Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Tue May 30th Todays News

Some things should not happen, but they do. In 1972, West Germany ransomed hostages taken by so called Palestinians for 5 million dollars. Lufthansa flight 649 took of on 22nd February that year. The attack took place on the 3rd stop over, leaving Delhi for Athens at 1 am. They landed in Yemen and negotiated with West Germany, who owned the aircraft. On board was a hostage (19 yo) Joseph Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy. The money was paid and no one died. But the Palestinian terrorists had the money to spend, and on 30th May 1972, the Lod Airport Massacre resulted. Palestinian terrorists had bought Japanese Red Army to engage in a suicide mission. It was bungled. A much larger attack had been planned, but only the three Japanese Red Army did their thing and killed 26 and wounded 80. Two JRA died, but one, Kōzō Okamoto, survived. The survivor was sentenced by Israel to life in jail, but thirteen years later was traded for Israeli soldiers captured by terrorists. In 1973, Okamoto had claimed he had become Jewish in captivity and attempted to circumcise himself with nail clippers. After release, Okamoto went to Libya, then Syria, Then Lebanon. He had not really converted. He rejoined JRA in Lebanon. Lebanon gave political asylum to Okamoto, who claimed Israel had tortured him. North Korea had helped facilitate the Lod Massacre. 

 In 70, Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breached the Second Wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreated to the First Wall. The Romans built a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres. 1381, beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England. The peasants wanted lower taxes and an end to serfdom. They felt the free labour of serfdom impinged on their ability to work. As economists, the peasants were better than todays Australian Labour Party. John Ball had preached towards their rebellion, and so John was hanged, drawn and quartered. The king was no gentleman, although his reign spanned the kingdom. 1416, the Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burned Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy. Jerome had promised Hus protection, but Hus had been burned at the stake. So Jerome was tortured and then burned at the stake too. The Catholic Church has since changed her mind on the issues Jerome raised. 1431, Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal. The Roman Catholic Church remembers this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc. 1434, Hussite Wars: Battle of Lipany: Effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeated and almost annihilated Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.

 1536, King Henry VIII of England married Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives. Jane had everything Henry wanted, except a long life. She died in October the following year, leaving him with a son and heir. In 1806, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy. Dickinson had not said such things about Rachel, but if he had, they would have been true. Andrew Jackson married Rachel while she was married, and not divorced as they had thought. Jackson's duelling behaviour, although successful, was viewed as despicable. Dickinson had to stand without moving while Jackson rechecked his gun and lined up the fatal shot. Jackson could have chosen to aim high. The actual issue had been a horse race. 

 1832, the Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario was opened. 1834, Joaquim António de Aguiar issued a law extinguishing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses of the regular religious orders" in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer". 1842, John Francis attempted to murder Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert. It was Francis' second attempt, he had tried the day before too. Francis was convicted of High treason, sentenced to death, and the sentence was commuted to transportation for life. He was sent to Hobart, paroled, married a 16 yo girl and had lots of children. 1868, Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") was observed in the United States for the first time (by "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5).

I am very good and don't deserve the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.


Here is a video I made Shepherds Hut

 Andrew John Young (29 April 1885 -- November 25, 1971) was a Scottish poet and clergyman. His status as a poet was recognised quite late and he received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1952.

 The smear of blue peat smoke
That staggered on the wind and broke,
The only sign of life,
Where was the shepherd’s wife,
Who left those flapping clothes to dry,
Taking no thought for her family?
For, as they bellied out
And limbs took shape and waved about,
I thought, She little knows
That ghosts are trying on her children’s clothes.


=== from 2016 ===
I have moved to a good home. I leave behind the ice house. Dan Andrews would rather I lived with an ice addict, and that you should too. 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility. 
=== from 2015 ===
The abuse that the far left heap on conservatives is discourteous and often illegal. ABC broadcasts contrary to it charter. Unprofessional journalists at the Guardian, Age and SMH will cut their own throats for readership before reporting accurately. The cost is ultimately to political discourse being lowered in a way undesirable for a liberal democracy. But Australia, and others, survive this because, although crippling, Democracy has checks and balances which prevent outright tyranny. The abysmal ALP administrations in Victoria and Queensland have been re-gifted office after one term. Neither administration has reformed. Analysis in Queensland seems to suggest the previous leader, Campbell Newman, was at fault. However, to be fair, the corrupt machinations of Clive Palmer ended a good government and got ALP elected after one term without ALP reforming. It will always be possible to find fault with conservatives, but merely re electing ALP as a default, corrodes democracy and allows the ALP to weaken the independence of the public service and judiciary. Political discourse is low when a conservative can question a deleterious link between ALP and Labour unions and get the response "Fuck Tony Abbott."
From 2014
None in 2014 because of Government and public service corruption related to the petitions
Historical perspective on this day
In 70, Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breached the Second Wall of Jerusalem. The Jewish defenders retreated to the First Wall. The Romans built a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres. 1381, beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England. 1416, the Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burned Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy. 1431, Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal. The Roman Catholic Church remembers this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc. 1434, Hussite Wars: Battle of Lipany: Effectively ending the war, Utraquistforces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeated and almost annihilated Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.

In 1510, during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor, Ming Dynasty rebel leader Zhu Zhifan was defeated by commander Qiu Yue, ending the Prince of Anhua rebellion. 1536, King Henry VIII of England married Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives. 1539, in Florida, Hernando de Sotolanded at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold. 1574, Henry III became King of France. 1588, the last ship of the Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel. 1631, Publication of Gazette de France, the first French newspaper. 1635, Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Prague was signed. 1642, from this date all honours granted by Charles I were retrospectively annulled by Parliament.

In 1806, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson had accused Jackson's wife of bigamy. 1814, Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth Coalition: The Treaty of Paris (1814) was signed returning French borders to their 1792 extent. Napoleon I was exiled to Elba. 1815, the East Indiaman Arniston was wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, in present-day South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives. 1832, end of the Hambach Festival in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Also 1832, the Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario was opened. 1834, Joaquim António de Aguiar issued a law extinguishing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses of the regular religious orders" in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer". 1842, John Francis attempted to murder Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert. 1845, the Fatel Razackland in the Gulf of Paria in Trinidad and Tobago carrying the first East Indianto the country.

In 1854, the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law establishing the US territories of Nebraska and Kansas. 1868, Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") was observed in the United States for the first time (by "Commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic" John A. Logan's proclamation on May 5). 1876, Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz was deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V. 1883, in New York City, a rumour that the Brooklyn Bridge was going to collapse caused a stampede that crushed twelve people. 1899, Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robbed a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.

In 1911, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500ended with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race. 1913, First Balkan War: The Treaty of London (1913), was signed ending the war. Albania became an independent nation. 1914, the new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, set sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York, New York. 1917, Alexander I became king of Greece. 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.. 1925, May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shot and killed 13 protesting workers.

In 1932, the National Theatre of Greece was founded. 1937, Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shot and killed ten labor demonstrators. 1941, World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climbed the Athenian Acropolis and tore down the Nazi swastika. 1942, World War II: One thousand British bombers launched a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany. 1948, a dike along the flooding Columbia River broke, obliterating Vanport, Oregon, within minutes. Fifteen people died and tens of thousands were left homeless. 1958, Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, were buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. 1959, the Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, was officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.

