Thursday, November 13, 2014

Thu Nov 13th Todays News

The path we fail on is often the path we took to avoid trouble. 
Russia has sent warships off the coastline of the G20 in Brisbane for much the same reason the US President has ridiculous amounts of hardware present. It reinforces domestic politics back home. Russia is not going to call for Russian separatists to fight Australia. There is a substantial tactical advantage to doing so in the Ukraine. The issue is big as 38 Australians died on MH17, an aircraft shot down, probably by Russian separatists after Ukraine forces legitimised it as a target. We now that Ukraine failed to warn the world of the war being fought and lied about the nature of the war to the world's press. There is another issue, Ukrainian independence from Russia and separatist behaviour has been influenced by Washington. There is no way that Russia was going to accept losing their own naval base or maintaining a hostile relationship with a near neighbour. Historically, Washington did not like it either, when Cuba was armed. Russia will take advantage of poor US policy, which is a good thing, because it forces the US to adopt strong policy. 

 The 7:30 Report on the ABC started today with a scare item regarding Chinese internet espionage from a cute sounding panda group connected to the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. The idea behind the scare is to attempt to make Monday's signing of the free trade agreement difficult, if not impossible. ABC have gloated a lot following their attempt to unhinge peace with Indonesia. Following the first item, Leigh Sales had an interview with Joe Hockey. During the interview Sales proudly stated that the budget was in a difficult shape because ALP had blocked significant items. Only Sales did not blame ALP, but independents whom Hockey defended, as he must. Partisan Sales attacked wherever she saw a jugular, which is not how she behaves with ALP or Greens. The ABC is out of control. 

 Palmer Party is fracturing, but as it does so it is turning to the ALP stance of blocking legislation for no policy reason. The issue is meaningless to both the antagonists, regarding soldier's pay. Palmer has despised soldiers and Lambie sees herself as part of their crowd. Restoring the nation to fiscal health is the best thing a government can do to the soldiers who serve her. 

 Shorten speaks on the understanding Obama reached with China regarding carbon dioxide issues. Obama has promised to make life difficult in the US now, as long as China will do so in fifteen years or so. GOP are not going to back it. Even so, Shorten is very up beat about it. If Shorten ever works out precisely what it is. 

Historical perspective on this day
In 1002, English king Æthelred II ordered the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre. In 1160,  Louis VII of France married Adela of Champagne. In 1553, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer and four others, including Lady Jane Grey, were accused of high treason and sentenced to death under Catholic Queen "Bloody" Mary I. In 1642, First English Civil War: Battle of Turnham Green – the Royalist forces withdrew in the face of the Parliamentarian army and failed to take London. In 1775, American Revolutionary War: Patriot revolutionary forces under Gen. Richard Montgomery occupied Montreal. In 1841, James Braid first saw a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism. In 1851, the Denny Party lands at Alki Point, before moving to the other side of Elliott Bay to what would become Seattle. In 1864, the new Constitution of Greece was adopted. In 1887, Bloody Sunday clashes occurred in central London.

 In 1901, the 1901 Caister Lifeboat Disaster. In 1914,  Zaian War: Berber tribesmen inflicted the heaviest defeat of French forces in Morocco at the Battle of El Herri. In 1916, Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes was expelled from the Labor Party over his support for conscription. In 1918, Allied troops occupied Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. In 1927, the Holland Tunnel opened to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicle tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City. In 1940, Walt Disney's animated musical film Fantasia was first released, on the first night of a roadshow at New York's Broadway Theatre. In 1941, World War II: The aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal was torpedoed by U-81, sinking the following day. In 1942, World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal – U.S. and Japanese ships engaged in an intense, close-quarters surface naval engagement during the Guadalcanal Campaign. In 1947, the Soviet Union completed development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles.

