Thursday, October 29, 2015

Thu Oct 29th Todays News

Ted Cruz gives back to media in a reply to a dumb question. The dumb question was bait to see if he would deny making needed cuts to spending or promise more spending. He pointed out that the debates should not be treated as who would give the most generous cake slices. The media journalist denied the opportunity to more fully answer the question, but he had answered it. And the public gallery despise the media for their tricks. 

 The media have long denied the need for Islamic community reform. But the truth is the pervasive jihadism brings Islam into disrepute. When even isolated jihadism would bring Islam into disrepute. But the press maintain jihadists are just like Christians. 

 For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2014 ===
Following the rules
Poor administration in Rugby and Rugby League is hurting the sport, with tweets becoming the knife that cuts. The issue is not so much the tweets, as the issues behind them, with both codes being hyper vigilant. ARL is sensitive to the fact they have sold players down river in the drugs in sport scandal announced by Jason Clare. An exhaustive inquiry found none of the problems Clare had declared, and so players were 'encouraged' to accept lesser charges so Clare could save face. Among the ARU the micromanaging of players has gone to extremes. Beale could not have done worse were he to sing of his coach and his manageress sitting in a tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G .. Ewen McKenzie had been a magnificent coach who almost managed to get the team competitive with the All Blacks, but he was undermined by back door politics.

ALP booted from parliament after failing to follow rules. Jason Clare was just one of the herd failing to represent his electorate. It must be hard on an ALP member. Do they oppose good policy or get booted for being incapable of following simple rules? What had happened was a headline in the Herald Sun, referring to a Bowser Bandit stealing fuel money, was made into a prop as Mr Shorten accused Mr Abbott of being that bandit. Mr Abbott has imposed a fuel levy after Mr Shorten had opposed all cuts from the last budget, including cuts ALP put in place.

Captain's Pick Nova may have used tax payer dollars to carry on an affair according to leaked emails by a Northern Territory newspaper. Details of the affair between the mother of three and an elite athlete are not important, neither is the sad abuse of another Aboriginal athlete, but the apparent suggestion that public funds was used to carry on the affair is corruption that cannot be ignored. It was before she was made a senator, so it is unclear if she had had access to a slush fund. The issue is not the same as that of the poet who was suspended from his university post following leaked private emails that were irrelevant to public discourse. Such a breach of privacy is outrageous and one hopes whomever did it will serve jail time. But exposing corruption is called investigative journalism.

Afghan refugee who grew up in Australia before recruiting some thirty jihadis and flying to fight with ISIL has been killed by a female warrior, it is rumoured. If true, then his extremist faith says he will be denied virgins in the afterlife. But he might be allowed to spend eternity with his thirty buddies. Thems is the rules. ABC is distraught and unbelieving. He was an example of the ABC narrative that says poor Muslims are pushed into terrorism from circumstance. In fact, he was a drug using, porn exploiting brothel strong man who got bored with ordinary crime and turned to terrorism. 

First hand sources suggest that the Stolen Generations is a myth. The sources are Adelaide letters from the mid to late Nineteenth century and early Twentieth century and show no example of a stolen generation. The letters exist online. 

Victorian ALP supports union at public expense. CFMEU is struggling with senior level corruption and has failed to behave as a union for its members. So to prevent drift away from the union, the ALP have pledged that if they are elected then CFMEU employees can have half their car registration paid for. But there are hurdles for non unionists wanting the same. So, if a Victorian wants a good, strong union, they should vote for the Libs. If instead, they want a sound, trustworthy government, they should still vote Lib. However, if they want corruption in unions and empty promises, the ALP is their partner. 

New consensus is that there is no Global Warming Crisis. Only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe that humans are creating a global warming crisis, according to a survey reported in the peer-reviewed Organization Studies. By contrast, a strong majority of the 1,077 respondents believe that nature is the primary cause of recent global warming and/or that future global warming will not be a very serious problem.

Researcher proves claim that Islamo fascists are Islamic, despite evidence to the contrary. Dr Denis MacEoin is a former lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. The researcher points to terrorism and scripture which underpins it, but ignores discrepancies. For example a Muslim person should not be a criminal, should not drink, sleep around or do drugs, should not kill other Muslims, Should not lie about their god or attribute faults to their god. There is clear evidence that terrorists are not submitting themselves to their god at all. Ever. 

ABC is biased and immature. The Australian editorialises "We accept the need for light and shade, and this newspaper has cried out often enough for the ABC to meet its charter obligation for plurality. Yet for the past three federal elections the ABC has not hosted the leaders’ debates, its prime current affairs program runs only four nights a week with perfunctory attention to state issues on Fridays. On the rare occasions the ABC breaks a significant story it is likely to be delivered to it by activists — such as the 2011 Four Corners expose of animal cruelty in Indonesia that was based on Animals Australia footage — or a case of jaundiced overreach such as claims in January the navy had tortured asylum-seekers — an allegation the ABC now regrets.
Aunty needs to turn away from lowbrow populism and the digital-driven pursuit of fashion in favour of a high-minded approach to the important discussions shaping this country. Perhaps the greatest of our cultural institutions, it has the skills and resources to fulfil expectations…
But mostly, instead of challenging, diverse, fact-based and intelligent reporting and discussion, the ABC joins the Fairfax tabloids and left-wing websites in a mindless pursuit of jejune click bait. This is a world where Sarah Hanson-Young is the go-to voice on refugees, Tim Flannery is the oracle on climate, Wayne Swan is the world’s greatest treasurer, middle-class Western jihadists are victims of injustice and Pauline Hanson speaks for suburbia. This is not reality and it is not a sensible place for the ABC to inhabit. The ABC charter demands “innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard” to contribute to a “sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of the Australian community”. Mark Scott seems to have confused the “community” with the twittersphere as he allows, even encourages, this public behemoth to chase its social media tail."
Blacks oppose Democrats, the relationship has been close since the Democrats betrayed Black peoples in the twenties, and blamed Hoover. But following the rule unquestioningly is a product of leftism. 

ALP childish infighting is not producing leadership which the public desire from an opposition. Shorten declares they have reformed but he embraces policy that the public rejected, unless it means opposing the government, where he is willing to oppose ALP policy that was declared before the last election. And then Shorten's underlings are challenging Shorten's authority. Shorten claim he supports the war against ISIL but his own party won't pass enabling legislation. 

Image of Napoleon's guard from late 1850s is on Bolt's site today, and will be shown below. It is fascinating, and a privilege, to see. 

MLB World Series update
Royals smash Giants early in game six, making Kansas City the favourites going into game seven. Royals attack scatter the defence for seven runs in the second inning, claiming the starting pitcher for giants after 1.1 innings. San Francisco can still win it, but they need to go against all conventional wisdom to do it, and when has San Francisco ever done that?
From 2013
Dr Nelson tried to change the wording on the tomb of the unknown soldier to something Paul Keating wrote from Rudyard Kipling's "Known unto God." The deletion would be a mistake and an insult to those who have served. ALP are excellent at those types of insults. Gillard devalued Abbott's security while she was PM in petty point scoring in Afghanistan. Note, Abbott extends gracious courtesy to Shorten and takes him on the journey. Was Dr Nelson following orders? Will school children study how Keating was so dismissive of things that unite Australians? Mr Abbott is popular, as evidenced by polls and surveys. Inexplicable to left wing media. Some say Gillard would have lost twice as many seats as Rudd. Others say Rudd lost as many. 

What role does the elephant play in climate change? Perhaps we will never know. Maybe we can get the Age to ask a tree? When it comes to tokens, one will get Carr's senate seat. The ALP will never repay the $billions taken from treasury. While criticising Mr Abbott's 'slow pace' at bringing a budget into surplus, an ABC commentator claimed Swan would do it as quickly. There is no evidence to substantiate that claim. Evidence suggests Swan never would achieve a surplus. Ever. 

CBS seem confused about Hoover vacuum cleaners. It is an old technology .. much like the Hoover Dam. Maybe the FBI will investigate and report back to them? 

