Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Wed Sep 16th Todays News

None for 2015 .. because of Melbourne promotional trip
=== from 2014 ===
Today is the anniversary of the Battle for Britain. The time when the cream of the greatest generation put everything on the line, paying the ultimate price, time and time again. So many owed so much to so few. Some pilots came from Australia, some from the US and Canada and many many sons of the United Kingdom saved democracy from tyranny. And the commonwealth did it alone. They fought under the Union Jack. And today we have a headline from the UK "No Jews in shop." The shop in question did not have that policy, but a security guard who has now been sacked. It is a chilling reminder that success in WW2 does not mean success for all time. The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance. Many will point the finger at Islamic peoples, and many Islamic peoples will point the finger at themselves for the abuse because it is terrorist related and Islamofascists have substantial influence in Islamic leadership circles. Even Western leaders go to water without calling out the bigotry.  Al Qaeda are critical of ISIS and their methods, which is exactly like a fellow serial killer criticising another's methods but not the activity. The sad truth is that Islam is not terrorist and those who are terrorist bring Islam into disrepute. But, at the moment, Islam is spineless and impotent, incapable of facing the terrorists down. Often the terrorists are beheading other Islamic peoples, but sometimes they don't. It has been observed that many who have been beheaded have not insulted the prophet and did not, legally, merit the murder. But it will be Australians arming Stalinists from the PKK that crowns the irony of the day. It is terrorism that must be opposed.

Some don't get it. Tribalism trumps policy when it comes to the left in times of crisis. In Australia, Unions profited from the war effort, and often opposed it. In the UK, there was a wartime unity government, but even so the Labor Party jockeyed for position in the democracy while the conservatives made sacrifices. Radical left winger Andrew Denton likes the rhetoric of the Greens. It is appealing to not have responsibility limiting rhetoric, but not a desirable characteristic for a fair and balanced follower of politics. Shorten claims to be supportive of the Conservative Government's foreign policy, but a number of the ALP members are not supportive. They really need a policy, not tribal ambitions. Meanwhile, Shorten has questions to answer regarding slush funds. It turns out that rubbish bins are victims in the war against terror.

Sweden has shown that a successful conservative government can inspire voters to experiment with the left once they are cashed up. But this time there is a sting with anti immigrants gaining the balance of power. Pratt's prostitute has shown the importance of not relying on wills for estates, but connecting with loved ones in life. An Indonesian policeman is claiming special knowledge about MH370, but does not claim to know where it is. An unlicensed driver has killed a school girl at a black spot and calls for all drivers to slow down. Only, changing regulation would not prevent the unlicensed driver from killing the school girl. Gay marriage advocates fail to see joke of two straight men marrying to get Rugby test tickets. They are arguing that it diminishes marriage and cheapens it? Journalists are exposed as opposing mines for no reason. Antarctic sea ice grows to record levels, highlighting the lie of AGW alarmism. Kiribati is growing, not sinking. One day, Australia will be offered apartheid for their constitution. One hopes she votes 'no' 
From 2013
Tonight with the new Abbott ministry announced I have difficulties. All of the members are good. All are better than any of the ALP. My problem is I don't know who to approach to get my issue dealt with.  I cannot approach my local federal member again, he has declined to help, and he is ALP (Jason Clare). I've liaised with other surrounding seats .. I live in ALP territory .. none will help. In the past, I've been told I could go to the UK or USA to find work as a qualified Mathematics teacher. At the moment, I cannot get even a day's work as a relief teacher in the most difficult to staff schools in the state .. the education department of NSW will have children unsupervised in the playground rather than hire me. I have not done anything wrong. I have correctly reported on a possible pedophile and observed how the authorities bungled the investigation. I correctly reported a child with a serious allergy and observed how, because I had been ignored, or worse, because I was being tested, the child died from apparent neglect. Because of that, I was harassed at my workplace and beyond. I resigned to speak out, and my local state member (Then, Joe Tripodi) apparently colluded to have me silenced. My citizenship evidence was destroyed and then called into question. My bank moved to seize my home. The ATO have investigated me twice, the second time is ongoing. I was offered the pension and told I was too fat to teach if I didn't want to. I have been employed by an abuser as a teacher's aide, and denied basic conditions to Fair Work. I have been timed out of IR court by the politician who wrote the IR legislation (Della Bosca, then Education Minister). I have approached the police and been ignored. I have been denied legal aid on the grounds I wasn't declared Aboriginal. I am a few months away from having my unit seized again. Who do I approach with my story? The federal police tell me they are interested in some of my testimony regarding the pedophile, but it is apparent it is a low priority and possibly years before they ask basic questions. I approached the NSW State Education Minister with my issue and they referred me to the police who say it isn't their problem. Soon I will begin a business .. but, really, I'm not asking for hand outs, just justice. And I have to endure the acting PM's (Bowen, ALP, local to me) quip that the Abbott ministry doesn't have enough women. I disagree .. the ministry has Julie Bishop, who is better than any ALP member, and I am confident when others arise they will be, as the Libs do, promoted on merit. Bronwyn Bishop for speaker, and, sadly, no Sophie Mirabella unless a miracle occurs. 

Speaking of miracles, the IPCC have through sheer denial been able to limit global warming. They have exceeded all their models in the restriction of 16 years without warming. Even though the world has been warming ever since the ice age ended. They are even admitting that the world had a warm period about a thousand years ago. 
Tragedy in USA as a 17 yo boy shoots an old man in the head, dead. The boy could have been one of Obama's sons. The US is a great nation, but she sinks sadly under her abysmal President. I was reminded today not to compare the US to pre Nazi Germany. I wouldn't compare her to Nazi Germany either. But she is being humbled in areas she should lead, and people are dying inside and outside because of it. 

