Monday, July 06, 2015

Mon Jul 6th Todays News

At last you can revel in the joys of smaller government on this site for the Bolt Report Supporter's Group on Facebook. If something is broke, you fix it. Or not. There won't be any purges or changes because I've not the time to do much. But if you do something outrageous which I must respond to I will.
===
Historically, the Green movement comes from the Nazi movement. While the Nazis were doing unspeakable acts to babies and children for science, they also created ideas of nature, from nature walks to back to nature movements. Nazis claimed they were driven by science. The Greens today make similar bogus claims regarding global warming, research into genetic modification, drilling for gas or solar power. And sometimes the modern Greens go back to their roots, as they do with embracing Hamas in the hope of killing Israel. Modern members may not know they are preaching Nazi ideology, but if they thought about it logically, they would never have become Green. 

Greece's vote of 'no' to cost cutting is not the worst thing that could happen to Greece or the EU, but it isn't good either. One helpful thing was the resignation of the Greek treasurer. Before the vote, he had said that cost cutting was terrorism. In fact, cutting costs is the only way Greece can move forward. EU need to cut Greece to move forward. Maybe some power like China or Russia will exploit her. But Greece has taken welfare money and refused to pay it forward. She has received services she refuses to pay for. The IMF can't step in again. Smaller nations can't afford to work with her. The Greek treasurer failed to resign if the referendum failed. The referendum passed and he still resigned. Thanks to ad government, Greece is suffering, and has little hope. 

The Greek tragedy is being spun and compared to China. The issues are different. 

In 371 BC, the Battle of Leuctra, where Epaminondas defeated Cleombrotus I, took place 640, Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under 'Amr ibn al-'As defeated the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt). 1044, the Battle of Ménfő between troops led by Emperor Henry III and Magyar forces led by King Samuel took place. 1189, Richard I "the Lionheart" acceded to the English throne. 1253, Mindaugas was crowned King of Lithuania. 1348, Pope Clement VI issued a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death. 1411, Ming China's Admiral Zheng He returned to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presented the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor. 1415, Jan Hus was condemned as a heretic and then burned at the stake. 1483, Richard III was crowned King of England. 1484, Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão found the mouth of the Congo River. 1495, First Italian WarBattle of FornovoCharles VIII defeated the Holy League.

In 1535, Sir Thomas More was executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England. 1557, King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, set out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again. 1560, the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed by Scotland and England. 1573, Córdoba, Argentina, was founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera. Also 1573, French Wars of ReligionSiege of La Rochelle ended. 1609, Bohemia was granted freedom of religion. 1614, Żejtun and the surrounding villages suffered a raid from Ottoman forces. This was the last unsuccessful attempt by the Ottomans to conquer the island of Malta. 1630, Thirty Years' War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus landed in Pomerania, Germany. 1685, Battle of Sedgemoor: Last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion. troops of King James II defeat troops of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth. 1751, Pope Benedict XIV suppressed the Patriarchate of Aquileia and established from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia. 1777, American Revolutionary WarSiege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John BurgoyneAmerican forces retreated from Fort Ticonderoga, New York. 1779, Battle of Grenada: The French defeated British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.

In 1801, First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeated the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras. 1809, the second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeated the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars. 1854, in Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party was held. 1865, the first issue of The Nation magazine was published. 1885, Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog. 1887, David Kalākaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was forced at gunpoint by Americans to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights. 1892, Dadabhai Naoroji was elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain. Also 1892, three thousand eight hundred striking steelworkers engaged in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead and dozens wounded.

In 1917, World War IArabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt. 1919, the British dirigible R34 landed in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship. 1933, the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4–2. 1936, a major breach of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in England sent millions of gallons of water cascading 200 feet (61 m) into the River Irwell. 1937, Spanish Civil WarBattle of Brunete: The battle began with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid. 1939, Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany were closed.

In 1940, Story Bridge, a major landmark in Brisbane, as well as Australia's longest cantilever bridge was formally opened. 1941, Nazi Germany launched its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk. 1942, Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse. 1944, Jackie Robinson refused to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court martial. Also 1944, the Hartford circus fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, killed approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut. 1947, the AK-47 went into production in the Soviet Union.

In 1957, Althea Gibson won the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so. Also 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles. 1962, as a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test took place. Also 1962, the Late Late Show, the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, aired on RTÉ One for the first time. 1964, Malawi declared its independence from the United Kingdom. 1966, Malawi became a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President. 1967, Nigerian Civil WarNigerian forces invaded Biafra, beginning the war. 1975, the Comoros declared independence from France. 1986, Davis Phinney became the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France. 1988, the Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea was destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers were killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.

In 1995, in the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia began its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenicaand killed more than 8000 Bosniaks, in what then- UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called "the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War". 1997, The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles began in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland. 1999, U.S. Army private Barry Winchell died from baseball-bat injuries inflicted on him in his sleep the previous day by a fellow soldier, Calvin Glover, for his relationship with transgender showgirl and former Navy Corpsman Calpernia Addams. 2003, the 70-metre Eupatoria Planetary Radar sent a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to five stars: Hip 4872HD 24540955 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive at these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044 and 2049 respectively. 2006, the Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opened for trade after 44 years. 2013, National Bollywood Day celebrated across India on account of the birth of actor Ranveer Singh.
2014
"One two three O'Clock, four O'Clock rock" began a Bill Hailey and the Comets song. Bill was born on this day in 1925. Another famous song singer was born on this day in 1931, Della Reese. Comedian Dave Allen came by in '36. Burt Ward in '45 and George W Bush in '46. Geoffrey Rush in '51. A happy day. A prince born on the day was John Paul Jones in 1747. Jones would be foundational to the US Navy. He would, later in life, meet Kosciuszko. A jealous rival accused him of raping a 12 yo girl. He said he hadn't, but he had frolicked with her .. 

In 371 BC, on this day, the Battle of Leuctra ended Spartan supremacy and altered battle tactics which were noted by Phillip of Macedonia, father to Alexander the Great. In 1415, Jan Hus was burned at the stake for inspiring Martin Luther. In 1483, Richard III was crowned. It was the last time Yorkshire provided a king, although, through the female side of York, Lancaster was allowed to provide the rest. In 1535, lukewarm idealist Thomas More was executed for treason. He had written of Utopia, but not practiced it. Some said of Mary Ist, of England that her husband, King Phillip of Spain was not good for England. Mary was the second of Phillip's four wives. Phillip set sail from Dover with British ships to Calais, which he lost, the last English possession on French soil in 1557. 

America adopted the dollar in 1785. In 1854, the first GOP convention was held. Nine year old Joseph Meister had been bitten by a rabid dog and was likely to die, but for the intervention of Louis Pasteur who inoculated him. It was the first successful inoculation in 1885. The boy went to live a full life. He took his life in 1940, thinking he had sent his family to death fleeing the Nazis. But they had returned too late to the Pasteur institute he had dedicated his life to, later in the day. TE Lawrence led some Arabs successfully on this day in 1917. Anne Frank went into hiding in 1942. Jackie Robinson was court martial-ed for not going to the back of the bus in 1944. Paul McCartney and John Lennon met on this day for the first time in 1957. In 1995, to Clinton's enduring fame, Mladic began his murder of 8000 civilians in former Yugoslavia. But Clinton's compassion for minorities was crowned in 1999 when an army private died after having been bashed in his sleep by a jealous colleague over a trans gender showgirl. 
Historical perspectives on this day
In 371 BC, the Battle of Leuctra, where Epaminondas defeated Cleombrotus I, took place 640, Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under 'Amr ibn al-'As defeated the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt). 1044, the Battle of Ménfő between troops led by Emperor Henry III and Magyar forces led by King Samuel took place. 1189, Richard I "the Lionheart" acceded to the English throne. 1253, Mindaugas was crowned King of Lithuania. 1348, Pope Clement VI issued a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death. 1411, Ming China's Admiral Zheng He returned to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presented the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor. 1415, Jan Hus was condemned as a heretic and then burned at the stake. 1483, Richard III was crowned King of England. 1484, Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão found the mouth of the Congo River. 1495, First Italian War: Battle of Fornovo: Charles VIII defeated the Holy League.