In 1961, the long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo was assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 1963, a protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem. 1966, the former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians were publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu. Also 1966, launch of Surveyor 1, the first US spacecraft to land on an extraterrestrial body. 1967, the NigerianEastern Region declared independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war. 1968, Charles de Gaulle reappeared publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolved the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This was the turning point of May 1968 events in France. 1971, Mariner program: Mariner 9 was launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars. 1972, The Angry Brigade went on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom. Also 1972, in Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carried out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others. 1974, the Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first entered service.

In 1989, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy" statue was unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators. 1998, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit northern Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000. Also 1998, Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducted an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It was reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt. 2003, Depayin massacre: At least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy were killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi fled the scene, but was arrested soon afterwards. 2005, American student Natalee Hollowaydisappeared while on a high school graduation trip to Aruba, and caused a media sensation in the United States. 2012, former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War. 2013, Nigeria passed a law banning same-sex marriage.
=== 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.
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January. 

Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?

January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
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
Happy birthday and many happy returns Roberto Bonfanti. Remember, birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. Born on the same day, across the years as
Deaths
Joan of Arc
This year we invite Joan. There are more ships in the ocean. Dykes don't cause floods. Nigeria is one. Natalee did not disappear, but was victim to foul play. Let's party. 
===
Tim Blair


FIRE AND ICELAND

Friends saw in the New Year among happy Nordic types in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik. Following a meal of puffin and whale – both delicious, apparently – they joined the big annual fireworks celebration.
30 May  29
===
Andrew Bolt


===

ARTISTIC VIBRANCY

Tim Blair – Saturday, May 30, 2015 (3:49pm)

How does the Australia Council decide which pointless projects deserve your money? Leading arts investigatorBen Eltham reveals all: 
One crucial metric of cultural funding is innovation, such as the production of new Australian artworks. Supporting the creation of new Australian product has long been a rationale for cultural decision making. The Australia Council has developed a complex model it calls ”artistic vibrancy” that explains how it approaches the difficult task of judging the merit of a particular company or work. 
Aha! It’s just the vibe of the thing.
===

THE JELL-O PUDDING POPS THAT CHANGED HISTORY

Tim Blair – Saturday, May 30, 2015 (2:54pm)

In 1989, Boris Yeltsin visited a Randall’s supermarket in suburban Texas: 
Yeltsin, then 58, “roamed the aisles of Randall’s nodding his head in amazement” … He told his fellow Russians in his entourage that if their people, who often must wait in line for most goods, saw the conditions of U.S. supermarkets, “there would be a revolution” …
Yeltsin asked customers about what they were buying and how much it cost, later asking the store manager if one needed a special education to manage a store. In the Chronicle photos, you can see him marveling at the produce section, the fresh fish market, and the checkout counter. He looked especially excited about frozen pudding pops.
“Even the Politburo doesn’t have this choice. Not even Mr. Gorbachev,” he said.
The fact that stores like these were on nearly every street corner in America amazed him. They even offered free cheese samples …
A Yeltsin biographer later wrote that on the plane ride to Yeltsin’s next destination, Miami, he was despondent. He couldn’t stop thinking about the plentiful food at the grocery store and what his countrymen had to subsist on in Russia.
In Yeltsin’s own autobiography, he wrote about the experience at Randall’s, which shattered his view of communism … Two years later, he left the Communist Party and began making reforms to turn the economic tide in Russia. You can blame those frozen Jell-O Pudding pops.
“When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people,” Yeltsin wrote. 
And that was without even seeing the booze aisle.
(Via Iowahawk)
===

RAUE ROW

Tim Blair – Saturday, May 30, 2015 (1:23pm)

Former student activist Tom Raue, an “Anarchist, Green, Gamer” who last year screamed abuse at Julie Bishop, now faces a $50,000 legal penalty following an unrelated student union dispute: 
Raue told Honi that he is “not wealthy and cannot cover the costs.” And that if the Union chooses to pursue costs, such action would bankrupt him “ruining my life.” 
Raue, a victim of the worst photoshopping in Australian student publication history, has vowed to contest the matter.
(Via George) 
===

IMPORTANT CLOWN DATING INFORMATION

Tim Blair – Saturday, May 30, 2015 (12:47pm)

Always remember, ladies, that a clown’s shoe size is unrelated to a clown’s foot size, if you get my meaning:



(Brought to you by Pulp Librarian and the Committee Against Exaggeration in Clown Pick-Up Lines.) 
===

ALMIGHTY RULING

Tim Blair – Saturday, May 30, 2015 (12:29pm)

The NY Daily News reports: 
It’s official: God does exist. 
Even better, God now qualifies for a car loan. Good for God.
===

On the Bolt Report tomorrow, May 31

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (11:51am)

On Channel 10 on Sunday at 10am and 3pm.
My guest:  Major General (ret.) Jim Molan, former head of allied operations in Iraq, on the real war on jihadists - the one we’re actually losing.
Editorial: Same-sex marriage.With the battle over, where are the gay conservatives?

The panel: Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger and Sean Kelly, former senior press secretary of Julia Gillard.
NewsWatch: Miranda Devine, Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB colleague. On ABC boss Mark Scott giving the Liberals the two fingers, and on conservative commentators giving up on gay marriage - or not.
Plenty to debate, including Adam Goode’s war dance of hate:
And why give in to feminist victimology on the tampon tax?

The videos of the shows appear here.
===

These are just children. Their “race” is irrelevant

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (11:30am)

This new racism - and the “stolen generations” myth - is creating new forms of cruelty, where children are treated not as individuals but representatives of a “race”:
The severe impacts on indigenous foster children wrenched from ­secure placements with white carers by agencies intent on complying with Aboriginal child-placement principles has been likened to a stolen generation. 
An Aboriginal elder gave evidence on behalf of a white foster carer who challenged the transfer of an indigenous toddler she had nurtured since birth to the care of an Aboriginal family....
A foster carer from a northern NSW town launched a case in the tribunal challenging the decision of a non-government agency that was managing the child’s foster placement.
The foster mother had ­assumed the care of the child when the boy was only days old after he was removed at birth by the state from his biological parents..., who have no ongoing contact with the child…
By the time the placement with the indigenous family was imminent, the baby was nearly 15 months old and was distressed by his separation from the only ­mother he had ever known: his white foster carer.
A psychologist reported that there was a “strong and secure ­attachment” between the white carer and the child, that his care environment was “appropriate, nurturing and loving”, and that the boy was “meeting most of his ­developmental milestones”. However, after attending visits with the family that would soon become his new carers, the child had become clingy and insecure, and began throwing himself on the floor and banging his head.
This racism really has to stop before more children get hurt.
(Thanks to reader Baden.) 
===

Marriage isn’t about showing we approve. It is about children

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (11:24am)