The only thing I'm certain of, is the response of any leftist to the issues of the day .. virulent abuse against any conservative. 
=== 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/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. 
===
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.
===

Happy birthday and many happy returns Chi Lam and Vida Joy Ball (nee Shying 1932). Born on the same day, across the years along with Julia Drusilla (16), Henry V of England (1386), Heinrich Bach (1615), Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777), James Cash Penney (1875), Allen Funt (1914), Frank Leslie Walcott (1916), Lee Kuan Yew, (1923), Lauren Bacall (1924), B.B. King (1925), Peter Falk (1927), Mickey Rourke (1952), David Copperfield (1956), Gregory R. Ball (1977) and Jake Roche (1992). On your day, Malaysia Day
1810 – Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest in Dolores, Guanajuato, delivered the Grito de Dolores to his congregation, instigating the Mexican War of Independence against Spain.
1941 – Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1959 – Haloid Xerox introduced the Xerox 914, the first modern photocopier, invented by American physicist Chester Carlson.
1963 – Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (present-day Sabah), and Sarawak merged to form Malaysia.
1987 – The Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of a number of substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion, opened for signature.Mexico is independent. Iran has been fully abdicated. Xerox has been copied. Malaysia has been delivered. Montreal protects the Ozone. Enjoy your day .. responsibly.
Deaths
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The bad guys are here, so stop pretending they’re not

Miranda Devine – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (8:58pm)

EVERY day another Labor or Greens MP comes out with another kooky pronouncement downplaying the barbarity of Islamic State and pretending that if we’re all just nice to each other, and stop worshipping God, then terrorism will disappear.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The bad guys are here, so stop pretending they’re not'
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State government is entering a Shore-zone

Miranda Devine – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (8:56pm)

THE lower north shore is supposed to be all tennis mornings, 4WDs and rose gardens, not shouting matches, AVOs and the War of the Roses. But the councillors of North Sydney hate each other so much the state government has been forced to intervene this week, giving them 14 days to stop squabbling or be suspended.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'State government is entering a Shore-zone'
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PROPHET MOTIVE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (4:25am)

One of the more redundant protest signs at recent demonstrations appeared during Sydney’s Islamic insurrection of 2012. Many involved in the protest, including extremely young children, carried the sign: “Behead all those who insult the prophet.”

image

But it turns out that you don’t need to insult the prophet in order to be beheaded. US journalist James Foley – a supporter of Palestinian independence – never directed any slurs towards the prophet or to Islam in general, yet he was decapitated in August by Islamic State terrorists. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'PROPHET MOTIVE'
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TIME FOR MINES

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (4:13am)

“It is long overdue,” writes Sinclair Davidson. It sure is.
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JOKELESS JOKE MARRIAGE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (4:10am)

Hen-pecked husbands and wives wielding rolling pins are age-old comedy staples, part of the grand tradition of ridiculing marriage. Last week, however, we discovered a form of marriage that will tolerate no jokes.
Gay marriage advocates were infuriated by the wedding in New Zealand of heterosexuals Travis McIntosh and Matt McCormick, who tied the knot as part of a radio stunt to win World Cup rugby tickets.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'JOKELESS JOKE MARRIAGE'
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TV CAREER MUNCHED

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (3:40am)

Soon, depending on editorial judgment, I may briefly appear in a television commercial. Filming took place yesterday morning.
All ran smoothly, except for one incident. Just after I arrived, a crew member walked by seeming to offer a tray of tasty-looking snacks. So I took one.
A few minutes later, another crew member approached me. “Those aren’t snacks,” he said. “They’re props.”
A look of amused realisation then crossed his face, and I could tell he was thinking: “This guy has been on this set for less than five minutes, and already he’s literally chewing the scenery.”
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WHEN BRITAIN FOUGHT AND WON

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (3:03am)

September 15: Battle of Britain Day. Click that link for victory images.
(Via A.R.M Jones)
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WARMING DOES EVERYTHING

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 16, 2014 (3:01am)

The ABC reports: 
Scientists say the extent of Antarctic sea ice cover is at its highest level since records began. 
And guess what is causing all of this extra ice: 
CEO of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, Tony Worby, said the warming atmosphere is leading to greater sea ice coverage … 
Well, obviously. 
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Why does Labor want to import more of what’s worrying us?

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (10:23am)

The worry is that that any war against radical jihadists opens a front-line in our own suburbs:
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) ... does not agree with the Abbott government’s decision to send 600 military personnel to the United Arab Emirates to help fight ISIS in the Middle East. Muslim leaders in Australia believe there is a strong link between radicalisation and foreign wars… 
Australian Muslim leaders warned the youth not to trust what they see or read in social media since they believe some material could have a dangerous influence on their young minds.  
Given that, this seems unwise:
Mr Shorten also raised the prospect of reviving discussion about Labor’s policy to boost the refugee intake to 20, 000 people per year in the wake of the crisis in Syria and Iraq… “Perhaps it’s time to discuss do we take more refugees from these countries [Iraq and Syria],” he said. 
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“No Jews” in shop, British security guard tells boys

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (10:18am)

I’d like to know more about the security guard:
Leading retailer Sports Direct has apologised to customers after a security guard allegedly barred “Jews” from entering its store. 
The security guard was removed from the store after he told Jewish students they could not enter the branch in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, on Friday afternoon. The guard, who was sacked from the security company supplying Sports Direct with staff, reportedly told two Year 7 students wearing Yavneh College school uniform: “No Jews, no Jews”. 
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Abbott has better things to do than waffle about fake warming scares - like Kiribati drowning

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (9:16am)