In 1535, Sir Thomas More was executed for treason against King Henry VIII of England. 1557, King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, set out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again. 1560, the Treaty of Edinburgh was signed by Scotland and England. 1573, Córdoba, Argentina, was founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera. Also 1573, French Wars of Religion: Siege of La Rochelle ended. 1609, Bohemia was granted freedom of religion. 1614, Żejtun and the surrounding villages suffered a raid from Ottoman forces. This was the last unsuccessful attempt by the Ottomans to conquer the island of Malta. 1630, Thirty Years' War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus landed in Pomerania, Germany. 1685, Battle of Sedgemoor: Last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion. troops of King James II defeat troops of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth. 1751, Pope Benedict XIV suppressed the Patriarchate of Aquileia and established from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia. 1777, American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreated from Fort Ticonderoga, New York. 1779, Battle of Grenada: The French defeated British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.

In 1801, First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeated the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras. 1809, the second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeated the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars. 1854, in Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party was held. 1865, the first issue of The Nation magazine was published. 1885, Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog. 1887, David Kalākaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was forced at gunpoint by Americans to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights. 1892, Dadabhai Naoroji was elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain. Also 1892, three thousand eight hundred striking steelworkers engaged in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead and dozens wounded.

In 1917, World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt. 1919, the British dirigible R34 landed in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship. 1933, the first Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played in Chicago's Comiskey Park. The American League defeated the National League 4–2. 1936, a major breach of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal in England sent millions of gallons of water cascading 200 feet (61 m) into the River Irwell. 1937, Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle began with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid. 1939, Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany were closed.

In 1940, Story Bridge, a major landmark in Brisbane, as well as Australia's longest cantilever bridge was formally opened. 1941, Nazi Germany launched its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk. 1942, Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse. 1944, Jackie Robinson refused to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court martial. Also 1944, the Hartford circus fire, one of America's worst fire disasters, killed approximately 168 people and injures over 700 in Hartford, Connecticut. 1947, the AK-47 went into production in the Soviet Union.

In 1957, Althea Gibson won the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first black athlete to do so. Also 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles. 1962, as a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test took place. Also 1962, the Late Late Show, the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, aired on RTÉ One for the first time. 1964, Malawi declared its independence from the United Kingdom. 1966, Malawi became a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President. 1967, Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invaded Biafra, beginning the war. 1975, the Comoros declared independence from France. 1986, Davis Phinney became the first American cyclist to win a road stage of the Tour de France. 1988, the Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea was destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers were killed, making it the world's worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.

In 1995, in the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia began its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, and killed more than 8000 Bosniaks, in what then- UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called "the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War". 1997, The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles began in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland. 1999, U.S. Army private Barry Winchell died from baseball-bat injuries inflicted on him in his sleep the previous day by a fellow soldier, Calvin Glover, for his relationship with transgender showgirl and former Navy Corpsman Calpernia Addams. 2003, the 70-metre Eupatoria Planetary Radar sent a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to five stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive at these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044 and 2049 respectively. 2006, the Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opened for trade after 44 years. 2013, National Bollywood Day celebrated across India on account of the birth of actor Ranveer Singh.
=== 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.
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406September https://www.createspace.com/5106914October 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. 
===
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

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.


I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.netwhich will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
===
Happy birthday and many happy returns Quoc NguyenAndrew Raiss and Graham Donald Sparks. Born on the same day, across the years. On your day in 1253, Mindaugas, the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania, was crowned as King of Lithuania, the only person to ever hold that title. In 1411, Ming Dynasty Admiral Zheng He returned to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presented the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming–Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor. In 1809, Napoleon's French forces defeated Archduke Charles' Austrian army at the Battle of Wagram, the decisive confrontation of the War of the Fifth Coalition. In 1885, French chemists Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux successfully tested their vaccine against rabies on nine-year-old Joseph Meister after he was bitten by an infected dog. In 1978, A sleeping car train at Taunton, England, caught fire, killing 12 people and causing British Rail to install state-of-the art fire prevention measures. It is wonderful to claim titles and make them your own. It is finer to build them for those that follow you. Battles can be won decisively, adversely, and still you succeed. Don't let sleeping cars lie. If a French chemist wishes to test on you, let them, but pay them in Lire. They prefer that to dollars. Cheers.
Deaths
July 6Aphelion (19:40 UTC, 2015); Independence Day in Comoros (1975) and Malawi (1964); Statehood Day in Lithuania (1253); the festival of San Fermínbegins in Pamplona, Spain
Story Bridge, Brisbane, Australia
We have a treaty. We aren't pregnant. Our story is a bridge. We have had troubles. We climbed the mountain. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
===
2015
===

STOP THE GROWTH

Tim Blair – Monday, July 06, 2015 (4:32pm)

Forget all this nonsense about Greek debt and welfare and pensions and huge public sectors and spending other peoples’ money. Left-wing economist John Quiggin knows what is really to blame: 
The sooner this delusion is abandoned, the sooner it will be possible to address the real source of the problem: the unsound and unsustainable growth of the financial sector. 
It doesn’t seem to be growing much in Greece.
===

GRECIAN EARN

Tim Blair – Monday, July 06, 2015 (5:15am)

The world’s most optimistic spider lived in my old Queens Park front yard. Every day for weeks the ambitious arachnid would somehow connect a line of web from a small tree to the letter box, straight across a path to the front door.
Plainly, our eight-legged friend was aiming to capture an entire human and thus secure a food supply for life. No more boring fly diet for him. But every day his flimsy filament would be snapped either by the slightest breeze or me simply walking through it.
Optimism is an admirable quality. Up to a point.
London’s Thom Feeney is the British equivalent of that sanguine spider. Last week the 29-year-old shoe shop worker looked at Greece’s debt crisis and devised a solution.
“The European Union is home to 503 million people, if we all just chip in a few Euro then we can get Greece sorted and hopefully get them back on track soon. Easy,” Feeney wrote at his crowdfunding site, which aimed to collect $2.4 billion in Greek bail-out cash.
“I started the campaign as quite a practical endeavour, €3 from everyone in Europe,” Feeney continued. “That’ll sort it.” 
Remarkably, more than 100,000 fellow optimists heeded Feeney’s call. By early yesterday they had raised an astonishing $2.6 million, making it one of the world’s most successful crowdfunding operations.
Very impressive. Until you consider the bigger picture, drawn entirely in red ink.
As social media applauded Feeney’s initiative, Greece’s debt continued to blow out by a further $33 million per day. The collected $2.6 million represents less than one per cent of the amount needed to meet just one immediate debt repayment. Even if Feeney and friends did make it to $2.4 billion, they’d have only gathered 0.65 per cent of Greece’s overall $359 billion lending debt.
(Continue reading Grecian Earn.)
===

