Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Tue Jul 8th Todays News

The terrible, murderous, exploitative people smuggling trade has many victims and few upsides. It was wrong of the ALP to promote it and remove the effective policy of Mr Howard, known as the Pacific Solution. It is to Mr Abbott's credit that the new policy has been as effective as it has. The High Court may be acting correct in law in their current action, but if it derails effective policy and promotes more death, it is damning of those who  promote the lie that it is ok for people smugglers to exploit poor desperate people and drown them. 

Not all of those being exploited by people smugglers are poor and desperate. Some are craven, stupid and evil too. One Iranian, who came to Australia by boat in 2010, was in his early thirties, and so desperate to migrate he destroyed his identity papers in the customary way, and stayed on a protection visa. He found a girl who dumped him for another. Yesterday, he approached the chosen guy in a mall, argued with him over a cosmetics counter in a shopping mall full during a school holiday. He had bought a machete from a local shop, and knifed the rival with it about four times in the chest, leaving the knife there as his victim died. He then lit a cigarette and waited for the police. He taunted the police as they arrested him. The penalty for murder in Iran is death. So, clearly, he must be fleeing those who want to kill him. 

The thing about education and training is that there is a feeling that the wheel needs to be reinvented, instead of applied. The slightest change in curriculum results in people throwing up their hands screaming "It can't be done." But when it is done right, a new curriculum can be invigorating and inspiring. There was a need for change, and a naval officer who had fought in the war of 1812 and the Mexican American wars addressed it. Mathew Perry was a commodore in charge of many ships on this day in 1853, where in Edo Bay he signed an agreement in Japan. Perry had instituted a naval academy for the US. The partnership with Japan transformed Japan, and in fifty years, Japan would beat a Russian force in battle. And within a hundred years, Japan would threaten world domination through her naval force. 

It didn't happen when Rudd was elected, although he tried. The worst day in Dow Jones average history was today in 1932, with the market indicator reaching its lowest point. The New York governor would apply his full opportunistic presence to be President less than a year later, and exploit the loss and extend the depression through poor policy. In 1933, the first Rugby test between Wallabies and Springboks occurred. In 1947, a weather balloon crashed at Roswell. A Burmese socialist leader, Ne Win, attacked Rangoon University in 1962. Today is the birthday of Zeppelin (1838), Binet (1857) and Bacon (1958). 
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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 Joshua Park Praest and Gaetano Mastrangelo. Born on the same day, across the years. A day in which, in 1758, French and Indian War: French forces defeated the British at Fort Carillon on the shore of Lake Champlain in the British Colony of New York. 1808, Joseph Bonaparte approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as King of Spain during the Peninsular War. 1898, American con artist and gangster Soapy Smith (pictured) was killed in Skagway, Alaska, when an argument with fellow gang members turned into an unexpected gunfight. 1994, Upon the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il became the Supreme Leader of North Korea. 2011, Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched in STS-135, the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program. Everything that has happened had a beginning and an end. Your rule is benevolent, but even so, you must take care of those sudden, erupting gunfights.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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DRACONIAN MEASURES

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 08, 2014 (4:12pm)

An accused murderer emerges from our peaceful refugee community: 
The girlfriend of an Iranian refugee accused of murdering another man in front of hundreds of shoppers at Westfield Parramatta sobbed uncontrollably as her partner appeared in court over the killing.

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Kazem Mohammadi Payam, 35, who came to Australia after being granted a protection visa in 2010, appeared before Parramatta Local Court today. 
Meanwhile, the New York Times gets all bossy with us: 
Australia is pursuing draconian measures to deter people without visas from entering the country by boat. In doing so, it is failing in its obligation under international accords to protect refugees fleeing persecution …
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said recently that “something strange happens” in the minds of Australians when it comes to asylum seekers who arrive by boat without a visa. 
This is absurdly disingenuous. Economic opportunists commonly discard their visas in order to make background checks more difficult, thereby improving their chances of gaining residency as genuine refugees. It isn’t strange at all that Australians reject this. Does the New York Times allow unknown and unidentified strangers to enter its building and stroll around on its editorial floors? If someone attempted to do so, would “something strange” happen, such as security or police throwing the intruder out? 
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HELLO CALIPHATE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 08, 2014 (2:54pm)

Middle East correspondent David Kenner reports:

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Sri Lankan “asylum seekers” confess

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (5:56pm)

The Sri Lankan “asylum seekers” sent back this week tell a Fairfax reporter of their terrible mistreatment by the Abbott regime:

One of the asylum seekers, Anthony Fernando, 38, told Fairfax Media that he had had been “mistreated” by Australian authorities and given food that was past its expiry date.