Rev Dr Michael Jensen, rector at St Mark’s Anglican Church, Darling Point, says  there are reasons to oppose same-sex marriage that aren’t bigotry:
There are those in favour of change, we are told, and then there are the bigots. But simply saying “it’s time” doesn’t make an argument. Neither does the need to keep up with the O’Haras, the Smiths, and the Pedersens… It is not even the case that “all the surveys say Australians want it” is a sufficient argument. The surveys say that Australians want capital punishment. Wisely, our politicians don’t listen to surveys on that issue (and I agree with them). They should exercise leadership, not follow opinion. 
Could it be that if you haven’t heard the case opposing a change to the marriage law, it is because the language of those advocating it has been so emotive that the contrary case can’t be heard above the noise? ...
In order to offer the status of marriage to couples of the same sex, the very meaning of marriage has to be changed. In which case, what same-sex couples will have will not be the same as what differently sexed couples now have. It will be called marriage, but it won’t be marriage as we know it. It won’t be “marriage equality”: it will be an entirely new thing.
This is where Bill Shorten again misunderstands what marriage is. As we now understand it, marriage is not merely the expression of a love people have for each other. It is, or is intended as, a life-long union between two people who exemplify the biological duality of the human race, with the openness to welcoming children into the world. Even when children do not arrive, the differentiated twoness of marriage indicates its inherent structure.
Now, I didn’t pluck this definition from the sky, nor is it simply a piece of religious teaching. It is the meaning of marriage that emerges from all human cultures as they reflect on and experience what it is to be male and female. It is only in the last 15 years that anyone has seriously thought differently.
(Thanks to reader John.) 
===

The real story is Bill Shorten’s decline, not Abbott’s

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (11:09am)

Dennis Shanahan on the decline of Bill Shorten:
Bill Shorten’s campaign against the 2015 budget has failed. The failure has exposed the pressure the Labor leader is under from within the ALP, the threat he faces from a revitalised “mainstream” Greens, and weakness created by fractures within his union base.. 
There are grumblings within the ALP about his organisation, about parliamentary tactics, some of his responses in the media, staffers telling MPs what to do in a salty and forthright manner, gagging MPs, a lack of policy certainty and concerns he is losing political ground to a prime minister who is unpopular…
Labor’s desperate tactical response to the failed budget prosecution and lack of credible alternative was evidenced this week in Shorten’s rushed partisan motion on a parliamentary vote on same-sex marriage and the failed attempt to embarrass the government over the Martin Place siege inquiry…
The background to this week’s flawed parliamentary tactics was that Shorten’s budget-in-reply speech provided no real alternative savings or surplus target, he had to accept the government’s small business tax cuts and his emphasis on teaching science-related subjects and computer coding in primary schools jumps too far ahead of parental concerns about the teaching of numeracy and literacy.
The omission of structural changes to the budget was compounded by contradictory spending estimates on education from Shorten’s office and a curious lack of concentration on budget issues in parliament culminating in this week’s attempt to shift from Abbott’s message of delivering “national and economic security”....\
Shorten and the deputy leader[’s] sponsor[ship of] a ­private member’s bill proposing a conscience vote on same-sex ­marriage ... was a miscalculation. Instead of creating chaos in the Liberal Party over a conscience vote and framing Abbott as old-fashioned, it handed the Prime Minister the opportunity to provide an avenue for discussion among his MPs and set the idea that such a vote had to be “owned by parliament” and not be partisan… It also gave the Greens the platform to accuse Labor of being partisan on same-sex marriage. This was not an insignificant point given that Reachtell polling conducted in six marginal seats by the ACTU — Page in NSW, Corangamite in Victoria, Leichhardt in Queensland, Hindmarsh in South Australia, Swan in Western Australia and Braddon in Tasmania — as well as polling in Bass, Lyons and Franklin in Tasmania for the timber industry, showed an overall fall in Labor’s primary vote since the election....These polls were taken after the budget with the ACTU polls meant to demonstrate disenchantment with Joe Hockey’s budget. 
UPDATE
Someone in Abbott’s Cabinet is leaking to Peter Hartcher to destabilise Tony Abbott, and their identity is almost certainly known by Abbott.
But while it is true that Abbott should have consulted more, what I see is less than what Hartcher portrays. It is not Abbott on the ropes, but a Cabinet having a serious discussion about a serious matter and resolving on a prudent course:
The Prime Minister had been rolled by his cabinet [on stripping suspected terrorists of their citizenship]. The matter was not listed on the cabinet agenda. There was no cabinet submission. There was no written proposal of any kind in front of the ministers. 
Abbott brought up the subject only at the end of a cabinet meeting on other business, then asked Dutton to speak on it. It emerged during debate that there was a discussion paper on the subject, and Brandis volunteered that he had seen a copy and had been debating the idea with Abbott in the inner sanctum of cabinet’s National Security Committee.
It was at this point in a tense and difficult debate that Bishop stunned the meeting with a further revelation: “I haven’t seen a discussion paper.”
The ministers around the table instantly understood. The Prime Minister had tried to ambush his cabinet.  Bishop is the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, the Foreign Affairs Minister, the minister with oversight of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, a member of the National Security Committee of cabinet and a central figure in Australia’s effort to defeat the terrorists of the so-called Islamic State.
The depth of mistrust between the Liberal leader and his deputy was starkly exposed…
Turnbull was incensed: “Here we go again,” he told his Prime Minister in the meeting. “Talking about something as momentous as this and there is nothing in front of us. There’s a discussion paper that only a few of us have seen. This is a shambles.”
But note this: when the agreed position went to the party room, it was backed by all of the 20-odd speakers, including the two who’d proposed a spill motion against Tony Abbott in February, Luke Simpkins and Don Randall. If there was any criticism, it was that the proposal to strip citizenship at least of dual nationals involved in terrorism did not go far enough.
There may be whiteanters in Cabinet, but Abbott is solid in the party room. Unity and improved performance from Abbott have put the Liberals into favoritism at the next election, and destabilisation will now be seen as a disloyalty not to Abbott but the party.
That said, Abbott must consult, not ambush.
UPDATE
And indeed, the backbenchers rally around Abbott, not the leakers:
The Herald Sun can reveal 37 backbenchers have signed a letter calling on Cabinet to go further in plans to strip citizenship from Australian terrorists. 
The campaign, organised by Luke Simpkins and Dan Tehan, follows a Cabinet row which saw the Government delay a decision about stripping Australians of their citizenship
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill, John and brett tr.) 
===

Blanchett raises money for the Labor Left

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (11:01am)

No one is surprised, are they?
Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett will appear as the star attraction at a major fundraising event for the opposition’s most senior woman in Federal Parliament – Tanya Plibersek. 
Blanchett is billed to appear at the Margaret Whitlam dinner in Sydney next month. The online promotional material for the fundraiser highlights Blanchett’s climate change activism.
(Thanks to reader Eagle Dan.) 
===

Dear Professor Triggs. That’s our money, you know

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (10:29am)

Good heavens. Gillian Triggs is certainly free with taxpayers’ money:
Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has ordered $5.9 million in compensation payments in just three years, making up more than half of all recommended payouts since 1996. 
AHRC figures provided to a Senate hearing this week show that, since taking over the presidency in 2012, Professor Triggs has recommended compensation in 28 cases, almost equal to the 32 recommendations made by her four predecessors combined…
Professor Triggs’s most generous payout requests involve the Department of Immigration’s handling of asylum-seeker cases.
There has been controversy about a call for $350,000 for detained Indonesian refugee John Basikbasik, who beat his Australian spouse to death with a child’s ­bicycle. The commission found he was arbitrarily detained for seven years.
Last year, she recommended $910,000 for five asylum-seekers detained at Villawood in Sydney after finding their detention conditions were too restrictive. The men had been involved in the 2011 Villawood rooftop riots and some faced criminal charges.
Her second highest demand was for the government to pay $850,000 to four men detained at Christmas Island who she found had not been held “in the least restrictive way possible”.
In 2013, she asked the government to pay convicted killer Mehmet Ince $450,000 for “unjust” prolonged detention and for failing to release him into community or “less restrictive” detention. Ince, who arrived in Australia from Turkey in 1995 at age 17, killed Melbourne plumber Ian Broadbent in 1997. 
Why Triggs is still president of the Human Rights Commission beats me, especially after her biased performance over children in detention. Does anyone take it seriously now? Will they, while she remains in charge?

