Thursday, March 10, 2016

Thu Mar 10th Todays News

He died after complications from heart surgery. He might have expected to live many more years. The death of Singer and actor Jon English is a loss to the creative community. Love is eternal, but the lover is not. He had four children, a partner and an ex wife. I remember him as having been raised in the community I worked, Cabramatta. He remained loyal to his roots, and supported the community in the years that followed. He wrote songs for the tv drama Against the Wind and the beauty of Six Ribbons is still played regularly on air. He also acted in the drama and on stage. He could play Judas in Jesus Christ Super Star or a Gilbert and Sullivan character with enthusiasm and vigour. London born, but a world treasure. Thank you sir, for sharing your talent. 
=== from 2015 ===
No article today .. technical issues
From 2014
It is hard to like simple bigotry. Hard to forgive it. Hard to address it when you wish to show respect to the dignity of a thinking person, but are not given much to work with. Hating is caustic and causes mistakes when people need cool judgement. That is something that Tasmanians must address when they face election on this weekend. The Hare Clarke voting system Tasmanians use mean it is very hard for a conservative government to form. Last election, the conservative party had the largest size, but were denied the opportunity to form government by the governor, which is improper, but realistically a recognition of reality. It isn't enough for the conservatives to merely win the election, they need to win well. And they deserve to win. They have policies which could grow Tasmania, while the ALP and Greens merely want to increase spending. They are a badly run, small state. But the media are working very hard to even the vote by being pro Green ALP .. hence being 'balanced.' It is hatred of the conservatives that needs to be faced. Not through anger, but through cool judgement and even handedness. A conservative government would administer for all Tasmanians, and not merely those who profit from bad government. 

Such hatred is not limited to Tasmania. Sarah Palin has been verbal-ed again by the media. I have read her writing, and seen her speak. She is capable as an administrator and smart. She has been reported as saying that she would nuke Russia. She did not say that. It is very hard for those who think of her with hatred, borne from the venom of the media. Years ago, Palin was right about engaging with Russia over Georgia, and she is right now. But you will need to read what she has said to know what she is right about .. and not the misleading headline. Conservatism is a big tent with many diverse views. The left tend to converge on a view, while conservatives tend to converge on a leader. 

But hatred is no way to run a group. Australian Defence League was founded as a brother organisation to the English Defence League (EDL). I get it that there are soldier types who like to keep their ties with friends in an organised way after leaving the military or police. However, the leadership of these groups is seriously bad. No sensible politician would antagonise a constituency for no reason, but these idiots do just that. One example the bigots are using is the issue of terrorism and the ties to Islam. There are good reasons why decent Islamic peoples have been compromised by these ties. It is a good policy to denounce the idiots who are terrorists and try to separate the mainstream from those who abuse them. But the bigots aren't doing that. Instead they point a finger of blame at all Islamic peoples .. and others who don't say what they want to hear. It is true that in in some Islamic nations, and around the world, terrible things are done in the name of Islam by terrorists and their sympathisers. This includes genital mutilation of girls, killing gays, killing poets, writers, artists, poor and oppressed. But, were the ADL leadership prescription followed, it would be the victims hurt first .. again. Seriously stupid. They are apparently, argumentative drunks who claim to value their lifestyle. One good reason not to ban speech, is to allow those bigots to speak .. and judge for yourself. If someone from those organisations feel they are being misrepresented, I would like to hear how. ADL has spawned the Australian Tea Party (nothing like the US brand) and now, apparently, there is a group calling themselves The Patriots Defence League. 
Historical perspective on this day
Technical issues prevent todays listing
=== Publishing News ===
This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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I am moving from Sydney to Melbourne and am desperate for funding. If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofundme.com/abeueaec
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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 a free kindle version.

List of available items at Create Space
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

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

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
Happy birthday and many happy returns Evangelist Sumbal Waseem, Keith Holgate, Teresa Limbu and Maria Nguyet Anh Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years. Two mums and people I'm privileged to have met. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The Lord provides most for those who live longest.
Deaths
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THE PROMISED BREEDING EVENT

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (6:31pm)

Former Turnbull fan Elizabeth Farrelly, clearly distressed by her ex-idol’s dumb inertia, ponders contemporary Australian psychogeography: 
It’s dominated of course by (what we took to be) the great, life-giving inland sea, the Sea of Malcolm towards which we have half-blindly trekked for years. In recent months, fired by flickering hopes, eager for the promised breeding event, beckoned by the lofty, waving Groves of Seeming Care (spring-fed by Water, Equality and Climate Change), we quickened our pace. 
When eager Elizabeth warns of a “promised breeding event”, quickening your pace is the only sensible response. In the opposite direction. 
But where we sought fresh water we found only acid, boot-sucking soils. Where we’d anticipated new life, hostile salt crust. Where we’d hoped for access we found our passage barred by the Spiked and Reedy Thickets of Bernardi, Morrison and Pyne. So even if the Sea of Malcolm did miraculously generate life, we’d never witness it. 
Just a thought, but Farrelly may have a slight emotional investment in the current Prime Minister. 
Slowly it became clear. The entire promise was a mirage, conjured from the Fens of Desiccated Yearnings. Eventually, inevitably, popular use renamed it the Mal of Disappointment. Or simply, Disappointment Mal. 
What a whipsong way she has with words. “Disappointment Mal” is bound to catch on. 
In a sense we’ve been marching all our lives, since our forced eviction from the Great Grasslands of Gough, seeded as they were with Equality and Decency and now lightly wooded with mature, shade-giving Oaks of Grace, Wit and Imagination … 
”Our forced eviction”? Farrelly didn’t move to Australia until 1988, 13 years after Whitlam was thrown out and eight years after he retired from politics. 
The Sea of Malcolm was starting to look less than sparkling. 
The Readers of Elizabeth are starting to look elsewhere.
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LOCK ’EM UP OR LEAVE ’EM BE

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (4:51pm)

Finally, a good move by Mike Baird: 
A proposed Baird government crackdown on anti-mining protests could expose anti-CSG protesters across NSW to criminal penalties and up to seven years’ jail …
“We could see people like [Australian rugby player] David Pocock locked up for seven years; he locked onto an excavator in the Leard State Forest,” said Greens MLC Jeremy Buckingham.
“Or the Knitting Nanas, 70-year-old activists who are peacefully locking on but doing no damage to equipment. Is that what we want?” 
Beats me. Let’s put it to a vote:
Thank you for voting! 
 


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FEEL THE BER

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (4:25pm)

Socialism in action:

image

Meanwhile, socialist senator Sanders is riding high after dealing with that young Clinton lass prior to Michigan’s primary:



You tell her, Bernie. Sanders’s latest success confounded the polls.
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IT’S FALSELY IMPOSED CULTURAL NORMS TIME

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (3:26pm)

British Occupy activist Donnachadh McCarthy abandons daily showers: 
When I was a kid, bathtime was a once-a-week affair. We weren’t an unhygienic family – this is just how most of us lived in the 1960s, and I do not remember any horrific body odours resulting from it. By the time I was an adult, I was showering every day. With hindsight, I should have stuck to the old ways …
It is clear my daily shower habit resulted from falsely imposed cultural norms, rather than any legitimate health benefits. 
These days he’s more concerned about Gaia’s health: 
A family of four each having a daily 10-minute power shower (I know that is a very conservative estimate for some teenagers) will consume a staggering 0.25m litres of water every year … the power-shower family would be emitting a staggering 3.5 tonnes of CO2. As we can afford only one tonne of carbon emissions per person – for everything from food to transport – if we are to keep global temperatures below the critical 2C threshold, this would consume nearly all of the family’s carbon budget. 
The climate commie community sure is cranking up the bossiness lately.
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MESSAGE SENT

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (1:30pm)

Fairfax is currently reducing its columnist population. In light of that, Fairfax’s choice of stock image to illustrate a piece listing ten things a man over 50 should never do may be of interest to a certain still-employed bandana man:

image
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BANGLADAESH

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (12:21pm)

Following a number of attacks against people of other faiths, Bangladesh is reconsidering Islam’s “official religion” status: 
In the past month, a Hindu priest was hacked to death at an attack at a temple in Bangladesh’s Panchgarh district in which two Hindu followers were also injured, while in the past year several prominent religious minority bloggers have been murdered.
Islamist groups Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh and Ansarullah Bangla Team are believed to have carried out at least seven attacks on foreign and minority people in Bangladesh in the past year … 
Around 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s population is Muslim. It’s not as though they’re an oppressed and vilified minority.
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JON ENGLISH

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (12:15pm)

The wonderfully friendly and kind Australian singer Jon English has died at 66:

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THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KEVNI

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (3:50am)

Malcolm Turnbull was asked a simple question: “Will the budget be on May 10?” Here’s his answer.
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IT’S JUST WHAT WE DO

