Thursday, October 15, 2015

Thu Oct 15th Todays News

The anti Israel meme which is promoted by the left is still embraced by many who hate Jews, because bigots in the past did too. And it highlights how bad education is in Australia that there is room in the curriculum to promote such bigotry. Israel is a modern democratic state that is not solely inhabited by Jewish peoples but by all peoples. Islamic people in Israel have more safety and prosperity than anywhere else in the world. Also Jewish peoples. But Jewish peoples are not safe in the Middle East, or in large swathes of Europe dominated by Islamic refugees. And that is not due to any fault of Jews. 

 Last year, Peter Costello wrote
What I’ve said is that this is a country, which is founded on a democracy. According to our Constitution, we have a secular state. Our laws are made by the Australian Parliament. If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you. This is not the kind of country where you would feel comfortable if you were opposed to democracy, parliamentary law, independent courts and so I would say to people who don’t feel comfortable with those values there might be other countries where they’d feel more comfortable with their own values or beliefs. 
But under a new PM, we have bad apologies 
Liberal MP Fiona Scott claims she was taken out of context when she said there had only been one little incident of terrorism over 100 years in Australia.
In a late-night address to parliament, the western Sydney MP said her comments on Sky News last week were not referring to the recent Parramatta shooting in which police worker Curtis Cheng was killed, but an incident in Broken Hill, NSW, over a century ago.
“Perhaps in 20/20 hindsight I could have chosen my words slightly better ... I am sorry if people have taken my words out of context,” she said on Wednesday. 
One wonders what context might make those inappropriate words worthwhile. 

 For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2014 ===
Should I stay or Should I go?
All organisations need talent to prosper. Jarryd Hayne is one of the most talented players ever to play for the NRL. He has been hampered by playing for a low ranking club, and he has been short changed by the ARL not deciding on awarding him the player of the year on his own, but he has nothing left to prove. And at 26 years of age, super fit and talented, he has a big future, much bigger than small pond ARL. A bigger organisation is the ARU and the case of Kurtley Beale. Beale has done nothing wrong in using social media, but has been imprudent, and that threatens his career. But the ARU is very low at the moment. The coach, McKenzie has got the team to play much better than they have without much reward. The way forward is for Beale to play well on the field. A bigger organisation than either ARL or ARU is the NSW National Party, whose leader, Andrew Stoner, is stepping aside for family reasons. Stoner has been an excellent leader for the Nationals, leading them in coalition into government in 2011 after sixteen years. Stoner could have chosen to help, over the Hamidur Rahman issue. He didn't, but he is not an abuser. The Conservative Weasel wishes him well. 

It's the end of the world as we know it
A freak weather occurrence has hit Sydney, a category two cyclone. It is cold and wet, except in nearby Blue Mountains where it is cold and snowy. Last year, forest fires were proclaimed by AGW hysterics as proof the world is warming to hell. Regardless of the finger of blame, some are suffering and one hopes that diverted misappropriated funds to AGW alarmist issues don't hamper rescue efforts. The ALP have a policy of making children pay for such things by borrowing unsustainably. But a research paper has been produced that has stunned AGW believers: Carbon Dioxide, aka plant food, is plant food .. and plants are absorbing it. A tax designed to reduce Carbon Dioxide, which ALP Leader Shorten calls 'Carbon,' would starve plants, but achieve nothing worthwhile. 

When the left hand does not know what it is doing
Gillard used to be known as an elite policy producer for the ALP. She was said to have a razor sharp mind as well as an easy manner. Maybe she is easy, she has never crossed paths since she promised to discuss or help on an issue of policy on Sunrise in '07. But tragically her memory is failing her. She possesses so many other attributes of an elephant, but not memory. She might have been remembering her rhetoric when criticising Mr Howard over Tampa, but she was wrong in fact. She can't recall how she misappropriated money as a lawyer. She also has failed to correctly recall a conference incident in which her pride wasn't really hurt, but she *felt* it more keenly than an Enterprise empath. Maybe her failing memory is policy? It doesn't take much for members of the left to take hurt. They prize victimhood. But the social media effort to ban a Woolworth t-shirt which was marked "If you don't love it here you can leave" as well as the Australian flag, is outrageous. It is legitimate for nationalists to be proud, and the opposition to nationalism is allowed to say so in a free society, but wrong to silence the nationalists under a false label of racism. In fact racist bigots have used the expression on people the left wish to protect. A jihadist who is fighting against Australian troops was on disability, and had come to Australia as a so called asylum seeker. It is wrong to call every muslim a terrorist, but it is also wrong to call every nationalist a bigot. The effort is to gag free speech, and tragically the left are very good at doing that. And so an advert featuring journalist Andrew Bolt among others for a News Corp app makes the left choke.

Choices they make
The ANU has chosen to divest itself of profitable funds which activists don't like. The ANU is free to choose as it will, but should not be rewarded with tax payer money for making bad ones. A pro abortion rally prominently displayed a sign calling for others to kill babies. Incitement to kill is not free speech. There are arguments for and against abortion. It is a necessary life saving procedure, but it should not be a lifestyle choice. One abortion advocate risibly claimed she would abort her child on a set, soon, date, and declared it was her choice. There are alternatives which she failed to list, as tunnel vision on her end, listed quality of life excuses. Oscar Pistorius chose to kill his girlfriend on Valentines Day and, possibly to forestall a civil suit, paid blood money to her parents. One hopes he is jailed for a long time. 
From 2013
ALP get good advice, will they take it? Anna Burke complains bitterly at ALP unity, as she isn't the one. Williamson pleads guilty .. people will do anything to stay in the ALP. Albanese almost overturned apple cart. Flannery finds ALP support. Shorten might not know where ALP leaders come from. Fingers begin pointing regarding NBN blow outs. 
Candy with pollution? You don't eat it, you sequester it. Senate to vote on pollution before end of the year. Bananas are deadlier than Fukushima? Melting glacier shows world was warmer 1400 years ago

ALP support so far down, now Marxists are marching for ALP causes. 
Palmer losing lots of cash. Disability fraud found, dating from Sydney Olympics.
=== 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, September, October, 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. 

List of available items at Create Space
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
===
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 Sokuntheary Pok, Mattia Roland Galliani and Falzaabi Alzaabi. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
70 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (d. 19 BC)
1265 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan-China (d. 1307)
1608 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist (d. 1647)
1762 – Samuel Adams Holyoke, American composer and educator (d. 1820)
1844 – Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher (d. 1900)
1858 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer (d. 1918)
1881 – P. G. Wodehouse, English author (d. 1975)
1906 – Hiram Fong, American politician (d. 2004)
1946 – Richard Carpenter, American singer-songwriter and pianist (The Carpenters)
2005 – Prince Christian of Denmark
October 15: Shemini Atzeret begins at sunset (Judaism, 2014)
Edward Gibbon
You are inspired. You captured Glasgow. Dreyfus was not acting innocent. You dance exotically. Your eyes are Hazel. Lets party. 
Deaths
===

TAKE HER OUT OF PARLIAMENT

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 15, 2015 (10:02am)

Liberal MP Fiona Scott claims she was taken out of context when she said there had only been one little incident of terrorism over 100 years in Australia.
In a late-night address to parliament, the western Sydney MP said her comments on Sky News last week were not referring to the recent Parramatta shooting in which police worker Curtis Cheng was killed, but an incident in Broken Hill, NSW, over a century ago.
“Perhaps in 20/20 hindsight I could have chosen my words slightly better ... I am sorry if people have taken my words out of context,” she said on Wednesday. 
For context purposes, here, once again, is Scott’s entire interview.
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SAINT PAUL

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 15, 2015 (9:52am)

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THE RULES

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 15, 2015 (9:14am)

Society is governed as much by manners and convention as it is by laws. There is no law, for example, preventing people from barging to the front of a railway station ticket queue, nor is there a law against refusing to leave the pitch when given out in cricket.
Manners and convention, however, largely prevent such unpleasant behaviour. And, on the rare occasions when those unwritten laws are broken, hostility towards the wrongdoer generally ensures there is no repeat offence.
(Continue reading The Rules.)
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Some context

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (5:34pm)

For The Age and a Muslim convert, these rude emails are a huge story, telling of an ugly Islamophobia:
If Monique Toohey [a Muslim] needed proof of the point she was making when she met a group of Labor MPs on Wednesday, it came within seconds of Tanya Plibersek tweeting a picture of the encounter.
Ms Toohey was shown arguing for a change in the tone of Australia’s conversation about the threat posed by violent extremism and how best to de-radicalise young alienated Muslims.
“When will you learn?” the two MPs who facilitated the dialogue, Victorians Clare O’Neil and Joanne Ryan, were lectured in one tweeted response. “Muslim women do what their men tell them to do.”

