Thursday, July 25, 2013

Thu Jul 25th Todays News

Happy birthday and many happy returns Lenny Timons. Born on the same day as Gavrilo Princip (1894), Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (1915), Benny Benjamin (1925), Barbara Harris (1935) and Bruce Woodley (1942). Commonwealth Constitution Day in Puerto Rico (1952)
306 – Constantine the Great was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops after the death of Constantius Chlorus.
1893 – The Corinth Canal was formally opened, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in the Aegean Sea.
1943 – The Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence against Benito Mussolini, who was arrested the same day by King Victor Emmanuel III and replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
1978 – Two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists were killed by police at Cerro Maravilla in Villalba.
1993 – Israeli forces launched a week-long attack against Lebanon to make it difficult for Hezbollah to use southern Lebanon as a base for striking Israel. On your day, something passes and is replaced by someone great. It is good that canal opened. Nobody liked Mussolini anyway. Hold your ground. Everything you have, you deserve.
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The nightmare that is Kevvie continues into Spring

Piers Akerman – Thursday, July 25, 2013 (5:08am)

THE nightmare that is the second Rudd government will not end soon.
Kevvie is not planning to drive out to Yarralumla this weekend to see his Governor General, the former Sex Discrimination Commissioner and former Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce, a Labor pin-up girl.
He has more important television commitments to meet in his herculean effort to burnish his image as a Leader.
Of course, Kevvie insists that he is in no rush to take the nation to the polls anyway, he wants the people to think his pop star appearances in schools and shopping malls are an indication that he is in the “business of governing”.
There is no governing taking place in Australia at the moment – only media opportunities and press releases designed to appeal to every voting bloc that might yet be corralled into considering returning to the stinking corpse that is the ALP.
When pressed yesterday on an election date by Melbourne radio host Neil Mitchell, Kevvie simpered: “Well there’s a thing called a constitution and it says when it (election) can be held.”
Real leaders in real life are men and women who call the shots and made decisions without obfuscating about the Constitution.
Australia doesn’t have a fixed election date like America. All the Constitution lays out are the limits for the government’s term, an election can be called almost any time as long as the necessary notice is given to the electorate.
Kevvie must think that he can turn the polls around.
The election he told Mitchell “can be held anytime up to October/November.”
We all knew that.
But Kevvie insisted: “I’m in the business of governing and there are things still to do.
“There is always speculation about election dates.
“There is the business of government to deal with.”
Oh Lord, spare us more Kevvie governing.
In his first term he laid siege to the nation’s economy with his lunatic Green policies, his mining tax and his reckless spending.
He lied about border security and encouraged the greatest surge in illegal boat arrivals the nation has ever seen and which continues to this day.
He governed as our troops were killed in Afghanistan and boat people died at sea.
He now desperately wants to attend the G20 leaders’ summit in St Petersburg on September 5-6, when Australia becomes the chair of the economic summit and prepares to host the leaders’ forum in Queensland next year.
Yesterday he had a telephone conversation with France’s Left-wing President Francois Hollande in which they talked up the importance of the Australia-France relationship as well as “the importance of the St Petersburg and (2014) Brisbane G20 summits”.
Of course they would.
Kevvie also hopes to address the UN General Assembly as the leader of Australia while it chairs the UN Security Council - an achievement he set in train when he was prime minister the first time, and pursued as foreign minister after being dumped for Ms Gillard.
Before being dumped as foreign minister, that is.
This blows the possible election date out to October 12, given the various football finals that scheduled for September.
The campaigning not governing will drag on.
Brace yourselves for more of nauseating advertisements and more of the gently-modulated tones from the egoistic psychopath as we roll toward a Spring election. 

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THEN AND NOW

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 25, 2013 (11:43am)

In 2007, then shadow immigration minister Tony Burke sent this message to asylum seekers in a speech to the lobby group Labor for Refugees: “The day you arrive in Australia is the day your persecution ends.”
Burke also condemned the Howard government’s offshore processing methods. “The Howard Government’s use of Nauru as an immigration detention centre is not only a waste of money, it is inhumane,” Burke wrote in 2007. “Labor would close the Australian detention facilities on Nauru and Manus Island.”
As immigration minister under the current Rudd government, Burke now has a completely different message for asylum seekers arriving by boat. “One, they remain in detention. Two, they return to their home country. Three, they get settled in another country where they have a right of residence. They don’t have a right to residence in Australia,” Burke told the ABC on Monday.
In 2002, Senator Kate Lundy joined Labor colleagues in attacking the Coalition’s asylum seeker stance. “We shouldstop using the language of John Howard,” she said. “That is the language of racism and victimisation of those most in need. We should not reinforce the perception that asylum seekers are a threat and should be feared.
“We need to remind ourselves that seeking asylum is not an illegal activity. Asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants until their claims have been tested under Australian law, and found to be wanting.”
That speech is still posted at Senator Lundy’s website, but the Minister for Multicultural Affairs has little to say about Prime Minister Rudd’s PNG policy. “It’s not in her portfolio,” a spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph.
In 2001, as AWU National Secretary, Bill Shorten declared that the Howard government’s “dirty and nasty” Pacific solution put Australian jobs at risk.
“Howard’s shabby tactics have attracted international condemnation, making it harder to attract international investment,” Shorten claimed. “Howard’s actions undermines humanitarian values, and stirs division within the Australian community. The Australian Workers Union rejects the politics of hate.”
Contrast the Shorten of 2001 with the Shorten of this week, defending the PNG solution on Q & A. “We will facilitate the safe processing of people in Papua New Guinea,” the minister for education said. “It is not compassionate to hold out a proposition which will see so many people exploited by unscrupulous people and let them drown.”
Health minister Tanya Plibersek, while supporting the PNG solution, says she feels “very conflicted”, which is no surprise considering her previous views.
In 2004, Plibersek, the member for Sydney, slammed the Howard government over asylum seeker policies that she said “punish anyone who asks for our help in this country.” Three years earlier, Plibersek told an interviewer that “one thousand people arriving in a country of 20 million is not a flood of refugees and it’s not a threat to the fabric of our society.”