Global warming - propaganda

She’s surprised, but we should be delighted:
The European Union’s climate chief says she’s surprised Australia’s Prime Minister won’t attend a major United Nations conference on climate changenext week. 
More than 120 world leaders will gather in New York to tackle what the UN secretary general says is one of the defining issues of our time. The US president is expected to attend but Tony Abbott isn’t - even though he’ll be in New York for another UN meeting just a day later.
Being the ABC, it adds this scare, unqualified by any scepticism - or the facts:
JAKE STURMER: The nation of Kiribati is the canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change. 
It’s about 7,000 kilometres north east of Australia and is already feeling the devastating impacts of rising tides.
The water is destroying homes, making soil more salty and decimating crops. If some climate scientists are correct, the majority of Kiribati could be underwater by the end of the century.
Some facts about Kiribati the ABC unaccountably failed to mention:
1. Kiribati is growing, not shrinking:
...the most populous atoll of Kiribati – the tiny islet of Betio, Kiribati’s commercial heart – had increased in size by more than 36 hectares over the past 60-odd years. That’s an increase in land area of 30 per cent… (It) is also true, as the scientific paper concluded, the land masses of the low-lying islands and atolls the researchers studied have remained largely stable or even increased over the decades.
2.  Kiribati’s seas are not rising:
image
3. Erosion on Kiribati is not caused primarily - or at all - by global warming:
Even the 2012 Republic of Kiribati Report Series notes: 
However, there is evidence that at present, climate change is not the main cause of coastal erosion, water shortages or overcrowding. 
4. Coral islands actually grow - and usually faster than seas rise:
Paul Kench, a geomorphologist who now heads the University of Auckland’s School of Environment in New Zealand, was the first to question the dire forecasts for Kiribati and similar island nations. In 1999, the World Bank asked him to evaluate the economic costs of sea-level rise and climate change to Pacific island nations. Kench, who had been studying how atoll islands evolve over time, says he had assumed that a rising ocean would engulf the islands, which consist of sand perched on reefs… But when he scoured the literature, he could not find a single study to support that scenario. 
So Kench teamed up with Peter Cowell, a geomorphologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, to model what might happen. They found that during episodes of high seas—at high tide during El Niño events, which raise sea level in the Central Pacific, for example—storm waves would wash over higher and higher sections of atoll islands. But instead of eroding land, the waves would raise island elevation by depositing sand produced from broken coral, coralline algae, mollusks, and foraminifera. Kench notes that reefs can grow 10 to 15 mill imeters a year—faster than the sea-level rise expected to occur later this century. “As long as the reef is healthy and generates an abundant supply of sand, there’s no reason a reef island can’t grow and keep up,” he argues. 
When will the ABC temper its warming scares with the facts? 
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If Shorten is going to war, where’s his army?

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (9:07am)

Bill Shorten is again defied by his troops: 
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has fully backed the deployment of 600 Australian personnel and fighter jets to the Middle East, but West Australian Labor backbencher Melissa Parke says she holds concerns… “ ... I am very concerned that the Government has so quickly escalated Australia’s involvement in Iraq from strictly humanitarian protection to now committing Australia to what appears to be an open-ended war that will only increase the security threat to Australians.” 
Shorten has so far been contradicted by Parke, Kim Carr, Sue Lines and Alannah MacTiernan. Not a good look for a man meant to be Labor’s leader. I sense his leadership is actually very brittle.
Reader John:
Two questions to Opposition Leader Mr Shorten: 
1) When have individual Labor MPs like Ms Parke been able to adopt a personal position in public that is completely out-of-step with the official Labor Party position? 2) Why hasn’t she been expelled as a member of the Labor Party?
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The great anti-mining con

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (7:38am)

The Left is at war with the industry which pays more than any other for their grand spending schemes. It is also at war with the truth.
Example one, via Sinclair Davidson:
In June the Sydney Morning Herald had this breathless story: 
Australia’s largest coalminer, Glencore, paid almost zero tax over the past three years, despite income of $15 billion, as it radically reduced its tax exposure by taking large, unnecessarily expensive loans from its associates overseas…
What is the source of this terrible news? (emphasis added). 
The aggressive tax avoidance tactics of Glencore Coal International Australia Pty Ltd have been identified in an independent analysis of the company’s accounts for Fairfax Media by an expert in multinational financing… 

The source of the analysis is a former multinational executive who is independent of Glencore and its commercial rivals, prefers to remain anonymous but is personally concerned at the rampant levels of tax evasion and tax avoidance by multinationals operating in Australia.
Yes, well – given the subsequent clarification by Fairfax I’m not surprised (emphasis original). 
NOTE: Reports, including this one, say that Glencore had paid little or no income tax for the past three years. This is incorrect. The company has stated that it paid more than $400 million in corporate income tax in Australia over this period. Fairfax Media also wishes to clarify that the $15 billion presented as taxable “income” in these stories relate to revenue and not taxable profits.
An international expert who can’t tell the difference between revenue and taxable income? Really? A journalist that doesn’t bother to check? Wow. Simply wow.
Example two:
THE Australia Institute has been caught out using a massive economic deception to attack the mining industry and the jobs of mining workers across NSW. The Australia Institute must now be held to account for the jobs they have put at risk by presenting their anti-mining propaganda as “economic research”.

The NSW Minerals Council explains:
Of the Australia Institute’s concocted $17.6 billion figure… : 
$3.6 billion (about 20 per cent) isn’t associated with the mining and resources sector and “appear(s) to have been incorrectly categorised”. 

$3.7 billion (about 21 per cent) is general government expenditure “socialised across all sectors of the economy or subject to fees and charges” and therefore “there isn’t any explicit or inherent subsidy”. $10.3 billion (about 59 per cent) is government investment in infrastructure/services via Public Trading Enterprises which are legally bound to charge commercial rates for their use. The cost of industry’s use is therefore “fully recoverable” and “there is no subsidy”. 
On the Australia Institute’s claim that government funds invested in Public Trading Enterprises could be better spent on government services such as health and education, the report explains that each is supported by separate funding sources and “capital expenditure in one sector is not at the expense of capital expenditure in the other sector” and that “far from being a major receiver of State funds, the mining and resources sector is actually a substantial source of State and Territory revenues”.
UPDATE
Terry McCrann:
What made the Minerals Council analysis even more punishing is that it was done by a former head of the New South Wales Treasury, Michael Schur… 
[I]n the years covered by AI’s report, 2008-09 to 2013-14, the resources industry actually paid $51 billion in royalties directly to state and territory governments.
The mining and resources industry also made major contributions to the profits of the public trading enterprises and the $35 billion in dividends they paid to their parent state and territory governments over those years… Further, none of this discusses the huge company tax payments generated from the resources industry for the federal government. This includes taxes paid directly by resources companies and taxes paid by suppliers to the industry.
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Bill Shorten dragged into slush funds investigation