Such cruelty.  This is a job for our High Court.
And then the people the Greens claim fleeing persecution confess:
Anthony Fernando, 38, told Fairfax Media .... “I went [to] Australia to find employment and then settle and bring my wife and family…
Another man, Punchi Banda Podinilame, said he had one son, two sons-in-law and seven other relatives on the boat.
He said they had all gone to Australia to find employment. 
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Bruce Wilson wins court battle over documents. But only for now

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (11:31am)

Bruce Wilson has a court win - for now:
A Supreme Court judge has upheld an appeal by former union official Bruce Wilson - Julia Gillard’s ex-boyfriend - against a magistrate’s decision to allow Victorian fraud squad detectives access to hundreds of documents over an alleged union slush fund.
Justice Terry Forrest on Tuesday agreed to set aside a ruling handed down by Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen in December that Victoria Police could inspect 363 documents seized under warrant on May 13 last year from the law firm Slater & Gordon.
Justice Forrest ordered the case be sent back to the magistrates’ court to be re-heard by Mr Lauritsen…
The notice of appeal documents filed with the Supreme Court claimed questions of law in dispute included whether Mr Lauritsen erred by admitting into evidence three statements from [former Wilson bagman Ralph] Blewitt made on November 23, 2012, and if the magistrate mistakenly relied for his reasons on the transcript of an interview between Mr Wilson and the ABC’s 7.30 Report.
Mr Blewitt ...  has admitted involvement in an alleged union fraud… In the ABC interview, Mr Wilson admitted the association’s purpose was to fund election campaigns and that he had used some of the money to buy the Fitzroy house in 1993.
Justice Forrest said on Tuesday the magistrate had erred when he decided not to call Mr Blewitt to give evidence because it would involve undue expense and delay.
The judge said Mr Blewitt’s statements tendered to the court were hearsay and should not have been admitted.
The magistrate however did not err when he admitted the ABC interview into evidence, the judge ruled.
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The (mis)reporting of Peter Hannam

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (8:47am)

Peter Hannam, Environment Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, is once again in full alarmist mode:

Tony Abbott’s plan to axe the carbon price this week has come in for some withering criticism from his own side of politics, with a former head of the UK’s Conservative Party declaring it to be an “appalling” move that “recklessly” endangers the future.
Lord Deben, who served in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet and is now chairman of the independent UK Committee on Climate Change, said the Abbott government “appears to be more concerned with advancing its own short-term political interests” than dealing with global warming.
Wow. Lord Deben said that? Er, who the hell is he? A global warming scientist? A leading intellect? Or just some bloke who shares Hannam’s brand of catastrophism?
Turns out Lord Deben is a green carpet-bagger, making a living from global warming and green business - not that Hannam mentions that:

Chairman, Sancroft International Ltd (consultants in corporate responsibility and environmental, social, ethical and planning issues; payments made for certain work done by the Member in category 2 are made to Sancroft International Ltd)…
Chairman, Association of Professional Financial Advisers (formerly Association of Independent Financial Advisers)…
Chairman, Climate Change Committee
Chairman, Vision 2020 (informal group considering food waste, reduction and recycling)
Chairman, Advisory Board, 2 Degrees (aids sustainable efficiency and growth for members and corporations by enabling fully-linked collaboration (on and offline))

Then Hannam adds this:

As UK prime minister, Mrs Thatcher was one of the first global leaders to identify climate change as a threat.
She told a 1988 meeting of the Royal Society the increase of greenhouse gases had led some “to fear that we are creating a global heat trap which could lead to climatic instability. We are told that a warming effect of 1 degree per decade would greatly exceed the capacity of our natural habitat to cope”.
What Hannam fails to add is that Thatcher later saw the light:
It is not widely appreciated, however, that there was a dramatic twist to her story. In 2003, towards the end of her last book, Statecraft, in a passage headed “Hot Air and Global Warming”, she issued what amounts to an almost complete recantation of her earlier views.
She voiced precisely the fundamental doubts about the warming scare that have since become familiar to us. Pouring scorn on the “doomsters”, she questioned the main scientific assumptions used to drive the scare, from the conviction that the chief force shaping world climate is CO2, rather than natural factors such as solar activity, to exaggerated claims about rising sea levels. She mocked Al Gore and the futility of “costly and economically damaging” schemes to reduce CO2 emissions. She cited the 2.5C rise in temperatures during the Medieval Warm Period as having had almost entirely beneficial effects. She pointed out that the dangers of a world getting colder are far worse than those of a CO2-enriched world growing warmer. She recognised how distortions of the science had been used to mask an anti-capitalist, Left-wing political agenda which posed a serious threat to the progress and prosperity of mankind.
In other words, long before it became fashionable, Lady Thatcher was converted to the view of those who, on both scientific and political grounds, are profoundly sceptical of the climate change ideology.
Hannam’s omissions make his article deceptive. This is not reporting but propagandising. 
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Another evening of the ABC preaching Leftist politics

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (7:53am)

Record sea ice around Antarctica this year:

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As for ice on Antarctica itself, even if you believe the calculations of the warmist US National Climate Assessment the loss is actually minimal:

Antarctica is losing about 0.0045% of its ice per decade—about 4.5/10,000ths of a percent per year.
But here is how the ABC’s Lateline last night reported on Antarctica, omitting both the above critical facts:

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: There’s more research tonight pointing to dramatic changes underway in Antarctica. Australian researchers have identified how warm water is increasingly pushing out cold water around the white continent, prompting more ice to melt and further sea level rises. 
Reader Lachie spent last night watching an ABC entirely captured by the Left:

It started with The Drum full of glee at Palmer blocking $8 Billion of savings of the budget and had refugee advocate Allan on arguing how Australia was in all manner of human rights breaches over the Tamil return, ably assisted by the host.
The news was full of the same, making the Abbott Government look terrible and Clive Palmer look powerful. More condemnation of the Australian government over human rights abuses and the High Court decision to prevent the Sri Lankan handover. Showed Jenny Macklin demanding that they keep the schoolkids bonus.

The 7:30 programme went into full inner city latte mode with the following:

- Sabra Lane highlighting Abbott’s difficulties and the fawning over the PUP party power in the new Senate

- An interview with lawyer David Manne over Australia’s terrible human rights abuses of the current Sri Lankan boat people.

- A pro-Palestinian piece focussing mostly on the dead Palestinian youth and how the Israeli settlers are occupying more land in the settlements. (Just your typical left wing bias glossing over the barbaric Palestinian behaviours.)
Four Corners then had a Steven Long piece only interviewing global warming alarmists and solar/wind carpet baggers [plus Environment Minister Greg Hunt] about how Australia was being completely left behind by not rushing out to pour even more borrowed billions to throw at renewable energy. There was no contrary viewpoint put about their inefficiency or the huge cost to power consumers.

Media Watch‘s Paul Barry had a huge whinge about the two new appointments to the panel appointing ABC board members, attacking their lack of impartiality and their inability to not be biased. The great irony is that Barry asked for impartial appointees, without observing the total Left wing bias of the whole ABC organisation.

Q&A was the usual four-against-one panel with poor Judith Sloan battling against a panel and an audience just wanting full-on spend-spend Keynesian economics and saying there was absolutely no budget emergency. The banner along the bottom was meanwhile running the headline with excited glee about the High Court stopping the refugee transfers. Q&A tonight was supposed to be only about economics but unsurprisingly a questioner still managed to ask a question about our refugee policy and whether Australians should be ashamed of our government and ridiculously likened it to late 1930s sending Jews back to Nazi Germany.
Lateline ran with glee the lead story of how the High Court has halted the Sri Lankan transfer and their guest for the evening was - surprise surprise - a refugee advocate.  The political headlines were again about Clive Palmer’s success at punching an $8 Billion hole in Tony Abbott’s budget.  Next was an global warming alarmist piece about how Antarctica is warming much quicker because they have now found warmer water is melting the ice at a much faster rate and will lead to tenths of metre rise increases over the next century (as in cm’s but it sounds much scarier said in tenths of metres). 