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (3:47am)

I’ve no idea what leftoid Twitter frightbats did on International Women’s Day, but all of us here raised more than $5000 for an unemployed female journalist who fought and won a sex discrimination case.
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A OVER T

Tim Blair – Thursday, March 10, 2016 (3:24am)

Former Howard government advisor Terry Barnes slams Australia’s ever-expanding nanny state: 
“It’s all about stopping and prohibiting to protect people from themselves. That’s where practically I think policy in this space is arse over tit,” Mr Barnes told Fairfax Media.
He singled out Sydney’s 1.30am lockout laws, which he said were “turning Sydney into Wowserville”, and the requirement for cyclists to wear helmets, as examples of government overreach.
“Too many people love telling other people what to do. Those who love it most tend to become policy-makers or, failing that, public health experts. Or doctors,” Mr Barnes wrote. 
Or journalists, sadly.
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Jones remembers one thing about Turnbull, I another

Andrew BoltMARCH102016(3:32pm)

This is curious.
My 2GB colleague Alan Jones is against the plebiscite on same-sex marriage, and received a phone call from Malcolm Turnbull when Tony Abbott was prime minister. He recalls: 
I might add he asked me to talk to Tony about it and I did. Malcolm was always ringing around on anything that might pull the rug from underneath Tony Abbott. The point is Malcolm Turnbull’s now Prime Minister and he’s doing exactly what he criticised Tony Abbott for doing.... Malcolm Turnbull seems in government to have been struck with rigamortis. But as I said, when Tony Abbott announced a plebiscite, Malcolm Turnbull’s opposed to is and rang me to express that opposition. 
I am for the plebiscite on same-sex marriage and shared a rare phone call from Malcolm Turnbull when Tony Abbott was prime minister:
I can’t betray details of private conversations, but Turnbull’s decision to stick with Abbott’s policy seemed to me at the time utterly consistent with what I took to be his private view.
Note that in saying this that I do not for an instant doubt the accuracy of Jones’ recall.
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Speccie defends Credlin’s honor

Andrew Bolt March 10 2016 (8:52am)

image
Looks like another cracker of an issue of the Spectator Australia. Proud to be a part of it.
From Rowan Dean:
It is hard to escape the conclusion that the Niki Savva book, reviewed this week by Rebecca Weisser as well as being under Neil Brown’s piercing eye and pen, was motivated to a degree by personal revenge. Justifying the slew of unsourced gossip and rumour that she dishes up, Ms Savva refers to the ‘abuse’ that staffers under Ms Credlin were supposedly forced to endure in silence for years – a laughable proposition and preposterous misuse of the language of ‘victimhood’.
Moreover, in interviews Ms Savva has repeatedly trotted out the claim that Ms Credlin attempted to have herself and Peter van Onselen fired from the Australian (an irrelevance given they are both still there), as an excuse for not following the normal procedure of putting allegations of an affair to her two subjects prior to publication. Interviewed on 2GB, it became clear that Ms Savva - who has admitted lying in the past about sources - sought anyone who would support her counter-intuitive premise that the chief-of-staff brought down the former prime minister through her domineering behaviour, as opposed to the more likely scenario that Ms Credlin’s sex, style and overbearing personality were used to fan the flames of destabilisation during the opportunistic plotting by the current prime minister and his coterie that successfully terminated Mr Abbott’s reign, imperfect though that reign clearly was.
Rowan rightly concludes:
Mr Abbott’s government, aided by the undoubted skills (and ferocity) of Ms Credlin as his chief-of-staff, can boast of stopping the boats, three free trade agreements, scrapping the carbon and mining taxes, encouraging the world to confront Isis and Russian aggression and a decent (but thwarted) attempt at reining in spending. Not bad for two years. Whereas in six months, Mr Turnbull’s team, aided by Ms Savva’s no doubt more demure husband and ‘unabused’ co-staffers, has achieved what precisely?
Former deputy Liberal leader Neil Brown on the sliming of Peta Credlin:
Where, by the way, is the Prime Minister’s statement rebutting this whole vulgar exercise, its content and the way it was carried out. Surely he does not pretend that it is acceptable that one of his ministers can reveal with impunity that she knowingly gave an excuse to a journalist to peddle dirt about his predecessor. When, also, can we expect the sisterhood to come to the defence of Ms Credlin and this traducing of her character? Or are they all so besotted by their hatred of Abbott that anything goes while he and anyone associated with him is being abused?
In the same issue, John Stone:
Six months ago 54 Liberal Party members and senators stamped the mark of Cain upon their foreheads, deposing as Prime Minister the man who led them back from the political wilderness to which Malcolm Turnbull had consigned them, and then to a smashing 2013 electoral victory. Yet, as noted in my Australian Financial Review article last Tuesday, ‘the new government appears becalmed. It is adrift in a sea of overblown rhetoric unsupported by any achievements worth mentioning’. After six months of dithering, Turnbull has led his government back to endorsing almost every policy laid down by his predecessor months prior to the conspiracy against him…
The magnitude of that political crime last September cannot be overstated. John Howard, of whose prime ministership I wrote in highly favourable terms eight years ago, has demeaned himself by defending the Turnbull conspiracy on the grounds that ‘politics is a numbers game’. Really, John? No questions of principle arise? In that case, your Liberal Party’s ‘broad church’ should be deconsecrated. ...
Turnbull, having seized power, has no idea what to do with it, other than to appear smiling beatifically before the television cameras, or grinning into those aptly-named ‘selfies’.
Read the rest - and plenty more - in the magazine, out in newsagents now.  
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Jon English dies

Andrew Bolt March 10 2016 (8:47am)

How very sad. Jon English has died, aged just 66.
All the sadder given his astonishing vitality on stage:
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The hypocrites crucifying Peta Credlin

Andrew Bolt March 10 2016 (6:10am)

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THE smearing of Peta Credlin in a new book as a hysterical control freak who probably slept with Tony Abbott has backfired.
This vile attempt to destroy Credlin, chief of staff to Abbott as prime minister, has instead exposed the author as a self-confessed liar.
More importantly, it has exposed the ABC as two-faced and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as a small man gripped by hate.
Credlin is the target of journalist Niki Savva, who obsessively attacked her as a columnist on The Australian and now savages her in her book, The Road to Ruin, purporting to explain why the Abbott government fell.

For Savva, the key failure of that government was the relationship she repeatedly calls “weird” — between Abbott and the tall and striking Credlin. There is little doubt of what Savva is trying to suggest. She doesn’t just portray Credlin as an abusive, temperamental and teary martinet, but as a domineering married woman in an unhealthily intimate relationship with her pussy-whipped boss.
Savva quotes anonymous people claiming Credlin fed Abbott at dinner with her own fork and that he in turn gave her a playful slap on her bottom.
And to put a label on the smear, Savva quotes NSW Liberal conservative Concetta Fierravanti-Wells telling Abbott last year he had to dump Credlin because “rightly or wrongly, the perception is that you are sleeping with your chief of staff”.

It is extraordinary for Fierravanti-Wells to break a confidence and feed this damaging story to a known Abbott hater like Savva.
Savva, too, has possible vested interests she has been reluctant to disclose.
(Read full article here.) 
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Richo on Turnbull: “stupid”, “bizarre”, “absurd”, “no ticker”, “has no idea”

Andrew Bolt March 10 2016 (5:33am)

Graham Richardson says he cannot understand Malcolm Turnbull’s election strategy. What’s this early election for? What’s he really fighting for?
UPDATE
Malcolm Turnbull promised last year he’d be the big explainer:
We need a style of leadership that explains those challenges and opportunities, explains the challenges and how to seize the opportunities. A style of leadership that respects the people’s intelligence...
Malcolm Turnbull’s answer yesterday to the simple question: “Can you say the budget will be on May 10?”
Turnbull: The budget is scheduled to be on May 10. I’ve addressed this speculation earlier in the day and I thank you for your interest, but I just want you to know that however fascinating it may be, my concern and Rowan (Ramsey’s) concern is on ensuring that Australia makes, continues to make a successful transition to the 21st-century economy. The one where we can take advantage of these huge opportunities that are available to us now with a much more diverse economy than one that was simply dominated by the mining construction boom. That requires every lever of the government to be pulling in the direction of growth and jobs and one of those levers is investment in infrastructure. The better (Australian Rail Track Corporation chief executive John Fullerton’s) rail infrastructure is, the more that can be carried on the wagons rolling on those rails, the more productive the mines in the Gawler Craton will be, the more efficient John’s operation will be, the less maintenance will be required. The rails he is going to replace are between 50-60 years old. This is old infrastructure that has had its day. So this is a very important investment in productivity and it has the con­siderable advantage as Rowan described of providing additional sub­stantial orders to a business that has very high fixed costs. So the cost per tonne of making additional tonnes of fulfilling an additional order is much lower, so the profit, the contribution to the bottom line and the security of the operation is much greater and on that note, thank you all very much.
In contrast, praise for a real communicator from the guru of communication, Lynton Crosby:
As I said six months ago, in the week Malcolm Turnbull took over as Prime Minister:
Here’s Turnbull’s challenge in a nutshell: he stole the prime ministership he could not have won in an election. He stole it by boasting of superior communication skills he does not have. He will now campaign on successes by Abbott he could not have achieved himself. And he will now be the leader of a party he cannot unite.
UPDATE

