Monday, June 22, 2015

Mon Jun 22nd Todays News

Bolt report Instructions follow the publishing news. 
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NSW Government is expected to have a surplus of $2,1 billion tomorrow morning. That will lower overall debt by about a quarter for NSW. NSW have increased spending on important core sectors of health, education, security and infrastructure. Responsible decision making has meant NSW can prosper. She has a conservative government. Responsible decisions have been opposed by the ALP. When the ALP were in government they expanded expenditure but could not balance a budget. 

 A green discussion paper has been released, leaked, by the public service to embarrass the government. Discussion is important and many ideas are presented in green discussion papers that are not present in white policy papers. ALP does not value discussion, and one joke is that one way green papers are made white papers by the ALP is to photocopy them. But conservative governments need public discussion and one idea on the leaked green paper is that rich people pay for the public schooling of their own children. Many wealthy send their children to private schools, so the change would only be subtle. The policy change would threaten the viability of elite performance public schools. The green paper is federal and has no bearing on state schooling. Meanwhile in South Australia a school is being lauded for middle schooling years 8 to 10. The idea is to remove the year designations and stream kids through individualised programs. It is a complete waste of time which makes tremendous demands on staff and parents for no academic reward. It pretends to address individual need, but in fact children at that age prosper in school and class conformity. If the school is traditionally dysfunctional the problem is not the school structure but possibly staff and community issues which will not be addressed by the highly lauded change. 

 Reports are coming in that two terrorists who renounced their Australian Citizenship to fight for ISIL have been killed in fighting in Mosul. The papers are calling them Australian. The law says they aren't. Or weren't. The ALP thinks they should be. The Greens feel their comrades are too. 

 In 217 BC, Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeated Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Both kingdoms were Greek cultured, descending from Alexander the Great's campaigns. Both used similar mixes of infantry, cavalry and elephants. African elephants used by Ptolemy panicked and charged their own troops. But overall, Ptolemy had the larger, better infantry and won. It had implications for Jerusalem. 168 BC, Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeated Macedonian King Perseus who surrendered after the battle, ending the Third Macedonian War. The night before the fight there was a lunar eclipse which spooked the Macedonians. The battle favoured the larger (44000) Macedonian force to the (29000) Roman two legions, but when the legions had an orderly retreat onto uneven ground, and the heavy Macedonian cavalry failed to engage in the retreat, the tide turned and the Macedonian King fled. Rome lost over a thousand men. Macedon lost over twenty five thousand men. 1527, Fatahillah chased away Portugal from Sunda Kelapa harbour, and peoples celebrated it as birthday of Jakarta, Indonesia. 1593, Battle of Sisak: Allied Christian troops defeated the Ottomans. 1622, Portuguese forces repelled a Dutch invasion at the Battle of Macau during the Dutch–Portuguese War. 1633, the Holy Office in Rome forced Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the centre of the Universe in the form he presented it in, after heated controversy. 1774, the British pass the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America. 1783, a poisonous cloud caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland reached Le Havre in France.

 In 1807, in the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, the British warship HMS Leopard attacked and boarded the American frigate USS Chesapeake. The British had a pretext of searching for deserters, and they captured four men, one of which they hanged. The result was President Jefferson, in impotent fury, resorted to a trade embargo. 1813, War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a surprise attack on Beaver Dams in Ontario, Laura Secord set out on a 30 kilometre journey on foot to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. 1825, the British Parliament abolished feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America. 1839, Cherokee leaders Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot were assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota, which had resulted in the Trail of Tears. 1870, US Congress created the United States Department of Justice 1893, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rammed the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria which sank taking 358 crew with her, including the fleet's commander, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. 1897, British colonial officers Charles Walter Rand and Lt. Charles Egerton Ayerst were assassinated in Pune, Maharashtra, India by the Chapekar brothers and Mahadeo Vinayak Ranade, who were later caught and hanged. The hate crime was committed to prevent the British from treating the area hit hard by plague. 1898, Spanish–American War: United States Marines landed in Cuba.

 In 1906, the flag of Sweden was adopted. 1907, the London Underground's Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opened. 1911, George V and Mary of Teck were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1918, the Hammond Circus Train Wreck killed 86 and injured 127 near Hammond, Indiana. 1922, Herrin massacre: Nineteen strikebreakers and three union miners were killed in Herrin, Illinois.

 In 1940, France was forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany. 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Also 1941, the June Uprising in Lithuania began. 1942, Erwin Rommel was promoted to Field Marshal after the capture of Tobruk. Also 1942, Pledge of Allegiance formally adopted by Congress 1944, Opening day of the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration against the Army Group Centre. Also 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill. 1945, the Battle of Okinawa came to an end.

 In 1954, in Christchurch (New Zealand) Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme murdered Pauline's mother because they think she is in the way of their close friendship (movie Heavenly Creatures by Peter Jackson in 1994). See Parker–Hulme murder case. 1957, the Soviet Union launched an R-12 missile for the first time (in the Kapustin Yar). 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. 1978, Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, was discovered by American astronomer James W. Christy. 1984, Virgin Atlantic Airways launched with its first flight from London Heathrow Airport. 1986, the controversial Hand of God goal by Diego Maradona in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and England. This was later followed by the Goal of the Century also by Maradona. Argentina would win 2-1 and go on to win the world cup.

 In 1990, Checkpoint Charlie was dismantled in Berlin. 2002, an earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw struck a region of northwestern Iran killing at least 261 people and injuring 1,300 others and eventually causing widespread public anger due to the slow official response. 2009, Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would discontinue sales of the Kodachrome Colour Film, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon. 2009, a Washington D.C Metro train was traveling southbound at the Fort Totten station when it collided into another train sitting in the station. Nine people were killed in the collision (eight passengers and the train operator) and at least 80 others were injured. 2012, Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco.
2014
There has been substantial loss on this day. Garland (1969), Astaire (1987), McGrath (2008) and as well, CJ Dennis (1938). The great Australian poet who was the first to use Australian vernacular, explained the enormity of WW1 with his Songs of a Sentimental Bloke and Ginger Mick. Almost unreadable for modern children, it would be tragic if Dennis were forgotten. Even now, the school child's struggle with Shakespeare is better described by Dennis than any teacher's description of Hamlet. And his story of love exceeds any offering  of tv drama. But his soldiers are real. His pride is real. Forget English, new migrants should be made to answer comprehension questions of CJ Dennis poetry. And I'll stoush anyone who disagrees or cheats by using Dusk. He died on the eve of WW2, of old age. A broken and dishevelled Garland had sung of a land over the rainbow. Dennis brought it to us. It is Australia, mate. 

In 1633, Galileo was made to recant his view that the universe travelled around the sun, in favour of the absurd theory that the sun travelled around the Earth. And while Stephen Fry might claim on QI that there was never a time in recorded history that authorities thought the world was flat, it was on this day they came closest to it. In 1783, a poison cloud that was not man made floated from Iceland to France .. but it was natural, not man made, so we didn't need to address it. In 1813, a woman keen to defend Beaver walked 30 km to warn a Fitzgibbon. In 1839, Cherokee John Ridge was assassinated for his signing a document that resulted in the death of a quarter of Cherokee on the trail of tears. In his defence, he had negotiated a bad deal with a Democrat President Andrew Jackson, Old Hickory. 175 years of reform later, Democrat Obama is no better over Iraq. 