 1950 – General Carlos Delgado Chalbaud, President of Venezuela, was assassinated in Caracas. In 1954, Great Britain defeated France to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators. In 1956, the Supreme Court of the United States declared Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1965, the SS Yarmouth Castle burned and sank 60 miles off Nassau with the loss of 90 lives. In 1966, in response to Fatah raids against Israelis near the West Bank border, Israel launched an attack on the village of As-Samu. In 1969, Vietnam War: Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. staged a symbolic March Against Death. In 1970, Bhola cyclone: A 150-mph tropical cyclone hit the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. This is regarded as the 20th century's worst natural disaster. In 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. murdered his entire family in Amityville, Long Island in the house that would become known as The Amityville Horror. In 1982, Ray Mancini defeated Duk Koo Kim in a boxing match held in Las Vegas. Kim's subsequent death (on November 17) led to significant changes in the sport. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. In 1985, the volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted and melted a glacier, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buried Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people. In 1985, Xavier Suárez was sworn in as Miami's first Cuban-born mayor. In 1986, the Compact of Free Association became law, granting the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands independence from the United States. In 1988, Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian law student in Portland, Oregon was beaten to death by members of the Neo-Nazi group East Side White Pride. In 1989, Hans-Adam II, the present Prince of Liechtenstein, began his reign on the death of his father.

 In 1990, in Aramoana, New Zealand, David Gray shot dead 13 people in a massacre before being tracked down and killed by police the next day. In 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled in Dietrich v The Queen that although there is no absolute right to have publicly funded counsel, in most circumstances a judge should grant any request for an adjournment or stay when an accused is unrepresented. In 1994, in a referendum, voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union. In 1995, a truck-bomb explodes outside of a US-operated Saudi Arabian National Guard training center in Riyadh, killed five Americans and two Indians. A group called the Islamic Movement for Change claimed responsibility. In 2000, Philippine House Speaker Manny Villar passed the articles of impeachment against Philippine /*President Joseph Estrada. In 2001, War on Terror: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signed an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States. In 2002, Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agreed to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441. Also in 2002, the oil tanker Prestige sank off the Galician coast and caused a huge oil spill. In 2007, Russia officially withdrew from the Soviet-era Batumi military base, Georgia.

from 2013
Some people are comfortable being lied to. They prefer it. When Hamidur Rahman died in '02 from peanut allergy, his parents were sad and wanted the truth to come out. Those responsible for his death had a vested interest in that not happening. The result was the coroner declared the death an accident after failing to ask basic questions. It was easier that way. Parents were told by the coroner they had not told the school of the allergy. I know the school had been informed, and worse, the instrument of Hamidur's death had been given to the boy on the explicit instruction of the boy's school boy's welfare officer. The Head Teacher Welfare (Boys), a position possibly unique to Hurlstone AHS which is also a coed boarding school, had known for over a year about the allergy. It is not unusual for the coroner to massage results for the public. Michael Hutchence's likely death through misadventure as a result of sexual dysfunction from long term drug use was ruled a suicide because it is easier on the fans who would rather remember Michael that way. 

Hamidur's head teacher with responsibility for welfare, boys, had instructed staff who had run out of rewards for kids to use items from the canteen, like peanut butter. The same officer was later told in 2001 that Hamidur had a serious peanut allergy. He instructed the person advising him of that fact not to discuss it publicly, on the promise staff would be informed. His boss, a deputy principal, said the same. In 2002, on camp, a teacher found he didn't have normal rewards for kids, and got peanut butter from the school in accordance with school direction. Hamidur had done an activity well, and so, as a reward, the teacher challenged him to lick peanut butter from a spoon. He died in seconds. 

If the Head Teacher or Deputy Principal had been asked about this at the time, they may have lied or told the truth. If they were asked today, they could say they have forgotten. Worth thinking about as Australia's parliament discusses a carbon tax. Already, the ALP has delayed the introduction of the bill repealing the carbon tax (a misnomer, it is a tax on Carbon Dioxide, a colourless, odourless gas that is normally present in the atmosphere and feeds plants). Australians have never voted to have one. They were explicitly promised one would not be introduced prior to the '10 election. When it was introduced, Australians voted for a party promising to repeal it. Liars have claimed that the recent storm to hit the Philipines was the worst in history. It wasn't. It was terrible, but not in the top 37 storms known. When next there is an election, if those who voted in support of the tax are asked, what will they say about why they supported it? Some people are comfortable being lied to. 
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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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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