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INTRO OF THE WEEK

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 25, 2013 (11:39am)

Bicycle lane vigilante Elizabeth Farrelly: 
Allan Savory once killed 40,000 African elephants. Your local supermarket designs lighting specifically to deceive you that its food is more nutritious – the greens greener, the meats redder – than they are.
What’s the connection? 
Good question. So good, in fact, that Elizabeth doesn’t answer it.

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TOO PRETTY FOR PRISON

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 25, 2013 (11:37am)

If you’re ever going to glass someone, make sure you’ve gone to the right school: 
A private school-educated budding corporate lawyer who glassed and bashed a man at Crown casino has avoided jail after a magistrate said he would not cope in the clink.
Liam Danial Sweeney, 27, received an 18-month jail term, wholly suspended for two years, and was convicted and fined $5000 for the “unprovoked and gratuitous” assault on April 7.
Ian Hill, QC, told magistrate Jack Vandersteen the alcohol-fuelled attack meant Sweeney would have trouble being admitted to practise law and asked that he not send Sweeney to jail.
“I don’t think he’d last very long (in jail),” Mr Vandersteen replied.
“Not many people are in jail who went to (the prestigious school) Haileybury or who had your client’s privileged background.”
Mr Hill added: “Or who look like him.” 
As it happens, the man Sweeney attacked still bears a scar on his forehead, thereby making him more likely to be jailed himself should he ever face court.

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A CERTAIN DEMOGRAPHIC

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 25, 2013 (10:25am)

Queensland Police Minister Jack Dempsey wonders at the type of people who are attracted to political talkfests: 
“It’s up there with aeroplane watchers and reading Hansard. There is a certain demographic that may want to come down and see G20, that’s why the forward planning is in place,” Mr Dempsey said.
“I’d be finding a bit of time with my family and friends.” 
(Via Dave, who emails: “I believe school kids with sandwiches will be kept at least 100 feet away from Obama. Those with Subway sandwiches, a further 50 ft as they are more aerodynamic and can be thrown further, if you get the right spin.")

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LABOR’S LITTLE LURCHER

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 25, 2013 (10:12am)

The Spectator examines Canadian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s lurch to the right: 
It’s the great irony of our times: Tony Abbott, derided as being an unpopular opposition leader, is in fact the most successful political leader our nation has had in recent years. Or to put it another way: having conned his way into office in 2007 by convincing voters that he was a trendier, touchy-feely version of John Howard, Kevin Rudd is now trying to trick his way back into office by pretending he is tougher than his conservative nemesis. Unable to find a single ‘progressive’ or social-democratic policy in his own or the Gillard government’s swagbag with which to mount a case for re-election, Mr Rudd has attempted to leapfrog to the right of the Coalition. 
Rudd is a campaign-only conservative. And he makes no apology for that.

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WHEELER DEALERS

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 25, 2013 (10:03am)

Cycling is an obvious inducement to drug use. Probably it should be banned.

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Never let Labor moralise again about boat people

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (7:24pm)

Tim Blair contrasts what Labor’s moralists once said about John Howard’s border policies with what they now say about their harsher own. 

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Liberals to put general in charge of boat defence

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (5:49pm)

The Liberals don’t seem to have much faith in shadow defence minister David Johnson - and create an awkward chain of command to stop the boats:
TONY Abbott is risking the ire of the nation’s defence establishment by forcing a three-star military commander to answer directly to his immigration minister under a dramatic command and control overhaul to stop asylum boats…
Under the $10 million plan, a three-star commander would head a joint taskforce responsible for implementing the Coalition’s border protection policy.
The taskforce would finalise and issue protocols to naval commanders on turning around asylum boats, while additional border protection vessels would be leased....
The policy was endorsed by former major general Jim Molan, who said he had provided advice to the Coalition on the feasibility of the plan.
The chain of command seems wrong. Naval commanders who normally report up through the Chief of Defence to the Defence Minister will, if deployed on border control, also report up through a different general to the Immigration Minister.
The Australian Defence Association has concerns, although I strongly disagree with its claim that the stopping the boats is too “party-political” and “peripheral” a duty for the armed forces, which are already deployed to “intercept” boats anyway:
There is surely no need for the measures described in Operation Sovereign Borders to be led by a military officer, either on secondment or as part of his or her military duties directly.
If Opposition Spokesmen believe that the “scale of the problem requires the discipline and focus of a targeted military operation” then surely this can be achieved without using a serving member of the ADF to lead it. Particularly when the stated intention of the plan is for this senior officer to command rather than just head the operation. And where the legal basis for such command is not addressed.
Moreover, the Coalition plan envisages a senior ADF officer answering directly as a commander, for a non-military function, to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship.  Rather than through the legal chain of command to the Chief of Defence Force and then to the civil control of the Minister for Defence.
This seems to pose obvious obstacles given the Defence Act, its underlying constitutional provisions and the necessary Westminster conventions separating military command (operationally) and civil control of the military (constitutionally).
But coordinating the various agencies involved in border protection makes sense. For heaven’s sake - another two boat arrivals announced today. This is way out of control:
The Coalition’s policy was announced as it was revealed another asylum boat - this one carrying about 100 people - had arrived in Australian waters.
If this rate of arrivals doesn’t slow over the next month, PNG may well baulk at the number of boat people it’s being asked to take on.
UPDATE
The full policy looks, however, looks far more determined and effective than does the PNG “solution”.
UPDATE
Reader Jeff says I’ve made too much of the joint lines of responsibility:
Regarding your post in respect to the Coalition’s proposed policy the current Commander, Border Protection Command, Rear Admiral David Johnston, reports indirectly to both the Minister for Home Affairs and the Minister for Defence.
Perhaps it is thought it may be be more sound operationally to report to only one Minister under the revamped organisation. 