TAKE THAT, BATS IN HATS

Tim Blair – Monday, July 06, 2015 (4:57am)

In Australia, anti-western leftists wear headscarfs to demonstrate their solidarity with oppressed Islamic women:

image

But in Iran, oppressed Islamic women are removing their headscarfs
After posting photos of herself with her head uncovered, in defiance of Iran’s strict rules regarding the compulsory wearing of the hijab, journalist Masih Alinejad’s one-woman protest gave rise to My Stealthy Freedom – a social media movement that now attracts more than 700,000 followers.
“Every time I posted a picture of myself especially without a hat or a veil I got a lot of comments and likes,” Alinejad told the Huffington Post. “Then I posted a picture inside Iran of myself without hijab and asked women if they also felt like taking off their hijab when no one could see them, especially the police. The response was overwhelming …”

image

She continued with My Stealthy Freedom by not only encouraging more women to go out in public without wearing a headscarf, but to share videos of the reaction of men when they do.
Contrary to the view of conservative Iranian leaders, which is to claim that men will be unable to control themselves at the sight of an uncovered woman, footage uploaded to the page shows male passers-by responding with encouraging smiles of support. 
If only left-wing feminists were as supportive. Instead, they’re on the side of the mullahs.
===

THEN AND NOW

Tim Blair – Monday, July 06, 2015 (4:50am)

In 1955, a Mercedes driven by Frenchman Pierre Levegh at the Le Mans 24 Hour race struck a slower competitor’s car and scythed into the crowd. More than 80 people were killed.
What happened next may be even more shocking, at least to modern sensibilities.
The race continued.
(Continue reading Then and Now.)
===

NEVER BEATEN

Tim Blair – Monday, July 06, 2015 (4:41am)

One of cricket’s longest-standing records: Ian Botham’s title for the greatest-ever Ashes sledge.
===

MIND MERGERS

Tim Blair – Monday, July 06, 2015 (4:38am)

Sydney has roughly one council for every three citizens, by my count, which in terms of local democratic representation may be slightly overdoing it.
The state government intends to remedy this by merging councils on a geographic basis. As you’d expect, councils are resistant. But what if we allow them instead to merge according to ideology?
(Continue reading Mind Mergers.)
===

IGNORGEOUS GEORGE

Tim Blair – Monday, July 06, 2015 (4:35am)

The only surprising thing about it is that it’s not surprising at all.
===

Abbott orders boycott of Q&A that puts Turnbull in a pickle

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (7:27pm)

Tony Abbott isn’t letting Q&A or the ABC off the hook:
Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has pulled out of an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program after Prime Minister Tony Abbott ordered frontbenchers boycott the show, a spokesman says.
Mr Joyce was scheduled to appear on the program tonight but notified the show’s producers late yesterday that he would not be appearing.
A spokesman for Mr Joyce said he pulled out of the program after Mr Abbott decided no frontbencher would be allowed to take part.
Mind you, Abbott’s strategy may not be aimed at the ABC alone:
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is scheduled to appear on the show next week and has not commented on whether he will attend.
Mr Turnbull knocked back an invitation to appear on Q&A last week…
An awkward dilemma for Turnbull, whose leadership hopes would be hurt by being seen to be too soft on the ABC.
UPDATE
Mark Day on the reform badly needed at the bloated and biased ABC:
Sky News has shown that it is possible to provide multichannel national news services for a quarter the cost of the ABC. There is no barrier to the ABC going down this path.
Culturally, it will be much more difficult. The ABC has a deep-­seated Leftist culture emanating from the days of Marxist radio manager Allan Ashbolt who, through the 50s, 60s and 70s appointed like-mined people so as to effectively capture the work practices and mindsets of the organisation. Thus the natural, instinctive starting point for the ABC tends to be left of centre and, in this era of journalistic advocacy, rather than disinterested reporting, individual and collective biases have become entrenched and plainly obvious to audiences.
UPDATE
More anger from Liberals sick of having the ABC break the law with its bias:
A Queensland Senator has called for the ABC to take Q&A off the air pending a review into the program as part of his “Green Union Labor Lefty ABC” watch – GULLA for short.
As part of James McGrath’s regular email roundup to supporters ... the Liberal Party Senator, who called for the national broadcaster to be privatised if it “continues to represent only inner-city leftist views”, said Q& A was “out of control”.
“Only a month ago in Senate Estimates I asked the Managing Director of the ABC Mark Scott about the left-wing bias of our national broadcaster, particularly in relation to QANDA,” he wrote…
“QANDA is out of control and should be taken off the air, pending an independent review.
“This silly juvenile programme is toxifying the ABC and I have written to the ABC stating as much.
“Only a drongo would allow a convicted grub like Mr Mallah to attend QANDA and encourage them to ask a question.
“It is not an issue of freedom of speech it is an issue of judgement and an issue of bias and an issue of ABC leadership.”
===

Abbott too scared to rule out racial division in politics

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (5:46pm)

Pardon? Tony Abbott cannot even rule out a kind of Aboriginal parliament - a race-based division at the very heart of government?
From his press conference today after reaching agreement with Aboriginal “leaders” on how to achieve consensus on changing the constitution:
QUESTION: I know you are not ruling anything in or out today but ‘achievable’ [change in the constitution], will that be including a non [inaudible] clause in the constitution and possibly setting up an Indigenous body to advise the Parliament?
PRIME MINISTER: These are certainly issues which a lot of the participants in today’s meeting would like to see. These are the sorts of things that now need to be considered by these community conferences that will shortly be entrained.
Oh dear. Sometimes no deal is better than any. Pull out now, because this process is now so out of control that Abbott now does not dare spell out what should be a fundamental article of faith for a Liberal: that we must not be divided by race. As he should insist we already have a Parliament that represents all Australians, regardless of “race”. 
===

Greece’s clown show continues

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (5:42pm)

Greece has been in the hands of these jokers?

GREEK Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has resigned amid the crisis engulfing the debt-ridden nation and after pressure from Greece’s European partners. 

The Australian dual national citizen used his personal blog to announce he was stepping down, in the wake of the country’s ‘No’ vote, revealing his resignation under a post entitled ‘Minister No More!’

Varoufakis wrote that he had been “made aware of a certain preference by some eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings”.
The controversial figure, who effectively backed himself into a corner on aid negotiations in recent days after accusing creditors of “terrorism”.
“I consider it my duty to help (PM) Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum. And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride,” Varoufakis wrote.
You’d never think that these “terrorists” were actually offering Greece more billions it would never repay. 
===

How the recognition movement disempowers Aborigines

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (10:30am)

Academic Dr Anthony Dillon, who identifies as part-Aboriginal, on the disempowering demands for recognition and apologies:

