Saturday, February 28, 2015

Sat Feb 28th Todays News

On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome.  
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Leonard Nimoy died from a smoking related illness. He knew it was coming and said he regretted smoking. His legacy is magnificent. His life has been blessed.

 NSW Premier Mike Baird is popular so the press don't report on him. Mr Abbott is being leaked against and so the press report on him. A interesting analysis today ignored by most of the political pundits, who support the ALP always, revealed that Turnbull was panicking that the NSW government would not collapse, and so there would be no impetus for change. That suggested he wanted to run for PM soon. Probably Tuesday. However, It also means Turnbull has wanted the conservatives to stumble in Vic and Qld. Such a disloyal member should not be rewarded. It is also worth noting that Turnbull is not competent as leader and has little time for working with rank and file. It would be worth rooting out the leakers and having Turnbull kicked out of the party.

 NZ defeat Australia in One Day World Cup match by one wicket. But anyone who watched the whole match would feel it was much less close than that. Australia's innings collapsed from a quick time 1 for 80 to 9 for 106. Haddin put some respectability to the score with a quick fire 43. NZ's TA Boult took 5- 27 from 10 overs. In reply, NZ's Captain McCullum made 50 off 24 deliveries and Williamson made 45 off 42 deliveries. Starc took 6 for 28, but many of the wickets were taken when there were less than ten runs to get. Australia can improve by bringing in a specialist number three batsman. But NZ cannot. It was touching to see former NZ Captain Martin Crowe receive a lifetime achievement award from the ICC. He is dying, and deserved to be lauded in his lifetime.

 On this day in history, Bill Clinton's Bureau for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms began a 51 day siege in Waco Texas. Bill was illustrating big government. In 1874, one of the longest cases in UK legal history came to an end with a man impersonating a dead man charged with perjury. Some say Baron Tichborne was wrongly treated. But then some say aliens are guiding our development on Earth. In 1935, a DuPont scientist, Wallace Carothers invented Nylon.
2014
Sixty one years ago, on this day, two scientists told their friends they had discovered the building code of life, DNA. Sixty one years later, scientists claim to have found a way of keeping mice from biological ageing, rejuvenating to an equivalent state in a person being about thirty forever. We don't yet have a cure for all cancers, but we have a way to attack them. Watson and Crick will probably not live to see the full flowering of their discovery, but my, they have seen some wonderful things. Even before they made their discovery known, man and nature meddled with DNA. For nature, it is part of evolution, and natural. For people too. We exercise choice in selecting our mates. Primate genitals on males are disproportionately large, probably down to natural selection from a time before clothes. Gene shear technology is found in nature, with viruses doing it among other life forms adapted to exploiting it. Some people fear what might happen with scientists thinking about how to make effective change. I feel a bigger threat is an unintended change. It took some sixty five years between the Wright brothers inventing powered flight, and man landing on the moon.

By way of contrast, a doom merchant, Malthus, predicted the end of the world through overpopulation in 1798. Sixty one years passed. Then another sixty one. Then another sixty one. By 1981. hysterics were still proclaiming the end of the world from overpopulation. Global Warming hysteria is based on the belief there are too many people. Popular former Greens Leader Brown published books on how to deal with too many people. The hysterics that fear small government, beg for big ones. They fear GMO food. And power boxes. They call themselves Progressives.
Historical perspectives on this day 
In 202 BC, coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han took place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China. 628, Khosrau II was executed by Mihr Hormozd under the orders of Kavadh II. 870, the Fourth Council of Constantinople closed. 1246, the Siege of Jaén ended in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen. 1525, the Aztec king Cuauhtémoc was executed by Hernán Cortés's forces. 1638, the Scottish National Covenant was signed in Edinburgh. 1700, today was followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar. 1710, in the Battle of Helsingborg, 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau were decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This was the last time Swedish and Danish troops met on Swedish soil. 1784, John Wesley chartered the Methodist Church.

In 1811, Cry of Asencio, beginning of the Uruguayan War of Independence 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight. 1838, Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaimed the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec) 1844, a gun on USS Princeton exploded while the boat was on a Potomac River cruise, killing eight people, including two United States Cabinet members. 1847, the Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican–American War was a decisive victory for the United States leading to the capture of Chihuahua. 1849, regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States began with the arrival of the SS Californiain San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor. 1867, seventy years of Holy See-United States relations were ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and were not restored until January 10, 1984. 1870, the Bulgarian Exarchate was established by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire. 1874, one of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ended when the defendant was convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy. 1883, the first vaudeville theatre opened in Boston 1885, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company was incorporated in New York as the subsidiary of American Bell Telephone. (American Bell would later merge with its subsidiary.) 1893, the USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, was launched. 1897, Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, was deposed by a French military force.

In 1900, the Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" was lifted. 1914, the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus was proclaimed in Gjirokastër, by the Greeks living in southern Albania. 1922, the United Kingdom ended its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. 1925, the Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake struck northeastern North America. 1928, C.V. Raman discovered the Raman effect. 1933, Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree was passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire. 1935, DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invented nylon. 1939, the erroneous word "dord" was discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation. 1940, Basketball was televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden). 1942, the heavy cruiser USS Houston was sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men. 1947, 228 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder was put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians. 1948, Christiansborg Cross-Roads shooting in the Gold Coast, when a British police officer opened fire on a march of ex-servicemen, killing three of them and sparking major riots in Accra.

In 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick announced to friends that they had determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement took place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2). 1954, the first color television sets using the NTSC standard were offered for sale to the general public. 1958, a school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hit a wrecker truck and plunged down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork River. The driver and 26 children died in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history. 1959, Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that was the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, was launched. It failed to achieve orbit. 1972, Sino-American relations: The United States and People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communiqué. 1975, in London an underground train failed to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashed into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people. 1980, Andalusia approved its statute of autonomy through a referendum. 1983, the final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale. 1985, the Provisional Irish Republican Army carried out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day. 1986, Olof Palme, prime minister of Sweden, was assassinated in Stockholm.