“That’s never happened to me before on Twitter, ever,” Ms O’Neil said later of the 20 negative comments, several of them vile and offensive, that came almost immediately. “What about the GANG RAPES? BAN ISLAM NOW,” was among the first responses.
This is worth a story in The Age? Then send the whole features department round to talk to me. From today’s mailbag:
image
A little less victimology would serve some Muslim representatives better. 
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No, Islam is not as meek as Christianity

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (5:30pm)



MALCOLM Turnbull is very right to reach out to Australian Muslims. He is wrong, though, to tell untruths to non-Muslims. And the Prime Minister, a Catholic, is particularly wrong to suggest that a key moral teaching of Christianity — a “golden rule” — is that of Islam, too.
Last week Turnbull urged “mutual respect” between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians, even though most of the disrespect so far — as measured by bomb plots, sieges and attacks on police — seem to come from the extremist Muslim side.
Still, mutual respect is indeed critical if we’re not going to kill each other, so give Turnbull credit for at least winning the trust of many Muslim leaders.
But to back his appeal he added this: “Every religion, every faith, every moral doctrine, understands the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
First, an apology. I’m going to quote Christian and Islamic scripture.
Heavy, I know. But too many of us have forgotten how Christianity shaped our society, and are blind to how the Koran created radically different societies.
If we don’t understand those things, we’re clueless in dealing with the cultural clash we’ve so recklessly imported into our own suburbs.
What Turnbull claims is the “Golden Rule” of all faiths is in fact a direct quotation from just one — from the Christians’ New Testament.
(Read full article here.) 
===

Defending free speech - and sticking with a Liberal promise

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (4:19pm)

Liberal Senator Zed Seselja is one of the few in his party who dares to defend free speech:
Another conservative senator has declared he will cross the floor in support of a bill to water down the Racial Discrimination Act, invoking Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s own words to justify his rebellion.

This means more than half a dozen government senators would now cross the floor should the issue came to a vote.

Liberal senator Zed Seselja told the Senate on Thursday that the current act, which makes it an offence to “insult” or “offend” someone on the basis of their race, was too subjective for a court to decide…

A compromise bill has been put forward by senator Bob Day after the Coalition dumped it’s own promise to repeal Section 18C of the act.
The compromise would make it no longer an offence to offend or insult a person on the basis of their race.  It would remain unlawful to humiliate or intimidate a person or group of people based on their race or ethnicity.
From Seselja’s speech:
I still remember clearly going off to Croatian lessons and being ridiculed for being different – I remember being called Wog or Dago. I had much darker skin then compared to now, and I vividly remember being called black as a derogatory term…
And as I’ve considered the merits of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, I’ve reflected on my experiences… Could or should the Act have been used to help school kids like me dealing with bigotry?
My answer to these questions is no…
First, I passionately believe in free speech… I believe it is an absolutely foundational right and it is from the right to life and free speech that all other freedoms flow…
I’ve also considered how different ethnic groups in the past responded to prejudice – not through the law, but with humour.  Wogs Out of Work and Acropolis Now were some of the responses of southern Europeans to the negative labels they sometimes received…

I’d also make the point in passing that much of the ethnic ribbing that was part of my life growing up was a good natured two-way dig. Part of the long standing Australian irreverent character which most immigrants to this country have adopted and embraced.
But, again, sometimes the labels did hurt. But when I consider the question of whether a law like 18C of the racial discrimination act could have been used for me or others growing up even if I’d wanted to – my answer again is no.
And that’s because, like with many laws of this type, you have to have significant means and ability to bring such a matter to court. And that means you get laws being used by activist organisations and powerful lobby groups to score political points, rather than helping real, day to day, vulnerable people.
Also, It seems to me that by encouraging individuals and groups to settle their differences in court over this issue of offensive speech, we further entrench divisions in our community between ethnic and racial groups, rather than creating an atmosphere where we settle our differences with open debate, goodwill and even humour.
A law designed to unite can in fact divide…
In August 2012, a year before the election of the Coalition Government, Tony Abbott said:

“… a ‘hurt feelings’ test is impossible to comply with while maintaining the fearless pursuit of truth, which should be the hallmark of a society such as ours."…
But we know that the Government made the decision to put this reform to the side… And then, when Senator Day proposed an alternative compromise for reform of the Act that simply struck out the words ‘insult’ and ‘offend’ the then Communications Minister, now Prime Minister Turnbull said he was “very comfortable” with the proposal and did not foresee “any negative impact”.
But we haven’t matched those words with deeds. 

The full speech:

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Defending free speech - and sticking with a Liberal promise'
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Turnbull socks it to Shorten over his shabby envy politics

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (3:29pm)

Labor’s stupid badgering over Malcolm Turnbull’s tax arrangements is purely about the politics of envy. They want voters to hate Turnbull simply for being rich.
Labor leader Bill Shorten made that clear enough today, even while being questioned for his seeming hypocrisy:
Bill Shorten has argued Labor’s focus on Malcolm Turnbull’s investment in funds registered in the Cayman Islands is not about any allegation of criminality, but whether leaders can understand the plight of ordinary Australians....
On Thursday, Shorten was asked about his own superannuation account with Australian Super. The super fund’s website indicates 1.29% of its holdings are in Tencent Holdings Ltd, which is incorporated and registered in the Cayman Islands.
Shorten said there “couldn’t be a bigger gap or difference between Malcolm Turnbull and his millions of dollars sent to the Cayman Islands and the superannuation of ordinary Australians"…
“No one is saying, none of my colleagues have said, anything illegal has occurred....
It’s a question of the sort of leadership that we expect in this country. Australians want to know that their leaders understand what they are doing, the lives they are leading…
“Theoretically on paper everyone could put $1m into the Cayman Islands. The issue is most people don’t have that...”
How pathetic. Turnbull pays tax in Australia on his earnings. If he invested in the US instead, some of those taxes would be paid there instead.
Today Turnbull cut loose on this “shabby smear campaign” with a great reply - despite the waffles:
Lucy and I have been very fortunate in our lives. We have more wealth than most Australians, that is true. That is absolutely true. We’ve worked hard, we’ve paid our taxes, we’ve given back.
I don’t believe that my wealth, or frankly most people’s wealth, is entirely a function of hard work. Of course hard work is important but, you know, there are taxi drivers that work harder than I ever have and they don’t have much money. There are cleaners that work much harder than I ever have or you ever have and they don’t have much money…

This country is built upon hard work, people having a go and enterprise. Some of us will be more successful than others, some of us are fortunate in the turn of business, some of us are fortunate in the intellect we inherit from our parents… There is a lot of luck in life and that’s why all of us should say, when we see somebody less fortunate then ourselves, ‘There but for the grace of God goes me’....
If the Honourable Member wants to go round wearing a sandwich board saying, ‘Malcolm Turnbull’s got a lot of money,’ feel free. I think people know that.

