Thursday, February 15, 2018

Thu Feb 15th Todays News

Don't give up on hope. Four years ago Andrew Bolt joined in the campaign against Tony Abbott. He knew the stories were flaky and he knew the source of those stories. But Andrew Bolt repeated the memes and downplayed the serious issues. So that when repeated lies were called truth, Abbott was undercut. But the truth is that Abbott was an effective PM and had successfully crushed an intransigent senate which were desperate to get rid of him before facing election on substantive issues they would have lost. The result was Malcolm Turnbull took all political pressure off the ALP, Greens and independents and surrendered hard fought advances. So corrupt unions are not investigated and probity is not maintained. So that industry suffers under red tape, a bloated public service and a corrupt judiciary drift and the culture wars are not fought. What benefit the surrender? Remember the memes Turnbull spread? Abbott was unpopular with women and so could never win election. Abbott's office never listened to sound advice. Abbott made captain's picks. Yet none of that (all untrue) mattered anyway. Consider the result of the Turnbull campaign against Abbott, and the reason why Bolt supported it for a time. It was not because Bolt is a fan of Turnbull. What now do we credit Bolt's campaign against Barnaby Joyce? Joyce has championed Australia in office and the result will be many blessings in years to come as a hundred dams are completed (despite ALP opposition) and Australia grows. Joyce gets farmers. The family issues related to Joyce are overstated at great cost. There is a tragedy related to what has happened, but it is a personal one. It is a double standard which suits Malcolm Turnbull and, just as with Abbott, will hurt Australia as Joyce gets rolled. Note the Polls, the campaign regarding women's opinion is exactly the same campaign levelled against Abbott. On this issue, Bolt swims in the swamp. 
I am a decent man and don't care for 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 One Bottle of Beer

An extension of the work of other, better artists .. cf
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=68833
by Bass2x
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=68808
By My Quest Miles
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=68641
Barretok

Audio is at http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=68852

This is part of the larger project
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=74911

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/99_bottles_of_beer




=== from 2017 ===
The Bolt Report Supporter's Group has exceeded thirty thousand members. I remember when founder ZEG asked me to take on the page after a few dozen joined in a day when it was in the low hundreds. The page had been set up by the ADL as part of a wider plan to get street credibility as the Australian Tea Party on a wide range of issues. They had also launched other pages. They hoped to tap into the US politics patronage stream which has significant sums of money. Andrew was gaining a name as a former ALP speech writer who had come to stand for conservative values without really embracing conservatism. In the US, such people are called neoconservatives. Andrew still likes to talk up ALP positions, but he is not indifferent to their unreformed, criminal patronage. Neither am I regarding the ADL. Thirty thousand is a significant number. It means we have a reach and reputation. Many thanks to Daniel Katz for his awesome posts, and Charles Goldberg for always being there when Daniel isn't. Almost like Clarke Kent and Superman. What Seinfeld episode was that? Andrew Bolt's program has grown. It quickly exceeded Insiders weekly. Now, daily exceeds what Insiders achieves in a week. We are growing. We now have (and needed) moderators. Thanks to members who are interested in politics, but not captured by any special interest. Thank you. 

Deputy ALP chief Plibersek has appeared on Bolt Report. She was defending Bill Shorten's claims that Australian Aboriginals were given diseases deliberately by early settlers giving them infected blankets. And claims that watering holes used by Aboriginals were poisoned by settlers. It never happened. Shorten is lying outrageously. However, Plibersek claimed many historians supported Shorten. Which may be true, but it is unprofessional of historians to lie. Plibersek then made the amazing claim that renewable energy production, which is driving up energy prices, is making money for Australia, and not costing it. It explains ALP thinking on economic strategy. By making Australia broke, they give the most to future generations. 