In 1991, the first Gulf War ended. 1993, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raided the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four BATF agents and five Davidians died in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff. 1995, former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigned from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the Australian federal election, 1993. 1997, an earthquake in northern Iran was responsible for about 3,000 deaths. 1997, the North Hollywood shootout took place, resulting in the injury of 19 people and the deaths of both perpetrators. Also 1997, GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, struck the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occurred well beyond the Milky Way. Also 1997, Military Coup in Turkey 1998, first flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace. Also 1998, Kosovo War: Serbian police began the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo. 2001, the Nisqually Earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale hit the Nisqually Valley and the Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia area of the U.S. state of Washington. Also 2001, six passengers and four railway staff were killed and a further 82 people suffer serious injuries in the Selby rail crash. 2002, during the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre. 2004, over one million Taiwanese participating in the 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the 228 Incident in 1947 2005, a suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq killed 127. 2013, Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church becoming the first pope to do so since 1415.
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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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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406, September https://www.createspace.com/5106914, October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more. 
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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 Allison Phan, Dennis Jensen and Ngan Faye Leung. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
February 28: Kalevala Day in Finland
C. V. Raman
You enthroned with a bang. You speak French. You made quite an effect. You stop. You graduated with a mortar board. Let's party.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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Lyons admits: not really “unilateral”. Not really an “invasion”

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (3:04pm)

The Australian’s John Lyons finally abandons his preposterous claim that Tony Abbott proposed a “unilateral invasion of Iraq” with “Australia’s leading military planners”.
But he doesn’t have the guts to admit he said something that was as untrue as it was damaging
Instead, he today defends only one word - unilateral - and pretends he never said “invasion”. And even then he redefines what he originally meant to the point where he in effect conceded his whole story was the most extraordinary beat up. Or simply false.
First, the original headline:
Tony Abbott sought military advice on go-it-alone invasion of Iraq
And the original first paragraph:
TONY Abbott suggested a unilateral invasion of Iraq, with 3500 Australian ground troops to confront the Islamic State terrorist group.
The inflammatory adjective:
… unilateral...
The inflammatory noun:
...invasion...
The story was utterly denied by our “leading military planners” at the said “meeting” - actually a dinner who said they heard no such suggestion from Abbott, then or ever.
Then Lyons tried to weasel out by redefining what he’d actually said, rather than man up and admit he’d just written something completely false.
First, he admitted that “unilateral” wasn’t the right word. Or, rather, that it had a different meaning that the one you would naturally assume:
What he meant by that was without United States or NATO cooperation. It wasn’t without Iraqi cooperation, of course, because Australia is already co-operating with Iraq.
Today he admits that “invasion” isn’t the right word, either. Or, rather, he omits “invasion” entirely from his long defence of what he originally wrote, and implicitly redefines “invasion” to mean merely a troop build up with Iraqi permission but without US and NATO troops in support. In fact, Lyons now changes “invading” to “sending”, without admitting to this critical switch in meaning - and critical misrepresentation of his original story:
It was at this point, according to information given to The Weekend Australian, that Abbott raised the idea of unilaterally sending 3500 Australian combat soldiers…
It would, he suggested, be “unilateral” — by this he meant not part of any specific US or NATO operation. It was clear Abbott was talking about Australian combat troops and not merely advisers.
And so a “unilateral invasion of Iraq” has now become, in Lyons’ own words, a “sending” of more troops with “Iraqi cooperation” but without ground support from the US or NATO.
Why didn’t Lyons write that the first time? Or wouldn’t the cool facts have got him the front page lead? Or hurt Abbott enough?
An apology would have been more honourable.
Now, will all the other media outlets that reported this damaging claim now report that it was false?  
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The squeals show Pell is squeezing the right people

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (11:40am)

George Pell seems to have again won exactly the right kind of enemies - this time anonymous clerics trying to smear him as he investigates Vatican financial scandals and dodgy finances:
The Vatican on Friday condemned the leaking of documents that according to a media report show a power struggle in the Holy See over economic reforms and excessive expenses by the cardinal charged with carrying them out.
L’Espresso magazine said it had seen minutes of meetings and emails showing mostly Italian cardinals felt that Cardinal George Pell had accumulated too much power.
Pell is an outsider brought by the pope to Rome from Australia to oversee the Vatican’s often muddled finances after decades of control by Italians.
Pope Francis was given a mandate by the cardinals who elected him in 2013 to clean up after a series of financial scandals, mostly involving the Vatican bank.
Francis set up the Secretariat for the Economy last year and gave Pell, as its head, broad powers to clean up the Vatican’s often troubled and murky finances and bring them in line with international standards.
Good luck to him. The squeals show he’s squeezing.  
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Bunch of people victims of random attack. Nothing to do with religion

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (8:36am)

Another random attack by some zealots on some bunch of people:
A prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger known for speaking out against religious extremism was hacked to death as he walked through Bangladesh’s capital with his wife, police said Friday.
The attack Thursday night on Avijit Roy, a Bangladesh-born U.S. citizen, occurred on a crowded sidewalk as he and his wife, Rafida Ahmed, were returning from a book fair at Dhaka University. Ahmed, who is also a blogger, was seriously injured. It was the latest in a series of attacks on secular writers in Bangladesh in recent years.
A previously unknown militant group, Ansar Bangla 7, claimed responsibility for the attack.. Roy “was the target because of his crime against Islam,” the group said on Twitter.
Or as Obama would say, this has nothing to do with Islam. 
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Fairfax covers Turnbull’s backside, inflates Abbott’s critics

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (8:28am)

Malcolm Turnbull’s allies tried to start a stampede on Thursday, and the ABC was happy to help announce that Tony Abbott could be gone by Tuesday:
SABRA LANE: ...  Some argue that it should be resolved quickly. It’s been put to 7.30 it could happen next week, the thought being that a new leader should have the opportunity to reframe this year’s budget, which is just 12 weeks away.
But with no stampede, the Turnbull camp now whispers to one of its Fairfax favorites that it is just being diplomatic by waiting:
Senior ministers are now lobbying Turnbull to declare himself a candidate and bring on a challenge. “He needs to show something called leadership,” says a frustrated NSW MP.
But Turnbull sees the leadership coming inexorably to him. He is not ready to bloody his hands by seizing it.
UPDATE

Sydney Morning Herald reporter Mark Kenny stretches very hard in his campaign against Tony Abbott:
image
Some of the nation’s top business leaders have turned on Prime Minister Tony Abbott, declaring leadership instability is harming confidence, as backbenchers urge the cabinet to end the uncertainty.
“Some of the nation’s top business leaders” attacking Abbott turn out to be precisely one:
...former News Limited boss and now head of Prime Media John Hartigan said Mr Abbott’s position now was unrecoverable.
The only other business leader quoted does not mention Abbott at all.
Kenny has played one of the most basic tricks of journalism - inflating one source into many to puff his piece. And his agenda.
Fairfax readers are being gamed.
UPDATE
Note how the Turnbull camp is doing most of its leaking to the ABC and Fairfax?
Natural allies. And no friends of conservatives or the Liberal Party. 
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Treasury secretary warns: cut now or risk crisis

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (8:22am)