Whack. Good on him. 
===

Neil Brown on the coup: “wrong, unprincipled and unnecessary”

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (1:47pm)

image
From the latest Spectator Australia, in all good news agencies, this lament from former deputy Liberal leader Neil Brown, a man of honor:
Why, then, the delay in commenting on this new era, you ask? Well, because, to be honest, I was saddened by the coup and remain so. I find it hard to forgive and harder to forget. Abbott was and is a good and decent person with the highest principles and he deserved better than to be cut down by his own side. He particularly deserved better from his loyal Deputy, the ministers he promoted, the backbenchers he tirelessly worked for and the party he lifted from despair, gave it some backbone and led it into government. But then, some of the conspirators had such low opinions of themselves that their votes could be bought for the most humble of offices; talk of selling yourself short…
So what was the reason for dumping a prime minister in such a common and vulgar way, before the electorate had a chance to make its own judgment? Certainly not because of his policies. Abbott’s emphasis on the economy, protecting our borders with uncompromising rigour, warning against the real threat of Islamic terrorism, reducing the tax burden, encouraging national pride and preserving traditional values, were all, as you would expect, good and decent policies. Moreover, I have no doubt that at the next election, by which time the battlelines would have been starkly drawn, people would have voted for the reliability, security and certainty that Abbott’s government personified, rather than the amorphous waffle that the ALP was bound to offer. In any event, if Abbott’s policies were all so bad, why are they allegedly being continued by his successor? So, let me put it on the record and say that the overthrow of Abbott was wrong, unprincipled and unnecessary.
But what now? Brown’s way is my own:
I cannot automatically support a Turnbull government simply because it is popular today. But persistent criticism will not do, either. It will achieve nothing that is good and will only put the country at risk. Fortunately, there is another and better course. I will support the Turnbull government when it works for and earns that support. It will get it, cheerfully and in large doses, when it promotes free enterprise, defends established institutions, takes a consistent stand on home- grown terrorism, avoids pandering to the Left at any opportunity that might come along and takes the tough decisions on lower taxes and government spending that are so clearly needed. I have to say that the early flirtation with summits and talk fests, where a self appointed few determine national policy, is not a good start. Nor is the apparent reluctance to call domestic Islamic terrorism for what it is.
But read it all in the magazine.  Rowan Dean’s editorials are most excellent, as well. 
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Stabbing attacks continue in Israel

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (6:06am)

Yet another attempted stabbing attack on Jews in Israel:
A man was shot dead by Israeli police Wednesday afternoon after rushing past a checkpoint in an incident caught on camera by an NBC News crew.
At least a dozen shots were fired at the man, who was wearing camouflage pants and appeared to be carrying a weapon in his right hand, after he ran past officers who yelled at him to stop near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.
This could fast get even worse:
Israel’s wave of violence, which has mostly taken place in Jerusalem, got even worse on Tuesday. Palestinians have killed three Israelis and injured up to 22 in attacks using cars, knives, guns, and meat cleavers. A number of Palestinians have died as well. It’s some of the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence outside of Gaza in years.
The influence of religion cannot be denied. But it’s not mentioned here, although other factors seem scarily similar to what we’re seeing here:
Jeremy Pressman [is] a political scientist at the University of Connecticut… Pressman’s research focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the Palestinian intifadas…
The use of that [Temple Mount] dispute by leaders on both sides is a real problem. It’s not like Palestinian leaders have tried to tamp down the idea that Israel is messing with the status quo [where only Muslims can pray on the site]. And while [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has tried to make it clear he’s not interested in changing the status quo, many of the members of his government have not been helpful in the past couple of weeks. So it’s not only the dispute itself, but also the way that policy entrepreneurs have tried to use that dispute to stir things up.
I think a second thing is disaffected Palestinian youth. In the last few days and weeks, a lot of these attacks have been perpetrated by teenagers. There’s clearly a sense of despair: I’m not sure this is always conscious, but part of that despair is driven by the inability of Palestinians to achieve their national goal of self-determination...There are also interrelated economic problems: high unemployment and underemployment on the Palestinian side, for example.
I’d also talk about social media… I saw someone on Twitter today talking about snuff films. The fact that everyone has a camera in their pocket now — you can’t get away from the role that social media is [playing in] helping feed the appetite for this on both sides, and certainly among Palestinian youth.
That makes it difficult for Israel: When you have these young kids without records perpetrating attacks, it’s going to be really difficult to stop.
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Hounding Abbott

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (5:51am)

It’s not enough for the pro-Turnbull camp that Tony Abbott was undermined and then toppled on the eve of a by-election he would have won handsomely.
Niki Savva:

It is sad but true that no former prime minister in modern times, post Menzies, has managed to carve out a successful parliamentary career after losing an election or losing the support of his partyroom.
Not John Gorton, not Billy McMahon, not Gough Whitlam, not Kevin Rudd. Whatever whimsical or vengeful motives they had for staying, or whatever hope they had of rebuilding their political fortunes, the fact is that staying in parliament did nothing to help them restore their reputations or rebuild their lives…
Difficult as life is outside parliament, the sooner the break is made the better, otherwise bitterness sets in and thoughts about who to blame becomes even more distorted…
But even if disaster befalls Turnbull, the Liberal Party will not look backwards, it will go forward… [T]here is always Julie Bishop, Morrison, Christian Porter, Angus Taylor, Kelly O’Dwyer. You get the drift.
Whether Abbott stays or goes is surely now just a matter for him and the voters of his electorate. What is there for others to fear?
I could see Abbott having a very useful and influential role should he choose, say, to be a backbencher with a media profile and a role in various organisations outside Parliament as well. And why not? 
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Islamic State flag flies in the Philippines

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (5:28am)

Now the Islamic State flag is flown by Abu Sayaf terrorists in the Philippines as they parade their new Western hostages:
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Speak no evil, see no evil. Yet the police see more than ever

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (5:26am)

James Morrow on the new meme - that to ignore terrorism is to make it go away:
ABC’s Media Watch ... host Paul Barry ... regularly sets himself up as chief censor, deciding retrospectively what Australians did and didn’t deserve to hear about in the previous week.
Reflecting on the tone of the coverage of the Parramatta terror attack, Barry suggested it was nothing so nuanced as radical Islamists or violent interpretations of holy writ or cowardly zealots who use teenagers to do their dirty work who were responsible, but rather, the press and its damned freedoms.
Too much press coverage (an “avalanche”, in Barry’s words) of terror attacks, as well as the wrong “tone”, is now dangerous, apparently. The “challenge”, Barry concluded, is “to find a balance between telling the truth and not fanning the flames of fear”.
To put it another way, ­according to Barry and his ilk, Australians are a bunch of bigots who on the slightest provocation will start doing doughnuts in the car park of their nearest mosque… Nor has the government discouraged this impulse to self-censor…
But the act is wearing a bit thin. Thus Australians were treated to the unedifying spectacle this week of MP Fiona Scott suggesting that Cheng’s murder was “one little incident” in an otherwise unblemished 100-year history of Islam in Australia. (Scott later backtracked and claimed she was not referring to what happened in Parramatta but rather the Battle of Broken Hill in 1915, which involved two Muslims ­answering the call of the ­Ottoman Sultan to jihad and gunning down four New Year’s Day picnickers, a ­revision which might not help her case as much as she thinks it does.)
The problem with patronising the supposedly knuckle-dragging masses while maintaining a “nothing to see here” attitude when it comes to radical Islam is that as well-intentioned as it may be it widens, rather than narrows, the space in which tensions can arise in the community.
Greg Sheridan defends Turnbull:

The Left has several narratives. One is that young Islamist extremist men who resort to violence have been pushed down this road by the iniquities they face in Australia and our failures as a society. This proposition is so frankly ­ridiculous that its survival — its ubiquity — on the ABC as a near orthodoxy defies common sense. If that were the case then why haven’t non-Muslim youth been affected in the same way? How come every other Western society faces the same youthful jihadist problem, and how is it that Muslim societies themselves produce the vast majority of violent jihadists?…
But there are right-wing narratives that are also foolish. To ­criticise Turnbull for urging ­people not to blame Muslims ­generally for the actions of what remain a very small minority of ­extremists is just silly.
People should not suffer guilt by association, nor guilt by membership of ethnic or religious groups. It is perfectly in order, indeed necessary, for our political leaders to make this point.
Very true, but there is danger of seguing into a faults-on-both-sides moral equivalence and the demanding of concessions from the host community. Already we’ve had our free speech traded away.
Sheridan also seems conflicted between wishing to see Islam as no threat while acknowledging it seems dangerously easy to interpret as licensing violence and hatred:
In the case of Islamist, extremist jihadism, this is an especially difficult case to discuss honestly. It is simply wrong, as well as being offensive, to define Islam as the enemy. By doing so we would define over a billion human beings as the enemy. Not only that, we would repudiate all those Islamic political leaders, like Indonesia’s former president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who spent every day combating Islamist extremism and who declared that such extremism was an offence to Islam and morally, ethically and religiously wrong in every way…
On the other hand, the terrorists do hold to a particular interpretation of Islam. Their interpretation is extreme and perverted. But their world view does contain a certain amount of overlap with mainstream Islam, especially in the view that Muslims are uniquely persecuted by a hostile West… [T]he ethical challenge for Australian Muslim leaders is how much, if at all, do they reinforce the paranoia which is so often a stepping stone to violent extremism?
Yet however we twist and turn, the threat grows:

LEIGH SALES: If we can turn to terrorism, we had a story earlier revealing that in March this year police applied for an interim control order naming 18 people, one of whom was just 12 years old. A number of the group had been raided during Operation Appleby last November and a number of them were also detained just after this recent Parramatta shooting....
ANDREW COLVIN: We’re shocked that a 12-year-old is on police radar for these type of matters, absolutely.
LEIGH SALES: Are you noticing any trend towards younger people becoming involved in these sort of radical plots?
ANDREW COLVIN: We have, and that’s one of the things that’s most concerning over this last 12 months is this threat has evolved, is it’s become younger. And we saw the very tragic events in Parramatta a week and a half ago that involved the 15-year-old and I think that’s the most shocking part…
LEIGH SALES: Along with the police saying that there are more active operations than ever, last month the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the UN that there are about 120 Australians who’d gone overseas to fight with IS and she noted that was double the number she’d given to the UN the previous year. In addition, when you have a look at the number of terrorist attacks in Australia over the past year or foiled terrorist attacks, that’s also on the increase…
ANDREW COLVIN: Yes, the problem is getting worse for Australia, not better. The numbers of individuals that we’re concerned about overseas has plateaued a little; as the Foreign Minister has said, it’s gone up, but it’s starting to plateau and I think there’s some very good work being done by our border agencies and our police and security agencies to stop people from leaving to the conflict zones, but there’s no doubt that this problem is becoming more acute and more difficult.
UPDATE
Rebecca Weisser in this week’s Spectator Australia, available now at the news agency, takes on the refusal to speak frankly about Islam:

Thus, while the ABC’s 7.30 this week scrutinised the unsavoury backgrounds of some of the Bendigo mosque’s opponents, almost no attention has been paid to Australian Islamic Mission (AIM), the group stumping up a cool $3 million to finance it. As it turns out, AIM happily invited Tareq Al Suwaidan to launch a fundraising campaign, a man whose sermons are so violently anti-Semitic that he was banned from attending a Muslim Fair in Belgium last year.
In one sermon Suwaidan said, ‘All the mothers of the Islamic nation – not only Palestinian mothers – should suckle their babies on the hatred of the sons of Zion. We hate them. They are our enemies. We should instill this in the souls of our children, until a new generation arises and wipes them off the face of the earth’.
It’s a message that probably wouldn’t worry the Grand Mufti of Australia. In 2012, he led a delegation of scholars to Gaza, met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and said, ‘I am pleased to stand on the land of jihad to learn from its sons… we feel like we are on cloud nine’. The Grand Mufti was another who declined to utter the ‘t’ word in relation to the Parramatta attack and apparently offered no support to Parramatta mosque leader Neil El-Kadomi. Kadomi told Fairfax he got more support from the Anglicans and the Jewish Board of Deputies in the last fortnight and called for a ‘Mufti who can speak English, who is qualified to be a Mufti’. 
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Shorten sinking

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (5:13am)

Paul Sheehan says Bill Shorten badly needs a change of tone:

Tony Abbott set in motion the royal commission – and personally selected the royal commissioner – that will likely finish off Shorten’s political credibility before the voting coup de grace. His polling numbers are diabolical…

In the latest national poll, released on Monday, Malcolm Turnbull had a massive three-fold lead over Shorten as preferred prime minister, 57 per cent to 19 per cent…
This goes well beyond the honeymoon effect. It reflects a lack of trust by the electorate in a leader who has been carping in front of TV news cameras nearly every day for two years. Carping and also waffling.... People are sick of sneering politicians…
On Tuesday, the Shorten shoe finally dropped at the royal commission into union corruption and governance, when it heard evidence from Julian Rzesniowiecki, a senior executive from Thiess John Holland, that his company made covert payments of $300,000 to the Australian Workers Union when Shorten was in charge, with the payments hidden by falsified invoices. This is fraud…
Shorten has denied he made or proposed any under-the-table deals with construction companies…
The combination of dreadful opinion poll numbers, a shrewd and shiny new Prime Minister, and the ominous implacability of Heydon’s royal commission have put Shorten in a vice that appears to be tightening.
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A defamation threat that will be harder to forget

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (5:00am)

Peter Garrett’s faulty memory could prove costly:

THE ABC is facing a defamation suit after refusing to apologise for airing false accusations that a Clubs NSW staffer gave an envelope of cash to former federal minister Peter Garrett at a political function.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Clubs NSW is initiating legal proceedings against the public broadcaster after its 730 Report and PM radio program aired stories based on claims originally made in Mr Garrett’s new biography Big Blue Sky, and in a separate documentary, which have now been retracted.
The accusation claimed someone from Clubs NSW handed Mr Garrett an envelope of cash — containing “hundreds, if not thousands of dollars” — at a function after he was elected in 2004.
Before the airing of the 730 Report and PM stories, Mr Garrett changed his story and said the event occurred before — and not after — he was elected and that the envelope contained a cheque, not cash.
Both programs included the retraction in their reports.
But Clubs NSW denies ever giving Mr Garrett either cash or a cheque, saying it never ­donated or even offered to donate to his campaign.
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Pilger’s sick conspiracy theory

Andrew Bolt October 15 2015 (4:57am)

Syria is a dictatorship that has used poison gas against its people.
Iran is a fascist theocracy which sponsors terrorism and threatens to wipe Israel from the map.
Russia is a thugocracy that has invaded Ukraine, stolen the Crimea and shot down a passenger jet.
China is a communist autocracy now engaged in a massive and destabilising territorial expansion in the South China Sea.
But for John Pilger, none of that is enough to explain why sensible democrats of the West might be critics of those regimes:
To the rulers of the world in Washington and Europe, Syria’s true crime is not the oppressive nature of its government but its independence from American and Israeli power — just as Iran’s true crime is its independence, and Russia’s true crime is its independence, and China’s true crime is its independence. In an American-owned world, independence is intolerable.
The idea that the US and the emasculated Europe are “rulers of the world” is risible. The suggestion that the issue here is “Israeli power” is sinister. The assertion that opposing dictatorships, theoocracies and communist oligarchies is just a ploy to keep the world “American-owned” is paranoid.
Pilger’s world view is one that would sell our freedoms to autocrats and thugs. Yet he’s a sage of the Left. 
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ARU won’t tackle feminists, so Beale gets sent to the bin