I am reading a research article by Matthew C. MacWilliams , University of Massachusetts Amherst, a PhD student. The article was popular among #FakeNewsMedia. Matthew's abstract finishes with "Authoritarian-driven partisan polarization (Hetherington and Weiler 2009), increasing fear of real and imagined threats, and terrorist incidents abroad and at home provided the fuel for Trump’s campaign. And Trump’s message and manner ignited that fuel, propelling him to the Republican nomination for president." Matthew is not referring to Hillary supporters who performed purity tests similar to the ones used by Islamo-fascists. To be fair, HRC may have been behind Islamo-Fascism in some instances, and so there is no reason why her supporters couldn't also use those techniques. Many of so called Trump supporters committing atrocities seemed to evaporate after the election when they were investigated. But even today, journalists like Andrew Bolt put Trump on notice not to have more gaffs like the Flynn as security chief one. Except General Flynn's 'disgrace' was more related to being burned by Russia and nothing to do with Trump or Pence. Apparently, HRC's terror tactics fuelled Trump's campaign. And Trump capitalised on that. 
=== from 2016 ===
No more columns until I secure accommodation. 
=== from 2015 ===
It began with a whisper campaign against Credilin. She is part of Mr Abbott's office and that is nobody's business except Mr Abbott. She had brilliantly worked with Mr Abbott to keep the Libs disciplined in opposition. But the whispers overstated and undermined. The consistent message being reported to press over leaks about Credilin was that Mr Abbott was 'not listening, but only receiving a kind of line of policy ideas that Credilin wanted.' But Mr Abbott is not the weak or simple minded. Another non issue was the knighthood. The knighthood of Prince Philip was a reasonable call. But the opposition to it began with a tale to republican Turnbull's Monarchy views. And the press ran with it, again on an issue which is nobody's business considering what has been approved in the past. Words were thrown around claiming the appointment was un-Australian and an insult. 

It is interesting to see conservative commentators on the wrong side of the heckling. Akerman, Devine, Blair and Bolt have consistently played a line at odds with a stable Liberal administration, saying they had had leaks. The leaks were clearly orchestrated. Mr Abbott was sidelined by the campaign and he had no choice but to reset it by admitting to a fault that wasn't present but allowed the oppositional allies to remain in fold. The spill motion was not Ruddock's fault, but the size of back bench hostility was untenable and so, despite excellent service, Ruddock lost the whip's position. And it wasn't Ruddock's fault, but the fault of the monkey grinder influencing some dumb back benchers. We have heard what some of those back benchers have had to say on issues and they are not on top of them. They quote some of the concerns of some vested interests and the press loved to inflate the stories and quotes to trash the government. 

Following the spill, the government has moved to address the criticism, even though the criticism was misplaced. And some policies will be dumped so as to strengthen the campaign on others. But even so, Bolt got it wrong when he assumed his bigoted position that the knighthood was wrong was behind Mr Abbott's acceptance of criticism. Mr Bolt has never established that the appointment was wrong. It is just the campaign is strong against it. A campaign that was silent when Tendulkar was given an award by Gillard just a few years earlier. Tendulkar was worthy too. 

The thing with destabilising campaigns is they don't easily or suddenly stop. Channel 9 news, as well as the others, is still inflating the criticism and lampooning the attempts to right the ship of state. Which is why Mr Turnbull has to resign. Mr Akerman is claiming Mr Abbott has to work much harder to not let the excellent NSW Government founder in March. Akerman's aim is wrong. 
From 2014
There are many reasons to love and learn from history. But one doesn't learn from closing their mind to parts of it. To get the most, one needs to be open. On this day in 1925, Nome Alaska got a serum they needed for an epidemic of diphtheria. Diptheria is largely eradicated through vaccination in most developed nations. It is a highly contagious respiratory illness and is fatal between 5% and 10% of cases for fit people, but in children or those aged over 40, may be 20%. In 1925, Alaska had telephone contact with the world but were isolated and the best route was by dog sled. The lead dog in this instance was Balto, causing Balto to become more famous in 1925, through radio broadcasts of his progress, than Rin Tin Tin. Worth considering when some selfish anti vaccination advocate spreads their poison, or when some unvaccinated third world people choose to break laws and migrate at the expense of refugees. 