Labor wants to talk about anything but the financial devastation it left and is stopping the government from fixing:
Rapid spending growth, not weak revenue, is responsible for Australia’s budget hole, which will continue to grow bigger, threatening future prosperity, unless the savings task starts now, Treasury secretary John Fraser has warned.
In a tough first speech since taking office six weeks ago ... said Australia needed to match spending restraint with renewed commitment to struct­ural reform, including liberalisation of industrial relations regulation and reining in concessions given to superannuation…
“The reality is that Australia has spent its way to a structural budget problem. Government payments are growing faster than government revenues and, without action, this trend will continue."…
The lack of spending restraint meant the federal government’s debt is now equivalent to 12.8 per cent of GDP and rising towards the highest level Australia has experienced since the years following World War II. Interest costs on the debt are less than 3 per cent now, but will increase.
“The debt burden is growing with each budget deficit and will grow even faster when interest rates rise,” he said…
“The only way that significant fiscal repair will be achieved in Australia is committing now to savings measures that build over time to deliver a return to surplus over the medium term,” he said.
“I don’t want to wait until we get a crisis, I don’t want to see the resolution coming from a crisis, I would like it to come because we do get a bipartisan approach on some of the issues.”
But the only thing that seems clear from Bill Shorten’s waffle is that he’s spend more, not less:
“We’ve got to go for growth, and the way you go for growth is you spend money … if you’ve got growth you’re creating national wealth then a lot of pressure comes off the budget so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to built the infrastructure of the future … you’ve got to have the skills and training of the future … it’s about the future … if you don’t know where you’re going any road will get you there.”
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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The Bolt Report tomorrow, March 1

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (7:51am)

The Bolt Report on Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 4pm.
Editorial: Turnbull vs Morrison. The dirty truth about this so-called challenge.
My guest: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and bombs and plots.
The panel: The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen and Nicholas Reece, former senior advisor to Julia Gillard. The Triggs “scandal” and the leadership challenge the media beat up so hysterically.
NewsWatch: the great Rowan Dean on the howling media pack and ABC boss Mark Scott’s telling tweet. 
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Triggs should explain why she already knew of this job

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (7:21am)

About that “inducement” controversy.
Did Gilliam Triggs herself ask about another job should she quit as president of the Human Rights Committee?:
Professor Triggs said on Friday she had “never used any ‘back channels’ to seek an alternative appointment"…
Speaking from New Zealand on Friday morning, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop appeared to join Senator Brandis in pointing the finger at Professor Triggs.
“She [Professor Triggs] was not asked to resign, she was not offered a job, she was not offered any inducement, a role was discussed and as I pointed out, it depends who raised the role, and if people in the press gallery are so lacking in curiosity that they can’t get a hint and follow it up, they really do disappoint me,” she said.
He said, she said.
Here’s one possible clue to the truth - evidence given on oath by the Department of Attorney-General secretary, Chris Moraitis, on oath this week to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee:
Senator WONG: Did you tell Professor Triggs what the role was?
Mr Moraitis: Yes. Professor Triggs was aware of the role before I even mentioned it to her....
Mr Moraitis: I said, ‘The Attorney has lost confidence in you, unfortunately. Nevertheless, he retains a significant goodwill towards you for your significant legal skills.’ I said that it was obvious to me that he had high regard for her as an international lawyer and, in that context, I had been asked to mention a specific role for her. I did not need to explain that role because Professor Triggs was aware of that role, even though I had not been aware of it beforehand....
Mr Moraitis: In the course of the discussion, when I was discussing that specific role, I did not need to explain that role—that was well known to Professor Triggs, even though, as I have said in my statement, I was not aware of that before it was brought to my attention by the Attorney.
Senator JACINTA COLLINS: When you say Professor Triggs was aware of this specific role, do you mean the fact that there was a pending vacancy? What nature of this role was it that she was aware of?
Mr Moraitis: I can recall this very distinctly, because I was surprised that she was aware of this, and I, as I said, had not been before I had been told about it.
Senator JACINTA COLLINS: I understand that you are saying that Professor Triggs was aware of the role. That could mean a range of things. It could mean that she is aware that such a role exists. It could be that she is aware that the role is currently vacant. It could be that a vacancy is pending.
Mr Moraitis: It is not that sort of role. Unfortunately I cannot comment on the nature of the role. It would be clearer if I could. But, as I said, when I was told about the specific legal role, that was a surprise to me. I was not aware of that. When I raised it with Professor Triggs, I did not need to explain that specific role, because she was aware of that specific legal role…
Mr Moraitis: ... I conveyed to the Attorney my surprise that the specific role that had been mentioned to me was not used [news?] to Professor Triggs.
Senator JACINTA COLLINS: Surprise that she was aware that the role existed?
Mr Moraitis: No, that this specific function was there and that this was open.
Hmm.  Then this:
Senator HANSON-YOUNG: Professor Triggs, with regard to the meeting on 3 February with the secretary… Did the secretary explain what this specific role was?
Prof. Triggs: No, but we both knew the topic and the issue that would use my skills in that area of law.
(Watch from 1:29:30 here)
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill is correct:
Although Triggs answer lacks clarity, it does appear to confirm she was aware of the specific role cited by Moraitis ahead of her meeting with him. This does raise the question of why Triggs would be “deeply shocked’ by the reference to the availability of the role to her.
Of course, the greater relevance of her foreknowledge of the role relates to the claim that it was she who instigated a discussion about a possible alternative role.
UPDATE
Chris Kenny:
The evidence of Triggs’s partisanship is compelling: when thousands of asylum-seekers were arriving monthly, including hundreds of children, and detention centres were overflowing (with detained children reaching a peak of 1992), she considered an inquiry and discussed it with Labor ministers but did not call one.
For more than a year under Labor, with chaos on our borders and thousands of children churned through detention, the commission president waited.
Only after a change of government, after the boats were stopped, after no more asylum-seekers were going into detention and the number of children was already halved, did Triggs launch her ­inquiry.... Coalition supporters can view it as a political attack while the so-called compassionate Left should see it as an unforgivable delay in confronting an urgent dilemma....
Before Senate committees [Triggs] has given at least a half-dozen different stories about when and why she called the inquiry. Some excuses were demonstrably wrong — she once blamed it on fears of a snap election when a September date had already been announced — and she changed some of her explanations within hours of making them. The AHRC president claimed there were armed guards at detention centres when there were none and likened centres to prisons, ­before retracting. Most tellingly, she denied ever discussing an inquiry into children in detention with Labor ministers, then refused to answer questions before finally revealing she had discussed the issue with two different Labor immigration ministers.
Her contradictory and embarrassing committee appearance last November was never covered by the ABC…
This week the ABC and most of the press gallery again sided with Triggs as she railed against the government and claimed she was asked to resign in favour of another job.
They effectively ran a defence for Triggs, having never detailed her transgressions.
Some reports even failed to mention the crucial point (also worryingly omitted by Triggs in her initial testimony) that the discussions about her future came about only after Triggs sought out the ­Attorney-General’s views on her performance. Still, unless the com­passionistas can find some egregious fault in the Coalition’s approach they have no fig leaf to hide behind — they will have to admit their experiment with open borders caused more than 1200 deaths, 50,000 arrivals and untold cost, chaos and trauma.
And unless they repent, they will unleash all this again on us when Labor is returned. 
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Abbott’s great strengths, and their danger