How the ABC can continue to serve up this blatant leftist bias whilst violating their charter constantly? They must be feeling they are under no pressure to comply.
For this to just be an average night’s viewing on this public behemoth is quite scary and I hope someone in the government takes up this issue - starting with the replacement of Malcolm Turnbull who is absolutely useless on the issue. 
The ABC is out of control. 
UPDATE
The Daily Telegraph reports:
Iranian man, 35, charged with murder of man at Westfield Parramatta after allegedly plunging knife into victim over and over
Guess which detail the ABC omitted?
(Thanks to reader Peter.) 
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The CFMEU’s hands on super fund members’ tax file numbers

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (7:48am)

Would this have happened if the CFMEU weren’t linked to the super fund? Don’t the superannuation laws give enormous clout to unions, including the lawless?
THE confidential tax-file numbers of members of the major superannuation fund Cbus were emailed to union officials, potentially breaching federal taxation laws. 

The royal commission into trade union governance yesterday heard that the personal information of Cbus members was sent from fund email accounts on 68 occasions over a 16-month period…

The commission heard that the [Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union’s] NSW secretary, Brian Parker, contacted Cbus chief executive David Atkin in July last year expressing concern that construction company Lis-Con had not paid a substantial amount in superannuation entitlements to workers.
Cbus senior adviser Lisa Zanatta, who was asked to provide information to assist Mr Parker, told the commission that she informed Mr Parker the company was four months in arrears, but denied she had passed on the personal information. 
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Trust the public to punish racists

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (7:18am)

Nick Cater on another case that shows we can punish racists without draconian laws against free speech:

Karen ... Bailey’s crass behaviour should remind us “how virulent racism is in this country,” suggests The Sydney Morning Herald’s Sam de Brito…
If we were to follow de Brito’s logic we would further conclude that the planet is being overrun by biped cats and dancing dogs, since these too appear on YouTube. Yet real-life experience suggests otherwise; the behaviour of most pets is wholly unremarkable.
We know too — if we can stop wringing our hands for a moment and think about it — that few people go bonkers on public transport. Fewer still are prepared to put their bigotry on display as unselfconsciously as Bailey…
The footage shows that Bailey’s fellow passengers are embarrassed. If anyone in the carriage shared her unreconstructed views they did [not] stand up to say so.
Some, however, objected strongly to her outburst. Indeed one chivalrous Caucasian makes a point of offering his seat to the woman of East Asian heritage who caught the brunt of Bailey’s abuse…
If Bailey’s behaviour were normal, no one would bother swiping on their phone camera. If her fellow passengers were indifferent to racism they wouldn’t try to interfere.
It seems perverse, therefore, that the incident should be cited by the defenders of clause 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act as an argument for heavy-handed regulation.
As with the racist heckling of Adam Goodes, the Bailey incident exemplifies the self-governing society… The collective abhorrence towards her behaviour is in itself a statement that we as a society will not accept racist conduct. 
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A Senate that cannot save

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (6:09am)

We have a Greens/Labor/Palmer Senate seemingly determined to drive us broke, with another $9 billion of saving set to be rejected:

CHRIS RICHARDSON, DELOITTE ACCESS ECONOMICS: My guess is it’s a bridge too far for the Government, that the Government has a budget problem and it’s trying to fix it, but you’re seeing various elements of the Senate be populist, basically, say yes to spending increases, no to tax increases.
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Respect the science, insist warmists who believe in a virgin birth

Andrew Bolt July 08 2014 (5:57am)

Tim Blair:
It isn’t often that a Fairfax environment writer comes up with the funniest line of the week. Congratulations are due to Tom Arup for composing this gem: 

The Anglican Church has told the Abbott government to change its approach to climate change, urging it to respect and base its policy on scientific evidence.
The comic power in that paragraph is equal to several kilotons of the finest plutonium. Here we have an organisation founded on belief and faith now demanding that selected scientific opinions inform government policy. These same people think they can talk to the planet’s inventor just by putting their hands together. 
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High Court stops transfer of Sri Lankans

Andrew Bolt July 07 2014 (8:37pm)

Boat people policy

Here we go again - more encouragement to people smugglers, with all that entails from dead bodies in the seas to billions wasted:

The High Court has granted an interim injunction to stop more than 150 asylum seekers being returned to Sri Lanka by the Australian Navy
Refugee advocates seeking to protect those asylum seekers made an application to the High Court, which granted the injunction after an urgent hearing.
The interim injunction will be in place until tomorrow afternoon, when the matter is set to be heard in the High Court. 
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she can see how I see her



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The age of global warming is over. I refer, not to any warming of the planet that may or may not be occurring, but to the world’s apparently serious and broadly shared belief in dangerous, man-made global warming and of equally serious attempts to implement policies of enforced decarbonisation to deal with it.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Worship is a witness when it's clear, understandable, and heart-felt.
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For sale at explosive prices! ‎#Hezbollah terrorists store their weapons in civilian houses, endangering ‎#Lebanese civilians by turning their villages into makeshift military and terrorist bases. Keep an eye out for the ‎#IDF’s new Hezbollah website coming later this week.
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LEADING KIWI SCIENTIST THOROUGHLY DEBUNKS CLIMATE SCARE 

July 6, 2013: "GLOBAL WARMING, alias CLIMATECHANGE [the NON-EXISTENT, incredibly expensive, THREAT TO US ALL, including to our grandchildren]", by David Kear, PhD, FRSNZ, CMG, Whakatane, New Zealand. Dr. Kear is a South Pacific geologist, United Nations consultant and former Director-General of NZ Dept. of Scientific & Industrial Research, Whakatane, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

"The widespread obsession with Global-Warming-Climate-Change, in opposition to all factual evidence, is quite incredible. It leads to unfair treatment of some citizens, and a massive bill for all, for nothing useful."

Read the whole document:

http://nzclimatescience.net/images/PDFs/keargw2.pdf

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When it comes to saving lives, a great leader does not think twice. This afternoon, an ‎#Israel Air Force pilot and navigator survived a sudden plane crash in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.‎#IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, was one of the first to arrive at the scene, working side by side with IDF rescuers to evacuate the survivors from the sea.
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Because of the short runway at Princess Juliana International Airport large planes fly right over the tourists head on Maho Beach.
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Just a reminder that tickets to the most anticipated Doctor Who event of the year, the official Doctor Who 50th Celebration, will go on sale tomorrow from 11am BST via the official Celebration website here: http://bit.ly/DWCelebration
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As we chased this storm through Nevada along this mountain range, Miguel and I stopped to catch this scene as finger rays started bursting out. The sun was lowering fast and the clouds faster, so we had to be quick. The wind was howling and the power lines directly over us were eerily humming low and steady.
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 Pre-Wedding ( Fadi + Karmeen ) Nohadra - North Iraq. from Diamond Films on Vimeo.
 cultural progress. Do these people look like they would have been happier under the economic sanctions, which were an alternative to war? So poorly managed by the UN and it's notorious 'oil for food' program? There is light at the end of the tunnel. I wish this couple a happy wedding day and a wonderful life together.>
Plus it must be nicer to live in a nation where the price for a woman of being pretty is no longer facing rape by the leader or their sons .. and where a man may not be killed for being inconvenient. - ed
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Molokini Crater, Hawai'i!
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LABOR’S GRUBBY LIES & HYPOCRISY EXPOSED.

Last night we had Kevin Rudd on TV claiming Australians “are sick and tired of negative politics” and “I believe people want all of us to raise the standard.” 

Meanwhile Labor are down in the gutter, sending out a postcard (authorised by Bob Carr) full of blatant lies and negative politics, asking people to sign a letter saying they “Oppose Tony Abbott’sand the Liberal’s Plan to increase the GST” - this is despite the fact that there are NO plans to increase the GST whatsoever, and rate of the GST can only be changed by agreement with the all the states.

A bit rich coming from the party that promised faithfully before the last election there would be NO carbon tax, then gave us a Carbon Tax, and have just increased the rate of the Carbon Tax, and plan to increase the Carbon Tax again it next year.

This is just further proof of the complete hypocrisy of Kevin Rudd.