Why do terrorists speak for Islamic peoples? Why do liars speak for AGW believers? Some scum beat up some Jewish peoples in Sydney the other day .. but they weren't Islamic .. but they are scum. 
=== 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
===
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 Philippe Voisin, Solange Mapendo and Helen Coonan. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
Mount Hood, Oregon, US
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. We gave the mountain a proud name. We traded our shares. The road is free and clear. The union is slushed up. Let's party.
Deaths
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TO LUNCH OR NOT TO LUNCH

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 29, 2015 (6:43pm)

I’ve been invited to a Centre for Independent Studies lunch next week with George Brandis. On the one hand I’m tempted to accept, considering how Brandis upset all the arts luvvies.On the other hand, Brandis is a Turnbull supporter. Let the BlairPoll decide! (This vote will be binding.)
Thank you for voting! 
 
 

Total Votes: 661
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LONDON’S MOST EXPENSIVE PUBLIC TOILET

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 29, 2015 (6:32pm)

Marx-loving journalism academic Martin Hirst will be ever so sad. Highgate Cemetery is now charging admission to those who wish to see Karl Marx’s grave: 
On a summer visit to the grave of Karl Marx, Ben Gliniecki found that he would have to pay £4, or about $6, to pay respects to the man who sounded the death knell for private property.
Mr. Gliniecki, a Marxist, said no.
“Personally, I think it is disgusting,” the 24-year-old political activist said. “There are no depths of irony, or bad taste, to which capitalists won’t sink if they think they can make money out of it.” 
Commie Ben is presumably unaware that, as the linked article points out, Marx purchased a burial plot in the private London graveyard rather than spend eternity among common working class skeletons in state-provided cemeteries. Typical leftist snob. Anyway, there is one good reason to visit Highgate, although less costly alternatives are also available.
(Via the IPA.)
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UNCERTAINTY ABOUNDS

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 29, 2015 (4:43pm)

“That thud you hear,” writes Steven Hayward, “is the so-called climate ‘consensus’ doing a belly flop on the lab room floor.”
(Via Mark Steyn.) 
===

WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 29, 2015 (4:27pm)

Behold the New Zealand rugby union team’s majestic 1973 haka performance, complete with a concluding “yay!” leap:

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TRANSITIONING

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 29, 2015 (12:10pm)

Clementine Ford appears to be growing a moustache.
(Via J.F. Beck.) 
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CLUB OF WRONG

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 29, 2015 (11:42am)

Future-gazing fossil Malcolm Mackerras, who can’t even predict the contents of an envelope, in 2013: 
Labor, under its first post-Gillard leader, Bill Shorten, will make big gains in 2016, positioning itself well for a victory in November 2019. 
So far I have made no predictions about Turnbull – save only this. During the first half of 2009, when he was Leader of the Opposition, I gave him a 20 per cent chance of becoming prime minister some day. That is the probability statement I presently make in respect of Bill Shorten.
For Turnbull I predict he will win the next two elections, which will be held in September-November 2016 and September-November 2019, respectively. 
In other prediction news, here’s Bob Ellis back in July: 
The news is very bad and I may have months to live but it is more like weeks. 
True to form, Ellis was wrong again.
===

HAT LADY

Tim Blair – Thursday, October 29, 2015 (9:48am)

RSL clubs have a rule against head coverings – hats, caps, hoodies and so on. Now observe as Fairfax attempts to whip this into some kind of Islamic injustice issue: 
After a successful start to a national badminton competition, Hijran and her teammates thought a meal out together would be a nice way to celebrate.
However the Australian-born woman, of Turkish origin, was left embarrassed and upset when she was told she would have to leave an RSL in popular holiday spot Noosa for wearing a hijab …
Hijran said that, as she was lining up with a friend to order dinner, a woman came over and said, “Excuse me, can I ask what it is that you’re wearing?”
She replied that she was wearing a headscarf because she is from the Muslim faith and women must wear it for religious reasons.
“She told me that, as per the RSL’s rules and regulations, we do not allow for anything to be worn on the head,” the 35-year-old accounts and admin worker told Fairfax Media.
“I said I was unaware of the rules and I asked it it was okay for me to stay and have my meal with my friends. She said, ‘yes for tonight it will be fine but if this happens on a regular basis I would have to ask you to leave’.”
On its website, the RSL says head gear is banned unless the Board is satisfied there are acceptable reasons to wear it. 
Fairfax’s headline: “Muslim woman told to leave a Noosa RSL for wearing hijab.” This is poisonously inaccurate. She wasn’t told to leave. And the rule is not hijab-specific. 
Hijran said her great grandfathers served in WWI and she was “saddened” by the RSL’s treatment of her. 
Er, yes. Being of Turkish origin, Hijran’s great grandfathers most likely weren’t on our side.
===

Green power killing business

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (6:16pm)

Green power costs a bomb and isn’t reliable. But South Australia’s Labor government was crazed with global warming and wouldn’t listen, and now business is being driven into the ground:
South Australia’s rising share of renewable power could cause blackouts in the state if the Australian Energy Market Operator doesn’t intervene, the agency’s chief executive, Matt Zema, said.
South Australia’s rooftop solar panels could meet the state’s electricity demands during the middle of some days by 2024-25 if uptake continued at the current rate, he said.
But this would lead to more volatility and less reliability, and a greater reliance on the interconnector with the large eastern state generators to keep power flowing on some days, he said.
The warning is relevant for the federal Labor opposition, which has called for 50 per cent of Australia’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030…
Mr Zema said prices are becoming more volatile in South Australia because of the withdrawal of coal power plants and the strong uptake in solar energy.
Prices have hit the National Electricity Market limit of $13,800 a megawatt hour several times in the state in recent months. That makes industrial users uneasy and leads to speculation the government may have to pay thermal-coal generators to provide standby capacity. ..
Mr Zema said the Energy Market Operator was intervening to balance the market to avoid blackouts in South Australia while the existing interconnector is upgraded, causing outages and complaints from industry.
Peter Dobney, the head of energy and resources at packaging company Orora, told the lunch South Australia “has become a basket case for large industry energy users” and the outages were costing industry millions of dollars…
Mr Zema said Germany, Spain and Italy were dealing with a similar problem by relying on interconnectors with France, which has a large surplus of nuclear power. 
That’s not the only Labor government burned by mixing power supplies with Leftist ideology.
Socialism by government fiat will drive a business broke, yet Queensland’s Labor government pushes on:
The Palaszczuk government has executed an about-face on electricity prices, finally banning state-owned power companies from appealing a regulator’s ruling to prevent a hike in power bills.
However, the consumer-friendly decision will put distributors Ergon and Energex under increasing pressure to slash hundreds of jobs, framing a possible battle between the government and the influential Electrical Trades Union.
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Brett the cook advises Turnbull on uranium policy

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (6:03pm)

Cut out the middle man. Make Brett the cook our Prime Minister.
Malcolm Turnbull explains how he got a tip on uranium from a cook in a café:
I was just talking about this with the cook in the café downstairs when I was having some coffee and breakfast with Steve Marshall, as Brett the chef was saying, his view and I think a lot of South Australians feel like this and it is a perfectly reasonable view, is we have got the uranium, we mine it, why don’t we process it, turn it into the fuel rods, lease it to people overseas, when they are done we bring them back and we have got stable, very stable geology in remote locations and a stable political environment.
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Cruz wins. Rubio, too

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (4:20pm)


Ted Cruz won the latest Republican debate with this scorcher of a response - an attack on media bias that had the crowd hollering and sent Frank Luntz’s focus group into ecstasy.
Mind you, Ezra Klein says the reason so many media questions sound so hostile is that some of the Republican candidates aren’t making much sense. On the other hand, why the softball questions of the Democrats?
Cruz and Rubio are starting to gain traction. Trump is starting to lose some. Novelty value can only take you as far as the novelty lasts.
UPDATE
Marco Rubio smacked Jeb Bush out of the park:
And then he went for the media and its candidate, Hillary Clinton:
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Turnbull spins wheels. Credit rating at risk

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (1:21pm)

No, it wasn’t out of rage at Abbott’s removal - as some suggested - that I’ve warned for a couple of weeks that Malcolm Turnbull is dodging the spending cuts and workplace reforms we need to rescue the Budget.
He’s been allowed to get away with it because so much of the media backs him, and believes Tony Abbott was wrong to push so hard for cuts.
But David Uren has crunched the numbers and warns that harsh reality could soon whack Turnbull, who seems only too keen to dodge the necessary fights that might cost him votes:
Scott Morrison faces a battle to preserve Australia’s AAA credit rating with revenue looking as if it will again fail to meet Treasury’s expectations, while little progress is being achieved on budget ­savings. 