Liberal backbencher Russell Broadbent warns Turnbull against rushing to a ­double-dissolution election…
Mr Broadbent told the Herald Sun he thought an eight-week campaign would be the ”longest suicide note since the Roman Empire”. 
“The Australian people expect us to govern and make the tough decisions, and I think they would expect a normal election campaign around September or October that is not long and drawn out.”
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Tell me how wonderful you are, Mr Windsor

Andrew Bolt March 10 2016 (5:25am)

The ABC’s Lateline runs a long campaign commercial for Tony Windsor, who so pleased ABC reporters by keeping Julia Gillard in power and now plans to run against Barnaby Joyce.
The question that set the tone of the piece:
DAVID LIPSON:  So you’re like the old bloke fighting for your grandkids’ future?
To which Windsor of course replies…

(Thanks to reader racerX.) 
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Savva’s excuses for her vitriol make no sense

Andrew Bolt March 10 2016 (4:14am)

Niki Savva has become frantic in her vicious campaign to obliterate Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin:
The opposition leader, Tony Abbot­t, should do the decent thing and disappear into the sunset. Before­ he goes, before whatever remains of his reputation is obliterated, he should issue a heartfelt apology to Coalition staff and colleagues­ who were mistreated or let down during his all-too-brief tenure as prime minister, as well as for his actions since.
He should encourage his former chief of staff to do the same.
Why should Savva care about Abbott’s reputation after devoting so much bile and time to trashing it? Is this a sign of panic over the utter failure of Malcolm Turnbull, whose entire campaign for re-election remains Abbott’s achievements?
And what is this ludicrous demand for an apology to mistreated staff? Rudd was infinitely more abusive and contemptuous of staff without much bothering Savva, while Abbott was instead famously considerate and so kept them much longer. Indeed, his staff turnover was half that of Kevin Rudd’s and also much lower than Julia Gillard’s. This victimology is a pathetic fantasy.
[Abbott’s] decision to publicly comment on leaked classified information that went to the essence­ of Australia’s strategic defence­ to undermine his successor was worse than anything Kevin Rudd ever did. Whatever his flaws, whatever Julia Gillard’s shortcomings, Rudd did not compromise­ Australia’s national security to undermine her.
More invention. Rudd repeatedly leaked against Gillard, and to the point where he destroyed her 2010 campaign. Abbott merely commented on a leak and Savva’s claim that he thus compromised national security is completely false. How could that grave allegation be possibly justified? On the contrary, Abbott was just pointing out the real compromising of national security: a delay by nearly a decade in the replacement of our ageing submarines.
Having failed so spectacularly as a prime minister, he seems determined Malcolm Turnbull also should fail.
This is becoming seriously unhinged.  Tony Abbott did not fail as Prime Minister, let alone spectacularly, and - as John Howard pointed out recently - he was likely to be returned as Prime Minister, despite undermining by Turnbull, until his colleagues panicked.
Abbott’s failures were more of presentation than performance.  His two years as Prime Minister produced not a single one of administrative disasters that so devastated the Rudd and Gillard governments - the deadly pink batts rollout, Grocery Watch, Fuel Watch, the return of the boats, the mining tax fiasco, the stimulus cheques to the dead, the carbon tax, the dud solar power schemes, the green loans, the overpriced school halls and so much more. And in his two years, despite a feral Senate, Abbott still managed to abolish the carbon tax, scrap the mining tax, stop the boats, bring in (limited) welfare reforms, sign massively important free-trade deals, repair our relationship with Indonesia, tighten our national security laws, step up the fight against the Islamic State and more.
Turnbull, in contrast, has done not a single thing of note - not one - in his first six months.
But Savva reinvents Abbott as some monster tyrannising his staff beyond the bounds of the law:
It is a scorched-earth policy from someone whose concept of leadership extended to outsourcing his power to an unelected staffer who then used it ruthlessly and indiscrimin­ately. In fact, there are laws that might invite­ prosecution for failure to provide a safe workplace.
This is farcical. So some underperforming staff felt bruised. Poor diddums. God spare us a Prime Ministerial office run along the absurdly tender lines Savva suggests. True, Credlin should have been less visible and less aggressive, and Abbott should have relied on a wider circle of advisors, but look at the chaos of Turnbull’s messaging now. Does that not show exactly the lack of discipline that a Credlin would have prevented? Working for a Prime Minister is not for the lazy, the half-hearted or the under-performer, and never should be.
Moving on.  Savva’s excuses for not contacting Abbott and Credlin for comment on the wilder allegations against them are now becoming paranoid and even more self-serving:
Say I had submitted­ the on-the-record accounts of mistreatment detailed in the book to Abbott and his former chief of staff for comment, how long do you think it would have taken for them to be called and convinced to retreat or retract?
Really? Or would it have been the case that the facts, once presented to some sources, might have spoiled this good story of a demented chief of staff and a pussy-whipped Prime Minister?
.
Savva then omits important context to make Credlin seem unprecedentedly tyrannical:
… on October 30, 2014, [Credlin] had a meltdown during a meeting with Abbott and the deputy leader, Julie Bishop, after reading my column, then fired off an angry text to the then editor-in-chief of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, demanding my dismissal…
Abbott later sought to deny he had sought my sacking, but her text and Mitchell’s response prove otherwise: “She won’t be going Peta, I can assure you of that. As I told Tony two hours ago. And in 23 years as a daily metro newspaper editor no COS or PM has ever made such a suggestion to me about anyone. Even Keating.”
Yes, Credlin overreacted to Savva’s relentless campaign of vilification, but let’s remember something that didn’t seem to bother Savva. Two journalists were actually sacked for their reporting of Julia Gillard’s role in the creation of a slush fund for her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson, who then used it to rip off bosses (unknown to Gillard, she says). Gillard screamed at Mitchell for running a column by Glenn Milne that contained a minor error, and Milne wrote only once more for The Australian before being deep sixed. Broadcaster Michael Smith was forced out of 2UE by Fairfax after asking Gillard “unauthorised questions” about the scandal. In context, Credlin’s text to Mitchell was nothing.
I have had a very warm relationship with Niki and like her pluck. But I never understood her obsessive hatred of Credlin, and her attempts to justify her smears have become cartoonish.
Credlin made mistakes, and so did Abbott. But these monsters Savva describes are lurid fictions. 
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George Pell interviewed

Andrew Bolt March 09 2016 (10:41pm)

A number of people have asked where they can see my interview with Cardinal George Pell.
Here it is:
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BUSWELL BREAKDOWN

Tim Blair – Monday, March 10, 2014 (1:43pm)

Erratic Western Australian Liberal Troy Buswell has resigned as treasurer following a mysterious car crash and subsequent admission to hospital. This is the second time Buswell has resigned.
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COAL SCREAM

Tim Blair – Monday, March 10, 2014 (11:52am)

Greens and other simple people are excited by an inconsequential mining incident: 
NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham said confirmation of aquifer contamination was ‘’game over for coal seam gas’’. 
Perhaps not. Meanwhile, in the US: 
Operators are putting new holes in the ground faster than ever. 
Good. And in other Greens news: 
Tasmanian Greens leader Nick McKim believes there’s a real chance he’ll become opposition leader after this week’s state election.
Tasmania goes to the polls on Saturday. If the Greens gain more seats than Labor, Mr McKim could be the first opposition leader from his party in history.
“You certainly couldn’t rule that out,” Mr McKim told ABC radio on Monday. 
Tasmania should be handed over entirely to the Greens, so we can see how they run things. No federal funding, of course. Just leave them in charge and let the comedy begin.
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AT LEAST THEIR SHOES WERE X-RAYED

Tim Blair – Monday, March 10, 2014 (10:57am)