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No one walked alone at the MCG

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (9:23am)


But we only shout out the AFL club anthems:
A RECORD soccer crowd of 95,446 has witnessed history at the MCG with Liverpool winning their first match on Australian soil against a gallant Melbourne Victory… When the first chords of Liverpool’s iconic anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone started to play the vast majority of the MCG crowd rose as one and sang in unison.

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Bowen urges drivers to cheat on their FBT claims

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (9:14am)

Treasurer Chris Bowen is so eager to minimise the damage done by the Government’s fringe benefit tax blundering that he offers tax-dodging advice that could put people in the dock:

Federal Treasurer Chris Bowen told media earlier in the week: “Within the first 12-month period the individual concerned can pick the three months they want to maximise their chances of getting the maximum tax concession ... we would like some evidence that the car is being used for business purposes.”
The car leasing industry has seized on the faux-pas saying if they were to offer the same advice to company-car drivers they would be breaking the law…
The ATO website says: “A log book must be maintained for a representative period of 12 consecutive weeks during the applicable FBT year, the log book year.
“A log book can be used as a basis for calculating the business use percentage for up to five FBT years, being the log book year and a further four consecutive FBT years, provided there is no major change in the pattern of use of the car.
“An increase or decrease of 10 per cent in the business use of a car will generally be considered a major change in the pattern of use of the car.”

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Don’t call me a Leftie, ABC Leftie protests

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (8:48am)


ABC presenter Adam Hills:

I can’t speak for everyone at the ABC but I’ll tell you right now I am not a leftie. 
Listen as he then lists the causes he actually supports: saving rainforests, legalising gay marriage, being nice to boat people, fighting the dangerous global warming that ”97 per cent” of scientists say is man-made.
No, Adam, you aren’t a Leftie and nor is the ABC. Only a conservative would say so, right?
UPDATE
No, not a Leftie at all:

Isn’t shilling for Labor at the Logies what conservatives do?

(Thanks to readers Sam and Barry.)
UPDATE
Not entirely unrelated is this, from reader Michael O:
Theodore Dalrymple writes about north African boat people drowning in the Mediterranean. He targets, in particular, the reaction of the Pope to this problem. But his comments could apply equally to all bien pensant, left-leaning, bleeding heart, liberal (in the American sense) do-gooders. He writes: 
“By elevating feeling over thought, by making compassion the measure of all things, the Pope was able to evade the complexities of the situation, in effect indulging in one of the characteristic vices of our time, moral exhibitionism, which is the espousal of generous sentiment without the pain of having to think of the costs to other people of the implied (but unstated) morally-appropriate policy.”
It was Kevin Rudd’s “moral exhibitionism”, cheered on by Greens, bishops, Burnsides and inner-suburbanites, that brought us to this present pass.
Or as George Orwell, a man of the Left, too grudgingly put it:
One reason for Kipling’s power as a good bad poet I have already suggested--his sense of responsibility, which made it possible for him to have a world-view, even though it happened to be a false one. Although he had no direct connexion with any political party, Kipling was a Conservative… He identified himself with the ruling power and not with the opposition. In a gifted writer this seems to us strange and even disgusting, but it did have the advantage of giving Kipling a certain grip on reality. The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you DO?’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions. Where it is a permanent and pensioned opposition, as in England, the quality of its thought deteriorates accordingly.

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Rudd’s PNG deal collapsing

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (8:15am)

Boat people policy
Kevin Rudd’s PNG solution seems to have collapsed already:
PEOPLE-SMUGGLERS are defying Kevin Rudd’s new border-protection plan by despatching more asylum-seekers to Christmas Island…
As a further 205 asylum-seekers arrived and another boat sank off Indonesia, killing as many as 48 people, the Prime Minister hit back at doubts his policy was working, but conceded it would take time to show results…
Six of the seven asylum boats that have arrived at Christmas Island in recent days are likely to have begun their journey after Mr Rudd unveiled his new rules...
With 522 people now being held on Christmas Island for redirection to offshore detention, the government has more asylum-seekers under its new regime than the likely capacity of the existing facilities at Manus Island.
Rudd is wrong. The fix he proposed would either work quickly or probably not at all.
But the latest sinking tragedy casts doubt on just how many asylum seekers yet know of Rudd’s threat:

Sri Lankan survivors told The Australian yesterday the smuggling agents who consigned them to a disaster that has left four confirmed dead and 44 missing managed to keep them away from any news of the Rudd pronouncement…
Iranian Soheil, 23, said his group of passengers from the Middle East heard confused versions of the Rudd announcement last weekend but their agent dismissed it. “The agent told us not to take it seriously, it’s just a rumour,” Soheil said.
UPDATE
It’s the only transfer of boat people either to or out of PNG since Kevin Rudd’s deal was announced. And it’s possibly bringing alleged rapists into Australia:

Any investigation by Papua New Guinea authorities of alleged rape and torture cases on Manus Island could prove almost impossible because most asylum seekers have already been transferred to Australia.
The Immigration Department confirmed last night that 70 asylum seekers were transferred yesterday from Manus Island to Australia as the government prepares to put in place its tough new policy to deter boats.
That leaves only about 60 people at the detention centre out of a capacity of 500, meaning any victims and perpetrators of the rapes and tortures aired by SBS’ Dateline have most likely already been transferred to Australia.
Working beautifully.
UPDATE
Reader Jeff of FNQ on a lot more to come:

Appears there could be a number of vessels heading to Christmas Island.
AMSA issued several MSIs yesterday afternoon for vessels who had reported problems between Indonesia and Christmas Island and a further MSI last night. Vessels reportedly carrying 70, 100 and 74 POB. Another vessel SE of Sri Lanka with 65 POB also reported disabled.