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s was crystal clear in its commentary after the budget was handed down in May that Australia’s standing at the pinnacle of global creditworthiness would not survive another blowout in the deficit. “The stable outlook is based on our assumption that Australia’s continued conservative budgetary policies will result in consistently narrowing deficits … We could lower the ratings if Australia’s budgetary performance does not improve broadly as we currently expect,” it warned.
The budget Morrison has inherited from Joe Hockey attempts to hold the line on spending while economic growth generates the revenue to whittle away the budget deficit. The idea is that revenue rises faster than 6 per cent a year across the next four years while spending growth is kept to less than 4 per cent.
There are dangers in tracing trends in government finances from the monthly government accounts released by the Department of Finance, but results for the first three months are concerning. Spending growth is being contained and there has been a handy boost of a big dividend from the Reserve Bank, but the big sources of tax income look to be in trouble. Revenue from direct taxes on personal incomes, company profits and superannuation funds is not only failing to meet budget projections, it is actually below the level at this time last year.
A cut in our credit rating adds to the cost of borrowing. One more reason for Turnbull to want to dash the polls, before things get really nasty and he’s forced to act. 
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Big news to news.com.au: Greens and Twitter trolls don’t like Abbott. Repeat news daily

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (8:15am)

News.com.au yesterday reported Tony Abbott had allegedly “embarrassed” Australia on the ludicrous grounds that Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and some other anti-Abbott Tweeters had said so.
Today it reports as if it were news that some other Abbott-haters on Twitter, including another Greens MP and some anonymous nonentities, are attacking him.
It is embarrassing that this activist trash is published by a serious news organisation.
UPDATE
Fairfax, still choking on Abbott-hatred, spends a second day trying to paint his speech as the embarrassment it clearly wasn’t. Check this headline:
image
But what is the source for this claim?
Tony Abbott’s controversy-sparking speech in honour of Margaret Thatcher made Conservative cabinet ministers “wince”, a well-connected Tory blogger says.
Guido Fawkes, the online persona of blogger and journalist Paul Staines, wrote that a top Tory described the speech afterwards as “fascistic"…
“Tory cabinet ministers winced as [Mr Abbott] warned Europe must use force to turn boats around and establish camps for migrants”, he said.
So the source is not “Ministers” plural but “a top Tory” singular. And anonymous. And reported second-hand by a blogger, reporting mass “wincing” not spotted by any of the cameras there. Moreover, the vast majority of the comments under Fawkes’ item praise Abbott.
But that’s all that Fairfax needs.
UPDATE
A better measure of Abbott’s reception is Britain’s Spectator, which today editorialises:
Delivering the Margaret Thatcher lecture at the Guildhall, Abbott, who left office in September, explained what so few European policymakers seem able to grasp. Yes, the rich world has a moral duty to help people fleeing for their lives. But that duty requires tough action — as well as targeted help — to prevent a genuine flow of refugees developing into an uncontrolled flood of migrants…
The migration crisis today is not due to an outbreak of war and poverty: we’re living in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity. In fact, this is what is driving the migration — people who had been too poor to consider emigrating now have enough cash to make the journey. They have smartphones, and know about life abroad. The sheer speed at which global poverty is being reduced has put millions on the move. Study after study shows that emigration starts in earnest when very poor countries grow richer; it only stops when countries are rich enough not to be classified as ‘poor’. This process typically takes a couple of generations. So the wave of migration we are witnessing in Europe is not just a response to the Syrian war; is a phenomenon that will be with us for decades.
With migrant boats landing from North Africa, European countries could have learned lessons from the Australian experience. Instead, they have flapped around making things worse.
(Thanks to reader Tom.) 
===

Abbott warns Europe to fight or lose

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (8:09am)

Immigration

SEEMING good, achieving evil. Tony Abbott has nailed the truth of Europe’s surrender to an army of illegal immigrants.
Yet the deposed prime minister was again abused by the media for trying to defend the West.
First, the harsh facts about what Abbott in his Margaret Thatcher lecture on Tuesday in London called these “culture-shifting population transfers” to Europe, possibly “changing it forever”. Last year more than 280,000 illegal immigrants poured into Europe, most sailing to Italy from Libya. This year that flood became a tsunami. More than 710,000 illegal immigrants have so far crossed the borders, most now landing in Greece.
Many are fleeing Syria’s war, but a quarter come from Iraq and Afghanistan and others from Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan and even far-off Nigeria and Bangladesh.
And next year? How many then?
Note also that 70 per cent of the arrivals are men. They will want families and brides to join them.
There is no way Europe can cope with this onslaught and this clash of cultures — not when most immigrants are Muslim and many without the work skills Europe needs.
“The imperative to ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself” is at the heart of every Western polity”, Abbott acknowledged in his lecture.
“But — right now — this wholesome instinct is leading much of Europe into catastrophic error …
“No country or continent can open its borders to all comers without fundamentally weakening itself.”
Europe would “require some force” to stop the arrivals, with “tens — perhaps hundreds — of millions of people” eager to come, too.
Boats had to be turned around and camps created for refugees in the countries bordering those they’d fled.
But no sooner had Abbott finished speaking than the ABC was inviting critics to savage him.
(Read full column here.) 
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Morrison reassures, but Islamic Council does not

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (7:24am)

Treasurer Scott Morrison says most Muslims would be offended by Muslims students not singing the national anthem:
Scott Morrison has condemned as “pathetic do-gooders” staff at a Victorian primary school who ­allowed Muslim students to walk out during the national anthem.
In contrast to the Victorian government, the Treasurer ­attacked the decision of Cranbourne’s Carlisle Primary School in Melbourne’s southeast to allow about 40 students to leave during the national anthem.
Mr Morrison described the teachers in question as deserving the “muppet of the year” award.
“This was just pathetic. For goodness sake, we are all Australians, we all love our national ­anthem,’’ Mr Morrison told 3AW.
“I know people of Muslim faith ... would be just as offended about this as you and I would. Some do-gooder has tried to make a point and they have ended up damaging the whole show.’’
But Victoria’s peak Muslim body does not share Morrison’s sunny view:
Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Kuranda Seyit said Mr Morrison’s stance was “disappointing”, particularly given what he said was the federal government’s attempts to mend relations with the Muslim community since Malcolm Turnbull became leader. “When Mr Turnbull first came to office he was very diplomatic and seemed to be leading in the right direction. Mr Morrison is taking that progress backwards,” he said…
Mr Seyit said the students had been observing the month of ­Muharram, which for Shi’ites marks the death of the prophet Mohammed’s grandson, Huseein ibn Ali. “They’re in a state of mourning during which they’re not allowed to sing or dance,” Mr Seyit said. “It’s unfortunate that this has been mixed up with the issue of the ­national anthem.”
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Turnbull gives science prize to a man with good news on the warming scare

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (7:12am)

Global warming - general

IS MALCOLM Turnbull a secret global warming sceptic? Check who has won his $250,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science.
Graham Farquhar won our richest science prize for work that suggests global warming might actually not be that bad after all. In fact, it could be good in one important way.
Farquhar is a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University who won for modelling photosynthesis — how plants turn sun, air and water into energy. That took him into global warming science and he found good news.
(Read full column here.) 
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Penny drops at the ABC: maybe Islam really does need reform. Maybe there really is a “death cult”

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (6:57am)