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (6:38am)

This won’t help Bill Shorten’s already troubled grip on the leadership:
Labor leader Bill Shorten faces his biggest test yet before the trade union royal commission with claims he oversaw an employment deal that lowered wages for hundreds of mushroom pickers in return for unusual payments to the union he led at the time. 
The allegations come as his former union colleague and factional ally Victorian Labor MP Cesar Melhem, faces fresh allegations he used an industry-bankrolled slush fund to buy his way to political power. The fund, known as “Industry 2020”, was first revealed by Fairfax Media in December, 2012…
(T)he royal commission probed the Australian Workers Union’s deal with Victorian mushroom grower Chiquita Mushrooms in the early 2000s, when Mr Shorten was union secretary.
Questions were raised about $4000-a-month payments the union received over six months in return for what the union claimed was for health and safety training. However, former manager of the Mernda-based mushroom farm operator Stephen Little said he could only recall one training session that lasted “an hour and a half” or two hours at most. Mr Little also acknowledged that, at least in part, the payments were intended to buy industrial peace.
More:
AWU Victorian assistant secretary Frank Leo said he advised Mr Shorten about the deal when it was reached, the payments flowing into general revenue for unspecified training ... 
Stephen Little ... said the payments were ­intended to ease union concerns about the company’s hiring of new casual employees reluctant to join the union. “Our intention was to minimise production disruption."… The company stopped paying the union’s invoices after six months, and Mr Leo said Mr Shorten would have been the only ­person authorised to write off the fees due.
As for Melhem, also of Shorten’s AWU:
DANIEL Andrews has been hit by a cash-for-mates storm involving a key Labor MP accused of running a slush fund. 
Labor powerbroker Cesar Melhem was grilled in the royal commission into union corruption on Monday over allegations he used the $250,000 stash to bankroll mates’ union and political campaigns…
The commission heard that Mr Melhem, the former Australian Workers’ Union secretary, enlisted former prime minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to speak at fundraisers where tickets cost up to $750 a head.
Functions raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his Industry 2020 fund, which was set up to pay for Mr Melhem’s re-election and what he admitted were “like-minded progressive” causes…
Mr Melhem ... admitted that he should not have handed over cash… “I should never have handed cash to anyone...”

The commission also heard Mr Melhem gave more than $20,000 from Industry 2020 funds to campaign for the Health Services Union.
Expenses for a conference in Singapore, cigars and $5000 cash for a soccer club were also charged to the fund…

Others embroiled include HSU secretary Diana Asmar and her husband, David, a former staffer to Stephen Conroy, and Plumbing Trades Employees Union secretary Earl Setches. The commission was told Mr Asmar received money from Industry 2020 to pay for election costs for his wife’s campaign to become HSU No.1 branch secretary. 
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Why isn’t this apartheid being called out?

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (6:25am)

But why didn’t Tony Abbott rule it out? Why don’t Mundine and Wyatt rule it out as racist rather than unhelpful?:
TONY Abbott’s top indigenous adviser, Warren Mundine, and Aboriginal Liberal MP Ken Wyatt have savaged a proposal to create dedicated indigenous seats in federal parliament, warning such a move would create resentment across the country and ­destroy the referendum. 
Cape York leader Noel Pearson, however, declared it was “one model” among others that deserved a proper debate, and the Prime Minister did not rule out “serious discussions” about the proposal, but said it was “far too soon” to be talking about the specifics of such a proposal.
Mr Wyatt, the country’s first indigenous MP in the lower house, said the timing of a debate on an indigenous quota in parliament was “bizarre” and would only distract from constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“If we take a dedicated seat based on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, that would cause resentment from other sections of the community,” he said.
“Women, other multicultural groups, they’ll be saying ‘Why can’t we have one?’ I think recognition (in the Constitution) is without question, but to create special seats would create resentment across the nation."…
Mr Mundine ... said he would not support quotas in parliament. “It will be the end of the referendum if it is part of it,” he said. “You cannot have an argument about race and then take it out of that Constitution and then put race back in it. You’re going to raise the issue of who is Aboriginal...” Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie, who recently revealed she had indigenous bloodlines ... wants to ... establish a Senate committee to discuss implementation… 
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Baddies vs less baddies

Andrew Bolt September 16 2014 (5:54am)

We’re now allies with a Stalinist group:
A group Australia first designated as a terrorist organisation in December 2005 - the PKK or the Kurdistan Workers Party - is working directly with the Kurdish Peshmerga forces that Australia and other Western nations are arming in northern Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State group. 
Paramilitary fighters from the PKK’s armed wing have been operating openly in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and in northern Iraq since early August, two months after Sunni militants from the Islamic State stole across the Syrian border and took control of Iraq’s second biggest city, Mosul.
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A contrarian posts .. Which one do YOU care least about?
1. What is the difference between rugby "union" and rugby "league"?
2. Should women also be allowed to tell others about the imaginary guy in the sky?
3. Are the lesbians in porno REALY lesbians?
4. Who will lead the ALP?

Tough choice! ed
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Milestones that matter ...