Given the invasive security measures in place for international travel, it ought not be possible for a couple of men to simply rock up with stolen passports and board a flight – particularly when those stolen passports are listed with Interpol. Yet, in the case of Malaysian Airlines flight 370, that’s exactly what happened: 
The Interpol statement said no checks of the stolen Austrian and Italian passports were made by any country between the time they were entered into Interpol’s database and the departure of the flight.
“Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol’s databases,” said secretary-general Ronald Noble.
“This is a situation we had hoped never to see,” he added. 
No kidding. It’ll be interesting to eventually see images of “Christian” and “Luigi”, the two passengers who used those passports.
UPDATE. The New York Times: 
Xu Ke, a lecturer at the Zhejiang Police College in eastern China who studies aviation safety and hijackings and has advised the Chinese authorities, said the two men might have been illegal migrants. “There are many cases of falsified and counterfeit passports and visas for illegal migration that our public security comes across, even several cases every day,” he said.
But Steve Vickers, the chief executive of a Hong Kong-based security consulting company that specializes in risk mitigation and corporate intelligence in Asia, said the presence of at least two travelers with stolen passports aboard a single jet was rare and a potential clue.
“It is fairly unusual to have more than one person flying on a flight with a stolen passport,” said Mr. Vickers, who publicly warned a month ago that stolen airport passes and other identity documents in Asia merited a crackdown. “The future of this investigation lies in who really checked in and what they looked like,” he added. 
Quite so.
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THE NARCISSIST

Tim Blair – Monday, March 10, 2014 (10:19am)

Driving to Los Angeles last week I detoured through the Mojave Desert city of Victorville. There I discovered the Apollo Restaurant, makers of possibly the finest hamburgers on earth.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'THE NARCISSIST'
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PROFESSIONAL CRYBABIES

Tim Blair – Monday, March 10, 2014 (9:57am)

Pat Condell on a certain easily-offended religious group:

===
TJ O'Brien shared Patriots Defence League - Australia'sphoto.


Sick of being uncomfortable in your own country?
Sick of people thinking "liking" something on Facebook will change anything?
Get down to a casual club meeting near you, in the next month we have
-Melbourne
-South QLD
-Central QLD
-Perth

With more to follow.

So don't be shy get down grab a snag and a beer and see where our club is going.

After our last Sth QLD meeting, part of the Association management committee here were very pleased at the members vote to open a Chapter clubhouse.
Stephanie Ann Tell me what the difference is here between the ADL and APP ?

TJ O'Brien We are not the ADL.
We were formally known as and still are registered as the Australian defence league Inc.
But because of the ADL facebook page rubbishing everyone and ruining the name we have separated ourselves from it all.
We are the Patriots Defence League - Australia

Stephanie Ann What's the difference between the two..... ????

ADL sucks in my opinion, they have a horrid name.... I would NEVER join.. so why should you be allowed to stay here? how are YOU different to the ADL?

David Daniel Ball I haven't heard you say anything which makes me comfortable .. The BNP, EDL, ADL and Australian Tea Party have held extremist neo Nazi positions and targeted people for abuse .. people I have defended.

Stephanie Ann I agree with David. TJ, you need to defend your position here... and explain to us what the difference is....

David Daniel Ball A few years ago, ADL hosted an EDL member known to be involved in cyber terrorist style activity. That doesn't seem patriotic to me.

Stephanie Ann Tell me what the difference is here between the ADL and APP ?

TJ O'Brien We are not the ADL.
We were formally known as and still are registered as the Australian defence league Inc.
But because of the ADL facebook page rubbishing everyone and ruining the name we have separated ourselves from it all.
We are the Patriots Defence League - Australia

Stephanie Ann What's the difference between the two..... ????

ADL sucks in my opinion, they have a horrid name.... I would NEVER join.. so why should you be allowed to stay here? how are YOU different to the ADL?

David Daniel Ball I haven't heard you say anything which makes me comfortable .. The BNP, EDL, ADL and Australian Tea Party have held extremist neo Nazi positions and targeted people for abuse .. people I have defended.

Stephanie Ann I agree with David. TJ, you need to defend your position here... and explain to us what the difference is....

David Daniel Ball A few years ago, ADL hosted an EDL member known to be involved in cyber terrorist style activity. That doesn't seem patriotic to me.

Stephanie Ann I'm interested in TJ's response to our questions.

TJ O'Brien As I said we are NOT the ADL or any other group like that.
We are multi-ethnic for a start, and focus on preserving our Aussie way of life. Yes we are against the Islamization of Australia but we also are Pro-Aussie. ...
We are a active club that help each other out from any end of our great country.

Stephanie Ann Ok, so I will ask again, what is the difference between the way the ADL started and what your philosophies are?

TJ O'Brien There is no point comparing us to the ADL because we are NOT the ADL and will never be apart of them.

David Daniel Ball I do not care how bullies dress themselves up. If you have no difference of opinion to ADL there is trouble. It isn't the name I despise, it is the behaviour.

Stephanie Ann I have to say, I agree with David. It appears to me this is a break away ADL group???? but that doesn't change motivations or behaviours. SO I would like you to explain some more what the differences in ideology are?

TJ O'Brien Our objectives are to raise awareness and to stop where we can violence against women and children via religious harm for one.
Also to maintain our freedoms and rule of law above religion.

David Daniel Ball Which is puzzling, because in Australia religion is not the cause of law breaking, neither is it the law. Australian women who embrace religion do so freely .. you would deny them their choice? Violence against women and children is illegal in Australia, mate. If you know of something, but are too scared to address it with appropriate words, you can refer it to police. I hadn't thought patriots would be so timid.

Stephanie Ann Ahhh ok, so you're not interested in ALL violence against women in Australia, just religious violence?

AND, as far as I am aware we live in a constitutional monarchy, which has a separation of state, religion and judiciary?

Stephanie Ann David, I couldn't have said it any better myself, that's a really good comment and so true.

TJ O'Brien Clearly you two peanuts are just brainless lefties so ill make it simple for you.

FGM is illegal yet not long ago a couple where caught attemping to have this disgusting act done to their 9 month old daughter.

Child marriage and paedophilia is illegal yet last month a man was caught in a marriage to a 13 year old girl with multiple sex charges.

Also last month a 14 year old girl was gang raped in yet another gang attack, thats illegal but it still happened.

These are crimes against women because in Islam women are worthless and this is what they are subject too.

These events are very common in Australia but no one reports them because within their sick Muslim enclaves they all agree with it.

Is that simple enough for you?
Do you think there is no drug problem because drugs are illegal?

Mandy Mclean I can name plenty of crimes against women, yet have nothing to do with Islam. Let's talk football. Do we ban football?

David Daniel Ball That folks, was the leader of a Patriot group .. You can still message him if you wish to, but he won't respond here ..

Stephanie Ann LOL.... "lefties"... I love it.... it's the last resort when someone can't express themselves in an appropriate manner.

He's ADL born again... LOL

Stephanie Ann Apologies to anyone who completely agrees with his views. For myself, I like to take a more moderate approach, I do not condone the things he spoke about, nor do I like the Islamisation of Christian nations..... however, there is a way to express ones self... and it seriously ISNT by attempting to infiltrate groups and lump all "right wingers" or "conservatives" in the one basket.

Hatred doesn't score political points, nor does it get heard in the political agenda. There are too many other good groups doing the hard work behind the scenes to let this group fall under the influence of so called "Patriots" or "defence league" people. They thrive on hatred... that's no way to have legitimate voices heard... and first and foremost in this group, it's NOT what Andrew Bolt would espouse.

Jason Harper Excuse me David Daniel Ball but as someone who contributes to the Australian tea party, calling them extremist neo Nazis is ridiculous. They attack socialism and fascism in all its forms. Its not a sin to want to defend your countries values from people who leave their country and want to change ours to theirs.

Stephanie Ann Australian Tea Party and the US tea party are LEAGUES away Jason Harper, do some research.

Jason Harper Yes, they are leagues away, they are different country to country. Unless you want to say that democracy is a greek thing, and a republic is ancient roman thing....

Stephanie Ann The analogy is lost on me.... what's the comparison?

Jason Harper That saying the US version is the same as the Australian version is an empty comparison. They may follow similar ideological principles but are still quite different overall.

Stephanie Ann I said, they are leagues apart.... I know they are very different..... you have no argument from me.... at all.

Is tea Australia extreme in some of it's views, absolutely..... do they align with USA views, not necessarily.

DO I support TEA AUS... no, I don't... I like some of their more moderate commentary, but I choose NOT to align myself with their ideology because they do not sit in the moderate conservative area.

David Daniel Ball Jason .. I spoke on the phone with the then ADL and Australian Tea Party Leader. They tried to recruit me. They are the same organisation. The only reason for the name change is the hope to collect money from US Tea Party for development. Neo Nazi is an appropriate description because of the history of the group and what they do.

Stephanie Ann I'm sorry Jason, but again I have to agree withDavid, people need to really research these groups before they throw their support behind them. I good meme here and there doesn't mean that the people running it are "conservative".