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Dear Professor Triggs. That’s our money, you know'
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No but yes. The Australian again confirms this will divide us by race

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (9:41am)

The politics of race

I have long respected Chris Merritt’s work and appreciate his more or less civil tone in disagreeing with me on the plan to change the constitution to recognise Aboriginal Australians and insert some special race-based powers.
I am glad that this article in The Australian at least does not call for me to be silenced by my editors, accuse me of spreading ”poison”, kick my dog, attack me as deaf to debate, or insist that the difference between Australians with some Aboriginal ancestors and those without is as fundamental as the difference between a sparrow and an emu.
But while the personal vilification is largely absent, Merritt’s arguments are still deeply unconvincing.
In fact, most of his arguments strike me as more of the no-but-yes kind that are at the heart of this quixotic campaign to fight bad racism with “good” racism - a campaign that can only leave us divided, not “reconciled”.
Bolt believes a national declaration recognising indigenous Australians would be “too much of a surrender of a critical principle: that we should be treated as individuals under the law, with equal standing and common rights, and not as representatives of a ‘race’, each with a different standing and different rights”. 
This is his starting point and it suffers from two problems. The first is that the proposal for national recognition of indigenous people is not based on their race. It is based on the reality that this diverse group of different peoples were the original possessors of this continent and its islands. 
Again, I must insist on the obvious here. People today with some Aboriginal ancestry are not “the original possessors of this continent and its islands”. The original possessors are long dead.  Indeed, being 55, I am now more an “original possessor” of this land than most Australians with Aboriginal ancestors, if we treat each other not as representatives of some “race” but as individuals. The artificiality of trying to distinguish between living Australians who are “original possessors” and those who are not will be more obvious over time, given the very high rates of intermarriage. But it is already offensive enough to distinguish between Australians on the grounds of the “race” of (only) some of their great-great-great grandparents.
The second problem is that special treatment to protect the rights and aspirations of minorities has always been possible under the Australian system of governance.
Indeed it does. That is why we have special Aboriginal courts in most states, and separate Aboriginal welfare programs, despite some attempts to mainstream them. But I oppose this kind of “race"-based separatism, so how does the fact that I oppose what we have already undermine my argument of bring in more of the same? I just cannot see the inconsistency or “problem” Merrit claims.
In fact, Merritt just offers another no-but-yes argument - or a yes-but-no one:
In this country, equal treatment and equal standing are important principles, but it has always been accepted that the ability to respect the legitimate aspirations of min­orities is just as important. 
Let’s not get into an argument about the “legitimate aspirations of minorities” - what they are, whether they have indeed “always been accepted” and whether they really are “just as important” as equal treatment under the law. (The obvious answer to the last two questions is, of course, no and no.) Let’s just agree that it is exactly this tribalising of Australia that I oppose on the grounds that it will set us against each other, and dangerously so. It is this division of us into “minorities”, each pushing their own “legitimate aspirations” in opposition to the rest, that is a profound insult to how we’ve really imagined ourselves - as one people bound together by one law, with each of us judged as individuals and not on the basis of our “race”, tribe, wealth, class, faith, place of birth or “minority”.
The great native title cases of Mabo and Wik accepted that, in certain circumstances, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders could be the beneficiaries of a system of land title that was not available to other Australians. The struggle for native title was not won on the basis of race but because the law finally recognised ­reality: indigenous people were the original possessors of the land. This concept of indigeneity, not race, is also at the core of the argument in favour of a yes vote at the coming referendum.
But this, too, does not disprove my arguments against dividing us by “race”. I have always accepted the native title argument (while opposing the collectivism). I have accepted it as I have accepted the principle that parents may leave an inheritance to their children, and that people have property rights. The principle here for me is not of “race” - one reason I am against collective title. Native title should be enjoyed by people who have inherited the land directly in an unbroken chain from their ancestors, a right that is enjoyed by all Australians.
In truth, “native title” should be seen as no different to any other kind of land ownership passed on through inheritance. It should not be seen as a concession to the principle that we are now being asked to surrender - that all men and women are equal under the law, regardless of “race”. It should not be seen as endorsing the kind of proposals now put before us - of changing the Constitution to honor one “race” and implying a superior claim to the land, of “recognising” and defending one culture (” the continuing cultures, languages and heritage ... [of] Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”, however defined) and even of creating a permanent kind of Aboriginal parliament.
Merritt offers another no-but-yes:
[Bolt] is wrong to assert that national recognition would mean creating a body he describes as a “race-based parliament” and a “supervisory parliament”. It won’t… Constitutional lawyer Anne Twomey, building on a proposal backed by Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson, has drafted a plan for an advisory body that would provide no services, enact no laws, administer no revenue and raise no taxes. It would have one duty: to provide advice on proposed laws that affect indigenous people. Parliament would be free to accept or ignore that advice.
So it’s, er, yes, a race-based Parliament, although, don’t worry, it won’t have real power. We can buy off the Aborigines with this beads and blankets symbolism.
Merritt assures us that I am wrong to imagine that in time this right to consultation will be vastly expanded to a right to consult on every law - and that this will become another step towards declaring a right to an Aboriginal nationhood or citizenship. Maybe he’s right, and maybe he’s not. The history of the vast expansion of the reach of 18c to stifle debate on these issues in fact suggests he’s optimistic.
But left unaddressed is my real argument against this dismembering of our polity, arguments I’ve put before and summarise again here.
Even if such a body is given no power, this race-based division is essentially immoral. Many of us are vehemently against racial division in principle. We simply should not be dividing ourselves by “race”, and most certainly not in our constitution. This is an affront to our individuality. It is immoral.
In fact, Aborigines have a representative body already. It’s called the Australian Parliament. (There are also state parliaments and local councils.)
In that Parliament each Aborigine has the same say as each non-Aboriginal Australian. In that Parliament there are even Aboriginal politicians, including Ken Wyatt, Nova Peris and (she says) Jacqui Lambie.
What Noel Pearson and others now want is a further parliament just for one “race”, to give members of that “race” more influence than members of other “races”, and a different legal status.