In 1954 in Christchurch, two heavenly creatures gave rise to a Peter Jackson film when they murdered the mum who they felt threatened their friendship. In 1990, Checkpoint Charlie was dismantled in Berlin. In 2009, Kodak consigned Paul Simon's Kodachrome song to history by stopping the production of their film.
Historical perspectives on this day
In 217 BC, Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeated Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. 168 BC, Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeated Macedonian King Perseus who surrendered after the battle, ending the Third Macedonian War. 1527, Fatahillah chased away Portugal from Sunda Kelapa harbour, and peoples celebrated it as birthday of Jakarta, Indonesia. 1593, Battle of Sisak: Allied Christian troops defeated the Ottomans. 1622, Portuguese forces repelled a Dutch invasion at the Battle of Macau during the Dutch–Portuguese War. 1633, the Holy Office in Rome forced Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the centre of the Universe in the form he presented it in, after heated controversy. 1774, the British pass the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America. 1783, a poisonous cloud caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland reached Le Havre in France.

 In 1807, in the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, the British warship HMS Leopard attacked and boarded the American frigate USS Chesapeake. 1813, War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a surprise attack on Beaver Dams in Ontario, Laura Secord set out on a 30 kilometre journey on foot to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. 1825, the British Parliament abolished feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America. 1839, Cherokee leaders Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot were assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota, which had resulted in the Trail of Tears. 1870, US Congress created the United States Department of Justice 1893, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rammed the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria which sank taking 358 crew with her, including the fleet's commander, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. 1897, British colonial officers Charles Walter Rand and Lt. Charles Egerton Ayerst were assassinated in Pune, Maharashtra, India by the Chapekar brothers and Mahadeo Vinayak Ranade, who were later caught and hanged. 1898, Spanish–American War: United States Marines landed in Cuba.

 In 1906,the flag of Sweden was adopted. 1907, the London Underground's Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opened. 1911, George V and Mary of Teck were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1918, the Hammond Circus Train Wreck killed 86 and injured 127 near Hammond, Indiana. 1922, Herrin massacre: Nineteen strikebreakers and three union miners were killed in Herrin, Illinois.

 In 1940, France was forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany. 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. Also 1941, the June Uprising in Lithuania began. 1942, Erwin Rommel was promoted to Field Marshal after the capture of Tobruk. Also 1942, Pledge of Allegiance formally adopted by Congress 1944, Opening day of the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration against the Army Group Centre. Also 1944, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill. 1945, the Battle of Okinawa came to an end.

 In 1954, in Christchurch (New Zealand) Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme murdered Pauline's mother because they think she is in the way of their close friendship (movie Heavenly Creatures by Peter Jackson in 1994). See Parker–Hulme murder case. 1957, the Soviet Union launched an R-12 missile for the first time (in the Kapustin Yar). 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. 1978, Charon, a satellite of the dwarf planet Pluto, was discovered by American astronomer James W. Christy. 1984, Virgin Atlantic Airways launched with its first flight from London Heathrow Airport. 1986, the controversial Hand of God goal by Diego Maradona in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and England. This was later followed by the Goal of the Century also by Maradona. Argentina would win 2-1 and go on to win the world cup.

 In 1990, Checkpoint Charlie was dismantled in Berlin. 2002, an earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw struck a region of northwestern Iran killing at least 261 people and injuring 1,300 others and eventually causing widespread public anger due to the slow official response. 2009, Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would discontinue sales of the Kodachrome Colour Film, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon. 2009, a Washington D.C Metro train was traveling southbound at the Fort Totten station when it collided into another train sitting in the station. Nine people were killed in the collision (eight passengers and the train operator) and at least 80 others were injured. 2012, Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo was removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco.
=== Publishing News ===
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.
=== Bolt Report Items ===
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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Dear Members (YOU MUST READ THIS THREAD)
As of today, the rules of this forum are going to be enforced more rigorously. This includes the instant removal of members who personally abuse other members of this forum.
Whilst the use of bad language is often invoked as colourful descriptors of politicians, we ask that people refrain from the C word as there are many people on this forum who do not want to see that as part of every day language here.

Blatant racism, homophobia and religious slurs will be removed from the forum, along with the person who posted them.

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Generally we will give people a 24 hour time out to cool off after they have been removed and those people will be welcome back to the forum once they have applied via an admin..... we will however, permanently remove repeat offenders with a rule of "3 strikes and you're out".

We are trying to encourage legitimate debate, conversation and discussion on this forum where people are able to have free thought and their own opinions without "mob" rule attacking them for thinking differently, however, in saying this, members who are here to deliberately cause trouble or "troll" will be removed without warning.

The standard of this forum needs to be better and people are responsible for their own behaviour.... bullying of others or bullying of admins will also result in that person being removed.

Legitimate criticism is appreciated, along with logical and rational commentary.

Admins decisions are final.... so make of this forum what you want of it and do not complain if you are removed for behaviour that is contrary to the posting protocols.

If you feel intimated or threatened by another person, contact an admin immediately so the situation can be monitored and mediated.

Regards

Admins

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Happy birthday and many happy returns Kaspar Lundsby. It is Teachers' Day in El Salvador. In 1593, Ottoman forces were crushingly defeated by the Habsburgs at Sisak (now in Croatia), triggering the Long War. In 1807, The British warship HMS Leopard pursued and attacked the American frigate USS Chesapeake in the belief that the latter had deserters from the Royal Navy. In 1941, World War II: As over 4.5 million Axis troops began their invasion of the Soviet Union, the Lithuanian Activist Front started an uprising to liberate Lithuania from Soviet occupation and establish a new government. In 2009, Citing declining sales due to the emergence of digital photography, the Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would discontinue sales of the Kodachrome reversal film, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon. Your day teaches much to those who would flog pictures that have died. Those who would run away will be soon under foot. Careful of unleashing your millions unwisely. Enjoy your day. You deserve it.
Deaths
Laura Secord warns James FitzGibbons of the Americans' planned surprise attack.
Galileo's view of the sky is looking up. Laura walked 30km to save Beaver by warning FitzGibbon. We have a King and Queen. The river is on fire. The earth moved faster than the administration. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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THE LOAF IS SETTLED

Tim Blair – Monday, June 22, 2015 (1:45pm)

Frightening evidence from the Sydney Morning Herald:

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Also from Fairfax, a list of future temperatures:

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Gilgandra, by the way, is just 460km up the road. If Canberrans wish to experience the Climate of the Future, they just have to drive for five hours. And the lamest prediction of them all:

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DISUNITY BRINGS UNITY

Tim Blair – Monday, June 22, 2015 (4:09am)

Nostalgic types like to reminisce about the old pre-media fragmentation days, when Australians of all ages would ritually gather around the radio to follow Blue Hills or Dad and Dave.
Apparently those long-running serials bonded us as a nation, providing Australians with shared common interests. Every evening folks tuned in for the latest adventures of Granny Bishop and Meg Macarthur, two heroin-addicted prostitutes whose vicious murder sprees were the highlight of many a Blue Hills broadcast.
Well, I’m guessing there about the plots, having never heard the show, but they probably ran along those lines. They would if Blue Hills was made today, at any rate.
Lately Australians have rediscovered the joys of a nationally-shared drama thanks to the ABC’s The Killing Season, which sadly ends tomorrow night. Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard may have been dreadful Prime Ministers, but as soap opera stars they have proved absolutely compelling.
(Continue reading Disunity Brings Unity.)
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THE BEST THEY CAN DO