Jason Harper David, You're an idiot. I have the Australian tea party leader's phone number for when I have content/essays to share. He has been the Australian leader since the start. He isn't the ADL leader. They aren't the same organization either. Now I 100% know you're full of shit

Stephanie Ann Jason, did you not read "with the THEN ADL & tea" leader?????
I don't actually care if they have broken apart, fact is, they DO NOT represent true Liberalism or conservative values.

Jason Harper fiscal responsibility. no overreaching governments. personal liberty. free and fair markets. By god, what radical ideas!

Stephanie Ann If that's what you want.... look at a Libertarian party.... seriously.

Stephanie Ann And for the record, TEA is NOT a political party in Australia, so they cannot represent you in any way... apart from sharing of memes..... go and find a party that represents the core values you have Jason/

Jason Harper Well duh, they have never said they are a political party. They are a political movement that aid other people and parties in areas that share similar values.

Stephanie Ann LOL
OK, what values do they share with parties here? List those values.

Jason Harper I dont have the time nor energy to go on a great big spiel with a few individuals who arent actually interested in learning. Our global reach is in the millions, you are but ants. Cheers, Im off to write again. If you cant be stuffed educating yourselves and want to stick to your biases then good luck to you.

Stephanie Ann Learning?? fark LOL
I learnt years ago about them....I am very happy with where I sit politically... and it doesn't include the ADL, the APP or TEA Australia.

Mandy Mclean is David Goodridge still the TEA party leader?

Stephanie Ann Yes Mandy, but if you don't support him, you are merely an ANT... did you know that LOLOLOLOL

Mandy Mclean no I don't support him either. Talk about abusing women..... now there's one who does!

Jason Harper it was a numbers comparison, lol, not a literal interpretation. Big difference.

Stephanie Ann Jason, you should seriously look at who you throw your support behind, instead of calling others ANTS and not willing to learn.... people have been around the traps for a long time and actually decide to remove themselves from some of those groups because they do NOT like the "leaders" or the entire ideology.

Mandy Mclean You could class me in that Steph. I joined the TEA FB page 4 to 5 years back. I'm now banned from their page because I dared to disagree with some things. I've also witnessed the leader bully my friend Lesley. I'll never forget that day & it was the day I discovered how cut throat people could be on FB.

Stephanie Ann I agree Mandy, some of what they say rings true, but I have NO respect for the "leader" or the way they bully people in to submission or ban them because they hold a different view. They are to the extreme right of conservatism and I don't believe Tony Abbott or the Liberal party would EVER support them.

Good luck to anyone who wants to join them, it's a free world... until you cross them LOLOL

Andrew Guild Calling people "ants" is not helpful, but neither is saying "BNP, EDL, ADL and Australian Tea Party have held extremist neo Nazi positions". Less name calling and less mud-slinging aids discussion.

Jason Harper I dont see the point in trying to turn a numeric comparison into a personal offense >.> if you want to take it out of context thats your deal steph >.>

Stephanie Ann I'm not sure where you got this comment confused with numeric comparisons or taking things out of context Jason?????

" I learnt years ago about them....I am very happy with where I sit politically... and it doesn't include the ADL, the APP or TEA Australia."

^^ that pretty much sums up where I sit ===

Flannery fibs excuses for his dud predictions

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (12:14pm)

Global warming - dud predictions, Interviews with warmists like Flannery

The ABC promotes yet another soft-ball interview with alarmist Tim Flannery, this time a love-in conducted by Anne Summers. Why this propaganda? Summers isn’t even an ABC staffer and this is no real interview.
The closest Summers comes to asking the alarmist a hard question doesn’t occur until 36:50 minutes into the interview.  Summers starts by calls me a “denier” and says she hesitates to ask “the Andrew Bolt question” because she doesn’t “want to give him the headline”.
But then even she is forced to ask Flannery the fundamental question that has been taboo for a decade: “by how much will temperatures decrease if we do everything...?”
Flannery fobs her off:
It’s going to take some time [to lower temperatures] ... Andrew Bolt is very cunning at asking politically charged questions. That one is the wrong question. The right question is what happens if we do nothing.
What an astonishing evasion. By all means tell us what you think will happen if we do nothing. But then tell us what difference we will make if we do “something”. Is the pain worth that gain?
Summers asked the question, yes, but accepted the evasion without question.
But that was not the end of the deception in this interview – or the end of Summers allowing herself to be deceived.
Summers then asked Flannery to explain three of his more notorious global warming predictions:  that our dams would not fill, Perth would become a “ghost metropolis” and we faced rapid global warming, when in fact, Summers admitted, atmospheric temperatures have not increased in 17 years.
(Note: Yes, give Summers a tiny bit of credit, but be aware she also failed to tackle Flannery about even more obvious dud warnings: notably that Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide could run out of water by ... oops, several years ago now.)
But to each of those three questions Flannery gave deceptive – if not downright false – answers. If Summers reads this post, she should wonder why she should believe another word Flannery every tells her.
Flannery on having predicted our dams and river systems will not fill:
The thing about the dams never filling is a misquote, I was talking about evaporation rates in the Murray Darling system, saying that even if rainfall stays as it is with increased temperatures, with soils being warmer the water evaporates rather than getting into dams so we have declining water in our dams. So that’s just a misquote.
Fact: No, it isn’t. Flannery is rewriting history – and his own prediction. Here is that original prediction in 2007, when much of Australia was in drought:
SALLY SARA:  Professor Tim Flannery has warned climate change will impact on Australia to the point where Sydney can expect to receive 60 per cent less rainfall than it does at present. If that’s the case, what about the bush? ... What will it mean for Australian farmers if the predictions of climate change are correct and little is done to stop it? What will that mean for a farmer? 
PROFESSOR TIM FLANNERY: ... We’re already seeing the initial impacts [of global warming] and they include a decline in the winter rainfall zone across southern Australia, which is clearly an impact of climate change, but also a decrease in run-off. Although we’re getting say a 20 per cent decrease in rainfall in some areas of Australia, that’s translating to a 60 per cent decrease in the run-off into the dams and rivers. That’s because the soil is warmer because of global warming and the plants are under more stress and therefore using more moisture. So even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems, and that’s a real worry for the people in the bush.
Note: Flannery was then talking about rainfall in southern Australian generally, and multiple “river systems” and dams” – not just the Murray-Darling and the dams of the Snowy River scheme. Indeed, not once in the interview does Flannery single out the Murray-Darling specifically.
Flannery on predicting Perth could be our “first ghost metropolis”:
The second thing about Perth is that it turns out I was right. I mean, Perth has now built two desalination plants and 30 per cent of its water comes from desal plants.  And the water commissioner who was active at the time that these decisions were being made thanked me recently for raising the issue because it was difficult to get those plants built.  If they hadn’t been built in time, Perth would have been in real trouble… If someone hadn’t raised they alarm we would have had big trouble.
Fact:  Flannery is once more rewriting history – and his own prediction.  Here is Flannery’s original prediction, made in May, 2004:
Climate change would diminish the environment of Sydney and its hinterland, and it only had to look to Perth’s experience. 
“I think there is a fair chance Perth will be the 21st century’s first ghost metropolis,” Dr Flannery said. “It’s whole primary production is in dire straits and the eastern states are only 30 years behind.”
Note: Flannery predicted Perth would become a ghost metropolis not so much because its dam would run dry, but because global warming would turn its farming hinterland to dust.
Moreover, he defended his prediction in 2005:
“Perth is facing the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the city’s water supply,” says Tim Flannery… His next book, to be published in October, will feature the water crises faced by Perth and Sydney. “I’m personally more worried about Sydney than Perth,” Flannery told me. “Where does Sydney go for more water? At least Perth has a buffer of underground water sources. Sydney doesn’t have any backup. And while Perth is forging ahead with a desalination plant, Sydney doesn’t have any major scheme in place to bolster water. It also has nowhere to put the vast infrastructure of a desalination plant.”
Note: When he claimed “Perth is facing the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the city’s water supply” Flannery was already factoring in the Perth desalination plant, which was approved in July 2004, with and construction started in May 2005.
Flannery on the 17-year pause in warming of our atmosphere: 
Basically they confound the atmosphere with the earth… Ninety per cent of the heat that is captured by the atmosphere goes directly into the sea… But the heat is still there, the earth is still warming and the heat will come back out of the ocean at some point.
Fact: Flannery is again rewriting history. The warming pause is exactly what he didn’t predict, and his excuse (that the warming hiatus is simply explained by the heat going missing in the oceans)[url]is disputed by some true climate scientists.
Here is what Flannery originally predicted in 2007:
UN predictions of a rise in global temperatures would be a disaster for all life on earth, resulting in widespread extinction of many species, Australian of the Year Tim Flannery says. 
The respected scientist said the UN’s prediction of a three degree Celsius temperature rise was conservative and in fact could be double that figure resulting in “truly catastrophic” conditions for all life on earth…