Tony Abbott was mocked by much of the press gallery for referring to the Islamic State as a “death cult”.  He was attacked as rude for calling for Muslim clerics to reform Islam to make it the “religion of peace” they claimed.
Much of this criticism was driven by ABC presenters.
So Lateline last night was a surprise - or maybe confirmation of my adage that the difference between a conservative and a Leftist is often just time.
Host Tony Jones in his introduction still tried formulaically to stick to the script about the “religion of peace”:
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: A very different program tonight. We’ll devote most of it to a dialogue between two men who began on opposite sides of the great debate on religion and ended up working together on a project to reform Islam.
Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz are the co-authors of a new book called Islam and the Future of Tolerance.
Well despite their differences, they share disgust at the way in which extremists resort to sacred Islamic texts to justify medieval brutality such as the beheadings, torture, sexual slavery and rape which are routinely celebrated in Islamic State propaganda…
The use of a distorted version of Islamic beliefs about paradise to justify the slaughter of innocents is at the extreme end of the debate, but it’s an indication of what’s at stake…
JASON OM: As the West struggles to contain the home-grown threat of jihadists, some provocateurs argue that Islam itself is to blame.
But Jones’ interview with Harris and Nawaz suggests that Abbott was right about Islam, and way ahead of his sniping critics:
SAM HARRIS:  We have not created this phenomenon of global jihad. This is a phenomenon that is, on some level, over 1,000 years old and now we’re dealing with the modern variant of it. But what we have to recognise is that there are specific ideologies that are delivering us what we’re calling Islamism and jihadism here and until those - until we win a war of ideas against these ideologies - a belief in martyrdom, a belief in paradise - we are going to continue to confront this evil, a kind of evil which should really be unimaginable in the year 2015…
TONY JONES: Sam Harris, do you see something distinct in the nature of Islam as opposed to other religions that gives rise to the particular brand of brutality practised by the adherence of Islamic State?
SAM HARRIS: Yeah, I do, I do… As a matter of history, Islam has not had a proper collision with modernity and secularism and science the way Christianity has… But there are theological differences between Islam and Christianity and Judaism and other faiths that I think make Islam more difficult to reform…
TONY JONES: Sam, briefly on specifics, you maintain pretty much that everything a jihadist needs to justify their beliefs and their actions can be spelled out unambiguously in the Koran and the Hadith…
SAM HARRIS: Yeah and I would add to that the biography of Muhammad.... What is ISIS doing that Muhammad didn’t do or wouldn’t have approved of? ... And the example of Muhammad is, as just an exemplar of the faith, is - doesn’t square very well with modern, cosmopolitan, secular, tolerant values. He was not a hippy who got crucified… He was a warlord who did many of the things that you see members of ISIS doing and that’s why they can kind of paint by numbers and justify what they’re doing with a very literalist, and as Maajid would say, a vacuous reading of Islamic theology. And that’s a very inconvenient fact which we have to confront head on and find some way to disavow the intolerant readings of these passages in scripture.

MAAJID NAWAZ:  It’s incorrect for we, as Muslims and generally, actually, I’d say, those on the left of centre in this debate, to insist that Islamists and jihadists have nothing to do with Islam. That’s actually an exercise in dishonesty. Of course they have something to do with Islam… As Sam correctly mentioned, there are passages that they can resort to. So they have a plausible reading of scripture. The challenge, and this is more a plea that I make here on your show to my fellow Muslims in Australia and that is that we, as Muslims, have a task ahead of us, a monumentous task ahead of us and that is to begin the process of adapting, of reinterpreting our scriptures for the modern day and age… Unfortunately, many Muslims today, instead of rising to that challenge are incredibly defensive when it comes to this.
TONY JONES: Sam Harris, ... you ... confront one of the worst forms of depravity. One in particular stays in my mind. It was a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan where 132 children were murdered for which the jihadists gave a very grim justification…
SAM HARRIS: Ah, yeah. This was a discussion with a Taliban supporter who after this massacre at the school in Peshawar justified it to a friend of ours, Ali A. Rizvi, a ex-Muslim online, and he said, “You don’t understand. You’re a materialist. You think death is the end of everything and so this is why you think something bad happened here. But those children are in paradise. We did them a favour. And the last thing they heard was “Allahu Akbar” and they will be at the right hand of God.” And what you see in this justification, and I’ve been worrying about this for years, is that a sincere belief in paradise really takes the guard rails off of civilisation. If - you become undeterrable by death and you think that it’s impossible to kill the wrong people because if you blow up a crowd of even Muslim children as a Muslim, well you’ve sent the children to paradise and you’ve sent all the bad people to hell, which is where God wants them, so you’ve done - it’s impossible to kill the wrong people, it’s impossible for anything to go wrong and this world is just fit to be destroyed because there’s nothing about it that matters in light of eternity. Now there are obviously other religions that have this - a problematic conception of paradise, in particular Christianity, but within Islam it’s married to a notion of martyrdom and a notion of jihad in defence of the faith that I think really is almost the perfect recipe for the kind of death cult behaviour we’re seeing in the Muslim world....
MAAJID NAWAZ:  In fact Islamism, when implemented, without exception leads to nothing but misery, leads to nothing but darkness and gloom over those societies upon which it’s implemented and eventually people do want their own freedom and they want their own choices to make for themselves… I believe that there is absolutely no other choice but for us to actually get through this and to continue this process of reform, but it does require people to speak up.

Congratulations to Jones for having the guts to feature this frank conversation. I would only add that a handful of conservatives have being trying to have this conversation for some 15 years already, for which the response has been little but abuse, cries of “Islamophobia” even ”madman”, and deadly delay. 
===

Why is Amnesty International trying to crack our borders?

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (6:53am)

So many worthy organisations seem to get captured by the Left and turned into ideological war machines. Think how Oxfam and World Vision became global warming warriors. How various law societies here became shills for Labor policies. How universities became fortresses for Marxist and Greens academics. How the ABC became a mouthpiece of the Left, with not a single conservative host of a mainstream current affairs show.
Now Amnesty International, once devoted to helping “prisoners of conscience”, is wasting donated money to stop Australia from turning back boats of illegal immigrants:
Amnesty has called out Australia’s secretive Operation Sovereign Borders as a “lawless venture” that should be fully exposed through a royal commission.
“Called out”? The AAP reporter is giving the wild allegation too much credence.
The report, entitled By Hook or By Crook, claims Australian officials in May paid $US32,000 to six crew who were taking 65 asylum seekers to New Zealand, to get them to return to Indonesia instead.
That’s fairly well accepted as true now. But so? How long would that boat have lasted on that trip, do you think? And the bottom line is that the boat was sent back to where it came from - a place where the illegal immigrants remained safe.
But for Amnesty International, paying money to return people back to their safe destination and prevent them from either drowning or entering a country illegally is actually a crime:
Report author Anna Shea says the actions of the Australian Navy and Border Force amount to transnational crime.
In effect, she says, they directed a people-smuggling operation, paying a boat crew and then instructing them on what to do and where to land in Indonesia.
Amnesty wants a royal commission to look into whether criminal activity took place, as well as asylum seekers’ claims of ill treatment at sea.
“Australia appears willing to do absolutely anything to stop people seeking asylum from reaching its shores,” she told AAP.
“The idea that the ends justify the means is extremely concerning.”
Note the hyperbole. No, Australia does not believe “the ends justify the means”. We do not stop boats by shelling them, torturing those on boat or letting people drown. Cut the hysterics.
Ms Shea says all available evidence indicates that turnbacks are not saving lives, but endangering them.
Plainly false.
Number of people who drowned trying to get to Australia before the turn-back policies: 1200.
Number of people who drowned trying to get to Australia after the turn-back policies: 0.
“When governments say that `on water matters’ are exempt from public scrutiny, in effect they are saying that they can do anything they like,” she said.
Not true. All our operations are conducted under Australian law, and the Government says they conform to that law as well. No one says the Government can “do anything they like”.
“This is a very dangerous and profoundly undemocratic idea, and must not be replicated in Europe or elsewhere.”
Ah. Is that it, then? Amnesty is trying to stop Europe from replicating the kind of policies that stop the boats? Amnesty wants this astonishing and dangerous invasion of Europe to continue - the invasion that has so far brought 1 million illegal immigrants to Europe in just two years? 
===

Europe’s illegal immigrant crisis in one graphic

Andrew Bolt October 29 2015 (5:37am)