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, October 15, 2014 (12:52am)

KURTLEY Beale is a brilliant rugby player, with the ability to turn a game. Brought up by his grandparents in Mt Druitt, and lucky enough to get a scholarship to St Joseph’s College, he is the only Aboriginal in the Wallabies.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'ARU won’t tackle feminists, so Beale gets sent to the bin'
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The Left’s race to call us all bigots

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, October 15, 2014 (12:50am)

THE self-appointed tolerance tsars of Australia are having such a hard time proving Australia is a land of bigots they are now jumping at shadows.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The Left’s race to call us all bigots'
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Letting minorities gag the majority

Andrew Bolt October 15 2014 (7:54am)

Janet Albrechtsen:
But for those whose commitment to free speech kicks in at politically convenient points, here’s the other deal with free speech. It’s not a part-time value. Either condemn free speech equally or support it equally. If the intellectual milksops on the Left must spend thousands of hyperbolic words condemning a conservative such as Andrew Bolt as too offensive to be protected by free speech, it’s only fair and right that you condemn men such as Doureihi. His words are far worse than insulting and offensive. Give us a clue, how long will we be waiting? And here’s an incentive: remember that come the caliphate revolution, the first people up against the wall will be the woolly headed progressives, the homosexuals, the feisty women, the minorities. 
And to the faint hearts in the Liberal Party, running the country, wasn’t free speech meant to be part of your political DNA? Didn’t you promise to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act on the basis that it allows a judge to strike down an opinion because he doesn’t like its tone? What happened? The Prime Minister dropped the free speech ball because he said social cohesion was more important. But rolling over to a group of hysterical and hypercritical critics of free speech is not social inclusion, it’s appeasement that allows minority groups to dictate the limits of free speech.
And the majority is sick of it:
image
NINETY-one per cent of Daily Telegraph readers have ­condemned a social media campaign to drive patriotic shirts out of Woolworths.
In a poll conducted on The Daily Telegraph’s website, the overwhelming majority of 2400 readers voted that the ­singlet tops were not racist…
The supplier of the singlet — which sports the Australian flag and the words “If you don’t love it, leave” — also expressed concern over social media criticism of the shopping giant.
Baulkham Hills MP David Elliott, parliamentary secretary to Premier Mike Baird, said he failed to see how the singlet could be labelled racist — a claim made by left-leaning critics — given that it appears to promote Australia.
An original Tweet by George Craig posting a photo of the singlet with the caption “@woolworths cairns, selling racist singlets for everyday low prices! #racist” was shared by Greens MP Adam Bandt on his Facebook page… Only two Woolworths stores, in Cairns and Sydney, sold the singlets and all stock was removed on Monday.
Exactly which “race” would be offended?  Or is the real crime to be patriotic?
What makes this even more bizarre is that the T-shirts simply express a statement once made by Australia’s longest-serving Treasurer, although, true, the ABC did bristle then, too: 
PETER COSTELLO: What I’ve said is that this is a country, which is founded on a democracy. According to our Constitution, we have a secular state. Our laws are made by the Australian Parliament. If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you. This is not the kind of country where you would feel comfortable if you were opposed to democracy, parliamentary law, independent courts and so I would say to people who don’t feel comfortable with those values there might be other countries where they’d feel more comfortable with their own values or beliefs. 
UPDATE
Paul Zanetti nails a hypocrite:

image
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Where are the warmists one year later?

Andrew Bolt October 15 2014 (7:41am)

Global warming - propaganda

Bushfires in NSW a year ago were evidence of global warming, according to the ABC’s pet warmists: 
ANNABEL CRABB, PRESENTER:  ... Deputy Greens Leader Adam Bandt started it with a tweet claiming that the Abbott Government’s climate policies would lead to more bushfires in future… Scientists told 7.30 the science is in, the link between global warming and bushfires has been established and it’s time for action… 
JOHN CONNOR, CEO, THE CLIMATE INSTITUTE: Carbon pollution is a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that is like putting the weather on steroids. It drives the greater extremes. It’s not just warmer weather, it’s wilder weather.
ADAM BANDT, GREENS DEPUTY LEADER: It’s October and we’re having a tragic bushfire…
DON HENRY, AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: Well I actually don’t think it should be political that we have to get on with the job of cutting our pollution that’s driving climate extremes… ANDY PITMAN, CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE FOR CLIMATE SYSTEM SCIENCE: We have had fires historically this early before, but I think the difference this time is that we’ve just gone through a winter that is unprecedentedly warm. 
One year later and there’s blizzards in NSW in October. But this time there’s no talk on the ABC of global warming - or the continued lack of it: 
Snow and ice has closed Bells Line of Road between Lithgow and Bell. The Darling Causeway is also closed and westbound traffic will be stopped at Mount Tomah…Up to 15cm of snow was recorded in parts of the Blue Mountains, although the SES said milder conditions and rain had begun thawing the snow by early morning on Wednesday.
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Dock the universities the cost of what they’ve helped block

Andrew Bolt October 15 2014 (7:32am)

Fight back against the enemies of reason and prosperity:
Andrew Smith, the chairman of the Australian arm of Anglo-Dutch company Shell, yesterday led the debate against what he ­labelled university students with “degrees in activism”, arguing that they were spreading misinformation and manipulating communities to slow the pace of development.
“Challenging decisions will face more effective campaigns of public outrage, some of it based on confected outrage whipped up by university graduates armed with degrees in activism,” Mr Smith said… Activism courses are being taught in legal, politics and ­humanities departments at several universities and are often ­focused on political theory and understanding the role of activism in democracy.
That makes them degrees in how to stop what you don’t even understand. And to hell with the jobs of others:
Rio Tinto’s energy chief executive, Harry Kenyon-Slaney, knows the impact activists can have on projects, after his company’s expansion of its Warkworth coalmine in NSW was halted by opposition groups, putting 1300 jobs at risk… 
Whitehaven Coal has been a constant target of green activists determined to frustrate the development of its Maules Creek coalmine in NSW. Its chairman, Mark Vaile, former head of the Nationals party, said activists had zero accountability for their actions. 
We need to fight back. One way is for the Abbott Government to calculate the cost of the ANU’s decision to divest its holdings in resource companies and deduct that amount from the next ANU grant:
The Australian National University has come under attack after its recent decision to divest its holdings in seven companies — including Santos, Newcrest Mining and Iluka Resources — because it said the companies had a poor record on environmental responsibility.
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Plankton and plants soaking up our emissions

Andrew Bolt October 15 2014 (7:26am)

Graham Lloyd provides even more reason to scorn the “science is settled” enemies of debate:
[W]ith some people suggesting the “hiatus” in global warming has now hit 18 years, and with fresh uncertainty about the sensitivity of the climate system to CO2, ... new findings provide further pause for thought. One paper — published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science — says plants will absorb 130 billion tonnes more carbon dioxide this century than current models suggest. This amount is equal to about four years worth of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels…  
Other research, from Western Australia and published in Geophysical Research Letters, says plankton in the Arctic Ocean increased production and stored more carbon in response to greater UVB radiation. Contrary to expectations, Arctic plankton production increased by almost 40 per cent in more than three-quarters of the plankton communities sampled. An analysis of the findings said this would combat the impacts of increased Arctic warming and increase food in the Arctic Ocean. 
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The dark world of Julia Gillard

