Sunday, March 29, 2015

Sun Mar 29th 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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The Baird conservative government in NSW won the election and seem to be able to pass legislation through the upper house with Christian Democrat support. Christian Democrats have some bizarre ideas regarding legislation, but compared to the federal independents they are reliable, respecting a government's policy position for the economy. The Insiders (ABC) failed to account for their narrative portrayal that the election was a referendum on the Abbott administration. They decided that the handsome win was a negative for Mr Abbott, but a loss would have been a drawn curtain ending Mr Abbott's career. They also believed the win means no Coal Seam Gas should be mined in NSW. Foley's scare campaigns worked, and now four electorates are Green, but Foley failed to ride a wave off a small base to a larger natural one. The natural base for ALP is government in NSW. Foley's scare campaign grossly under performed for the ALP and this must reflect badly on Shorten whose positions and scares are identical to Foley. But Insiders weren't aware of that in their hysterical anti Abbott narrative. Disappointingly but predictably, Andrew Rohan lost his Smithfield seat to the ALP. It is disappointing because he worked hard for his electorate, while the ALP take it for granted. 

 Press are reporting on the murderous suicide pilot who killed 149 in the Pyrenees, along with himself. Dumped by his girlfriend the day before. Told his eyesight was failing and he'd never be a flight captain. The coward killed many good people. One of whom was the flight captain, a father of two. He pounded on the door and attempted to enter the cabin, but security measures brought in after 9/11 and other terrorist events, prevented him from saving himself and those people. The poor man. Killed by betrayal. He did nothing wrong. 

 In 1683, a 15 year old girl was burnt at the stake in Japan. She had met a boy she liked during a fire, and the next year, had attempted to set a fire to see him again. She was caught and brought before a magistrate. The penalty for setting fires was death, but because she was fifteen, she wasn't subject to the law. The magistrate gave her a way out by acknowledging her age, but she claimed to be 16 and adult. So the sentence was carried out. She was a fire horse, according to the zodiac, and forever after, the population of Asia would shrink every sixty years as parents strove to avoid fire horse children. Her name was Yaoya Oshichi, literally "greengrocer Oshichi". In 1792, Gustav III of Sweden died from wounds after being assassinated (shot in the back) 13 days earlier at a royal masquerade ball. He was an enlightened despot and so his killer was not tortured to death until after he was found guilty. He had supported the French Kings deposed by the revolution. In 1809, King Gustav IV of Sweden abdicated to his uncle after an insurrection of the army forced him, on the anniversary of his father's death. In 1886, Dr John Pemberton brewed the first Coca-Cola. In 1951, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were rightfully convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
2014
On this day in 1974, a group of Chinese farmers came across what would be found to be a rich archaeological dig, terracotta warriors guarding the tomb of the first Chinese emperor. They had been placed around 210 BC. In an early illustration of pessimism, work had begun on the necropolis when the emperor was 13 years old. The necropolis would become a microcosm of the palace, with stables, rooms, flowing rivers of mercury, the location site being close to a rich gold vein and jade. Incredible riches buried for two thousand years. The emperor had searched for an elyxer of immortality. Probably because life is sweet. Over the years, the life and works of the emperor became legend. 

Australia has not been operating as a nation for two thousand years, or even two hundred years. But in 114 years since federation, the history of union corruption is legendary. The unearthing of the AWU scandal, HSU scandal or any of many others illustrates that the known corruption of union activity in WW2 or thirties has never been addressed. The terracotta army had been buried over time. But the Union corruption has been buried by words from the ABC and ALP love media. It is understandable that a union devotee would cover their ears rather than acknowledge the problem, it is not acceptable that a journalist does the same, regardless of loyalty. 
Historical perspectives on this day 
In 502, King Gundobad issued a new legal code (Lex Burgundionum) at Lyon that made Gallo-Romans and Burgundians subject to the same laws. 1430, the Ottoman Empire under Murad II captured the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. 1461, Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton – Edward of York defeated Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England. 1500, Cesare Borgia was given the title of Captain General and Gonfalonier by his father Rodrigo Borgia after returning from his conquests in the Romagna. 1549, the city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, was founded. 1632, Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629. 1638, Swedish colonists established the first European settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden. 1683, Yaoya Oshichi, 15-year-old Japanese girl, burnt at the stake for an act of arson committed due to unrequited love. 1792, King Gustav III of Sweden died after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera 13 days earlier. He was succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.

 In 1806, construction is authorised of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway. 1809, King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicated after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden. 1831, Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniaks rebelled against Turkey. 1847, Mexican–American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott took Veracruz after a siege. 1849, the United Kingdom annexed the Punjab. 1857, Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry mutinied against the East India Company's rule in India and inspired the protracted Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. 1865, American Civil War: Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan moved to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign began. 1867, Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent to the British North America Act which established the Dominion of Canada on July 1. 1871, the Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria. 1879, Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeated 20,000 Zulus. 1882, the Knights of Columbus were established. 1886, Dr. John Pemberton brewed the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.

 In 1911, the M1911 .45 ACP pistol became the official U.S. Army side arm. 1930, Heinrich Brüning was appointed German Reichskanzler. 1936, in Germany, Adolf Hitler received 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, received 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters. 1941, the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement went into effect at 03:00 local time. Also 1941, World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan. 1942, the Bombing of Lübeck in World War II was the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city. 1945, World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England. Also 1945, World War II: The German 4th Army was almost destroyed by the Soviet Red Army. 1946, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, one of Mexico's leading universities, was founded. 1947, Malagasy Uprising against French colonial rule in Madagascar.

 In 1951, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. 1957, the New York, Ontario and Western Railway made its final run, the first major U.S. railroad to be abandoned in its entirety. 1961, the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections. 1962, Arturo Frondizi, the president of Argentina, was overthrown in a military coup by Argentina's armed forces, ending an 11½ day constitutional crisis.

 In 1971, My Lai massacre: Lieutenant William Calley was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison. Also 1971, a Los Angeles, California jury recommended the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers. 1973, Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers left South Vietnam. Also 1973, Operation Barrel Roll, a covert US bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration of South Vietnam, ended. 1974, NASA's Mariner 10 became the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. Also 1974, local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, discovered the Terracotta Army that was buried with Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, in the third century BC. 1982, the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) received the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982. 1984, the Baltimore Colts loaded its possessions onto fifteen Mayflower moving trucks in the early morning hours and transferred its operations to Indianapolis. 1990, the Czechoslovak parliament was unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War. 1993, Catherine Callbeck became premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province. 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the internet boom. Also 1999, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the Chamoli district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, killing 103.