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Where’s your own poster, Tanya?

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (7:44am)

image
Confront the hypocrites:

The smirking poster on the wall of the electoral office of Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for Health, had a photo of Tony Abbott next to the slogan: ‘’I’m threatened by boats and gays.’’
Who is threatened now? Plibersek is so fearful of asylum seekers she has committed to send boat people to an island off the coast of Papua New Guinea, to a detention centre that is a row of tents, fumigated for malaria, where self-harm is endemic and mental depredation is routine.

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Rudd helps Abbott to a second election win

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (7:27am)

Politics - federal
image
KEVIN Rudd is the best present Labor could give a Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Sure, Abbott still has a tougher fight to win the next election, although Rudd’s familiar bungling has made that job easier than it seemed a week ago.
But Rudd’s wild policy reversals since he snatched back the prime ministership have helped Abbott to now win the election after that, too. Does Labor realise Rudd is trashing its credibility on the very issues that would most test Abbott if he wins the election? 

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Bass notes

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (7:24am)

Your favorite books, poems and music - and mine
Thanks to James Jeffrey for steering me to Rene Pape.
I’ve posted the obvious clip, of course, but I think James and I are also both fans of this much-less known number - so terrific that I’m amazed that it’s taken me decades to stumble onto it:

Dimitri Hvorostovsky’s take:

But this will trump Jeffrey. Listen to a real Russian bass, with his voice coming from the soles of his shoes. It’s Alexander Ognivtsev, about whom I know next to nothing:


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On The Bolt Report on Sunday: Kevin Rudd

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (7:14am)

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On The Bolt Report on Sunday: one of me interviews Kevin Rudd.
The advice I got yesterday hasn’t really helped.
Reader Foehn spoke for many:

Please Andrew, grill him. I know you can do it respectfully, just don’t let him waffle on and on and on.
Reader Perpetually Outraged spoke for others:

I’m sure one of the many reasons people whose views you disagree with are unwilling to go on your show is your total inability to allow them to answer questions without you constantly speaking over them and interrupting. Now that you have actually got him on the show, please do not do the same to the Prime Minister.
Reader Bo and others disagreed:
Andrew, you will probably need to interrupt him from time to time: otherwise you won’t get a word in! 
Back on the other hand, reader Brokenboy:

Contrary to much advice here, I suggest you allow Mr Rudd to present his case in full, and listen quietly.
Yet reader Bruce also spoke for many:

Andrew please don’t adopt the “nice Mr Bolt” style which I believe you at times unfortunately do when interviewing those of the left.
Reader Bailey warns:

NO PRESSURE ANDREW .BUT AS AN AVID READER OF YOUR OPINIONS&BLOGS;,I FEEL THERE IS A LOT OF PRESSURE ON YOU TO DELIVER AN INTERVIEW WITH RUDD THAT WILL EXPOSE HIM AS THE HYPOCRITE THAT HE IS.IF YOU WIMP ON THIS YOU WILL LOOSE MY SUPPORT.
I didn’t sleep well last night.
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm on Sunday. 

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TWU denies Rudd $250,000

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (7:03am)

One union, at least, isn’t keen on voting for Labor:

ONE of the nation’s biggest unions has snubbed Kevin Rudd by withholding $250,000 in political donations to the Labor Party that would have been made if Julia Gillard had been prime minister.
The decision by the Transport Workers Union, whose national secretary, Tony Sheldon, is also the ALP’s senior vice-president, reflects unease among some key union leaders about the return of Mr Rudd to The Lodge.
Sources said the union had instead decided to spend $500,000 in the lead-up to the federal election on two campaigns, costing $250,000 each, designed to highlight issues relevant to its members in the road transport and aviation sectors.
This is actually ineffectual - and I suspect shows Sheldon is compromised by his Labor Party affiliation.
Surely a modern trade union, knowing its members are no longer just cannon-fodder for Labor, trades their support for specific policies of benefit to their members. They should ask all parties to make them an offer.
This is precisely what the CFMEU’s forestry branch did to great advantage in the 2004 campaign:

MARK COLVIN: The clapping and cheering you heard behind the Prime Minister in Louise Yaxley’s report earlier came from members of the CFMEU.
It’s not often that members of a left wing union give an ovation to a Liberal Prime Minister while calling the ALP leader a liar.
Many of the 2,000 workers attending the announcement said afterwards that they’d vote Liberal for the first time this weekend. They believe John Howard has promised them job security.
Of course, if Sheldon tried the same haggling with the Liberals to benefit his union members he’d have to quit as a Labor vice-president. Wouldn’t do much good for any hopes of a political career, either.
I think the Labor-union nexus doesn’t just hurt Labor. 

