Saturday, July 12, 2014

Sat Jul 12th Todays News

Who identifies with terrorism? Who wants to kill, hurt and maim strangers? Who feels that their way of life is dependent on eliminating others who exist peaceably? Two groups stand out .. red necks of the type that bombed a government building in the US twenty years ago in order to make a statement about government intrusion on individual rights, and .. Islamo fascists who some claim are not *really* Islamic but whom seem to be endorsed by most Islamic bodies. No one that is sensible identifies with terrorism. Bobby Sands, who starved himself to death in support of the IRA was not a sensible person worthy of respect. The rule of law is foundational to progress, without it things sour. Some say things fall apart without law, that is the great hope of terrorists, but in all of human history, it has never worked that way. Terror initiates great pain and suffering, but does not win conflict. 

 There are many counter examples to my assertion that terror does not win conflict. Vietnam war, Afghan -Soviet war, Chile pre Pinochet (it is Pablo Neruda's birthday), China's communists etc. The truth is, there have been defeats, but they cannot be allowed to remain victories. Civilisation and culture has to win. Like in Vietnam, where a corrupt communist regime is being transformed into a global citizen, slowly, painfully. But, in the Middle East, that is not happening with Islamo Fascists in their more than sixty year campaign against Israel. The existence of Israel is precarious. She (Israel) has been valiant in standing for what any modern state aspires, cultural diversity, rule of law, progressive policy. Anyone of any faith or culture can live in Israel. That is different to any of her neighbours where people are killed on a whim and a fancy. 

 Australia has a terrorist leader, born in Australia who has spoken for radical Islam and called for terrorism. He is called Musa Cerantonio and he has recently been captured in the Phillippines, although his boasts and rhetoric placed him in the Middle East. As is typical of such terrorists, he is on the disability support pension in Australia. Who identifies with that? 

 Today is the anniversary of what led to a unification of Great Britain in 927 when King of England Athelstan secured a pledge from the King of Scotland Constantine II that Vikings won't be used as soldiers against each other. 1493, the Nuremberg Chronicle is published, a very early printing press book. 1543, Henry VIII finds satisfaction with his sixth wife. 1776, Captain Cook began his third voyage. 1789, French revolutionary journalist Camille Desmoulins got a crowd to attack the Bastille because he wasn't satisfied with the government economic minister. 1932, Hedley Verity took ten wickets for ten runs in a county match. 1943, largest tank battle ever. 1962, Rolling stones first perform in concert. Today is the birthday of Julius Ceaser (100BC), Josiah Wedgewood (1743), George Eastman (1854) and Bébé (1990).
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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

Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel 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.net) which 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 Josiah Wedgwood (1730), George Eastman (1854), Buckminster Fuller & Oscar Hammerstein II (1895) and the leggy and uber talented baby kiwi of the day, Lyn Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years. 1493, The Nuremberg Chronicle, one of the best-documented early printed books, was first published. 1543, King Henry VIII of England married Catherine Parr, his sixth and last wife, at Hampton Court Palace. 1943, World War II: German and Soviet forces engaged each other at the Battle of Prokhorovka, one of the largest tank battles in military history. What a day you give us, steeped in learning with ever lasting hope and a willingness to engage fiercely for what is right. Cheers.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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MUSA THE LOSER

Tim Blair – Saturday, July 12, 2014 (4:47pm)

Tough talk from Australian jihadi boy Musa Cerantonio: 
“So apparently the Australian Federal Police are looking for me – Let’s see how well they can hunt. Have fun finding me. I’ll be waiting for you or whichever dogs you send.” 
Well, OK then: 
Radical Australian hate preacher Musa Cerantonio has been arrested in the Philippines, exposing as lies his boasts of having joined a new Islamic caliphate in the Middle East.
Melbourne-born Cerantonio, regarded as one of the top propagandists for jihadists and the violent Islamic State, is now likely to be deported back to Australia. 
Poor stupid Zaky Mallah doesn’t quite know what to make of this, as usual. Here’s an update on our tax-fundedbludjahideen: 
One of Australia’s most-wanted terrorists and a suspected war criminal, Khaled Sharrouf continued to receive a taxpayer-funded disability pension months after arriving on the battlefields of Syria.
The Weekend Australian understands Sharrouf, who fled Australia for Syria using his brother’s passport,continued to receive his disability support pension at least until February, about two months after he left Australia bound for Syria. 
I wonder how many other Impaired and Subsidised Islamic Soldiers are signed up for government benefits.
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SHOOT A CRITTER, LOSE A CONTRACT

Tim Blair – Saturday, July 12, 2014 (3:46pm)

This is pathetic: 
The Belgian beauty who scored a L’Oreal modeling deal after her World Cup photos went viral earlier this week has been released from her contract.

image

The decision comes after 17-year-old Axelle Despiegelaere sparked outrage on Facebook with a picture showing her posing with a dead oryx gazelle she had hunted in Africa, The Independent reports. 
It’s not as though the things are endangered. They’re basically just big rabbits.
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The Bolt Report tomorrow, July 13

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (4:41pm)

Tomorrow on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial: Lying about boats
My guest:  Labor’s Anthony Albanese.
The panel:  IPA boss John Roskam and former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Costa
NewsWatch:  The Australian’s media editor Sharri Markson. The secrets to Clive Palmer’s media success. 
Plus spin of the week.