 In 2002, in reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War. 2004, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined NATO as full members. Also 2004, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants. 2010, two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40. 2013, at least 36 people were killed when a 16-floor building collapsed in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Also 2013, a landslide kills 66 people in China's Tibetan Autonomous Region near Lhasa. 2014, the first same-sex marriages in England and Wales were performed.
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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 Canh Minh Vo, Jimmy Kien, Pat Quick and John Ibrahim. Born on the same day, across the years. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. I am sure that isn't a perceptual illusion.
Deaths
March 29: Boganda Day in the Central African Republic; Martyrs' Dayin Madagascar (1947)
4 Vesta
You saw it first. They surrendered. She opened it. They lost well. She gave it away to the father. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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Left silent as Bill Shorten and Labor Party leaders’ ‘inadequacies’ overlooked

Piers Akerman – Saturday, March 28, 2015 (10:54pm)

THE left-wing media, exemplified by the Fairfax press and its allies at the vastly over-staffed, taxpayer-funded ABC, have been so obsessed with Tony Abbott’s prime ministership that it has totally overlooked the demonstrable inadequacies of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and state Labor leaders Daniel Andrews, Anastacia Palaszczuk and Luke Foley.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Left silent as Bill Shorten and Labor Party leaders’ ‘inadequacies’ overlooked'
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The premier reason for Mike Baird’s success

Miranda Devine – Saturday, March 28, 2015 (10:53pm)

As expected, Premier Mike Baird won the election. And it really was a personal victory for the clean-cut father of three. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The premier reason for Mike Baird’s success'

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THE CHIN-HAMMOND-MAY SHOW

Tim Blair – Sunday, March 29, 2015 (10:30am)

Attention, BBC bosses! Got your Jeremy Clarkson replacement right here:



Does her own stunts, too. 
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SURROUNDED

Tim Blair – Sunday, March 29, 2015 (12:08am)

I now live in a Greens seat. This will be interesting.
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Queensland Government totters. Labor MP sacked

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (6:35pm)

The Queensland Labor Government, in power by grace of a single seat majority, is already in danger of falling:
THE Queensland state government could come crashing down after troubled rookie MP Billy Gordon was sacked.
Mr Gordon has admitted a string of undeclared criminal offences, including a violence order, The Courier Mail reported.
At this stage, Independent MP and Speaker Peter Wellington said he would continue to support the government, but it places the Palaszczuk administration in troubled waters.
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Which would you no longer trust on this topic?

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (6:22pm)

One of these sources cannot be trusted.
AAP:
Holding banners high and chanting loudly, more than 5000 protesters came together at the State Library of Victoria to rally against Australia’s immigration detention centres.
The Age:
An estimated 15,000 people marched through the city streets on Sunday demanding the Abbott government close the trouble-plagued immigration centres on Nauru and Manus Island.

(Thanks to reader CK.) 
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On the The Bolt Report today, March 29

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (6:52am)

On the The Bolt Report on Channel 10 at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: Lessons of the NSW election.  Cheats don’t prosper and neither will Bill Shorten.
Guest:  Treasurer Joe Hockey
The panel: former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa and IPA boss John Roskam
Newswatch: Daily Telegraph columnist and blogger Tim Blair.

We’ll also have something to say about Senator Sam Dastyari’s astonishing outburst against Martin Ferguson, a Labor hero I respect.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE

THE BOLT REPORT
29 MARCH 2015
INTERVIEW WITH TREASURER JOE HOCKEY
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: Just seven weeks from now Treasurer Joe Hockey must hand down his second Budget. It’s make-or-break, not just for the Government but for the Treasurer. He was blamed, fairly or not, for last year delivering a Budget that was unfair and hard to sell, and that’s not the end of it. Hockey knows spending must be cut, but the Prime Minister seems suddenly gun-shy.
TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER: It will be a much less exhilarating Budget for those who are Budget devotees and structural reform enthusiasts.
ANDREW BOLT: And when Hockey in Parliament mentioned the Government’s razor gang that tries to find spending cuts, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop reacted badly, and even worse when she read unsourced claims in the Australian that her budget will be cut yet again.
FRAN KELLY, ABC RADIO NATIONAL HOST: Would you be aware if your budget was going to be cut again?
JULIE BISHOP, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER: Well, you’d hope I would be, wouldn’t you? So I’ll certainly be taking that up with the Treasurer, to find out the source of that story.
ANDREW BOLT: Well, the source wasn’t Hockey, and her budget now won’t be cut, but that just shows how hard cutting spending will be for the Treasurer, who joins me now. Thanks for your time, Treasurer.
JOE HOCKEY, TREASURER: Great to be with you, Andrew.
ANDREW BOLT: Now, you copped a lot of blame for the last Budget not selling, and it seemed to get you down a bit. Do you feel personally responsible for the Government trailing in the polls?
JOE HOCKEY: Oh, look, I’ll leave that to you, Andrew, and others. I accept responsibility for the first Budget, as we all have. And this Budget will be responsible, it’ll be measured, it’ll be fair, and it will consolidate the work undertaken by the first Budget, which was trying to address 40 years of Budget challenges left behind by Labor.
ANDREW BOLT: When you came into office in 2013, you inherited a net debt of $153- billion. What’s it blown out to today?
JOE HOCKEY: Well, it’s well over $200-billion, and it’s increasing. It’s increasing substantially. And why? Because we were left with in-built – in-built Government expenditure that was going to continue to grow and grow over time. And, as the Intergenerational Report indicates, it was heading towards 37% of GDP. Yet tax has always, even at its highest, been around a quarter of GDP. So you had expenditure rising to a massive


Icon Arrow Continue reading 'On the The Bolt Report today, March 29'
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Tax take can’t keep rising like this

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:44am)

Tomorrow’s tax discussion paper from the Abbott Government makes clear that something must give. There must be tax cuts:
According to the tax discussion paper, 43 per cent of all workers will be paying the two top brackets by 2025. That compares with just one in three workers who pay the two top tax rates of today.
Over the same period, an extra 750,000 workers will also be paying the top 45 cent tax rate that kicks in on earnings over $180,000.
Average workers earning $78,000-a-year will be forced into the second highest tax bracket next year alone as a ­result of bracket creep.
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Time for scrutiny on Labor

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:40am)