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR

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 Tony Nguyen, Ruby Bulatao Madera, Misay Lim and 오사렘. Born on the same day, across the years, along with 
Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
We all love Danish. Royal Danish is moorish. Here, barbers cut hair. Is Britain great? Use the iPad father gave you. Let us party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2014
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SHOOTING THE MESSENGER

Tim Blair – Thursday, November 13, 2014 (1:28pm)

The Palmer United Party disunites: 
Mr Palmer lashed out both Senator Lambie and her chief of staff via a media release, following earlier remarks by the Senator in which she criticises her colleagues and indicates she would not attend partyroom meetings.
“Everything Senator Lambie says is really coming from her chief of staff. Senator Lambie is simply Rob Messenger’s mouthpiece,” Mr Palmer said.
“Last night our executive met and we have agreed to expel Rob Messenger from the party on the grounds of making false and misleading statements about our Senators.” 
These people are idiots. Nothing false or misleading about that statement.
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SHORTEN SPEAKS

Tim Blair – Thursday, November 13, 2014 (12:48pm)

Great excitement follows a US-Chinese climate deal: 
Mr Shorten said on Wednesday the “historic and ambitious” agreement showed global leadership from the US and China. 
“Historic and ambitious”, Bill? In fact, the agreement indicates little more than a non-binding intention to work towards an agreement. It is just pointless friendly-talk. Shorten continues: 
“At the G20 this week, Australia will hold the embarrassing title of being the only nation going backwards on climate change.” 
Sure. It was so much less embarrassing when we tried to change the weather by giving millions of dollars to Tim Flannery and his friends. 
“With China and the United States representing around one-third of the global economy and over 40 per cent of global emissions, there will be significant momentum to deal with climate change in Brisbane,” he said. 
Shorten seems unaware that Chinese emissions will continue to increase. 
“Tony Abbott fought and fought to stop climate change being discussed at this weekend’s G20. If Tony Abbott still refuses to discuss the need to take action on climate change at the G20, he will embarrass Australia in front of the rest of the world.” 
Silence is usually a Shorten tactic. 
“Tony Abbott’s flat-earth views are out of touch with Australians.” 
Not according to the last election. 
“Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is a security issue and it is absolutely an economic issue.” 
How does this work, exactly? Are warm areas more vulnerable to terrorism? How come Australia’s coldest state, Tasmania, is also our worst-performing economically? 
And Greens leader Christine Milne said the deal should be a “massive wake-up call to Tony Abbott. His continued climate denial and his destruction of the environment is reckless.” 
Whatever, chipmunk lady.
(Via A.R.M. Jones)
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LOOKING LAME

Tim Blair – Thursday, November 13, 2014 (11:45am)

This is what a television network looks like when it’s run by the public service. 
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ABC addresses bias

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (7:05pm)

I have often said that if there’s one thing the ABC lacks it’s a Left-wing comic:

Charlie Pickering from The Project is joining ABC TV’s lineup of comedians – Wil Anderson, Shaun Micallef, Rob Sitch, Judith Lucy and Josh Thomas – to headline new and returning shows in 2015.
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Even Leigh Sales apparently thinks 7.30 lowered its standards

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (2:36pm)

I thought the skit was juvenile, tasteless, misleading and evidence of the ABC’s bias.
It seems even the presenter also thought it beneath the ABC:
LEIGH Sales, presenter of the ABC’s flagship current affairs program 7.30, has suggested she argued strongly against the program showing a five-minute skit that made fun of Tony Abbott’s effort to “shirt-front” Vladimir Putin over Russia’s role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. 