Warning: not safe for climate alarmists, refugee activists and anyone else for whom the truth dosn’t matter if the cause is just.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Adelie penguins give warming scaremongers the bird

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (4:07pm)

Global warming - dud predictions

2007:
“Bill’s Adelies, struggling, failing, persisting, succumbing, were a small poignant example of a potentially vast reality. In one sense, they had become surrogate humans. Through them, the impact of a changing climate on established communities was palpably visible, a kind of parable in real time. This is how it is, if you have been residing in attractive island real estate, and climate change comes knocking on your door.”
p. 268, The Ferocious Summer, Profile Books Ltd, 2007
2008:
The literary awards of Labor Premier John Brumby are ... worth a total of $210,000…
And the non-fiction prize ... [went to] The Ferocious Summer: Palmer’s penguins and the warming of Antarctica by Meredith Hooper
Again, to explain:

Meredith Hooper has captured how one scientific team uncovered the story of the devastating impact of rapid global warming on the Adelie penguins of the Antarctic Peninsula.
2013:
New, very short film from the E. O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation highlights threats to Adelie penguins from climate change, already.  Actor and conservation activist Harrison Ford narrated “Ghost Rookeries, Climate Change and the Adelie Penguin.”
January, SBS reports:
Penguins are in peril because of extreme environmental conditions linked to climate change, research has shown.... Adelie penguins on Ross Island, Antarctica, are finding it harder to feed as melting sea ice fragments to form giant icebergs.
Now:

For the first time, researchers have counted all the world’s Adélie penguins—a sprightly seabird considered a bellwether of climate change—and discovered that millions of them are thriving in and around Antarctica…
“What we found surprised everyone,” said ecologist Heather Lynch at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., who led the penguin census. “We found a 53% increase in abundance globally.”
Counting the birds by satellite, Dr. Lynch and imaging specialist Michelle LaRue at the University of Minnesota found that the Adélie penguin population now numbers 3.79 million breeding pairs—about 1.1 million more pairs than 20 years ago. In all, they identified 251 penguin colonies and surveyed 41 of them for the first time, including 17 apparently new colonies.
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Don’t bother Killeen and O’Keefe with the facts. Abbott’s a bastard

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (3:52pm)

It is hard to believe that sane people ever thought this story was genuine:
A wave of attempted suicides has swept Christmas Island as 12 mothers tried to kill themselves in the belief their then-orphaned children would have to be settled in Australia.
Of course these always preposterous claims were false.
But even after even refugee advocates admitted the claims were false you get the Abbott haters and bumper-slogan Leftists still assuming they could be, might be, true and Abbott’s a bastard. Watch and marvel at Gretel Killeen and Andrew O’Keefe. Note how the facts, outlined by Nick Cater, barely seem to matter:
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Global warming could be “natural”, admits climate change MP

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (11:13am)

Doubt creeps in:
The chairman of [Britain’s] Commons Energy and Climate Change committee said he accepts the earth’s temperature is increasing but said “natural phases” may be to blame…
Mr Yeo, an environment minister under John Major, ... was one of the first senior figures to urge the party to take the issue of environmental change seriously…

Asked on Tuesday night whether it was better to take action to mitigate the effects of climate change than to prevent it in the first place, he said: “The first thing to say is it does not represent any threat to the survival of the planet. None at all. The planet has survived much bigger changes than any climate change that is happening now.
He went on: “Although I think the evidence that the climate is changing is now overwhelming, the causes are not absolutely clear. There could be natural causes, natural phases that are taking place.” 
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ABC prefers its PMs to be Labor, thanks

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (11:08am)

The ABC was only too eager to screen a four-part interview of Paul Keating by admirer and former Labor press secretary Kerry O’Brien.
But interviews with a far more successful Liberal prime minister? Forget it:
THE ABC has rejected a major television interview series with former prime minister John Howard, just six months after airing a four-part program with Paul Keating.
The series, working title John Howard Defined, will be conducted by The Australian columnist and former ABC board member Janet Albrechtsen and has been snapped up by the Seven Network.
“Why the ABC turned down Howard after the success of the Keating interviews is somewhat of a mystery,” said the executive prod­ucer of Seven’s Sunday Night, Mark Llewellyn, who will oversee the project. “Bewildering is not the word but it comes close.”
Albrechtsen, who was recently appointed to a government panel putting forward names for ABC and SBS board positions, gave the public broadcaster first option for the series…
With ABC managing director Mark Scott on leave, spokesman Michael Millett said the ABC had been “interested in the concept” of a Howard series but would find it “difficult to slot” into its schedule.
Exactly how much more evidence does the ABC board need before deciding its management is not fulfilling its charter responsibility to provide balance? 
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The price of Palmer

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (10:25am)

Clive Palmer is now costing each family another $10 a week:

HOUSEHOLDS face a bill of billions of dollars and many could miss out on backdated energy costs if budget wrecking ball Clive Palmer continues to block the carbon tax repeal next week.
Mr Palmer jetted off for a weekend in New Zealand yesterday after breaking his election promise to support scrapping the tax....
But every further day of delay is costing families millions of dollars. Based on the current price of $25.40 per tonne, the tax is costing each of the nation’s 7.76 million households an average $10.10 per week ...
The increased cost of carbon in electricity bills should be refunded and backdated to July 1 by most energy companies if the carbon tax is axed before July 18. But, past that date, households may miss out on refunds because of the way electricity companies buy and sell energy.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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On how it pays to be Green

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (10:09am)

Senator John Madigan on the connections between the Greens and green business:
(Thanks to reader John.) 
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Palmer abuses journalists asking about that missing $12m

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:57am)

Clive Palmer is under pressure over the missing $12 million, and turning on the journalists he used to charm:

EVIDENCE of Clive Palmer’s company having nothing to do with a port for which he billed the Chinese more than $12 million in eight weeks for “port services” has been independently verified by the federal government…
(E)vidence of a lack of “port services” has been supported by a senior federal government public servant, Pauline Sullivan, who told Mr Palmer’s company it had attempted to mislead her department over the port.
Federal Court affidavit documents filed two months ago show Ms Sullivan, a delegate to the secretary for the Department of ­Infrastructure, determined that his company was responsible for a “failure to accurately reflect the factual circumstances”, causing a loss of confidence in competence to have a security-related role.
Ms Sullivan determined that “as a matter of fact (Citic Pacific) operates this port facility”.
“The site visit report noted no Mineralogy health, safety, environmental, security or other operational personnel were observed at the port,” she said.
She added: “Despite these factual circumstances of the port, throughout the Maritime Security Plan submitted by Mineralogy it is suggested, contrary to the fact, that Mineralogy operates much of this infrastructure.”
The missing $12m case is likely to be referred to police, despite Mr Palmer, who has begun replying tersely to questions from journalists and storming out of an ABC 7.30 interview, insisting he had done nothing wrong.
In an ugly incident in Queenstown in New Zealand yesterday, he told a Channel 7 cameraman he would have him thrown out of a hotel, adding the Canberra-based reporter, Amelia Brace, could ‘f. k off’. Channel Nine also had a scheduled interview with Mr Palmer in New Zealand.
Text messages seen by The Weekend Australian show Mr Palmer had agreed to the interview at the Sofitel, but angrily canned it when the cameraman turned up.
The Department of Infrastructure finding seems at odds with what Palmer claimed at the National Press Club this week:
If you want a true answer about it, it was that we had an obligation to provide port services. Our company, Queensland Nickel, provided those services and was paid for them. They were no longer Chinese funds. That’s all I can tell you. I can’t get into a discussion with you about a matter that’s biased with The Australian.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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A Senate that’s killing our future

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:43am)

Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer - driven by populism and hatred of Tony Abbott - are blocking the savings cuts we need to save us from potential disaster. Henry Ergas:
Now, despite an unprecedented period of low unemployment and continuous expansion, by 2017-18 we will have run deficits for 10 years in a row.
And if the government’s proposed savings measures are not implemented, the cumulative deficit to 2017-18 will climb to 20.5 per cent of GDP, exceeding that incurred in every previous downturn, including the great depression…
As well as shifting on to tomorrow’s taxpayers the burden of paying for today’s benefits, greater debt will limit the borrowing capacity of future governments, reducing their scope to use fiscal policy to cushion the impact of adverse shocks.
Moreover, with the Reserve Bank’s cash rate already close to zero, the ability of monetary policy to pick up the slack will itself be constrained.
As a result, when an adverse shock comes, the cuts will have to be deeper and the hardship more widespread and prolonged. And such shocks are not merely possible; they are probable.
UPDATE
The Reserve Bank governor is getting nervous:
RBA governor Glenn Stevens has warned that a dangerous complacency about Australia’s economic growth is letting political leaders defer tough decisions on the budget and risking a much more serious downturn when the next one occurs…

“I would fully expect within over the (next) 10-year period, there will be a downturn for some reason of some depth.
“The question is: can we be in a position to do the things that would make it a shallow and short one?’’ he said. 
“Having a strong fiscal position ahead of any such downturn, which stood us in very good stead in 2008, would be one such thing…
“We didn’t actually vote for the revenue to fund [key welfare schemes] just yet ... If we can’t find some way of putting together a set of fiscal ­accounts that at least begin the process of addressing these ­medium-term issues ... I’m not sure that this would fill one with great confidence in our capacity to deal with the genuinely serious problem when one day that emerges.”
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The truth behind Tingle’s gloating

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:41am)

Once again, Laura Tingle seems blinded by her hatred of the AbbottAbbottAbbott:
No deals! Laura Tingle, Australian Financial Review, yesterday:

IT is not so much Palmer as karma. … In opposition, the Prime Minister repeatedly said “there would not be deals done with independent and minor parties under any political movement I lead”.
What the PM actually said. August 14, 2013:

I’VE made it crystal clear ... that I will not be forming a minority government.
Gerard Henderson:
There’s no karma here. Just La Tingle verballing. Before the election, Tony Abbott said that he would not deal with minor parties or Independents to form a government. Nor did he. The Coalition governs in its own right.
La Tingle should know that every prime minister, since the upper house voting system was changed in 1949, at some stage has had to deal with minor parties or Independents in the Senate. This was the case with Robert Menzies, Harold Holt, John Gorton, William McMahon, Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and now - Tony Abbott.
There is no evidence that the Coalition expected to have a majority in the Senate as of 1 July 2014. La Tingle’s piece today is, well, tosh.
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Too sick to work but not to go on jihad

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (9:39am)

We really are an easy touch:
ONE of Australia’s most-wanted terrorists and a suspected war criminal, Khaled Sharrouf continued to receive a taxpayer-funded disability pension months after arriving on the battlefields of Syria.
The Weekend Australian understands Sharrouf, who fled Australia for Syria using his brother’s passport, continued to receive his disability support pension at least until February, about two months after he left Australia bound for Syria…
Sharrouf served three years and nine months for his role in the Pendennis plot, a terrorist conspiracy in which 18 men were convicted over plans to attack targets in NSW and Victoria.
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Bar-city jihadist

Andrew Bolt July 12 2014 (7:50am)

Musa Cerantonio, the radical Islamic hothead, demands Muslims not just stay at home when jihadists are fighting in Syria:
Cerantonio announces that he, for one, is going to Syria to fight for the new Caliphate, now declared by the ISIS terrorist group:
image
In fact, he’s been found in far safer and comfier surrounds:
RADICAL Australian hate preacher Musa Cerantonio has been arrested in the Philippines after his boasts on social media about travelling to join the Islamic “caliphate’’ in the Middle East were exposed as a lie. 

Melbourne-born Cerantonio, who is regarded as one of the top propagandists for jihadists and the violent Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is now likely to be deported home to Australia where he remains the subject of an ongoing investigation by the AFP.
One of the very few tourism attractions in Lapu-Lapu city:
For those who are wondering about Mactan’s naughty nightlife scene, there are many girlie bars located on Quezon National Highway in Lapu Lapu City. Some of them have been there for ages.
UPDATE
But John Lyons says other Australians keep joining the terrorists:

THERE was something about the six Australians that made them stand out. 

Thousands of foreigners have ventured into Syria and Iraq during the past year for their journey to jihad; but, for locals who live along the border between Turkey and Syria, this group was different.
As they sat drinking coffee before making their final walk into a foreign war, these Australians stood out: they were supremely confident, well-dressed and well-resourced.
UPDATE
Reader bobx, who lives 2km from where the hothead was found, protests:
The link you provided is hopelessly out of date. The three ‘girlie bars’ mentioned in the link one of the few tourist attractions in Lapu-Lapu City no longer exist....
The reason is the cost of doing business in the ‘girlie bar’ business is very expensive. You have to pay everyone and in filipino culture if you paid x last month you can afford to pay x+ this month and every copper, official wants in on the action.
A filipino couple (friends) ran a very small local bar with a few girls. They got arrested recently because they were behind in payments and spent 8 weeks in custody because they refused to post bail because they knew if they paid the bail it would not be there when they were released so cheaper to stay inside.
As a result there are very few ‘girlie bars’ in Lapu Lapu but lots of tourist attractions.. for example Cebu City (main island) do not have any beaches and all the resorts close to the city (many 5 star) are in lapux2 some with good beaches. Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa, Moevenpick Hotel (ex Hilton), Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, JPark Island Resort & Waterpark, Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan etc.
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G’day,
I’m sure you are fans of Monty Python and in particular ” The Meaning of Life”. If not then please check this classic sketch from that film out.
It appears to me that our Mr Palmer is really our Mr Creosote, and as in the skit, The Waiter ( Mr Abbott), keeps his cool under what is nothing less than a very disturbing series of events.
I can’t wait for the time when I can draw Abbott handing him that last wafer thin mint!
Godspeed and have a great weekend.
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist/Caricaturist
041429376
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she can see how I see her

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Sunken Trampoline
What a great and safe idea for the backyard .. a sunken trampoline! Absolutely love this and your kids will too.. http://bit.ly/10LJR2Q

Give a LIKE for our WHOot partner FOX Mowing & Gardening and let them take the hard work out of your garden maintenance!
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... " The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. " - Sir Winston Churchill
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"While some might see the internal melt down in Arab society as a positive sign for Israel, significantly reducing the military threat from regional state actors, there are profoundly menacing aspects to the phenomenon that are likely to sharply increase the threat entailed in any future sovereign Palestinian entity.

For as the centralized control of states over their territory decreases, and radicalization of the political climate within their frontiers increases, both their ability and their resolve to rein in renegade extremists will wane.

If a Palestinian state is set up in any configuration remotely coinciding with the pre-1967 lines, it is likely to be almost seamlessly welded not only to the present relatively benign monarchy in Jordan, not only to any more radical successor, but to all that lies – largely borderless – beyond that.