I wish to see Aborigines move forward, not be held back by the myth that we are history’s victims and powerless to change our own lives. The equally pernicious twin of this poisonous message about the past is that, until some (unspecified) form of recognition or acknowledgement or apology is given, Aboriginal people will be unable to move on. Yet, despite those who derive their sense of personal meaning and importance by playing the prophets of gloom, many have moved on in leaps and bounds…
People can move on, and many have, without receiving any such recognition. Offering forgiveness of wrongs committed is far more empowering than seeking some form of recognition or apology. I am not suggesting that people do not derive some short-term relief from an apology or other manifestations of recognition. But it is not the healing which comes from forgiving — and never forget that forgiveness can be an incredibly difficult thing to offer. That is why blaming others and demanding acknowledgement are more popular, so much more seductive. But the popular approach is also the disempowering approach. To blame others essentially communicates a message that hobbles those who utter it: “I am unable to do anything to help myself.”
There is another serious problem with the belief that an acknowledgement of past wrongs by non-Aboriginal people is needed in order for Aboriginal people to feel good, engage productively with society and be able to attain the standard of living most Australians take for granted. To insist on some form of acknowledgement essentially implies that the happiness and well-being of Aboriginal people is under the direct control of those who are being requested to give the acknowledgement – the non-Aboriginal people. 
UPDATE
So is recognition going to do a single thing to fix this, or will it just entrench a disastrous you-owe-us defiance and victimhood?
WALGETT will become the state’s first school to have police stationed on the inside, as the government tries to hose down escalating violence at the northwest NSW school.
Oops. Like so many such reports, this one doesn’t mention the cultural and “racial” faultline here. But here’s one earlier report which does:

Walgett’s only public high school had become a breeding ground for “violence and criminal behaviour”, with police attending almost daily, documents leaked to Fairfax Media reveal.
The situation became critical in February when two female students attacked a long-standing female teacher and a deputy principal, who was unable to return to work for nearly a week.
The continuing violence and poor academic results have also prompted a complaint to the NSW deputy ombudsman with responsibility for Aboriginal affairs, Danny Lester.
“Today there have been two more assaults on staff in the high school and no action,” said the complaint to the ombudsman. It detailed fights outside the school; described children jumping and damaging staff vehicles and properties; and breaches of the school’s safety regulations. It claims that former principal Richard Rule, who “achieved so much in a short time and has years of experience”, was forced out of the school by some in the Aboriginal community…
Deputy Opposition Leader Linda Burney said the situation at the school was “relegating another generation of mostly Aboriginal students to welfare and hopelessness”.
In recent weeks a quarter of the teachers have quit. As few as 21 of the more than 100 students turn up to school some days.
Yet Aboriginal leaders are focussed on a stupid change of wording to the constitution as they bitch about the past.
(Thanks to reader Gary.) 
===

China even more scary than Greece. Market freaks

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (10:19am)

Greece is not the biggest problem. Watch out for this:
China’s stock markets face a make-or-break week after officials rolled out an unprecedented series of steps at the weekend to prevent a full-blown stock market crash that would threaten the world’s second-largest economy.
The government is anxiously awaiting the market opening on Monday to see if the new measures will halt a 30 percent plunge in the last three weeks...
But some context to this correction:
China stocks had more than doubled in just 12 months even as the economy cooled and company earnings weakened, resulting in a market that even China’s inherently bullish securities regulators eventually admitted had become too frothy.
Our stock market reacts badly to Greece and China:
image
===

Could Tony Jones explain why we paid for this jaunt?

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (9:07am)

ABC host Tony Jones was red hot about Treasurer Joe Hockey claiming travel expenses that are actually standard for every politician - the $271 a day away-from home allowance:
TONY JONES (May 18): Did that actually go into the mortgage [for a Canberra house owned by Hockey’s wife]?
JOE HOCKEY: Well, Tony, I dunno. I pay rent. And, you know, ...
TONY JONES: You pay rent to your wife.
JOE HOCKEY: Well hang on, is there a problem with that?
Hockey might next time have some questions about Jones’ travel expenses, paid for by taxpayers:
The ABC spent an estimated tens of thousands of dollars flying Q&A host Tony Jones and executive producer Peter McEvoy business-class to Switzerland early last year for the Davos World Economic Forum. 

Because Australia was chair of the G20, Prime Minister Tony Abbott was there giving an address which was covered by the travelling pack of political journalists from the press gallery in Canberra.

Many were puzzled with the attendance of McEvoy and Jones. They had top-level passes but, as far as Diary can tell, filed no reports on the high-powered gathering.
Presumably they both had a lovely European holiday, making good use of the taxpayer-funded airfares. It would have been an expensive affair… With the overseas flights and luxury hotels, it wouldn’t be surprising if his work-related costs came in close to $77k either. 
===

The Liberals shouldn’t take such comfort in Shorten being unpopular

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (8:46am)

The Liberals are taking lots of satisfaction from Bill Shorten’s appalling approval ratings. But they risk forgetting that Tony Abbott was unpopular before the last election, too, yet still won. And Labor still maintains an overall lead:
Ahead of his appearance on Wednesday at the trade union royal commission, Mr Shorten’s satisfaction rating remains stuck at a low of 28 per cent while his dissatisfaction has hit a new high of 56 per cent, according to the latest Newspoll, conducted exclu­sively for The Australian…
Based on preference flows from the last election, Labor has improved its two-party-preferred lead from 51 per cent to the Coalition’s 49 per cent in the middle of last month to 52 per cent to the Coalition’s 48 per cent at the weekend.
Abbott has staged a remarkable recovery since January and February, but the legacy of broken promises, cuts and instability remain. What’s needed now is a prolonged period of steady, no-dramas government.
But as I’ve said before:
Much of the recovery until now seems driven by a much better performance from Tony Abbott himself, giving him a handy advantage over Bill Shorten, but there, too, there the switch now needs to be made into likeability…

I’d suggest the same-sex marriage debate contains great dangers for Tony Abbott, but also an opportunity to very visibly change his shape for the better, electorally at least.  In a wider sense, too, he needs to project a moral purpose to voting Liberal - and supporting him. Something like gathering in the lost and the strays would be good - and, boy, is it necessary.
On that last point:

More more needs doing, not least through steady, predictable and well-communicated government over a sustained period, and developing a moral case and cause for the government - such as gathering the forgotten children, lost in welfare ghettos, Aboriginal camps, violent homes and failed schools…
The Government remains behind in the polls. The complacency I’m seeing is extremely premature. Not all the promised change has occurred.
UPDATE
Same warning from the Ipsos poll. Shorten’s popularity falls but Labor is still leading comfortably:
The dip has not translated into a drop in support for Labor, which has retained its six percentage point lead over the Coalition and, as in the June poll, leads 53 per cent to 47 per cent in the two-party preferred vote.
I suspect the Government is relying far too much on national security to boost its stocks. The public tends to take for granted that governments look after that kind of thing. 
===

Blaming the West for Islamist terrorism fixes nothing

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (8:42am)

WE need a frank debate about Islam, not the dangerous denials of Ali Kadri, president of Queensland’s oldest mosque.
Kadri, of the Holland Park mosque, last week claimed recent Islamist terrorism had nothing to with Islam but lots to do with the United States.
Let’s go through Kadri’s response to my column on terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait to check the kind of blame shifting that stops Muslim leaders from taking responsibility for reforming Islam.
Kadri writes: “I agree with Bolt that these terrorists justify their actions on the basis of some interpretations within Islamic jurisprudence. However, to argue that the overwhelming majority of 1.6 billion Muslims live by the same interpretation is ludicrous.”
False. I acknowledged “the vast majority of Muslims hate the horrors we now see”.
But scholars of Islam suggest moderates cannot easily criticise what terrorists do because the terrorists find their legitimisation in the Koran, which they quote.
Then Kadri’s rebuttal becomes alarming: 
(Read full article here.) 
===