Piers Akerman:
THE left-wing media, exemplified by the Fairfax press and its allies at the vastly over-staffed, taxpayer-funded ABC, have been so obsessed with Tony Abbott’s prime ministership that it has totally overlooked the demonstrable inadequacies of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and state Labor leaders Daniel Andrews, Anastacia Palaszczuk and Luke Foley.
While Mr Abbott’s every utterance is dissected with vinegary vigour and his every act, be it chomping down on a fresh and tasty onion ... or standing before the national flag, is viewed with sneering derision.
The luvvy media has been silent for months over the unswerving support Mr Shorten and his cronies have offered the thuggish CFMEU (which goes a long way toward bankrolling Labor) and has ignored the racist and xenophobic dog whistling Shorten has engaged in, closely followed by NSW leader Foley.
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Contrite Abbott gets another break

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:34am)

The NSW election was meant to finish Tony Abbott. Instead, it’s put heat on Bill Shorten and given Abbott’s recovery another boost.
[Premier Mike] Baird personally thanked the Prime Minister in his victory speech.
“I also want to acknowledge the Prime Minister and his support,’’ Mr Baird said.
“He understood the need to put more funds into NSW. He has done that as a Prime Minister.’’
Abbott struck a good tone - humble yet not daunted - at the Liberal state conference in Victoria yesterday:

“It’s humbling, I have to say to you, very humbling to face the kind of Party Room challenge that I faced earlier this year. It’s humbling but it’s also instructive.
“It was a reminder that even a Prime Minister has to be a servant as well as a leader. And you might have noticed a relentless focus since February of this year on the things that really matter to the people of Australia.”
Mr Abbott also directly addressed concerns that his first budget had been too tough.
“This year’s Budget will be responsible, it will be measured, but it will above all be fair and, yes, there will be tough decisions in this year’s Budget as there must be,’’ he said.
“But there will also be good news in this year’s Budget, good news for families.’’
That last bit worries me a bit. Is this the time for yet more handouts? 
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Jeremy Clarkson races the paparazzi

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:29am)

Jeremy Clarkson:
When the BBC announced I was to be suspended from my job on Top Gear, I thought it would be a good idea to maintain a low profile. Which in one big respect was a bit tricky because the car I had on test that week was the Megane Renault Sport 275 Trophy-R. And it’s about as under-the-radar as a Day-Glo B-52....
And yet ... as it turned out, it was exactly what I wanted because, ooh, some of those paparazzi are persistent. They work in teams, using scooters and cars so that you can run but you can’t hide. Especially if you’re in a white car with red wheels and lots of writing on the sides.
As they seem to have no qualms about telling you all what I do and where I go, I hope they won’t mind if I explain what they do. Jump red lights. Carve up buses. Do more than 160km/h on the Westway. (Yes, you did.) The paparazzi are like Terminators. They absolutely will not stop.
A chase follows. Someone wins. 
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Labor crushed. Mike Baird’s virtue rewarded

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:18am)

Bottom line: NSW Labor got its second-worst result on record - just 34.2 per cent of the vote on counting so far. It is expected to win just 34 of the 93 seats.
Even better:
It also appears likely that the Coalition will win nine seats in the upper house, which along with the Christian Democrats, should ensure the passage of the electricity legislation.
Premier Mike Baird has had virtue rewarded. From his victory speech last night:
I love this state. The reason I love this state is because of its people and friends, tonight they have chosen hope over fear. We decided to be open with the people of NSW and … we exposed ourselves to a big scare campaign - I believe it was the biggest scare campaign in state history.
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Luke Foley is still in the Fairfax race

Andrew Bolt March 29 2015 (5:15am)

If the Sydney Sun-Herald on Sunday morning still can’t tell who won an election settled by dinner the night before, it deserves to be eaten alive by the Internet. As is indeed occuring:
image
UPDATE
Had Mike Baird lost last night, Fairfax would attack Tony Abbott.
But Mike Baird won last night. So Fairfax attacks Tony Abbott:
image
Another reason not to buy the paper. Whatever happens, you know it will blame Abbott. It’s Groundhog Day every day.
UPDATE
This election puts pressure on one federal leader - Labor’s Bill Shorten.
But so fixated is Mark Kenny with his increasingly shrill anti-Abbott beatups that his analysis piece doesn’t mention Shorten at all, and beats up once more his old favorite - that Abbott could be toppled:
Had Baird hit the fence, Abbott would have faced irresistible pressure to step down. But the solid win has underscored to Liberals that governments can survive tough times by staying close to the centre-ground and by having a popular leader to whom voters are prepared to listen.
For Abbott that lesson could be just as dangerous.

For Kenny it’s heads Abbott loses, tails Turnbull wins.
Apply to each story as required.
(Thanks to reader Gab.) 
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NSW election - disaster for Labor turns Shorten into the hunted

Andrew Bolt March 28 2015 (8:25pm)

The NSW election is going badly for Labor. It is in danger of posting its second-worst election result ever - under 35 per cent of the primary vote, and with perhaps as few as 30 seats, but no more than around 35. It could have lost a couple of seats to the Greens. It is a disaster.
Overnight, the heat goes onto federal Labor leader Bill Shorten.
He is running the kind of campaign that has just backfired on NSW Labor leader Luke Foley - anti-reform, pro-union, small-target, populist, deceitful and banking on an anti-Abbott swing. He just didn’t seem serious.
Tony Abbott is safe as Liberal leader for a long time yet. But can Bill Shorten last as Labor’s leader?
Much more on this on The Bolt Report tomorrow on Channel 10 at 10am and 3pm, with Treasurer Joe Hockey, former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa and IPA boss John Roskam, plus Tim Blair.
UPDATE
Labor Senator Sam Dastyari tonight:
It was never about Abbott.
NSW Labor leader Luke Foley on March 25:
Remove Mike Baird and you remove Tony Abbott.
Love the spin.
UPDATE
Sam Dastyari on Sky News demands that former Labor Minister and ACTU president Martin Ferguson be expelled from the Labor Party for having appeared in Liberals ads blasting the Labor lies about privatisation.
He calls Ferguson a “rat” who committed a “bastard act” and “treason” of the kind that once got people “hung, drawn and quartered”.
What Dastyari can’t get is that a Labor party which disgusts a stalwart and Labor great as Ferguson has lost its way and isn’t worth voting for. Labor would in fact be healthier if the likes of Dastyari were expelled instead.
UPDATE
Labor looks like winning a net 11 seats when it hoped for at least 15 and probably 20.
UPDATE
Reader Mike of Darwin:

ABC NSW votes. Watched from about 7:30pm for the next hour (NT time). Apart from 1 Liberal lady in blue in the studio set, not one Liberal or National given air time until Mike Baird’s acceptance / declaration of victory.
Labor new members, Senators and Greens candidates all interviewed at their electorates. Not one Liberal or National could be found by any ABC camera person, sound guy or reporter.
Why?
Related, from reader observer:
And ABC 24 choreographed the result tonight reluctantly as “The Coalition won DESPITE the swing to Labor.”
(Thanks to reader red breast.) 
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=== Posts from last year ===

NO HOUR, NO POWER

Tim Blair – Saturday, March 29, 2014 (12:11am)

Like a crippled boy with asthma, tonight’s Earth Hour crept up on us slowly. Fairfax has barely bothered to promote its annual darkness festival, and the usual Earth Hour boosterism from the ABC and others is utterly absent. It’s almost as though people aren’t excited any more about turning their lights off for 60 minutes.
We usually celebrate an Hour of Power to counter this pathetic caper, but at this point, with Earth Hour shunned even by its friends, such a celebration seems almost cruel. Earth Hour is now the Johnny No Mates of global climate activism, and we should pity it.
Therefore this site will not hold an Hour of Power. Besides, during the time in question, I’ll be at the football. Under lights.
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GREENS EATEN

Tim Blair – Friday, March 28, 2014 (4:29pm)

Tasmania leads the way: 
The Greens have only themselves to blame for any loss of resources and speaking time in Parliament, Premier-elect Will Hodgman has said.
The former minority government partners no longer qualify for party status in the Tasmanian Parliament after an 8 per cent swing against them cost them two seats at the election. 
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If they want laws against abuse, could they at least stop this vilification?

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (11:24am)

This really is becoming obscene. 
First, Ron Merkel QC, acting for fair-skinned Aborigines who successfully had two of my articles banned, told the Jewish judge my thinking was of the kind that the Nazis had in drawing up the Nuremberg race laws - a truly disgusting and false smear which Jewish leaders have, belatedly, condemned. My articles were in fact a protest against racism and its new forms.
Next, The Age published a prominent article by academic Marica Langton accusing me of believing in the “master race” and “racial hygiene”, concepts promoted by the Nazis and used to justify the Holocaust. Langton has, after more than two years, finally apologised for that outrageous lie, but The Age has not.
This month the ABC falsely smeared me as a racist and broadcast utterly false claims that I’d subjected an academic to “foul abuse ... racist abuse”, accused her of not really being Aboriginal and driven her from “public life”. Every single claim was untrue, and the ABC grudgingly apologised.
Yesterday another disgusting character assassination, this time from SBS, which broadcast yet more distressing falsehoods to paint me as exactly the opposite of what I am.
I’ve mentioned this in a post below, but I am alarmed by the damage this campaign of vilification could do and want to highlight the falseness of this latest smear, which even The Australian republished this morning:
Professor of Law at Melbourne University, Mark McMillan is one of the nine Aboriginal people who sued columnist Andrew Bolt in 2009… 
”I was accused of being a paedophile, and these were not just responses of Andrew Bolt,” Mr McMillan said.
I have never made, hinted at or in any way condoned any such despicable accusation, or made any suggestion which would possibly lead any sane person to make it themselves. I’d condemn such stuff, just as I’ve condemned those of the Left and the Right who’ve encouraged (accidentally or probably not) exactly this kind of vile abuse of others, which I have often said I find utterly repellent. McMillan is wrong, very wrong, to imply I’d made this claim or in any way encouraged others to do so. As a professor of law, he should be more much careful about defaming people like this.
I have asked SBS to retract the claim, made during an interview with McMillan which you can watch here.

These people want laws to stop the giving of offence? And then they do this? 
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Didn’t Labor promise no one would lose their job because of the carbon tax?

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (8:16am)

Reader Ken:
Now that the SA and Tasmanian elections are over, there are now 138 less Labor members of Federal, State and Territory parliaments than in 2010.
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Sheehan tells the ABC just how big the AWU scandal is. You know, the one it wouldn’t report

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (7:59am)

The AWU scandal

Paul Sheehan makes a prediction on the ABC about Julia Gillard, referring to the AWU scandal - a scandal the ABC for years tried to dismiss or ignore:

(Note: Julia Gillard denies any wrongdoing and says she did not know how her then boyfriend, AWU official Bruce Wilson, used the slush fund she helped to set up through giving legal advice.)
The video is  Michael Smith, who is all over this scandal and lost his job at Fairfax radio for trying to report it.
But remember how the ABC’s Media Watch in 2011 sunk the boot into Smith for daring to raise matters which Media Watch dismissed as just old news - matters which have since become the subject of an intensive police investigation and will be probed by a royal commission?:
Michael Smith is the afternoon host of Sydney radio station 2UE, owned by Fairfax Media. And the Friday before last, he launched into readings from Bob Kernohan’s year-old stat dec ... Smith either didn’t know, or didn’t care, that every allegation in it has been aired, and dealt with publicly by Julia Gillard, multiple times ... Gillard has already explained herself in Glenn Milne’s 2007 article. She’s denied any wrongdoing many times, going back to when the allegations were first raised in the Victorian Parliament in 1995 ... Michael Smith didn’t accept the earlier denials. On the contrary, for hour after hour, day after day, Smith demanded that the Prime Minister come on his program and submit to a public interrogation ...  
Andrew Bolt will be deeply disappointed with this program. He wrote to us that ... 
“Lately, the issue has become the Prime Minister’s attempt to close down some reporting. It is the responsibility of every journalist involved in political commentary to note this. — Andrew Bolt, 3rd September, 2011” 
But Nine News’s Laurie Oakes, who knows a thing or two about political commentary, disagrees: 
“Laurie Oakes: The question is why it’s been dredged up again and the answer to that, I think, is people just are trying to, people who don’t like Julia Gillard and want to bring her down are beating it up.
— 3AW, Mornings with Neil Mitchell, 31st August, 2011”
...What happened sixteen years ago has indeed become peripheral. 