“It could be worse than this - there’s a 10 per cent chance of truly catastrophic rises in temperatures, so we’re looking at six degrees or so,” Prof Flannery said.
Note: Flannery did not then say the heat would just go into the sea, not warm the atmosphere. He was talking not of a 6 degree rise in sea temperatures but in atmospheric temperatures. Yet for 17 years we’ve seen close to zero such rise.
Flannery was simply wrong, wrong, wrong.  But don’t count on Anne Summers – or the ABC – to call him out. The scare is too useful. The scare-mongers, too.
PS:
(Incidentally, note that a woman in the audience says she was at the Parramatta meeting where Flannery and Summers earlier claimed crowds had chanted “Death to Flannery” - which, curiously, not one journalist at the event reported hearing. Flannery asks the woman, a believer, not whether she saw this apparent lynch mob, asking instead: “Did you see the penguin?”
Behold that penguin of death. Is Flannery’s memory again playing tricks? 
===

Rowan Dean’s free advice to Mark Scott

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (10:19am)

Readers complained we didn’t have a video of yesterday’s NewsWatch segment with Rowan Dean. Here it is:
http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.html#pbid=5bbbb2f96a0499fafcafb28bf66a34a&ec=5sanYybDqyT9fAP7LgZzNRO1FP6q4P0G&docUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.news.com.au%2Fheraldsun%2Fandrewbolt%2Findex.php%2Fheraldsun%2F
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To those artists who drove out Transfield: hand back your grants

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (8:03am)

Former arts adviser and Fairfax writer Nicholas Pickard said it first. Now investor and philanthropist Mark Carnegie attacks the hypocrites in the arts world who forced the resignation of Luca Belgiorno-Nettis as Biennale chairman on the grounds that his Transfield company, founding sponsor of the Biennale, helps run detention centres:
Carnegie said the artists campaigning against Transfield Holdings over its links to detention centres were hypocrites who should reject all money from the Abbott government… 
“The artists that vetoed this need to understand that most arts funding in the country comes from the government, and the government are ones behind Manus Island,” Mr Carnegie said on Sunday.
“If these guys are honest about it, they should object to government funding as well as corporate funding. But instead, they take all the government funding they can, and pick on somebody who’s been incredibly ­philanthropic in Sydney over a long period of time. The Belgiorno-Nettis family is one of the most philanthropic in the nation."… Transfield Holdings holds a minority 12 per cent stake in Transfield Services, which is under contract to the federal government to provide “garrison support services” and welfare services to the detention centres.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
===

Howard wins again

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (7:57am)

The one most loathed in his time by media commentators is the one remembered most fondly by voters:
John Howard has been named Australia’s best prime minister of the past 40 years, followed by Bob Hawke, with Gough Whitlam and Kevin Rudd tying for third place. 
The poll, conducted last week by Essential Research and provided exclusively to The Australian, shows that 39 per cent of voters ranked Mr Howard, the Liberal prime minister from 1996 to 2007, as the best.
Labor’s Mr Hawke was rated as the best prime minister by 14 per cent of voters. A further 8 per cent of voters chose Mr Whitlam while another 8 per cent selected Mr Rudd. Paul Keating was named best prime minister by 7 per cent, placing him fifth overall. In sixth and seventh place, respectively, were Julia Gillard (4 per cent) and Malcolm Fraser (3 per cent). Tony Abbott’s score tied with Mr Fraser.
I suspect that Abbott, should he survive the next election, will do enough to be remembered much more fondly in retirement than, say, Whitlam. He, too, faces a pitiless media.
UPDATE
The likes of Kerry-Anne Walsh and Anne Summers have tried to deify Julia Gillard as the patron saint of victims of misogyny, portraying her as a great woman brought down only by wicked men, many in the wicked Murdoch press. But even women no longer buy that tired schtick:
Rudd (8 per cent) is twice as popular as Gillard (4 per cent). Only 5 per cent of women picked Gillard as the best prime minister. Labor voters preferred Howard (15 per cent) to Gillard (8 per cent).
(Thanks to reader Peter.) 
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If it’s good enough for the ABC, it should be for its competitors

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (7:39am)

Malcolm Turnbull mulls changes:
The Communications Minister also backed industry arguments for the repeal of the ownership cap that prevents anyone owning two of the three traditional outlets — TV, radio and print — in one market.
But one massive media outlet, famous for its bias, already owns TV, radio and print (a digital newspaper) in one market. It’s the ABC.
Moreover, the ABC has five radio stations in each market, when every other media outfit is limited to two.
The ABC, of course, famously refuses to hire conservative hosts for its main current affairs shows.
Says Turnbull:
“My view is the arrival of the internet, and the additional diversity and avenues for competition that it brings, really says we should have less regulation and more freedom,” Mr Turnbull said yesterday on Sky News’s Australian Agenda.
Also on the books, a change to the law that stops city and country TV networks merging:
The rule prevents Nine, Seven and Ten from merging with regional networks including listed companies Southern Cross and Prime Media Group and the WIN Network owned by Bruce Gordon. 
Mr Turnbull outlined a philosophical position that favoured fewer industry rules and a greater reliance on the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to vet mergers. “Why is there a 75 per cent reach limitation? Why is there a rule that says today that you can’t own print, television and radio in the same market? You could be fair to say that I am very sympathetic about it.”
Country MPs will be very suspicious over what promises to be a reduction of diversity - at least of material - in country TV. 
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Why won’t other journalists tackle Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, too?

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (7:10am)

Global warming - dud predictions

image
THE ABC was among the first to fall for it, of course. In 2002, it reported the Great Barrier Reef was as good as dead already.
Host Kerry O’Brien groaned that our “once-spectacular” reef was “threatened by global warming” and “up to 10 per cent of the reef has been lost to bleaching since 1998”, turning it “bone white”.
Up popped Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a Queensland reef researcher with a natty patter, to warn us to “change our lifestyles” or the reef would go — killed by hotter seas.
My god, but journalists are suckers for warming scares.
It’s like they actually want to be fooled — or to fool you.
image
Hoegh-Guldberg is now arguably the world’s most influential reef scientist in global-warming circles, having gotbig government grants, chaired a $20 million World Bank study of warming, and worked as an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead author.
Last week, he bobbed up again, waving a report he’d just done for the WWF green group to help promote this month’s Earth Hour.
Again journalists lapped it up, not bothering to check how all Hoegh-Guldberg’s other warnings had panned out. (Answer: terrible, as you’ll see.)
(Read full article here.)   
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Meet the kind of candidate to explain why Tasmania is dying

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (7:00am)

image
Christian Kerr discovers the archetypal Tasmanian Greens politician - the kind to guarantee this Greens birthplace remains the poorest state in our land:
Strewth is much taken by Braddon contender Philip Nicholas, as summarised by the ABC’s Antony Green on his campaign website. 
“Nicholas grew up on the edge of Melbourne before moving to Tasmania to pursue a career in classical music, studying viola and classical guitar at the Tasmanian Conservatorium. In 1980 he moved to northwest Tasmania to teach violin, viola, cello and classical guitar and has directed several musical ensembles. With a keen interest in science and global warming, Nicholas lives with his family in a house built of mud bricks and stone, designed along solar principles. He also runs his diesel car on a substantial portion of waste vegetable oil, is quarter owner of Lucas Mill and has milled some of his own wind-fallen trees. During winter evenings he spins wool but prefers to knit while travelling.”
UPDATE
Check the Greens’ astonishing policies. Bear in mind that Tasmania is our poorest state with our highest unemployment. It is broke and depends heavily on subsidies from other states.
Yet the Greens seems to suggest the state is awash with free money, and there’s little need to work. Every single one of its policies involves spending more government money, handing out more welfare, helping public servants or restricting some business:
image
Even the one policy which promises to help business involves just more useless spending.  “Helping small business and community organisations bring down power bills” is not a scheme for getting rid of the carbon tax, but for spending another $1 million to cut energy use and make no practical difference to global warming: 
The Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme will provide no interest loans to assist eligible small businesses and community sector organisations to purchase and install energy efficiency upgrades to reduce their energy costs. The fund will be established with initial start up funding of one million dollars to provide no interest loans of up to $10’ 000 to eligible businesses.
The only “industry” the Greens seem keen to help is the public service.  “Investing in a Revitalised Public Sector” means spending more millions Tasmania doesn’t have on making public servants happy:
The Greens will not reduce the size of Tasmania’s public sector workforce… 
The Greens will invest $6,600,000 over three years in innovative, creative and flexible workplaces that improve morale, health and well-being of our public sector workers.
It is almost criminal that such a party thrives in the state it’s helped to beggar.
(Thanks to reader the Village Idiot (Reformed).) 
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The only way I want to save Qantas is by flying it