On this day in 1493, Christopher Columbus, on board Niña  wrote a letter about his discoveries in the New World. He had not sailed to India, where cargo of spice may have made him rich, but thanks to his letter, we have things like a potato, chocolate and corn. And the Americas got horses. And herpes. The resulting trade has not been fair, but an extraordinary blessing which has seen the world grow smaller and much, much richer. Anyone born on that day might have witnessed some terrible things. But all of them would be dead today. And anyone born today anywhere in the world will experience comfort and joys unimaginable to Christopher as he wrote his letter. Worth thinking about as some neo-Nazi socialist protectionist opposes free trade, freedom of the press (with the commensurate opposition to removing bias) and conservative, libertarian economic values.

Also born on this day, 1820, was Susan B Anthony. She opposed Slavery, supported Temperance of alcohol and votes for women. She was a criminal for voting for U.S. Grant for President. Nowadays, Democrats show more respect and use dead people to vote for whom they want elected, but back then, Susan was more honest .. and GOP. These days, we may wonder when it was that things changed, and progressive policy left conservative politics. In the US, the black vote is overwhelmingly Democrat. It comes back to a highly lauded huckster FDR who exploited white Democrat supporters who had used guns to remove aid from black peoples following a hurricane in Louisiana that Hoover had helped. FDR denounced Hoover for giving aid to black peoples and the southern white press lapped it up. The result was black institutions began backing Democrats for their political clout. During the Civil Rights years, JFK ordered a Democrat to let Black kids go to school. FDR was the Democrat exception and did nothing to change Democrat culture. 
Historical perspective on this day
In 590, Khosrau II was crowned king of Persia. 706, Byzantine emperor Justinian II had his predecessors Leontios and Tiberios III publicly executed in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. 1113, Pope Paschal II issued a bill sanctioning the establishment of the Order of Hospitallers. 1493, while on board the Niña, Christopher Columbus wrote an open letter (widely distributed upon his return to Portugal) describing his discoveries and the unexpected items he came across in the New World. 1637, Ferdinand III became Holy Roman Emperor. 1690, Constantin Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia and the Holy Roman Empire signed a secret treaty in Sibiu, stipulating that Moldavia would support the actions led by the House of Habsburg against the Ottoman Empire.

In 1764, the city of St. Louis, Missouri was established. 1798, the Roman Republic was proclaimed after Louis Alexandre Berthier, a general of Napoleon, had invaded the city of Romefive days earlier 1804, the Serbian revolution began. 1835, the first constitutional law in modern Serbia was adopted. 1862, American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant attacked Fort Donelson, Tennessee. 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology was founded and offered the first Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering. 1879, Women's rights: American PresidentRutherford B. Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. 1891, Allmänna Idrottsklubben (AIK) (Swedish Sports Club) was founded. 1898, the battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbour in Cuba, killing 274. This event led the United States to declare war on Spain.

In 1901, the association football club Alianza Lima was founded in Lima, Peru, under the name Sport Alianza. 1909, the Flores Theatre fire in Acapulco, Mexico killed 250. 1921, Kingdom of Romania established its legation in Helsinki. 1923, Greece became the last European country to adopt the Gregorian calendar. 1925, 1925 serum run to Nome: The serum arrived in Nome, Alaska, with Balto being the lead dog of the last team. 1933, in Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempted to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead shot Chicago mayor Anton J. Cermak, who died of his wounds on March 6, 1933.

In 1942, World War II: Fall of Singapore. Following an assault by Japanese forces, the BritishGeneral Arthur Percival surrenders. About 80,000 Indian, United Kingdom and Australiansoldiers become prisoners of war, the largest surrender of British-led military personnel in history. 1944, World War II: The assault on Monte Cassino, Italy, began. Also 1944, World War II: The Narva Offensive began. 1945, World War II: Third day of bombing in Dresden. 1946, ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, was formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. 1949, Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux began excavations at Cave 1 of the Qumran Caves, where they would eventually discover the first seven Dead Sea Scrolls. 1952, King George VI was buried in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. 1953, Parliamentary elections held in Liechtenstein. 1954, Canada and the United Statesagreed to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska.