Phil Walsh’s death has dads wondering about their children

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (8:33am)

image
KILLED by your own son. Is there a more terrible way for a father to die?
To be slain by the one person on this earth a dad would most wish to be admired by and loved?
That’s what has made the death of Adelaide AFL coach Phil Walsh so much more shocking to the countless Australians who actually didn’t know him.
Sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child, said Shakespeare.
But even sharper when some then inevitably wonder and even cautiously report: how much was there for that child to be thankful for?
Yes, so unfair to speculate like that about such an unforgiveable and unnatural crime, particularly when many of those who did know Walsh have spoken of him with respect, even love.
Unfair, when Walsh’s daughter, in grief, pays tribute to her “one and only hero”.
Desperately unfair, when none of us yet know what drove Cy, Walsh’s only son, to stab him.
But it’s precisely because we don’t know that we’ve been guessing or wondering — and in ways that sell Walsh short while we explore our deepest fears.
(Read full column here.)   
===

David Marr’s alternative reality: Rudd stopped the boats

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (7:46am)

Do you think David Marr says this untruth because he believes it or because he wants you to believe it?
It was dramatic. What Rudd did in his second government was a dramatic intervention that did in fact stop the boats.
Rudd actually started the boats by weakening our border laws. More than 50,000 illegal immigrants were lured here.
When he returned as Prime Minister he restored the offshore processing he’d scrapped and slowed the boats but did not stop them before he lost office in September 7, 2013:
image
Under Operation Sovereign Borders, which Tony Abbott introduced and Marr attacked, just one boat has arrived since December 2013.
UPDATE
But when it comes to boats, Marr is at sea with facts and predictions.
Here is what he wrote when Rudd re-introduced the offshore processing at Manus Island which Marr now claims stopped the boats:
Bribing Papua New Guinea to take our refugees may seem an unimaginable course for a civilised country to take. But this is Australia. We do xenophobia well. We shut our doors on Jews before the second world war… The shame goes way back. But Kevin Rudd has taken Australia lower than it has ever gone before… But when all this is done, refugees will still use the sea. They always have and always will.
===

Greeks say no to rescue

Andrew Bolt July 06 2015 (7:34am)

Europe offered Greece another loan to save them, as long as they at least made some more savings.
Greeks say no and no one knows how this will work out:
Voters in Greece resoundingly rejected creditors’ demands for more austerity in return for rescue loans Sunday, backing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who insisted the vote would give him a stronger hand to reach a better deal.
The opposition accused Tsipras of jeopardizing the country’s membership in the 19-nation club that uses the euro and said a “yes” vote was about keeping the common currency.
With 87 percent of the votes counted, the “no” side had more than 60 percent.
First shocks felt:
image
The first shock waves from Greek voters’ rejection of austerity were felt in the currency markets, with the euro falling against major peers and Australia’s dollar sliding to a six-year low. Analysts are tipping a flight to safety, with Treasuries and German bunds to benefit.
===

The Australian Greens have had a great victory today in Greece, but we cannot be sure that this ancient evil is defeated once and for all until we hunt him back to Transylvania.
Posted by Greens taking credit for things on Sunday, 5 July 2015

===

Mono Morning
Posted by Matt Granz on Sunday, 5 July 2015

===

Reclaim your brain and stay focused on your writing with these 3 easy tricks: http://bit.ly/1JHCKzR
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Sunday, 5 July 2015

===
You may feel like you’re getting behind; you’re not where you thought you would be in life. Don’t worry, God knows how to make up for lost time. You are highly favored. Almighty God is breathing in your direction.
===

Artist Perfectly Captures The Flaws Of Society In Series Of Clever Illustrations  ᴷᴬ
Posted by Architecture & Design on Sunday, 5 July 2015

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

===

=== Posts from last year ===

How tennis ace Nick Kyrgios grand slammed any notion Australia is racist

Piers Akerman – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (7:36pm)

CANBERRA teenager Nick Kyrgios gave the lie to claims of Australian racism when he was cheered by fans across the nation and around the world after his historic victory over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'How tennis ace Nick Kyrgios grand slammed any notion Australia is racist'
===

Kyrgios gives racism grand slam

Piers Akerman – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (2:16am)

CANBERRA teenager Nick Kyrgios gave the lie to claims of Australian racism when he was cheered by fans across the nation and around the world after his historic victory over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios, whose father is of Greek origin and mother is from Malaysia, does not look like a whitebread Anglo sort of bloke. Yet not a commentator mentioned his features when applauding his win at the Grand Slam tournament.
Nor did anyone note that Melbourne-born Musa Cerantonio, widely regarded by security forces internationally as one of the most influential ­recruiters for the ultra-violent Islamic State, formerly known as ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, looks more like an average young Anglo-Irish bush dance caller than the spruiker for Middle Eastern terrorism that he is.
But there he was, with his beaming grin shining from a youthful bushy reddish beard on the ubiquitous YouTube announcing his support for the Sunni caliphate, or Muslim state, in the territory seized by the extremist hordes following the black flag of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a militant with a $10 million bounty on his head.
Baghdadi, a delusionary who claims to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad, has been slaughtering all those who are not prepared to convert to Sunni Islam, as he enthusiastically spreads the message of the so-called religion of peace.
Those who cling to the ­failed notion of multiculturalism in Australia and fight to block freedom of speech by supporting the retention of the offensive section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, do so ­because they don’t want their prejudices held up to public scrutiny by the majority. It is their minority view they want to prevail and, under that view, the causes of community dissent can’t be explored, let alone challenged, without ­inviting claims of bigotry.
Part of the dogma of the multicultural industry relies on the false claim that there is at the heart of Anglo-Australian culture an irrational fear of something called the Other — that is, anyone who doesn’t look like a Chesty Bond, blonde beach-loving Aussie caricature. But it was impossible to discern any fear of Nick Kyrgios last week.
On the contrary, much of the nation was delighted to find a new young hero to ­worship. Green-and-gold bedraped Australians at Wimbledon who had never heard of the newcomer a week earlier were seen screaming themselves hoarse with encouragement, and those at home laughed and cried as they learnt that his proud mother, Norlaila, didn’t think her youngster was good enough to beat a champion of Nadal’s stature at the world’s greatest tennis tournament.
While this was delighting the nation, Cerantonio was hitting the anti-social media to step up his recruiting drive for death squads. Early on Wednesday, he announced he was planning to leave his hiding place (believed to be in the Philippines), to join the murderers in the Middle East.
Clearly it is not a case of one race being acceptable and ­another unacceptable, one ­appearance being frightening, another welcoming. It is a case of one culture being benign and one being lethal.
The deadly Islamist culture Cerantonio has chosen is ­undoubtedly Koranic in origin.
In his all-too popular videos, Cerantonio brandishes the Islamic holy book like a banner, exhorting his followers to observe its message.
That message, unchanged since medieval times and ­unquestioned by Islam’s most fanatical supporters and brutally applied by al-Baghdadi and his minions is one of death for those who will not bend to his brand of Islam as the bodies of Christians, Kurds and non-Sunni demonstrate.
It has appealed to a hundred or more young Australians who have travelled to join the extremist militants in Syria and Iraq.
Last week, Attorney-General George Brandis met a group of Islamic leaders in Canberra to discuss changes which will permit the domestic and international agencies ASIO and ASIS to better deal with the threat posed to ­national security by those who have gone or plan to go and join the Islamists in the Middle East.
The good intentions of the imams and community leaders are to be applauded but what is really needed is a thorough examination of the culture within the Muslim community — not a homogenous group by any means — which nurtures and supports individuals such as Cerantonio and Sydney sheik Abu Sulayman, a senior official in the Syrian militant group, Jabhat al-Nusra.
Until then, the anti-social activities of significant members of the Muslim community are deserving of suspicion and will remain so until the majority of Muslims demonstrate that Australian culture, our way of life, is not threatened by these radical extremists.
===