And, of course, it is divisive, and dangerously so. It is inflammatory. It will lead to absolutely no good.  Once the principle of racial division is conceded, there will be no stopping the advocates of this newly tribalised Australia. How can we agree that Aborigines have a “unique” role as “original custodians” - a role entitling them to their own representatives and special constitutional powers - and then insist that nothing much flows from that? How can we then arbitrarily insist that they have no consequent right to their own nations, their own laws, their own compensation?
This is profoundly wrong. And it is playing with fire. And, indeed, we already hear Aboriginal leaders say they will not be bought off so cheaply.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Michael Mansell, for instance, insists that mere recognition statements are just words. Speaking of the Tasmanian Government, he’s said: “If the Government wants to do something then they’ve got to hand land back or give Aboriginal people access to political power… Now it’s time for Tasmania to once again take the lead by returning land or setting aside seats in the parliament for Aboriginal people.”
Then there is one classic no-but-yes response from Merritt to my objections:
Bolt takes great exception to the proposal to replace section 51 (xxvi) — the race power — with a narrow “indigenous” power. He describes this as “a mere switcheroo” that would “remove the power to make race-based laws, only to replace them with the right to make race-based laws”. 
Julian Leeser, who helped draw up the proposal backed by Pearson, points to the practical, legal reason it is essential to have this replacement head of power. Once the race power in section 51 (xxvi) is removed, it becomes essential to provide a constitutional basis for federal laws on Aboriginal affairs.
No, but yes.
I won’t go into the rest of Merritt’s article, which descends into offensive speculation that I am just “hurting” at having my articles banned, that I’m not a “poster boy for non-racism”, that I’ve ignored the nirvana of New Zealand’s race politics and that this will all end in Kumbayah, honest.  That’s just a mixture of abuse, red herrings, false assumptions and shiny-eyed if-wishes-were-fishes.
Nothing in Merritt’s article can disguise or deny the essential contradiction of this proposal to change our Constitution: that this is an attempt to fight racism by imposing racism on us. By dividing us by the “race” of our ancestors.
Say no to racism. Say no to attempts to divide us by race. Say no to this change to our Constitution.
UPDATE
Those who do abuse me in Merritt’s article and elsewhere should realise they are by extension abusing the millions of Australians I believe share my scepticism about their crusade. Sure, the abuse might deter many from being as vocal, which I’m sure is the intention, but it will probably confirm for most that the abusers do not come at all to this debate with “reconciliation” in their heart. The more they abuse me, the more they discredit their cause. 
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How to protect Adam Goodes, and with your race-glasses on

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (8:01am)

I suspect football writer Peter Lalor is trying too hard to defend Adam Goodes - so hard that he is imagining things:
Goodes was subject to relentless booing by the Hawthorn crowd last week… There is debate over what motivates the attacks but little hope they would abate with populist cheerleaders calling for more of the same in the future.
Name one “populist cheerleader” who has called for Goodes to be booed.
Goodes is coming to the end of a celebrated career and was having a dirty night until he marked and goaled midway through the second quarter.
The “celebrated career” reference is to remind you to withhold judgement.
Normally among the most restrained of men, ...
“Restrained”? Seriously? The man who picked out a 13-year-old girl from a crowd and told a watching nation she was the “face” of racism in Australia? The man who gave incendiary speeches as Australian of the Year damning Australia?
...he ran out of his way to the boundary in front of the Carlton cheer squad and launched into what looked like an indigenous-style celebration dance aimed directly at the crowd. 
A “celebration dance”? It was unmistakably a war dance which included Goodes miming the brandishing of a spear. Why not say so?
Goodes has been subject to racial abuse in the past, most infamously by a teenage Collingwood supporter at the MCG in 2013. 
A “teenage Collingwood supporter “ could be a 19-year-old male who most certainly should know better. In fact, it’s widely known the supporter was a 13-year-old girl who insists she did not mean the abuse - she shouted “ape” at the bearded Goodes - in a racist way. So why didn’t Lalor actually give her age? Is it because that would explain why so many people thought the treatment of her was unfair?
Lalor is extremely keen to damn others as racist, which for the Left is the easy way to advertise their own superior virtue. But what do we call this pandering to Goodes? He is a grown man who has been showered with riches, honours and success that most Australians could only dream of, yet he is still treated by many in the media and the AFL as a poor oppressed symbol of Aboriginal suffering for whom special consideration must be given and lower standards of behaviour demanded. Is that not racism, too?
I do not deny there are racists in the football crowds who boo Goodes.  But I am also certain that most Australians watching Goodes are actually enlightened enough to have no issue at all with his “race”. They just see a man, not a symbol of “the other”. And they wonder why this adult, who has already publicly humiliated a 13-year-old girl, is now capering on the ground making war-faces and threatening predominantly white supporters with an imaginary spear.
Simple as that.
Memo to the AFL:
This war dance must never been seen again at an AFL game if you really want reconciliation, not confrontation. This shaking of spears works only when the crowd makes special allowances, and holds itself to a higher standard of behavior. That already is a damning message.  But some people in the crowd will believe that like should be met with like, and they will react. The essential hypocrisy of the “reconciliation” movement will be exposed, and things could get very ugly indeed. A quiet word to Goodes is in order.
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And when they return to Indonesia?

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (7:59am)

It is not difficult to see how this could become a lethal danger to Australian tourists abroad:
Julie Bishop will urge Indonesia, Malaysia and other nations in the region to do much more to fight Islamic State… There were at least 200 Indonesians and 60 from Malaysia fighting in Iraq and Syria for ­Islamic State ..., Ms Bishop said.
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The Greens and Labor are costing us $100 billion

Andrew Bolt May 30 2015 (12:01am)

How much are the Greens and Labor costing the country? At least $100 billion:
Australia faces more than decade of uninterrupted deficits according to an updated assessment by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office that shows Senate intransigence will carve a $100 billion black hole out of revenue between now and 2025-26. 
Savings not realised as a result of parliamentary gridlock suggest the budget prediction of a near fiscal balance by 2018-19 is overly optimistic because it is based on budget repair initiatives that have not been legislated and, in many cases, are unlikely to ever pass the Parliament.
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Hey Mr Andrews & Labor,  It’s time to answer some serious questions about your MP.
Posted by Liberal Victoria on Thursday, 28 May 2015

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Words such as "savings" and "tax concessions" are euphemisms of the left. Orwellian language is infecting Australia's...
Posted by Institute of Public Affairs on Thursday, 28 May 2015
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Improve your writing with 3 lessons learned from Agatha Christie's legendary 55 year career: http://bit.ly/1HWMmCY
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Friday, 29 May 2015
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Posted by Matt Granz on Friday, 29 May 2015
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=== Posts from last year ===

Thu May 30th Todays News


Eddie blunder exposes AFL fraud

Miranda Devine – Thursday, May 30, 2013 (5:15pm)

SO is Eddie McGuire the face of racism now?
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CITY CONFUSED

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 30, 2013 (2:50pm)

It has 400 seats, a coffee bar, gelateria, pizzeria, panetteria and an a la carte restaurant.
But it seems there is no space for a customer toilet … 
Difficult territory is a cornerstone of the visual arts – so artist Mikala Dwyer knew it would be confronting last night when she invited Balletlab dancers to empty their bowels as part of a performance at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. 
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SANDWICH THROWN II

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 30, 2013 (2:01pm)

Another unpleasant scene, this time in Canberra: 
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has had a sandwich thrown at her during a school visit for the second time this month. 
Ms Gillard was walking in a crowded foyer at Lyneham High School – where she was announcing the ACT had signed up to her Gonski reforms – when the salami sandwich was thrown.
It was lobbed from behind, over the top of her head, and landed at her feet. 
Stephanie Peatling reports: 
Here you can see the sandwich flying in front of the PM on her way into Lyneham High School in Canberra. The PM was not hit. I repeat the PM was not hit by the sandwich. Her adviser says she was not even aware of it until someone informed her afterwards. 
Other reports claim a sandwich impact: 
The bread-based missile, which appeared to contain salami and what was possibly a slice of cheese, was lobbed by an as-yet unidentified culprit in a crowd of students. It is reported to have hit her arm before falling to the ground …
The Prime Minister did not react at the time to the sandwich, but when asked about it in a later press conference, remarked: “They must have thought I was hungry.” 
Video of the incident clearly shows contact. Stupid kids.
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COWERING TO POWER