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (7:07am)

A fine essay by Greg Sheridan on Tony Abbott’s strengths - and how they can lead him to error, too. Worth reading in full:
Abbott is decisive, loyal, focused on outcomes, writes his own speeches, engages intensely with people; he is principled, pragmatic, stubborn, in love with the military, romantic, a sportsman, courageous, has immense willpower, and is conservative and religious…
[But] each one of his positive characteristics, which could make him a fine prime minister, is also potentially a negative characteristic and limits his effectiveness.
Take them one by one. Abbott is decisive… He acted decisively against the carbon tax.... But ... Abbott was also decisive about his wholly unmourned paid parental leave scheme… He was decisive about a knighthood for Prince Philip…
Abbott is loyal. This is one of his most endearing personal characteristics… He visits the sick, he consoles the bereaved, he cares for the elderly… But in a prime minister excessive personal loyalties, in some cases, can be a liability… Abbott was mad to leave the assistant treasurer’s position vac­ant for 10 months while Arthur Sino­dinos was involved with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption. Sinodinos should have been forced to resign.. Even more insane is Abbott’s fierce and ridiculous loyalty to his chief of staff, Peta Credlin.
Abbott is ferociously focused on outcomes… The downside of it is that Abbott has no patience for, and little interest in, good process…
A related character trait has been Abbott’s practice, all his political career, of writing his own speeches… He is a truly gifted headline writer: stop the boats; a great big new tax on everything; Keating’s republic… But a leader must above all manage and ration his time. It is his most precious asset…
Abbott’s sense of history and politics as biography feeds into his attractive tendency to engage very deeply with people… But he is prone to engage more deeply with the person than with their ideas… Abbott is a generous person and he is always inclined to give a great deal to new friends, whether that means changing the Constitution for [Noel] Pearson or doing a subs deal with Shinzo Abe. It was reported that Abbott gave serious consideration to ethnically reserved seats in parliament for Aborigines, a move so bizarrely at odds with every liberal principle that it was quickly quashed…
Abbott is stubborn. All good leaders are. But for a stubborn conservative the question must always be: are you Margaret Thatcher dealing with the Argentines or Thatcher attempting to impose an unpopular poll tax and losing the prime ministership as a result?…
Right now, Australians find him a riddle wrapped inside an enigma. After all these years, they don’t know him yet.
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Abbott will not cost Baird an election. No wonder Turnbull’s team is worried

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (6:42am)

If Mike Baird wins the NSW election by this kind of margin, some of the heat will go out of the get-Abbott campaign. No wonder Turnbull’s backers do not want to wait:
A Newspoll, taken exclusively for The Weekend Australian, finds that the Baird Coalition government is leading Labor 54 per cent to 46 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis. This would suggest a loss of 17 seats if there is a uniform swing at the March 28 poll, but the government being returned with a solid majority of 11. That is a two-point swing from the last NSW Newspoll…
Although this poll suggests that federal factors are having only a marginal effect in NSW, Liberal Party MPs report that the leadership issue in Canberra is proving a distraction from the NSW campaign.
UPDATE
It is important for anti-Abbott forces in the media that the NSW election go bad for the Liberals and Abbott be blamed.
Does that explain yesterday’s report by the ABC’s PM on the debate between NSW Premier Mike Baird and Labor leader Luke Foley?
First, cast the election as some kind of referendum on Tony Abbott, and not the NSW Government:
MARK COLVIN: .... The Prime Minister’s unpopularity with voters is causing some big jitters in his home state.
Kick off by reporting a nice, humanising joke by the Labor leader:
LUKE FOLEY: I bought my spuds down at the Flemington Markets last Saturday and the bloke who I bought my spuds from said, “I know who you are.”
I said, “Who am I?” He said, “I don’t know, but you’re him.” So my recognition’s shooting up.
Then give Foley a red hot go at the Liberals’ vulnerability - its plan to privatise electricity assets to pay for much-needed infrastructure. An excerpt:
LUKE FOLEY: .... Under private ownership, power prices will rise and the state budget will be deprived a billion dollars a year that currently goes to fund teacher, nurses and police.
Present Baird on the defensive:
SIMON SANTOW: ....And he readily concedes, without a mandate to sell off electricity, there’s no Plan B.
MIKE BAIRD: The only reason that there is opposition coming from the poles and wires is because the Opposition are very clearly state Labor taking their marching orders from the unions.
Present Labor’s second attack, and this time quote the debate moderator making Labor’s point over and over, giving it an extra credibility by seemingly coming from a neutral source. Subject the audience to the media’s pre-occupation rather than their own:
KIERAN GILBERT: I’m told by a number of your Liberal counterparts that your candidates are receiving much negative feedback about the Prime Minister and about the Federal Government.
How much of a hurdle is the federal dysfunction and the Prime Minister to your campaign?
And:
KIERAN GILBERT: But is it a threat to your re-election chances?
And:
KIERAN GILBERT: Your friends with both Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull. Can you talk us through their respective strengths?
MIKE BAIRD: Ah, no. That’s an easy one. No.
LUKE FOLEY: Well, would you like me to contribute an answer?
Highlight where Baird differs with Abbott (and imply that Abbott was actually wrong):
SIMON SANTOW: Mike Baird pointedly took a different path from the Prime Minister when asked if he thought Muslim leaders in Australia in the aftermath of the Lindt Cafe siege were speaking out enough and in a way which promotes a cohesive and peaceful society.
And finish by puffing up Luke Foley and kicking Abbott:
SIMON SANTOW: ....Mike Baird will have been reminded that he can’t take his opponent lightly, and if he didn’t know already, that he needs to find a way of ensuring the Prime Minister’s unpopularity in the electorate doesn’t contaminate his chances when New South Wales goes to the polls on the last Saturday in March.
A reminder to the ABC: the vast majority of NSW voters will not cast their vote with Abbott in mind. Most will probably vote for Baird and his policies. They will reject Foley and anti-privatisation policies that will cripple the state. And they will do this despite all the ABC’s efforts to persuade them to the contrary.
UPDATE
Dennis Shanahan:
THE renewed attempt to panic Tony Abbott into a false step or force Malcolm Turnbull or Julie Bishop into an early leadership challenge is driven, in part, by the fear the Prime Minister’s position may recover.
There is no doubt the media is being used to push a new destabilisation of Abbott’s leadership and create a sense of continuing chaos…
This week Newspoll showed a lift for the Coalition, a drop for Labor and Bill Shorten, and today shows a stronger position for NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird.
Abbott’s emphasis on security and some new policy initiatives in the past two weeks has lifted the Coalition to its highest two-party- preferred result in four months — 47 per cent to Labor’s 53 per cent.
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Turnbull myth exposed: he has no deal with Bishop or Morrison