THEY KNOW SOME WORDS

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (1:38pm)

“Two young women spent yesterday making this," reports Labor’s Kate Lundy. Good for them. Next step: forming an actual sentence.
UPDATE. Look out, Tony! It’s the biggest big giant puppet head ever: 
Tony Abbott will be seen standing tall at a rally on Sunday, but a puppet made in the 28th prime minister’s likeness won’t be flattering.
About 10 “creatives”, from musicians to theatre crew, incensed by the federal government’s first budget in May, have created a three-metre puppet which will have red LED lights and a smoke machine delicately inserted in its rear end.
The man behind the idea, early childhood teacher Matthew Armstrong, said the aim was to make a policy rather than personal point. 
Well, obviously. That was probably this bloke’s aim, too.
===

TOO RUDE FOR FAIRFAX

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (3:39am)

Fairfax endorsed Clementine Ford’s “F… Abbott” t-shirts, but certain words are now apparently too extreme for Fairfax publication. Jacqueline Maley avoids the forbidden terminology: 
… your self-congratulation at having invented a new rude name to call female newspaper columnists … 
Previous non-naming has now extended to non-wording. It’s a silencing of dissent!
===

BECAUSE THEY’RE BLACK

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (2:54am)

Slate identifies the crucial issue of black pet discrimination
Just when you were hoping there were no new ways to be racist, it turns out people may be racist against dogs. 
If colour is the cause of pet bigotry, surely this means anti-coal protesters are also racist. Come to think of it, has anyone ever seen a wind turbine that isn’t white?
===

CAT PREDICTION A LESSON TO US ALL

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (2:23am)

Age letters correspondent Brian Powell has a message for us terrible denialists: 
In the 1950s, Melbourne naturalist Crosbie Morrison warned that if we did not act on the problem of domestic cats going feral, our native mammals would be threatened with extinction. He advocated the sterilisation of pet cats. Unfortunately his warning was ignored, his prediction was correct and many native mammals are threatened with extinction. This should be a lesson to all climate change deniers. 
(Via nofixedaddress)
===

WISH I’D THOUGHT OF THAT

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (2:02am)

An even better and more tautly-descriptive word than “frightbat”: ecobag.
(Via Emily’s List)
===

AN ACCENT MIKE DOESN’T LIKE

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 06, 2014 (2:01am)

Mike Carlton claims that Rolf Harris’s ”contrived Aussieness was always a toe-curling embarrassment.” Big call, Michael. At least Harris, for all of his crimes against women and music, and despite decades in the UK, always sounded like an Australian. Carlton’s contrived Britishness, by comparison, is still capable of bending femurs.
===

Protesters exaggerate by 250 per cent. Say they know better about the Budget

Andrew Bolt July 06 2014 (4:35pm)

If they can’t even count heads correctly, why on earth would we trust these marchers about the Budget?
Central Sydney has filled with a sea of protesters for the “Bust the Budget” march. 
Organisers estimated up to 15,000 people joined the rally, which started at Town Hall and proceeded along George Street and up Market Street.
Police figures put the number of marchers at 6000.

UPDATE
More rubbery figures by budget busters in Melbourne, as reported by an Age journalist who seems unaware that 10,000 is actually less than 12,000:
The crowd swelled from hundreds before the mooted kick-off time at 1pm, and estimates of total numbers gathered for the march in Melbourne varied from between 12,000 up to 20,000. It fell well short of the 10,000 union members that gathered at Trades Hall last month.
===

The face of Islam at its worst

Andrew Bolt July 06 2014 (1:46pm)

 The face of Islam at its most savage and uncompromising:
SELF-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made an unprecedented appearance in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which his forces helped capture last month, and ordered Muslims to obey him, according to a video post. 

That marks a significant change for the shadowy jihadist whose Islamic State (IS) group led a lightning offensive that overran swathes of five provinces north and west of Baghdad… 

“I am the wali (leader) who presides over you, though I am not the best of you. So if you see that I am right, assist me,” said the man, purportedly Baghdadi…
Text superimposed on the video identified the man as “Caliph Ibrahim”, the name Baghdadi took when the group on June 29 declared a “caliphate”, a pan-Islamic state last seen in Ottoman times, in which the leader is both political and religious. 
The video is the first ever official appearance by Baghdadi, says Aymenn al-Tamimi, an expert on Islamist movements, though the jihadist leader may have appeared in a 2008 video under a different name.
===

The Bolt Report today, July 6

Andrew Bolt July 06 2014 (5:25am)

On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…
The truth about immigration - and the new threats.
And has Malcolm Turnbull spat the dummy?
Plus: the fall of Fairfax, a hypocrisy alert on Jacqui Lambie and more.
On the show: Michael Kroger, Bruce Hawker, Dr Bob Birrell and Ben Hills. .
The videos of the shows appear here.
===

Police investigate Labor conference over stolen tape

Andrew Bolt July 06 2014 (4:45am)

How interesting. Weren’t Liberals first accused of doing the dirty? Instead:
Police are examining security footage from Labor’s state conference as part of an investigation of the theft of a reporter’s dictaphone. 
The recording device contained a private conversation between The Sunday Age’s state political editor Farrah Tomazin and Ted Baillieu, during which the former premier was critical of some colleagues.
The Sunday Age reported the alleged theft to police after the conversation was emailed to hundreds of Liberal Party members by a person claiming to be a party member. 
Victoria Police spokeswoman Leonie Johnson declined to give details, but confirmed police were investigating a theft.
UPDATE
I am suspicious about the way The Age has played this story.