In 1961, Sabena Flight 548 crashed in Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United Statesfigure skating team, several coaches and family members. 1965, a new red-and-white mapleleaf design was adopted as the flag of Canada, replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner. 1971, the decimalisation of British coinage was completed on Decimal Day. 1972, Sound recordings were granted U.S. federal copyright protection for the first time. Also 1972, José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, was overthrown by the military for the fourth time. 1976, the 1976 Constitution of Cuba was adopted by national referendum. 1979, Don Dunstan resigned as Premier of South Australia, ending a decade of sweeping social liberalisation. 1982, the drilling rig Ocean Ranger sank during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing 84 workers. 1989, Soviet war in Afghanistan: The Soviet Unionofficially announced that all of its troops had left Afghanistan.

In 1991, the Visegrád Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, was signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland. 1996, at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashed into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people. 1999, Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), was arrested in Kenya. 2000, Indian Point II nuclear power plant in New York vented a small amount of radioactive steam when a steam generator failed. 2001, First draft of the complete human genome was published in Nature. 2003, Protests against the Iraq war took place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between 8 million to 30 million people participated, making this the largest peace demonstration in history. 2013, a meteor explodes over Russia, injuring 1,500 people as a shock wave blew out windows and rocks buildings. This happened unexpectedly only hours before the expected closest ever approach of the larger and unrelated asteroid 2012 DA14. 2014, Renaud Lavillenie of France broke Sergey Bubka's world record in pole vault with a mark of 6.16 m.
=== 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 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 Leanne T. Also to those born on this day. Including
Wreckage of the USS Maine
Cuba is beautiful. It is exciting. It was written. Sweet as Maple. The resistance was right. Let's party. 
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Tim Blair 2018
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Andrew Bolt 2018
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Tim Blair

TILE STYLE RILES LABORPHILE

“Address this filth,” demands Labor politician Bec Cody, who is upset by tiles at the Sussex Inlet RSL Club.
15 Feb  44 comments

DAGMAR’S KITCHEN TABLE

No kitchen table on earth, not even Dagmar’s, deserves this kind of treatment.
15 Feb 
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Andrew Bolt

$380,000 compo for a consensual affair is too much

Jeff Kennett is right: Channel 7 paying $380,000 compensation to Amber Harrison seems hugely generous when her affair with her boss was consensual.
15 Feb
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PM Tony Abbott’s fumbles may see Premier Mike Baird drop his election

Piers Akerman – Sunday, February 15, 2015 (12:03am)

NSW Premier Mike Baird strikes a chord with the electorate but an almost irrational backlash against the federal Abbott government is destroying the harmonics. 
 Continue reading 'PM Tony Abbott’s fumbles may see Premier Mike Baird drop his election'
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Labor’s toxic legacy is a big enough challenge

Miranda Devine – Sunday, February 15, 2015 (12:00am)

Tony Abbott’s enemies are doing him a favour. All the hyperventilating over “holocaust” and gotcha moments have become so ludicrous that the pendulum of public sympathy will surely swing back in the Prime Minister’s favour. 
 Continue reading 'Labor’s toxic legacy is a big enough challenge'
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CENTURY OF SHRINKAGE

Tim Blair – Sunday, February 15, 2015 (7:31pm)

Teddy Roosevelt carried a big stick.
Barack Obama carries a selfie stick.
(Via Peter B.)
===

SEND IN THE CULTURED REASON SQUAD

Tim Blair – Sunday, February 15, 2015 (12:08pm)

Following the deadly overnight attack in Copenhagen, against speakers who were discussing art, blasphemy and the freedom of expression, there has now been a second Copenhagen shooting: 
Several people have been injured after shots were fired near a synagogue in Copenhagen, Danish police say.
One person was reportedly hit in the head, and two police officers had arm and leg injuries. The attacker is believed to have fled.
It is not clear whether the shooting is connected to an earlier attack on a cafe in the city. 
A reminder: terrorism is an irritant that can be cured with cultured reason.
UPDATE. The Guardian‘s report on the first Copenhagen attack is accompanied by an ad for the paper’s cowardly cartoonist, Andrew Marlton:

Things not available from Marlton’s one-stop surrender shop: a spine, testicles, and the ability to maintain trouser dryness for more than one continuous hour.
UPDATE II. Danish cultured reasonists respond: 
Police in Copenhagen have shot dead a man in connection with two shootings which claimed the lives of two civilians just hours apart.
Officers had an address in the Norrebro area of the Danish city under observation and hailed a man as he approached before he opened fire and was shot, police said. 

A Danish police officer armed with high-calibre cultured reason outside the targeted synagogue. 
They are investigating whether he was connected to the two earlier attacks in which a man died after being shot in the head near a synagogue and a gunman killed a 55-year-old man at a freedom-of-speech event. 
Referring to that attack, here’s Brendan O’Neill: “Today, it seems, it isn’t only the exercise of freedom of speech that can earn you summary punishment; so, too, can simply thinking about freedom of speech.”
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HOLOCAUST HYPOCRITES

Tim Blair – Sunday, February 15, 2015 (12:06am)

A short film about short memories:

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Denmark’s Hebdo: one dead in attack on free speech rally. UPDATE: Second attack

Andrew Bolt February 15 2015 (2:22pm)

The time is fast approaching when we must really decide a question we once complacently thought a bit melodramatic - is free speech worth defending to the death?
Shots rang out Saturday afternoon at a cafe in Copenhagen, killing one person and wounding three others, during a freedom of speech event hosted by controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, police and Danish officials said. The suspects fled ... 
The TV2 channel said there were some 30 bullet holes in the window of the cafe and at least two people were taken away on stretchers, including a uniformed police officer....
Vilks has faced numerous death threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad in 2007. A Pennsylvania woman last year got a 10-year prison term for a plot to kill Vilks. In 2010, two brothers tried to burn down his house in southern Sweden and were imprisoned for attempted arson. The event that the 68-year-old artist was hosting Saturday was called “Arts, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression,” according to his website. When the artist is in Denmark, he receives police protection.
UPDATE
Another attack, another death - but a suspect later killed:
DANISH police have shot dead a man near a train station, hours after two people were killed and six wounded in twin shootings in Copenhagen. 
The man was killed after he opened fire on police, at the climax of a huge manhunt through the capital, which followed the shootings at a freedom of speech event and outside a synagogue.
“The police have fired shots at Noerrebro Station. One person is hit,” Copenhagen police wrote on Twitter. Police later confirmed the man had died.
The first attack came on Saturday afternoon local time when a gunman sprayed bullets at the Krudttonden cultural centre as it hosted a seminar in which controversial Swedish artist Lars Vilks was among the speakers. Hours later, a man was shot in the head and killed near Copenhagen’s main synagogue in the city centre. Two policemen were also wounded in the shooting at around 1:00am local time on Sunday morning (11am AEDT), police said.
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Never mind the drowned boat people. Would have died anyway

Andrew Bolt February 15 2015 (10:02am)

Astonishing:
Let’s try that argument out in various permutations.
As in:
The 1200 people lured by Labor to their deaths? So what. Would have died anyway. Or been forced to live in some living hell like France.
The Sri Lankans who drowned trying to get here? Don’t fuss. Would have all been shot back home for certain.
The Pakistanis who drowned? The Bangladeshis? Faced instant death at home. No surer thing.
The Iranians with their designer T-shirts who never made it? Don’t sweat it.  Hey, aren’t their kind being executed every day back home?
Now think this thing through.
Is Van Onselen seriously arguing that every person on the boats is a genuine refugee whose choice is to live here or face certain death at home?
Or is Van Onselen saying that because asylum seekers could go to, say, Europe instead, that we should take them all without question?
Hmm. It think we can add this tweet to Sarah Hanson-Young’s shrug of the shoulders: ”Tragedies happen, accidents happen.”
Or to sum up: don’t tell me a truth I can’t deal with.
(Thanks to reader NM and many others.) 
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The Bolt Report today, February 15

Andrew Bolt February 15 2015 (6:00am)

The Bolt Report is back - on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
Editorial: He’s not finished yet…
My guest: Tony Abbott.
The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa.
Plus: who is minding our gates? 
===

Abbott loyal, not always to a fault

Andrew Bolt February 15 2015 (5:07am)

Sam Maiden:
The sacking of chief whip Philip Ruddock ... is being exploited by destabilisers. But in truth, Ruddock’s heart was never in the job. He accepted it as a consolation prize after the election. There were talks for some time over Abbott offering him another job and whatever transpired on Friday it is clear those talks have broken down. He was sacked. The real reasons will emerge… 
Can the Prime Minister save himself by offering a human sacrifice? Credlin’s head on a stick in the town square? Or the Treasurer’s?
Let’s ask one of the Prime Minister’s most trusted lieutenants. “Abbott is not the sort of person who throws people under the bus. Part of being an effective leader is not throwing people under the bus,’’ he says."You can’t throw your Treasurer overboard. It won’t happen. They will succeed or fail together.’’
“They” includes Credlin by the way… Hockey is wounded and it shows. He has failed to sell the budget. But it is the Prime Minister and his chief of staff’s budget too.
Consider the leaks. The Prime Minister defied the Treasurer and Health Minister Peter Dutton on the $20 cut to the Medicare rebate. Today, we report that he ignored the concerns of the Social Services minister Kevin Andrews that a six month waiting period before school leavers got the dole was too harsh.
Credlin has been a huge flashpoint. But it for now, it appears that the Prime Minister has decided he needs her now more than ever.
“There can be no government without her. She is the government,’’ explains a Liberal MP bitterly. In the minds of Coalition MPs she remains the nation’s first, female, Liberal Prime Minister — unelected, mind you — that we never knew we had.
I’ve long argued that Abbott does not necessarily have to get rid of Peta Credlin at all. What he needs are more Credlins - more loyal sources of advice. In contemplating such things, he might well reflect that whatever worked to get him elected PM, it also got him nearly kicked out last Monday.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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===
David Bowles
Your daily Nahuatl on this Valentine's Eve:
tlazohtli, tlazohtzintli, tlazohtlalōni 
"Beloved, lovable, worthy of love." 
Used by Aztec men to describe classy women.
===

Sorry Ed, there is more .. but in saying 'no' at times, frowning a bit, your loved ones know they are important to you .. ed
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Palmer pursued

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (12:02pm)

How much financial strife is MP Clive Palmer in?
MINING magnate Clive Palmer is being pursued for $8.4 million for flouting the law on carbon emissions after failing to pay the Clean Energy Regulator carbon tax since it became law… 
Mr Palmer’s nickel refinery was hit with a further carbon charge of $2.3m yesterday after he failed to pay a $6.1m charge the federal regulator imposed last June.
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No boats but no sorries

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (8:18am)

No boats for eight weeks, and no sorries from those who misled us.
Chris Kenny:
After Labor relaxed the regime, 820 boats arrived carrying 51,870 asylum-seekers and more than 1200 others (that we know of) drowned at sea…

“You know that Tony Abbott’s policy of turning the boats back won’t work,” said soon-to-be immigration minister Chris Bowen before the 2010 election.

Then prime minister Julia Gillard said: “In his own policy document (Tony Abbott) says that the so-called turnaround of boats would only happen, and I quote - ‘where circumstances permit’ - this is an admission that it won’t work.”

Said then defence minister Stephen Smith: “Seven boats were turned back under John Howard and everyone knows it’s not a practical way forward. They are trying to pretend and trick the Australian public into believing that there is a magical solution to these very difficult problems caused by enormous conflict in countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.”

Said Bowen in 2012: “All the advice to us, all the evidence to us from navy and other government agencies, is that it’s completely impractical to turn boats around. Indonesia has said very clearly and repeatedly that they will not accept boat turnarounds, they just won’t co-operate with it and so the big problem with Tony Abbott’s plan is it just doesn’t work.”

Former Labor adviser John Menadue picked up the theme on the ABC’s The Drum website: “It is clear to most people who look beyond the one-liners that Nauru, turning the boats back and temporary protection visas are not viable policies.”

In The Age, Michelle Grattan wrote about the clear dangers. “Asking Australian sailors to risk their own lives and the lives of others in this way does not have to be part of a tough border-protection policy,” she wrote, “and, on the evidence that we have, should not be.”

Then attorney-general Nicola Roxon said that it was “fraught” legally. “We have the operational staff saying they couldn’t do it,” she said in 2012. “I really do think that this is a serious problem.”

When Tony Burke took immigration, he derided Abbott’s “slogans” about boat turn-backs. “By the time we came to government, we recognised it wasn’t able to be done,” he told the ABC last year…

Another minister, Brendan O’Connor, refused to consider turn-backs. “The ‘turn back the boats’ policy is an element of the ‘stop the boats’ fraud,” he told parliament in early 2012. “Their ‘turn back the boats’ policy does not exist except in the minds of those opposite.”

Even after losing government, Bill Shorten held the line. In November, he said the Coalition was “in trouble” with its boats policy. “They said before the election they would turn back the boats,” he told the ABC. “Now we are seeing that not only are they not turning back the boats, but they are hiding behind Australia’s military when they do press conferences, they’re not answering questions about what is really happening."…
More of those nay-sayers from an ABC piece last year quoting only people predicting failure:
Dr Khalid Koser, from Switzerland’s Geneva Centre for Security Policy, says. “I think we have to recognise boat arrivals will continue at some number,”

Author Robin De Crespigny, “If you want to stop people smuggling you’ve got to stop the thing that causes people to flee their country,” she says. “They’ll keep running if they continue to be persecuted.”

Caz Coleman from the Minister’s Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention says Australia will have to make some difficult decisions in the next few years. “I think we do need to think seriously about whether we need to accept there will be a higher rate of arrivals into Australia,”
(Thanks to readers James and Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Hockey speaks for the Abduls watching the big guys holding out their hand

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (7:40am)

Treasurer Joe Hockey, of Palestinian background, keeps it very real in explaining why he won’t give handouts to big, rich car makers and canneries:
Abdul the kebab maker in Parramatta mall, to quote [former Liberal MP] Ross Cameron, is not asking for a new oven… We want to encourage enterprise, not entitlement.
The ABC’s business editor, the excellent Peter Ryan, visits Abdul the kebab maker in Surry Hills:
PETER RYAN: ... So ... would [you] consider seeking government help if [your] business ever got into strife?… 
ABDUL GHAZEL: Well, I don’t think so. I don’t think so they’ll give me anything. You know they just say go and get it yourself! ... Yeah, .... they’re not going to help me with the fridge or with the freezer or with the kebab machines or with the griller. You know you have to pay your own, you have to buy your own.
PETER RYAN: How do you think you stand? You’re a small business and you have a lot of loyal clients, but where do you think you rank in the Government’s eyes compared to Qantas or SPC Ardmona?
ABDUL GHAZEL: Very, very small. They can’t see anyway. They can’t see me…
PETER RYAN: You run a late night business, you’re open on weekends. Mr Hockey is looking at the whole area of entitlements and that would include penalty rates and overtime. How do those factors affect a business like yours? ABDUL GHAZEL: It put a lot of pressure. Sometimes, you know, you’re not busy so you have to pay from the pocket and you can’t tell the workers, “Go, I don’t have any work”.
Well done to not just Hockey but to Ryan, giving a voice to those who usually watch on, unnoticed and unconsulted, as the connected help themselves to the public’s cash.
(Thanks to reader Anthony.) 
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Why rape suspects should be identified even if they are refugees

Andrew Bolt February 15 2014 (6:10am)