And remember this?
Jon Faine, of 774 ABC Melbourne, said: “The conspiracy theorists are having a ball, the blogosphere’s running amok, it’s all completely out of control ... why is it on the front page of the paper?”
And this?:

In January [last year], Thomas reported that Victoria police had travelled to Queensland and taken a lengthy statement from a former para-legal executive at Slater & Gordon, Olivia Palmer (nee Brosnahan). That interview marked a turning point in the police investigation, with a significant increase in the number of detectives assigned to the matter as a result of her evidence. 
The ABC reported nothing.
And this?:

Despite extensive coverage on commercial radio and television, and after several days of coverage across the News Limited and Fairfax press, the ABC chose to ignore yesterday’s fresh allegations reported by The Australian concerning Julia Gillard and claims she received $5000 cash from then boyfriend and union official Bruce Wilson. 
With the exception of one question from Radio National Breakfast host Fran Kelly to The Age’s political editor Michelle Grattan about whether the revelations were “a problem” for Ms Gillard, the story was one the ABC did not think its listeners were entitled to hear until late in the day when the Prime Minister, who denies wrongdoing, dismissed it as “a smear”.... 
And this ABC letter to a viewer, explaining its refusal to report that Gillard was a subject of a police investigation?:
Reporting that the prime minister of the nation is under police investigation is an enormously significant call to make. It cannot be made on supposition, on rumour, or on hearsay… 
According to The Australian they’ve been collecting files but you would expect any police investigation to gather up this sort of primary documentation. That does not mean Ms Gillard is under investigation. For all we know, the investigation could be into Ralph Blewitt, or Bruce Wilson or Slater & Gordon or any number of other individuals and entities.
And this letter?

The ABC is aware of these statements but we do not at this stage believe it warrants the attention of our news coverage. 
To the extent that it may touch tangentially on a former role of the Prime Minister, we know The Australian newspaper maintains an abiding interest in events 17 years ago at the law firm Slater & Gordon, but the ABC is unaware of any allegation in the public domain which goes to the Prime Minister’s integrity.
And this, referring to a column in 2007 by Glenn Milne, also dumped for later raising the issue again?:
Gillard later told biographer Jacqueline Kent: “Over the next two or three days I received phone calls from many of the biggest names in the Canberra press gallery expressing absolute disbelief that such things were said (by Milne). 
“Nobody followed up the story. It just died.”
(Again, Gillard insists she did not wrong and did not know how her then boyfriend was using the slush fund she helped him to create with her legal advice as his solicitor.)
One day the media’s shameful role in helping Gillard to bury this scandal will be fully exposed. I suspect a book may be coming… 
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Don’t agree? Then why not simply argue back?

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (7:47am)

Free speech

I should note that the judge ruled I’d made an error of fact to suggest certain people had a choice to identify with one, all or none of the “racial” identities of their various ancestors, and he banned two of my columns.
Chris Kenny:
As it happens, Bolt’s columns were appeals against race-based preferment and the temptation to parade one aspect of our ethnic make-up over any other. 
The columns highlighted an extremely significant issue about whether grants and positions for indigenous Australians are going to those suffering discrimination or disadvantage or whether, at least sometimes, they go to those simply able to demonstrate a connec­tion.
Kerryn Pholi, who worked in but then rejected positions reserved for Aborigines, has written at length on this from a personal perspective in Quadrant.
“I felt hurt (by the Bolt columns) because the truth hurts,” she says, “and my comforting ration­alisations about myself and my place in the world were already painfully dissolving.”
Bolt stridently questioned the legitimacy of urbanised, mixed-race people identifying as predominantly Aboriginal and claiming awards and grants allocated for indigenous people.
“The resulting court case and decision seemed to rest on how the injured parties felt,” observes Pholi, “whether they felt themselves to be Aboriginal and had always felt that way, and whether they felt upset and offended by Bolt’s writing, and whether other fair-skinned Aboriginal people and other such ‘vulnerable’ Aboriginal people would be likely to feel the same way.”
This gets to the nub of the issue and the rationale behind the government’s proposed changes.
Bromberg based his findings not only on what Bolt wrote but on what he didn’t write. He defended Bolt’s right to make his point but condemned the manner and tone in which he made it.
And he ruled on the likely extent of insult, offence and humiliation among a specific group of people. This ill-defined and subjective power in the hands of the judi­ciary is far too broad and can only have a chilling effect on free speech.
UPDATE
This is a disgraceful smear:
Professor of Law at Melbourne University, Mark McMillan is one of the nine Aboriginal people who sued columnist Andrew Bolt in 2009… 
”I was accused of being a paedophile, and these were not just responses of Andrew Bolt,” Mr McMillan said.
I have never said, hinted at or in any way condoned any such despicable claim, or made any suggestion which would possibly lead any sane person to make it themselves. I’d condemn such stuff, just as I’ve condemned those of the Left and the Right who’ve encouraged(accidentally or probably not) exactly this kind of vile abuse of others, which I have often said I find utterly repellent. McMillan is wrong, very wrong, to imply I’d made this claim or in any way encouraged others to do so. As a professor of law, he should be more much careful about defaming people like this.
I have asked SBS to retract the claim, made during an interview with McMillan which you can watch here.
UPDATE
Reader Peter objects that I am too white, and should take steps not to be:
As always, Andrew, I’ll be prepared to take you seriously when you give up your white male privilege.
UPDATE
Not sure I’m helped by the Nazi analogy, but Brendan O’Neill (who doesn’t quite mean it that way) has a point:
We’re witnessing the victory of the Soviet view of speech as bad and censorship as good, with various members of the modern West’s chattering classes unwittingly aping yesteryear’s communist tyrants as they call for the banning of “advocacy of hatred”, and a corresponding demise of the older enlightened belief that ideas and words should never be curtailed.... 
But here’s the thing: history shows that, actually, hate speech laws don’t even help to combat hate.
The Weimar Republic of the 30s had laws against “insulting religious communities”. They were used to prosecute hundreds of Nazi agitators, including Joseph Goebbels. Did it stop them? No. It helped them.
The Nazis turned their prosecutions for hate speech to their advantage, presenting themselves as political victims and whipping up public support among aggrieved sections of German society, their future social base. Far from halting Nazism, hate speech legislation assisted it. It is surely time every hate speech law was repealed. They are a menace to free thought and speech, and the worst tool imaginable for fighting real hatred.
O’Neill will be a guest on The Bolt Report in the near future. Details to follow. In the meantime, you can join Brendan at a public talk in Sydney next Thursday or in Brisbane the week after. Go here for details.
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Seriously: $22 billion a year for the NDIS? Plus blowouts?