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Rudd would rather wait in hope than lose for sure

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (6:54am)

Kevin Rudd hasn’t come back just to save Labor’s furniture in a gallant loss. He has come back to win.
The polls show he’s lifted Labor’s vote, but - as Newspoll this week confirmed - not enough to win. Therefore the early election option is dead and too bad if Labor insiders think Rudd should go early before the fizz goes out of his drink:

KEVIN Rudd has all but ruled out an August 31 election date and is now unlikely to call a poll until at least September 21 - three years and one month after Labor went to the voters in 2010.
The Prime Minister has told colleagues not to expect an election to be called this weekend and publicly signalled yesterday that, under the Constitution, he could go to “October-November” before holding an election.
The comments suggest an intention to go beyond simply “announcing” policies and trying to implement them fully, to convince voters that Mr Rudd can deliver on his promises.
I wouldn’t bet at all on an August election. This could go on for months yet. 

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Warmists will run out scares before we run out of food

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (6:34am)

Global warming - dud predictions
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YOU’D think greens, claiming to love nature, at least understood crops better than most of us.
Yet they still keep freaking that we’ll run out of food.
First they feared we were breeding like rabbits and eating the planet bare. 

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At the warmist Age it’s not warming but it is

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (6:08am)

Global warming - propaganda
The Age, April 8:

image
The Age, July 3:
image

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Scientists talking about no warming

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (5:48am)

Global warming - dud predictions, Global warming - general
Jimbo on Watts Up With That rounds up the climate scientists confessing to this lack of warming:
Dr. Phil Jones – CRU emails – 5th July, 2005

“The scientific community would come down on me in no uncertain terms if I said the world had cooled from 1998. OK it has but it is only 7 years of data and it isn’t statistically significant….”
Dr. Phil Jones – CRU emails – 7th May, 2009

‘Bottom line: the ‘no upward trend’ has to continue for a total of 15 years before we get worried.’
Dr. Judith L. Lean – Geophysical Research Letters – 15 Aug 2009
“…This lack of overall warming is analogous to the period from 2002 to 2008 when decreasing solar irradiance also countered much of the anthropogenic warming…”
Dr. Kevin Trenberth – CRU emails – 12 Oct. 2009
“Well, I have my own article on where the heck is global warming…..The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t.”
Dr. Mojib Latif – Spiegel – 19th November 2009
“At present, however, the warming is taking a break,"……."There can be no argument about that.”
Dr. Jochem Marotzke – Spiegel – 19th November 2009
“It cannot be denied that this is one of the hottest issues in the scientific community.... We don’t really know why this stagnation is taking place at this point.”
Dr. Phil Jones – BBC – 13th February 2010
“I’m a scientist trying to measure temperature. If I registered that the climate has been cooling I’d say so. But it hasn’t until recently – and then barely at all. The trend is a warming trend.”
Dr. Phil Jones – BBC – 13th February 2010

[Q] B – “Do you agree that from 1995 to the present there has been no statistically-significant global warming”
[A] “Yes, but only just”.
Prof. Shaowu Wang et al – Advances in Climate Change Research – 2010
“…The decade of 1999-2008 is still the warmest of the last 30 years, though the global temperature increment is near zero;…”
Dr. Robert K. Kaufmann – PNAS – 2nd June 2011
“…..it has been unclear why global surface temperatures did not rise between 1998 and 2008…..”
Dr. Gerald A. Meehl – Nature Climate Change – 18th September 2011

“There have been decades, such as 2000–2009, when the observed globally averaged surface-temperature time series shows little increase or even a slightly negative trend1 (a hiatus period)….”
Met Office Blog – Dave Britton (10:48:21) – 14 October 2012

“We agree with Mr Rose that there has been only a very small amount of warming in the 21st Century. As stated in our response, this is 0.05 degrees Celsius since 1997 equivalent to 0.03 degrees Celsius per decade.” 
Dr. James Hansen – NASA GISS – 15 January 2013
“The 5-year mean global temperature has been flat for a decade, which we interpret as a combination of natural variability and a slowdown in the growth rate of the net climate forcing.”
Dr. Virginie Guemas – Nature Climate Change – 7 April 2013
“…Despite a sustained production of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, the Earth’s mean near-surface temperature paused its rise during the 2000–2010 period…”
Dr. Hans von Storch – Spiegel – 20 June 2013
“…the increase over the last 15 years was just 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.11 degrees Fahrenheit) — a value very close to zero….If things continue as they have been, in five years, at the latest, we will need to acknowledge that something is fundamentally wrong with our climate models….”
Professor Masahiro Watanabe – Geophysical Research Letters – 28 June 2013
“The weakening of k commonly found in GCMs seems to be an inevitable response of the climate system to global warming, suggesting the recovery from hiatus in coming decades.”
Professor Rowan Sutton – Independent – 22 July 2013
“Some people call it a slow-down, some call it a hiatus, some people call it a pause. The global average surface temperature has not increased substantially over the last 10 to 15 years.”
And, no, they never saw this coming:
image
UPDATE
Oh, did they forget to mention the planet wouldn’t actually warm for a while? Their bad:

Scientists have long been aware that climate change would not happen at a fixed rate and could include periods where temperatures remain stable for 10 to 20 years, but admitted they had failed to explain this to the public in the past.
Prof Rowan Sutton, Director of Climate Research at the University of Reading, said: “Within the field we have taken for granted that there will be variations in the rate of warming, it is totally accepted and is no surprise ...[it] would correct to say that wasn’t the message that we communicated more widely and that probably is a failing.” 