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 30, 2013 (11:39am)

“These people are cowards,” notes Scott Ott, joining PJTV’s Bill Whittle and Stephen Green to review timid coverage of London’s latest Islamic atrocity. “They’re afraid of their own heads rolling.” Meanwhile, in France: 
Police investigating the stabbing of a French soldier in Paris have arrested a suspect sources described as an adherent of “radical Islam” …
Sources close to the investigation said the 22-year-old man has been a follower of a “traditionalist even radical Islam for the last three or four years”.
But the sources urged caution in a case that is still in its early stages, saying the suspect was not known to be a jihadist. 
And in Australia: 
ASIO director-general David Irvine has warned of a dramatic increase in the number of young ethnic men travelling to take part in the Syrian war. “We are talking in the hundreds and not the tens,” Mr Irvine has said.
Community leader Dr Jamal Rifi has seen them come back.
“When they come back they are radicalised,” Dr Rifi said. 
Here’s a helpful map of Sydney’s jihadi joy zones.
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GOOD BOY PEACH

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 30, 2013 (5:00am)

I love that the dog congratulates himself:

(Story isn’t new, but a good police dog item is timeless.) 
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Two sandwiches more than a joke

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (12:32pm)


This kind of disrespect is ugly and alarming:
PRIME Minister Julia Gillard has had a sandwich thrown at her during a school visit for the second time this month.  

Ms Gillard was walking in a crowded foyer at Lyneham High School - where she was announcing the ACT had signed up to her Gonski reforms - when the salami sandwich was thrown. 
It was lobbed from behind, over the top of her head, and landed at her feet.
The past few years have seen politicians set a toxic example. But the students responsible for these contemptuous attacks need to be made examples of themselves. This kind of thing can very easily spiral out of control. It would be a terrible shame if politicians no longer dared visit schools.     
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Mark Dreyfus the last man trying to snatch $60 million for votes

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (10:56am)

Dreyfus really has no political judgement at all. Why cling to this for a second longer when the Liberals have walked away?
THE controversial plan to increase taxpayer funding for politicians by $58 million has been shelved after a voter backlash.

The Gillard Government has abandoned plans to put the legislation to a vote on Thursday in Parliament after the Liberals withdrew their support. 
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was trying to resurrect the deal, which he said had been negotiated over “many months’’ with the Coalition.
UPDATE
A rare misjudgment of the politics and the public by the Opposition Leader, and one that Labor and the Greens are exploiting - even though they were the last with their hands still out:
And it was that day, to wit last week, that Mr Abbott wrote back to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, advising: ‘’I am satisfied with the agreement reached and indicate the Coalition’s intention to support the legislation and to deal with it, as requested, before the end of sittings.’’
The letter in full.

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The police who grilled the 13-year-old should now grill McGuire

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (8:49am)

Why have police not interviewed Eddie McGuire, an adult, for making the same racial slur as did a 13-year-old girl?
Why have police not contacted Adam Goodes to ask if he wishes to press charges against McGuire, as they did with the 13-year-old girl?
Why the double standard? 

MCG security told her family to remain seated as they ejected the girl - and police detained her for what she said was two hours.
The teenager was initially questioned by police without an adult present. When police found out she was only 13, they went and got her grandmother.
Her mother said she believed her daughter was “very scared” when she was taken away by security. “It was ridiculous that she was in there for so long. For two hours they interviewed her over her saying, ‘You’re an ape’,” she said.
Another double standard:
I was taken to court and had two articles banned from re-publication for having discussed how some people identified as Aboriginal.
The law I was found to have breached was this:
It is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if:
(a) the act is reasonably likely in all the circumstances to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of people, and
(b) the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or some or all of the people in the group.
Why is McGuire not also being sued?
Disclaimer: 
While I disapprove of McGuire’s comments - and those of the girl - I do not think he should be grilled by police, charged or sued. McGuire’s heart is basically good, and his error is being punished more than enough already in the only court that should deal with such matters - the court of public opinion. What I’m pointing out here is not just the double standards, but the absurd reach of some laws. And I’m laughing that McGuire, having helped set the bar so ludicrously high for a 13-year-old, must now jump over it himself.  
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The tweets that made Russell Skelton a perfect ABC fact-checker

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (8:33am)

 The Coalition is naturally curious why the ABC appointed yet another Leftist - this time the husband of ABC host Virginia Trioli - as head of its new fact-checking unit, recently funded by a grateful Labor Government:
THE Coalition has lashed the head of the ABC’s newly formed fact-checking unit, using Senate estimates to question his independence and integrity and calling on the broadcaster to reconsider his employment.

The ABC announced last week that former Fairfax journalist Russell Skelton had been appointed to the role… 
Afghan asylum-seekers but were deemed to be from Pakistan.
Opposition Senate leader Eric Abetz produced a sheaf of tweets from Skelton on a Twitter feed under his ABC title that Senator Abetz claimed vilified himself, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, Joe Hockey, Scott Morrison and Peter Reith.
“Abbott’s extremism on display,” Skelton commented on a retweet of a story on asylum-seeker policy.
“No statesman, no style,” he added to a retweet of a report of remarks by the Prime Minister on Mr Abbott.
In others retweets Mr Skelton described the Opposition Leader as “a shameless opportunist” and “a liability”.
He dismissed Senator Joyce as “a dense, opportunistic carpetbagger”, called Mr Morrison “the LP’s one trick pony”, and accused Mr Reith of “rewriting history”.
“There are dozens and dozens of them showing bias against the Coalition,” Senator Abetz told the committee, citing other articles retweeted by Skelton with remarks lauding Ms Gillard… ABC managing director Mark Scott said Skelton was not an ABC employee at the time most of the remarks were made.  
But Skelton sure is an ABC employee now. 
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The Belmoktar letter: paying al-Qaeda to kill us

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (8:00am)

Moktar Belmoktar is slammed by his al-Qaeda bosses for being a rude terrorist:
Your letter ... contained some amount of backbiting, name-calling and sneering...
He should be more polite when blowing up people.
But this bizarre letter from the al-Qaeda chiefs to Belmoktar exposes how European government, by giving in to terrorists, are funding more of what they fear:
First and foremost, they quibble over the amount of money raised by the 2008 kidnapping of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, the highest-ranking United Nations official in Niger, and his colleague. Belmoktar’s men held both for four months, and in a book he later published, Fowler said he did not know if a ransom was paid. 
The letter says they referred the case to al-Qaeda central to force concessions in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, a plan stymied when Belmoktar struck his own deal for 700,000 euros (about $A900,000) for both men. That’s far below the $3 million per hostage that European governments were normally paying, according to global intelligence unit Stratfor. “Rather than walking alongside us in the plan we outlined, he managed the case as he liked,’’ they write indignantly. “Here we must ask, who handled this important abduction poorly? ... Does it come from the unilateral behavior along the lines of our brother Abu Abbas, which produced a blatant inadequacy: Trading the weightiest case (Canadian diplomats!!) for the most meager price (700,000 euros)!!’’
How much of that hostage money was used to kill others?
And within months [of the letter, Belmoktar] carried out two lethal operations that killed 101 people in all: one of the largest hostage-takings in history at a BP-operated gas plant in Algeria in January, and simultaneous bombings at a military base and a French uranium mine in Niger just last week.
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Eddie McGuire is dumb, and the Indigenous Round made it worse

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (7:51am)

EDDIE McGuire is of course a bigger racist than the 13-year-old girl he helped to smear last week.
But I blame the AFL’s Indigenous Round for helping to make a monkey of the Collingwood president.