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (7:27am)

Completely predictable, but Labor still insisted on seeming good by promising a welfare scheme that would actually cost many more billions than we could afford, and the Liberals did not dare to completely oppose it:
COSTS on the pilots for the new national disability care program blew out by as much as 30 per cent in the first six months, hitting $46,000 a person, punching a hole in the May budget and threatening billion-dollar hits in the years ahead. 
The blowout in the national disability insurance scheme is part of the “shocking” turnaround from the surplus Labor predicted for 2017-18 to a $32 billion deficit that Joe Hockey revealed to state treasurers yesterday…
For the following three months, from October to December last year, the average cost per person in the pilot programs had dropped to $40,466 but was still 15 per cent above the average budgeted cost… The NDIS is due to be fully operational in 2019-20 at a current estimated annual cost of $22bn, including state government contributions.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Don’t mention the war. I did once and the Guardian calls me “insensitive”

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:52am)

Truth hurts, and the Left are screaming at the success of the Abbott Government’s new boat people policies.
Consider: There have been no boat arrivals for 100 days today. Nor have there been any known drownings. In contrast, more than 1100 boat people were lured to their deaths after Labor softened our border laws to seem more “compassionate”.
Ergo: the Abbott Government has saved lives, which even the Australian Human Rights Commission president grudgingly admits:
Professor Triggs said she “sensed” the Australian public was “very happy with the stop-the-boats policies” and the fact fewer people were drowning at sea.
But the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland is shocked, truly shocked, to have such facts baldly stated:
Yet, in some quarters at least, the government’s argument is lapped up. Turning back boats saves lives. Closing borders results in more compassion. Deterrence is fairness. 
“Tony Abbott and his policies on border protection have saved men, women and children from drowning an awful death at sea,” crooned former Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger on the Bolt Report earlier in the month. “You just imagine these parents and their kids in the sea, life draining from their bodies, watching their children and wives and husbands die in the sea. That is what happened to 1,200 people under the Rudd/Gillard policies”.
Bolt interjected: “And as they drowned they thought ‘at least the Greens policies are more compassionate’. Ridiculous.” The insensitivity of the exchange was jaw-dropping – and striking in its naked partiality. 
I confess. I am indeed partial - to saving lives. I am indeed insensitive - to the feelings of the Left’s open-borders brigade when I attack its lethally stupid posturing.
Sorry, Oliver.  Next time I’ll hide the Left’s corpses under my carpet. I won’t say a word about the drownings, just as you didn’t when there was still time to prevent hundreds more.
UPDATE
Another benefit of the new policy: fewer people in detention. Or is that too “insensitive” to mention, too?:
MORE than 600 asylum seekers have returned home voluntarily or through forced repatriation since the Coalition declared Australia’s borders closed... 
The figures, that until now had been kept secret, confirm that for the first time since 2008 the tide of boat arrivals has begun to turn, and the number of people returning home is now exceeding arrival numbers.
....240 from mainland detention or community detention left voluntarily, having given up hope of being granted asylum, and 168 were flown home by the government. A total of 198 asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru had also asked authorities to be returned home after realising they would not be settled in Australia… A survey of people being held in detention revealed most arrivals had sought to come to Australia because they believed the previous Labor government would let them stay. 
(Thanks to readers Peter and Lin.) 
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Jailing Michael Williamson puts Labor’s former president behind bars

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:41am)

Michael Williamson, yesterday jailed for seven years for corruption, was not just the former boss of the Health Services Union.  What some reports fail to mention is that he was also national president of Labor. And that made him very influential, as Lateline acknowledged on the night of the 23 June 2010 coup:
PAUL HOWES: I spoke to Julia [Gillard] very briefly to tell her that the ... [AWU’s] position is that we’re supporting her leadership ... Which is not unlike the position of the Health Services Union. I’ve seen that Michael Williamson, who’s also the national president of the Party has also endorsed Julia Gillard’s leadership.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
UPDATE
I find it hard to believe no one in Labor or the union, other than a couple of brave whistleblowers, knew what was going on:
(W)hat Williamson has been jailed for was only the tip of the iceberg.... One time, Williamson claimed thieves had broken into the safe in his office and stolen thousands of dollars. At the same time someone using Williamson’s card accessed the building. He declined to report the matter to police. 
He was reimbursed three times by the union after claiming he had been mugged at an ATM.
Among those at court was Paul Ford who, with Mark and Janice Hardacre and others, ran against Williamson for control of the union in 1999.
They discovered he had an HSU-issued American Express card that he used for Chanel perfume, jewellery, restaurant bills, a $1045 David Jones bill, Clinique skin care products worth $105, valet parking, a gas bill, and designer handbags. He responded by filing a $750,000 defamation suit against them.
Outside court Mr Ford said: ‘’Those who supported and enabled him should also be held accountable. We want our $25,000 returned, especially to the family of the late Bill O’Connor.’’
He said Mr O’Connor was a 76-year-old pensioner at the time he had to pay $25,000 for pointing out Mr Williamson was corrupt.
Mr Ford was also angry with the NSW Labor Party ‘’who knew about this but still promoted Williamson’’.
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On The Bolt Report tomorrow

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:37am)

On the show on Sunday: Who are these people telling you what you can’t say and can’t hear?
Guests Anthony Dillon, who identifies as “part Aboriginal”, Judith Sloan and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa.
In NewsWatch, the great Gerard Henderson on how newspapers are refusing to help police catch certain suspects. And a problem with Noah.
Plus Your Say, and a tale of two party-parties.
On Network 10 at 10am and 4pm.

The videos of the shows appear here.
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Benson: unions keep Labor radicals tamed

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (6:29am)

Simon Benson warns Labor that demanding loosening union control of the party could have it turn Left:
Those who demand an instant end to the union gerrymander of the ALP don’t know what they wish for. 
The union movement, particularly conservative forces in the SDA and AWU, is the only thing keeping Labor from lurching to the left. It is an irony peculiar to the ALP that the unions remain the greatest right-wing force in a party whose rank and file membership is dominated by the left. It’s little wonder many union leaders are backing a break with the ALP — to protect their own credibility.
And, indeed: the ballot for Labor leader had 60 of the members voting for the Left’s Anthony Albanese and just over 60 per cent of Labor MPs, more dependent on union influence, voting for the Right’s Bill Shorten.
That said, by the end of that campaign it was hard to tell who was in fact the man of the Left. And in the Rudd-Gillard battle, the union machine tended to side with the Left’s Gillard, suggesting the union influence is used more to advance what suits unions rather than to resist the Left.  
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It’s wrong, and never mind why

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (5:13am)