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (6:24am)

Paul Kelly three weeks ago pushed the Turnbull camp’s dodgy suggestion that there was a powerful trio ready to take over from Tony Abbott:
SENIOR Liberals disillusioned with Tony Abbott have raised an alternative trifecta — Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, Julie Bishop staying on as deputy and Foreign Minister, and Scott ­Morrison as treasurer… If party sentiment demands a leadership change then Bishop and Turnbull will reach a shared position. 
I think Turnbull’s backers were pushing a myth then, and Kelly does not repeat it now:
Deputy leader Julie Bishop has sent the message of her willingness to stand as PM. There is no Turnbull-Bishop ticket.
Invoking one of her friendships, Bishop said: “I won’t die wondering like Peter Costello.” Every sign is Bishop will contest against Turnbull. Her lack of confidence in Abbott is rampant. And her audacity has the Turnbull and Abbott camps reeling.

As for Morrison, he is fighting any change now. If Turnbull wins, of course he’d serve. But Turnbull would have to beat the Morrison forces first to become Prime Minister.
In many ways Turnbull is actually weaker than was sold before by his backers to a too-willing media.
This exaggeration of his strength, this pushing of false claims by Turnbull’s anonymous mates, point to the destructive bastardry identified by Kelly - a bastardry which should make the party think twice before putting its future in the hands of such wreckers:
The tactic of the insurgents is to ensure Abbott cannot govern. If he cannot govern, then he cannot recover. With Michael Thawley now running the Prime Minister’s Department, John Fraser in command at Treasury, the expenditure review committee process revamped, Peta Credlin’s role redefined, ministers such as Hockey and Sussan Ley engaging in long backbench dialogue, it is as though none of this matters.
The story of the week was the capacity of the anti-Abbott insurgents to suffocate his prime ministership. This is a known media-driven ritual but the political venom it has unleashed is intensifying.
Turnbull’s backers have given up on their strategy of assuming Abbott will fail. Now that he’s recovering, they are trying their best to destroy him. Should they succeed, many Liberals will never forgive them and never accept their leader.
Liberal MPs should ring the likes of Andrew Laming, Mal Brough, Arthur Sinodinos and Turnbull himself and say so.  
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Criticising Labor more offensive than threatening Australia

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (6:07am)

Can someone please explain Labor’s position on a free press?
When some newspapers attack a Labor Government and question its warming faith, Labor reaches for a muzzle. To the cheers of many journalists, it holds a media inquiry and pushes for a new government head to check papers and blogs for bias.
When some jihadists preach a lethal hatred of Australia and a defence of terrorists, Labor baulks at any muzzle:
[Labor leader] Bill Shorten yesterday: 
ONE of the things which makes Australia a great democracy is having a free press. I understand the importance for security agencies to be able to obtain metadata but we need to be careful we don’t trample on the rights of the press.
Not surprising. Dennis Shanahan in The Australian on April 17, 2014:

STEPHEN Conroy’s draconian media laws were damaging the ­Gillard government so irrevocably in March last year that Anthony Albanese invoked a rare parliamentary procedure that hadn’t been used for almost 40 years, to kill the bills and save Julia Gillard’s leadership … Former foreign minister Bob Carr has revealed that the “stupid” media-reform package, which included a government-appointed overseer of media ownership and press standards, was the final reason for his decision to abandon Ms Gillard and shift to supporting Mr Rudd’s return ...
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Kind Kathy

Andrew Bolt February 28 2015 (6:00am)

Given all her battles to fight claims of misusing union money, it is lovely that Jackson still had time to be a good friend to a confused man:
THE union corruption whistleblower Kathy Jackson has been locked in a battle which could see her pocket millions of dollars from the will of a prominent, elder­ly Sydney barrister with demen­tia.
The potential windfall follows Ms Jackson and her live-in partner, Fair Work Commission vice-president Michael Lawler, assuming a central role in the life of David Rofe QC and a fight for control of his $30 million estate.
Ms Jackson first met and befriended the 83-year-old Mr Rofe in 2012, two years after he was diag­nosed with dementia and urged to cease working because of his diminished mental capacity.
She is named in one of the ailing barrister’s wills drawn up last year as the beneficiary of a one-tenth share of his estate when he dies, or up to $3m.
Ms Jackson is understood to have already sought financial compensation from Mr Rofe — who has 24-hour home nursing care — by billing the administrator of his vast wealth for payment after time spent as Mr Rofe’s companion, sitting with the barrister at his Woollahra townhouse in Sydney’s eastern suburbs during 2013, and early last year.

Throughout this period, Ms Jackson, who exposed large-scale corruption by the now jailed union fraudster Michael Williamson and is now fighting alleg­ations that she misused at least $1.4m of members’ funds, was on extended unpaid sick leave from her position as national secretary of the troubled Health Services Union.
More on the friendship of a wealthy man suddenly grown very confused. 
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=== Posts from last year ===

The Bolt Report on Sunday

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (12:52pm)

The Bolt Report returns - longer and even sparklier - on Sunday.
Joining me - Prime Minister Tony Abbott, former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa. 
And our new NewsWatch segment, this week with Gerard Henderson.
So much to go through - on Qantas, bloody-minded unions and ending the great handout culture. On the free speech police, the Abbott haters and the biggest political joke of the week.
And “Your Say” - where you get your say read out (or shown if it’s a clever clip.) Bung in some now here on the show you haven’t actually yet seen or on the topics above.
On Network 10 and 10am and 4pm. 
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Help!

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (12:40pm)

Help!
Does anyone know how I can get video of Tim Flannery’s lecture this week - the bit about the Brisbane floods and the first carbon levy?  The link that worked before no longer produces a video that works.
UPDATE
Thanks, readers. It seems it’s just here at Channel 10 I can’t get it. Working on it now with your advice. 
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Why this dumb website anyway?