The planets have aligned a couple of times this week. It's kind of spooky when that happens, reminding you that everything in life is interconnected in some way. I was killing time on Facebook, I mean researching, when I came across a post that someone had shared in which a woman had written about her distress at how parenting had become too competitive.
She had read a post from a woman who was wondering whether her child should be able to do certain things by age four. Many women answered, saying their children could count to 100, write their first and last name, name the planets, ride a bike; many other women said their three-year-olds could do the same. There were links to websites outlining what each age group should be able to do; only a few said each child develops at his own pace and not to worry.
What bothered the poster was how these women did nothing but add to the mother's concern. ''We are such a competitive culture that even our preschoolers have become trophies and bragging rights. Childhood shouldn't be a race,'' she said.
She came up with her own list of what a child should know by four:
  • Children should know they are loved wholly and unconditionally, all of the time.
  • They should know they are safe and they should know how to keep themselves safe in public, with others, and in varied situations. They should know they can trust their instincts about people and that they never have to do something that doesn't feel right, no matter who is asking. They should know their personal rights and that their family will back them up.
  • They should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use their imagination. They should know that it is OK to paint the sky orange and give cats six legs.
  • They should know their own interests and be encouraged to follow them. If they couldn't care less about learning their numbers, their parents should realise they'll learn them accidentally soon enough and let them immerse themselves instead in rocket ships, drawing, dinosaurs or playing in the mud.
  • They should know the world is magical and so are they. They should know they are wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate and marvellous. They should know it's just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is to practise phonics.

I get the atheist position that denies God and points to cold hard reality .. but they forget that there is love and life and there is no need, to my mind, to further evidence magic. ed
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JNS.org - As the final minutes of Rosh Hashanah ticked away, 13-year-old Leo Goldberger was hiding, along with his parents and three brothers, in the thick brush along the shore of Dragor, a small fishing village south of Copenhagen. The year was 1943, and the Goldbergers, like thousands of other Danish Jews, were desperately trying to escape an imminent Nazi roundup.
“Finally, after what seemed like an excruciatingly long wait, we saw our signal offshore,” Goldberger later recalled. His family “strode straight into the ocean and waded through three or four feet of icy water until we were hauled aboard a fishing boat” and covered themselves “with smelly canvases.” Shivering and frightened, but grateful, the Goldberger family soon found itself in the safety and freedom of neighboring Sweden.
For years, the Allied leaders had insisted that nothing could be done to rescue Jews from the Nazis except to win the war. But in one extraordinary night, 70 years ago next month, the Danish people exploded that myth and changed history.
When the Nazis occupied Denmark during the Holocaust in 1940, the Danes put up little resistance. As a result, the German authorities agreed to let the Danish government continue functioning with greater autonomy than other occupied countries. They also postponed taking steps against Denmark’s 8,000 Jewish citizens.
In the late summer of 1943, amid rising tensions between the occupation regime and the Danish government, the Nazis declared martial law and decided the time had come to deport Danish Jews to the death camps. But Georg Duckwitz, a German diplomat in Denmark, leaked the information to Danish friends. Duckwitz was later honored by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. As word of the Germans’ plans spread, the Danish public responded with a spontaneous nationwide grassroots effort to help the Jews.
The Danes’ remarkable response gave rise to the legend that King Christian X himself rode through the streets of Copenhagen on horseback, wearing a yellow Star of David, and that the citizens of the city likewise donned the star in solidarity with the Jews.
The story may have had its origins in a political cartoon that appeared in a Swedish newspaper in 1942. It showed King Christian pointing to a Star of David and declaring that if the Nazis imposed it upon the Jews of Demark, “then we must all wear the star.” Leon Uris’s novel Exodus, and the movie based on that book, helped spread the legend. But subsequent investigations by historians have concluded that the story is a myth.
A midnight escape
On Rosh Hashanah—which fell on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in 1943—and the days that followed, numerous Danish Christian families hid Jews from Holocaust persecution in their homes or farms, and then smuggled them to the seashore late at night. From there, fishermen took them across the Kattegat Straits to neighboring Sweden. This three-week operation had the strong support of Danish church leaders, who used their pulpits to urge aid to the Jews, as well as Danish universities, which shut down so that students could assist the smugglers. More than 7,000 Danish Jews reached Sweden and were sheltered there until the end of the war.
Esther Finkler, a young newlywed, was hidden, together with her husband and their mothers, in a greenhouse. “At night, we saw the [German] searchlights sweeping back and forth throughout the neighborhood,” as the Nazis hunted for Jews, Esther later recalled. One evening, a member of the Danish Underground arrived and drove the four “through streets saturated with Nazi stormtroopers,” to a point near the shore.
There they hid in an underground shelter, and then in the attic of a bakery, until finally they were brought to a beach, where they boarded a small fishing vessel together with other Jewish refugees. “There were nine of us, lying down on the deck or the floor,” Esther said. “The captain covered us with fishing nets. When everyone had been properly concealed, the fishermen started the boat, and as the motor started to run, so did my pent-up tears.”
Then, suddenly, trouble. “The captain began to sing and whistle nonchalantly, which puzzled us. Soon we heard him shouting in German toward a passing Nazi patrol boat: ‘Wollen sie einen beer haben?’ (Would you like a beer?)—a clever gimmick designed to avoid the Germans’ suspicions. After three tense hours at sea, we heard shouting: ‘Get up! Get up! And welcome to Sweden!’ It was hard to believe, but we were now safe. We cried and the Swedes cried with us as they escorted as ashore. The nightmare was over,” Esther recalled.
‘It can be done’
The implications of the Danish rescue operation resonated strongly in the United States. The Roosevelt administration had long insisted that rescue of Jews from the Nazis was not possible. The refugee advocates known as the Bergson Group began citing the escape of Denmark’s Jews as evidence that if the Allies were sufficiently interested, ways could be found to save many European Jews.
The Bergson Group sponsored a series of full-page newspaper advertisements about the Danish-Swedish effort, headlined “It Can Be Done!” On Oct. 31, thousands of New Yorkers jammed Carnegie Hall for the Bergson Group’s “Salute to Sweden and Denmark” rally.
Keynote speakers included members of Congress, Danish and Swedish diplomats, and one of the biggest names in Hollywood—Orson Welles, director of “Citizen Kane” and “The War of the Worlds.” In another coup for the Bergson Group, one of the speakers was Leon Henderson, one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s own former economic advisers (Henderson had headed the White House’s Office of Price Administration).
In blunt language that summed up the tragedy—and the hope—Henderson declared: “The Allied Governments have been guilty of moral cowardice. The issue of saving the Jewish people of Europe has been avoided, submerged, played down, hushed up, resisted with all the forms of political force that are available… Sweden and Denmark have proved the tragedy of Allied indecision… The Danes and Swedes have shown us the way… If this be a war for civilization, then most surely this is the time to be civilized!”
Dr. Rafael Medoff is director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, in Washington, D.C. His latest book is “FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith.”
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The Prime Minister of Israel
Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks at the conclusion of his meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry today (Sunday, 15 September 2013):

"We have been closely following – and support – your ongoing efforts to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. The Syrian regime must be stripped of all its chemical weapons, and that would make our entire region a lot safer.