Tim Blair – Monday, June 22, 2015 (3:59am)

It’s been a few weeks since Ben Eltham, a fan of tax-funded art, delivered this chilling warning to arts minister George Brandis: 
The arts are a powerful latent force in Australia’s political landscape … Recent years have seen a flourishing of Australian culture that has become one of the most attractive aspects of our increasingly diverse and creative society.
George Brandis and his colleagues would be wise to reflect on this, and whether they can win a war of symbols against some of the most creative and energetic people in our society. 
So far, the most creative and energetic people in our society haven’t really delivered. Last week more than 60 arts funding-mentalists turned up at Parliament House to cry and plead over Brandis’s grants changes, only to be creatively ignored by the arts minister.
On Friday, a bunch of Melbourne arts fundies presented The George Brandis Live Art Experience, a fundraiser to fight for more government funding. Next up is this week’s musical  protest outside the Sydney Opera House, which according to a media release will feature “a ‘chorus’ of masked participants who represent the ‘ghosts of Australia’s artistic future’.”

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'THE BEST THEY CAN DO'
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SLEEPOUT SHOULD BE A SLEEPIN

Tim Blair – Monday, June 22, 2015 (3:38am)

The St Vincent de Paul Society’s CEO Sleepout is a fine event, raising millions every year for the homeless. First held in 2005, the Sleepout calls on business leaders to raise funds through sponsorship of their night sleeping rough.
Many News Corp executives have participated over the years with impressive sponsorship results. This year The Australian‘s CEO Nicholas Gray generated nearly $130,000 – the second highest of any participating NSW business leader.
There are a few slightly worrying signs for the Sleepout, however. The novelty is beginning to wear off after a decade and some corporate supporters are losing interest. In Western Australia, a state not short of either cash or CEOs, the 2015 Sleepout raised just half the money it did in 2014.
St Vincents clearly need a new angle. Here’s an idea: next year, instead of joining the homeless outside, how about our CEOs invite the homeless to spend a nice warm night inside?

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'SLEEPOUT SHOULD BE A SLEEPIN'
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Sharrouf and Elomar reported dead

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (8:52pm)

Excellent:
Authorities believe two of Australia’s most wanted terrorists Khaled Sharrouf and Mohammed Elomar have reportedly been killed in fighting in Mosul…
Sharrouf made headlines when he posed with the decapitated head of a slain Syrian soldier.
The reports are unverified, says the Foreign Minister. 
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Attack on Kabul Parliament

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (5:24pm)

Very troubling, although the security services seem to have fought back well:
The Taliban launched a complex attack on the Afghan parliament Monday, with a suicide car bomber striking at the entrance and gunmen battling police as lawmakers were meeting inside to confirm the appointment of a defense minister, police and witnesses said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the attack began with a car bomb explosion near the entrance. Gunmen then attempted to storm the compound but were pushed back by security forces and eventually took refuge in a nearby building under construction, he said, adding that police have surrounded the structure.
Sediqqi said all the MPs inside parliament were safe. Health Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ismail Kahousi said 18 civilians were wounded, including two women and two children.
Incredible nerves from the speaker as the bomb went off:

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Why is Albo praised for what was wicked in Abbott?

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (4:47pm)

Tony Abbott skols a beer. Terrrible example!
The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education expressed concern that it sent the wrong signal.
Journalist Judith Ireland said Abbott was “supposed to be a vocal advocate against binge drinking”, and that this sort of macho behaviour seemed to go against his claim to be “also the Minister for Women”.
Another writer, Andrew P Street, immediately connected this single skol with the binge drinking “scourge that’s destroying Australian society, turning our young men into animals”.


Anthony Albanese skols a beer. Legend! Prime ministerial!
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Fantasy bidding - the Menzies sale (revised)

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (11:13am)

Having now actually seen the paintings going under the hammer at this week’s Menzies sale, I want to change my fantasy bids. I want to add this one to my original list:
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This picture simply does not do the painting justice. The texture and detail is gone. It’s also a work which changes depending on how close you stand to it.
If four too greedy? But the Storrier I’m most definitely sticking with. Even better and more haunting in the flesh, so to speak. Those who say he just repeats himself have simply not looked deeply.
For cheap and fun, I’ll take this. For strangely good value, and something that’s stuck with me, I’d grab this Clifton Pugh, and probably this one, too.
UPDATE
I didn’t realise Philip Bacon was holding a Storrier exhibition until I was told it seems Storrier has let go his wonderful Histrionic Wayfarer, after all, even though it’s still listed in the exhibition as not for sale. It’s probably my favourite Storrier work, although I’m also jealous of the person who had the money to buy this beauty, too:
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Discredited Shorten tempts Government to early election

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (8:57am)

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THREE months ago, it seemed Bill Shorten could not lose. Today, it seems the Labor leader cannot win.
So no wonder there’s talk in the Abbott Government of an early election, perhaps in November, after one of the most astonishing turnarounds in modern politics.
It is a turnaround that shows both the inner strength of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the inner vacuum of Shorten. Memo: character counts.
In February, the Government seemed dead, with Newspoll putting it behind Labor 43 per cent to 57.
Labor led by a devastating margin rarely seen in federal politics, as Abbott battled to survive a spill motion from backbenchers fed up with his tin ear, rude staff, bad polls, broken promises and go-it-alone ways.
Even three weeks later, the ABC and Channel 7 news bulletins claimed as fact that rival Malcolm Turnbull had the numbers to replace Abbott the following week.
The next Newspoll, in March, showed the Government still lying in a grave, waiting only for the dirt. Labor was ahead, 45 to 55.
Then, as now, large parts of the media — particularly the ABC — seemed to want Abbott gone and were ready to report anything that might help.
Yet today?
(Read full article here.  UPDATE: Sorry for forgetting the link.)   
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If Bill Shorten is against such dodgy donations, let him back the legislation that would ban them

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (8:45am)

Henry Ergas issues Bill Shorten a challenge - one that the Government should underline:
That Cleanevent and the EastLink consortium did very well out of their agreements with the AWU is beyond question.
So, one imagines, did the many other employers who donated the more than $1 million in largely unexplained cash that flowed into the union’s Victorian branch between January 2004 and late 2007, when Bill Shorten was either state or federal secretary.
What is striking, however, is how little the AWU sought in return… But even accepting the uncertainties shady accounting creates, it seems Cleanevent donated $25,000 a year to the AWU, ...  while Thiess John Holland (which was under contract to build EastLink) gave the AWU some $200,000.
[The AWU’s] side-payments ....seemed more clearly designed to benefit the AWU’s officials, rather than its members…
So here’s a challenge for Shorten. He says illicit payments are unacceptable and that unions should be fully accountable. Well, let him support the government’s legislation which would stamp them out. 
UPDATE
But Paul Sheehan notes Shorten’s problem:

He cannot depower the unions because union power in the ALP remains key to his survival as leader. When Shorten won the party leadership in October, 2013, he did so despite losing the rank-and-file vote by an almost 60-40 margin, to Anthony Albanese.
He prevailed, as usual, by winning the insiders, with 64 per cent of the parliamentary vote.
UPDATE
Former Minister Amanda Vanstone is absolutely excoriating:

If the allegations are true, Shorten and his mates have pretended to be the workers’ champion when in fact they will be seen to have had not the workers’ interest at heart but their own.
Climbing over the weak to feather your own nest, while pretending to lift them up, is the work of bad people....
No one in Labor should imagine that we will all think Shorten was the only one. If these allegations turn out to be true, we will all conclude not that this was Shorten’s dirty little secret but that they all knew about it and condoned it.
Kevin Rudd made it almost impossible for federal Labor to change leaders, so they will be stuck with a guy who will be seen as the little weasel that let workers down to build himself up.
Read it all.
UPDATE

Anthony Klan has a story that makes it worse and worse for Shorten - and for Labor::
The former NSW Labor government paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Australian Workers Union while Bill Shorten was its national secretary.
The Australian can also reveal that 12 of the nation’s biggest construction companies collectively paid the NSW branch of the Construction Forestry Mining and Engineering Union $6.37 million between 2006-13, with total payments from the construction industry to the union totalling almost $10m in that period.
While there are several legitimate reasons companies make payments to unions, including the collection of union dues from workers, the payments to the AWU and CFMEU reported to the Australian Electoral Commission are listed simply as “other”....
The former NSW Roads and Traffic Authority made $257,200 worth of payments to the NSW AWU in 2006-07 through fortnightly payments of between $10,500 and $11,800.
When alerted to the payments by The Australian, NSW Deputy Premier and Roads Minster Duncan Gay said the government would launch a “full investigation” into the payments… A spokeswoman for Roads and Maritime Services, as the former RTA is now called, said it made “authorised deductions” from employees but was investigating further.
(Thanks to readers John and Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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How is the CFMEU paying for these massive fines?

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (7:54am)

Where is the CFMEU getting all the money from to pay these fines?
In Melbourne:
The CFMEU has been forced to pay for the illegal blockade of Melbourne’s Emporium shopping centre site in 2012, agreeing to hand builder Grocon $3.55 million out of its members’ pockets.
That payout could be dwarfed by a $28 million compensation fee being sought by Boral, while the ACCC also has its sights on the union over claims of restrictive work practices.
In Brisbane:
THE CFMEU and five of its union officials have been fined a total $545,000 for unlawful coercion at a Brisbane housing project.
THE fines, imposed by the Federal Court on Friday, relate to “verbal threats” and a week-long hindering of access to the site for Grocon employees and other workers.
“Regrettably, the conduct outlined in this case is but day-to-day activity on Australian building and construction sites,” said Nigel Hadgkiss, director of the Australian government’s Fair Work Building and Construction which took the case to court.
Also to be paid:
The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union has sought special leave ... to the High Court to appeal against the judgment of the Victorian Court of Appeal that its criminal contempt conviction stand… The CFMEU was ... hit with a $1.2 million fine over the Grocon contempt proceedings.
(Thanks to reader Jackpott.) 
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Warmist Sydney Morning Herald is off its loaf

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (7:51am)

How desperate are the warmist scaremongers of the Fairfax media when they now push this kind of stuff?:
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Surely if the Sydney Morning Herald wants to link global warming to wheat it should at the very least admit the most obvious connection - that we have been getting record crops, which is brilliant news for the poor and hungry:
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Same story with all main grain crops:
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Somehow I think the pampered Herald readers won’t miss out on the perfect loaf.  More important, surely, is that the world’s poor don’t miss out on a meal.
UPDATE
Reader Mad Mick:
They even glazed the top of the loaf on the right to make it look more appealing.
UPDATE
An utterly bizarre chain of causality is offered on the ABC’s Radio National Breakfast to blame global warming for the Islamic State.
Host James Carleton is interviewing Neil Morisetti, retired admiral and former Climate and Security Envoy for the UK Government:
Carleton: You give a real example in your report. There is a once in a century drought in China, that led to a collapse in wheat production, that led to bread shortages and price hikes in Egypt, that led to the mass uprising against Mubarak, that stimulated the Arab Spring to move into Syria, that led to the creation of Islamic State…
Morisetti: We now need to make those sorts of links.
Pity that the facts completely destroy the theory, showing, for a start, the if global warming affects crops, it’s been all good for Egypt’s:
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In China, too, crops have been increasing, not decreasing, in this age of global warming:

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The food riots in Egypt in 2013 were not caused by global warming or crop failure, but overpopulation, a failing economy, political mismanagement and rising food prices as the country ran out of money for imports:
In 2011, the World Food Program (WFP) estimated that 17 per cent of the population were food insecure....
There are three fundamental drivers behind the rise in Egypt’s food insecurity: increasing resource scarcity, the corrupt and unsustainable food subsidy system, and the rapidly deteriorating economic environment…
So far in 2013, Egypt has faced plummeting foreign reserves, an economy in meltdown, intermittent fuel crises and ongoing difficulties in maintaining grain stocks. These occurrences mean that it is likely that well over the estimated 17 per cent of the population are currently experiencing, or are vulnerable to, food insecurity.... Population growth is accelerating in Egypt, with the population expected to exceed 100 million by 2030. Ninety-seven per cent of Egypt’s landmass is desert and there is simply not enough arable land to feed the current, let alone the projected, population…
Egypt imports close to 70 per cent of its food needs and requires significant foreign reserves to finance those purchases. Underlying the persistent issues in the Egyptian political sphere, is the fundamental fact that Egypt is running out of money to pay for its food imports....
Since the revolution in 2011, fears about political instability have cut foreign investment inflows and obliterated the tourism industry, Egypt’s major cash-source…
Hastening this decline is the continuation of the government’s fuel and food subsidies, which place an enormous burden on state finances. Egypt’s subsidy system costs roughly US$20 billion each year, close to a third of this for subsidised baladi bread. 
That - not global warming in China - helped to end the Morsi Government in 2013. And that in turn has little to do with the rise of the Islamic State in Syria.
UPDATE
Reader Bob the Baker casts an expert eye:
The one on the left probably did not have enough moisture in the mix, was over kneaded, and was left in the oven too long to dry out. It also looks like it is two days old. The one on the right looks like it was given an extra dollop of yeast to plump it up.
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Rather sleep-in than sleepout

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (7:44am)

I never understood how getting CEOs to sleep outside for a night actually helped the homeless. Surely a trouble shared is a trouble doubled?
Tim Blair has a much better idea, offering real and practical help, with the potential for television spin-offs:
The St Vincent de Paul Society’s CEO Sleepout is a fine event, raising millions every year for the homeless… There are a few slightly worrying signs for the Sleepout, however. The novelty is beginning to wear off after a decade and some corporate supporters are losing interest. In Western Australia, a state not short of either cash or CEOs, the 2015 Sleepout raised just half the money it did in 2014.
St Vincents clearly need a new angle. Here’s an idea: next year, instead of joining the homeless outside, how about our CEOs invite the homeless to spend a nice warm night inside?
I would certainly donate to that fine cause. 
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Er, what was the question again?