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (10:43am)

James Morrow pricks the real problem in the Fiona Nash “scandal” - the stupidity of the webpage she ordered taken down:
ANY new opposition is keen to take its first scalp and it is clear that Labor smells blood in Assistant Minister Fiona Nash’s axing of a “star chart” website designed to rank foods by their relative healthiness… 
Amazingly, however, neither the government nor much of the press is focusing on the most important question in the story. That is, would such a website — or any other star-rating system for food — do any good? Or, as is so often the case, would such a scheme be just one more expensive intrusion by the state into ordinary citizens’ shopping trolleys, designed to show the government was “doing something” while encouraging society’s dependence on headline-hungry public health mandarins? 
Would this website make the slightest difference to anything? And at what cost would it do its little good? 
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Get your name on the cover of this defiant book

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (10:34am)

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The IPA is after your help to get out the word:
The Institute of Public Affairs is bringing together the biggest names in the climate change debate. Make a tax-deductible donation today to help the IPA publish a new book of research, Climate Change: The Facts 2014,and continue to influence the climate change debate in Australia. 
If you donate $400 or more you will have the option of being prominently acknowledged on the back cover of Climate Change: The Facts 2014.

Here’s why contributors to Climate Change: The Facts 2014 want you to make a tax-deductible donation to the IPA today: 
“This is a crucial year in the climate debate. Australia needs the IPA’s Climate Change: The Facts 2014 so our politicians get to see the evidence – such as the failure of the planet to warm since 1998, and the immeasurably small effect Australia’s global warming policies will actually have on world temperatures.”  
– Andrew Bolt, contributor to Climate Change: The Facts 2014
I shouldn’t need to add that I won’t get a dollar of your donations. In fact, I’m rather daunted by the challenge of finding time to write my own contribution. But just check some of the great names already signed up.  To have the likes of Professor Richard Lindzen on board is a real coup.
To donate and join us on the cover go here. 
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Ackland damns the government for stopping the boats and the deaths

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (10:17am)

Richard Ackland does an Elizabeth Farrelly - peopling the set of Australia with cartoons dredged from the smuggest depths of a lurid imagination:
Before our eyes, day by day, Scott Morrison becomes the hollow man. His face tightens and twists, his eyes are dead, and his words strangled with jargon. 
We’ve seen this before. Remember Philip Ruddock gradually turning into a stick of chalk, as immigration minister and later attorney-general, while he plodded his way through the ‘’Pacific solution’’ and the vilification of David Hicks?
This is what happens to human beings who believe the ends justify the means. Ends that are wretched will invariably produce bad means. 
Ackland never protested at Labor’s policies luring 1100 people to their deaths. The ends (the Left’s self satisfaction at its superior morality) trumped the bad means (1100 corpses in the ocean). Does that explain Ackland’s hideous squint, and his face tightened and twisted into a permanent sneer?
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill:
Ackland’s bitter and twisted bile shouldn’t surprise. As  Janet Albretchtsenwrote on Wednesday: 
The return of a conservative government in Canberra under Tony Abbott has reminded the Left of their retreat from reality. And just as they detested then immigration minister Philip Ruddock, they have targeted Morrison as their new bete noir… Ruddock dealt in outcomes, not empty gestures. Morrison is the same. No wonder a sense of deja vu has set in.
(Thanks also to reader Baden.) 
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Martin Ferguson’s message to Labor: free our workplaces and cut subsidies or we’ll sink

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (9:49am)

A former ACTU president and Labor Minister says what he really thinks now that - unlike Bill Shorten - he no longer needs to play politics:
FORMER Labor frontbencher and union leader Martin Ferguson today will back changes to industrial relations laws, including allowing the use of contractors and restoring the building watchdog, warning that productivity must improve or unemployment will rise and living standards will fall. 
Mr Ferguson, a former ACTU president and leader of the factional Left, will support elements of Tony Abbott’s industrial relations and deregulation agenda and reject government subsidies for “unsustainable industries”. His comments, in a speech to be delivered today in Perth, are at odds with Bill Shorten’s opposition to the government’s plan to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission and with criticism of the government’s refusal to provide subsidies to SPC Ardmona and further assistance to General Motors Holden.
Many Labor frontbenchers will know the truth Ferguson speaks. Our living standards will fall if we don’t worker smarter and sharper.  And just demanding government pay us what the market won’t is a shortcut to Greece.
Labor’s current leadership must know this. But it would rather win the cheap votes of the mob with lies than to save them from what they fear.
UPDATE
Like this part of Ferguson’s speech, too, and look forward to the day he outs himself as a climate sceptic:
He says that veteran manufacturing sectors have returned to calls for protectionism and “a radical environment movement has arisen that despises market economics”. 
“It is adept at creating fear campaigns to advocate for new layers of unnecessary regulation,” Mr Ferguson will say.
UPDATE
Former Labor leader Mark Latham, also freed from the deadly union ties that have corrupted the party, speaks an eloquent truth - the days of subsidies and Big Government are over:
The wonder of Australian car manufacturing is not that it’s closing down; it’s that governments wasted so much public money ($30 billion since 1998) on unsustainable jobs in an unsustainable industry… 
The industry’s demise is a tipping point in Australia’s political economy. It’s a victory for consumers over the ineffectiveness of subsidisation… . Cashed-up shoppers are exercising greater purchasing muscle than the feeble industry plans of union hand-maidens like Carr. Consumerism has finally beaten interventionism.
The political class does not want to hear this, but we have entered an era of marginalised government. Each day, the big news in the Australian economy is the strength of millions of consumer decisions, but this is essentially unreported in the electronic media. Where’s the headline or controversy in people shopping? If politicians focused on the importance of consumer decision-making, how could they blame each other for economic uncertainty and unemployment? In Canberra, it’s business-as-usual. The opposition has latched onto a fear campaign, holding out false hope for “jobs plans”. The media have a new round of conflict-based stories to report, interviewing workers and managers from ailing industries. No one’s told them the war is over. Consumers have won.
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“Progressive” is the new label of the ashamed Left

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (9:35am)

Culture wars

Have we made the Left unfashionable? Have we made the Left finally too embarrassed to out themselves?
I freely admit to being conservative, yet almost no presenter on the ABC dares to likewise admit they are of the Left.
Indeed, presenters such as Jonathan Green feign outrage when a columnist calls them what they clearly are: 
How does Greg Sheridan have any clue what my politics are? We’ve never met. Never had a conversation. Beyond parody. 
Today an even more bizarre example of the Left’s shame of the word “Left”.
Morry Schwartz is the property developer who funds the Leftist The Monthly (this month’s lead story: The future of the Greens). Tomorrow he has a new Leftist publication on the market, the Saturday Paper, aimed at the readers of the Leftist Age and Sydney Morning Herald who won’t like the new tabloid size those papers will have from this weekend.
Schwartz’s editor introduces the talent:
Christos Tsiolkas is our film critic, Helen Razer will write on television and the painter Patrick Hartigan is our art writer. David Marr joins us as a columnist. Mike Seccombe will write for us from Sydney and Martin McKenzie-Murray is our correspondent in Melbourne. 
When Schwartz went through the same names on Jon Faine’s ABC program this morning, Faine drew the obvious conclusion, and said the Saturday Paper was a Leftist publication:
Schwartz suddenly sounded flustered, and gave a laughable no-but-yes answer to dodge the dead “Left” tag. No, he insisted, it was not of the Left but middle of the road. Then, realising he did still need those Leftist readers who admire the likes of Marr, Razer Tsiolkas and Seccombe, added:
It will be progressive but not lean in either direction.
“Progressive”, then, is the last refuge of the Leftist scoundrel. 
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It’s Don’s party at the ABC, and only riff-raff would object to the vomit jokes