June 24, 2014

The recording is sent to many, but not all, Liberal members, suggesting the mailing list used by the peddler is not up to date. That in turn suggests the peddler might not be someone currently working in Liberal politics. Meanwhile, the story from The Age changes as it develops from 10am. There are lots of hints of Liberal involvement, but not much about Labor’s possible role in the theft of the Dictaphone at a Labor conference.  Only after 6:26pm does The Age editor-in-chief say the theft has been reported to police, six weeks after the event:
ANDREW HOLDEN: It’s clearly a dirty tricks campaign, but I think what disappoints me most is to see a couple of Age journalists dragged into that and I find that very disappointing. 
ALISON CALDWELL: Will you take this to the police? ANDREW HOLDEN: We’ll certainly record the fact that the tape recorder has gone missing and record that with police and just let them know that we’re concerned as to how it’s been misused. 
7:51pm
The Age editor-in-chief isn’t keen on any suggestion the recording was stolen at a Labor conference:
He said any suggestion the recording was stolen or misplaced was “speculation”, however. “I don’t think it gets us anywhere as to how it went missing the first place,” he said.
June 25, 2014:
The Age news editor is happy to blame Liberals instead:
Mark Forbes on who stole the tape: “I think you have to look at people who are opposed to Ted and that’s a wide range of people.”
June 26, 2014:
The Age now confuses the issue by  claiming a second recorder is missing – something denied by Age reporter Josh Gordon.
But The Age editor in chief Andrew Holden maintained there were “no dirty tricks”. He assured Neil Mitchell it was not a cover up. 
“What I do know is the tape recorder went missing, I don’t know exactly where, I don’t know exactly when,” he said.
“Fundamentally it’s gone and somebody has got hold of it and I do regard it as stolen at that point because they clearly know who’s on it and they’ve used it in this purpose which I find quite appalling.”
He added another tape was also missing – that tape belonged to Josh Gordon.
“I have absolutely no idea whether they’re connected in any way whatsoever,” he said, adding they went missing within the same week.
“Again, conspiracy theories might say that Fairfax journalists have been targeted, I can’t categorically say that. 
“Until it’s proven to me that somebody has got hold of (Josh’s) tape and are using pieces of his audio, it is purely coincidence as far as I know.
The Age state political reporter again implicates the Liberals, this time the office of federal minister Kevin Andrews:
image
June 27, 2014:
Premier Dennis Napthine on 3AW discusses reports that one Dictaphone went “missing” at the state Labor conference. The Age’s Gordon tweets:
image
July 5, 2014:
The “rumour” is now investigated by police, who check CCTV footage of the Labor conference. The Herald Sun confirms police are checking reports the Dictaphone could have been stolen from a bag, a suggestion apparently made by Age reporter Farrah Tomazin:
Victoria Police spokeswoman Leonie Johnson refused to discuss the investigation. 
“Moonee Valley CIU are investigating a report of a theft of a Dictaphone from the bag of a victim while at a racecourse function in Moonee Valley in May,” she said. “It would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Has The Age played this story straight? Is it defending someone – or some party? 
===

The death of Pro’s art

Andrew Bolt July 06 2014 (4:28am)

image
How greed killed Pro Hart’s reputation:
At the beginning, his paintings commanded recognition by leading galleries. His 1962 painting Judas Flying A Kite [below], which is being sold in the auction, was exhibited at Heide ­Museum of Modern Art and at the ­National Gallery of Victoria. 
“There was a moment where he could have had a very substantial career,” [art historian Gavin] Fry told The Sunday Telegraph.
image
In the late 1960s, however, the artist swung his focus to the popular end of the art market… Instead of furthering his career by developing his style and controlling his output, Hart painted up to eight pictures a day when he was at the height of his production… 
“(Painting) 70,000 pictures is just madness, and that’s the great tragedy — that he couldn’t get away from the necessity to produce vast quantities of work,” Fry said.
All the more astonishing, then, the careers of Mozart, Trollope and Shakespeare, who could produce such vast quantities for the market yet remain great artists. Does Rubens also count? 

===

 
===

 
===

 ===

 
===

 
===

 
===

 
===

 ===

 
===
Pastor Rick Warren
In relationships, there's no trust without truth.
===
Pastor Rick Warren
Anything we do out of love will be remembered in eternity. Anything we do out of ego is forgotten quickly.
===
Should we be upset that one of the new ministers in the Federal Cabinet swore his oath on a Qur'an?
This week as the Governor General swore in the new cabinet, Mr Ed Husic, chose to swear on the Qur'an rather than the Bible or make an affirmation.  A ‘non-practising’ Muslim from Bosnia, Mr Husic was sworn in as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and Parliamentary Secretary for Broadband.
Swearing is a strange symbolism, by which we persuade and reassure people of our integrity in making promises.  Christians should not need to swear for we should be people of our word.  As Jesus said in response to Pharisaic hypocrisy, “Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No”; anything more than this comes from evil.  (Matthew 5:37 cf James 5:12)
The Christian’s truthfulness will not be increased by swearing, but swearing reassures our hearers that we are telling the truth and gives them something to refer back to when our truthfulness comes under question.  There is nothing wrong in swearing an oath when required.  The 39th of our 39 Articles is “Of a Christian man’s Oath” handling the question of doing that which Jesus seems to be forbidding.  We do not swear because we need to but because our hearers need reassurance.
Within the scriptures we see the apostle swearing “God is my witness” (Romans 1:9, Phil 1:8) and God himself swore that the people of Israel would not enter his rest (Hebrews 3:18).  Swearing is a way of giving solemn assurance to the hearer that you mean what you are saying and will back it up before a higher court to whom the hearer may appeal.  And that is why we swear in God’s name or on his book.
There is no point swearing by something less than yourself.  For an oath to be believable you have to point to something, like God, greater than yourself.  However, to which god can somebody be held accountable?  At first glance you can only swear by the true and living God.  For swearing by Molech is of not much consequence, as Molech is a powerless imagination of the ancient Ammonites - hardly reassuring to the modern listener.  Yet you must swear by the god that you believe in.  If you were an ancient Ammonite there is no point swearing by Yahweh, while to swear by Molech would indicate your sincerity.
Mr Husic is the first Federal cabinet minister to swear on the Qur'an.  For Mr Husic swearing on the Bible was not an option and he didn’t want to make a simple affirmation.  As a Muslim, it is the god of the Qur'an whom he acknowledges as greater than himself and to whom he would be accountable for his promises.  For some people it is insulting to swear on a book that is seen as fomenting so much war and terror around the world today.  For others it is no real promise as the book is one of lies and its god is not the true and living one.  For many others still it further marginalises Christianity from our nation and its historic establishment.  Even if these are true, they give absolutely no excuse for the abuse Mr Husic has had to endure.
Australia is a Christian nation, not in the sense of it being run by and for Christians with an established religion that all must follow, but in the sense that Christianity informs the people, heritage and culture.  As a Christian nation we have freedom of religion, which involves limiting government to matters secular, while allowing free expression of religious beliefs.  It is part of our wonderful Christian heritage that a Muslim migrant can become a Cabinet minister and express his religion without fear or favour.
When Christianity has ruled in government, both Christianity and the government have been distorted.  We win people to Christ not by government fiat but by prayerful persuasion to the truth.
The fact that Mr Husic is a non-practising Muslim is no more a problem than the non-practiscing Christian swearing on the Bible.  Even the non-practising recognize that they are not God and are answerable to some higher power than themselves.  The Muslim who swears by the Qur'an can at least be held to its teaching, and does not put himself in the place of God.  The practice of swearing an oath is therefore better than a simple affirmation.
Affirmations have been in use for some centuries because of the conscience of people not wanting to invoke God in their promises.  Some of these are tender Christian consciences, who misunderstand Jesus’ prohibition on swearing.  However, others will only make an affirmation because, as atheists, they refuse to refer to a higher being than themselves.  They are like Napoleon placing the crown on his own head for there was nobody greater to crown him.  So they are not answerable to anybody or anything other than themselves.
With an affirmation we have to take the word of a politician seeking more power on the basis of their ‘say so’.  Often this doesn’t matter in practice as most of the oath-taking politicians are practical atheists and most of the affirming politicians unconsciously practise Christian values.  However, theoretically those who affirm are swearing by themselves for they have no greater source of moral reference to which they can point or to which we can call them to account but themselves.  Of such arrogance comes tyranny.
The New Testament understands the problem of the atheist.  In Hebrews we read of God swearing by himself.  For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, …  For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.  So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.”(Hebrews 6:13f)  But then again he is God.
===
Pastor Rick Warren
I find joy in every day, not because life is always good, but because God is
===
Addressing the British House of Lords, Dragon Slayer McKitrick proposes a carbon dioxide tax based on temperature. If temps go up, so does the tax.

