
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Pongua Falls Vietnam.
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Triglav National Park, Slovenia
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Israel to begin giving intel on Hezbollah to EU enforcement officials - Jpost

BBC tweaks Hizballah statement, promotes its conspiracy theories
Putin to offer advanced antimissiles to soothe Iran’s S-300 grudge – report - BBCWatch

Putin to offer advanced antimissiles to soothe Iran’s S-300 grudge – report - RT
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it think I can't see EU doing anything worthwhile, and it is risible to suggest they don't know the truth. - ed
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Pastor Rick Warren
Comfort after a tragic loss doesn’t come in looking for good but in looking to God. Explantions don't help. The love of God does.
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Pastor Rick Warren
This weekend will be my 1st sermon preached since my son died. In 43 years of ministry I've never gone 16 weeks not preaching. Also 3 TV news networks are sending trucks to cover this message so I need your prayers. You will be able to watch it online here: http://bit.ly/HnE6ib Thank you so much friends!
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Pastor Rick Warren
6 Commitments for Growing a Church with Unity
http://pastors.com/6-commitments-for-growing-a-church-with-unity/
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Louis Blériot
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“Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice.” Psalm 112:5 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord."
Exodus 14:13
These words contain God's command to the believer when he is reduced to great straits and brought into extraordinary difficulties. He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is shut up on the right hand and on the left; what is he now to do? The Master's word to him is, "Stand still." It will be well for him if at such times he listens only to his Master's word, for other and evil advisers come with their suggestions. Despair whispers, "Lie down and die; give it all up." But God would have us put on a cheerful courage, and even in our worst times, rejoice in his love and faithfulness. Cowardice says, "Retreat; go back to the worldling's way of action; you cannot play the Christian's part, it is too difficult. Relinquish your principles." But, however much Satan may urge this course upon you, you cannot follow it if you are a child of God. His divine fiat has bid thee go from strength to strength, and so thou shalt, and neither death nor hell shall turn thee from thy course. What, if for a while thou art called to stand still, yet this is but to renew thy strength for some greater advance in due time. Precipitancy cries, "do something. Stir yourself; to stand still and wait, is sheer idleness." We must be doing something at once--we must do it so we think--instead of looking to the Lord, who will not only do something but will do everything. Presumption boasts, "If the sea be before you, march into it and expect a miracle." But Faith listens neither to Presumption, nor to Despair, nor to Cowardice, nor to Precipitancy, but it hears God say, "Stand still," and immovable as a rock it stands. "Stand still;"--keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, "Go forward."

Evening

"His camp is very great."
Joel 2:11
Consider, my soul, the mightiness of the Lord who is thy glory and defence. He is a man of war, Jehovah is his name. All the forces of heaven are at his beck, legions wait at his door, cherubim and seraphim;, watchers and holy ones, principalities and powers, are all attentive to his will. If our eyes were not blinded by the ophthalmia of the flesh, we should see horses of fire and chariots of fire round about the Lord's beloved. The powers of nature are all subject to the absolute control of the Creator: stormy wind and tempest, lightning and rain, and snow, and hail, and the soft dews and cheering sunshine, come and go at his decree. The bands of Orion he looseth, and bindeth the sweet influences of the Pleiades. Earth, sea, and air, and the places under the earth, are the barracks for Jehovah's great armies; space is his camping ground, light is his banner, and flame is his sword. When he goeth forth to war, famine ravages the land, pestilence smites the nations, hurricane sweeps the sea, tornado shakes the mountains, and earthquake makes the solid world to tremble. As for animate creatures, they all own his dominion, and from the great fish which swallowed the prophet, down to "all manner of flies," which plagued the field of Zoan, all are his servants, and like the palmer-worm, the caterpillar, and the cankerworm, are squadrons of his great army, for his camp is very great. My soul, see to it that thou be at peace with this mighty King, yea, more, be sure to enlist under his banner, for to war against him is madness, and to serve him is glory. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us, is ready to receive recruits for the army of the Lord: if I am not already enlisted let me go to him ere I sleep, and beg to be accepted through his merits; and if I be already, as I hope I am, a soldier of the cross, let me be of good courage; for the enemy is powerless compared with my Lord, whose camp is very great.
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Today's reading: Psalm 35-36, Acts 25 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 35-36

Of David.
Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.
2 Take up shield and armor;
arise and come to my aid.
3 Brandish spear and javelin
against those who pursue me.
Say to me,
"I am your salvation."
4 May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.
May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away;
6 may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 25

Paul's Trial Before Festus
1 Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. 3 They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. 4 Festus answered, "Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. 5Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there...."
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