The world needs to ensure that radical regimes don't have weapons of mass destruction because as we've learned once again in Syria, if rogue regimes have weapons of mass destruction, they will use them. The determination the international community shows regarding Syria will have a direct impact on the Syrian regime's patron, Iran. Iran must understand the consequences of its continual defiance of the international community, by its pursuit towards nuclear weapons.

What the past few days have shown is something that I have been saying for quite some time, that if diplomacy has any chance to work, it must be coupled with a credible military threat. What is true of Syria is true of Iran, and, by the way, vice versa.

John, I appreciate the opportunity we've had to discuss at some length our quest for peace with the Palestinians and the ongoing talks. We both know that this road is not an easy one, but we have embarked on this effort with you in order to succeed, to bring about a historic reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians that ends the conflict once and for all."

Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO
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Said Obama: 

'My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn’t draw a lesson that we haven’t struck [Syria] to think we won’t strike Iran … My view is that if you have both a credible threat of force, combined with a rigorous diplomatic effort, that, in fact you can you can strike a deal.’

‘A credible threat of force’? What’s he been smoking?

This incredible self-delusion is at a commensurate level with the incalculable damage this man has done to the interests of America and the west and the increased danger in which he has placed the world. The dithering over Syria, and dilution of that threat of force to ‘unbelievably small, limited’ (John Kerry), not to mention the trumpeted advance warning of these ‘unbelievably small, limited’ strikes so that Assad has had time to move his chemical weapons to at least 50 sites (including Iraq, where the Syrian Islamists claim that, guess what, some of this stuff was exported to Syria by Saddam pre the 2003 war, the suspicion some of us have so often aired in response to the imbecilic ‘no WMD were found so that proves there never were any WMD’ mantra) have now made any threat of force ever by Obama’s America into a global joke.
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<Why leftie hate campaigns by the likes of GetUp and Destroy The Joint have been a stunning success! Alan Jones' ratings increased. Tony Abbott now elected PM with 30 plus seat majority. >
<i>Illustration: Simon Letch</i>
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"The military spokesman said the armed forces seized a stock of weapons in Sinai and arrested 309 people involved in recent violence. Two explosive devices under a control tower on the border with Gaza were also found, he said, according to Al Arabiya.

“We also seized military uniforms which were used by Hamas,” Ali said, adding that the army recently destroyed more than 154 tunnels on the border with Gaza.

He added that the military confiscated a number of munitions, including hand grenades bearing the stamp of the Ezzeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm." - Elad Benari
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Larry Pickering
A SYRIAN SOLUTION... and the KGB ‘action man’ outwits Obama

UK PM Cameron took the “bomb Syria” solution to Parliament and was handed a flat “no”. Obama tried to convince Congress and was failing dismally... he was left out on a limb, so with KGB guile, Putin positioned himself for a bloodless slam dunk. 

No sane US Administration would seriously consider bombing Damascus... or would it? Of course it’s a crazy concept that could cause more ‘collateral damage’ than deaths by gas.

Would Cruise missiles be aimed at suspected stockpiles of sarin gas? Crumbs, I hope not. That would be really stupid and they have no idea where they are anyway.

Would Syria’s allies simply sit back and watch the fireworks? Don’t think so. Would Israel be showered with more rockets? That’s likely. Would US enemies in the Middle-East be galvanised into action? Certainly would.

And when the dust settles after this proposed US attack? Well, the chemicals would still be there, Assad would still be there, the civil war would still be raging, more people would have died, Russia would be even more off-side and the whole of the Middle East would be even more of a powder keg than it is now!

History shows whoever has the biggest gun doesn’t necessarily win the battle. Battles are won with brains, not guns... as the US learnt in the Vietnam war and the UK learnt in the Zulu war.

Secretary of State Kerry was clearly caught on the hop when the diminutive Putin suggested that Assad might agree to surrender all his chemical weapons (he had obviously cleared that with Assad first).

Kerry was publicly put on the spot and naturally had to agree, he had no choice!

Had he equivocated, action man was ready with this question: “So, what exactly are you trying to do in Syria? Test your new weaponry or eradicate Assad’s chemicals? Because you can’t bomb sarin gas.”

Then comes Putin’s masterstroke! He appeals to US citizens through an article in the New York Times, setting out his case and slamming the US Administration.

Obama folds and, Voila, Vladamir Putin becomes the dictator of US foreign policy while Obama sulks in humiliation.

Sometimes an active mind is mightier than the guided missile.
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The nearly 100-page report concludes that the State Department’s internal review board – called the Accountability Review Board, or ARB – was flawed.