Watch this astonishing animated graphic by Lucify shows the streams of illegal immigrants entering Europe from Africa and the Middle East over the past three years. 
(Thanks to reader Low Profile.) 
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It’s a pack of tweets who run the game

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, October 29, 2014 (1:05am)

FIRST Kurtley Beale from rugby union, then Paul Gallen from league.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'It’s a pack of tweets who run the game'
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CAPTAIN’S PICK

Tim Blair – Wednesday, October 29, 2014 (2:03pm)

A brief he said/she said outline to the Nova Peris/Ato Boldon sex-for-taxes scandal:
“I am happy to do one up for you just give me your account details and I will get the waiver form so u don’t have to pay tax, u get the whole amount as a one of payment etc. Let me know babe if this is ok? I just want to do everything right for you.” – An email sent in 2010 by Olympic gold medallist and future Labor senator Nova Peris to fellow Olympian Ato Boldon, arranging a visit to Australia by the Trinidadian sprinter.
“You should be compensated for your long haul travels across the pacific. sexually of course.” – Further from Peris, who was married to Olympian Daniel Batman at the time.
“I categorically reject any wrongdoing. Documents provided to the NT News are private. It appears they were not lawfully obtained by a third party. The highs and lows of my athletic career – and now political career – are public. The highs and lows of my private life are matters for me and my family.” – Peris’s reaction to today’s revelations.
“Like Freeman here, she is so so dumb (sad but true) and has a national profile of running fast achieving awesome things but seriously can’t talk for shit.” – Another 2010 Peris email to Boldon, in which she criticises champion runner Cathy Freeman.
“With good friend Cathy Freeman.” – An October 2014 tweet from Peris.
“My trip to Australia almost five years ago was for the purpose of holding several youth clinics, and it was a successful undertaking. The trip was co-organized by one of my now-deceased colleagues at Athletics Australia. The article recently written by the Northern Territory News, includes gross fabrications. I will be following the senator’s lead, including, but not limited to, pursuing all legal action possible for this malicious misrepresentation of the details surrounding my presence in Australia in 2010.” – A statement from Boldon.
“We stand by the story, which deals with a matter of public importance, namely the alleged misuse of taxpayer funds. Copies of the emails, which we are satisfied are 100% legitimate, were volunteered to the NT News by a credible source.” – A statement from the NT News.
“These are deeply personal matters that predate her entry into parliament. Again, I think that Nova Peris is a very special person, an amazing Australian and she has my support.” – Labor leader Bill Shorten.
“At this stage it’s not for others to comment on.” – Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop says the scandal is “a matter for Senator Peris to deal with as she sees fit.”
As Andrew Bolt points out, there is a crucial point of difference between this story and previous email hunts: 
Like the emails of Professor Barry Spurr that the Left have trawled through, those of Labor Senator Nova Peris are private.
Like the emails of Spurr, the emails of Peris could be seen to express private racist thoughts.
But unlike the emails of Spurr, those of Peris reveal a matter of great public interest – the apparent use of public money for a private purpose. 
Quite so.
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NO MO

Tim Blair – Wednesday, October 29, 2014 (12:58pm)

It’s game over for Mo Ali B: 
Australia’s most senior Islamic State member, Mohammad Ali Baryalei, one of the world’s most wanted men, has reportedly been killed in the Middle East, the ABC says.

image

The Afghan refugee — who grew up in Sydney’s northwest suburbs — is alleged to have issued instructions to kill Australians. 
Enjoy oblivion, loser.
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Baryalei reported dead

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (1:12pm)

Good riddance:
MOHAMMAD Ali Baryalei, Australia’s most senior member of the Islamic State terror group, has reportedly been killed. 
The fugitive terrorist who allegedly masterminded a plot to kill a random member of the public in Sydney recently was killed in fighting four or five days ago, the ABC has reported. Baryalei has been accused of recruiting Australian fightings for the militant group. The threat prompted the largest terrorism raids in Australian history, with more than 800 police officers detaining 15 suspects recently, including Omarjan Azari, Baryalei’s alleged link man in Australia.
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Letters reveal the truth about the “stolen generation” and the “herding” onto missions

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (9:11am)

UPDATE
Joe responds to those who commented on his article below:
Thank you so much for all your generous comments, it makes it all worth while. Yes, I’ll try to fix up my website: http://www.firstsources.info and make it more responsive. But I don’t even know how to send text messages on my mobile, so it could take some time smile 
There is so much material out there, in every state. I wish I was in Perth to photocopy the 1936 Moseley Royal Commission evidence, set up by the new Labour Government, which (I think) is in the State Library - if the Rabbit-Proof Fence story is correct, there would be mention of it there. But there is no mention of it in the 16-page Report of the Moseley Commission, not even by Mrs. Mary Bennett, a constant thorn in the side of Mr Neville at the time.
Thank you, thank you again, I’m so glad there are honest people out there ! If you can find just one document each, type it up and send it around ! Truth and reality has to always trump ideology and stance.
Joe Lane
ORIGINAL POST
Joe Lane is compiling a fascinating archive:
My wife and I made the first Aboriginal flags, back in 1972, more than a hundred of them up to 1981 or so, and sent them all around Australia.  We were ardent supporters of land rights and self-determination and used to devour any new book on the subject… 
In the eighties, I found the Journals of George Taplin, the missionary who set up the Point McLeay Mission on Lake Alexandrina, where my wife was born, and managed it between 1859 and 1879.  The Journals were (and still are) in the State Library in Adelaide, in an old type-written copy.  At the time, I thought that some fool should type them up again.  As it turned out, I was that fool.  But I had found a gold-mine of information, much of which did not conform to the dominant paradigm, or ‘narrative’ [See web-site, below].
A friend gave me some old letter-books from the Mission, covering up to 1900, which I carefully copied.  By then I was hooked on searching out first-hand sources and went on to type up the thousand pages of the various Royal Commissions ‘into the Aborigines’, of 1860, 1899 and 1913-1916.  Many other documents suffered the same fate.  More recently, I have been typing up the correspondence of the Protector of Aborigines in South Australia, more than thirteen thousand letters in, and eight and a half thousand letters out, 1840 to 1912.
All in all, I’ve transcribed around eight thousand pages of primary-source material and put it all on a web-site ...
Comprehensively, this material does not support the current ‘narrative’ and, in fact, actively supports a more complex and intriguing perspective.
The dominant paradigm, which is being taught around Australia, in schools and at universities, asserts that 
- Aboriginal people were ‘herded’ onto Missions; - Aboriginal people were driven from their lands; 
- Countless children were stolen from their families.
So far, I have found no unambiguous evidence of any of this… Let’s look at each of these assertions in turn:

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Letters reveal the truth about the “stolen generation” and the “herding” onto missions'
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Napoleon’s old guard

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (9:00am)

image
Brilliant:
Napoléon Bonaparte’s final defeat was the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Even after his death in 1821, the surviving soldiers of Grande Armée revered his historic leadership. Each year on May 5, the anniversary of Napoléon’s death, the veterans marched to Paris’ Place Vendôme in full uniform to pay respects to their emperor. 

These photographs were taken on one of these occasions, possibly in 1858. All the men — at this time in their 70s and 80s — are wearing the Saint Helena medals, issued in August 1857 to all veterans of the wars of the revolution and the empire. These are the only surviving images of veterans of the Grande Armée and the Guard actually wearing their original uniforms and insignia. 
(Thanks to reader Alan RM Jones.)  
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The new consensus: what global warming crisis?