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The evil price of seeming good

Andrew Bolt July 25 2013 (5:38am)

How many lives were lost and billions wasted before Labor realised - 46,000 boat people later - it had been horribly, pridefully wrong:

Kevin Rudd, ABC’s 7.30 Report, November 21, 2007: 
THERE will be no continuation of the Pacific Solution under a federal Labor government ... The Pacific Solution is just wrong. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money. It’s not the right way to in fact handle asylum-seekers or others.
Immigration minister Chris Evans, October 2009:


WE abolished the Pacific Solution. I’m absolutely proud of that. It was a blight on Australia and a blight on our international reputation.
Rudd, June 27, 2010:

IF I am returned as the leader of the party and the government, and as prime minister, then I will be very clear about one thing, this party and government will not be lurching to the right on the question of asylum-seekers, as some have counselled us to do.
PM Julia Gillard, July 6, 2010:

MY government is not interested in pursuing a new Pacific Solution.
PM Rudd, Friday:

FROM now on, any asylum-seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees. Asylum-seekers, if they are found to be genuine refugees, they will be resettled in Papua New Guinea.

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Andreas Herrmann
Auf alle Fälle führt die Hoffnung weiter als die Furcht (Ernst Jünger)

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‘Peace Talks? The Mideast is Going Up in Flames’ - Israel National News

Nobel Prize-winning professor baffled by peace talks. “It’s obvious that a signed agreement would be meaningless.” - Maayana Miskin
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Beautiful views over the Tuscan valley
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Below the Mists, Above the Clouds... — withDarvin Atkeson at Muir Beach Overlook.
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Kevin Rudd's net debt ads are highly deceptive. His net debt does not include the $148 billion we owe to pay for the superannuation of public servants, but it does use the money in the Future Fund that Costello put away for that purpose. Rudd's using Costello's prudence to make him look good!

Graph below corrects for this anomaly. You actually owe more than $20,000 per person in net government liabilities (up from having money in the bank a few years ago). 

(My figures use the IMF World Economic Outlook and are slightly different probably because I use current US$ exchange rates.)
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Doctor Who’s Starry Night…
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Movie One Sheets: California (1947)

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/movie-one-sheets-california-1947/

Stars: Ray Milland, Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Fitzgerald. Epic account of how California became a state, featuring a wagon train, the Gold Rush, a wicked saloon queen, and an evil profiteer.
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“Words are what men live by… words they say and mean.” - JOHN WAYNE
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Kelly O'Dwyer
Just because Kevin Rudd has a press conference, it doesn't make it so. Asking legitimate questions of a policy, such as how much will the PNG solution cost, is part of being a responsible Opposition. Watch me on SkyNews ‪#‎AMAgenda‬ http://youtu.be/ZAKyDSfVnFI

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DEAR UNCLE KEV....

I tried to get a photo with you at the shopping mall for show-and-tell, ‘cos I think you are famous. My dad says you’re a narcissistic megalomaniac. I’m not sure what that means but it sure sounds important.

Anyway Uncle Kev, the teacher says we have to do an essay on what a silly man Mr Abbott is and how you will stop all these people drowning. 

My friend Chloe says you should teach them all to swim but when I asked my dad he said you couldn’t teach a bloody fish to swim (my dad only swears when we talk about you).

I’m really confused ‘tho Uncle Kev because when you send everyone to PNG (I hear it’s a really awful place) you say they will hate being there and stop coming, is that right?

Uncle Kev, I saw on TV all the horrible places where we keep them now, where they do awful things to each other, and then there’s probably 2,000 of them who have already drowned! So if that hasn’t stopped them coming, how could having to go to PNG stop them?

I know I’m missing something here, Uncle Kev, and I know you are a lot cleverer than me but isn’t PNG closer to Australia? On my atlas it’s very close.

Please Uncle Kev, I want to get top marks for my essay so it can’t sound really silly.

Aren’t all these people coming from Indonesia? I mean, why wouldn’t you stop all the boats leaving from there first so they don’t get drowned?

Let me put it this way Uncle Kev, when my naughty brother Shamus turned the hose on full pelt and it was squiggling everywhere making everything wet, my dad went and turned the tap off and it stopped.

I don’t think my Dad is as smart as you ‘cos he’s just a bricklayer so you must have a secret plan that nobody understands and I want to be the first to tell my class.

I try to listen to you explaining this secret plan but my Dad keeps throwing his beer cans at the TV and yelling bad words. He says everything you touch turns to poo.

When he’s not there I turn on the ABC and I get even more confused. So please reply to my letter Uncle Kev or I’ll just have to copy my essay from the Sydney Morning Herald.

Then I know I’ll get top marks but I really want my essay to make sense.

Loved the pic of you cutting yourself. That was so funny. Dad says a lot of people on Narau do that too.

Love,
Phoebe (8)
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Kevin Rudd likes to talk but one thing he won’t say is just how much debt he has racked up and how quickly.

It’s a fact that under Labor debt has grown faster than any other period in modern times.
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Heartwarming: Bush 41 shaves head in solidarity with 2-year-old leukemia patient ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/07/24/heartwarming-bush-41-shaves-head-in-solidarity-with-2-year-old-leukemia-patient-pics/
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Happy Ride
Sexshop365 has created the Happy Ride, a discreet black bicycle seat that vibrates as you ride. The seat’s vibration level can be adjusted to provide stimulation for both men and women using a set of controls attached to the back of the seat. Claire Bowden of Sexshop365 told Daily Mail, “Thanks to the UK’s cycling boom and the building obsession around next year’s Fifty Shades Of Grey movie, both adult toys and cycling are firmly on the public radar. It was only a matter of time before the two were combined to make your daily cycle even more pleasurable.” The Happy Ride vibrating bicycle seat is currently available to purchase from Sexshop365.

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Catch me playing Sailor Moon in the final release. Aug 31st!