In response to tweets about The Australian’s story today in which Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the decision to show the skit as “baffling and disappointing”, Sales tweeted: “I can robustly make my case in editorial meetings but ultimately, I have to present what’s commissioned.”
The ABC has defended what it called a “lighthearted” skit that went to air on Tuesday night previewing “the showdown of the century” between Abbott and the Russian president over Russia’s role in backing Russian separatists who downed MH17. Thirty-eight Australians were killed in the crash…
Mr Turnbull said the skit was out of place on 7.30 as it “would have been a pretty pathetic segment on (comedy program) The Chaser”.
“To include it in the national broadcaster’s leading current affairs program is a baffling and disappointing error of judgment,” he told The Australian.
The ABC is out of control, and managing director Mark Scott should be fired for failing to enforce standards. 
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Andrew Robb clinches the deals, but now must come the sales pitch

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (11:44am)

Niki Savva says Trade Minister Andrew Robb has become a star performer of this government - but now comes the selling job:
...if, as seems certain, the trade deal with China is signed on Monday when Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Canberra, it will cap an extraordinary 14 months for Robb. He will have delivered on a key promise of Tony Abbott to negotiate a trifecta of free trade agreements with South Korea, Japan and China…
News of the likely deal, worth (a very conservative) $18 billion and thousands of jobs, which will eclipse the other two, is well-timed given the persistently gloomy forecasts of widening deficits from shrinking revenues....
Robb’s first overseas trip, only days after he was sworn in, was to Indonesia to restore the live cattle trade after the debacle of the export ban imposed by the Gillard government, which demolished a $300 million industry.... After the ban was imposed in 2012, following the exposure of cruel practices in Indonesian abattoirs, live cattle exports to Indonesia dropped from 700,000 to 220,000. This year numbers are expected to reach 660,000-plus…

The government has to keep spruiking the benefits of the three FTAs. So far it has failed to fully capitalise on the deals, the benefits subsumed by complaints of those who missed out, or the story overtaken by other events.
The South Korea FTA prom­ises to add $650m annually to the Australian economy.
Agricultural exports are expected to be 73 per cent higher after 15 years, with overall exports 25 per cent higher. Modelling shows, excluding substantial expected gains in services, the agreement will generate 1000 jobs a year until 2030.
The Japan economic partnership agreement should deliver $300m a year in beef alone, with increased export sales of $5.5bn across 20 years.
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Social media moralists are all thumbs and no legs

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (11:04am)

The new morality

WHAT a surprise to see Abubakar Shekau bob up to boast about the hundreds of girls he’d stolen and had raped. 

I mean, hadn’t he read his tweets? Didn’t he know he’d been de-friended?
Sheesh, what else does it take to make some people realise they’ve been bad and must stop?
In this case the leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram was given the full treatment by millions of slacktivists, including even actor Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama, wife of the US President.
Shekau had already tested their indulgence by bombing, shooting and beheading thousands of Christians, but in June he crossed the line by kidnapping nearly 300 schoolgirls, forcing them to convert to Islam before giving them to his soldiers.
This time the moralists on social media could not be restrained.
(Read full article here.) 
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Putin tries to intimidate us

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (9:35am)

Vladimir Putin is getting far too big for his boots or the West’s comfort:

TWO frigates and a patrol aircraft have been sent to monitor a fleet of Russian warships that has ­arrived in waters to Australia’s north, in an apparent show of force by Vladimir Putin ahead of his arrival in Brisbane for the G20 summit this weekend.
Senior sources said the Russian fleet’s arrival followed moves in recent weeks to send bombers ­towards NATO airspace in ­Europe, towards the US and over Japanese territorial waters…
“He (Mr Putin) is making the point that Russia has global reach and he’s making that point to the whole world,” a senior defence source said…
Australian Defence Force chief Mark Binskin said last night the Russians had publicised the mission to the South Pacific in ­advance. When asked whether it was an act of aggression, Air Chief Marshal Binskin said: “You’d have to ask the Russians.”..
Another Russian warship, the guided missile cruiser Moskva, was reportedly involved in live-fire drills in the South China Sea and its appearance in Southeast Asia was described by the US Naval Institute as “a rare show of surface presence in the region”.
Greg Sheridan:
...the Russian action is petty, puerile and more than a bit silly.
Any G20 nation could send warships to the waters near to Australia, but they don’t do so because their governments have a little more maturity and self-respect than Vladimir Putin’s outfit.
The Russians have been strutting around the Pacific for some time, but to no discernible effect.
The most serious actions they have taken in the Pacific in recent times have been a series of breaches of Japanese airspace by Russian fighters, to the north of Japan.
These actions have repeatedly caused the Japanese to scramble their own planes in response.
The Russian President is a thug and a bully and he is not a welcome guest in Australia, but surely even he doesn’t think that sending warships to waters near Brisbane will achieve any geopolitical outcome.
It might bolster his standing at home, but internationally it raises questions about his priorities and the motivation for his behaviour.
UPDATE
More Putin posturing:
In a show of military muscle amid tensions with the West, Russia will send long-range strategic bombers on regular patrol missions across the globe, from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, a top official said Wednesday.
The announcement by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu came as NATO’s chief accused Russia of sending fresh troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine.
“Over the last few days, we have seen multiple reports of large convoys moving into Eastern Ukraine,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “We assess that this significant military buildup includes Russian artillery, tanks, air defence systems and troops. His statement called the situation a “severe threat to the cease-fire.”
Moscow denied the allegation as unfounded, but Shoigu also said the dispute with the West over Ukraine would require Russia to beef up its forces in the Crimea, the Black Sea Peninsula that Russia annexed in March.
Shoigu said Russian long-range bombers will conduct flights along Russian borders and over the Arctic Ocean. He said, “In the current situation we have to maintain military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, as well as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.”
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Lambie says a deal with Palmer is not a deal with her

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (9:04am)

Clive Palmer is in deep legal strife with his Chinese business partners. He’s lost his two Queensland state MPs.  His poll numbers are falling.
And now his power in the Senate just got slashed:
JACQUI Lambie has become so estranged from the Palmer ­United Party that she no longer plans on attending partyroom meetings…

“Since I’m not voting for any (government) legislation and since he’s not voting beside me … I don’t see the point why I need to go to any partyroom meetings. Therefore I’ll see them on the Senate floor."…
Asked why she did not leave the party and become an independent, the senator said she had a “verbal agreement” with Mr Palmer that she would not break…
”The bottom line is Clive Palmer may have the power but one green bottle falls off the wall and that leaves Clive Palmer without any power.”
She also declared she would not be “bound” by Mr Palmer’s renewable-energy deal struck with former US vice-president Al Gore. “Clive’s deal with Al Gore with regard to RET is just that, a deal with Clive Palmer, who did not consult with me as to how much harm it will cause to Tasmanian businesses’ profitability or workers’ job security,” she said.
As Labor walked away from RET talks, the senator repeated her stance that she would not negotiate with the government on the scheme — or vote for any legislation — unless the ADF pay offer was increased.
“Any political deals the government has with Clive will now have to be renegotiated with me,” she said.
UPDATE
Palmer’s Senators haven’t even been in office for six months and already there’s talk of mutiny:
CLIVE Palmer has called on rogue senator Jacqui Lambie to challenge him for the Palmer United Party leadership, as he revealed her chief of staff Rob Messenger had been “expelled”. 

The PUP leader also said Senator Lambie’s decision to vote against all government legislation while the Australian Defence Force pay deal remained at the below-inflation rate of 1.5 per cent was “irresponsible"…
“...if what she says about being unhappy with her party’s leadership is true, she should make a challenge, otherwise get on with the job of representing the people who voted for her.”

Mr Palmer said the party had met last night and decided to dismiss Mr Messenger because of his “disruptive influence”.
“Everything Senator Lambie says is really coming from her chief of staff. Senator Lambie is simply Rob Messenger’s mouthpiece,” he said.
“Last night our executive met and we have agreed to expel Rob Messenger from the party on the grounds of making false and misleading statements about our senators.” 
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How an Adam Goodes gets selected for Australia

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (8:52am)