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (8:56am)

How much longer can our politicians ignore the science - and now this new consensus?:
Don’t look now, but maybe a scientific consensus exists concerning global warming after all. Only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe that humans are creating a global warming crisis, according to a survey reported in the peer-reviewed Organization Studies. By contrast, a strong majority of the 1,077 respondents believe that nature is the primary cause of recent global warming and/or that future global warming will not be a very serious problem.
(Thanks to reader Raymond.) 
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Why Muhammad inspires the beheaders

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (8:50am)

Islamism

Dr Denis MacEoin is a former lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. He, too, calls for a reform of Islam, although I am increasingly pessimistic about that being even possible:

The problem is simpler than any politician or moderate Muslim or Christian outreach foundation journalist has ever been willing to admit: Many Muslims who want to turn young believers away from jihad or hatred of Christians, Jews and other non-believers are trapped. They are trapped because the Qur’an—the six compilations of sacred traditions (the ahadith), which make up holy writ, as well as the biography of Muhammad (the sira)—all condone or command jihad and hatred for non-believers, and they do so abundantly. 
Muhammad led his followers into some 27 battles and his successors conquered half the known world. Muhammad himself ordered or supported assassinations of individuals or groups. One well-documented list shows 43 occasions on which such killings took place, usually because someone had insulted the prophet.  A modern Muslim website carries a translation by the American convert Aisha Abdurrahman Bewley of part of a work by the 12th-century jurisprudent Ibn Iyad, entitled, “The proof of the necessity of killing anyone who curses the Prophet or finds fault with him.”
It is hard for a young man, who wants to emulate the only “true role model,” to ignore Muhammad’s regular use of jihad; and even harder to be seen to contradict verses from what he and his community consider to be God’s word, the last divine revelation to mankind.
Here is just one well-known Qur’anic passage (2: 190-191): “Fight in the way of God with those who fight with you… And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter; do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.”
Yet for some reason, commentators and politicians still wonder where the fighters of the Islamic State or the would-be assassins of Salman Rushdie or the killer of Theo van Gogh get their inspiration 
UPDATE
And indeed, so it is taught in an Islamic school in Canada, of all places:
(Thanks to readers Lew and Peter.) 
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The trashing of the ABC

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (8:45am)

The Australian is right. The ABC is not only too biased and too big, it is also too juvenile:
THIS month a rapper called 360 was chosen by the ABC to join its premier public affairs forum, Q&A. “There’s so many racist bigots in this country and they’re everywhere, and it’s like — I don’t know,” said 360, “like I was talking to someone earlier about this, but the Australian flag to me has now become — I identify that with racism.” OK, we’ll take that as a comment. Media Watch this week revealed a picture of a giant “Crabzilla” on a news site that said it was photoshopped was, indeed, photoshopped. Phew! Flagship current affairs show 7.30 interviewed the star of teenage hits such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin. “When you meet new people,” he was asked, “do you feel the weight of expectations: ‘Oh, god, they’re going to expect me to be funny because I’m Steve Carell’?” Sadly, by his own admission, Carell was a total bore. Mocking Tongans in blackface comedy, offensively attacking perceived cultural enemies or deriding the mainstream as “upper middle bogans”, the national broadcaster provides no end of low points. 
We accept the need for light and shade, and this newspaper has cried out often enough for the ABC to meet its charter obligation for plurality. Yet for the past three federal elections the ABC has not hosted the leaders’ debates, its prime current affairs program runs only four nights a week with perfunctory attention to state issues on Fridays. On the rare occasions the ABC breaks a significant story it is likely to be delivered to it by activists — such as the 2011 Four Corners expose of animal cruelty in Indonesia that was based on Animals Australia footage — or a case of jaundiced overreach such as claims in January the navy had tortured asylum-seekers — an allegation the ABC now regrets.
Aunty needs to turn away from lowbrow populism and the digital-driven pursuit of fashion in favour of a high-minded approach to the important discussions shaping this country. Perhaps the greatest of our cultural institutions, it has the skills and resources to fulfil expectations…
But mostly, instead of challenging, diverse, fact-based and intelligent reporting and discussion, the ABC joins the Fairfax tabloids and left-wing websites in a mindless pursuit of jejune click bait. This is a world where Sarah Hanson-Young is the go-to voice on refugees, Tim Flannery is the oracle on climate, Wayne Swan is the world’s greatest treasurer, middle-class Western jihadists are victims of injustice and Pauline Hanson speaks for suburbia. This is not reality and it is not a sensible place for the ABC to inhabit. The ABC charter demands “innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard” to contribute to a “sense of national identity and inform and entertain, and reflect the cultural diversity of the Australian community”. Mark Scott seems to have confused the “community” with the twittersphere as he allows, even encourages, this public behemoth to chase its social media tail.
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Blacks revolt against Democrats

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (8:33am)

 The “us"-and-"them" appeals to race are not healthy, but the fury against the Democratic machine sounds like the dawn of a revolt against welfarism. 
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Nova Peris hunts up taxpayers’ money for secret affair

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (8:23am)

Like the emails of Professor Barry Spurr that the Left have trawled through, those of Labor Senator Nova Peris are private.
Like the emails of Spurr, the emails of Peris could be seen to express private racist thoughts.
But unlike the emails of Spurr, those of Peris reveal a matter of great public interest - the apparent use of public money for a private purpose. So let’s see if the ABC and Fairfax go to town on Peris as they have with the conservative Spurr:
SENATOR Nova Peris sought taxpayers’ money to help her to carry out an extra-marital sexual tryst with Olympic medallist Ato Boldon in 2010, an investigation has revealed.

Ms Peris, who was working as a communication officer with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies at the time and as ambassador for Athletics Australia, sought funds from Athletics Australia and other sources to pay for Mr Boldon’s trip to Australia from Los Angeles to take part in a 10 day official “Jump Start to London” program for young athletes. 
She also used that trip to carry out a “just like a Tim-tam… black on black” affair with Mr Boldon. She was married to Daniel Batman at the time.
“Ato…tell me babe…what u want … Make a bit of money and spend time together … I will take time of from work to be with u,” Ms Peris wrote in an email exchange obtained by the NT News.
Mr Boldon responded: “Purpose is time with u plus attend trials plus help them promote the trials and possibly guest broadcast on the tv station carrying it…need hotel ticket plus 15,000 US…”
Athletics Australia confirmed they did pay for Mr Boldon’s flight to Melbourne from Los Angeles and covered his accommodations and some “incidentals” while in Australia…
In other emails obtained by the NT News, Ms Peris sends multiple nude pictures of herself to Mr Boldon and speaks candidly about her views on race relations in Australia.
“...You should be compensated for your long haul travels across the pacific.. sexually of course… but only .. a tired traveller should kick back for a few days,” Ms Peris says on Feb 28, 2010…
Ms Peris responded to questions posed by the NT News last night, saying she “categorically rejects any wrongdoing”.
“During his trip Mr Boldon promoted athletics, attended and promoted specific events and conducted clinics for young Indigenous athletes,” she said. “...I understand Athletics Australia was pleased with the outcome of the visit… The highs and lows of my private life are matters for me and my family.”
In earlier emails from February 26, 2010, Ms Peris assures Mr Boldon she will find the money for him.
“…all expenses paid meals & accom and a fee!! Don’t know what it is I was thinking around the $10k I don’t know bub…if your purpose was to come here and make a bit of money or holiday…it was not in the budget to bring any profile athletes out but…I am goin through the indigenous grants mob….they can do was I have suggested…but I am not sure what they can do …”
Ms Peris was married to Olympian Daniel Batman, the father of two of her three children, at the time....
The exact total of money Mr Boldon received is unclear but in an email from mid-March, Ms Peris writes that she had managed to round up $22,000 for him, on top of the money Athletics Australia paid.
“It’s not that I don’t think it is unreasonable, and i totally agree you should be paid up front, its just that the money is government funds… “...this is all black money babe.....but rightly so being used for the interest of indigenous kids babe....white people hate black people in this country, and don’t like for things to happen if there is no salt in the mix....” 
I feel queasy.

I am not sure Peris can survive as a Senator, making decisions on public finances.
UPDATE
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten tells ABC Radio National Breakfast that the emails are “deeply personal” to Peris and he has no comment. This answer is treated as sufficient and Shorten is not pressed to explain on the apparent use of public money for a private affair.
UPDATE
Boldon claims the emails are fakes. Peris claims they were not lawfully obtained. Only one of those statements can logically be true.
UPDATE
On reflection, I have deleted from this post parts of Peris’s emails which she had a right to believe were private and should stay private. The sole issue which is in the public interest, I believe, relates to her use of taxpayers’ money for an apparent private purpose. 
===

Labor led by children

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (8:21am)

Paul Kelly on a Labor party that seems led by children:
AUSTRALIA risks heading to a new status as a stupid country — a nation unable to solve its public policy problems and, even worse, a nation incapable of even conducting a public debate about them.