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (7:21am)

Is it really so hard for Bill Shorten to give a straight yes or no to a pretty basic and important question?
BARRIE CASSIDY: Can you now draw a line in the sand though and say that citizens should not have their citizenship stripped away from them unless they’re convicted of something?
BILL SHORTEN: There is no doubt in my mind that a law which simply says there’s no role for the courts does not stack up constitutionally.
BARRIE CASSIDY: So that’s a yes to that?
BILL SHORTEN: How do you have a law which eliminates the role of courts? But again, what Tony Abbott wants us to do, you and me and everyone else, poor, old Malcolm Turnbull, waving the flag, or whatever Liberal ministers still believe in the rule of law in the Government, is he wants us to engage in a shadow fight. I think Tony Abbott is debasing our democracy with his childish, tantrum-like name-calling. Do you know what he said in Parliament during the week? He said because Labor would not simply agree with his legislation, no matter how incompetent or unworkable, that we’re rolling out the red carpet to terrorists. Tony Abbott does not have a monopoly on love of this country or patriotism. Tony Abbott doesn’t have the right to attack his critics as being soft on terrorism merely because we don’t want incompetent laws which don’t stack up which we haven’t seen. The Prime Minister of this country’s in charge of national security. How can we trust him with national security if he’s more interested in playing political games on proposing laws that we haven’t seen which may well, according to all the leaks and debate and the disharmony, the National Security - Independent Security Monitor, the Solicitor-General, Liberal cabinet ministers. Tony Abbott is getting us to have a political fight and take our eyes off the prize, which is prevent terrorists from receiving their full punishment.

If the targets of this proposal say they don’t care, what’s stopping us?:
THE Adelaide-trained doctor now working for Islamic State in Syria has issued a defiant message to supporters via his Facebook page that he will never return to Australia and no longer considers himself an Australian national.
In a six point bulletin addressed to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), Dr Tareq Kamleh, who also calls himself Abu Yousef al-Australie, states his intention to stay in Syria and his lack of concern if his Australian passport is cancelled…
“...Do as you please, I no longer consider myself an Australian...”
Then we’re all on the same page, surely?
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and WaG311.) 

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The invasion of Europe

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (7:11am)

Rod Liddle in The Spectator is savage on the transformation of parts of Yorkshire:
Dewsbury in particular is getting a reputation as Detonation Central — the Muslims there seem ready to blow themselves up at the drop of a hat. Ask one of them the time of day — and boom, entrails all over your jacket. Three of the four savages who carried out the July 2005 bombings in London came from the area, as did Britain’s first really young Islamist extremist, Hammad Munshi. And now there’s Talha Asmal who, at 17, has become Britain’s youngest ever suicide bomber.
Talha blew himself up near an oil refinery in Iraq, and his family are said to be distraught and shocked. ‘He was just a normal Yorkshire lad,’ one family friend commented, a little incongruously — although I suppose he was pretty much par for the course in that particular swath of the county… Meanwhile in Bradford, three sisters and their nine children have gone missing after a pilgrimage to Medina, in Saudi Arabia, and are believed now to be somewhere under the auspices of the Islamic State, in a voluntary capacity....
And then there’s Savile Town, Dewsbury — a little quadrant of hell created by arrogant, deluded, well-meaning white liberals infused with the multicultural ethos… The pubs were closed down, or ransacked by Muslims and then closed down. The local women’s hockey team suffered intimidation when they turned out on the playing fields: the police told them they were a ‘provocation’ to the new local community and to go elsewhere. The local rugby team complained about jagged shards of metal and broken glass implanted in the ground where they touched down. The police told them, nothing we can do — go elsewhere. They went.
A sharia court was set up by Savile Town’s residents, which caused a few headlines nationally — but no matter that this court horribly discriminated against women; the white liberals argued that it was their culture and to oppose it was kinda racist, m’kay? ...
Those playing fields, once a source of both pride and recreation, were sold to the aforementioned extremist Islamic movement, Tablighi Jamaat — an organisation which yearns for all of Britain to be Islamic and rejects the notion of western education and cultural assimilation. Sold to the mosque by the local council for — one pound. It is now a vast edifice and Tablighi’s European headquarters. No more rugby and certainly no more women playing hockey. Virtually no white people, either — the area is now 98 per cent Muslim, largely Indian and Pakistani Muslim.
Nicholas Farrell, also in The Spectator, on the invasion of Europe:

Italy has been invaded in just this way, by migrants from many nations all coming over here from Libya…
In October 2013, Italy’s previous unelected government, which like the current one was left-wing, ordered the Italian navy to search for and rescue all boat people in the Sicilian channel and beyond. This hugely expensive operation — ‘Mare Nostrum’ — ran until October last year and rescued nearly 190,000 people....
The same left-wing Italian government also took the extraordinary step of decriminalising illegal immigration, which means among other things that none of the boat people are arrested once on dry land. Instead, they are taken to ‘Centri di accoglienza’ (welcome centres) for identification and a decision on their destinies. In theory, only those who identify themselves and claim political asylum can remain in Italy until their application is refused — or, if it is accepted, indefinitely. And in theory, under the Dublin Accords, they can only claim political asylum in Italy — the country where they arrived in the EU. In practice, however, only a minority claim political asylum in Italy. Pretty well all of them remain there incognito, or else move on to other EU countries.
Here’s how it works. In the welcome centres, they are given free board and lodging plus mobile phones, €3 a day in pocket money, and lessons — if they can be bothered — in such things as ice-cream-making or driving a car and (I nearly forgot) Italian. Their presence in these welcome centres is voluntary and they are free to come and go, though not to work, and each of them costs those Italians who do pay tax €35 a day (nearly €13,000 a year). Yes, they are supposed to have their photographs and fingerprints taken, but many refuse and the Italian police, it seems, do not insist. As the Italian interior minister, Angelino Alfano, explained to a TV reporter the other day: ‘They don’t want to be identified here — otherwise, under the Dublin Accords, they would have to stay in our country. So when a police officer is in front of an Eritrean who is two metres tall who doesn’t want his fingerprints taken, he can’t break his fingers, but must respect his human rights.’
This year, there is space for just 75,000 migrants in such places. Hotels are filling the breach, including the four-star Kulm hotel perched high above the luxury resort of Portofino on the Ligurian coast. But most of the rescued migrants could not care less about all that jazz and have just disappeared…

It’s worth remembering here that the majority of the boat people are Muslims and reports suggest that a small number are Islamic terrorists… One of those arrested in connection with the Islamic terrorist attack on the Bardo National Museum of Tunis in March had crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy in a migrant boat in February…
Recently, Nick Cooke-Priest, captain of the British vessel involved in the rescue mission, HMS Bulwark, told reporters that ‘the indications are that there are 450,000 to 500,000 migrants in Libya who are waiting’ to reach Italy… Fabrice Leggeri, the head of the EU’s border agency Frontex, has put the figure even higher, at ‘between 500,000 and a million’. 
UPDATE
A mass brawl in a children’s play centre. Just part of our own rich multicultural stew.
(Thanks to readers Baden, Steve and Stephen.) 
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Government considers taxing the children of the rich

Andrew Bolt June 22 2015 (6:49am)