No wonder we got Leftist scold Adam Goodes as Australian of the Year, preaching divisive race politics and an antipathy to this country.
Check how Labor governments stacked the National Australia Day Council, chaired until now by Adam Gilchrist, which appointed Goodes:
- Ms Robbie Sefton (Deputy Chair)
Director - Sefton & Associates
- Janet Whiting (Chair, Audit Committee)
Lawyer
- Professor Samina Yasmeen
Director - Centre for Muslim States and Societies
- Ms Elizabeth Kelly
Deputy Secretary, Governance - Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
- Ms Carol Schwartz AM
Director - Stockland and Director Bank of Melbourne
- Dr Tim Soutphommasane
Race Discrimination Commissioner [and former Labor staffer]
- Professor Ian Frazer AC
Translational Research Institute
- Jason Glanville
Chief Executive Officer - National Centre of Indigenous Excellence

- Norman Schueler
Businessman and multicultural leader
Get the picture?
The Abbott Government has replaced Gilchrist with Victoria Cross winner Ben Roberts-Smith. Good, but is he a cultural warrior to match those Labor tends to choose?
The Left is masterly at conquering the instituions, guaranteeing the public money and public positions are used to promote its causes. 
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Nova Peris could save children by ending this dangerous myth

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (7:24am)

The "stolen generations"

SENATOR Nova Peris could help explode the “stolen generations” myth that now menaces Aboriginal children. 

Why menaces? Take the first protest ahead of this weekend’s G20 summit in Brisbane. Brisbane’s Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy held a “Stop Stealing Our Children” rally to protest against another “stolen generation” — the alleged taking of thousands of children just because they were Aborigines.
Some 14,000 Aboriginal children are in out-of-home care, and “Aunty” Rhonda told ABC radio welfare workers were too quick to remove them. “They need to leave them alone and leave them there.”
In fact, Aboriginal children are eight times more likely to be abused or neglected, and leaving them could kill them.
(Read my full column here.) 
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We’re too good to be judged by the UN

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (7:00am)

Why are so many Australian academics eager to side with UN hypocrites against their own country?:

Fiona McGaughey, University of Western Australia, The Conversation, Tuesday: 

AUSTRALIA has indicated its intention to bid for a seat on the UN’s primary human rights body, the Human Rights Council, in 2018. Australia’s current international human rights image does not augur well for this contest. For example, the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, criticised Australia’s asylum policies in his high-profile opening address to the Human Rights Council. He singled out ... Israel-Palestine ... Australia was one of the very few Western states highlighted.
Where does Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein hail from? UN website:

ZEID Ra’ad al-Hussein ... (was) Jordan’s permanent representative to the UN in New York.
What sort of a paragon of human rights protection is Jordan? Human Rights Watch report, Jordan, 2014:

JORDANIAN law criminalises speech deemed critical of the king, government officials and institutions, as well as Islam ... On June 2, 2013, the director of the Press and Publications Department ordered the blocking of over 260 news websites ... Perpetrators of torture or other ill-treatment continued to enjoy near-total impunity. Credible allegations of torture or other ill-treatment are routinely ignored ... 12,410 persons were administratively detained, some for longer than one year, in 2012.
McGaughey, The Conversation, Tuesday:

FOR the first time, the (UN) committee (against torture) is asking questions about Australia’s action on violence against women, including domestic violence. Although ... domestic violence is not carried out by an “official” ... there is growing awareness of the need for a gendered analysis of international human rights law.
How’s Jordan doing on gender? Human Rights Watch report, Jordan, 2014:
MARRIAGES between Muslim women and non-Muslims are not recognised. A woman separated from a Muslim husband forfeits her custodial rights after the child reaches seven years old ... Jordan’s penal code ... provides for reduced sentences for perpetrators of “honour crimes” ... Honour crimes continued to take place ... a 25-year-old man ... murdered his 20-year-old sister, stabbing her 10 times in the chest, back, and throat ... because she repeatedly left the house for long hours.
McGaughey, The Conversation, Tuesday:
A LESS-THAN-PERFECT human rights record does not preclude a state from membership of the Human Rights Council, but it must demonstrate willingness to provide redress and make improvements.
Is Australia good enough to sit with these members of the HRC? UN website:
ALGERIA, Burkina Faso, China, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Viet Nam.
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Republicans rebel against climate deal

Andrew Bolt November 13 2014 (6:38am)