Tony Abbott’s appeal for a mature debate about Federation and tax reform has produced a predictable response. The universal ALP reaction is the default reflex: the GST is regressive, it cannot be altered and Abbott’s call for debate is the perfect trigger for an anti-GST campaign against him. 
On display are the self-defeating rituals that define our bankrupt political conversation. A nation that cannot reform is on the escalator of decline....
When Abbott called for a “mature debate” in parliament the opposition scoffed. Again, that is no surprise. In the previous parliament, Abbott’s anti-carbon tax campaign frequently crossed the borders of rationality. Labor is right on that point — it can make an argument based on hypocrisy. What next? How long will Labor carry its bleeding wounds from the Rudd-Gillard era on its sleeve like a bullied child? Grief and revenge are Labor’s abiding sentiments. But grief and revenge cannot serve as a tenable political operation. They are leading Labor, deluded by some short-term polling, into a political dead-end. 
I disagree with that analysis only on this point: the charge against Abbott of hypocrisy.
Yes, Abbott fought the carbon tax and mining tax, but he was absolutely right to do so. The carbon tax was an utterly useless and damaging tax on electricity - so useless and damaging that even Labor has now ditched it. The mining tax was also useless and damaging - raising almost no money yet scaring off investment.
To oppose bad policy is actually rational.
Labor, however, is opposing good policy - not least the urgent need to reduce our debt. 
===

Victorian Labor looks after rogue union

Andrew Bolt October 29 2014 (7:47am)

Victorian Labor leader Dan Andrews plays Father Christmas to the militant CFMEU and its apprentices:
In another education and skills pitch to voters, Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews pledged on Tuesday that apprentice bricklayers, carpenters, joiners, electricians and plumbers would pay half the cost of registration for their vehicles…

Other apprentices would also be able to apply for the 50 per cent discount, but their employers would have to show that a car was vital for their work… Premier Denis Napthine said other apprentices not included in the scheme, such as chefs and hairdressers, were being discriminated against by Labor.
(Thanks to reader Frank of Malvern.) 
===
Larry Pickering
SHORTEN DUMPS THE CARBON TAX...
and the Left faction with it

When Albanese promised he would not allow the Carbon Tax Repeal Bill to pass the Senate, he meant it. When Shorten promised the same, he didn’t mean it. And the first nail in Bill’s coffin has been driven home with a Left-handed hammer.

Capitulation on the carbon tax means the Senate is now ideologically emasculated and Labor’s Left Reps are writhing in pain.

Former partners in crime, the Greens, can now revert to the exiguous nothingness the electorate had banished them to. The bitter vitriol expected from Christine Milne will be no more than an irrelevant echo in her beloved Tasmanian wilderness as Labor rues the day they invited them into Government.

But Labor’s rabid Left, led by Plibersek and Albanese, will be white with rage at Shorten’s backdown and facing media questions of solidarity will prove extremely uncomfortable for them.

An emotional schism is brewing within Labor ranks as they finally bury the Rudd/Gillard experiment and tentatively creep toward the sensible centre.

But the sensible centre is not where the heart of Labor lies but it is where Labor becomes re-electable... before it once again disingenuously drifts to the far Left.

Those on the Right will justify the pragmatic backflip as the global warming myth becomes more discredited daily.

Tony Abbott has never been a believer in man-made global warming and many on Labor’s Right are having serious doubts.

Shorten had no choice really, Abbott and the electorate won the carbon tax debate and Labor must now find another vehicle for their socialised income redistribution.

But we will need to return Labor to government before we find out what that vehicle is.
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One of the most important items from the Cheapside Hoard is this large Colombian emerald pocket watch, circa 1600. Watches first appeared in England around 1540, and Colombian emeralds reached Europe by the late 1500s. Taking advantage of the crystal’s hexagonal shape, the maker removed a slice for the cover, cut out a central section for the movement, and used that gem material to embellish the metalwork. Green enamel decorates various parts of the watch. The artistry and meticulous engineering indicate this timepiece was intended for nobility. Courtesy of the Museum of London; photos by Robert Weldon/GIA.
cf the hoard - ed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheapside_Hoard 
===
Blue Lagoon by Laurie Anderson 
I got your letter. Thanks a lot. I've been getting lots of sun. And lots of rest. It's really hot. Days, I dive by the wreck. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon. Always used to wonder who I'd bring to a desert island. Days, I remember cities. Nights, I dream about a perfect place. Days, I dive by the wreck. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon. Full fathom five thy father lies. Of his bones are coral made. Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade. But that suffers a sea change. Into something rich and strange. And I alone am left to tell the tale. Call me Ishmael. I got your letter. Thanks a lot. I've been getting lots of sun. And lots of rest. It's really hot. Always used to wonder who I'd bring to a desert island. Days, I remember rooms. Nights, I swim in the blue lagoon. I saw a plane today. Flying low over the island. But my mind was somewhere else. And if you ever get this letter. Thinking of you. Love and kisses. Blue Pacific. Signing off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkeB-J9IlAI
===
Pastor Rick Warren'
There are accidental and illegitimate parents, but no accidental or illegitimate children. Your parents may not have planned you but God did!

"All the days that you (God) PLANNED for my life were written in your Book BEFORE I was one day old!" Psalm 139:16 

God conceived your life before your parents conceived you. He WANTED YOU BORN so he could love you. This is why abortion short-circuits God's plan. God has never conceived of anyone, including you, that he didn't pre-plan a purpose for their life.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Finding yourself in a whirlwind of emotions these days, wondering if this roller coaster will ever stop spinning around and slowly going up then rushing back downwards..... sometimes you Just want it to stop, but if it did where would you be? You can either live in fear of the next twist and turn or go along with it and enjoy the excitement that is your beautiful life on this amazing ride we call living, accept Your feeling, good or bad, embrace them, own them and knows they're Yours. Look at things in a different light..... let your fear be replaced by excitement..let your tears bring you release to smile...allow your doubts to give way to curiosity.. let your lows bring you the comfort of knowing hope that brighter days are coming.....embrace yourself, all of YOU! We can't pick and choose what comes our way, what we can choose is how we react to them _(._.)_ Hugs 
Aye sister .. the Lord has given us this precious life and we have one life. We make many mistakes .. many bad choices .. He loves us .. and he looks at the right choices we made and smiles on them. One bad choice does not end his love. Two bad choices don't. Or hundreds and thousands. But when we are wise, and choose well, he delights .. he brags about us .. - ed
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Political Quiz
http://australia.isidewith.com/political-quiz
I'm 81% with Libs - ed
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New 'Star Wars' bloopers hit the web
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/10/28/new-star-wars-bloopers-hit-web/?intcmp=features
A new “Star Wars” blooper reel has surfaced, showing some of the funny moment from the galaxy set.
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Lindsa Ronstadt opens up about Parkinson's, and her childhood on the Mexican border
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/10/28/lindsa-ronstadt-opens-up-about-parkinsons-and-her-childhood-on-mexican-border/
Singing legend Linda Ronstadt has just released her memoir, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, a thoughtful book in which she explains her eclectic musical choices.
Her singing has ended, but her music goes on .. ed
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Lost da Vinci artwork unearthed beneath paint
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/10/28/lost-da-vinci-artwork-unearthed-beneath-paint/
Drawings sketched by Leonardo da Vinci are emerging from the walls of an Italian castle, announced restorers working on an elaborate fresco devised by the Renaissance master.
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GraphicStock - Discount Coupon
http://go.referralcandy.com/share/Q85L4JW
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Mechanics find starved and dehydrated girl in boot of car in Terrasso, France
http://www.news.com.au/world/mechanics-find-starved-girl-in-boot/story-fndir2ev-1226748590549
THE discovery of an underfed and dehydrated baby girl who had been forced to live in a car boot, apparently since birth, has shocked the nation of France.
Mother didn't care or spent too much time around car? Can't be both. - ed
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ICE cubes could be a thing of the past after the invention of a new gadget that can chill drinks in a matter of seconds.
Known as V-Tex, the product is being billed as a ‘reverse-microwave’, able to cool wine bottles and fizzy drinks from room temperature to four degrees in just 45 seconds.
The V-Tex uses a cooling vortex to chill the drinks, spinning the beverage around without disturbing the carbonation of fizzy drinks.
According to its makers, Enviro-Cool, who developed the product with the help of funding from the European Union, the gadget needs 80 per cent less energy than standard drink chillers.
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Carving the Death Star
http://www.fantasypumpkins.com/carving-the-deathstar.htm
In scraping the pumpkin, they left a good chunk of meat around the laser, which allowed them to cut deep into the Death Star. This is a FAR more believable laser circle. I will definitely be doing something similar next year. Use of the Laser Pointer: But if you don't do this, a flat circle still wo…
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Glenn: Fixing the country starts with fixing our kids
http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/10/28/glenn-fixing-the-country-starts-with-fixing-our-kids/
“...we’re already starting to see people recognizing their job and trying to reverse the mistakes of the past by fixing their kids and doing what we know is right, not what the experts tell us is right.”