First, let’s compare. On Friday, a 13-year-old Collingwood fan at the football with her Nan shouts “ape” at bearded Sydney player Adam Goodes. 
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  Labor’s boat people disaster corrupts our immigration program

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (7:43am)

FIRST we were told we had too few boat people to worry about. Now we’ve got too many to stop.
This is Labor’s greatest policy disaster, and not just because it’s cost more than 1000 lives and billions of dollars.
It has also corrupted our immigration program, damaged national security, overwhelmed charities and endangered public safety.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard herself designed the new “compassionate” border laws that in 2008 replaced the tough ones that had cut boat arrivals to an average of only three a year.
Two years later Gillard was still pooh-poohing warnings that Labor had opened the door to illegal immigration. 
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Abbott must act fast to get the economy in shape for 2016

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (7:25am)

The Abbott Government will inherit deep trouble, and will need to act very fast if it wants the economy in reasonable shape by the 2016 election:
The Australian Industry Group has been warning for some time of deteriorating conditions. While the official jobless rate hovers around 5.5 per cent, the Ai Group’s CEO, Innes Willox, believes Treasury projections of a jobless rate of 5.75 per cent for 2013-14 and 2014-15, then dropping back to 5 per cent after that, might understate the severity of the coming business response to a softening economy. 
‘’We have data which is way ahead of the official data and we’re very concerned about what’s around the corner for the economy,’’ he said… Willox said construction and manufacturing had been in decline for three years, and the services sector is now also slowing quite substantially…
The OECD - which relies heavily on data supplied by Australia’s Treasury to help construct its picture - predicted in a report released on Wednesday night that Australian growth would slow to 2.5 per cent in 2013. ‘’The persisting high exchange rate and still fragile confidence are inhibiting the emergence of new drivers of growth,’’ it said. Bureau of Statistics figures released on Wednesday also pointed to a faster-than-expected slide in economic activity, noting that construction work slipped 2 per cent in the March quarter against market expectations of an increase of 1 per cent. That could take 0.2 percentage points off GDP when the March quarter national accounts are released next week.
More trouble:
The world’s biggest bond fund, PIMCO, on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank of Australia may need to cut official interest rates even lower as investment in resource projects slows and a weaker Chinese economy saps demand for iron ore, coal and other exports… ... a global report card from ­Switzerland said Australia’s competitiveness had hit its lowest level in at least 17?years. Rising costs, weak labour productivity growth and a fractious political climate that has sapped business confidence have added to the deterioration, according to business school IMD and Melbourne’s Committee for ­Economic Development.
Terry McCrann gives the example of BHP Billiton:
CAPITAL expenditure will peak in fiscal 2013 with no new major projects planned.” With one crisp bullet point in a presentation, Australia’s largest company, BHP Billiton captured the bleak reality of the end of our fabulous resources boom… 
Last year it made nearly $US2 billion of EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) from its coking-coal mines. In 2008-09 it made nearly $US5 billion.
In the first half of this year it made zip as the prices it got for its coal dropped sharply while its operating costs leapt. Plus it got hit by higher Queensland royalties, the carbon tax and the high value of the Aussie dollar.
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Let the imam explain his own role

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (6:41am)

Tiny minority etc etc:
POLICE investigating the stabbing of a French soldier in Paris have arrested a suspect sources described as an adherent of “radical Islam”. 
“The suspected perpetrator of the attack on a soldier Saturday evening in La Defense (business district) was arrested this morning,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement… Sources close to the investigation said the 22-year-old man has been a follower of a “traditionalist even radical Islam for the last three or four years”. 
The man’s imam should be asked to explain how this follower was radicalised and what steps the mosque is taking to prevent others from being radicalised, too. This practice should become standard with all such incidents. 
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“You’re not in Australia now”:  immigration becomes colonisation

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (6:32am)

No wonder a parliamentary inquiry finds great public concern that Muslim immigration in Sydney is more like Muslim colonisation:
THE message from the young men was blunt: ”You’re not in Australia now.” 
They weren’t standing on a street in Iraq, Afghanistan or Lebanon. This is Bankstown.
UPDATE
How much have politicians encouraged this tribalism?
RIGHT-WING heavyweight David Feeney has emerged as an early frontrunner to win the heartland Melbourne seat of Batman [held by Martin Ferguson, now retiring] ...   
Senior ALP sources said that Senator Feeney was strongly aligned with the Maronite Lebanese forces in the electorate, which Left and Right sources said would have the majority of local votes.
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What did you do in the climate war?

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (6:25am)

In Britain, the dawn of scepticism in the political ruling class:
Humans may not be responsible for global warming, the MP who oversees government policy on climate change has said. 
Tim Yeo, the chairman of the Commons Energy and Climate Change committee, said he accepts the earth’s temperature is increasing but said “natural phases” may be to blame. 
He said: “Although I think the evidence that the climate is changing is now overwhelming, the causes are not absolutely clear. There could be natural causes, natural phases that are taking place.” Mr Yeo has previously spoken with great certainty about the science of climate change. He said in 2009: “The dying gasps of the deniers will be put to bed. In five years time, no one will argue about a man-made contribution to climate change.” 
We are slowly reaching the point when many will - and must - ask: where were you when the world lost its head to this scare? Were you on the side of reason or the mob?
It is a question of character. 

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Danger: teaching censorship to tomorrow’s lawyers

Andrew Bolt May 30 2013 (12:08am)

Free speech
From the very fine speech law graduate Daniel Ward made at the Sydney University Law School’s prize giving ceremony last week:
In 2010, the University of Sydney Senate approved a document called “Harassment and Discrimination Prevention Policy and Resolution Procedure”. It purports to ban, across all areas of university life, something called “unlawful harassment”. The policy defines that term as behaviour that offends, insults, humiliates or intimidates a person, and could reasonably have been expected to do so. It goes on to identify the grounds on which it is forbidden to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate. These grounds include things like race, sex and disability. 
Astonishingly, though, they also include the following: “political belief, lack of a political belief, lack of a particular political belief (including trade union activity or lack of it, and student association activity or lack of it), religious belief, lack of a religious belief, and/or lack of a particular religious belief”.
It is nothing if not comprehensive.
If university has become a place where we can’t offend people on the grounds of their political or religious beliefs, then God help us all (and of course I say that without wishing to offend any atheists). What has university come to, if a jackbooted socialist can’t go up to a Young Liberal and hurl all the abuse his limited imagination can muster? What has it come to, if we have to think twice before aping a former Labor prime minister and labelling our opponents “desiccated coconuts” or “mangy maggots”? Surely university is the last place in the country where we should see a policy like this. Because it is precisely the place where debate should be at its most vigorous and, yes, at times, offensive, insulting and even humiliating.
I am reminded of something Justice Michael Kirby said in the 2004 case of Coleman v Power: “One might wish for more rationality, less superficiality, diminished invective and increased logic and persuasion in political discourse. But those of that view must find another homeland. From its earliest history, Australian politics has regularly included insult and emotion, calumny and invective, in its armoury of persuasion. They are part and parcel of the struggle of ideas.”
The University of Sydney’s policy on so-called “unlawful harassment” jeopardises free political discourse, and it is exactly the kind of thing that should set off alarm bells for law students (and indeed for legal academics). Not least because there may be a question whether the policy is even legal, given that the university senate only has as much power as the NSW parliament can constitutionally bestow, conformably with our implied constitutional freedom of political communication. This kind of policy didn’t withstand the scrutiny of the wider public when Nicola Roxon tried it with the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill of 2012. So how does the university senate get away with it? If lawyers or budding lawyers are happy with their own university administrators tampering with something as fundamental as the freedom to speak, then how vigilant are they going to be in society more broadly?