Much of the Australian media seems very excited by Barack Obama’s deal with China to slash America’s emissions today for a promise to restrain China’s by 2030. The deal:
The United States intends to achieve an economy-wide target of reducing its emissions by 26%-28% below its 2005 level in 2025 and to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28%. China intends to achieve the peaking of CO2 emissions around 2030 and to make best efforts to peak early and intends to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030. 
America’s dominant political party, though, can see some obvious flaws:
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slammed the climate deal announced early Wednesday morning by President Barack Obama, contending it would hurt the American economy…
“This unrealistic plan…would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs...,” the senator, who is expected to be the next majority leader, concluded.
“Easing the burden already created by EPA regulations will continue to be a priority for me in the new Congress.”
More Republican anger:
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) ..., who is poised to take the helm of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee next year, said China cannot be expected to hold up its end of the bargain in the deal announced late Tuesday night.
“It’s hollow and not believable for China to claim it will shift 20 percent of its energy to non-fossil fuels by 2030, and a promise to peak its carbon emissions only allows the world’s largest economy to buy time,” Inhofe said in a statement on Wednesday. “China builds a coal-fired power plant every 10 days, is the largest importer of coal in the world, and has no known reserves of natural gas.”..
“The American people spoke against the President’s climate policies in this last election,” Inhofe said. “As we enter a new Congress, I will do everything in my power to reign in and shed light on the EPA’s unchecked regulations.”
UPDATE
All promises, no punishments:
The statement reiterates policies China and the United States have been developing on their own and contains no new binding limits on greenhouse emissions.
Obama is trying to commit his successors to do something so unpopular that he kept it secret until after the mid-term elections:

President Obama’s signature on the deal has no legal force.  And it will be up to future Presidents and Congresses after he leaves office in January 2017 to decide whether to require the emissions reductions agreed to.
UPDATE
A good deal for China, not least because it costs little while hurting its main geopolitical rival:
China’s government has been discussing an energy and climate strategy based on emissions peaking in either 2025 or 2030; the joint announcement opts for the later target, which is easier to achieve.
The joint announcement employs language very carefully. Throughout, the operative word is “intend” or “intention”, which makes clear the statement is not meant to create any new obligations.
China’s 2030 emissions target is set in terms of a date but says nothing about the level at which emissions will peak.
The Greens are cheering a deal which lets China rip on coal-fired and nuclear plants:
China consumed as much coal as the rest of the world in 2012. It plans to build another 50 coal plants, which may produce an estimated 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year… It has 21 nuclear reactors in operation and another 28 under construction or planned.
UPDATE
The Greens cheer a deal built on technologies they actually oppose:
The Australian Greens are congratulating the US and China on their agreement to act on global warming and say it’s not too late for Australia to get on board.
“This should be a massive wake-up call to Tony Abbott. His continued climate denial and his destruction of the environment is reckless,” said Greens Leader Christine Milne.
“Tony Abbott is so busy unwinding Australia’s climate policies that he failed to notice the global economy is changing around him. He is risking billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs.”
In fact, the US has had emissions fall lately largely because its shale gas revolution - thanks to fracking - has dramatically lowered the price of gas, especially relative to coal, as the EPA notes:
This decrease [in emissions] from 2011 to 2012 is primarily a result of the decrease in the carbon intensity of fuels used to generate electricity due to a slight increase in the price of coal, and a significant decrease in the price of natural gas.
China’s promises to increase its non-fossil fuels to 20 per cent of all primary power supplies by using exactly the technologies the Greens hate - nuclear and hydro power:
Mainland China has 22 nuclear power reactors in operation, 26 under construction, and more about to start construction. Additional reactors are planned, including some of the world’s most advanced, to give more than a three-fold increase in nuclear capacity to at least 58 GWe by 2020, then some 150 GWe by 2030, and much more by 2050…
Most of mainland China’s electricity is produced from fossil fuels (79% from coal, 2% from gas in 2011) and hydropower (15%)… Nuclear power contributed 2.1% of the total production in 2013 – 105 billion kWh according to IAEA....
At the end of 2010, fossil fuelled capacity (mostly coal) reached 707 GWe, hydro capacity was 213 GWe (up 16.6 GWe in the year), nuclear capacity was 10.8 GWe and wind capacity reached 31 GWe…
The Greens, though, are against fracking, against nuclear and against new dams.
The Greens wish the ends but not the means. They instead push technologies that would cripple us. 
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Post by Matt Granz.