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (8:50am)

Former Labor speechwriter Don Watson says critics of the ABC’s Leftist bias are simply not as cultured as, well, Leftist Watson himself:
The so-called “conservatives” who berate the ABC are not conservatives but heretics, radicals, vulgarians ... it is their fate to feel marginalised, denied, unfulfilled ... like fringe-dwellers excluded from something essential at the centre of Australian life - namely ... the ABC.
This is not argument but preening; not analysis but self-admiration - and of the most self-deluding kind.
I’m a conservative who “berates” the ABC for its astonishing bias to the Left. Let’s see if Watson’s self-pleasuring fantasy holds up to scrutiny.
“Excluded” from the ABC? No, I am not.

The ABC’s critics are the vulgarians?  Unlike ABC TV, say?
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Last week the ABC broadcast a Photoshopped picture of Chris Kenny, a conservative critic of the ABC, showing him with his trousers around his ankles while copulating with a dog, under the sign that said “Chris ‘Dog F---er’ Kenny"… 
Here, instead, is the ABC’s official excuse for the shot, screened on The Chaser’s The Hamster Decides: “While strong in nature, the segment was… in line with the target audience ...”
Unlike the ABC’s Triple J?
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Unlike ABC 24?:
Unlike the ABC’s New Year’s Eve coverage?
The three-and-a-half hour telecast leading up to the midnight fireworks was littered with references to penises, vomit and offensive comments about Prime Minister Tony Abbott, numerous other Australian politicians, the Pope and even the Duchess of Cambridge… 
In a segment reviewing events of 2013 references were made about Mr Abbott having “duck feet” and “cocktail frankfurts” as a photo was displayed of the PM wearing budgie smugglers on the beach… Compere Stephanie Brantz had to warn her co-host Lawrence Mooney that the show was “moving into inappropriate land” ... When Mooney asked Brantz if he was going to get a “cheeky pash” from her at midnight she rebuffed him with a firm “No”.
Unlike the ABC’s science presenter and global warming evangelist Robyn Williams?
What if I told you pedophilia is good for children, or that asbestos is an excellent inhalant for those with asthmatics, or that smoking crack is a normal part and a healthy one of teenage life, to be encouraged? You’d rightly find it outrageous, but there have been similar statements coming out of inexpert mouths, distorting the science. 
Unlike ABC book critic Marieke Hardy?
Tony Abbott, I hope your cock drops off and falls down a plughole. 
Now, if we could tear you from the mirror for a second, Don, could I interest you in a real debate on the ABC? 
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Don Watson should now write his own apology

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (8:40am)

Former Labor speechwriter Don Watson might care to write out a real apology - for himself. Here’s the fake one he drafted for Tony Abbott last November: 
FOR saying we would “turn back the boats”, I (Tony Abbott) also say sorry. We should have added something like “where possible and appropriate having regard to the sensibilities of the Indonesians and other factors”. And “so long as they go along with it”, not that they ever were going to go along with it. I thought you’d know that. Anyway, I’m sorry.
Sydney Morning Herald:
Australia has returned its seventh boatload of asylum seekers to Indonesia...
Dennis Shanahan today:
... 70 days without an illegal boat arrival in Australia… backed with Abbott’s determined “tow or turn back” people-smuggler boats...
Feel free to draft Watson’s apology for him in comments below. 
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Ex-Greenpeace founder: where’s the proof of man-made warming?

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (7:30am)

Global warming - general

Former Greenpeace co-founder Dr Patrick Moore attacks the global warming faith in testimony to the US Senate:
There is no scientific proof that human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are the dominant cause of the minor warming of the Earth’s atmosphere over the past 100 years. If there were such a proof it would be written down for all to see.... 
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states: “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century."…
The IPCC defines “extremely likely” as a “95-100% probability”. But upon further examination it is clear that these numbers are not the result of any mathematical calculation or statistical analysis. They have been “invented” as a construct within the IPCC report to express “expert judgment”, as determined by the IPCC contributors.
These judgments are based, almost entirely, on the results of sophisticated computer models designed to predict the future of global climate. As noted by many observers, including Dr. Freeman Dyson of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, a computer model is not a crystal ball…
The IPCC states that humans are the dominant cause of warming “since the mid-20th century”, which is 1950. From 1910 to 1940 there was an increase in global average temperature of 0.5°C over that 30-year period. Then there was a 30-year “pause” until 1970. This was followed by an increase of 0.57°C during the 30-year period from 1970 to 2000. Since then there has been no increase, perhaps a slight decrease, in average global temperature. This in itself tends to negate the validity of the computer models, as CO2 emissions have continued to accelerate during this time. The increase in temperature between 1910-1940 was virtually identical to the increase between 1970-2000. Yet the IPCC does not attribute the increase from 1910- 1940 to “human influence.” They are clear in their belief that human emissions impact only the increase “since the mid-20th century”. Why does the IPCC believe that a virtually identical increase in temperature after 1950 is caused mainly by “human influence”, when it has no explanation for the nearly identical increase from 1910- 1940?  
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Abbott’s problem: Labor wants to save Qantas unions, not Qantas

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (7:18am)