They know blasphemy when they hear it, and the details aren’t important:
ABC1’s Lateline, Thursday: 
TONY Jones: Tony Abbott, is reversing ... the carbon tax. … do you regard it as a retrograde step, possibly even a damaging one ...?
Lord Nicholas Stern: I think it’s damaging for the world and I think over the medium term it’s damaging for Australia …
Jones: Can direct action policies be used … over the long-term to make big emissions reductions?
Stern: I don’t know the details of Australia’s alternatives in that way …
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Earth Hour, when a billion people prove something pointless

Andrew Bolt March 29 2014 (4:59am)

A billion people, it’s claimed, will take part in Earth Hour tonight.
Bjorn Lomborg laughs:
Earth Hour is about switching off the lights, not your computer, your internet, your heater or cooler or dishwasher or anything else that would be inconvenient… It would likely be the equivalent of China halting its CO2 emissions for less than four minutes. 
But even this is unrealistic because in the real world power plants keep running to accommodate usage from all other uses and the potential surge after the hour ends. The power sector thinks the net reduction is close to zero. And even this forgets that almost all participants light candles instead. But candles are almost 100 times less efficient than incandescent light bulbs, and more than 300 times less efficient than fluorescent lights. Light one candle and it will emit as much CO2 as you were saving. Light a bunch of candles and you’ll have emitted much more CO2. So Earth Hour may actually increase CO2 emissions.
Lomborg is no climate sceptic, but says the global warming hysteria has us blowing billions:
In 2012, solar and wind power was subsidised by $60 billion. For all this extra money we spent on energy, we generated just 0.3 per cent of global energy from wind and 0.04 per cent from solar. The emission savings from that translate into climate benefits of just over $1bn. Ninety-seven cents of every dollar invested was wasted.
UPDATE
Tim Blair notices a cooling among Earth Hour warmists:
Like a crippled boy with asthma, tonight’s Earth Hour crept up on us slowly. Fairfax has barely bothered to promote its annual darkness festival, and the usual Earth Hour boosterism from the ABC and others is utterly absent. It’s almost as though people aren’t excited any more about turning their lights off for 60 minutes. 
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ABC balance

Andrew Bolt March 28 2014 (6:15pm)

Does the ABC even try to be balanced? Gerard Henderson continues his Maurice Newman scorecard:
How frightfully Aunty on the “Journo’s Forum” on ABC Metropolitan Radio 702 late yesterday evening. Wendy Harmer was in the presenter’s chair (standing in for Richard Glover) and her guests were Emma Alberici (ABC TV), John Mangos and Malarndirri McInerney (SBS/NITV News). 
Soon discussion got around to the Racial Discrimination Act – Section 18 (c) and Section 18 (d) – and all that. Plus George Brandis and Andrew Bolt and all that. Soon Wendy Harmer agreed with Emma Alberici who agreed with John Mangos who agreed with Malarndirri McInerney who agreed with Wendy Harmer who agreed with herself that the Attorney-General’s proposed amendment to the Racial Discrimination Act was a BAD THING. No other view was heard as everyone agreed with everyone else in the usual ABC way.
The Age, as a newspaper owned by shareholders, is at least entitled to be biased, and, boy, it sure is. Take yesterday:
In short, one editorial critical of the Coalition along with 100 per cent of the letters published plus 100 per cent of opinion pieces. Neither Green Left Weekly nor The Saturday Paper could do better than this. 
Today’s Age carries 12 letters on national politics – all of which are critical of the Coalition – plus a column by left-wing academic Waleed Aly which is also critical of the Coalition. Another 100 per cent score-line. The fact is that there is more political diversity in The Australian than there is in The Age which increasingly resembles the content of a university student newspaper like, say, Farrago
Henderson will join me for the NewsWatch segment on Sunday’s The Bolt Report. 
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Before you believe Manne, read the following

Andrew Bolt March 28 2014 (4:52pm)

Professor Robert Manne, I’m told, is touting one of his essays on the social media. It is one he’s written some time ago, claiming he really has met my challenge to name just 10 names of children truly stolen under “stolen generations” policies to end Aboriginal culture.
I have written several articles disproving his claims, including this one. More can be found here.
Needless to say, Manne is very rich in abuse but still short of 10 names. It seems it is easier to scream “racist” than to provide evidence. In fact, in 20 court cases so far, only one has found a child who was stolen - and even then the boy was stolen by an official defying government policy, and to save him from suspected neglect.
Meanwhile, his “stolen generations” myth destroys the lives of some Aboriginal children. 
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"If the world were merely seductive, that would be easy. If it were merely challenging, that would be no problem. But I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." - E.B. White
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Julia?
Julia?
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The monkeys were supposed to be wise .. 
The monkeys were supposed to be wise .. 
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With Britain facing its coldest Easter on record, and with fears that at least 10,000 sheep may have perished from the record freezing temperatures – farmers are resorting to dressing sheep in woolly jumpers to prevent them from freezing to death.

It is unknown if the UK’s Department of Global Warming is issuing grants to farmers to buy the woolly jumpers to prevent sheep from freezing to death from the record cold.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4865238/Lambs-get-woolly-jumpers-to-survive-coldest-Easter-on-record.html
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March 29: Earth Hour (20:30 local time in various areas, 2014); Boganda Day in the Central African Republic; Martyrs' Day in Madagascar (1947)
Flag of the New People's Army
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“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.” - 1 Timothy 2:5-6
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The love of Christ which passeth knowledge."
Ephesians 3:19
The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its greatness, its faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension. Where shall language be found which shall describe his matchless, his unparalleled love towards the children of men? It is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath. Well might the poet say,
"O love, thou fathomless abyss!"
for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless; none can attain unto it. Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand his previous glory in its height of majesty, and his incarnation upon the earth in all its depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When he was enthroned in the highest heavens he was very God of very God; by him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof. His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded him; the full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of his throne: he reigned supreme above all his creatures, God over all, blessed forever. Who can tell his height of glory then? And who, on the other hand, can tell how low he descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for him who was the Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony--to endure a death of shame and desertion by his Father, this is a depth of condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom. Herein is love! and truly it is love that "passeth knowledge." O let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical manifestations of its power.