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (12:03am)

Economy

LABOR is worried. The public isn’t stupid, after all, and doesn’t believe governments can or should “save” jobs.
We’re all consumers now. If we want to save Qantas, we’ll fly it.
If we want to save our car industry, we’ll buy a Holden or Ford.
If we want to save SPC Ardmona, we’ll buy a tin of peaches.
And if we don’t buy that ticket, car or tin, the Government should get its hands out of our pockets. Don’t force us to donate to companies that didn’t earn our business.
We’ve seen what such crony capitalism leads to.
Car makers got $30 billion in subsidies over 15 years — mostly to help pay too-generous wages demanded by militant unions — and what’s happened? Money gone, and all four car makers going.
The public gets this. Labor hasn’t.
(Read full article here.) 
===

Pardon me, Warren, but I should be free to disagree with you - and am not

Andrew Bolt March 10 2014 (12:01am)

Free speech

Lawyer Justin Quill, who defended me in my nightmare case, still has trouble believing we have such draconian laws against free speech:
The debate centres on whether the Federal Government should change the Racial Discrimination Act to take away the prohibition on speaking publicly about race in a way that “offends” people. 
Yes, you read correctly. Presently our law says you can’t say something that will “offend” someone if it is based on race. There are some defences available, but causing “offence” alone shouldn’t be prohibited in the first place.
Quill is also astonished by the advice the Prime Minister is getting from Warren Mundine, who is missing the point:
Warren Mundine, the head of Tony Abbott’s Indigenous Council, has reportedly directly advised the Prime Minister not to make the proposed change and to leave the “causing offence” clause in the legislation.
Mr Mundine is reported as saying: “None of us can see what the problem is with (the ‘causing offence’ clause).
“I do not believe this legislation has stopped freedom of speech. I speak quite freely.” But I’m sorry, Mr Mundine, the test should not be whether you — or people who have the same views as you — are able to speak freely.
UPDATE
Eureka Street’s editor misrepresents my argument and I could prove it if a court had not ordered me not to republish what I wrote:
The pledge before the election was prompted by a court finding that journalist Andrew Bolt broke the law when he caused offence with his questioning of the ethnicity of particular fair-skinned Aboriginal persons.
That is not quite what I did, but it is not safe to restate my real argument without hiring poor Justin to OK it first. But here’s what he allowed me to say just after the verdict against me. In this interview with the ABC I discuss some of the background to my thinking on identity. 
===

Who were the two men with stolen passports on the missing plane?

Andrew Bolt March 09 2014 (9:01pm)

A very odd coincidence:
AS THE FBI joins the international search for answers to what downed missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, security experts say China may have been the intended target. 
It has emerged that two of the four travellers being investigated for travelling with stolen passports were travelling together and had booked through China Southern Airlines…
Two European names - Austrian Christian Kozel and Luigi Maraldi of Italy - were listed on the passenger manifest but neither man boarded the plane to Beijing, officials said. Both had their passports stolen in Thailand over the past two years. The BBC is reporting that the men falsely using these passports purchased tickets at the same time. They had consecutive ticket numbers and were both booked on the same onward plane from Beijing to Europe on Saturday, the BBC said.
Let me be clear: we don’t know what happened to the plane. Human error? Mechanical error? Terrorism? And if terrorism, by whom?
But terrorism against China simply cannot be ruled out, especially after this Islamist attack only a week ago:
Last Saturday a group of assailants arrived at the train station, took out long knives and beganstabbing passengers at random, killing 33 and wounding 143... 
Those responsible were described by Chinese officials as “terrorists” from the far-western province of Xinjiang… [a] vast, predominantly Muslim province. Over the past year there has been an increasing number of these violent clashes reported inside Xinjiang, where many local ethnic Uighurs seek independence from China.
Again, I am not saying the plane was brought down by terrorists. I’m certainly not assuming that if there were terrorists they were Chinese Muslims, especially given the two men traveling on the stolen passports were claiming to be Italian and Austrian.  I simply make the point that terrorism is no stranger to China. 
===

If these artists are serious, let them return their grants as well

Andrew Bolt March 09 2014 (8:58pm)

Nicholas Pickard, former government arts adviser and Fairfax arts writer, asks artists to be not just smug and punitive but consistent:
The arts are the only loser in the Biennale of Sydney’s decision to sever ties with founding sponsor Transfield, and its chief executive Luca Belgiorno-Nettis’ resignation as Biennale chairman....
The end result of the protest is the that contract for the Papua New Guinea and Nauru detention centres still exists and the arts have lost the support of a major sponsor, pushing aside a family that has done more for the arts in Sydney than anyone in the past 40 years…
It began as an open letter by an arts teacher in early February that condemned the Biennale’s association with the Transfield Foundation. The foundation’s parent company is Transfield Holdings, which is a shareholder in Transfield Services, a company with contracts to manage the detention centres in PNG and Nauru…
In none of the statements by activists did they condemn Transfield’s funding of the Australian Chamber Orchestra or the peak arts and disability organisation Accessible Arts.
Nor did they condemn the links between Transfield board members who also sit on arts boards across the country providing their services, expertise and support. They include David Gonski, who is chairman of the Sydney Theatre Company, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, who is president of the Art Gallery of NSW Trust, and Nicholas James, who is a director for Gondwana Choirs.
If the activists really wanted to be consistent, they would ... also boycott companies that fund the Liberal-Nationals Coalition, which implements the detention policy. These companies include Santos, Woodside Energy, ANZ, Zip Industries, Macquarie Group, Herbert Smith Freehills and Westfield Group. They are also all active arts sponsors… Should artists continue to accept funding from the Australian government’s arts funding body the Australia Council?
What a powerful symbol of rejection that would be, for activist artists such as Alison Croggon and Benjamin Law to return their arts grants in protest. And what a favor they’d do the taxpayers. 
===
MADU Odiokwu Pastorvin
He Is Unchangeable Changer.Overcome EVERY SITUATION In Your life.
There is no setback you can face in life that God doesn’t already have a comeback plan for.We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve said the wrong thing at the wrong time, or perhaps we did something that is just too difficult or painful to talk about. We’ve all had setbacks in our yesterdays. But your past doesn’t define your future. 

Some people overcome their mistakes, leave them in the past and move on to the great things God has for them. But I’ve found that, unfortunately, some people don’t. 
They get trapped in their mistake. They can’t get past it. The burden of what they’ve done wrong (or what’s been done wrong to them) often becomes so powerful that it dominates their past, their present and their future. I’m reaching out to you today with hope that you are hearing.God doesn’t want you to live this way. He created you to be an overcomer. If you will look for His comeback plan, there’s no mistake or setback that can keep you down.God wants to lift you up.

Here’s what the apostle Paul writes in Romans: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2 NLT). I love this phrase: “.let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” That’s amazing. I wish you a fruitful week,Amen.
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I CAN'T THANK HIM ENOUGH.
I thank all of you who have being a blessing to this Ministry. I want you to know how grateful I am for you. Your generous support and faithful prayers has encourage me to be a voice of hope and encouragement around the world. You are special to me.Today I give thanks For my blessings As I pray for those in need. 
I give thanks For my family and friends As I pray for those who are lonely.
I give thanks for our freedoms As I pray for those who are oppressed. 
I give thanks for our good health As I pray for those who are ill. 
I give thanks for our comfort and prosperity As we share our blessings with others. 
May the love of God enfold us, The peace of God dwell within us And the joy of God uplift us in Jesus Mighty Name,Amen.
=
How can I walk in righteousness with God?
Simple,live a sinless life.A single sin will deprive you of getting to your destination. "Sin is the result of believing a lie,righteousness is the result of believing God" The choice is yours.Have a fruitful week.
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Father God, today I choose to focus on You. I bless and praise You no matter what my circumstances look like. I know that You are on my side and I thank You for always leading me in the path of victory. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
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In the Bible, David had all kinds of challenges. People lied about him, accused him, and tried to kill him. In Psalm 59 he says, "My enemies are coming against me like vicious dogs trying to destroy me. But as for what am going to do? I will sing about Your power. And I will shout for joy for You are my refuge, my place of safety in my day of distress."
Do you need to change your song today? Instead of complaining and thinking about what you're not, start thanking God for what you are becoming. Just like David, stay in faith and sing to the Lord knowing that He's going to complete what He's started in you.Change Your Song.God bless you.
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An Encounter with Jesus Changes Everything!
When we confront the awful truth about our sin, we will see with new eyes the Savior who reaches down to lift us up.
=
Father, I choose to put my trust in You. I choose to press forward and overcome fear. I believe You are with me; I believe You love me, and You are leading me in paths of righteousness all the days of my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
(Proverbs 29:25, NIV)
Fear is one of the enemy’s favorite tools to keep us from going forward in our lives. As soon as we make a decision to step out in faith and do what God is telling us to do, immediately the enemy will bring fear. He’ll put thoughts in your mind like, “What if I fail? What will others think? Maybe I don’t have what it takes.” He’ll do his best to use fear to convince you to shrink back and just stay right where you are.