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Thousands of Kachin Villagers Trapped After Burma Army Raid | The Irrawaddy Magazine
http://www.irrawaddy.org/burma/thousands-kachin-villagers-trapped-burma-army-raid.html
Kachin relief workers said more than 2,000 civilians remain trapped in a conflict zone in Mansi Township, while thousands are trying to escape on foot.
For more than a week, 2.000 Kachin civilians have been trapped in a conflict zone near Mansi Township, southern Kachin State, and thousands more are fleeing on foot into the jungles and nearby villages & churches. The Burmese military has brutally & senselessly occupied 5 villages and several IDP camps (none of which have KIA bases), opening fire on the villages and torturing & detaining villagers. The military's timing is hardly coincidental: this is the same week that ethnic groups are gathering in Laiza, Kachin State to discuss a potential national ceasefire conference.

Relief worker Naw Din says thousands are unreachable, though “We managed to talk to few villagers and some young students, who revealed that they are being threatened; if someone leaves or enters the village, they will be shot."
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“For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.” 1 Peter 1:24-25 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"I have chosen you out of the world."
John 15:19

Here is distinguishing grace and discriminating regard; for some are made the special objects of divine affection. Do not be afraid to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a bottle of richest cordial. Those who doubt the doctrines of grace, or who cast them into the shade, miss the richest clusters of Eshcol; they lose the wines on the lees well refined, the fat things full of marrow. There is no balm in Gilead comparable to it. If the honey in Jonathan's wood when but touched enlightened the eyes, this is honey which will enlighten your heart to love and learn the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Eat, and fear not a surfeit; live upon this choice dainty, and fear not that it will be too delicate a diet. Meat from the King's table will hurt none of his courtiers. Desire to have your mind enlarged, that you may comprehend more and more the eternal, everlasting, discriminating love of God. When you have mounted as high as election, tarry on its sister mount, the covenant of grace. Covenant engagements are the munitions of stupendous rock behind which we lie entrenched; covenant engagements with the surety, Christ Jesus, are the quiet resting-places of trembling spirits.
"His oath, his covenant, his blood,
Support me in the raging flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
This still is all my strength and stay."
If Jesus undertook to bring me to glory, and if the Father promised that he would give me to the Son to be a part of the infinite reward of the travail of his soul; then, my soul, till God himself shall be unfaithful, till Jesus shall cease to be the truth, thou art safe. When David danced before the ark, he told Michal that election made him do so. Come, my soul, exult before the God of grace and leap for joy of heart.

Evening

"His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven."
Song of Solomon 5:11
Comparisons all fail to set forth the Lord Jesus, but the spouse uses the best within her reach. By the head of Jesus we may understand his deity, "for the head of Christ is God" and then the ingot of purest gold is the best conceivable metaphor, but all too poor to describe one so precious, so pure, so dear, so glorious. Jesus is not a grain of gold, but a vast globe of it, a priceless mass of treasure such as earth and heaven cannot excel. The creatures are mere iron and clay, they all shall perish like wood, hay, and stubble, but the ever living Head of the creation of God shall shine on forever and ever. In him is no mixture, nor smallest taint of alloy. He is forever infinitely holy and altogether divine. The bushy locks depict his manly vigour. There is nothing effeminate in our Beloved. He is the manliest of men. Bold as a lion, laborious as an ox, swift as an eagle. Every conceivable and inconceivable beauty is to be found in him, though once he was despised and rejected of men.
"His head the finest gold;
With secret sweet perfume,
His curled locks hang all as black
As any raven's plume."
The glory of his head is not shorn away, he is eternally crowned with peerless majesty. The black hair indicates youthful freshness, for Jesus has the dew of his youth upon him. Others grow languid with age, but he is forever a Priest as was Melchizedek; others come and go, but he abides as God upon his throne, world without end. We will behold him tonight and adore him. Angels are gazing upon him--his redeemed must not turn away their eyes from him. Where else is there such a Beloved? O for an hour's fellowship with him! Away, ye intruding cares! Jesus draws me, and I run after him.
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Today's reading: Jeremiah 15-17, 2 Timothy 2 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 15-17


1 Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! 2And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says:
“‘Those destined for death, to death;
those for the sword, to the sword;
those for starvation, to starvation;
those for captivity, to captivity.’
3 “I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,” declares the LORD, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. 4 I will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
5 “Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem?
Who will mourn for you?
Who will stop to ask how you are?
6 You have rejected me,” declares the LORD.
“You keep on backsliding.
So I will reach out and destroy you;
I am tired of holding back.
7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork
at the city gates of the land.
I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people,
for they have not changed their ways.
8 I will make their widows more numerous
than the sand of the sea.
At midday I will bring a destroyer
against the mothers of their young men;
suddenly I will bring down on them
anguish and terror....

Today's New Testament reading: 2 Timothy 2

The Appeal Renewed
1 You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. 7Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
11 Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
12 if we endure,
we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.
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Ahab

[Ā'hăb] - father's brother.
1. The son of Omri, and his successor as the seventh king of Israel (1 Kings 16:28-33).

The Man Who Wanted Another's Vineyard

Ahab was an able and energetic warrior. His victories over the Syrians pushed the borders of his kingdom to the border of Damascus. Great renown became his, also great wealth indicated by the ivory palace he built for himself (1 Kings 21:1; 22:39 ). Success, however, made him greedy for still more. Not since Solomon's time had a king been so victorious as Ahab, and what was a little matter like Naboth's vineyard to one who had grasped so much? With his wealth, Ahab bought all he wanted. One tenant, however, could not be bought out. Sentiment, affection and tender memories were more to Naboth than all the king's money.
Ahab could not say "All is mine" until the vineyard on his estate was his. First of all, there was no flaw in Ahab's advances. A fair price and richer land were offered Naboth. The sin came after Naboth's refusal to sell, because of a thousand sacred ties. Ahab sinned in not entering into a poorer man's feelings. Naboth was not obstinate. His vineyard was a sacred heritage, a precious tradition. If we are to be Christlike we must be considerate of others.
Ahab's next fault was that of making an awful grievance of his disappointment. He acted like a spoiled child and in a sulky fit told of failure to secure the vineyard to Jezebel, his strong-minded wife. Ahab and Jezebel are the Macbeth and Lady Macbeth of this inspired story. Ahab played into his wife's hands, and those hands were eager to shed blood.
Points for possible expansion are:
I. Ahab established idolatry. He was a dangerous innovator and a patron of foreign gods (1 Kings 16:31-33; 21:26).
II. He was a weak-minded man, lacking moral fiber and righteousness ( 1 Kings 21:4).
III. He was the tool of his cruel, avaricious wife (1 Kings 21:7, 25).
IV. His doom, along with that of Jezebel, was foretold by Elijah (1 Kings 21:22) and by Micaiah (1 Kings 22:28).
2. The name of the false prophet who was in Babylon during the exile, and was roasted in the fire by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 29:21-23).
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