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Liberals scrap Julia Gillard’s $60 million election reward

Andrew Bolt May 29 2013 (9:16pm)

Stupid plan sunk. Dreyfus caught out again:
JULIA Gillard’s plan to hit taxpayers with a $60 million bill to fund election campaigns has been torpedoed with the Coalition abandoning its support. 
Liberal sources confirmed there was overwhelming momentum to ditch what had been bipartisan support for the deeply unpopular plan…
Special Minister of State Mark Drefyus claimed the funding deal which will be backdated to April 1 and deliver a windfall of around $15 million a year to the Coalition and Labor would reduce the parties’ reliance on corporate funding. But News Limited can reveal corporate executives are being asked to shell out up to $10,000 for intimate ‘pay-per-view’ dinners with Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott as Labor and the Coalition engage in a pre-election fundraising frenzy.

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Father,I thank You for giving me everything I need for life and godliness.I ask You to search my heart. Show me any bad seeds that need to be uprooted. Help me, by Your Spirit, to plant good seeds for my future. Use me for Your glory. I trust that as I draw close to You, You will reveal Yourself to me more. I bless You today and honor You in everything I do in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin

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YOU HAVE SEEDS OF GREATNESS IN YOU!
His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.(2 Peter 1:3, NKJV)

When God created you, He deposited in you everything that you need in order to fulfill your calling. He gave you the desire and the ability. He equipped you with gifts and talents. No dream is too big. No challenge is too great.
What happens a lot of times is that people don’t recognize what’s been placed within them because at first it seems subtle. The gift may not be evident in the beginning. It starts out in seed form. But just like planting a seed and tending to it will help it grow and develop fruit, when you tend to the seeds inside of you, they will begin to produce. How do you tend to the seeds? By reading, studying and meditating on the Word of God. By following His commands and keeping Him first place in your life.

Always remember that even if you aren’t clear about God’s direction for your life, when You put Him first place, He promises to lead and guide you. As you draw close to Him, as you gain knowledge of Him, His power gives you everything that you need.God bless you.
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Dear Lord as I come before you tonight I bless you for another day of life. Thank you for taking us safely all throughout this day. Now Lord I lift up broken vessels, hurting hearts and tired bodies. Restore your joy, peace and everlasting love upon them. Comfort them, build them up and strengthen them like never before. I ask these things in your precious name. Amen. - Holly
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Photo credit: www.jensensutta.com
Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for May 29th. Enjoy!

From the Blog

Obamacare 'navigators': Another Sebelius snitch brigade?

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius controls a $54 million slush fund to hire thousands of “navigators,” “in-person assisters” and counselors who will propagandize and enroll Obamacare recipients in government-run health insurance exchanges...

House Oversight Committee subpoenas Benghazi documents; Judiciary Committee to investigate whether Holder lied under oath

Stand by for historic levels of
transparency stonewalling...

Obama again tries to get his game on, loses to … Chris Christie

Has the country’s “most athletic president ever” learned the hard way not to try and get his game on while cameras are rolling?

More From the Right Side of the Web

Victor Davis Hanson: Western cultural suicide

Featured Video

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Feigned ignorance is bliss.

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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What? Nothing about wanting to be white? Slacker.

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Replica of the statue "Goddess of Democracy"
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“But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.” - Psalm 103:17-18
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"Thou hatest wickedness."
Psalm 45:7

"Be ye angry, and sin not." There can hardly be goodness in a man if he be not angry at sin; he who loves truth must hate every false way. How our Lord Jesus hated it when the temptation came! Thrice it assailed him in different forms, but ever he met it with, "Get thee behind me, Satan." He hated it in others; none the less fervently because he showed his hate oftener in tears of pity than in words of rebuke; yet what language could be more stern, more Elijah-like, than the words, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer." He hated wickedness, so much that he bled to wound it to the heart; he died that it might die; he was buried that he might bury it in his tomb; and he rose that he might forever trample it beneath his feet. Christ is in the Gospel, and that Gospel is opposed to wickedness in every shape. Wickedness arrays itself in fair garments, and imitates the language of holiness; but the precepts of Jesus, like his famous scourge of small cords, chase it out of the temple, and will not tolerate it in the Church. So, too, in the heart where Jesus reigns, what war there is between Christ and Belial! And when our Redeemer shall come to be our Judge, those thundering words, "Depart, ye cursed" which are, indeed, but a prolongation of his life-teaching concerning sin, shall manifest his abhorrence of iniquity. As warm as is his love to sinners, so hot is his hatred of sin; as perfect as is his righteousness, so complete shall be the destruction of every form of wickedness. O thou glorious champion of right, and destroyer of wrong, for this cause hath God, even thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Evening

"Cursed be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho."
Joshua 6:26
Since he was cursed who rebuilt Jericho, much more the man who labours to restore Popery among us. In our fathers' days the gigantic walls of Popery fell by the power of their faith, the perseverance of their efforts, and the blast of their gospel trumpets; and now there are some who would rebuild that accursed system upon its old foundation. O Lord, be pleased to thwart their unrighteous endeavours, and pull down every stone which they build. It should be a serious business with us to be thoroughly purged of every error which may have a tendency to foster the spirit of Popery, and when we have made a clean sweep at home we should seek in every way to oppose its all too rapid spread abroad in the church and in the world. This last can be done in secret by fervent prayer, and in public by decided testimony. We must warn with judicious boldness those who are inclined towards the errors of Rome; we must instruct the young in gospel truth, and tell them of the black doings of Popery in the olden times. We must aid in spreading the light more thoroughly through the land, for priests, like owls, hate daylight. Are we doing all we can for Jesus and the gospel? If not, our negligence plays into the hands of the priestcraft. What are we doing to spread the Bible, which is the Pope's bane and poison? Are we casting abroad good, sound gospel writings? Luther once said, "The devil hates goose quills" and, doubtless, he has good reason, for ready writers, by the Holy Spirit's blessing, have done his kingdom much damage. If the thousands who will read this short word this night will do all they can to hinder the rebuilding of this accursed Jericho, the Lord's glory shall speed among the sons of men. Reader, what can you do? What will you do?
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Today's reading: 2 Chronicles 7-9, John 11:1-29 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 2 Chronicles 7-9


The Dedication of the Temple

1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
"He is good;
his love endures forever."

Today's New Testament reading: John 11:1-29

The Death of Lazarus
1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is sick."
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea...."


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