The Bible tells us that fear is a spirit. It affects your emotions. But when you choose to put your trust in the Lord, no matter how you are feeling, you are combating fear.Today I encourage you, don’t allow fear to trap you and hold you back. Instead, take a step of faith knowing that God is on your side. He is for you and with you, leading and guiding you in the path of victory all the days of your life.Amen.
===
Workaholics: If you're burning the candle at both ends you're not as bright as you think.
=== Posts from last year ===

What’s the difference anyway?

Andrew BoltMARCH102013(10:13am)

Again on the ABC, this time on its coverage of the WA state election:
ABC host Kerry O’Brien:  Hannah Beazley standing for the ABC…
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop: You’ve done it again, Kerry.
O’Brien: Just wish those letters weren’t so similar.
===

Labor’s humiliation in WA could spell curtains for Gillard

Andrew BoltMARCH102013(5:05am)

A big swing against Labor in the WA state election devastates the party and adds to pressure on Julia Gillard:
With 56.7 per cent of the vote counted, the coalition had 58 per cent of the vote on a two party preferred basis, with Labor taking 42 per cent, accounting for a swing of 6.6 per cent to the government.
True, Premier Colin Barnett is a good performer with a good record and was never going to lose. But Defence Minister Stephen Smith, who holds one of Labor’s three remaining federal seats in Western Australia, is brutally frank:
We’ve had a tough time federally - you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work that out - and there’s no doubt we have been a drag on [Opposition Leader] Mark [McGowan] and there’s no doubt that we haven’t been helpful.
If he’s right, Labor’s three federal seats, held by Smith, Special Minister of State Gary Gray and Melissa Parke, could be slashed to one or none.
UPDATE
But the strongest response to the defeat came from [Alannah] MacTiernan, a former WA Labor infrastructure minister, who called on the federal party to dump Ms Gillard.
Asked directly if she believed the ALP must replace Ms Gillard as leader, Ms MacTiernan replied: “Absolutely, I’m sorry it is very clear”.
UPDATE
image
The biggest swing, though, was against the Greens.
UPDATE
Reader Colin:
The biggest worry for federal Labor in the WA State election is that they’ve lost the seat of Perth with a swing to the Liberals of 10%. This seat is a crucial part of Stephen Smiths federal seat, and together with swings of 7% in other areas of Smith’s electorate, he is in serious trouble.
UPDATE
Meanwhile a new Galaxy poll just adds to the pressure:
Asked who they’d vote for if a federal election were held today, 32 per cent of respondents opted for the Labor party, while 48 per cent chose the coalition… 
===
Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

P.S.

I believe you have enjoyed the conversation. And if so, you’ll probably want your friends / colleagues to enjoy the same, won’t you?

Forward this to increase their knowledge … or FAITH. - apocryphal - ed 
===
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“He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,” - 2 Timothy 1:9
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

March 9: Morning

"Yea, he is altogether lovely." - Song of Solomon 5:16

The superlative beauty of Jesus is all-attracting; it is not so much to be admired as to be loved. He is more than pleasant and fair, he is lovely. Surely the people of God can fully justify the use of this golden word, for he is the object of their warmest love, a love founded on the intrinsic excellence of his person, the complete perfection of his charms. Look, O disciples of Jesus, to your Master's lips, and say, "Are they not most sweet?" Do not his words cause your hearts to burn within you as he talks with you by the way? Ye worshippers of Immanuel, look up to his head of much fine gold, and tell me, are not his thoughts precious unto you? Is not your adoration sweetened with affection as ye humbly bow before that countenance which is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars? Is there not a charm in his every feature, and is not his whole person fragrant with such a savour of his good ointments, that therefore the virgins love him? Is there one member of his glorious body which is not attractive?--one portion of his person which is not a fresh lodestone to our souls?--one office which is not a strong cord to bind your heart? Our love is not as a seal set upon his heart of love alone; it is fastened upon his arm of power also; nor is there a single part of him upon which it does not fix itself. We anoint his whole person with the sweet spikenard of our fervent love. His whole life we would imitate; his whole character we would transcribe. In all other beings we see some lack, in him there is all perfection. The best even of his favoured saints have had blots upon their garments and wrinkles upon their brows; he is nothing but loveliness. All earthly suns have their spots: the fair world itself hath its wilderness; we cannot love the whole of the most lovely thing; but Christ Jesus is gold without alloy-light without darkness--glory without cloud--"Yea, he is altogether lovely."
Evening
"Abide in me." - John 15:4
Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill. Whether it be the wormwood of woe, or the cloying surfeit of earthly delight, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take bitterness from the one, and satiety from the other. Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is a matter of secondary importance whether thou livest on the mountain of honour or in the valley of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, thou art covered with the wings of God, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep thee from that hallowed intercourse, which is the choice privilege of a soul wedded to the well-beloved. Be not content with an interview now and then, but seek always to retain his company, for only in his presence hast thou either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be unto us a friend who calls upon us now and then, but one with whom we walk evermore. Thou hast a difficult road before thee: see, O traveller to heaven, that thou go not without thy guide. Thou hast to pass through the fiery furnace; enter it not unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, thou hast the Son of God to be thy companion. Thou hast to storm the Jericho of thine own corruptions: attempt not the warfare until, like Joshua, thou hast seen the Captain of the Lord's host, with his sword drawn in his hand. Thou art to meet the Esau of thy many temptations: meet him not until at Jabbok's brook thou hast laid hold upon the angel, and prevailed. In every case, in every condition, thou wilt need Jesus; but most of all, when the iron gates of death shall open to thee. Keep thou close to thy soul's Husband, lean thy head upon his bosom, ask to be refreshed with the spiced wine of his pomegranate, and thou shalt be found of him at the last, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Seeing thou hast lived with him, and lived in him here, thou shalt abide with him forever.
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Shem, Sem 
[Shĕm, Sĕm] - renown, or name.
A son of Noah, and ancestor of Christ (Gen. 5:32).
From his name, it is to be inferred that Shem was a distinguished person. The men of Babel sought to make themselves a name (Gen. 11:4) and become, thereby, rivals of Shem. The greatness of Shem arose from the fact that he was a forerunner of Christ. Shem's name meaning "renown" foreshadowed the greater name "above every name" before which every knee shall bow (Luke 3:36). In offering praise to God, Noah said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem" (Gen. 9:26).
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Today's reading: Deuteronomy 7-9, Mark 11:19-33 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Deuteronomy 7-9

Driving Out the Nations
1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you-- 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy....

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 11:19-33

19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"
22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins...."

Lent=Devotions-Header
Lent has begun, and Easter is coming! Today, on Ash Wednesday, we begin the somber, reflective season of Lent--a time to repent of our sin and look ahead to the saving death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through Lent (and on select special days throughout), you'll receive an email with Easter-themed Scripture, prayers, and/or other devotional reflections. 

Today's Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. -- The Book of Common Prayer

Today's Scripture Reading: Joel 2:1-2,12-17

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming.
It is close at hand--
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
nor ever will be in ages to come.
12 "Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing--
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the LORD your God.
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion,
declare a holy fast,
call a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly;
bring together the elders,
gather the children,
those nursing at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her chamber.
17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say, "Spare your people, LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
'Where is their God?'"
Today's Quote

The following quote is from an Easter sermon by Friedrich Schleiermacher, an influential 19th-century theologian known as the "Father of Modern Protestant Theology." This quote, on the necessity of putting to death the "old man" of our sinful nature, is appropriate for Ash Wednesday:

Thus, my friends, we know what is the new life that is to be like the resurrection life of the Lord. A previous life must die; the apostle calls it the body of sin, the law of sin in our members, and this needs no lengthened discussion. We all know and feel that this life, which Scripture calls a being dead in sins, pleasant and splendid as may be the form it often assumes, is yet nothing but what the mortal body of the Saviour also was, an expression and evidence of the power of death, because even the fairest and strongest presentation of this kind lacks the element of being imperishable. Thus with the mortal body of the Saviour, and thus also with the natural life of man, which is as yet not a life from God. -- "Christ's Resurrection An Image of Our New Life"

Something to Think About

Many Christians opt to give up something for Lent--a particular habit, luxury, food, or activity. Are you giving up anything for Lent this year? Why or why not?

Lent Devotional Reading Plan

Today's Lent reading: Matthew 1-3 (NIV)

View today's Lent reading on Bible Gateway
The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David....

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