The only physical obstacle today separating Israel’s heavily urbanized Coastal Plain from the realities of the Arab world, of which the Palestinians see themselves an integral part, is the limestone mountain range in Judea-Samaria, on which the Palestinian state is supposed to be constituted.

The establishment of such a state would adjoin almost immediately and directly link the eastern fringes of Tel Aviv with the greater Arab world, with all the attendant societal and security ramifications such a measure would entail." - Martin Sherman - (article excerpt)
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Dry Bones cartoon: Europe warns the Turkish army not to intefere with the establishment of an Islamic state.
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The Article is here: http://972mag.com/watch-idf-detains-5-year-old-in-hebron-blindfolds-and-handcuffs-father/75594/

The video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dl6YGt7O9eM
A line in the article Furthermore, according to B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli, the IDF’s unequal and discriminatory conduct towards settler children who throw stones and Palestinian children who throw stones is clear from such an incident:

“We have extensive documentation of lawbreaking by young Israeli children in Hebron. Settler children under the age of criminal responsibility have often thrown stones at Palestinians with impunity. We are certainly not advocating that Israeli minors under the age of criminal responsibility are arrested – quite the contrary – but the discriminatory treatment is glaring.” .. correct me if I'm wrong please but .. bullshit .. I'd be surprised if lone Israeli children could even survive, were their presence known among Palestinians in occupied areas .. - ed
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RUDD’S EGO EMBARRASSES THE NATION
The spectacle of all the international ambassadors to Australia lined up like school boys to pay homage to Rudd is an international embarrassment which has turned Australian into a laughing stock.

And why did Rudd orchestrate this embarrassing spectacle ?

It wasn’t for any greater good, it wasn’t undertaken in the best interests of our nation - it was simply done for Rudd’s own personal and political agenda.

Yet again Rudd is putting his own personal interests ahead of those of Australia.

And this is just another example of why Labor’s member for Bendigo was right when he called Rudd 'a psychopath with a giant ego' - and why Rudd is unfit to lead Australia.

The nation can’t afford another 3 years of this farce.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
"Ok so they are cursing you, pointing the finger at you, spitting bad mouth at you, they are jealous of you, they are crucifying you!!!... Is it true what they say? If not let it not consume your righteous heart... You must continue to hold God's hand and He will guide your heart to inner peace and freedom you thought impossible!!! Walk forward...Through Him all things are possible!!
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Again, Gaza farmers cooperate with Israel, while BDSers pretend otherwise

From COGAT:
Last Wednesday and Thursday two groups of Palestinian farmers (60 persons in total) had left the Gaza Strip in order to attend an agricultural seminar in northern Israel, designed to further facilitate the Gaza agricultural sector. Farmers, heads of agricultural associations and merchants had arrived at the conference sponsored by Origins Seeds Company, a company which exports cucurbitacae (pumpkins, squashes, etc.) and field cultivation seeds to 17 world countries, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Last years, the farmers had purchased seeds from the company and were pleased with their quality, and so it was important for them to attend the seminar and learn more about the product they're using. During the seminar, the farmers completed several workshops on cultivation methods, planting schedules, soil preparation, proper use of irrigation and fertilizer and disinfestations methods.

In addition, the farmers focused primarily on watermelons, and had stated that this year, owing to the training programs conducted frequently in Israel; growers had achieved unprecedented crop yields – 11 tons of produce for each decare of cultivated fields – A twofold increase compared with the preceding year.
Meanwhile, the BDS movement puts together lists of "agricultural organizations" that probably have no members as "proof" that Arab farmers in the territories want to shun any cooperation with Israel.

As I summed up earlier this year:

  • The BDSers want Palestinian Arab farmers to lose millions of dollars that they are making today by cooperating with Israeli exporters.
  • The BDSers want Palestinian Arabs to stop working for Israelis that pay them double the rates they would get from Arab employers.
  • The actual farmers in the territories are happy to work with Israel to make money.
  • The actual workers in the settlements are happy to get more money for their families by legally working for Israelis.
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Retirements and Beginnings