Australians who send their children to private schools save taxpayers around $7000 a year per student on average, because governments give private schools about half the funding per student they give state schools.
One consequence is that wealthy parents who send their children to state schools effectively get twice the taxpayers support for the education of their children than do parents who send their children to private schools.
A discussion paper developed within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet now wonders if that’s fair:
Wealthy parents could be required to pay for their children to attend public schools under a radical federal government proposal that would open the door to means-tested free public education.
If adopted we would see two things.
First: more money put into education by wealthier parents taxed more for the education of their children by state schools.
Second: more money put into education by wealthier parents who decide they may as well switch their children to private schools, since they have to pay more anyway, and who must then pay the school fees as well.
So, of course, this boils down to a tax on the children of the rich, when the rich already pays much of our taxes:

Put simply, only the top fifth of households paid any tax. The bottom 6.9 million households, while often incurring income tax liabilities and regularly paying GST, received more in cash welfare and services than they paid in…
Based on income tax returns from the 2010-11 financial year, the top 1 per cent of individual income earners… paid $23.55bn or 17.7 per cent of the total income tax haul…
Meanwhile, the top 10 per cent of taxpayers - with taxable incomes of more than $105,500 - paid 46 per cent… . The bottom third paid less than 5 per cent 
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This is not new but also not very effective in practice. Campbelltown PAHS attempted this in the mid90's after buying an advocates research for the transformation. It is an expensive waste of time that puts extreme demands on staff and parents, leaving students to twiddle their thumbs. Junior classes are loaded with low achieving students while pushy parents load high achieving classes with very needy kids lacking maturity and basic skills. OTOH, it can be handled so that little actual change occurs to an otherwise unchanged system.

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Wall Cloud Down The Road This didn't produce a tornado, but it sure did look nice. Shot on my first solo chase this season in Eastern Colorado. Just me an Radarscope on my droid.
Posted by Matt Granz on Sunday, 21 June 2015

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Posted by Smosh on Thursday, 18 July 2013

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ƸӜƷ •✿Happy Father's Day•✿ ƸӜƷ.ƸӜƷ.*¨`*•. (¯`v´¯) (¯`v´¯) .•*¨`*•✿.ƸӜƷ........✿•*¨`*•.¸(¯`v´¯)¸.•´*¨`*•✿.........✿Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷϠ₡ღᎶᏒᏋᏋᏁ ᎮᏗᏕᏖᏬᏒᏋᏕϠ₡ღƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ✿
Posted by Green Pastures on Sunday, 21 June 2015

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don't watch if you are under 18
Posted by Alon Gabbay on Saturday, 27 December 2014

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NOPE.
Posted by UNILAD on Thursday, 7 August 2014

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Here's a look at special letters from famous fathers, such as John Steinbeck and Albert Eistein, to their children: http://bit.ly/1FFgdNo
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Saturday, 20 June 2015

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How many parents are ok with their child learning this in school?
Posted by Young Chizz on Tuesday, 26 May 2015

Does it meet Australian standards?
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Oh. My. Word. REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUP BROWNIE TRIFLE!!!Get the recipe here --> http://hugsandcookiesxoxo.com/2012/08/the-reeses-peanut-butter-cup-brownie.html
Posted by Spaceships and Laser Beams on Saturday, 13 June 2015

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=== Posts from last year ===

Unrepresentative circus coming to the Senate

Piers Akerman – Sunday, June 22, 2014 (7:44am)

AT the end of this week, the current moderately sane Senate will sit for the last time.
When next it sits — next month — the Senate will be a ­circus unmatched in Australian parliamentary history.
Former PM Paul Keating’s oft-quoted observation that it was “unrepresentative swill” will be more than justified.
This situation has been created by the rise of minor and micro parties achieving some success through the clever ­manipulation of preferences.
Thus we see individuals with little or negligible popular support taking senate seats on the basis of preference deals brokered between parties with no shared values.
While the major parties will usher in a few new senators — some smart, some not so bright — the loud-mouthed Queensland self-promoter Clive Palmer will be welcoming his team of three Palmer United Party senators, led by former rugby league player Glenn Lazarus.
Palmer, who can occasionally be viewed slumped in the Lower House, will call the shots for fellow Queenslander Lazarus, Western Australian Zhenya (Dio) Wang and Tasmanian Jacqui Lambie, and, at the moment, anyway, Motoring Enthusiasts party senator Ricky Muir. Lazarus, whom Palmer nominated as PUP’s leader in the Senate may actually say something of substance when he takes his seat, but so far he has been silent about PUP and its intentions.
Wang has said he agrees with everything Palmer says (much like Opposition leader Bill Shorten rushed to agree with everything Julia Gillard said, even when he didn’t know what she said) and Lambie has said too much already, revealing a profound ignorance of the topics she has tackled.
Veteran broadcaster Mike Willesee needed no tricks to persuade the PUPs to show how ill-equipped they are for parliamentary office when he interviewed them recently.
Ringmaster Palmer has barely been unable to keep his clowns in order to date, and the odds are that whatever instructions he can give while he is ­recumbent in the House will doubtless be poorly understood by the time they reach his minions in the Senate.
The government has given the Leader of the House Christopher Pyne and Senate Leader Eric Abetz charge of all the cross-benchers but they do not appear at all minded to make special efforts to peel the PUPpies from Clive’s kennel.
The government seems to be prepared to wait until they stray of their own volition — certainly none of the PUPpies has shown the confidence to speak with the government unless Palmer is present.
Lazarus and Wang will probably stay close to Palmer as they have shown no independence of thought so far.
Lambie, a former army corporal who has variously worked for Labor and been a member of the Liberal Party, is at best a loose cannon. She could go anywhere.
Palmer, possibly the least politic individual to self-finance a party into parliament, demonstrated his knuckle-headedness on his ­arrival in Canberra by ­demanding (with threats) the government give party status to his lacklustre band and the extra staff that groups which qualify for party status are ­eligible for, even though PUP did not have sufficient elected members (five) to meet the House rules.
If the extra staff are needed for PUP, and quite obviously, the PUPpies have shown they aren’t up to the task of understanding the processes government without assistance, Palmer might have inveigled Muir into dumping his handful of Motoring Enthusiasts and joining the PUP litter, giving them the critical mass needed to get extra staffers.
Had Palmer not been so brash, it is possible the government may have spoken quietly to independent senator Nick Xenophon and DLP senator John Madigan and brought about some staffing changes.
Having publicly broadcast his ­demand, Palmer ensured that no party — and certainly not the government — would permit itself to be seen breaching the rules to accommodate his bullying demands in return for some legislative trade-offs.
The government will be able to work more coherently with Family First’s senator-elect Bob Day and incoming independent David Leyon-hjelm as they are patently better equipped intellectually for the demands of office.
The Greens, who hope to win some support from Muir, at least, are still fighting internal battles.
Greens Leader Christine Milne was able to keep the simmering challenge from Melbourne MP Adam Bandt at bay in the aftermath of the lift in support at the disputed WA senate election, but Bandt supporters are now saying that boost was largely a protest vote and not reflective of any personal support for Milne.
Whether any of the PUP senators are capable of meeting the demands of the six-year senate term is another consideration.
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DEATH TO DEMOCRACY

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 22, 2014 (4:35am)

