Wednesday, September 05, 2018

Wed Sep 5th todays News

Scott Morrison deserves a chance as PM. Julie Bishop is keen to preserve her legacy of incompetence. Morrison has data showing his work at treasury was effective while Julie Bishop was tossing away money to keep Turnbull in office. Now Bishop is sad that there are not more women in parliament. Maybe if she had focused on competence, and not gender, she would have done better? For Australia to grow on her GDP 3.4% Morrison will need to maintain reform of the economy, ditching the AGW hysteria waste. The truth is Australia's growth is directly related to Trump's tax cuts. For Australia to maintain that growth, she will need to cut company tax as aggressively. 

Matthew Guy looks like the next Premier of Victoria and Dan Andrews is increasingly desperate. Andrews has released eighty thousand documents related to the time Matthew Guy was planning minister. The point of the exercise was to smear Guy over the issue of Ventnor, where Guy approved a $3.5 million payout to avoid higher claims. So, by releasing the documents, Andrews hopes someone finds an inconsistency somewhere before the election, or that they get bored of looking, but assume something happened. Instead, a female lawyer has had her personal details made public. The lawyer is looking at suing the irresponsible Premier, who echoes Carmen Lawrence over Penny Easton. It is not known if Andrews is in any way connected with the lawyer yet. For Dan, hatred and disagreement seem similar creatures. Maybe Dan needs a good man's shed? 

 Nike have messed up backing Colin Kaepernick. CK has sacrificed nothing, maintaining sponsorship while hurting brand NFL. 

 Bob Woodward's book on Trump has parallels with Watergate. With Watergate, Mark Felt leaked selectively to bring down Nixon. With Trump, Comey has leaked selectively. The FBI is corrupt from the top down. Too many swamp creatures in charge. One swamp creature is former President Obama. President Bush did not campaign against Obama to allow Obama a chance to set an agenda. Obama is not that courteous. The Democrats are acting hysterical now to gain support for the mid terms. I pray it does not work. 
From my article on Quora
Why isn't there public government concern with progress of Mathematics?
There are many national and international measures of Mathematic attainment at all educational institutions. Math is important and prestige is attributed to success at things like the Math Olympiad and various competitions worldwide, and nationally in all nations. I don’t know who is telling you otherwise.

Consider the International Baccalaureate, NAPLAN, The Australian Mathematics Competition, Math Competitions world wide, the NSW HSC, The Victorian VCE etc etc. All have Math as a key learning area or primary pursuit.

Famously, criticism of Ronald Reagan after bad measurement led to a multi billion dollar expenditure on Math and Science in the US. What had been observed was that standards had fallen throughout the seventies, and the finger was pointed at President Reagan. So Reagan got the best advice available and spent big on Physics laboratories in high schools and developing a rigorous math curriculum. However, the fascinating discovery was made (remember, rates don’t add) after the money was spent that although standards had fallen, every single sub category of ethnic and racial classification had registered improvement, including ‘other.’

The reason for the discovery is simple, rates don’t add. The categories were things like Asian ethnic, White American/European, Native American, Hispanic, African and Other. People don’t always fit such demarcations, but regardless, there is a pecking order with Asian and Whites achieving well and I’ll give hypothetical averages to illustrate. Asians increase from 79 to 82, Whites increase from 76 to 80, Native American from 60 to 65, Hispanic from 58 to 62, African from 55 to 62 and other from 65 to 75. The over all average may have fallen from 75 to 70. The reason for the fall was the change of demographics with fewer whites being represented, lowering the over all average.
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A daily column on what the ALP have as a policy, supported by a local member, and how it has 'helped' the local community. I'll stop if I cannot identify a policy. Feel free to make suggestions. Contact me on FB, not twitter. I have twitter, but never look at it.

Gabrielle Williams was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers, working with the Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing and the Minister for Families and Children. Williams was given those titles when elected in 2014. It is difficult to find what value she has been to Dandenong, but clearly the ALP see her as the future. It is said,  "in a world where the only tool is a hammer, everything resembles a nail." The ALP views on gender are humorous until one sees how their administration deals with them. A million dollars a year is being spent on "Men's Sheds" or safe spaces for men. Williams is proud to announce $60k is being spent on such a place in Rowville. I won't go there, I like to talk to women and men and I tire of monocultures ALP promote. Men are suffering from a number of awful social policies inflicted on them from the ALP and related hangers on. From school achievement to incarceration, men and boys are increasingly disengaged with society. Would a shed address your needs, or the needs of a significant man in your life? Or would they rather have a full time job? 

As part of the November 24th Vic election campaign I have a petition I want to bring before the Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. I believe Matthew will be the next premier of Victoria and so I am petitioning him as I raise the issues of Employment, Crime and Education in Dandenong. I am also seeking money for my campaign. I don't have party resources, and so my campaign is on foot, and on the internet. Any money I receive that is not spent on the campaign will go to Grow 4 Life. I am asking questions like "What do you love about Dandenong?" and "If you could change something in Dandenong to make it better, what would it be?" I'm not limiting the questions to state issues. I'm happy to discuss anything, and get things done.
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 A Daisy 4 Her

4 her I love her. I have not yet learned how to serve her, to be her friend, as I desire to be. But I'm learning, praying, searching. Maybe it isn't what God wants for me. But He has given me this image. The song is a Jud Strunk number, written in 1973. It is my singing, acoustics and recording. Not professional, but sincere. The moving images are licensed through Videoblocks.com. The recording issues are related to my lack of talent and lack of carpet in the concrete shell that is my unit after the sewage leak. === I was raised as an Atheist. I learned, after reading the Bible, that God loves me, and you. This is his song for you too. He loves you, and wants to be with you. All the elements are me and mine. ARIA ISRC number AUAWN1310123


=== from 2017 ===
Some things should not happen, but they do. Left wing racists and bigots grandstand to their adoring press fans. Michael Moore, a documentary film maker, says he looks forward to white people becoming a minority by 2050. Tim Anderson, an academic from Australia, identifies with NK and denounces aggression from the US towards NK. Anderson is paid a salary of $130k a year to be unhinged? Those poor students he supervises, what must they think at the end of one of his courses? How does a reasonable person feel after seeing a Michael Moore film? Academia is not supposed to be without virtue. Documentaries are supposed to inform. 

A tram exploded in the middle of Melbourne. Allegedly there are no injuries. Traffic has been diverted for hours. Apparently, power cables collapsed onto a transformer. Kind of routine for Dan Andrews ALP government is chaos. 

A Melbourne Catholic school has opposed same sex marriage at plebiscite, and radical Yes activists (Not Steve Howe, Jon Anderson or Rick Wakeman) demand the school not approve bullying. The activists are trying to bully the school. 




=== from 2016 === 
A picture of school playground equipment from 1900 is telling. There are numerous polls, bars, swings, ladders, a bike. Lots of children very high up in the air. They are having fun. Sliding down a poll, when you master it, is liberating for a child. The equipment was still available in the early seventies, but the Alynski movement had spawned personal injury lawyers and now OHS forbids such structures. Because what if a child falls and dies? It is not inconsequential and accidents happen. Children lack cool judgement. But then so do adults. Driving cars is dangerous too. Often only a few metres separates smooth traffic from a head on collision. What if a jihadi were to exploit that? But a child develops through play, and those structures taught magnificent lessons. As a child, I was too intimidated to go near such a thing, I was used to betrayal from an older sibling and I knew never to give them a chance. But it saddens me that children cannot play on such things anymore. What has socialism done for anyone in the world since 1900? We will never know who might have died. But we know that no child gets to play on such things. 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.  
=== from 2015 ===
NSW Police from Camden, South West of Sydney, issue a bulletin reporting they are searching for a man. They include details as to why they are searching. And it is apparent there is no legal reason as to why they might be looking for him. They reported no transgressions. The man they described has approached a 12 yo girl and asked for directions. The girl reported he left and hadn't followed her. A woman approached her and asked if things were ok and contacted the police. If the child was not supposed to talk to men, she should have worn her burqa. Meanwhile, rumour has it that Dan Andrews heard about the story and thought it might refer to VicPol. Noting that there were many women in VicPoll, Andrews is said to have gushed that "No VicPol was looking for any man anywhere." Their union is that strong.

Meanwhile, #Abbottphobia has many hating Mr Abbott for things he never said or did. But the liars that promote the false memes are often senior journalists. From Riley's "Shit Happens" through to towing boats back to Syria, hating Mr Abbott is cool. It is no way to debate. If the Abbott haters truly believed what they said, they would not need to lie to argue it.    
From 2014
Radical extremist population limiting converts have apparently decapitated a woman in London. The alleged perpetrator had converted to Islam last year, according to neighbours, but there is insufficient evidence to link the incident with radical Islam. The woman was aged 82. She had outlived Joan Rivers. Rivers had a blessed life and it is ok to die old and blessed. One feels that 82 year old Palmira Silva would have lasted a lot longer had she not lost her head. Worldwide there is debate regarding poor people migrating to Western nations. Terrorism makes the cost of such migration much larger. Not solely in terms of money, but basic freedoms, which many in the West had taken for granted, have been lost since 9/11. And when discussion is had suggesting those freedoms be restored, something happens, like an explosion in an upend university area in Sydney, Rozelle, where three people, a young man, a young mother and her baby have all been killed in an unexplained explosion at a shop owned by a new migrant. And in some cases the well meaning but unenlightened Hollywood style analysis of the situation seems to promote the situation for some. Why are young people radicalised? The radicalised are not poor by third world standards. They like things such as swimming, pornography, smoking, eating fast food, sadomasochistic sex, guns and knives. Many are cross dressers and engage in bestiality. It is hard to see what the appeal is, except that they are fed excuses, which align with politics. Jimmy Carter declares the West needs to embrace the principles of Allah, suggesting fair, secular administration is not enough. One impressive result is surrounding states buying gas from Israel because terrorists have made other supplies unprofitable and irregular. There is a cost in intervening in Iraq, but the cost of not intervening is higher, as Obama showed last year in Syria. 

A mother is very upset her daughter was shamed for wearing a skirt that was too short. The parent is right, it is an over reach by the school to get the child to wear a specially marked t shirt and slacks. However, the school community has left the school with little choice. There is no school uniform, only a dress code. Clearly the designated clothing is a compromise. If the mum were really concerned, she would provide the school with appropriate alternatives. Better yet, she would provide her daughter with those alternatives.   But such demarcation disputes are rife in society. The ACTU are campaigning to cut wages in favour of superannuation for workers. Thing is, ACTU has control and gets fees and kickbacks from superannuation agencies, while they exploit workers regardless of their pay. The unreality of the situation is mirrored in AGW belief despite all evidence. There is substantially more carbon dioxide now than nineteen years ago, consistently building up, but no heating over that nineteen years. AGW hysteric scientists seem to have reworked data in the labs because of computer models, not because of observation. 

MH370 is playing a sad game of Marco Polo. She did not reply to "fish out of water." Federal senator from the DLP has left the DLP. The DLP are historically ALP aligned on workers rights, but with a strong social conservative base. Senator Madigan has hired on an extremist left wing chief of staff while ducking social conservative issues. The sad truth is that one cannot vote for an independent conservative and expect them to vote that way. Only a vote for LNP will elect a member of parliament that represents conservatives.
From 2013
Obama has a two pronged plan to dither over Syria. He is going to Moscow to ask permission for a pointless bombing. Also, he is asking Congress for permission to do something. He isn't planning on hitting a production facility. He won't hit an Iranian reactor. He might hit a civilian or many civilians. He points to murdered Syrian children, but doesn't take a cue from family planning in the US. Obama won't take responsibility for declaring there was a red line. Humorously "That is not my red line, others drew that red line."

There is such thing as hope. Not from a dull watch which probably won't do anything well, but hope on the technology front of a possible cure for Downs Syndrome. 
Meanwhile in Australia, the election is due on Saturday. All the polls point to a change of government. Rudd skipped the G20 junket. He is serious about losing this election. In fantasy land, he booted loyal followers from 'Muppett's Corner" in his own electorate. He claims the $40 billion cuts of the LNP won't be responsible or costed. However, the ALP has not costed all its own policies. Further, the LNP had given substantial detail to most for weeks. Still, the ALP attempted a scare campaign which failed when senior public servants corrected Rudd. Still, Rudd is addicted to lies. He falsely claims Murdoch owns 70% of newspapers. He falsely claims the LNP planned $70 billion of cuts. He falsely claims to have responsibly negotiated the GFC. His claims are fact checked, but Rudd parades them at will to any audience. 

Rudd claims to be a Christian, and often has himself photographed at a church. Abbott doesn't brag being Christian, but he is, and he acts compassionately and his wisdom seems informed by the Bible. Meanwhile Rudd  makes up detail about the Bible .. from claiming it endorses slavery to using it to claim Christians should love the world. He is close. Christians do love the world. Sadly.
Historical perspective on this day
917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu.
1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris.
1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIVSuperintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers.
1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul's Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
1697 – War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay.
1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.

1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.
1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.
1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.
1798 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law.

1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.
1816 – Louis XVIII has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber").
1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1839 – The United Kingdom declares war on the Qing dynasty of China.
1840 – Premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala of Milan.

1862 – American Civil War: The Potomac River is crossed at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign.
1877 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayonetedby a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
1882 – Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League football club from North London, is founded (as Hotspur F.C.).
1887 – A fire at the Theatre Royal, Exeter, kills 186.

1905 – Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, United States, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war.
1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).
1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.
1915 – The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins.
1918 – The original publication of the Cheka decree, "On Red Terror".

1921 – Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle party in San Francisco ends with the death of the young actress Virginia Rappe: One of the first scandals of the Hollywood community.
1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.
1932 – The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege.
1938 – Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are executed after surrendering during a failed coup.

1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
1942 – World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.
1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae in the Salamaua–Lae campaign.
1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.
1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.

1948 – In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister; as such, he is the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II.
1957 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos.
1960 – Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal.
1960 – Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.

1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Divisioninitiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.
1970 – Jochen Rindt becomes the only driver to posthumously win the Formula OneWorld Drivers' Championship (in 1970), after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
1972 – Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day.
1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.

1980 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenento Airolo.
1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.

1990 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians.
1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.
1996 – Hurricane Fran makes landfall near Cape Fear, North Carolina as a Category 3storm with 115 mph sustained winds. Fran caused over $3 billion in damage and killed 27 people.
2012 – An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.
=== 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 Marinel Pretzles and John Leal. Born on the same day, across the years, as Abū Ḥanīfa (699), Johann Christian Bach (1735), Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791), Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817), John Wisden (1826), Jack Daniel (1846), Jesse James (1847), Arthur Nielsen (1897), Archie Jackson (1909), Freddie Mercury (1946), Michael Keaton (1951) and Helena Barlow (1998). On your day, Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) (2013, 5774 AM); Teachers' Day in India
917 – Liu Yan declared himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu (present-day Guangzhou).
1781 – American Revolutionary War: French naval forces handed Britain a major strategic defeat in the Battle of the Chesapeake.
1793 – French Revolution: The National Convention began the Reign of Terror, a ten-month period of systematic repression and mass executions by guillotine of perceived enemies within the country.
1927 – Walt Disney's and Ub Iwerks' first popular character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit made its debut in the animated cartoon Trolley Troubles.
1975 – Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a devotee of Charles Manson, attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford. The emperor is declared. Chesapeake went to water. The guillotine is cutting through. Walt's lucky rabbit debuted. Squeaky ain't so clean. Enjoy your day.
Hatches
Matches
Despatches
===
Tim Blair

===

Scenes from the invasion of Europe

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (3:06pm)

The prospects of peaceful assimilation?
Note also how many are single men. Of course, they will later want wives, mostly from their own community.
The price of Europe’s compassion must be measured before rash decisions are made.
(Thanks to reader Nick.)
UPDATE
Is reader James missing something?
===

How the media Left is corrupted by Twitter

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (10:32am)

Media

The ABC and Fairfax papers have become infected with the Twitter virus, that not only distorts their coverage but makes it more barbarous:
Peter Fray:
Fairfax Media and the ABC..., knowingly or otherwise, reverse published hyperbole from Twitter to ramp up the drama and import of the [Australian Border Force’s] plans, thus turning a poorly conceived operation and a clumsily worded press release into a full-blown crisis for the Abbott government… 
Fair comment: it was inept. But did it deserve such extensive coverage and where was the proof of the federal government’s nefarious hand that The Age floated in both pieces of analysis, the editorial and by running a picture of Abbott?
Such a tsunami of coverage and comment was the tenor of Twitter, which in the heat of the Friday storm was awash with references to Nazis and jackboots.
Research for The Weekend Australian by leading media ‘‘engagement analysts’’ Significance Systems showed the narrative of the story was largely in the hands of four sites: The Age, the Socialist Party of Australia, the Guardian and the nurses union. They drove more public engagement than all other media combined.
But in cold print the following day the anti-Abbott Twitter and internet ‘‘vibe’’ proved it had a long tail… The minister’s protestations and Abbott’s ignorance of the matter were insufficient, no matter what: not only did The Age go to town, but The Sydney Morning Herald’s ... Peter Hartcher used the first paragraph of his Saturday column to claim Abbott had launched the operation as a “transparent effort to look tough” to counter poor poll ratings…
But, as a Monday correction made clear, the piece was wrong: the Herald “unreservedly” accepted the PM had no knowledge of the ABF’s plan and apologised [sic*]…
But it is undeniable that while the story was made for Twitter, attracting close to 200,000 tweets, it did not physically move the public. Between 200 and 300 people turned up to a planned protest on Flinders Street. 
In fact, as reader Peter of Bellevue Hill notes:
Fairfax didn’t in fact have the decency to apologise in its correction:
CORRECTION: This column incorrectly asserts that the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, was involved in the decision to launch a planned Border Force operation in Melbourne. Fairfax Media accepts unreservedly that Mr Abbott was not involved in this decision, and also accepts that Mr Abbott had no foreknowledge of the Border Force plan to stop and speak to people about their visa status.
John Lyons:
[T]he Australian Border Force ... announced in a press release ...  “ABF officers will be positioned at various locations around the CBD speaking with any individual we cross paths with."… 
During the next five hours, something occurred that typifies the new media world: while central Melbourne was relatively quiet, Twitter went into a frenzy: as many as 200,000 tweets were fired in all directions.
Overwhelmingly, in the world of Twitter, the blame was sheeted home to Tony Abbott who, it seems, was completely unaware of any such operation as he toured Cape York…
The ABF episode was an example of a story where there was more action at computer terminals than there was on the ground at Flinders Street — 200 to 300 protesters commanded widespread coverage.
It illustrated how Twitter is having an impact on traditional news outlets: the ABC led its Friday evening bulletin with the story and The Age led its Saturday paper with it, something it might not have done before Twitter.
For The Age website, controversial Sydney barrister Charles Waterstreet wrote ... Operation Fortitude ... was to be “the perfect storm for perfect storm troopers” and would include a collection of “hitmen,” “bouncers”, “enforcers”, and “heavies” in “an almighty once-in-a-lifetime final crackdown on anti-social behaviour to outstanding warrants”.
In case readers were not already scared, Waterstreet wrote: “This all-streets sweep is the stuff Mussolini could only dream of.”
On top of this, Saturday’s Age carried articles headlined “Border Force plan surely a crafty feint” and “A bad case of uniformed insanity”.
But given that only an estimated 12 per cent to 17 per cent of Australians use Twitter, it’s possible that many Victorians would have been stunned when they saw the paper on Saturday morning with a headline that warned: “Abbott’s border force coming to a street near you"…
The incident put the spotlight on what can happen when social media such as Twitter runs alongside traditional media.
Even though the ABF took to Twitter to insist that the concerns of the demonstrators were unfounded — “The ABF does not and will not stop people at random in the streets” — the Twitter genie was out of the bottle… But the problem that was evident this week — and is clearly here to stay — is that Twitter has no filters. Effectively, thousands of people acted as journalists, reporting and “re-tweeting” information that often was wrong.
No, but yes:
Bruns, from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre, ... rejects the commonly stated claim that Twitter is skewed to the young and the Left. 
Instead, his research identifies several key clusters of Twitter users. These included people from politics, media, business, information technology, public relations, advertising, human resources, real estate, sport, food and wine groups, and travel…
Separately, the Sensis report found that the 30 to 39-year-old bracket had the highest Twitter uptake, at 28 per cent.
So, yes, younger, and what is the dominant politics of the media/PR/advertsing and political class?
To check, type “Tony Abbott” into the Twitter search field and see what you get - a sewer of abuse.
Now, for contrast, type in the name of the Greens leader and count the moonbeams and palm leaves. 
===

Abbott and the art of attack. Not this defence

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (10:21am)

Michelle Grattan writes some absolute tosh:
Fight is what Abbott does best – but this penchant for pugilism is his great weakness as well as a strength. 
The prime minister, who won power two years ago on Monday, is most at home in combat, whether on the domestic campaign trail or escalating Australia’s commitment to a battle abroad.
A Liberal parliamentarian, highly critical of Abbott, describes his current approach to government as “doing what comes naturally – he’s trying to be a warrior. He’s relying on a small circle of advice; he’s going back to areas he’s comfortable with.” The great failure of Abbott’s leadership is that he had not been able to transcend his innate instinct for conflict. He leads a divisive government, which has become an authoritarian one. 
“Divisive” is the weasel word journalists use when someone opposes their preferred policies. Why doesn’t Grattan say it’s actually Labor that’s “divisive” for its racist opposition to the China free trade deal, its refusal to pass critical savings measures in the Senate, its vilification of royal commissioner Dyson Heydon, its abuse of Tony Abbott, its demonisation of opponents of same-sex marriage, its pandering to the most radical unions?
And to claim Abbott is a pugilist is to fall for one of the laziest stereotypes of the Left. It is also to completely misread Abbott’s problem.
Abbott’s problem isn’t that he picks fights and hits out wildly. What of his crusade for bipartisanship on indigenous recognition? His refusal to fight for free speech? His refusal to take on the unions in workplace reform? His refusal to go to the mat on spending cuts?
No, Chris Kenny is correct. The truth is the exact opposite - that there’s too much defence, not offence:
The government needs to rediscover its communications energy and learn to play from the front foot: don’t be defensive about Heydon, attack Labor’s transparent attempt to shield union corruption; don’t defend Bronwyn Bishop’s entitlements, attack Tony Burke’s hypocrisy; don’t drill down into who wrote which press release, hold Bill Shorten to account for accusing our police and border force personnel running a “quasi-police state”; don’t be defensive about economic growth; criticise Labor for jeopardising a crucial free trade deal.
I was struck by John Howard’s brilliant intervention in the Canning byelection this week. Remember how Howard in the 2004 election famously turned Labor’s attack on his alleged untrustworthiness back on it?:
JOHN HOWARD: This election, ladies and gentlemen, will be about trust. Who do you trust to keep the economy strong and protect family living standards? Who do you trust to keep interest rates low? Who do you trust to lead the fight on Australia’s behalf against international terrorism?… 
[ABC presenter] ELEANOR HALL:  So John Hewson, what do you make of the Prime Minister’s tactic here? JOHN HEWSON: Well, I think what he’s trying to do is make his strength his weakness… it’s his weakness his strength if you like, in terms of going on the front foot and trying to catch people by surprise. I mean, he certainly caught all the journalists by surprise by using the word ‘trust’ firstly and then secondly, he then re-defined what he meant by trust. 
And how well it worked. Trust John Howard or trust Mark Latham? A no brainer.
In Canning this week, Howard tried the same switch, and it sounded so persuasive that I wonder why Abbott has not gone full throttle himself.
Until now, Labor leader Bill Shorten has run a campaign urging Canning voters to “send a message” to Tony Abbott. Abbott has instead said Canning voters should just consider local issues:
Mr Abbott stressed the poll was not about him but about the people of Canning and who could best represent them in Canberra. 
Mr Shorten ..  rejected Mr Abbott’s claims the by-election had nothing to do with his leadership… “Everyone knows the Liberals are desperate to pretend Mr Abbott is irrelevant to the Canning by-election. “But the truth of the matter is, it’s Mr Abbott and his Liberals who voted to cut funding for hospitals, they’re the ones who voted to cut pensions, they’re the ones who are desperately trying to introduce $100,000 degrees and they’re cutting funding for schools....” 
But Howard this week took Labor’s send-a-message line and rammed it right back in Bill Shorten’s face:
 Former PM John Howard has made a fleeting reappearance on the national stage, urging Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to get behind the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Standing alongside Andrew Hastie, the Liberal candidate in the Canning by-election, he said people should use the poll to send a message to Mr Shorten to stop obstructing this deal.
‘It is absolutely amazing that Labor leaders, left right and centre are falling over themselves to condemn Bill Shorten’s position,’ he told reporters in Mandurah, Western Australia…
‘It is overwhelmingly in our interest to get it through,’ he said.
‘The Chinese, if we muck around, will walk away. Bill Shorten will carry a very heavy responsibility if he tries to obstruct something that is overwhelmingly in the interests of Australia.’..
”Send a message to Bill Shorten. Get out of the way of something that is going to help Australia’s economy.” 
UPDATE
How interesting. Abbott at his speech to the Tasmanian Liberal Party has just done a great riff on “who do you trust?”, contrasting his record to Shorten’s. Strong.
Now he’s on to attacking Shorten on free trade. “Bill Shorten needs to worry about the company he’s keeping.” 
===

ABC censors PM from his own book awards

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (10:13am)

If even Louise Adler thinks the ABC is at war against Tony Abbott it must be:
The ABC has used its editorial independence charter as a reason for refusing to broadcast live a literary speech by Tony Abbott — at the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. 
The broadcaster was unwilling to air Mr Abbott’s speech at the awards, one of the nation’s richest literary events, and yet was happy to allow the prize-winning authors to speak live and unedited.
Australian Publishers Association president Louise Adler, the event’s organiser, has revealed that negotiations with the ABC broke down irreconcilably last year because the broadcaster was unwilling to show Mr Abbott’s speech.
“The ABC refused to broadcast the PM’s speech, which was going to be about seven minutes,” Ms Adler told The Weekend Australian.
“What was puzzling was the ABC’s willingness to broadcast unedited the prize-winning writers’ speeches but not the Prime Minister of the day… One can’t but deduce that the national broadcaster was making a political judgment rather than an editorial judgment.” The ABC’s stance stands in contrast to the corporation’s willingness to give convicted criminal and terrorist sympathiser Zaky Mallah a national platform on its Q&A show. 
The ABC is out of control. It now breaks the law in plain sight - the law that says the ABC must be impartial in exchange for the $1 billion a year it takes from taxpayers.
UPDATE
Another example, ABC host Jonathan Green, so blinded by his Abbott hatred:
(Thanks to reader ProphetHUP.) 
===

Abbott’s reshuffle

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (8:41am)

Chris Kenny is right - the Abbott Government needs a reshuffle. And it will get one, too, before the end of the year.
Here are Kenny’s suggestions, starting with Andrew Robb:
Andrew Robb has achieved more in one term than any other trade minister in recent decades. He should be rewarded with a diplomatic post where he could help cement this fine contribution.
Wrong. I know this will tempt Abbott, not least because Robb may well be happy to accept a deserved reward - Ambassador to Washington? - and would go without a peep of protest.  But I think this would be a big mistake. Robb is a passionate and credible salesman of a great government achievement - the free trade deals, particularly the one with China. That China deal is fast becoming a must-win battle, and even a potent weapon to turn on Labor, which is now running a racist and insanely stupid campaign against it. Why on earth would you now move aside Robb, your key warrior?
Duty calls, Andrew.
Consideration should also be given to moving on Eric Abetz, Ian Macfarlane and Kevin Andrews for people with more energy. None has failed and all will feel miffed, given long and meritorious contributions.
At least one will indeed go, or should. Probably the one who was on the wrong side of a couple of key arguments.
Women are still thin on the ground but promotions for Kelly O’Dwyer and Sarah Henderson at the very least would see them added to Julie Bishop, Sussan Ley, Michaelia Cash, Marise Payne and Fiona Nash as prominent female voices.
Yes, two women do need promotion to make the team seem less blokey and, frankly, same-same, but this is exactly why just two replacements is not enough. At least one male warrior also needs to be added to a team still lacking firepower and aggression.
Nationals leader Warren Truss must be contemplating retirement but is expected to recontest the election — the alternative of having Barnaby Joyce line up as Abbott’s deputy prime minister is asking too much of the electorate.
Yes.
But:
A direct swap between Joe Hockey and Social Services Minister Scott Morrison might work to everyone’s benefit. Those who dare to dream might even conjure a deal that puts Malcolm Turnbull into Treasury; along with a Kirribilli-style agreement that might stave off any looming leadership challenge and guarantee stability and progression in the future.
I am torn. Yes, Hockey has lacked cut through, and has been written off by many of the journalists he must impress or cow. But dumping him would send a signal of panic and let Abbott’s Liberal white-anters whisper that if scapegoat Hockey must go, why not Abbott, too? Hockey would also be mighty unhappy, and while he no longer has great clout, he still could cause damage. And there’s this: Hockey at his best is actually good.  Abbott may figure that more of Joe would actually be a better solution than none. Hockey must simply keep performing, and learn to treat criticism with contempt.
And, really - a Kirribilli deal with Turnbull?
First, the one between Howard and Costello turned out to be a disaster. And could Abbott trust Turnbull? News would surely leak and Abbott crippled. But most importantly, Abbott actually has no pressure at all on him to offer any such leadership deal with Turnbull, and would in fact be betraying his real successor if he made one.  Morrison is actually the natural successor now, not Turnbull. And Morrison will be the next Treasurer, if he wants it.
My own radical suggestion: why not return Cory Bernardi to the ranks of parliamentary secretaries? He is tough, articulate and loyal to Abbott. Yes, the media chokes on his social conservatism, but he has cut-through and courage. And Abbott, who has lost so much support from his conservative base, as Niki Savva noted this week, would give many conservatives something to rally to.
Then there’s Dan Tehan, a very steady and articulate man of manifest sincerity and integrity who’s done so well a chairman of the security and intelligence committee. (No good on wind farms, though, Dan.)
Where did Christian Porter go, by the way? Very able and got a promotion last time, but then all but disappeared. 
===

On The Bolt Report tomorrow, September 6

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (6:53am)

On Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 3pm
Editorial:  Shorten vs China
My guest:  Greens leader Richard di Natale, the first Greens MP to accept an invitation in the nearly five years of my show. All credit to him. On what he’s got that Labor hasn’t, and his plans for the Greens. Plus a polite discussion on global warming (of course), the European immigrant crisis and the royal commission, although how we’ll fit all that in I do not know.
The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello and former NSW Treasurer Michael Costa.

NewsWatch: Miranda Devine, Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB host. On Fairfax jihadists and perhaps the most stupid and offensive ABC attack on Tony Abbott this year.

Plus Trump’s card.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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The drowning of the boy is tragic, but proves nothing like what activists claim

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (6:49am)

It always astonishes and appalls me to see how sanctimony blinds preachers to the devastating consequences of what they demand.
Example: Tom Clarke, director of Communications at the Human Rights Law Centre, writing for the ABC on the drowning of a three-year-old boy whose family was trying to sail to Greece:
Our politicians tell us we need to be cruel to be kind, but we don’t. They will wring their hands and tell us they don’t won’t to see more photos of drowned children, but the harsh reality is if the boy in the photographs - 3 year old Aylan Kurdi - had arrived in Australia, those same politicians would have condemned him and his family to indefinite detention in a place proven to be unsafe. That is no solution. It’s is a blight on our name that makes a mockery of our clearly fading belief in the “fair go”.
First, there’s a reason that Aylan did not drown on the way to Australia, as did scores of children just like him. (Where was Tom Clarke then?)
The reason is precisely those “cruel to be kind” policies Clarke now condemns.
The boats were stopped and the drownings stopped with them. The previous policies had lured more than 1200 people to their deaths at sea - people just like Aylan, his mother and his brother.
So Clarke cries for Aylan yet damns the policies which saved little boys just like him.
And missing in all of this showy wailing is any attention to the details of this case - details which suggest deterrence is indeed the best response to boat people who do have more choices that Clarke prefers to imagine.
Clarke writes:
We need to burst the bubble of delusion that somehow by locking up a small child on Nauru because she arrived in Australia by boat will magically stop the family of another child in a distant country from fleeing war or persecution. It won’t. If bombs were falling in your neighbourhood, if religious extremists were persecuting your kin, you would seek safety. You would do it. I would do it. 
Fact: Aylan’s family was not “fleeing war or persecution”, and the Nauru process has indeed stopped families just like his.
Here is the truth:
Mr. Kurdi brought his family to Turkey three years ago after fleeing fighting first in Damascus, where he worked as a barber, then in Aleppo, then Kobani. His Facebook page shows pictures of the family in Istanbul crossing the Bosporus and feeding pigeons next to the famous Yeni Cami, or new mosque. 
From his hospital bed on Wednesday, Mr. Kurdi told a Syrian radio station that he had worked on construction sites for 50 Turkish lira (roughly $17) a day, but it wasn’t enough to live on. He said they depended on his sister, Tima Kurdi, who lived in Canada, for help paying the rent.
The family did not qualify as refugees with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, presumably because they lived and worked in safety in Turkey:
The family had two strikes against them – like thousands of other Syrian Kurdish refugees in Turkey, the UN would not register them as refugees, and the Turkish government would not grant them exit visas… The Turkish government refuses to issue exit visas to unregistered refugees not holding valid passports.
UPDATE
We responded to the Lebanese civil war by taking in thousands of Lebanese, few questions asked. The consequences for our security have been dramatic. Of the 21 Australians jailed for terrorism offences, all are Muslim and nine were born in Lebanon or to Lebanese families. Then there’s the organised crime.
We responded to the wars in Afghanistan and Somalia by taking in more Muslim refugees. Again, we have paid a price in a loss of security in this age of jihad and increasing tribalism. Children have turned to gangs, gun crime, outlaw bikie groups and jihadist groups, with one stabbing two police officers in Melbourne.
True, most Muslim immigrants make fine Australians. But a significant minority do not assimilate well or safely.
Now, once again we’re told to take in refugees from a Muslim civil war, this time in Syria, when we already have tensions from that war creating strife between Syrians in Sydney:
A Coalition MP has made an impassioned plea to the Abbott government to consider taking more refugees from Syria in response to the growing humanitarian crisis in Europe. Craig Laundy made the call to Julie Bishop and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton… 
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop later told reporters the question of an increased intake was “under consideration”, although Tony Abbott suggested a further increase was unlikely. The Abbott government is being urged to take an extra 20,000 Syrian refugees to demonstrate Australian compassion in response to the largest movement of people since the Second World War.
I do not think this is wise. And what of the other 3,980,000 Syrians who have fled their country already? What of the Afghans, Iraqis, Bangladeshis, Libyans, Somalis, Eritreans, Iranians, Pakistanis, Algerians and others, also on the march to the West?
Tell us how many to take in. But then tell us what to do with the rest.
UPDATE
Four million Syrians have fled their country into neighbouring lands. So how many have been taken in by their Muslim brothers in the Gulf States? 
By Russia: 0
By Japan: 0
(Thanks to readers John and Steve.)

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The drowning of the boy is tragic, but proves nothing like what activists claim'
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Three former ACTU presidents say China deal is good for workers. Yet Shorten repeats CFMEU lies

Andrew Bolt September 05 2015 (6:20am)

Three ex-leaders of the union movement - former ACTU presidents Bob Hawke, Simon Crean and Martin Ferguson - all say Bill Shorten is crazy to oppose the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. It’s a lie to claim the deal kills jobs.
Martin Ferguson, former minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments:
(It’s) across all political parties, not just the union movement, it verges on, you know, racial overtones with respect to the free trade agreement… We actually need an FTA because the potential industries that will grow are the beneficiaries… It’s almost as if the CFMEU…wants to hold the rest of the nation … to ransom for their short-term political gain… The message to Canberra is fix this and fix it quick because we actually need the jobs and we need them now. 
Bob Hawke, former Labor Prime Minister:
I am all in favour of it… The party must not go backwards on this issue — the party and the trade union movement. Talk of opposing it is just absolutely against Australia’s best interests.
Simon Crean, former Labor leader and trade minister:
SIMON CREAN: 
It’s a quality agreement, it’s a comprehensive agreement – a much more comprehensive agreement than that with New Zealand and China because it covers services and investment. When you look at the Chinese economy and the major transition it’s going through at the moment from Australia to be positioned in the services spaces, terribly important…
Now, yes, it will produce job opportunities. Why? Because trade and opening trade is a multiplier of economic growth. You don’t get jobs without expanding growth and the opportunities in China are enormous because China is already our major trading partner. So, this is an agreement that should be supported, it should be owned by the Labor Party because we did much of the negotiations but the opportunities are enormous going forward.
LINDA MOTTRAM:
The issue of jobs, though, continues to come up. Trade union movements or part thereof are running a campaign because of this provision that Chinese companies will be able to bring their own workforce in for projects over $150 million without the kind of usual local tests that apply say with 457 visas. Is that a weakness?
SIMON CREAN: Well, it’s not true, Linda. In all the material that I’ve read on this and the material that’s been presented so far in the Joint Parliamentary Treaties Committee, existing 457 visas remain. It is true that in terms of the threshold for investment agreements that’s being lowered, but we have in place in government provisions for enterprise migration agreements. All the lower threshold does is to recognise the changing nature away from resources to different sorts of investments in Australia by China. The existing 457 visa arrangements remain as does the requirement for skills requirements to be met. Jobs have to be offered to Australians first. Now, there is either misunderstanding or misrepresentation on this issue, but that’s where the Joint Committee can sort this out and I would urge honesty in the approach on this and I would urge there be a proper identification of the factual basis for it because it is an issue that is causing confusion out there. Now, I always believe that you start with these things with the facts. Let’s get the facts on the table, we’ve got a process to do it, but down the track these are issues capable of being resolved, but most importantly, the agreement needs to be ratified, needs to be signed and it needs to be done this year. 
Why has Bill Shorten chosen the CFMEU above our future?
Paul Kelly:
If the Senate votes down the FTA, that will become a crisis for the nation. The trade deal is not merely a significant net benefit for Australia’s economy, exports and jobs. It is a strategic project for our future. Abbott, as Prime Minister, could not tolerate such an act of a Senate, already the most disreputable since 1975. He would have to go to the people… [The China-Australia] arrangement is similar to other FTAs, where exemptions were granted from labour market testing. The problem with Labor’s stance is obvious. Labour market testing, on latest figures, applies to only about 16 per cent of the 457 program anyway. It applies only to skill level 3 — and that meant only 6207 people out of a total of 38,134 in the 457 visa program for the latest available period. This reflects Rudd government policy… How many Chinese workers were classified as skill level 3? A whopping 269… Does this sound like a good reason to threaten a path-breaking trade agreement with China?.. The ALP campaign seems a con job...
Nothing new with Shorten’s Labor. Peter Brent, a man of the Left, writes in sorrow:
As the people on Twitter would put it, Billy Hughes “nailed it”. In 1901, fourteen years before becoming prime minister, the Little Digger announced the Labor Party’s platform at Australia’s first federal election, and said: 
“Our chief plan is, of course, a White Australia. There’s no compromise about that. The industrious coloured brother has to go — and remain away."…

The current Labor opposition, and much of the union movement, is running a campaign against the China Free Trade Agreement. The always rehearsed Bill Shorten is even mouthing, almost word for word, the CFMEU’s slogan.
Of course these messages are laced with anti-Chinese, anti-Asian sentiment. There’s White Australia in that DNA. And last year the opposition leader told a rally protesting the building of Australian submarines in Japan: “This is a government with a short memory. In the Second World War, 366 merchant ships were sunk off Australia.”
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and brett t r.) 
===

THANKS FOR THE BILLIONS

Tim Blair – Friday, September 05, 2014 (1:08pm)

Terrorists attack and Israel gets rich: 
Israel signed a memorandum of understanding with Jordan Wednesday, under which it will supply the Hashemite Kingdom with $15 billion worth of natural gas from its Leviathan energy field over 15 years …
The Jordanians turned to Israel because their supply of natural gas from Egypt had been halted by repeated terrorist attacks on the gas pipeline from Egypt, a Channel 2 report said. 
They’re not the sharpest scimitars in the scabbard.
===

STOP DEMONISING THEM

Tim Blair – Friday, September 05, 2014 (1:04pm)

A brief chat with 2GB’s Ben Fordham about our friendly Greens.
===

JOAN RIVERS

Tim Blair – Friday, September 05, 2014 (11:17am)

The great Joan Rivers has died at 81. Enjoy some of her best lines. Rivers’s funeral should be quite a show.
===

The Bolt Report on Sunday, September 7

Andrew Bolt September 05 2014 (4:53pm)

On Channel 10 on Sunday at 10am and 4pm…
Editorial:  Abbott’s first year.
My guest:  Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.
The panel:  Michael Kroger and Bruce Hawker.
NewsWatch:  The Spectator Australia editor, Rowan Dean.  Abbott vs the media.
Lots more, including a handy guide for the Greens to help them to tell the difference between a terrorist and an Australian soldier.
The videos of the shows appear here.
===

London woman decapitated by alleged Muslim convert

Andrew Bolt September 05 2014 (9:25am)

That he’s mad counts for more than that he (allegedly) converted to Islam. Nevertheless, the killer’s actions may well have been suggested by a sub-culture aggressively sending a signal and a script:
A WOMAN has reportedly been found beheaded in a back garden in north London, and detectives are investigating whether her murder was inspired by footage of IS beheadings in Syria, according to UK reports. 
Locals last night claimed the arrested man had converted to Islam last year, The Telegraph UK reports.
The media report comes after police initially ruled out the murder had links to terrorism. Police discovered the body of Palmira Silva, 82, in the suburb of Edmonton after being alerted at midday yesterday by local residents who said a man with a knife was attacking a cat or dog.
UPDATE
The Telegraph now adds that neighbours’ claims that the killer converted to Islam cannot be verified. Police repeat that they do not believe this is related to terrorism. 
===

The invasion of Britain

Andrew Bolt September 05 2014 (9:06am)

Migration from the Third World increasingly looks like invasion:
Riot squads were sent into Calais last night after UK-bound migrants turned the French port into a ‘war zone’. 
Anarchy broke out when 250 men burst into the town’s docks and tried to board vessels sailing for Dover.
Brushing off pursuing police officers, the migrants stopped only when the ship’s crew turned a fire hose on them and pulled up the car ramps… Dramatic film of Wednesday’s storming of the port was posted on YouTube by a British lorry driver who watched from his cab as up to 100 mainly Eritrean men ran toward him at full tilt.
Earlier:
UPDATE
John Hinderaker asks the question I’ve asked here in Australia, too:
Not many years ago, the idea of Minnesota as a hotbed of Islamic terrorism would have been laughable. No longer: a mass immigration of Somalis has put Minnesota on the front lines. Authorities estimate that 15 or more Minnesotans have traveled to the Middle East to join ISIS. 
At least two of them have died there. The second, Abdirahmaan Muhumed, was reported yesterday by local media. Muhumed was 29 years old and had nine children. He had no criminal record and formerly worked for Delta Airlines at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport: 
Multiple sources tell Fox 9 News that, for a time, he worked at a job that gave him security clearance at the airport, access to the tarmac and unfettered access to planes.
...According to this Pew report, immigration of Muslims to the U.S. approximately doubled between 1992 and 2012, to around 100,000 per year…
Most will be good citizens… But what reason is there to believe that no one in the current stream of Islamic immigrants is already a radical, being placed in the U.S. by ISIS, al Qaeda or other terrorist groups? None. And what about those who, to all appearances, are harmless and assimilated immigrants like Douglas McAuthur McCain, the first Minnesotan to die for ISIS? Until he became radicalized, McCain was “just a regular American kid,” as one friend told the San Diego Union-Tribune. How many such “regular American kids” will there be, as millions more enter the U.S. from Islamic countries in the years to come? Given the persistence of radical Islam both globally and here in the U.S., isn’t it time for a thorough and objective re-examination of our immigration laws?
UPDATE
 UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage makes points that many mainstream leaders still don’t dare even whisper:
We’ve seen an increased radicalization within the United Kingdom, much of this I’m afraid to say is a self-inflicted wound. We’ve had four decades of state-sponsored multiculturalism. We’ve actually encouraged people not to come together and be British but to live separately, to live apart. … There are similarities [to the United States]. We even have the last Archbishop of Canterbury suggesting that Sharia law be acceptable in British cities. So, I’m afraid we have been weak and we have not been muscular in standing up and saying to people, ‘We are a Christian country. We have a Christian constitution, a Judeo-Christian culture. We’ve allowed our schools to be infiltrated. Our prisons, you know, are now perhaps where jihadism is on the march more rapidly than anywhere else. Much of this we’ve done to ourselves. 
Liberal MP Mal Brough:
But from that moment [September 11, 2001] forward, terrorism—extreme Islam—in that form, has in fact impacted the freedoms of every person in the western world. 
In this parliament in the last week we have been talking about extra hundreds of millions of dollars. How many trillions of dollars have been spent around the world? How many laws have been passed that have been argued about because they have infringed and impinged upon people’s freedoms, freedoms that we just took for granted? It is because of a small minority of people, who have taken a religious fervour to a degree that is insane, that has required this to happen.
(Via Instapundit. Thanks to readers Wozzup and Stevo.) 
===

How much of this warming is real?

Andrew Bolt September 05 2014 (8:49am)

How much of the warming in Australia was produced back at the lab?
SOME of Australia’s long-term temperature records may contain faults introduced by the Bureau of Meteorology’s computer modelling, according to a widely published expert. 
David Stockwell said a full audit of the BoM national data set was needed after the bureau confirmed that statistical tests, rather than direct evidence, were the “primary” justification for making changes.
Dr Stockwell[’s] ...  published works include a peer-reviewed paper analysing faults in the bureau’s earlier High Quality Data temperature records that were subsequently replaced by the current ACORN-SAT.
Dr Stockwell has called for a full audit of ACORN-SAT homogenisation after analysing records from Deniliquin in the Riverina region of NSW where homogenisation of raw data for minimum temperatures had turned a 0.7C cooling trend into a warming trend of 1C over a century. The bureau said it did not want to discuss the Deniliquin findings because it had not produced the graphics, but it did not dispute the findings or that all of the information used had come from the BoM database.
There is a huge risk of confirmation bias in this process.  
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There are actually two questions about intervening in Iraq, because doing nothing also has a price

Andrew Bolt September 05 2014 (8:22am)

The ABC’s Waleed Aly, Australia’s most prominent apologist for Muslim radicals, asks a legitimate question:
If we’re going to get involved once more in a military campaign in Iraq, there is a question we simply must answer: what exactly will success look like?
But he fails utterly to answer this even more urgent question.
If we’re going to refuse to get involved in a military campaign in Iraq, there is a question we simply must answer:  what exactly will hands-off look like?  
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Warmists 99.999 per cent sure of what isn’t actually explained

Andrew Bolt September 05 2014 (7:57am)

The latest scare from serial offender Peter Hannam of the Sydney Morning Herald:
What are the chances the world could clock up 353 consecutive months with average temperatures higher than the norm of the 20th century without humans being responsible? 
CSIRO’s now-defunct climate adaptation flagship crunched the numbers and found the chances were less than one in 100,000. In other words, there’s a 99.999 per cent certainty that human activities – from burning fossil fuels to land-clearing – are responsible for the warming conditions.
For a start, note the misleading language: - “responsible for the warming conditions” - falsely implying our gases are responsible for all the warming and not part of the warming.
But once again, note also the missing context, supplied here by The Hockey Schtick:
Fundamental problems with this claim [which is basically the falsified IPCC attribution claim of 95% certainty on steroids] include: 
There is no statistical difference between the rate of warming over the 27 years from 1917-1944 and the 25 years from 1975/1976 to 2000:
Read on.
And, of course, there is this inconvenient truth:
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Madigan no longer the DLP Senator people voted for

Andrew Bolt September 05 2014 (7:36am)

Something - or someone - seems to have dragged John Madigan off his true course:
Victorian Senator John Madigan, who has quit the Democratic Labor Party to become an independent crossbencher, has been rocked by claims of financial disarray in his office and criticism over his failure to deliver on a promise made to orphans in East Timor 18 months ago that he would build them a new kitchen. 
Senator Madigan has dismissed the claims as “vexatious” and brought by “bitter” former employees as he severed ties with the DLP in a surprise speech to the Senate on Thursday.
The explosive claims were made by Steve Campbell, who quit as Senator Madigan’s chief of staff in January.... [and was] incensed that Senator Madigan had accused a female staffer of treachery under the cover of parliamentary privilege…
DLP officials ...  said there has been growing angst at Senator Madigan’s performance in Parliament… The final straw came when Senator Madigan abstained from the vote that ended the mining tax on Tuesday.
The DLP was the first party to pledge opposition to the carbon and mining taxes but it has not been seen as part of the crusade against them since Senator Madigan arrived in Canberra in 2010.
DLP national president Paul Funnell said Senator Madigan’s mind had been “poisoned against the party” by his new chief of staff Brendan Gullifer… Former staffer Clare Geoghegan said Senator Madigan had “dropped the ball” on key DLP pro-life issues and was invisible during recent debates on surrogacy and same-sex marriage.  
Madigan’s new chief of staff:
After a working in journalism around Australia and overseas, Brendan was the Australian commercial representative for The Economist and the International Herald Tribune for 15 years. 
In 1999-2000, he ran Australia/New Zealand for a US company called PressPoint, which had links to the New York Times. More recently he has written for The Age, newMatilda.com and the Sydney Sun-Herald. He has reported for Radio National’s The Book Show. He has been a regular guest on ABC Radio’s Perspective program and co-hosted Published or Not on Melbourne radio 3CR in 2007 through to early 2008.
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THE HEINER AFFAIR: KRUDD COVERING UP PEDOPHILES 

http://polliter.com/2013/07/03/heiner-affair-carmody-says-labor-covered-up-child-sex-pm-to-be-charged/
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Allen West
Listening to President Obama in Sweden saying he never set a red line and that his credibility isn't on the line, but rather the credibility of America, Congress, and the International community. It never ceases to amaze me how Obama never takes any responsibility for his actions. He is the leader of the United States of America and he sets the tone, not Joe and Jane. As a leader, he did nothing for all these months and now wants to enjoin everyone in his abject failure and abdication of accountability. I am not buying into Obama's weak attempt of guilt-tripping us. Mr. President, you have not earned anyone's respect to follow you, May I remind you of the result of your unilateral actions in Libya? Also, is it not perplexing that within the last 6 years, Pelosi, Kerry, and Hillary Clinton all sat with and praised Assad, but now they want to blow him up?

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An Israeli nightmare

Former Republican congressman Allen West has it right. Barack Hussein Obama is an Israeli nightmare.

Best description I've seen in 140 characters or less.
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Allen West
For thousands of years, the shofar has called the Jewish people together for many reasons, including ushering in the new year. On this Rosh Hashanah, I pray the shofar will not be needed to sound an alarm of war for the people of Israel. Let it instead be used for all across our own nation, as the philosopher Moses Maimonides suggested in the 12th century, "Sleeping ones! Awaken from your sleep! Slumbering ones! Awaken from your slumber! Examine your deeds, and turn once again to God." L'Shana Tovah to all, and especially the people of Israel. Rest assured there are many of us who will never abandon you.
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A British television program in co-operation with a children's charity demonstrated this week just how swiftly and easy it is to take children from under their parents' noses, with just a momentary loss of concentration.
One of the most troubling aspects of the set-up was how willing children were to go off with a stranger, who acted in a friendly manner and looked like a normal person.
ITV's Daybreak program in association with Kidscape carried out the test in a park playground using real mothers, and children aged under 11 years.
The mothers and kids arrived at the playground, which was closed off to the public for the length of the trial and, on receiving a phone call from Daybreak producers, walked off leaving the children to their own devices among the play equipment.
Enter the stranger, a man dressed in an ordinary checked shirt and long shorts, who approached the children - some who were as young as five years old.
The man asked them to help him look for his child or a lost dog.
Of the nine children he approached, seven co-operated and within a space of 90 seconds walked from the playground with him.
All the children had been warned by their parents about "stranger danger" and none had previously met the man.
One seven-year-old boy turned the man down, but then changed his mind in less than a minute.

Despite the fact it was a set-up for the cameras, some of the mothers involved became traumatised their children had unwittingly been led astray and wanted the experiment to stop.
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Netanyahu's New Year Message: 'We've Defied the Laws of History'

PM Netanyahu wishes Jews all over the world a happy new year, says Israel "remains an oasis" in the Middle East.
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By Kochava Rozenbaum
First Publish: 9/4/2013, 10:10 AM

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wishes Jewish communities throughout the world security, prosperity and most of all peace.
In a recorded speech, Netanyahu reflects upon some of the past year's achievements: the launching of the Amos 4 communication satellite, sustainable economic growth, receiving gold medals at the computer and science Olympics, and producing top tier students in the field of science.
"I am proud to serve as Prime Minister of Israel," Netanyahu said with a smile.

"We remain an oasis of democracy, of stability, of tolerance, and liberty," he said, comparing Israel to its turbulent neighbors in the Middle East.
Netanyahu also took the opportunity to call for action on Iran, declaring that "Iran's nuclear program must be stopped" since it poses a major threat to the Israel and the rest of the world.
However, Netanyahu calmed the fears of any potential threat to Israel when he spoke to his cabinet on Sunday saying, "our enemies have very good reasons not to try our strength, not to test our power," he said. "They know why."
The Prime Minister concluded by asserting that the State of Israel has "defied the laws of history against some tremendous odds" to become a thriving, bustling, modern, advanced country in such a short period of time.

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Thomas Ling

People from the villages and country side rushed into cities in search of a better life. City folks write poems, compose music and paint in praise of the meadows, nature and country side.
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Phi Pham
Y did the liberal make our economy crash by John coward

David Daniel Ball ? As PM, Howards' administration was effective in raising real wages by over 2% each year. He turned around an $80 billion black hole from Keating and had surpluses in each year of government. When Mr Howard was treasurer under Fraser from '75 to '83, the economy was different. Fraser, against Howard's advice capped interest rates on home loans at 13% and so credit card interest rates sky rocketed .. some as high as 30%. The reason for that being the legacy of Whitlam's spending which Fraser did not curtail. When Hawke won government in '83, Keating became treasurer and deregulated the dollar and sold the commonwealth bank .. with the support of Howard. Had Howard opposed Keating, Keating could never have done that. But it wasWhitlam who behaved like Rudd/Gillard causing the economic crash Howard faced in the '80s .===

Pastor Rick Warren
The past 10 days in Africa and the Middle East have deepened my conviction that the answers to all of mankind's deepest problems are in the Church.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Never let an impossible situation intimidate you.Let it motivate you - to pray more, trust more, expect more.
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Warwick Poulsen
Re: politics, spending and surpluses...
"'When the king's palace is full of treasure'
Lao Tzu said,
'ordinary people's fields are smothered with weeds, and the food supplies run out'"
Lao Tzu, "Tao Te Ching"#53...
I feel the excellent description Lao Tzu gave is being misinterpreted .. it isn't based on an Israeli trade model, but fuedal kingdom. To interpret it as "in order for people to be well off, the economy has to be bad" is to do the wisdom grave injustice. - ed
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The problem with taking 60 year 2 students to the Zoo is how to explain to them why the lions are... wrestling... In such a strange way!
.. it is a bit like Miley Cyrus singing .. ed
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A Palestinian Authority official has demanded that Israel provide civilians living in PA-controlled areas with gas masks in the event of a spillover of violence from Syria.
Israel has been distributing gas masks to its citizens over the last two weeks amid fears of reprisals against the Jewish state, following anticipated US military intervention in neighboring Syria.
Syrian officials have repeatedly declared that in the event of a western-led intervention against the regime, they would respond by attacking Israel.
"If there is any war in the region, the responsibility (for ensuring that the Palestinian Authority's constituents are prepared) falls upon Israel, because it is the occupying authority," Palestinian Authority security services spokesman Adnan al-Dumayri told AFP on Tuesday.
"Israel must provide to all citizens living under its occupation the necessary security equipment, be that gas masks or other items, especially if Israel gets into a war we have no connection with," he said.
Israelis last week scrambled to collect gas masks provided by the state, queuing up sometimes for hours at distribution centers - mostly post offices - across the country.
Arabs living under Palestinian Authority rule have not received any suchsafety equipment, a situation al-Dumayri blamed on Israel.
"We are living under occupation, we have no sovereignty over our borders [sic. referring to Judea, Samaria and the Gaza - ed], and we can't importgas masks," he claimed.
The basis for his claim that the PA is prevented from obtaining gas masksis unclear.
PA-controlled regions are the world's highest recipients of international aid per capita, and under the terms of the Oslo agreements, the PA leadership has full responsibility over providing for the people it governs. In Gaza as well, Hamas authorities have overseen the import of countless goods  to the territory, including those banned by the Israeli blockade - from luxury cars to advanced weaponry.
The US is mulling military strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons near Damascus on August 21.

How about a shield from rockets too? ed
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Police forces were dispatched on Wednesday to break up Muslim stone throwers who were targeting Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount (Har Habayit).
As soon as stones were thrown and riots broke out, police forces stepped in to make arrests.
Security forces were prepared for a riot as this incident follows renewed incitement by Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah, who called for Muslims to physically prevent Jews from visiting the Temple Mount last week.
Yesterday, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel was arrested on charges of "incitement against Israel and regarding the Temple Mount," and is currently being questioned by police.
This morning's attack on Jewish visitors is likely connected to Salah’s claim last week to his followers that Israel is planning to “break in” to the Temple Mount, on which the Islamic Al Aqsa compound is located, built atop the ruins of two Jewish Temples.
After warning of the alleged "danger" of increased Jewish prayer at the site, Salah called on Muslims from across Israel - from the Negev and Galilee, Akko and Haifa - to descend on the Temple Mount to prevent the “dangerous mass invasion into Al Aqsa” with their bodies.
In the past, such statements have led the Israeli Police to close off the Temple Mount to Jews, out of concern that Jewish presence at the holy site could be met with Muslim riots, which on Wednesday proved to be true.
The police policy of restricting Jewish access in order to maintain quiet has led to complaints of discrimination.
“The Temple Mount is the holiest place for the Jewish People, and must be open at any hour to every Jew,” said Minister of Construction and Housing, Uri Ariel on Wednesday. 
Ariel ascended this morning on the eve of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) 5774 to the Temple Mount, as is his custom. Ariel declared that the Temple Mount belongs to the Jewish people without a doubt.
“I intend to continue to support the State of Israel’s full sovereignty over the site.  This is a non-negotiable issue, with no room for argument.” 
The Temple Mount is Judaism's holiest site, but Jews are forbidden from holding prayers there due to the presence of an Islamic complex, and against the backdrop of threats of violence by Islamists.
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Alex Jones
Syrian forces that Obama is about to bomb tried in vain to defend a 2000-year-old Christian village from Al-Qaeda/rebel attack. The residents still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Now they are being shelled by White House-backed terrorists and your tax dollars are paying for it.
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<I have 1049 so-called friends on Facebook, ranging in age from 20 to 65, from dirt poor to even dirtier rich and not one publicly admits to being even vaguely associated with the Liberal Party or its country cousins.

Why is that? Is it because to appear even vaguely right-wing is a public crime, with the mob waiting to tear us, virtually, apart?

Or is it because the saner among us know that once Tony Abbott is sworn in as our 28th prime minister, the world isn't going to end? That apart from the usual bureaucratic corpses strewn along Canberra's Northbourne Avenue, the dismantling of various Labor indulgences and a less hypocritical and schizophrenic approach to immigration, that hospitals aren't going to close, that public education isn't going to evaporate and that Rupert Murdoch isn't going to be given a seat in cabinet. (Oh how the rebels forget Labor's frottage with the Packers.)

And with Abbot's decision to appoint the brilliant Noel Pearson as a personal advisor, there's even the possibility of progress within the minefield of Aboriginal affairs.

And still the Facebook warriors rage, showering their grapeshot, making much noise, but felling no one.>
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Check out this jaw-dropping video from a liquor store in Marionville, Missouri, where a would-be robber made a very bad decision.

Read more: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/09/04/video-iraq-war-vet-jon-alexander-pulls-gun-liquor-store-robber#ixzz2e1QgaRE7
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THE family of a child whose rape at a government school sparked a royal commission into the South Australian Labor government's handling of child sex abuse cases is preparing to launch legal action.
The Australian understands the family has instructed lawyers to act on its behalf and possibly seek damages for the financial and psychological impact of the government's response, which was the subject of criticism by royal commissioner Bruce Debelle.
This comes as documents just released under Freedom of Information laws reveal that as of August last year -- two months before the matter was exposed by the opposition in parliament -- the incident was already the subject of a legal claim.
An email from the department's legal unit to a solicitor in the civil litigation section of the Crown Solicitor's Office questions what material should be provided to the Ombudsman, who was conducting a separate investigation.
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Gillard bebbington

The University of Adelaide will get a new medical school while the University of South Australia will have a new Centre for Cancer Biology thanks to $100 million in Federal Government grants announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in Adelaide today.
Construction on both will start next year.
The medical school will open in 2016 and the cancer centre in 2017.
The two new buildings will be built next to the $200 million SA Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) which is now under construction, on land donated by the State Government.
Ms Gillard said the funding was an investment which would attract top researchers to Adelaide.
"This will be the biggest precinct of its type in the Southern Hemisphere," she said.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the precinct would "attract the best and brightest to be part of the South Australian story."
12 days before she gave up the PM's position .. Michael Smith
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IT'S big enough to hold towering jungles, white sandy beaches, its own weather system and animals that can't be found anywhere else in the world.
But until recently the hidden treasures of the world's biggest cave were a mystery to the rest of the planet.
Explorers have only started venturing into Vietnam's Son Doong cave over the past few years and they've come out the other side with tales of a sprawling, untouched world.
And finally, thrillseeking tourists are joining them.
"The place humbled me and reminded me of how insignificant we really are - there are stalagmites like skyscrapers, jungles, strange animals that no one has even seen before," Ben Mitchell, the first Australian to explore the cave, said of the experience.
The Son Doong was discovered by a local jungle man in the early 1990s, but the steep drop into the mouth of the cave scared locals away. According to lore, the jungle men were afraid of the cave because of the shrill whistling sound made by its fast-flowing underground river.
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Chromosomes DNA genes istock.jpg

For people with trisomy 21 – more commonly known as Down syndrome – learning and remembering important concepts can be a struggle, since some of their brain’s structures do not develop as fully as they should.
But now, researchers may have found a way to reverse the learning deficits associated with Down syndrome, after having discovered a compound that can significantly bolster cognition in mice with a condition very similar to trisomy 21.
In a new study published in the Sept. 4 issue of Science Translational Medicine, scientists injected a small molecule known as a sonic hedgehog pathway agonist into the brains of genetically engineered mice on the day of their birth.  The treatment enabled the rodents’ cerebellums to grow to a normal size, allowing them to perform just as well as unmodified mice in behavioral tests.
“We’ve been working for some time to characterize the basis for how people with trisomy 21 diverge in development from people without trisomy 21,” Roger Reeves, a professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told FoxNews.com. “One of the early things we see is that people with Down syndrome have very small cerebellums, which does a lot more things than we used to think it did.”
Down syndrome is a condition that occurs when people receive three – rather than the typical two – copies of chromosome 21. Because of this “trisomy,” Down syndrome patients have extra copies of the more than 300 genes contained in that chromosome.  This leads to a range of symptoms, including mild to moderate intellectual disability, distinct facial features, heart defects and other health problems.
Through previous research, Reeves found that another distinct trait of people with Down syndrome is a cerebellum that’s approximately 60 percent of the normal size.  In order for this important brain region to grow and form, a small population of cells in the brain must quickly divide and multiply shortly after birth. This cell population requires a specific growth factor known as the sonic hedgehog pathway to stimulate the cells, triggering them to divide.
However, the trisomic cells in people with Down syndrome do not respond as well to this growth factor, stunting the development of the cerebellum – a region of the brain found to be important in cognitive processing and emotional control.
“We thought if we could stimulate these cells a bit at birth, we could make up the deficit,” Reeves said.
To test this theory, Reeves and his research team created a series of genetically engineered mice, all of which had extra copies of about half of the genes found in chromosome 21.  According to Reeves, this caused the mice to have many of the same characteristics seen in patients with Down syndrome, such as a smaller cerebellum and learning difficulties.
The researchers then injected the mice with a sonic hedgehog pathway agonist, which stimulates the growth factor pathway needed to trigger cerebellum development.   The compound was given to the mice just once on the day of birth.
“From that one injection, we were able to normalize the growth of the cerebellum, and they continued to have a structurally normal cerebellum when they grew up,” Reeves said.
Going one step further, the researchers conducted a series of behavioral tests on the mice to better understand how normalizing this brain structure would affect their overall performance.  One of these tests was the Morris water maze test, an experiment that involves placing the mice in a pool of water and seeing how long it takes them to escape using a platform hidden below the water’s surface.  The test measures the rodents’ spatial learning and memory capabilities, which are primarily controlled by the hippocampus.
“We didn’t expect to see any results from that,” Reeves said. “We knew that the most potent effects of the growth factor were in the specific cells (in the cerebellum) we were targeting, but it turned out that the mice that got a single shot of this agonist at birth, when tested three months later, they performed just as well as their (unmodified) litter mates in the water maze test.”
The sonic hedgehog agonist has yet to be proven effective in humans with Down syndrome, and future research is needed to determine exactly how the injection improved the mice’s cognitive abilities and whether or not the agonist has any side effects.  But Reeves remains hopeful that these findings could have translational potential.
“We’re on the verge of a revolution for expanding the potential of people born with trisomy 21,” Reeves said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/04/undoing-down-syndrome-compound-reverses-learning-deficits-in-mice-with-trisomy/?intcmp=obnetwork#ixzz2e178VOyn
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660-Rosh-Hashanah.jpg

In 2008, the Simon Wiesenthal Center received an unusual request for help—from the government of Iraq. Their U.N. Mission wanted our help to mount an exhibition on the 30th anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s gassing of his fellow (Kurdish) Iraqi citizens.
A few weeks later, I found myself, together with my colleague Liebe Geft, at a Muslim cemetery in the town of Halabja, amidst the mass graves of Saddam’s victims.
What prayer does an Orthodox rabbi say for the victims of poison gas, a crime that breached a red line once thought unthinkable after the Nazi Holocaust?
I could think of no Psalm from King David’s lips that could penetrate the utter desolation of the place, for a crime that never should have been, for innocents whose lives should never have been snuffed out.
We desperately need a humbled humanity reinvested with a sense of awe of the majesty of this world.
All I could think about was the reaction of Simon Wiesenthal back in 1988 immediately after the poison gas attack in Iraq. The great Nazi hunter, who lost 89 members of his family in the Holocaust, said these prophetic words to me:
“By doing nothing, the world is making a terrible mistake. Tyrants will interpret our silence and inaction in ways that will come back to haunt us in the future.”
We can only imagine how our world would be different today, had a ‘coalition of the willing’ taken on Saddam, then and there.
At the minimum, we could have avoided two Gulf Wars, the American invasion of Iraq and the loss and pain of so many U.S. soldiers and civilians across the region.
And, had Saddam been held accountable in 1988, today, another heartless tyrant, Bashar  Assad, would not have the guts to deploy sarin gas on his fellow Syrian men, women and children.
Without question, President Obama was right to draw a red line when it first became clear a year ago that Assad was deploying North Korean-supplied poison gas in the midst of Syria’s unending and deadly civil war. 
Now he is asking Congress to back military action against Assad, a call the Simon Wiesenthal Center endorses. 
If America fails to act, we render meaningless all of the 'Never Again' pledges made by political leaders. We will empower Assad to strike again and will certainly increase the odds that his allies in Tehran might crossthe other 'red line'that would soon threatens to menace Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States with a nuclear-tipped Armageddon.
Which brings me back to Halabja.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center did in fact help create an exhibit with Iraq at U.N. Headquarters in New York that finally enabled Kurds—thirty years later-- to put a human face on their martyrs of Saddam Hussein’s crimes against humanity.
Standing amidst their mass graves the words for a prayer for Halabja’s victims finally came to me. They come from the opening words of our High Holy Days sacred Amidah devotion.
On the anniversary of the creation of the world, Jews do not begin with a plea for our families’ good health and fortune, nor for Israel’s wellbeing. These are the words we say:
“O Hashem our God, instill your awe upon all Your works, and Your fear and dread upon all you have created…”
Today there is no shortage of terrorists who scream “God is Great” as they butcher Muslims at prayer in mosques, destroy Churches, murder Christian students and Jewish school children.
Such people do not sanctify God; they and their cynical teachers diminish and desecrate God’s Name and the very reason He put us here in the first place.
This Rosh Hashanah I will repeat the prayer I chanted in Halabja with renewed fervor. 
We desperately need a humbled humanity reinvested with a sense of awe of the majesty of this world and with our arrogance tamped down by the knowledge that ultimately each of us will be held accountable by a higher authority that will ask just one question: “Were you your brother’s keeper?”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Follow the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Facebook and on Twitter.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/09/04/universal-prayer-for-rosh-hashanah/?intcmp=HPBucket#ixzz2e17okCe2
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What would it take to change your religious belief and would you be strong enough to endure physical torture in the name of religion? Listen to the story of pain and sacrifice in the pursuit of freedom and hope, from Reverend Majed El Shafie who converted to Christianity and was tortured for doing so in more ways than one.
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Ramsen Oraham
It's very simple. Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes lizard, lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates lizard, lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and—as it always has—rock crushes scissors
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Voyager 1
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“What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” 2 Timothy 1:13-14 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"I will; be thou clean."
Mark 1:41
Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, "light be," and straightway light was, and the word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption like Creation has its word of might. Jesus speaks and it is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but it fled at once at the Lord's "I will." The disease exhibited no hopeful signs or tokens of recovery, nature contributed nothing to its own healing, but the unaided word effected the entire work on the spot and forever. The sinner is in a plight more miserable than the leper; let him imitate his example and go to Jesus, "beseeching him and kneeling down to him." Let him exercise what little faith he has, even though it should go no further than "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean;" and there need be no doubt as to the result of the application. Jesus heals all who come, and casts out none. In reading the narrative in which our morning's text occurs, it is worthy of devout notice that Jesus touched the leper. This unclean person had broken through the regulations of the ceremonial law and pressed into the house, but Jesus so far from chiding him broke through the law himself in order to meet him. He made an interchange with the leper, for while he cleansed him, he contracted by that touch a Levitical defilement. Even so Jesus Christ was made sin for us, although in himself he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. O that poor sinners would go to Jesus, believing in the power of his blessed substitutionary work, and they would soon learn the power of his gracious touch. That hand which multiplied the loaves, which saved sinking Peter, which upholds afflicted saints, which crowns believers, that same hand will touch every seeking sinner, and in a moment make him clean. The love of Jesus is the source of salvation. He loves, he looks, he touches us, we live.

Evening

"Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have."
Leviticus 19:36
Weights, and scales, and measures were to be all according to the standard of justice. Surely no Christian man will need to be reminded of this in his business, for if righteousness were banished from all the world beside, it should find a shelter in believing hearts. There are, however, other balances which weigh moral and spiritual things, and these often need examining. We will call in the officer tonight.
The balances in which we weigh our own and other men's characters, are they quite accurate? Do we not turn our own ounces of goodness into pounds, and other persons' bushels of excellence into pecks? See to weights and measures here, Christian. The scales in which we measure our trials and troubles, are they according to standard? Paul, who had more to suffer than we have, called his afflictions light, and yet we often consider ours to be heavy--surely something must be amiss with the weights! We must see to this matter, lest we get reported to the court above for unjust dealing. Those weights with which we measure our doctrinal belief, are they quite fair? The doctrines of grace should have the same weight with us as the precepts of the word, no more and no less; but it is to be feared that with many one scale or the other is unfairly weighted. It is a grand matter to give just measure in truth. Christian, be careful here. Those measures in which we estimate our obligations and responsibilities look rather small. When a rich man gives no more to the cause of God than the poor contribute, is that a just ephah and a just hin? When ministers are half starved, is that honest dealing? When the poor are despised, while ungodly rich men are held in admiration, is that a just balance? Reader, we might lengthen the list, but we prefer to leave it as your evening's work to find out and destroy all unrighteous balances, weights, and measures.
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Today's reading: Psalm 143-145, 1 Corinthians 14:21-40 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 143-145

A psalm of David.
1 LORD, hear my prayer,
listen to my cry for mercy;
in your faithfulness and righteousness
come to my relief.
2 Do not bring your servant into judgment,
for no one living is righteous before you.
3 The enemy pursues me,
he crushes me to the ground;
he makes me dwell in the darkness
like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me;
my heart within me is dismayed.
5 I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works
and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you;
I thirst for you like a parched land.

Today's New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 14:21-40

21 In the Law it is written:
"With other tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord."
22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, 25 as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

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