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Our Lady of Kazan
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Events[edit]

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Holidays and observances[edit]

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“As for God, his way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.”Psalm 18:30 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Brethren, pray for us."
1 Thessalonians 5:25
This one morning in the year we reserved to refresh the reader's memory upon the subject of prayer for ministers, and we do most earnestly implore every Christian household to grant the fervent request of the text first uttered by an apostle and now repeated by us. Brethren, our work is solemnly momentous, involving weal or woe to thousands; we treat with souls for God on eternal business, and our word is either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. A very heavy responsibility rests upon us, and it will be no small mercy if at the last we be found clear of the blood of all men. As officers in Christ's army, we are the especial mark of the enmity of men and devils; they watch for our halting, and labour to take us by the heels. Our sacred calling involves us in temptations from which you are exempt, above all it too often draws us away from our personal enjoyment of truth into a ministerial and official consideration of it. We meet with many knotty cases, and our wits are at a non plus; we observe very sad backslidings, and our hearts are wounded; we see millions perishing, and our spirits sink. We wish to profit you by our preaching; we desire to be blest to your children; we long to be useful both to saints and sinners; therefore, dear friends, intercede for us with our God. Miserable men are we if we miss the aid of your prayers, but happy are we if we live in your supplications. You do not look to us but to our Master for spiritual blessings, and yet how many times has He given those blessings through His ministers; ask then, again and again, that we may be the earthen vessels into which the Lord may put the treasure of the gospel. We, the whole company of missionaries, ministers, city missionaries, and students, do in the name of Jesus beseech you
"Brethren, pray for us."

Evening

"When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live."
Ezekiel 16:6
Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate of mercy. Note that this fiat of God is majestic. In our text, we perceive a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in his glory; he looks, he pauses, and he pronounces the solitary but royal word, "Live." There speaks a God. Who but he could venture thus to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again, this fiat is manifold. When he saith "Live," it includes many things. Here is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be condemned, but the mighty One saith, "Live," and he rises pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life. We knew not Jesus--our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear his voice--Jehovah said "Live," and we were quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, it includes glory-life, which is the perfection of spiritual life. "I said unto thee, Live:" and that word rolls on through all the years of time till death comes, and in the midst of the shadows of death, the Lord's voice is still heard, "Live!" In the morning of the resurrection it is that self-same voice which is echoed by the arch-angel, "Live," and as holy spirits rise to heaven to be blest forever in the glory of their God, it is in the power of this same word, "Live." Note again, that it is an irresistible mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God. A voice is heard from heaven and a light is seen above the brightness of the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" This mandate is a mandate of free grace. When sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will do it to magnify his free, unpurchased, unsought grace. Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden you live, see to it that you live in earnest.
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Andrew

[Ăn'drew] - manlinessBrother of Simon Peter, and one of the twelve apostles (Matt. 4:18; 10:2).

The Man Who was the First Missionary

Because he brought his own brother to the newly found Messiah, Andrew earned the distinction of being the first missionary of the cause of Christ (John 1:41 ). Andrew belonged to Bethsaida of Galilee - was a disciple of John the Baptist - attached himself to Christ with whom he enjoyed a special friendship (Mark 13:3; John 1:35-37). He was ever prompt to help (John 6:8, 9; 12:21, 22). After Christ's ascension, Andrew preached in Jerusalem. Tradition has it that he was crucified because of his rebuke of Aegeas for obstinate adherence to idolatry. He was nailed to a cross in the form of an X, hence the name St. Andrew's Cross. Lessons to be learned from Andrew are:
I. It is only in true discipleship that rest can be found.
II. If we cannot perform more conspicuous service we can yet serve the Lord. Although Peter was the spiritual father of the Pentecost converts, Andrew was their spiritual grandfather.
III. We must discover our own gift and the gift in others and guide such into right channels of service.
IV. If we are Christ's ours will be the passion to lead others to Him.
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Today's reading: Job 34-35, Acts 15:1-21 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Job 34-35

1 Then Elihu said:
"Hear my words, you wise men;
listen to me, you men of learning.
3 For the ear tests words
as the tongue tastes food.
4 Let us discern for ourselves what is right;
let us learn together what is good.
5 "Job says, 'I am innocent,
but God denies me justice.
6 Although I am right,
I am considered a liar;
although I am guiltless,
his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.'
7 Is there anyone like Job,
who drinks scorn like water?
8 He keeps company with evildoers;
he associates with the wicked.
9 For he says, 'There is no profit
in trying to please God.'

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 15:1-21

The Council at Jerusalem
1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them....
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