“What about truth?” asks the Sydney Morning Herald‘s Elizabeth Farrelly. “What about climate change?” And then, naturally, she calls for the destruction of democracy: 
We can’t wait for governments to make this call. It’s time to act. A people’s revolution is required. Democracy is failing us. So far, smugness and stupidity seem a more likely sinkhole for the democratic experiment than the bloodshed and tyranny that George Washington predicted, but if climate change really gets going it could still come to that. Democratic governments are abject moral cowards. 
These youthful climate activists are on your side, Elizabeth:

image

And here’s another batch of anti-democracy enthusiasts, wearing some form of protective shield against dangerous global warming:

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Warmies and other fundamentalists have a long anti-democratic tradition. Meanwhile, everything’s going plumb loco in Age columnist Suzy Freeman-Greene’s garden: 
It’s June but my backyard plum tree sprouts blossom while wearing a mantle of yet-to-fall leaves. Basil – a summer herb – is only just dying off in the tardy cold. Spring bulbs started coming up in a neighbour’s garden in May. 
Why, it’s total anarchy! There are blossoms, people! And BULBS! 
The weather’s changing and we monitor it furiously on phones and websites. 
Of course you do. You live in Melbourne. 
Does this checking of hourly temperatures and rain forecasts offer a semblance of control when so much seems out of our hands? 
Suzy must be nearly 50 by now and still hasn’t worked out that the weather is beyond human control. 
If we’re unsettled, consider the animals and plants. In southern Queensland, more than 45,000 flying foxes dropped dead on one mega hot day this year. They fell from the sky, little corpses piling up by the thousands. 
It’s a well-known fact that bats can’t take the heat. Keep on hyperventilating, Suzy: 
In Queensland’s wet tropics, birds and possums are moving higher up the mountains in search of cooler air. Eventually, there’ll be nowhere left to go. 
Try Melbourne! There are plenty of bulbs and blossoms to eat, all year round. A final climate horror indicator from Freeman-Greene: 
Just last week, it was reported that rising sea levels have dislodged the remains of 26 Japanese World War II soldiers from their graves on the Marshall Islands. 
According to a local, the dislodged corpses were due to king tides eroding a mass grave on the beach. Still, for safety’s sake, let’s follow Elizabeth’s advice and ban democracy. Bulbs and bones are a bad combination.
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BAD HAIR DAY

Tim Blair – Sunday, June 22, 2014 (12:52am)

Former first hairdresser Tim Mathieson threatens Victorian Premier Denis Napthine with legal action: 
The tirade, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, was recorded after Mr Mathieson called the Premier’s Warrnambool electorate office after hours and got the answerphone.
In a 32-second message, Mr Mathieson complains the Premier, who worked as a veterinarian before entering politics, had mentioned him in Parliament in connection with rogue MP Geoff Shaw’s misuse of his taxpayer-funded car. 

“Of course you’re busy – because you’ve been bullshitting all day in Parliament,” Mr Mathieson said. “So, if he mentions the Prime Minister’s partner one more time, one more time, there will be a legal action against Denis The Vet.
“You hear me? One more time against the ex-Prime Minister’s partner there will be a lawsuit against him so long – I am not, I am not, anything to do with Geoff Shaw, in any way shape or form. So, if he mentions me one more time, I am telling you right now. OK? That’s it. Bang!” 
Some background to this dispute: 
Three years ago, Ms Gillard wrote a personal cheque for $4243 to repay the entitlements after Mr Mathieson used the Prime Minister’s taxpayer-funded car to sell shampoo and hair products.
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The Bolt Report today, June 22

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (6:41am)

On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
A video warning from Iraq, where Australian jihadists now fight.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on boats and immigration in the age of terror.
The panel: Janet Albrechtsen and former Labor advisor Bruce Hawker, made a scapegoat by a Labor report on the 2013 election.
NewsWatch: Sharri Markson - on Clinton, Palmer and a reporter who wore a bottle of beer.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Gillard whites out black history to claim a first

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (6:33am)

image
Julia Gillard tells the US audience of the Diane Rehm Show a porky:

GILLARD11:40:36 Well, I’m happy to report that there has been some progress on that issue. And I can say one of the things that I did in my time as prime minister was ensure that my political party selected for our Senate an indigenous woman, Nova Peris, who now serves in the Senate. And she’s the first indigenous Australian to be a federal parliamentarian.  
So what was Senator Neville Bonner? An Eskimo?
And Ken Wyatt, then?
Seems Gillard can’t see Aboriginal politicians if they’re Liberals.

(Thanks to reader Gab.)
UPDATE
Reader Jim (with readers Warwick, Cal J and others):
And what about Aden Ridgeway ? 
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Tim Mathieson goes “bang”

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (5:58am)

A threat from the former First Bloke:
Tim Mathieson has threatened Victorian Premier Denis Napthine with legal action in a furious phone message that ends with him saying “Bang!” ... 
In a 32-second message, Mr Mathieson complains the Premier, who worked as a veterinarian before entering politics, had mentioned him in Parliament in connection with rogue MP Geoff Shaw’s misuse of his taxpayer-funded car.
“Of course you’re busy ­because you’ve been bullshitting all day in Parliament,’’ Mr Mathieson said. “So, if he mentions the Prime Minister’s partner one more time, one more time, there will be a legal action against Denis The Vet. “You hear me? One more time against the ex-Prime Minister’s partner there will be a lawsuit against him so long — I am not, I am not, anything to do with Geoff Shaw, in any way shape or form. So, if he mentions me one more time, I am telling you right now. OK? That’s it. Bang !”
Really, what a classy couple we once had in the Lodge.
So what’s Mathieson’s objection? Is the following false?
Three years ago, Ms Gillard wrote a personal cheque for $4243 to repay the entitlements after Mr Mathieson used the Prime Minister’s taxpayer-funded car to sell shampoo and hair products.
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New green apocalypse sought

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (5:52am)

What could possibly be worse than the end of humanity on a superheated planet? Or is The Age subtly indicating that its deserting a sinking ship to find a new green crisis?
Something more sinister than climate change stalks the human future – and it is high time we gave it the same attention. Few people have much idea of the scale of the universal chemical deluge to which we are now subject, daily, and of the growing peril which we – and all our descendants – face.
Why are greens so addicted to apocalypses? 
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Mike Carlton and the fools who know no history

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (5:33am)

Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton fancies himself as a bit of an historian:
We saw in Vietnam that democracy cannot be imposed at gunpoint. Wilfully blind to the errors of history, the fools repeat them. 
Some countries made democratic “at gunpoint”:
Japan after World War II
Germany after World War II
Italy after World War II
South Korea after the Korean War
Grenada after the 1983 US invasion.
Afghanistan after the 2001 US invasion.
Iraq (imperfectly) after the 2003 invasion.
Panama after the 1989 US invasion.
East Timor after the Australian intervention. 
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Fairfax columnists demand overthrow of democracy to stop bulbs sprouting

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (5:24am)

One Fairfax columnist panics that global warming is causing the neighbor’s bulbs to rise. Another frets that the crisis is so terrible that “democracy is failing us” and “a people’s revolution is required”.
Both are women, incidentally, which doesn’t help address the stereotype.
Tim Blair does some fisking.
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Not the way for Labor to show it can now be trusted to stop the boats

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (5:13am)