Siv Parker in The Guardian would rather police didn’t describe the alleged pack rapists they were asking the public to help catch:
But can we make our society safer without demonising people of colour? The alleged gang rape of a a 14-year-old girl in a western Sydney suburb has been almost entirely framed in terms of race. The girl has been described as being of Pacific Islander descent, while her attackers were “men of African appearance”. One of them, a 16-year-old, was arrested and charged yesterday. 
Assuming that no-one talking about someone of African appearance is talking about a white person from Africa, what was the effective call to action here, other than “keep an eye out for black men”? And what was the subliminal message, other than “black men are dangerous”?
Parker should, by that reasoning, also worry that men were being singled out. Were police sending the subliminal message,that “men are dangerous”?
For the issuing of a physical description of an alleged perpetrator to be helpful, it must be accurate and detailed.
Dear Ms Parker: police were asking for help from anyone who might have seen or known of the alleged rapists and were giving an accurate detail that helpfully excluded 99 per cent of the population. Get it?
Otherwise, the very real consequence is the feeding of stereotypes that themselves damage our society… As I write, media reports about the suspected attacker include statements such as “Court papers show the teen’s country of birth as Sudan”. One assumes the writer attaches some significance or relevance to this fact. But because it is unspoken, we are left unhelpfully to connect the dots.
The dots have actually been often excluded or rubbed out by police, politicians and press. The fact is that refugee groups from Africa have a high rate of arrest and imprisonment. This is not a “stereotype” but a statistical fact. What damages our society - and some unfortunate victims of crime - is that we have refused to properly discuss the wisdom of bringing in groups which would struggle, on average, to fit in. Now we read of long-standing tensions between the two ethnic groups involved in this latest alleged crime. I don’t think this is healthy.
Parker wishes such things not be revealed and discussed. I disagree. I suspect Parker is actually protecting her politics rather than people. 
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“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”” - John 13:34-35
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

February 14: Morning
"And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life." - 2 Kings 25:30
Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case is ours, we have a sure portion, a portion given us of the king, a gracious portion, and a perpetual portion. Here is surely ground for thankfulness.

Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace you need a daily supply. You have no store of strength. Day by day must you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that a daily portion is provided for you. In the word, through the ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God you shall receive renewed strength. In Jesus all needful things are laid up for you. Then enjoy your continual allowance. Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy.
Evening
"She was healed immediately." - Luke 8:47
One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour's miracles is before us tonight. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without his knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the generosity of Jesus' character, or she would not have gone behind to steal the cure which he was so ready to bestow. Misery should always place itself right in the face of mercy. Had she known the love of Jesus' heart, she would have said, "I have but to put myself where he can see me--his omniscience will teach him my case, and his love at once will work my cure." We admire her faith, but we marvel at her ignorance. After she had obtained the cure, she rejoiced with trembling: glad was she that the divine virtue had wrought a marvel in her; but she feared lest Christ should retract the blessing, and put a negative upon the grant of his grace: little did she comprehend the fulness of his love! We have not so clear a view of him as we could wish; we know not the heights and depths of his love; but we know of a surety that he is too good to withdraw from a trembling soul the gift which it has been able to obtain. But here is the marvel of it: little as was her knowledge, her faith, because it was real faith, saved her, and saved her at once. There was no tedious delay--faith's miracle was instantaneous. If we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, salvation is our present and eternal possession. If in the list of the Lord's children we are written as the feeblest of the family, yet, being heirs through faith, no power, human or devilish, can eject us from salvation. If we dare not lean our heads upon his bosom with John, yet if we can venture in the press behind him, and touch the hem of his garment, we are made whole. Courage, timid one! thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God."
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Apphia
Scripture Reference: Philemon 1:2
Name Meaning: That which is fruitful
This believer, belonging to Colossae, the ancient Phrygian city now a part of Turkey, is spoken of as our "dearly beloved" and "our sister" (rv, margin). It is likely that she lived out the significance of her name by being a fruitful branch of the Vine. Apphia is believed to have been the wife of Philemon and either the mother or sister of Archippus who was evidently a close member of the family. She must have been closely associated with Philemon, otherwise she would not have been mentioned in connection with a domestic matter (Philemon 1:2 ). Tradition has it that Philemon, Apphia, Archippus and Onesimus were stoned to death during the reign of Nero. It was Onesimus who went to Colossae with a message for the Philemon household.
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Abiel 
[Ăbī'el] - father of strength.
1. Son of Zeror and father of Ner and of Kish and grandfather of Saul, Israel's first king (1 Sam. 9:1; 14:51).
2. One of David's heroes from Beth-arabah (1 Chron. 11:32). Called Abi-albon in 2 Sam. 23:31.
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Today's reading: Leviticus 15-16, Matthew 27:1-26 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Leviticus 15-16

The Day of Atonement
1 The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the LORD. 2 The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover....

Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 27:1-26

Judas Hangs Himself
1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. 2 So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood."
"What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility...."

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