The State Department review of the Benghazi terror attack let senior officials off the hook for the policy decisions that led to sub-standard security at the U.S. compound in eastern Libya, according to a draft House committee report obtained by Fox News.
The nearly 100-page report concludes that the State Department’s internal review board -- called the Accountability Review Board, or ARB -- was flawed. The report by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee alleges the board’s probe was not comprehensive, its interviews were not thorough, and the investigation itself may have been damaged by conflicts of interest.
A central finding is that the department, as a result of the board’s findings, meted out discipline to four mid-level officials (who were later re-instated anyway), but the board glossed over the actions and decisions of senior-level officials. The report claims the internal review identified many of the security problems with the Benghazi compound, while ignoring who was behind the policy decisions that led to them.
Specifically, the report points to the authorization by Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy to continue operating the ad hoc compound in Benghazi. The interim report found that a December 2011 action memo, prepared by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and signed off on by Kennedy, green-lighted the operation. Witnesses told Republican investigators that this decision to run the operation on an ad hoc basis was largely responsible for the inadequate security presence on the ground in Benghazi, not money. 
The report also noted that it’s unclear which other senior leaders were involved in this decision but said it is likely, based on email evidence, that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s views played a role in the decision-making.
None of the four State Department employees who were disciplined after the ARB was released in December, and later re-instated by Secretary of State John Kerry in August, were responsible for making policy. The draft states that the use of administrative leave was meant to leave the impression of accountability.
A review of congressional testimony and internal State Department memos by Fox News in June found that the policy decision to maintain a presence in Benghazi with substandard security was made at the most senior levels of the State Department by officials who have so far escaped blame -- including Feltman, Kennedy and Clinton.
The draft interim report, which was produced by the Republican majority, states clearly that Clinton wanted to extend the Benghazi operation. I reported that several officials within the Near Eastern Affairs office recalled Clinton's desire to leave the operation in place once the primary diplomatic facility in Tripoli was re-opened. 
In the summer of 2012, as security conditions unraveled, with documented attacks on western facilities, a State Department officer who served on the Libya desk said Kennedy was asked about the mission's future, and Kennedy said he would first have to check with Clinton. Based on a conversation between Ambassador Chris Stevens – who was later killed in the attack -- and Clinton, Stevens’ deputy Greg Hicks testified it was the former secretary of State's personal goal to have a permanent operation in Benghazi.
State Department Assistant Secretary of State Douglas Frantz said Sunday that the ARB's and State Department's response to Benghazi has been "thorough and transparent."
"In fact, it set a new standard for transparency measured by tens of thousands of pages of documents turned over to Congress, testimony in public and closed hearings and a declassified report for the public," he said. "To suggest anything has been hidden or that accountability has been averted requires willful ignorance of these facts." 
“Twisting the facts to advance a political agenda does a disservice to those who lost their lives and those who have devoted the past year to understanding what happened and implementing security procedures to make certain it does not happen again," Frantz added. "The ARB report did not find that any individual willfully ignored his or her responsibilities or engaged in misconduct; it did not find that anyone breached his or her duty so as to be subject to termination or other discipline.  It did, however, identify leadership deficiencies on the part of four employees"
Jenn Hoffman, the communications director for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats, called the report's claims "unsubstantiated accusations."
“This Republican report is not an official Committee report, but rather a completely partisan staff report that the Chairman apparently did not want Committee Members to see before he leaked it to the press. Rather than focusing on the reforms recommended by the ARB, Republicans have politicized the investigation by engaging in a systematic effort to launch unsubstantiated accusations against the Pentagon, the State Department, the President, and now the ARB itself," she said.
But the draft report said that there were problems with the internal review.
As one example, the co-chairman of the ARB Ambassador Thomas Pickering told investigators that his team had the authority to conduct depositions, and the authority to issue subpoenas. But the Board never used these authorities, instead relying heavily on group and individual interviews.
While the ARB placed blamed on the State Department Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs for "systemic leadership and management deficiencies," the NEA's second in command was only interviewed once, in a group setting.  Adm. Mike Mullen, the other co-chairman of the ARB, was asked by congressional investigators why the second in command was not more thoroughly questioned, and according to the draft, Mullen said the official did not seem to bear significant responsibility.
The draft interim report also concluded that the State Department's unwillingness to provide the working documents from the ARB made an independent assessment by the congressional committee difficult. Rather than record or transcribe interviews, the ARB relied on summaries. Mullen said he found the summaries to be accurate.
As for an alleged conflict of interest, the interim draft states that Kennedy, whom the interim report found to bear significant responsibility for the Benghazi policy, oversaw the selection of the ARB staff.  Mullen told investigators he considered the staff's familiarity with the State Department to be useful. But in at least one instance, Cheryl Mills, who was Clinton's chief of staff, was given advance warning that her questioning before the ARB would be rough.
The interim report states that members of the House oversight committee, led by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., will sharpen its focus on the senior State Department officials who drove the policy decisions in Benghazi. 
The failure to affix blame above the assistant secretary level could impact future decisions on "expeditionary diplomacy" where diplomats are now operating in areas they would have pulled out of a decade ago.  Critics have accused the Obama administration of favoring a light footprint which does not reflect the security conditions on the ground.
The draft interim findings will be released early next week. The House oversight committee has hearings scheduled for Sept. 19. 
Fox News' James Rosen contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/16/state-departments-benghazi-review-let-senior-officials-off-hook-report-finds/#ixzz2f3KKh6rV
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WE GOT IT WRONG ON WARMING, SAY IPCC
Oops, only a trillion dollar mistake. 

No-one will ever know what new products, what new processes or what medical breakthroughs will have failed to come into existence, killed before they were born, because of the diversion of our nation’s precious and limited resources, because some held the IPCC’s now failed predictions as gospel.

No-one will ever be able to compute the price that we all will pay for following these mistaken predictions, and how this has kept our standard of living lower than it would otherwise have been.

I wonder if they will now issue an apology. Saying 'Sorry' would be nice start.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/we-got-it-wrong-on-warming-says-ipcc/story-e6frg8y6-1226719672318
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
God loves, God leads, God hears and God speaks. God knows, God sees and God cares about you and me.
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On Justice, Judge Jeanine Pirro criticized President Obama’s lack of leadership when it comes to handling Syria. “We are now going to rely on Russia to dissolve the chemical weapons dilemma in Syria?!”
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35kc5t.jpg
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Undeniable proof that MSNBC is completely and totally delusional.
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"Al-Nusra Front, the jihadist Syrian rebel group that has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda....."