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Matt Granz
Your work powerfully illustrates your position - ed
I was just reading through some posts by a person in San Diego who runs workshops. It was an interesting read and had some good basic information. He did however make a lot of noise about doing most everything "in camera" and not post processing. If he wasn't so bent on making statements such as telling his followers that its a crutch and shows a certain lack of imagination on the part of the photographer who uses the digital darkroom, I might have let it go. I think in part that he's right. You have to know your camera and have the tools that make for a good photograph. A lot can be done in camera, and I'm a believer in doing all that you can, to come away with an image file that has all the characteristics and emotional impact that you want to convey. He talks about only shooting in jpeg and not in RAW (uncompressed) because it allows the photographer to cheat. I want to state that if you are an artist who uses a camera, that you should block out the Photoshop naysayers such as this guy. It is another tool, and not simply for the "inept" to correct their in camera mistakes. This feeling of superiority for not using post processing is to my mind a limiting and negative look on a wonderful technology that is part of our short time on this planet. It allows for artistic expression and can even make an image all the more appear like what our eyes saw, which is a limitation of the modern day camera sensors. To make such assertions also seems to take away from the artistic expression that should and does freely come from all the various ways of capturing what is around us through the devices that have been given to us by genius... the same genius that has given us the ability to manipulate the digital files... sometimes to bring that feeling of being there and at other times to take the viewer somwhere that can only exist in the mind of the artist.

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Rudd has turned over a new leaf.

He now consults prior to any policy decision — atThe Mental Institution Hospital.
Sometimes he argues violently, but he gets his way - ed
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4 her
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Sunrise at Fort Point. A little long exposure fun at dawn.
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The Ranch. My girls contributed to the colors seen here, though not the first nor last to add their touch to the half buried cars. Many thanks to my wife Laura who spotted these from far off as we were passing them. — at Cadilac Ranch Amarillo TX.
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Cthulhu is warm goes the saying. But that is wrong. Cthulhu is hot and it's heat will sear the crackling off the belly of any unfortunate who comes too close.
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Anacapri
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4 her
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Pongua Falls Vietnam.
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Triglav National Park, Slovenia
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Israel to begin giving intel on Hezbollah to EU enforcement officials - Jpost

BBC tweaks Hizballah statement, promotes its conspiracy theories
Putin to offer advanced antimissiles to soothe Iran’s S-300 grudge – report - BBCWatch

Putin to offer advanced antimissiles to soothe Iran’s S-300 grudge – report - RT
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it think I can't see EU doing anything worthwhile, and it is risible to suggest they don't know the truth. - ed
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Pastor Rick Warren
Comfort after a tragic loss doesn’t come in looking for good but in looking to God. Explantions don't help. The love of God does.

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Pastor Rick Warren
This weekend will be my 1st sermon preached since my son died. In 43 years of ministry I've never gone 16 weeks not preaching. Also 3 TV news networks are sending trucks to cover this message so I need your prayers. You will be able to watch it online here: http://bit.ly/HnE6ib Thank you so much friends!

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Pastor Rick Warren
6 Commitments for Growing a Church with Unity
http://pastors.com/6-commitments-for-growing-a-church-with-unity/

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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Good sense makes a man restrain his anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression or an offense (Proverbs 19:11)
Every day, we have opportunities to get upset, be frustrated or get offended. Maybe you had plans that didn’t work out, or someone was rude to you at the office. Maybe you were doing something that should have taken one hour, and it ended up taking three. Life is full of inconveniences, but even though we can’t always control our circumstances, we can control our reaction.

If you get stressed because somebody offended you, you’re are going against God. Instead, make the decision to release those offenses and disappointments Him so that you can live in peace and enjoy what the day has to offer.God bless you.

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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Father in heaven,I thank You for this new day.I thank You for giving me life through Your Son, Jesus. I surrender every area of my heart to You and ask that You make me whole and complete. Set me free and teach me to walk in Your ways. I thank You for the opportunity to begin again. I choose to press forward and keep believing for the dreams and desires You’ve placed in my heart. I trust You today with everything that I am in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Our Father Makes Everything New
He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new(Revelation 21:5, NIV)
Maybe you were determined to excel in your career, excel as a parent, or even excel in your walk with the Lord. You probably started out strong, but maybe things got a little difficult and didn’t happen as quickly as you would have liked. At that point many people decide, “Let’s just settle here. It’s not exactly what we wanted, but at least, it’s good enough.
God is reminding you today that you were made for more than good enough. Maybe things haven’t worked out the way you planned, but now is not the time to stop and settle. Now is the time to dig your heals in and begin again. And even if that dream has died — it’s time to dream another dream. God has so much for you in your future.

Take that first step by lifting your eyes to the Father. Let Him renew your strength. Let Him make things new in your life. Trust that His Word is directing your steps. Thank Him and worship Him because He is making all things new in your life.He never fails.God bless you.