Andrew Bolt October 15 2014 (6:45am)

Inventing misogynist insults, inventing conspiracy theories… Is is any wonder her prime ministership was so disastrously divisive and paranoid?:
True? Gillard, My Story, 2014: 
(I ATTENDED the) 2010 annual Minerals Council dinner in Parliament House, while representing prime minister Kevin Rudd. The disputation over the Rudd government’s proposed resources super-profits tax (RSPT) was raging, so it was always going to be like entering a lion’s den. As the guest of honour, I was one of two women seated at the head table. Keeping me company was my chief of staff, Amanda Lampe ... at a hand signal ... (from MCA boss Mitch Hooke) ... a tray of what looked to be rum and coke was brought to the table. A glass was dutifully put in front of every man except (then BHP Billiton CEO) ­Marius Kloppers, who declined it. Neither Amanda nor I was offered one. The two of us exchanged a look and afterwards uproarious laughter about this rudeness.
Joe Aston, Australian Financial ­Review, yesterday: 
BUT hang on, Gillard didn’t even attend the 2010 MCA dinner. Nobody in the Labor caucus did. She wasn’t representing Rudd that night, she was in his office ending his leadership. Gillard and Lampe did sit at the head table the year previously with Hooke and Kloppers. But the RSPT wasn’t announced until May 2010 — that’s when the miners’ disputation with Labor began. So why was attending the 2009 dinner “like entering a lion’s den”? This is supposed to be an authoritative telling of political history and (Gillard) can’t even get her basic facts straight? ... Hooke remembers the moment (not just the date) very differently. Ian Smith (… then of Newcrest Mining) asked Hooke what he was drinking (Hooke only drinks Bundy and Coke) and whether he could have one. Hooke then asked everyone at the table if they’d like one, including Gillard, who declined on the basis she was about to speak. Hooke’s reply? “So am I — that’s why I need one.” Shortly after, drinks arrived ... and that was that. Or so they thought ... In 2011, Gillard’s version of the story finally circulated back to the MCA. Hooke contacted Lampe’s successor, Ben Hubbard, who assured Hooke he needn’t worry. Hooke still sent Gillard an SMS apologising if any unintended offence had been caused. She never responded
True? My Story again:  
JOHN Howard skilfully rode the ­political momentum that can be ­created around ­asylum-seeker issues at the 2001 election. Coming after the terrorist shock of 9/11 and in the atmosphere of fear that it created, Howard took a hairy-chested pol­itical ­approach and deployed our elite military forces to stop a Norwegian freighter, the Tampa, from bringing rescued asylum-seekers to our shore.
Dennis Shanahan, The Australian, October 1: 
JOHN Howard has called on Julia Gillard to correct a “false” claim that he used the September 11 terror attacks to take a “hairy-chested political ­approach” on asylum-­seekers and send SAS troops on to the Norwegian freighter, Tampa ... In fact, the Tampa episode took place weeks before the September 11 attacks in 2001. “Any storyline that we somehow played off Tampa or the September 11 attacks against each other is false and I completely reject it,” Mr Howard told The Australian _yesterday. “The former prime minister has her chronology wrong and should correct the claims in the book.” 
UPDATE
Another Gillard blue in a memoir surprisingly full of them.  Senator Nick Xenophon has forced Random House to agree to remove a false and defamatory claim in future editions of My Story that he was suspended for stuffing a ballot box in student elections. He’s still after damages and an apology, says the Financial Review today.
Gillard calls her memoirs My Story because it’s no one else’s. 
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Was it Baird - or Bolt - who made the Left choke?

Andrew Bolt October 15 2014 (12:16am)

Some in the media Left are apoplectic about this fine ad:
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RICKY Ponting bares his soul like never before in his soon to be released autobiography, At The Close Of Play.
Here, we present some of the best extracts from the book, including Ponting's thoughts on getting dropped from the one-day side, retiring from Test cricket, and what he really thinks of Michael Clarke's leadership.
An all time great of the game. He retired when, through no fault of his own, the team was weak. - ed
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Pastor Rick Warren
33 years ago, we intentionally set out to become an "All-Nation Congregation." We want out church to look like heaven does. Today, our California members speak 69 languages, and 21,869 of our members have served other churches in 196 countries through the PEACE Plan. Why? Because it is our core conviction that ...
God never made a person he doesn't love,
God never made a person Jesus didn't die for,
God never made a person without a purpose,
God wants EVERYBODY to know him!
If you are a MULTI-cultural church like we are, we'd love to partner with you. Write me PastorRick@saddleback.com. We had planned a conference for Multicultural Churches this year but it got postponed when Matthew died.
=
@RickWarren: Tuesday night, I present the 2013#WorshipAlbumOfTheYear award at the 44th GMA Dove Awards ceremony in Nashville.See you friends!
===

The Hon. Greg Hunt MP
Minister for the Environment
Today, the Government releases the carbon tax repeal bills for public consideration.
In line with our clear election commitment, the Government’s first item of parliamentary business will be the legislation to abolish the carbon tax.
This will lower costs for Australian businesses and manufacturers, boost growth, increase jobs and ease cost of living pressures for households.
On average, households will be around $550 better off in 2014‑15 than they would have been with the carbon tax in place. This is about taking the pressure of electricity and gas bills.
While the carbon tax will be gone, the household assistance already provided will remain to help families with the cost of living.
Mr Shorten and the Labor Party must listen to the clear message that the Australian people sent at the last election.
Every day the Labor Party opposes the repeal of the carbon tax is another day that the Labor Party supports higher electricity prices for Australian families and businesses.
The repeal bills will remove the carbon tax, end the carbon tax on fuels used in shipping, rail and air transport and on synthetic greenhouse gases. The Climate Change Authority will also be abolished.
Abolishing the carbon tax will improve Australia’s international competitiveness, which was being undermined by the unfair hit on business.
The legislation will give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission further powers to take action against businesses that engage in price exploitation following the repeal of the carbon tax.
Carbon tax industry assistance, including the Jobs and Competitiveness Program, will continue until 30 June 2014 to assist affected businesses.
Repeal of the carbon tax represents a major contribution to the Government’s deregulation agenda by removing around 440 pages of legislation and reducing business compliance costs by about $100 million annually.
With the release of the draft repeal bills, businesses have an opportunity to comment on the specific details of the repeal process. Good governments engage in proper consultation, which means that the draft legislation could be further refined before introduction to the Parliament.
Public consultation will be invited until 4 November 2013.
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/tony-abbott-readies-draft-laws-to-repeal-carbon-tax/story-e6frg6xf-1226740283930
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HAVE you ever wondered if the way you act makes women cringe? Have you ever worried that your behaviour might be making them run in the other direction?
Just as women are attracted to certain archetypal men, there are other types of men that women go out of their way to avoid.
And this is especially true during the early stages of a relationship, when a woman is trying to gauge a man's personality.
Below are eight types of guys that women consistently stay away from. I have compiled this list from conversations I've had with numerous women regarding the behaviours they dislike in men.

Lol .. they missed a ninth .. Me! I'm a combination of boorish, arrogant, needy .. it is like a recipe for soup .. - ed
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The State is making a request Monday morning to Israel's Supreme Court, asking that it not be instructed to carry out further evictions at the community of Amona. It will argue that enforcing a petition to do so would damage the national interest.

Amona is a community in central Samaria (Shomron), established by members of the nearby community of Ofra in 1996. Some of its buildings were built on land either not owned or not fully owned by community residents.