As I write this article I am preparing to give what will most likely be my last Mid Year Conference Talk.  It is a sad moment for me.
This has been a week of retirements.  On Thursday my brother Peter officially retired as the Archbishop of Sydney.  With him the Chancellor of the Diocese Acting Judge Peter Johns has also retired.  There comes in life a time for the changing of the guard, of letting go of our responsibilities that others may take up their opportunities to serve, bringing fresh energy and fresh ideas to the tasks.
This is more than people retiring because they are getting too old to do the job.  This is the intentional outcome of the training up of the next generation to take over.  Christianity will be here till the Lord Jesus returns and so every generation must raise up the next generation to take responsibility and leadership.  The church without a youth group will have no family ministry in the next generation and no old people in the one after that.  It is critically important to always invest in the next generation (Psalm 78:5-7).
Mid Year Conference (MYC) has been such a large part of my life that it is a little hard to grasp that it has come to an end for me.  However, the purpose of student work is to prepare the next generation to take over and for their sake I must leave the crease gracefully.
MYC started in my second year as chaplain at UNSW in 1976.  Just over 20 students spent the week in the Speakers Lodge at Katoomba.  It was a great week of Bible study and prayer, which bore astonishing results not just in the ministry on the university campus that year but also in the lifetime of those who were present.  All but two have continued faithfully serving Christ in business. family and church.  Many entered full time ministry, some went onto the mission field in Africa and South America, others are in pastoral ministry around Sydney and student work in Australia, and one even became a bishop.
Following the success of that first year we continued to hold an annual Mid Year Conference.  The numbers steadily grew and other campuses started to follow the same model.  We moved from campsite to campsite till we came to the largest one available and then filled it to overflowing.  The logistics became ever more complicated, but the staff teams running them became ever more adroit at meeting the challenges.  The emphasis never varied – it has always been a serious time of being confronted with the claims of Christ in our lives by prayerfully studying the Bible.  Many have been converted at MYC and many more have come to understand and accept the claims of Christ’s Lordship over their lives.
The programme has remained remarkably stable over the years.  It involves taking a topic and spending the time studying the scriptures in small groups and seminar gatherings as well as private times of reflection.  The afternoon provided lots of time for sport and recreation as well as pondering what was discovered in the scriptures that morning.  Then in the evening I was given the privilege of speaking and answering questions for some hours.  The daytime study prepared people for the intensity of the evening sessions.  I have never seen a better platform from which to preach Christ.  An attentive inquiring audience keen to hear from God’s word, to engage with its message, and to change not only their thinking but their whole way of life.
Starting from that small first conference, thousands of students have now been to MYC. In 1993 some smaller campus groups around Sydney joined together to create a combined MYC for those campuses not large enough to hold their own.  This was held the week before UNSW MYC and I spoke at both of them – spending a fortnight at the campsite.  On leaving UNSW and becoming Dean, I retired from the UNSW MYC but continued speaking at the combined university MYC.  And it is from there that I am writing this article.
However, this is the last combined MYC.  Each of the ministries has grown enough to hold their own MYC.  It is a sad moment for me - and yet a great moment - for the children have grown into the adulthood that I always wanted.  They are taking responsibility to make their own conferences work.  I am thrilled that we have reached such a stage of development.
Still, I have spoken at over 50 MYC’s over the last 37 years, spending more than a year of my life eating conference food and sleeping fitfully on campsite beds.  I cannot calculate the hours of talks or questions and answers I have been privileged to be part of.  I am now meeting the children of those who used to come and can recall how I knew their parents before their parents knew each other.  Even more wonderful, sometimes I knew their parents before their parents knew the Lord.
I thank God for the great innings he has given me and the strength to enjoy it.  Yet it is important to know when to call it a day.  Not so much because I am getting too old, but because the next generation has arrived and need to take the responsibility to train up their next generation after them.
It happened at UNSW more than a decade ago.  Their MYC next week is larger than any one I ever spoke at.  They have great Bible teachers led by Carl Matthei, Paul Grimmond and Joshua Ng.  I understand that the Annual Conference of Sydney University is similarly attracting huge numbers and is ably taught by Rowan Kemp.  There are similar MYC’s run by other campus ministries around NSW and other states.  It is a great time to be a Christian university student.  Now even the smaller campus groups are ready to strike out on their own and I’m sure they will do brilliantly under the wonderful leadership of their staff workers.
As for me, I am a little sad but for the gospel of the Lord Jesus it's a great day.  For out of those attending will come a generation of Bible believers and Bible teachers who in turn will teach the generation after them.
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This guy reading the newspaper on the subway is Keanu Reeves. 

He is from a problematic family. His father was arrested when he was 12 for drug dealing and his mother was a stripper.

His family moved to Canada and there he had several step dads. He watched his girlfriend die. They were about to get married, and she died in a car accident. And also before that she had lost her baby.

Since then Keanu avoids serious relationships and having kids. He’s one of the only Hollywood stars without a Mansion. He said: “l live in a flat, I have everything that I need at anytime, why choose an empty house?” One of his best friends died by overdose, he was River Phoenix (Joaquin Phoenix’s brother). Almost in the same year Keanu’s father was arrested again. His younger sister had leukemia. Today she is cured, and he donated 10% of his gains from the movie Matrix to Hospitals that treat leukemia.

In one of his birthdays, he got to a little candy shop and bought him a cake, and started eating alone. If a fan walked by he would talk to them and offer some of the cake. He doesn’t have bodyguards, and he doesn’t wear fancy clothes. When they asked him about “Sad Keanu”, he replied: “You need to be happy to live, I don’t.
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For community channel ... — at Costco.
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In 1950, Dr. Helen Dickens was the first African American woman admitted to the American College of Surgeons. The daughter of a former slave, she would sit at the front of the class in medical school so that she would not be bothered by the racist comments and gestures made by her classmates. By 1969 she was associate dean in the Office for Minority Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania, and within five years had increased minority enrollment from three students to sixty-four.
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Saint Basil's Cathedral
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““Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” Jeremiah 32:17 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."
1 Peter 5:10
You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision," but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of being "stablished in the faith" is gained. The apostle's words point us to suffering as the means employed--"After that ye have suffered awhile." It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.