Evening

"I will accept you with your sweet savour."
Ezekiel 20:41
The merits of our great Redeemer are as sweet savour to the Most High. Whether we speak of the active or passive righteousness of Christ, there is an equal fragrance. There was a sweet savour in his active life by which he honoured the law of God, and made every precept to glitter like a precious jewel in the pure setting of his own person. Such, too, was his passive obedience, when he endured with unmurmuring submission, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at length sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane, gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked out the hair, and was fastened to the cruel wood, that he might suffer the wrath of God in our behalf. These two things are sweet before the Most High; and for the sake of his doing and his dying, his substitutionary sufferings and his vicarious obedience, the Lord our God accepts us. What a preciousness must there be in him to overcome our want of preciousness! What a sweet savour to put away our ill savour! What a cleansing power in his blood to take away sin such as ours! and what glory in his righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved! Mark, believer, how sure and unchanging must be our acceptance, since it is in him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but, when you have received his merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Notwithstanding all your doubts, and fears, and sins, Jehovah's gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though he sees sin in you, in yourself, yet when he looks at you through Christ, he sees no sin. You are always accepted in Christ, are always blessed and dear to the Father's heart. Therefore lift up a song, and as you see the smoking incense of the merit of the Saviour coming up, this evening, before the sapphire throne, let the incense of your praise go up also.
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Bernice
The Woman Guilty of Incestuous Conduct
Scripture Reference: Acts 25:13, 23; 26:30
Name Meaning: Bernice (Greek-Bernicke), or Berenice, is a Macedonian corruption of Pherenice, and means, "victorious," or "carrying off victory." Wilkinson informs us that the name occurs in previous history, being given "to the wife of Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, who became King of Egypt, and founder of an illustrious dynasty." Another compound with nike, implying "victory," is found in Eunice (Greek-Eunicke) the name of Timothy's mother. "... The word is expressive of a good or happy victory, and in its origin doubtless commemorated some such event. It is noticeable that nike was a favorite termination of females in the Macedonian age, as for example, Thessalonice, the daughter of Philip, King of Macedon, and Stratonice, the name of the wife of Antigonus, one of Alexander's generals and successors."
Family Connections: Bernice was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I who ruled, a.d. 38-45, and is described as the one "who vexed the church" (Acts 12:1). Josephus says that she was first married to Marcus. After a while she married her Uncle Herod, king of Chalcis. When he died, she was suspected of evil relations with her own brother Agrippa, with whom she always appeared as his consort. In company with Agrippa, Bernice visited Festus when he became procurator of Judea. Leaving Agrippa, she married Polemon, or Ptolemy, king of Cilicia who for her sake embraced Judaism by the rite of circumcision. She soon left Ptolemy, however, for a future period of intimacy with her brother. Subsequently she became the mistress of Vespasian, then of Titus, son of Vespasian, but when Titus became emperor, he cast her aside.
"If heredity stands for anything, its lessons are forcibly taught in the history of the Herodian family." For instance, Bernice and her sister Drusilla (Acts 24:24 ), were two of the most corrupt and shameless women of their time in Roman history. As Bernice, a wicked woman who lived an incestuous life, listened to Paul's impassioned appeal as he repeated what God had done for his soul, one wonders what impression it made upon her evil heart. As her brother listened, he said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." What a different record would have been written if Agrippa and Bernice had repented of their sordid sin, and yielded their lives to Him whose blood can make the foulest clean!
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Asahel 
[Ä€'sahĕl] - god hath made or god is doer.
1. A Levite sent by Jehoshaphat to teach the law to the people in Judah (2 Chron. 17:8).
2. A Levite Hezekiah employed as an officer of the offerings, tithes and dedicated things (2 Chron. 31:13).
3. Father of a certain Jonathan, appointed by Ezra to take a census of those Jews who had married foreign wives while in exile (Ezra 10:15).
4. The youngest son of Zeruiah, David's sister, and the brother of Joab and Abishai. He was slain by Abner unwillingly (2 Sam. 2:18-32; 3:27, 30; 23:24; 1 Chron. 2:16; 11:26; 27:7).
The Man Who Died in His Boots
Conspicuous among those of David's brethren and those of his father's house who came to him while hiding in the cave of Adullam were the three sons of Zeruiah his sister, Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was the favorite among the three. Little is recorded of him beyond his activity and the manner of his death.
I. He was famous for his swiftness of foot. Speed was a much valued gift in ancient times.
II. He was near the top of David's thirty heroes. Courage made him a conspicuous fighter.
III. He was a commander of a division in David's army. He had proved himself worthy of position.
IV. He believed in persistence. He persisted in following Abner, the captain of Saul's host in the battle that began by the pool of Gibeon. Abner was unwilling to slay him, knowing how he was beloved. He seems to have struck Asahel at last only in self-defense.
V. He dies for his ambition. Asahel would aim at nothing less than the glory of slaying Saul's general, and he was slain himself instead. Thus he died in harness or as we have put it, in his boots.
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Today's reading: Judges 4-6, Luke 4:31-44 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Judges 4-6

Deborah
1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, now that Ehud was dead. 2 So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. 3Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.
4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. 5 She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided....

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 4:31-44

Jesus Drives Out an Impure Spirit
31 Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. 32 They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33 In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34"Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"
35 "Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36 All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!" 37 And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area....
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Today's Prayer

Almighty God, who sees that we have no power ourselves to help ourselves: protect us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls. Defend us both from harm to the body and from evil thoughts which assault and hurt the soul. Do this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. -- adapted from the Book of Common Prayer

Today's Scripture Reading: Romans 7:13-25
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Today's Quote

"Now He is led forth to death, carrying His Cross. O what a spectacle is this! Do you see it? Lo, the government is upon His shoulders. See, here is His rod of equity, His rod of empire. Wine mingled with gall is given Him to drink. He is striped of His garments, which are divided among the soldiers; but His tunic is not rent, but passes by lot to one of them. His dear hands and feet are bored with nails; and He, stretched on the Cross, is hung up between thieves. Of God and men the Mediator, He hangs in the midst between heaven and earth; joining lowest things and highest, earthly things and heavenly; and heaven is bewildered, and earth condoles.

"And what of you? No wonder if, while the sun mourns, you mourn also; if, while the earth shakes, you tremble; if, while rocks rend, your heart is torn; if, while the women beside the Cross are all in tears, you cry aloud with them." -- Anselm of Canterbury, Meditation #84

Something to Think About

What do you think it means to be a spiritual "slave" to something? What has enslaved your spirit in the past? Whose slave are you now?
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Today's Lent reading: Mark 13-14 (NIV)

View today's Lent reading on Bible Gateway
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"
2 "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"
5 Jesus said to them: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 6Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains....



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