Today's request follows an August ruling by Supreme Court judges Asher Grunis, Esther Hayut and Hanan Meltzer that they agreed with Arab and leftist petitioners, claiming that homes in Amona were illegally built and that residents should be evicted. The judges also agreed with them the lawsuit should be expanded to include all of Amona, including private land plots over which there are no claims whatsoever.

The State has since argued that the court's petition is not concretebecause ownership of the property is not totally clear.
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Economics Minister MK Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi/Jewish Home) has reiterated his commitment to planned reforms which would see most hareidi-religious men enlisted into the army, in line with most other Israeli men.
"We are determined to advance the reforms for equalizing the share of the burden," he said in an interview with Army Radio today (Monday).
"It is important to note that 32% of First Graders are hareidim. The State of Israel cannot survive if these children are not integrated into society," he warned.
The second session of the 19th Knesset will commence at 4pm today at a meeting attended by Israel's President Shimon Peres, ending the long summer recess.

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Here is where we’re at: The Republican establishment — the guys who told us that for a trillion dollars and several thousand American casualties, we could build “Islamic democracies” that would be reliable U.S. allies in the War on Terror — say it is Ted Cruz who is “delusional” and the effort to stave off Obamacare that is “unattainable.”
These self-appointed sages are, of course, the same guys who told us the way to “stabilize” and “democratize” Libya was to help jihadists topple and kill the resident dictator — who, at the time, was a U.S. ally, providing intelligence about the jihadists using his eastern badlands as a springboard for the anti-American terror insurgency in Iraq. That’s probably worth remembering this week, during which some of our new “allies” abducted Libya’s president while others car-bombed Sweden’s consulate in Benghazi — site of the still unavenged terrorist massacre of American ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. officials 13 months ago.

Not to worry, though. So successful do they figure the Libyan escapade was, GOP leaders are backing a reprise in Syria. It is there, we learn from a Human Rights Watch report issued this week, that our new “allies,” the al-Qaeda-rife “rebels,” executed a savage atrocity just two months ago. Sweeping into the coastal village of Latakia, the jihadists slaughtered 190 minority Alawites. As the New York Times details, “at least 67 of the dead appeared to have been shot or stabbed while unarmed or fleeing, including 48 women and 11 children.” More than 200 other civilians were captured and are still being held hostage.
So that’s going well.

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    [..]
    While the concept of a historically non-Jewish Jerusalem is increasing in popularity among the anti-Semitic left, it remains curious that Arabs continue to demand control over Jerusalem, when it’s abundantly clear from the Koran itself that neither Allah nor Mohammed ever intended it for Muslims in the first place. As far as the Koran is concerned, Muslims have no more claim to Jerusalem than Jews have to Medina.
    Jewish authority over Jerusalem should come as no surprise to Islamic scholars. In Surah 2:144-147, the Koran describes Allah’s gift of Mecca to Mohammed. In this passage, we find Mohammed pouting that he had been mocked by the Jews for making use of their city, Jerusalem, as a focus of worship. He didn’t deny Jewish authority over Jerusalem; he simply fumed that Islam had no place of its own — an unfortunate situation that Mohammed (er…I mean Allah!) moved to remedy posthaste.

    From the very beginning, Mohammed appropriated much of Jewish and Christian tradition for inclusion in his new religion, but Islam was not yet complete, as it lacked a “Holy City” — a deficit that spawned a sixth-century version of “keeping up with the Joneses,” if you will.
    According to Islamic tradition, Allah sent the angel Gabriel to “re-orient” Mohammed during prayers, pointing him toward Mecca. From a purely logistical standpoint, early Muslims could count themselves lucky that Mohammed assumed that Allah meant to give them Mecca and not, say, Zanzibar, which lay in the same direction, only a scant two thousand miles farther.
    The point being, not only did Allah and his prophet Mohammed show clear deference for the Jewish claim to Jerusalem, but this reality was confirmed and continued under “Omar the Conqueror,” Mohammed’s successor and the most powerful and influential caliph in Islamic history.
    While Omar is widely known as the conqueror of Jerusalem, what is not so well-known is that after he conquered the city he promptly repopulated Jerusalem with Jews, repatriating them from the Arabian Peninsula, providing an ironic prefiguration of the establishment of the modern state of Israel centuries later.
    Clearly, Omar felt that Jerusalem was a city for the Jews and encouraged their residence in a homeland they hadn’t seen since the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Omar constructed a small mosque in Jerusalem, allowing him the ability to maintain the spiritual health of the Muslim garrisons left to defend Jerusalem from the Romans, but otherwise granted Jews authority over their spiritual and ancestral home. Omar, successor of Mohammed, believed that the Jewish claim to Jerusalem was absolute, transcending five centuries of exile.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/the_latest_in_islamic_revisionism.html#ixzz2hbF7cbvI
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

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While it is true that some Arabs boycott the municipal elections for ideological reasons, many are afraid, if they go to the ballot box, of being targeted by extremists. The overwhelming majority is still afraid of the radicals.
As Israelis prepare to cast their ballots in the municipal elections next week, tens of thousands of eligible Arab voters in Jerusalem will once again boycott the democratic process.
In the past few days, the Palestinian Liberation Organization [PLO], Hamas and several other Palestinian organizations have called on the Arab residents of Jerusalem to stay away from the ballot boxes.
These organizations maintain that Arab participation in the municipal election would be interpreted as recognition of Israel's decision to annex the eastern part of the city in the aftermath of the 1967 Israeli-Arab war.
As such, the vast majority of the Arab residents have since been boycotting the local election, mainly out of fear of being dubbed "traitors" by various Palestinian organizations.
But if anyone stands to lose from the boycott it is the Arabs themselves.

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Pantry Packers® introduces a bold new concept called Tikkun Olam Tourism® – an exciting 90 minute hands-on opportunity for overseas tourists to pack commodity food staples for Israel’s poorest families.

At the Pantry Packers® production facility in Jerusalem, tourists aged 8-80 are given a brief orientation session that includes watching a short movie, before donning gloves, aprons and caps in order to fill bags of rice, beans and other commodities. These bags, which bear a sticker with the name of the packing group, will later be included in large food baskets destined for needy families throughout the country.
Program participation – which is designed for groups and is free of charge – must be scheduled in advance.

More information and registration: info@pantrypackers.org; 972 2-626-0035
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Jerusalem police arrested 10 Jews who prayed and sang Israel's national anthem "Hatikva" on the Temple Mount on Monday morning. They had come as part of a group of 30 who were divided by police into smaller groups, as part of a host of restrictions imposed upon Jewish visitors.
Following their arrest police closed the site to non-Muslim visitors.
In a video released by activists, the leader of the group addresses the rest of those assembled:
"We are standing here in the holiest place for the nation of Israel. To our regret, at the holiest place for the nation of Israel - as they said to us at the start - it is forbidden to pray. This is something we cannot agree to."
At that point, the group breaks into prayer, with one man producing and waving an Israeli flag.