Evening

"Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."
Joel 1:3
In this simple way, by God's grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land--the beloved of the Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord's arrangements. To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday school teachers, or other friendly aids; these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental teaching is a natural duty--who so fit to look to the child's well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish. Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith. Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an accepted work, for God has saved the children through the parents' prayers and admonitions. May every house into which this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive his smile.
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Esther

The Woman Who Saved Her Nation From Genocide
Scripture Reference - The Book of Esther
Name Meaning - Esther was the Persian name of this descendant of Benjamin and is from "aster" meaning "a star" and implies, like Venus, that of "good fortune." We refer to "the star of hope" - "the star of joy" - "the star of superiority," and Esther was all these to her people for in "the splendid galaxy of Hebrew women of the olden time, no name stands more prominent or shines with a richer lustre." Rabbi Jehudah affirms that Esther is "sether," meaning "to hide," because she was hidden in her guardian's home and because her nationality was concealed (Esther 2:7 ). Mordecai had made the girl promise that she would not reveal her nationality to the king - which she did not until the opportune moment came. Hadassah, signifying "myrtle" was Esther's original name. The change of name from Hadassah to Esther may indicate the style of beauty for which this once captive, now a Persian queen, was famous for. She is revealed as "a woman of clear judgment, of magnificent self-control and capable of the noblest self-sacrifice." The lines of Byron can be fittingly applied to Esther -
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes.
Family Connections - This last woman of the Old Testament of whom we intimately know nothing, was related to a family carried away captive with Jeremiah, about 600 b.c. and was born of this family preferring to remain in the land of captivity rather than return to Jerusalem. Esther was the daughter of Abihail who lived at Shushan, the Persian royal city. When her parents died she came under the guardian care of Mordecai, a palace official, to whom she was related by marriage. Mordecai had a deep affection for her and reared her as his own daughter. Esther was always obedient to her uncle and even when she became queen, sought his practical advice. She trusted this gentle Jew as her father. As Alexander Whyte expresses it, "Mordecai brought Esther up, and his one love in his whole life, after his love for Israel and for the God of Israel, was his love for his little adopted daughter.... He stood by and watched his sister's child lifted up in a moment from her exile and poverty, and actually made the queen of the greatest empire then standing on the face of the earth."
The story of Esther as we have it in the book bearing her name is a romance of captivity in Persia, for a king set at nought Persian law and prejudice to make her his queen. The marriage of Ahasuerus to Esther, a Jewess, was against Persian law which held that one of the royal line must marry a wife belonging to the seven great Persian families. What Esther did and how she did it is described in ten intensely vivid chapters, and her story is one of great dramatic power in which "incident after incident is related until the climax of difficulty is reached and the knot is so tied that it seems impossible to escape. Then it is untied with wonderful dexterity."
A peculiar feature of the Book of Esther is that, with the Song of Solomon, it shares the distinction of not mentioning God or any divine name once throughout its pages. Yet the fast-moving action in this drama is eloquent with the overruling providence of God in bringing Esther to the throne for such a time. At times, God may appear as if He is hiding Himself, but seen or unseen He ever accomplishes that which is according to His will. Because of her beauty Esther became an inmate of the palace, and when courageous Queen Vashti was deposed, Esther was chosen to succeed her. The combined wisdom of Mordecai and Esther's courage became the means of lightening the load of the Jews under Persian rule. With Mordecai, Esther shared faith in the high destiny of Israel as a nation.
Haman, the chief court favorite, was the Jews' enemy - the Old Testament Adolph Hitler - and conceived a plan to massacre the Jews en bloc . Exhorted by Mordecai, Esther revealed her Jewish nationality to the king, and this courageous action brought about a complete reversal of the decree. Haman was executed, Mordecai was honored by the king, and Esther's position as Queen was considerably strengthened. It is because she saved the Jews from destruction that the Book of Esther is read every year by Jews at the Feast of Purim, held on the 14th day of Adar. We cannot but agree with the summary of Esther, as one of the most attractive women in the Old Testament that -
As an historical character, Esther is the supreme heroine who delivers her nation from disaster: as a woman, she is that rare individual, a mixture of charm, strength and guile: a human being whose character is secure from the rot of wealth, prosperity and power.
That Esther had great personal beauty goes without saying. Her dark, exotic features marked her out, and she was thus chosen as a candidate for the king's favor who, when he saw her for the first time must have been captivated by her physical charms. But through her beauty there shone a radiance of personality and character which enhanced her beauty and gave it distinction in the eyes of Ahasuerus who chose her as his queen. Kuyper, who does not have anything good to say about Esther's character when he deals with her in hisWomen of the Old Testament , confesses that Ahasuerus reckoned her to be the most beautiful of the maidens presented to him when seeking a successor to Vashti. The one thing about Esther we cannot understand was the way she exhibited the vindictiveness of the age and the country in her request that Haman's ten sons should be hanged, and a day set apart when the Jews could take vengeance on the enemies who had sought to kill them. She had not learned to love her enemies. She lived on the other side of the cross and therefore was ignorant of its cry for the forgiveness of enemies.
What are some of the lessons to be gleaned from the fascinating story of Esther? First of all, her record abides because she was one who kept her pledge. May such allegiance be ours! She dutifully obeyed her foster father. Having no natural father or mother to honor, she loved and was loyal to her guardian parent. How commendable it is when young people revere their parents and obey them in the Lord! Further, Esther loved and clung to (although she concealed) her despised but honorable descent. She was a true patriot and in the hour of crisis was not ashamed to own her race. The lesson to learn from the dramatic moment when she revealed her identity as a Jewess has been applied by H. V. Morton in this way -
When a person has gone up in the world and has achieved a position of power and eminence, it requires strength and beauty of character for that person still to love and remember the simple people from whom he, or she, sprang. Humble girls have often married rich men and have forgotten their origin. They have, in fact, been ashamed of anything that might remind them of it.
Witnessing to the rock from which she had been hewn, Esther dared to risk death for her people and so escaped dying with them. By her patriotism she won for her nation a great deliverance and God used her as an instrument of His providence for the working out of a glorious purpose. There had been preparations of humiliation and prayer and when the king held out his scepter and she approached to make her plea the cry was in her heart, "How can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?" How national life sorely needs godly patriots after this order? You may be tempted to sigh and say, "If only I were like Esther with great opportunities what would I not do to glorify God." Realize that all around you, no matter how mean your environment may be, there are magnificent and unparalleled opportunities of serving God and a needy world that angels envy. Serve the Master to the limit of your ability where in His Providence He has placed you, and thus prepare yourself for a larger circle of service if such be His will.
Leaders of women's groups could elaborate on the following points while dealing with the story of Esther, the strong-minded woman of ancient history -
From her character we learn -
1. To seek divine guidance in times of difficulty (Esther 4:15-17).
2. To obtain a knowledge of human nature, so that we may know how to take advantage of any circumstances which may favor our cause if it be a proper one.
3. When there is a necessity, to be ready to renounce self and exert ourselves for the good of others.
4. To value and seek the cooperation of fellow-believers.
Dealing with the ultimate safety of the Jews which Esther secured, we learn - 
1. To have unbounded confidence in God's Providence - not to undervalue small things.
2. To acknowledge God as the Author of all mercies.
Thinking of the reversal of fortune of Haman, which Esther brought about, we further learn - 
1. There is such a thing as righteous retribution. Haman himself received what he had proposed for others. He was paid back in his own coin.
2. The transitory nature of earthly grandeur and the end of all ill-gotten earthly power and possessions.
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Elihu