Al-Nusra Front, the jihadist Syrian rebel group that has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda, said on Sunday that its fighters attacked three villages in Syria's Homs province and killed dozens of Alawites five days earlier.
“The people's wall of fear has been broken, as this was the first time these villages were entered and such a high number was killed,” the group said in a statement published on a jihadist forum and quoted by the AFP news agency.
Al-Nusra said its fighters entered the villages of Massudiyeh, Maksar al-Hissan and Jab al-Jerah on Tuesday and killed 30 members of the Alawite community, to which President Bashar Al-Assad's clan belongs.
The statement said Al-Nusra members were urged by an Islamic jurist “to kill the Nusairis, enemies of God”, using a pejorative term for Alawites.
The attack was “in revenge for the killing in cold blood of Muslims and their women in Eastern Ghouta” near Damascus, where the opposition claims 1,400 people were killed in a chemical weapons attack on August 21.
The statement comes just several weeks after Al-Nusra vowed revenge strikes against villages from the Alawite community over the chemicalweapons attack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported this week on the attack, saying that 12 civilians were killed, before updating its toll on Sunday to 22 civilians killed in Maksar al-Hissan.
It said among them were 16 Alawites, including four above the age of 80 and four children aged between nine and 12, reported AFP.
The watchdog said five soldiers loyal to Assad were also killed.
The region, mostly home to Alawites and Bedouins, has been largely free of fighting over the past year.
Other areas of Homs province have seen some of the fiercest fighting in Syria's 30-month war.
Members of Al-Nusra and other rebel groups have committed atrocities during the Syrian civil war, including publicly beheading a Catholic priest who was accused of collaborating with Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.
Al-Nusra was once was the largest faction in the Islamist Front for the Liberation of Syria (ISIS), the 13-member rebel coalition that broke awayfrom the main opposition force and has declared its own Islamic state in Aleppo.

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Police say nothing was taken from him even though they say Jackson had cased the parking lot looking for a victim.
Police say the gunman rode up to Pilotos’s car on a bicycle and pulled out his weapon and shot him. It happened in the parking lot of the supermarket at Northwest 137th Street and Northwest 27th Avenue.
Truly disgusting case – he didn’t take anything, and just looked for someone to murder. Like a coward, he didn’t even have the guts to look the victim in the eye, and chose an elderly man.
Here’s a quick takeaway – there’s a lot of laws like California’s “three strikes you’re out” criminal policy that enforces minimum sentencing standards. These are controversial because some criminals are incarcerated after some minor infractions. This case provides the counterbalancing argument:
Authorities say he was arrested for burglary in Miami Gardens and for burglary, display of a firearm and aggravated battery in Opa-Locka in May. They say he was arrested for possessing cocaine in September of 2011 and in April of 2011, he was arrested by School Board police for battery on a law enforcement officer.
With that history at age seventeen, this thug is still walking around? What’s more, his age will gain him some lenience:
“He’s a juvenile and he cannot under Florida law receive the death penalty if convicted,” said Vereen. “The state must go to the Grand Jury to get an indictment for first-degree murder. It can direct file second-degree murder charges.”
This egregious crime is one that could have been prevented by stricter minimum sentencing laws. The victim was a Cuban refugee. Imagine that – he escaped a Communist dictatorship only to be murdered by a cowardly thug in a parking lot.
UPDATE: The suspected murderer Jamal Jackson was arrested by police due to a tip to Miami-Dade Crimestoppers and is awaiting trial without bond.
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Aftermath of the 1920 Wall Street bombing
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“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4:16 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings."
Psalm 112:7
Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to; they have never proved his faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear: but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess?
Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are, you would, doubtless, be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances. The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God; they murmur, and think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?
Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea, "Stand still and see the salvation of God." For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God's high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and desponding, as if you had none to help you, magnify the Most High? Then take courage, and relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God, "let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Evening

"A people near unto him."
Psalm 148:14
The dispensation of the old covenant was that of distance. When God appeared even to his servant Moses, he said, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet"; and when he manifested himself upon Mount Sinai, to his own chosen and separated people, one of the first commands was, "Thou shalt set bounds about the mount." Both in the sacred worship of the tabernacle and the temple, the thought of distance was always prominent. The mass of the people did not even enter the outer court. Into the inner court none but the priests might dare to intrude; while into the innermost place, or the holy of holies, the high priest entered but once in the year. It was as if the Lord in those early ages would teach man that sin was so utterly loathsome to him, that he must treat men as lepers put without the camp; and when he came nearest to them, he yet made them feel the width of the separation between a holy God and an impure sinner. When the gospel came, we were placed on quite another footing. The word "Go" was exchanged for "Come"; distance was made to give place to nearness, and we who aforetime were afar off, were made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. Incarnate Deity has no wall of fire about it. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," is the joyful proclamation of God as he appears in human flesh. Not now does he teach the leper his leprosy by setting him at a distance, but by himself suffering the penalty of his defilement. What a state of safety and privilege is this nearness to God through Jesus! Do you know it by experience? If you know it, are you living in the power of it? Marvellous is this nearness, yet it is to be followed by a dispensation of greater nearness still, when it shall be said, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and he doth dwell among them." Hasten it, O Lord.
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Today's reading: Proverbs 22-24, 2 Corinthians 8 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Proverbs 22-24

1 A good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
2 Rich and poor have this in common:
The LORD is the Maker of them all.
3 The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
4 Humility is the fear of the LORD;
its wages are riches and honor and life.
5 In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls,
but those who would preserve their life stay far from them.
6 Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it....

Today's New Testament reading: 2 Corinthians 8

The Collection for the Lord's People
1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord's people. 5And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 6So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you-see that you also excel in this grace of giving....
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Obed

[Ō'bed] - worshiper or a servant who worships.
  1. Son of Boaz, by Ruth, and better than ten sons to her, since through Obed she became an ancestress of Jesus Christ (Ruth 4:17-22; 1 Chron. 2:12; Matt. 1:5; Luke 3:32).
  2. Son of Ephlal, descendant of Judah (1 Chron. 2:37, 38).
  3. One of David's valiant men (1 Chron. 11:47).
  4. A son of Shemaiah, a gatekeeper at the Tabernacle in David's time (1 Chron. 26:7).
  5. Father of Azariah, in the time of Athaliah (2 Chron. 23:1).
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