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For a country often portrayed as isolated and alone in the international arena, Israel sure does seem to have a lot of thriving friendships.
Indeed, notwithstanding efforts by the media and the Left to paint a picture of the Jewish state as solitary and ostracized, Israel's popularity appears to be on the upswing.
In just the past two weeks, the Jewish state has hosted the president of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, as well as an intergovernmental meeting with the entire Greek cabinet.
Meanwhile, President Shimon Peres visited Holland, where he addressed the Dutch parliament and had an audience with King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.
And Deputy Foreign Minister Ze'ev Elkin is off to South Korea this week on a diplomatic trip.
This flurry of activity came on the heels of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit to the US, where he met with President Barack Obama and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in addition to delivering a speech to the UN General Assembly.
Not bad for lonesome little Israel.
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Jerusalem is one of the most colorful and contentious cities in the world. It is the spiritual heart of the Jewish people. It is a city of never-ending conflict: during its 5,000-year history it has been destroyed twice, besieged, attacked, captured and recaptured over and over again. It is home to a remarkably diverse and frequently antagonistic population of 800,000 Jews, Arabs and Christians. Who could govern such a city?
Nir Barkat, the city’s current mayor, believes he can. On October 22, we’ll find out if Jerusalemites agree when they cast their votes for Jerusalem’s Mayor and City Council.
- See more at: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4852#sthash.dnFlNv8F.E9hOTP9m.dpuf
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So far Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's peace ruse is still bearing some fruit. President Obama was eager to talk with him at the United Nations — only to be reportedly rebuffed, until Obama managed to phone him for the first conversation between heads of state of the two countries since the Iranian storming of the U.S. embassy in 1979.
Rouhani has certainly wowed Western elites with his mellifluous voice, quiet demeanor and denials of wanting a bomb. The media, who ignore the circumstances of Rouhani's three-decade trajectory to power, gush that he is suddenly a “moderate” and “Western educated.”
The implication is that Rouhani is not quite one of those hardline Shiite apocalyptic theocrats like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in the past ranted about the eventual end to the Zionist entity.
Americans are sick and tired of losing blood and treasure in the Middle East. We understandably are desperate for almost any sign of Iranian outreach. Our pundits assure us that either Iran does not need and thus want a bomb, or that Iran at least could be contained if it got one.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Be grateful if God answers your prayer. But, be more grateful when God makes you the answer to someone else's prayer.
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Eric Shawn interviews Minister Naftali Bennett
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Roma Downey
"Today will never come again. Be a blessing. Be a friend. Encourage someone. Take time to care. Let your words heal, and not wound." - Uknown
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"God often uses small matches to light great torches. No matter how small we feel in this world, we are always special and great in His eyes." - Unknown

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Larry Pickering
HOW DO YA LIKE THEM LITTLE APPLES, ANNA?
...what really happened in that Party room

“We will have zero tolerance for disunity”, said Bill Shorten with a straight face as Caucus members exited a Party room sporting a number of knives between pairs of shoulder blades. Bill had done his factional homework long before the leadership vote that finally sent Albo and a few other Party faithful to Coventry.

The farcical rank-and-file vote showed just how little respect Shorten has for a democratic grass root Labor.

What happened in that Party room under Shorten’s treacherous tutelage typified all that is despicable about Shorten and all that is repugnant about Labor.

The rank-and-file tried to set Labor a course for reform but it failed because, behind Shorten’s false conciliatory smile of inclusion. lays an obsessive compulsive disorder of political infidelity.

Bill knew the bribes he offered to pull those votes he needed from the Left faction could never be honoured. “If you switch sides and vote for me I will promote you to ...”, promised Bill.

He pulled the necessary turn-coat votes all right but predictably, Albo’s Left faction then refused to put the betrayers on the front bench for portfolio selection.

The Rudd reform that gave the Labor leader the right to choose his team was cunningly replaced by the old AWU and NSW Right factional system that gives Caucus the power to select the front bench.

Then the leader must try to fit square pegs into round holes with “suitable” portfolios. An impossible task because those who may be the most competent are languishing on the back bench under factional punishment for voting the wrong way.

Albo played a straight bat while Shorten was playing the dirtiest game of all... announcing Labor had adopted a new non-factional democracy. It hadn’t! It was still dictated to by Bill’s all-powerful, faceless Right and AWU factions... and those who are now justifiably screaming blue murder are of Albo’s dudded Left faction.

And why are the Left publicly livid with rage? Because they were duped by the master of duplicity, Bill Shorten... he got his votes knowing his bribes would be rendered worthless.

Bill offers a reason for this travesty: “We have such a surfeit of talent we cannot please everyone.” Yeah Bill, whatever.

Shorten is Abbott’s manna from heaven and that’s not good for anyone. Now Labor is irrevocably split with an incandescent hatred that can never heal while Shorten stays.

The evil power-game Shorten plays has mastered his own and his Party’s destiny.
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Andreas Herrmann
anderes Wort für Oboe? - Krisenstab

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 Sarah Palin
Obama’s Debt Default is on His Shoulders While We Shoulder His Impeachable Offenses

Apparently the president thinks he can furlough reality when talking about the debt limit. To suggest that raising the debt limit doesn’t incur more debt is laughably absurd. The very reason why you raise the debt limit is so that you can incur more debt. Otherwise what’s the point?

It’s also shameful to see him scaremongering the markets with his talk of default. There is no way we can default if we follow the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4, requires that we service our debt first. We currently collect more than enough tax revenue to service our debt if we do that first. However, we don’t have enough money to continue to finance our ever-growing federal government (with our $17 trillion dollar national debt that has increased over 50% since Obama took office). That’s why President Obama wants to increase the debt limit. He doesn’t want to make the tough decisions to rein in government spending. So, he’s scaremongering the markets about default, just as he tries to scaremonger our senior citizens about their Social Security, which, by the way, is funded by the Social Security Trust Fund and is solvent through 2038.

It’s time for the president to be honest with the American people for a change. Defaulting on our national debt is an impeachable offense, and any attempt by President Obama to unilaterally raise the debt limit without Congress is also an impeachable offense. A default would also be a shameful lack of leadership, just as mindlessly increasing our debt without trying to rein in spending is a betrayal of our children and grandchildren who will be stuck with the bill.

- Sarah Palin

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Katie Price


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“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord."
Philippians 3:8
Spiritual knowledge of Christ will be a personal knowledge. I cannot know Jesus through another person's acquaintance with him. No, I must know him myself; I must know him on my own account. It will be an intelligent knowledge--I must know him, not as the visionary dreams of him, but as the Word reveals him. I must know his natures, divine and human. I must know his offices--his attributes--his works--his shame--his glory. I must meditate upon him until I "comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." It will be an affectionate knowledge of him; indeed, if I know him at all, I must love him. An ounce of heart knowledge is worth a ton of head learning. Our knowledge of him will be a satisfying knowledge. When I know my Saviour, my mind will be full to the brim--I shall feel that I have that which my spirit panted after. "This is that bread whereof if a man eat he shall never hunger." At the same time it will be an exciting knowledge; the more I know of my Beloved, the more I shall want to know. The higher I climb the loftier will be the summits which invite my eager footsteps. I shall want the more as I get the more. Like the miser's treasure, my gold will make me covet more. To conclude; this knowledge of Christ Jesus will be a most happy one; in fact, so elevating, that sometimes it will completely bear me up above all trials, and doubts, and sorrows; and it will, while I enjoy it, make me something more than "Man that is born of woman, who is of few days, and full of trouble"; for it will fling about me the immortality of the ever living Saviour, and gird me with the golden girdle of his eternal joy. Come, my soul, sit at Jesus's feet and learn of him all this day.

Evening

"And be not conformed to this world."
Romans 12:2
If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian--you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.
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Today's reading: Isaiah 43-44, 1 Thessalonians 2 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Isaiah 43-44

Israel’s Only Savior
1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
nations in exchange for your life.
5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
I will bring your children from the east
and gather you from the west.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
7 everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

Today's New Testament reading: 1 Thessalonians 2

Paul’s Ministry in Thessalonica
1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority. 7 Instead, we were like young children among you.
Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory....
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Onesimus

[Ōnĕs'ĭmŭs] - profitable. The slave of Philemon, Paul's convert (Col. 4:7-9; Philemon 10-19). Onesimus ran away from his master and came into contact with Paul, who led him to Christ after they met in Rome. Paul urged him to return to his master and entreated Philemon to receive Onesimus, not as a slave, but as a brother in the Lord. How the apostle approached Onesimus provides us with a beautiful exhibition of Christian Courtesy.
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