Tony Abbott is absolutely right on the economics. The politics, though, will be tricky: 
Tony Abbott escalates pressure on Labor to respond to the airline’s woes by helping to repeal its foreign ownership limits. 
Setting up a bruising political fight, the Prime Minister dashed the airline’s hopes for a commonwealth debt guarantee and demanded instead that federal parliament vote to remove the “ball and chain” on the company…
Challenged by Bill Shorten to offer the standby debt facility, the Prime Minister countered the idea and sought to shift the focus to the 49 per cent foreign-ownership cap in the Qantas Sale Act. “The difficulty is this: what we do for one business, in fairness we have to make available for all businesses,” Mr Abbott told question time.
The problem: Labor is desperate to protect the powerful Qantas unions, and will not agree to a change that will allow jobs to go overseas or wages to fall to market rates. It would rather Qantas destroy itself with losses or get a government handout to help Qantas pay Qantas unionists more than any other airline would give them:
The Opposition Leader insisted yesterday Labor would defend the ownership limits and warned against the threat to national security and the Australian economy from the loss of the airline. “We would be the bunnies if we just waved goodbye to an Australian icon,” he said.
This highlights again the Abbott Government’s essential powerlessness to act - and especially to act on the economy. Any change to the Qantas Sale Act will be blocked in the Senate, where the Greens and Labor have already blocked the repeal of the carbon tax and of the mining tax.
UPDATE
The Labor way - a union facing job losses threatening a strike to cost a boss even more of the money he hasn’t got:
Transport Workers Union national secretary Tony Sheldon called on the federal government to meet with the airline to find ways of avoiding the job cuts. 
“But if (Treasurer) Joe Hockey’s not prepared to do that, then it’s industrial action the workforce should be considering,” he said.
UPDATE
Andrew Carswell says, yes, Qantas boss Alan Joyce has made mistakes, but the problems he faces cannot be denied:
Joyce has watched as foreign carriers who care less for their bottom line pour excess capacity into the Australian international market — nine per cent in the last year alone. 
He has inherited mismanagement from the past — the purchase of double-decker A380s that have proved to be duds on Qantas’ point-to-point operation and excessive pay and entitlements rates won by unfettered unions.
He has been hamstrung by the Qantas Sale Act preventing foreign ownership jumping above 49 per cent and forcing the airline to do the bulk of their heavy maintenance in Australia, while Virgin Australia does it overseas. The field is not level. Not even close.
Which is why Joyce ­deserves the chance to transform his legacy carrier into a lean, fighting machine that can compete on just terms with its peers — but the clock is ticking. 
Labor is joining with the Greens (now where have we heard that before?) to stop this publicly-owned company from saving itself. The options then are only two: more Qantas will jobs will go as the company crumbles under the competition, or taxpayers must keep Qantas workers in the luxury to which their unions have accustomed them:
The average salary at Qantas is $100,000, according to stockbroker CLSA.
AirlineRatings.com has a lower figure but a more damning comparison:
... the average wage cost at Qantas is $92,000 while at Emirates it is $47,000 and for Singapore Airlines $42,000. And one would guess that the productivity at those two foreign airlines is significantly higher. 
Or put it this way: 
The unions have been - they’ve stonewalled Qantas at every turn when they’ve tried to get productivity. Some have been very co-operative. Other ones have been extremely belligerent and it’s time that some of these unions smelt the aviation coffee, if you like, of global aviation, and that is: you’ve got to be competitive.... Their average wage cost was $92,000. In the international space, Emirates’ wage cost average is $47,000, Singapore Airlines: $42,000. So Qantas is way out of step with their international competitors, and in the domestic space, their wage cost is about 16, 17 per cent higher than Virgin Australia.
If Qantas unions want those higher wages to keep flowing, they’ll have to offer a whole lot more cooperation and smarts. 
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It shouldn’t be this dangerous to disagree

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (7:11am)

I share Simon Breheny’s concern:
IT’S concerning that the Abbott government is walking away from its promise to repeal the law that sent Andrew Bolt to court. 
Worse, the government has said it is considering laws that would jail people for inciting “hatred” - a vague and ambiguous term - on the basis of race, religion or political opinion…
Of course, provisions against inciting violence are appropriate. But Attorney-General George Brandis recently said: “It seems that section 80.2A of the Commonwealth Criminal Code is probably too narrowly drawn.” He appears to be suggesting that he will broaden section 80.2A to make it illegal to incite hatred of someone on the basis of political opinion.
A person can have a political opinion about anything. It’s a term that applies to politics, as much as economics, morality, the environment and everything else. Such a law would shut down debate. 
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Tim does a Turney. But can he escape?

Andrew Bolt February 28 2014 (6:58am)

Tim Blair, having had a good laugh at Chris ”Ship of Fools” Turney, then re-enacts the same disaster using a VW Touareg.
Don’t worry, Tim. While you’re waiting for rescue, here’s some reading material from home. 
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“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” - 1 John 3:18
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
February 27: Morning
"Thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation." - Psalm 91:9
The Israelites in the wilderness were continually exposed to change. Whenever the pillar stayed its motion, the tents were pitched; but tomorrow, ere the morning sun had risen, the trumpet sounded, the ark was in motion, and the fiery, cloudy pillar was leading the way through the narrow defiles of the mountain, up the hill side, or along the arid waste of the wilderness. They had scarcely time to rest a little before they heard the sound of "Away! this is not your rest; you must still be onward journeying towards Canaan!" They were never long in one place. Even wells and palm trees could not detain them. Yet they had an abiding home in their God, his cloudy pillar was their roof-tree, and its flame by night their household fire. They must go onward from place to place, continually changing, never having time to settle, and to say, "Now we are secure; in this place we shall dwell." "Yet," says Moses, "though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place throughout all generations." The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich today and poor to-morrow; he may be sickly today and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness today, to-morrow he may be distressed--but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God. If he loved me yesterday, he loves me today. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord. Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted; let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is "my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort." I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation.
Evening
"Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" -Micah 5:2
The Lord Jesus had goings forth for his people as their representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon the stage of time. It was "from everlasting" that he signed the compact with his Father, that he would pay blood for blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death, in the behalf of his people; it was "from everlasting" that he gave himself up without a murmuring word. That from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot he might sweat great drops of blood, that he might be spit upon, pierced, mocked, rent asunder, and crushed beneath the pains of death. His goings forth as our Surety were from everlasting. Pause, my soul, and wonder! Thou hast goings forth in the person of Jesus "from everlasting." Not only when thou wast born into the world did Christ love thee, but his delights were with the sons of men before there were any sons of men. Often did he think of them; from everlasting to everlasting he had set his affection upon them. What! my soul, has he been so long about thy salvation, and will not he accomplish it? Has he from everlasting been going forth to save me, and will he lose me now? What! Has he carried me in his hand, as his precious jewel, and will he now let me slip from between his fingers? Did he choose me before the mountains were brought forth, or the channels of the deep were digged, and will he reject me now? Impossible! I am sure he would not have loved me so long if he had not been a changeless Lover. If he could grow weary of me, he would have been tired of me long before now. If he had not loved me with a love as deep as hell, and as strong as death, he would have turned from me long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am his everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to him by his Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the pillow for my head this night.
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Today's reading: Numbers 15-16, Mark 6:1-29 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Numbers 15-16

Supplementary Offerings
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'After you enter the land I am giving you as a home 3 and you present to the LORD food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the LORD--whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings....

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 6:1-29

A Prophet Without Honor
1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him....

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