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fbtwytfw
Dear Friend,
Donate Now Button
Public opinion is swinging in favor of the Right to Life.  However, a national bill to ban late-term abortions has still not been officially introduced in the U.S. Senate.
Such a ban will pass, but we need to light a fire under these senators!
Please, make an urgent and generous contribution of $35, $50, $100, $200, or whatever you can afford to help fund Patriot Voices' grassroots campaign to pass this critical bill.
I am making a big push to get this ban on late-term abortions introduced and passed through the U.S. Senate because this is the best chance we've had in decades to curtail a huge number of abortions.
We can't let this opportunity slip by.  The House has already passed this ban, and a number of states have passed similar legislation.
Now it is up the U.S. Senate to do what is right.
Please help me ratchet up the pressure on my former colleagues.  I'm telling you, the votes are there to pass this ban if we all just put the pressure on!
The gruesome Gosnell trial, the incredible work of pro-life volunteers across America, and all the horrible reports about Planned Parenthood have provided us with a golden opportunity to stand up for life.
Ultra-liberal Harry Reid was even forced to publicly promise that he would allow a vote on a late-term abortion ban!
Yet bureaucratic red-tape, summer recess, and the left-wing media are all conspiring against us.
That's why we need to get organized and get active.  Today!
Please donate what you can to this historic effort.
We need to bombard the Senate with calls, emails and personal visits from pro-life Americans.
We need to demand that Senate Republicans recognize this issue cannot be ignored and introduce this critical bill.
Then, we need to fight like crazy to make sure it passes.
The delay in proposing this legislation, frankly, is inexcusable.
Every day, more innocent lives are snuffed out in the most violent way imaginable at abortion clinics all across America.
And the American people want it stopped!
Please, we are so close to passing the late-term abortion ban through both houses of Congress.  We can't give up now.
Make the very best contribution you can to help fund our efforts.
And then forward this email to everyone you know who cares about the right to life. 
Thank you in advance for all your help.
Sincerely, 
Rick Santorum signature 
Rick Santorum 
Donate Now Button 
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Whether it's rocket attacks, bombings or fear of nuclear attack, Israel remains alone in a big world of unfriendly nations.

The 'peace process' will likely begin soon, putting the Jewish State under intense pressure to give away significant parts of its homeland and to divide Jerusalem, its eternal capital.

Now more than ever, Israel needs the strong support of friends like you throughout the world. 

While the brave young men and women of the IDF protect the Israeli citizens from their enemies on the battlefield, 'United with Israel' is fighting the war of public opinion in homes, cafes, universities, synagogues and churches throughout the world.

Please partner with us in support of Israel. Click below to make a donation:
https://unitedwithisrael.net/donate

We need you as monthly partners to show how Israel has been a great blessing to the world and only those who stand with Israel will themselves be blessed. Become global advocates for Israel by helping us to use the FULL POWER of the internet and social media. Partner with us to speak and spread the TRUTH to millions about Israel.

The enemies of Israel have spent billions to spread lies and demonize the State of Israel. United with Israel uses the latest technology to reach millions of people across the globe and turn them into global advocates for Israel. We are now expanding our program into multiple languages to reach people in their native tongues.

CLICK BELOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR ISRAEL
https://unitedwithisrael.net/donate

United with Israel must raise SUBSTANTIAL FUNDS to maintain and expand its professional staff and pay for language translation, content development, video production, graphics, programming, advertising, SEO, social media technology, local branch development and much more.

Every dollar is stretched to maximize our incredible results. With your support, we can empower millions of people around the world to become global advocates for the People, Country and Land of Israel.

We ask you to kindly forward this email to your family and friends. They too, deserve the opportunity and privilege to make a real difference by standing United with Israel. 

With Blessings from Israel,

The 'United with Israel' Family

CLICK BELOW TO MAKE AN ONLINE DONATION:
https://unitedwithisrael.net/donate

Checks can be sent to our US address:
United with Israel
PO Box 151 
Lawrence, NY 11559
United States

Checks can be mailed directly to Israel:
United with Israel
8/19 Nachal Maor St.
Box 71530
Bet Shemesh 99623
ISRAEL

To donate by phone please call:
+1-646-213-4003 (USA) 
+972-2-533-7841 (Israel)

===
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This video is from the archives of Yad Vashem and they list the town in the video as "Wielopole Skrzyńskie, Poland" where only 550 Jews lived, half of the population of the town at the time.
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The United States has pressured Israel to restart negotiations with the Palestinian Authority to set up a state of Palestine.
Hear this MUST SEE video of PM Netanyahu speak back in 1978 about why a Palestinian State is wrong and must not be allowed since it is not about self-determination but a method to destroy Israel! He says Jordan is Palestine and any Arabs in the Israeli homeland of Judea and Samaria should be given rights to vote in Jordan!
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How can anyone possibly deny Israel and Jerusalem's connection to the Jewish people with discoveries like this???
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Click here to watch: Music Tribute to the IDF Soldiers
Fabulous!
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This is a fabulous video that simply analyzes the true problem of the Middle East, between the Muslim countries and Israel. Definitely watch it!
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International law is on Israel's side. Watch the video to understand why!
This must be one of the best video presentations that clearly explains international law and the legal case for Israel and Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria. Definitely watch this to have a better understanding of international law so you can talk about Israel's situation intelligently with others.
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Support the Israeli Economy - Weekly Deal

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This publication accompanies the exhibition at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. The exhibition is devoted to the longest and perhaps most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls housed in the Israel Museum's Shrine of the Book. It traces the story of the Temple Scroll, presenting the Scroll itself, together with other manuscripts, archaeological finds, and works of art, in order to reveal diverse aspects of the material and spiritual world of the Qumran community to which the Scrolls are attributed and to examine one of the most crucial elements of Jewish identity - the institution of the Temple.
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Join our mission - Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to help us grow our network to reach hundreds of thousands of people to make a difference for Israel.
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Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for July 24th. Enjoy!

From the Blog

Nancy Pelosi, creep-enabler

The most powerful female Democrat on Capitol Hill has turned her back on women...

DHS official under investigation for helping Terry McAuliffe and Hillary’s brother secure ‘investment’ through gov’t program

Another day, another story about possible malfeasant cronyism...

Administration enlists celebs to entertain America during Obamacare train wreck

What percentage of the Hollywood crowd enlisted to propagandize Obamacare exchanges will be getting their health care through one?

More From the Right Side of the Web

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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Oh, ouch.

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Benito Mussolini

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Events[edit]

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