Not true, and I wouldn’t trust the assurances of a party with its record of dud predictions:
Processing asylum seekers who are already in Australia won’t result in a resurgence of people smuggling boat arrivals, the federal opposition says... 
“This decision has no bearing on whether or not we will see asylum seeker vessels coming to Australia,” [Opposition immigration spokesman Richard] Marles told reporters on Saturday. “Whatever you do in relation to the people who are already here can be neither a deterrence or incentive.”
So potential boat people waiting in Indonesia won’t be encouraged to see those who before be accepted as refugees?
Really? 
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Abbott such a subtle sexist that he actually listens more to women

Andrew Bolt June 22 2014 (4:59am)

Nothing subtle, though, about Sue Boyce’s treachery or unfairness:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is ‘’a sexist’’ and the Coalition has been ‘’dog whistling’’ with its asylum seeker policies, says retiring Liberal senator Sue Boyce in an extraordinary exit interview. 
Reflecting on her career in Parliament - she retires at the end of June - Senator Boyce said she thought Julia Gillard’s famous misogyny speech was ‘’powerful’’ and, for Ms Gillard’s purposes, ‘’a brilliant speech’’. But she thought the former prime minister had used the wrong word to describe Mr Abbott. ‘’I think it would have been more accurate if she had called him a sexist,’’ she said.
But then again:
‘’But singling [Mr Abbott] out as a sexist was not reasonable either,’’ she added, saying the Prime Minister was one of many ‘’subtle’’ sexists in federal Parliament.
And even that can’t be backed up:
Senator Boyce did not offer examples for Mr Abbott’s alleged sexism and conceded she had found the Prime Minister more willing to listen to the views of women than many of her other male colleagues.
Yes, Abbott’s sexism is so subtle that Boyce can’t give a single example of it. In fact, it’s so subtle that Abbott actually appears more women-friendly than most.
And damn that cunning Abbott for being so subtle a sexist that he puts out such women-friendly policies:
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Sue Boyce really should apologise for this stupid smear.  
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What would you do to describe someone who just robbed you? You may describe the size of the person, the color of their skin, their voice, or any other definitive features.
Ok, now what would you do to describe someone who just robbed you while you were wearing a blindfold? “Uhh. Its voice was deeper than your average person, and it’s skin was not that soft?”
Well, that is exactly what the New York City Council is asking the NYPD to do if the world’s most shortsighted bill in recent memory passes. And rest assured, the NYPD Captains union is pissed about it. Duh.
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LABOR’S CUTS TO AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS SERVICE

In addition to dismantling Australia’s border protection, the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments have also systematically dismantled the capabilities of Australia’s Customs Department, by cutting funding in every budget since coming to office – a total $125.5 million and 870 staff cut.

Despite a growing workload - and with guns, illegal drugs and contraband flowing into the county, there are now over 15% less Customs personnel than in 2007 when Labor took office.

And under the Howard Government, 60% of air cargo consignments were inspected, but now, following Labor's cuts, less than 9% of air cargo undergoes inspections.

This opens up holes in the net, with the only result that criminals are more likely to be successful in smuggling guns & drugs into Australia.

Further, these drastic cuts to our nations Customs resources have hindered the agency’s ability to effectively do its job and increased their vulnerability to infiltration from organised crime.

Just another reason, why Labor MUST be voted out office at the coming election - no matter whom Labor put up as leader.
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Heracleion, a much prosperous and a known city had been engulfed underwater 1500 years ago. This grand city had also been mentioned by the Greek writer Herodotus, the 5th-century BC historian. He had told a wonderful tale of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, who had launched a thousand ships, travelled to Heracleion, then a port of ‘great wealth’, with her glamorous Trojan lover, Paris. 
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"A line is a dot that went for a walk."
- Paul Klee
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Diego Maradona
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“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”Psalm 91:1 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Thou art fairer than the children of men."
Psalm 45:2
The entire person of Jesus is but as one gem, and his life is all along but one impression of the seal. He is altogether complete; not only in his several parts, but as a gracious all-glorious whole. His character is not a mass of fair colours mixed confusedly, nor a heap of precious stones laid carelessly one upon another; he is a picture of beauty and a breastplate of glory. In him, all the "things of good repute" are in their proper places, and assist in adorning each other. Not one feature in his glorious person attracts attention at the expense of others; but he is perfectly and altogether lovely.
Oh, Jesus! thy power, thy grace, thy justice, thy tenderness, thy truth, thy majesty, and thine immutability make up such a man, or rather such a God-man, as neither heaven nor earth hath seen elsewhere. Thy infancy, thy eternity, thy sufferings, thy triumphs, thy death, and thine immortality, are all woven in one gorgeous tapestry, without seam or rent. Thou art music without discord; thou art many, and yet not divided; thou art all things, and yet not diverse. As all the colours blend into one resplendent rainbow, so all the glories of heaven and earth meet in thee, and unite so wondrously, that there is none like thee in all things; nay, if all the virtues of the most excellent were bound in one bundle, they could not rival thee, thou mirror of all perfection. Thou hast been anointed with the holy oil of myrrh and cassia, which thy God hath reserved for thee alone; and as for thy fragrance, it is as the holy perfume, the like of which none other can ever mingle, even with the art of the apothecary; each spice is fragrant, but the compound is divine.
"Oh, sacred symmetry! oh, rare connection
Of many perfects, to make one perfection!
Oh, heavenly music, where all parts do meet
In one sweet strain, to make one perfect sweet!"

Evening

"The foundation of God standeth sure."
2 Timothy 2:19
The foundation upon which our faith rests is this, that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." The great fact on which genuine faith relies is, that "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us," and that "Christ also hath suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God"; "Who himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree"; "For the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed." In one word, the great pillar of the Christian's hope is substitution. The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the guilty, Christ being made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, Christ offering up a true and proper expiatory and substitutionary sacrifice in the room, place, and stead of as many as the Father gave him, who are known to God by name, and are recognized in their own hearts by their trusting in Jesus--this is the cardinal fact of the gospel. If this foundation were removed, what could we do? But it standeth firm as the throne of God. We know it; we rest on it; we rejoice in it; and our delight is to hold it, to meditate upon it, and to proclaim it, while we desire to be actuated and moved by gratitude for it in every part of our life and conversation. In these days a direct attack is made upon the doctrine of the atonement. Men cannot bear substitution. They gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the sin of man. But we, who know by experience the preciousness of this truth, will proclaim it in defiance of them confidently and unceasingly. We will neither dilute it nor change it, nor fritter it away in any shape or fashion. It shall still be Christ, a positive substitute, bearing human guilt and suffering in the stead of men. We cannot, dare not, give it up, for it is our life, and despite every controversy we feel that "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure."
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Today's reading: Esther 3-5, Acts 5:22-42 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Esther 3-5

Haman's Plot to Destroy the Jews
1 After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2 All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
3 Then the royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's command?" 4 Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 5:22-42

22 But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 23 "We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside." 24 On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to.
25 Then someone came and said, "Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people." 26 At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them....
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Aristarchus

[Ărĭstär'chus] - the best ruler. A Macedonian of Thessalonica and one of Paul's travel-companions. This convert from Judaism is spoken of as Paul's "fellow-prisoner," implying imprisonment for the Gospel's sake (Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2; Col. 4:10; Philem. 24).
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