[Ĕlī'hū] - he is god himself.
  1. The father of Jeroham and great-grandfather of Samuel the prophet, who also has the name of Eliel (1 Sam. 1:1; 1 Chron. 6:34).
  2. A man of Manasseh who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. 12:20).
  3. A Kohathite of the family of Korah, and a Tabernacle porter in David's time (1 Chron. 26:7).
  4. A brother of David , who became ruler over Judah (1 Chron. 27:18). Also known as Eliab.
  5. The youngest of Job's friends, the son of Barachel, a Buzite (Job 32:2-6; 34:1; 35:1; 36:1).

The Man Who Was a Self-Assertive Dogmatist

The lineage of Elihu, the fourth speaker in Job's dialogue, is given in fuller detail. He was the son of Barachel the Buzite, the kindred of Ram (Job 32:2). Buz was the brother of Uz and son of Nahor ( Gen. 22:21). Buz is also mentioned along with Tema and the Arab tribes (Jer. 25:23).
Elihu's name, "God is Lord," suggests his desire to exalt the Almighty. One writer has described him as "the forerunner of Jehovah." This youthful, somewhat self-assertive speaker reaches a high level and has "a far juster and more spiritual conception" in dealing with the problem that has confronted Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. But he gives only half the truth, and his appeal, although so lofty and eloquent, is marred by a self-assertiveness evident from his sayings, "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment" (Job 32:9) and, "My words shall be the uprightness of my heart" ( Job 33:3).
It is interesting to observe that Job did not reply to Elihu as he did to the other three, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" This was Jehovah's word to Elihu, in which He lays the very charge at his feet which he had sought to bring against His servant Job (Job 34:35; 35:16).
Elihu's vindication appears to be along three lines:
I. He first of all condemns Job for his self-justification (Job 32:2; 33:8, 9).
II. He sets out to modify the doctrine of the three friends by affirming that affliction is as much a judgment upon sin as a warning of judgment to come (Job 34:10, 11).
III. He then unveils in a way completely overmastering the mind, the majesty and glory of God, the climax of which is inJob 37:5.
Elihu claimed inspiration for his presence and message (Job 32:8). Eagerness was his to speak before he did, but youth and modesty kept him back ( Job 32:4-8, 18, 19). What Elihu seemed to forget was, trial can overtake the saintliest of men (1 Pet. 1:7).
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Today's reading: Psalm 1-3, Acts 17:1-15 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 1-3

BOOK I
Psalms 1-41
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither--
whatever they do prospers....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 17:1-15

In Thessalonica
1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah," he said.4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women....
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