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You're against the anti-allergy bans at school? Are you nuts? - Parent Exchange
http://parenting.kidspot.com.au/youre-against-the-anti-allergy-bans-at-school-are-you-nuts/comment-page-1/#comment-28886
Nut allergies and anaphylaxis are again in the news, as some parents are claiming the bans on nuts at school are too strict. Rebel Wylie wants them to stop being so selfish.
I met Hamidur a year before he died. He told me of his allergy and I immediately acted to alert his supervising teacher, HT welfare, and their boss, the Deputy Principal. The school was in a petty power play with me, and they dismissed me shortly after. They had assured me twice that staff would be alerted of the issue (Hamidur had insisted on that, saying that staff did not seem to know). I was not present when Mr Wall made his ignorant mistake. But this issue reminds me, banning is not working. The issue is too broad to be effectively managed by banning. Children have not been protected by banning, but given a false sense of protection. In fact, the idea behind the ban was not to protect children, but to protect the Department from lawsuits for its negligence. The best way to serve these children at risk is vigilance and awareness. Peanuts are not the sole risky food item. - ed
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“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,”Colossians 1:9 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The trial of your faith."
1 Peter 1:7
Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.
Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities.

Evening

"And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."
Luke 6:12
If ever one of woman born might have lived without prayer, it was our spotless, perfect Lord, and yet none was ever so much in supplication as he! Such was his love to his Father, that he loved much to be in communion with him: such his love for his people, that he desired to be much in intercession for them. The fact of this eminent prayerfulness of Jesus is a lesson for us--he hath given us an example that we may follow in his steps. The time he chose was admirable, it was the hour of silence, when the crowd would not disturb him; the time of inaction, when all but himself had ceased to labour; and the season when slumber made men forget their woes, and cease their applications to him for relief. While others found rest in sleep, he refreshed himself with prayer. The place was also well selected. He was alone where none would intrude, where none could observe: thus was he free from Pharisaic ostentation and vulgar interruption. Those dark and silent hills were a fit oratory for the Son of God. Heaven and earth in midnight stillness heard the groans and sighs of the mysterious Being in whom both worlds were blended. The continuance of his pleadings is remarkable; the long watches were not too long; the cold wind did not chill his devotions; the grim darkness did not darken his faith, or loneliness check his importunity. We cannot watch with him one hour, but he watched for us whole nights. The occasion for this prayer is notable; it was after his enemies had been enraged--prayer was his refuge and solace; it was before he sent forth the twelve apostles--prayer was the gate of his enterprise, the herald of his new work. Should we not learn from Jesus to resort to special prayer when we are under peculiar trial, or contemplate fresh endeavours for the Master's glory? Lord Jesus, teach us to pray.
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Today's reading: Jeremiah 51-52, Hebrews 9 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 51-52

1 This is what the LORD says:
“See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.
2 I will send foreigners to Babylon
to winnow her and to devastate her land;
they will oppose her on every side
in the day of her disaster.
3 Let not the archer string his bow,
nor let him put on his armor.
Do not spare her young men;
completely destroy her army.
4 They will fall down slain in Babylon,
fatally wounded in her streets.
5 For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
by their God, the LORD Almighty,
though their land is full of guilt
before the Holy One of Israel.
6 “Flee from Babylon!
Run for your lives!
Do not be destroyed because of her sins.
It is time for the LORD’s vengeance;
he will repay her what she deserves.
7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand;
she made the whole earth drunk.
The nations drank her wine;
therefore they have now gone mad.
8 Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.
Wail over her!
Get balm for her pain;
perhaps she can be healed....

Today's New Testament reading: Hebrews 9

Worship in the Earthly Tabernacle
1 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order....
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