If temperatures drop, will we see tax refunds?
===
Kevin Rudd's Pink Batt Policy:

4 Deaths
1,000 Electrified roofs
93 House fires
160,000 Dodgy installations

Source:
http://t.co/NPaQ8DEOLF

===
Must I Repeat? Quit Making Things Up!

Outrageous. Once again the cover-up is worse than the “crime.” Secretary of State John Kerry WAS on his boat while Egypt fell into turmoil resulting in an overthrow of its new government ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood that the Obama Administration had so recently supported and may still support. (That, however, we do not know because President Obama's absolutely dithering foreign policies, his "leading from behind," and his benign statements on the Muslim Brotherhood make no sense to sensible people.)

The State Department categorically denied Kerry was on his boat. Yet CBS had pictures to prove it. Goodness. There is no need to lie, even on such a "little" thing as the location of a government leader during a military confrontation happening in real time. (Benghazi? Ring a bell? There still isn't anyone in the media who'll find out where our Commander-in-Chief was that night.) Come on, Obama Administration! It's no big darn deal that Kerry was on his boat! We expect, and deserve, to assume that our highest ranking public servants to whom We the People have given the most responsibility are always working – even when they're clearing their heads and breathing in some fresh air on a yacht, or sweating away stress on a basketball court, or yukking it up with pals on the fairway... let's trust they're always preparing for the proverbial 3:00 AM phone call.

Being on his boat isn't the issue. Blatantly deceiving the American people is the issue.

Our government, yet again, either had no idea where the boss was, or worse yet, they lied to us. (Oops-a-daisy. Correction. In Obamaspeak, we were told the "least untruthful statement.") Our government directed its swift-ly boat changing denials to what one can only surmise is their perception of who we are: a nation of sheep – heads down, grazing away, gullible, ignorant, and undeserving of truth.

Confronted with photographic evidence, the State Department merely tossed the public a handful of hay today in its tepid effort to kinda-sorta explain the whole thing away. Something about, well, yeah, so the evidence contradicted all their public claims, but… eh, no harm, no foul. And like good herder dogs, with calm authority to avoid commotion, the bureaucrats barked the suggestion that we all just move along now.

No. You move along, little doggie. Enough is enough. It's unacceptable. Remember, the nation's Mama Grizzlies don't just rise up to swat away threats to protect the next generation. They also school, scold, and signal to teach a lesson. One lesson taught all children is if you lie on the little things, you'll lie on the big things.

George Orwell wrote of a time when citizens could no longer trust big government, and by wearing down the citizenry through doublespeak and lies a tired country finally retreated to its dark and depressing demise.

America, we shall not go there! Why? Because if we know from our nation's forefathers that weariness is not in our blood! It's not in our DNA to retreat. Have faith that there are enough patriots in our exceptional nation willing to fight together for what is right. Proof of this is all the families still encouraging and supporting their loved ones who choose U.S. military service. And proof of a unified commitment to defend our republic is what the independent tea party movement is all about. Disregard the constant criticism, mocking, and flagrant lies about this diverse, proud movement that still spew from big government cheerleaders and their lapdogs in the media. Despite harassment and intimidation, commonsense conservatives are rising up again to get a better view of what is ahead. They are identifying threats to our Constitution and our children's future. The permanent political class angrily bemoans this because they know our diverse working class – those who make the world go 'round – can shake off the slumber, unify, and effectively encourage others to come out of a 2012 hibernation and demand accountability at the 2014 ballot box. It's there we prove the average, everyday American's ferocious strength when exercising that beautiful belief in loyalty only to a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Until then, we mustn't have the fighting instinct of sheep. Pay attention, do your own homework on candidates and political machines, turn off media that would disrespect you by continuing to deceive, and keep the faith.

While celebrating America's glorious Independence this week, be secure in knowing that there are more of us who support men and women ready and willing to fight on our behalf for freedom and truth than those who would continually deceive us. Thank God. And thank a Vet.

State Department: say you're sorry and don't ever do this again. CBS News: thank you for doing your job on this issue.

Happy 4th of July weekend, America.

- Sarah Palin
===
image
===
July 6Independence Day in Malawi (1964); Statehood Day in Lithuania (1253); the festival of San Fermín begins in Pamplona, Spain
Richard III of England
===
“In that day you will say: “Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted.” Isaiah 12:4 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Called to be saints."
Romans 1:7
We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were "saints" in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are "saints" whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day. The fact is, if we had seen the apostle Paul, we should have thought him remarkably like the rest of the chosen family: and if we had talked with him, we should have said, "We find that his experience and ours are much the same. He is more faithful, more holy, and more deeply taught than we are, but he has the selfsame trials to endure. Nay, in some respects he is more sorely tried than ourselves." Do not, then, look upon the ancient saints as being exempt either from infirmities or sins; and do not regard them with that mystic reverence which will almost make us idolaters. Their holiness is attainable even by us. We are "called to be saints" by that same voice which constrained them to their high vocation. It is a Christian's duty to force his way into the inner circle of saintship; and if these saints were superior to us in their attainments, as they certainly were, let us follow them; let us emulate their ardour and holiness. We have the same light that they had, the same grace is accessible to us, and why should we rest satisfied until we have equalled them in heavenly character? They lived with Jesus, they lived for Jesus, therefore they grew like Jesus. Let us live by the same Spirit as they did, "looking unto Jesus," and our saintship will soon be apparent.

Evening

"Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."
Isaiah 26:4
Seeing that we have such a God to trust to, let us rest upon him with all our weight; let us resolutely drive out all unbelief, and endeavour to get rid of doubts and fears, which so much mar our comfort; since there is no excuse for fear where God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be sorely grieved if his child could not trust him; and how ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little confidence in our heavenly Father who has never failed us, and who never will. It were well if doubting were banished from the household of God; but it is to be feared that old Unbelief is as nimble nowadays as when the psalmist asked, "Is his mercy clean gone forever? Will he be favourable no more?" David had not made any very lengthy trial of the mighty sword of the giant Goliath, and yet he said, "There is none like it." He had tried it once in the hour of his youthful victory, and it had proved itself to be of the right metal, and therefore he praised it ever afterwards; even so should we speak well of our God, there is none like unto him in the heaven above or the earth beneath; "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." There is no rock like unto the rock of Jacob, our enemies themselves being judges. So far from suffering doubts to live in our hearts, we will take the whole detestable crew, as Elijah did the prophets of Baal, and slay them over the brook; and for a stream to kill them at, we will select the sacred torrent which wells forth from our Saviour's wounded side. We have been in many trials, but we have never yet been cast where we could not find in our God all that we needed. Let us then be encouraged to trust in the Lord forever, assured that his ever lasting strength will be, as it has been, our succour and stay.
===
Edom

[Ē'dom] - red earthThe elder son of Isaac, and so named in memory of the red color of the lentil pottage for which he sold his birthright to his twin brother Jacob (Gen. 25:30; 36:1, 8, 19). See ESAU. Name is also used to describe those descended from Esau, the Edomites (Gen. 36:9).
===

Today's reading: Job 30-31, Acts 13:26-52 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Job 30-31

1 "But now they mock me,
men younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to put with my sheep dogs.
2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor had gone from them?
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they roamed the parched land
in desolate wastelands at night.
4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs,
and their food was the root of the broom bush.
5 They were banished from human society,
shouted at as if they were thieves.
6 They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7 They brayed among the bushes
and huddled in the undergrowth.
8 A base and nameless brood,
they were driven out of the land....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 13:26-52

26 "Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people...."
===

No comments: