Saturday, September 27, 2014

Sat Sep 27th Todays News

Terrorists are violent and capable of planning, but not tending to smart. A wise person cautions a young person to prudence, to considering their actions, because escalating an action is always possible so long one allows the opportunity. It is to do with restraint. Had Hawthorn played the AFL Grand Final with weapons instead of athletic skill, they would not have won so handsomely, but Hawthorn played with skill, aggression and restraint. They humbled Swans, who in previous eleven matches had not conceded a total of more than 65 points each match. The leagues most attacking side humbled the leagues best defensive unit 137 to 74, that 74 being one less than the halftime total of the Hawks. But terrorists don't show restraint. And so what else is there to do but oppose them and stop them? Obama has dithered over a year over Syria, but terrorism has galvanised him to action against those he would have supported last year. And so when terrorists demand us to stop attacking ISIS, there is no 'or else' they can go to. No reason they can give us to do so. Every ISIS supporter must face justice for what they do. There is no alternative. 

 The media coverage related to terrorism is irrational. A man who is converting to Islam beheads a female colleague and the media report is as a workplace accident as opposed to a terrorist event. The difference is stark. Who beheads a colleague over a workplace dispute? It is beyond normal understanding. But a beheading soon after an international call for just that is perfectly explicable. Media are not protecting the public. They are protecting their narrative of events which is dangerously exposed. Media would have it widely believed that terrorists were Islamics seeking justice over perceived faults in culture wars. They point to mythic divides and engage in cultural relativism which suggests that terrorists are just like soldiers of a different cause. But in fact terrorists are just like anarchists of times gone by. They offer nothing other than a hazy vision of something that will never happen and probably shouldn't. It is exactly like a terrorist shouting 'Allahu Akbar' before gunning down a large number of mostly unarmed colleagues while Obama is claiming terrorism has been ended by his compassion and appeasement. That wasn't a mere workplace accident either. And so it becomes disturbing, but explicable, when the ABC present their dangerously unbalanced narrative suggesting terrorism is excusable. Terrorists may not watch the ABC, but they are fed the lines the ABC present to them that there are myths that support and endorse terrorism. Meanwhile the Taliban in Afghanistan feed into the narrative, having watched ISIS behead others and claim success, they do too, and the narrative becomes that is what Islamic people do. But the narrative is wrong. It is what terrorists do, and those that disagree with the truth believe the  ADL, ABC and Fairfax press at the expense of those addressing the issue. And a man is arrested for walking with a knife into an Islamic primary school. No doubt he was looking for terrorists. What would he have done had he found a terrorist? What would he have done had he found a lone Islamic child? Not all terrorists claim to be Islamic. 

 Gillard's whining is beneath the behaviour expected of a former Prime Minister. But not beneath what is expected of a corrupt incompetent lawyer. Palmer is embarrassed by a lack of due diligence regarding $12 million he was supposed to have spent on a port but apparently siphoned for an election. He must be in very deep trouble with China and the Australian justice system. Meanwhile the ABC complain about a champagne deal struck with Cambodia involving the settling of illegal migrants. The ABC would rather drown the migrants. Also there are allegations of apparent voter fraud which gave an upset win over Liberal Sophie Mirabella. The electoral system could be made fraud proof, were the electoral system to allow electronic voting and forget the secrecy provision, but make it verifiable. It could be a cheaper system too. 

 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. The biggest sporting event of the day, from the AFL, and Sydney Swans were present for a historic victory. They played with skill and aggression, or rather, they were outplayed by it. No other Minor Premier has ever been beaten by so much in a grand final. They are that good. If there had been four more quarters, there wold have been further humiliation. Swans played well .. but Hawks were magnificent.

from 2013
ALP say they couldn't do it. ABC says it technically isn't the same. But a boat with 44 asylum seekers leaving the safety of Indonesia after the asylum seekers spent over $10k each has been returned to Indonesia .. no loss of life. It wouldn't have happened without Indonesian cooperation. Bad news for the ALP whose murderous but compassionate policy has claimed some 2000 lives drowned at the cost of many billions of dollars siphoned from aid, schools, hospitals, defence, roads .. taxpayers, the poor and dispossessed. More boats will follow, but it is certain that they will stop, as they had before under the Pacific Solution. I prefer the conservative policy to the left wing compassion. 

ALP are still in denial regarding their bad policy in all areas. While they were in government, able to siphon and divert money to mates, the world seemed ok to them. Political enemies were smeared. An economic problem, McGurk, was assassinated, a bogus training mine was established, pedophiles and rapists were given free passes. Prisoners given parole. And what has changed? A budget analysis by Hockey shows how inept the ALP have been .. they weren't hampered by falling tax receipts, the ALP had spent too big. Too big on desalination plants they can't use. Too much on dying industry props. Too much on ruining functioning industry. Too much on empty symbols. Meanwhile the ALP devalued family, the family home, the cradle. In 2008, the ALP legal advisers sought to end the NT intervention. Not for compassion .. for money and control. Meanwhile, new ALP leaders are promising to change nothing. 

Global warming believers struggle with the inconvenient truth the world hasn't warmed for 15 years. Obama struggles domestically with spending and internationally with decision making. Meanwhile it turns out that the only safe haven for Islamic peoples, Israel, was shortchanged by Australian ALP government keen to bow to anti semitic bigots that claim to represent Australian Islamic peoples. 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR

Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

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

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Mikki Diep, Sam Nov, Cameron Ngo , Elena Francioni  and Doan Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
823 – Ermentrude of Orléans (d. 869)
1271 – Wenceslaus II of Bohemia (d. 1305)
1601 – Louis XIII of France (d. 1643)
1677 – Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari, Italian composer (d. 1754)
1894 – Lothar von Richthofen German pilot (d. 1922)
1954 – Ray Hadley, Australian broadcaster
1958 – Shaun Cassidy, American actor, singer, screenwriter, and producer
1961 – Andy Lau, Hong Kong singer, actor, and producer
1984 – Avril Lavigne, Canadian singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer
September 27: World Tourism Day; Fast of Gedalia(Judaism, 2014); Meskel in Eritrea and Ethiopia
Dawn mission patch
Victory was decisive. We have steam. We have an emperor. Britain has had the test. It is the dawn of a probe. Time to party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2014
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WORKPLACE-RELATED INCIDENT

Tim Blair – Saturday, September 27, 2014 (3:09am)

A beheading in small-town Oklahoma: 
The state medical examiner’s office has released the name of a woman killed in a Moore warehouse attack Thursday night.
Colleen Hufford, 54, was killed when she was beheaded in the attack.
He also tried to kill another woman, officials said. She is in stable condition at a local hospital, according to police.
The incident happened at a Vaughan Foods processing plant in Moore.
A sheriff’s deputy shot the suspect, identified by officials as 30-year-old Alton Alexander Nolen. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.
Jeremy Lewis with the Moore Police Department said in a news conference Friday that Nolen was in the process of converting to the Muslim religion. 
According to the American ABC network: 
The incident appears to be workplace-related. 
(Via bingbing and Brat)
UPDATE. Some background on the killer, which may partly explain his motivation.
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SWANS BY FIVE GOALS

Tim Blair – Saturday, September 27, 2014 (3:00am)

This would be so much easier if Bob Ellis had offered a prediction, but what the hell: the Sydney Swans today by 29 points. And in lesser football news, the Bunnies have made it to the NRL Grand Final for the first time since 1971. A number of friends are South Sydney supporters. They are presently in a state of metaphysical delirium.
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On The Bolt Report tomorrow

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (11:35am)

On The Bolt Report on Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 4pm.
Editorial:  This is no time for the Left to remind Muslim radicals why they should hate Australia
My guest:  Labor’s Anthony Albanese, on dealing with cities growing too big for comfort. Nice, to see one Labor spokesman giving policy.
The panel: Australian columnist Judith Sloan and former Gillard Minister Craig Emerson.
NewsWatch:  Gerard Henderson on the ABC programs promoting Muslim radicals and sneering at anti-terrorism raids.
And lots more.. like, should the former Governor-General really be launching Julia Gillard’s memoirs and fawning over her?


The videos of the shows appear here.
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So we must stop attacking Islamic State … or else?

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (9:15am)

Tiny, unrepresentative minority:
AN Islamic preacher at the prayer group being investigated for its role in radicalising teenage terrorist Numan Haider posted inflammatory comments about attacks the day after his death.
Police revealed yesterday they would investigate the al-Furqan Islamic Centre in Springvale…

The next day a preacher at al-Furqan retweeted; ”You fear terror attacks back home? Your government should stop destroying other people’s homes then. It’s not rocket science now is it?”
These people are serious morons:

ONE day before Numan Haider was shot dead, as he tried to murder two counter-terrorism police officers, the al-Furqan Islamic Centre posted on its website three articles and videos in support of Islamic State.
In one, a commentator on a Middle-Eastern TV talk show praised the cold-blooded exec­ution of hundreds of captured Syrian soldiers saying they deserved to be executed “1000 times over”.
UPDATE
A dangerous moral relativism, likening the humiliationg of some prisoners at Abu Ghraib to the beheading of unarmed civilians and journalists:
Mustafa Abu Yusuf, a spokesman for the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama’ah Association of Australia (ASWJ), claimed the actions of Islamic State [also known as ISIL] were being “rammed down our throats” in a bid to paint fundamentalist Muslims as potential terrorists and curb civil freedoms…
Mr Abu Yusuf said he had not seen videos of the ISIL beheadings posted on social media - although he called the act abhorrent - but said the group’s actions was “no more horrific” than those of Western armies during war.
He questioned why the Abbott government did not react with equally fierce rhetoric when chemical warfare was used and human rights abuses were committed in the Syrian civil war.
“The beheadings, it’s an abhorrent act, don’t misunderstand me. But what about the British in Malaya in the 1950s? They used to have soldiers decapitate Malayan heads ... or what about the torture and prisoner abuse by the Americans at Abu Ghraib prison?” he said.
It disturbs me that the media is treating this outfit’s “emir”, Sheikh Abu Ayyman, as a moderate. They should remember his defence of Osama bin Laden.
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Gillard’s whining is beneath a former PM

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (9:01am)

Joe Aston is right to loathe this self-pity and whining:
The former prime minister’s new memoir stoops to settling scores, illustrates her pettiness and ... again cynically uses gender politics to argue away her profound failings.
She bemoans the sexist coverage of her physical appearance and the negative press about the First Bloke, Tim Mathieson. “Why would the Howards be treated differently to Tim and me?” she wonders aloud.
Hello? From opposition to government, John Howard was roundly bagged for his teeth, his glasses, his eyebrows, his height, his deafness and his voice. Janette Howard was mocked as “Mrs Bucket” and demonised for the influence she wielded as her husband’s close political counsellor.
The fat jibes never stopped for Kim Beazley and even Mark Latham’s man boobs weren’t spared in their day. It comes with the territory. Tony Abbott’s protuberant ears, like Gillard’s, are constantly embellished by cartoonists.
Gillard complains that Mathieson was “parodied as dumb”. Let me tell you, sometimes it was hard not to. Small, female Asian doctor anyone? Free footy and cricket tickets and memorabilia for him and his mates?
(I)s this really the memoir of a former PM?… Could you imagine Howard devoting so much of his autobiography to how unfair it was that, as leader of the country, he was teased for his appearance or that his wife was sneered at (by plenty of so-called feminists, too)? Of course not…
Gillard has utterly failed to “soar above the mundane” ... , instead crawling into the literary septic tank. If only she had waited five years to write this, it might have been more statesmanlike. Or would that be too much to hope for?
Yes.
UPDATE
Yes, Quentin Bryce is no longer Governor-General. Even so, this partisanship in launching Julia Gillard’s memoirs diminishes the office:
Before a 150-strong crowd of Labor luminaries and family members, Ms Bryce said many Australians were intrigued with how Gillard managed to run the country while being a woman, often asking her “How do you do it?"…
“Were they really asking, how do you turn a blind eye to the sexism, cruelty and overt abuse and get on with running the country? Perhaps it was a way of saying I’m appalled, shocked and even embarrassed by what is thrown at you but you seem to just keep moving forward."…
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Political attendees included former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Wayne Swan, Greg Combet, Craig Emerson, Tanya Plibersek, Kate Ellis, Tony Burke, Warren Snowden, former premiers, Anna Bligh, John Brumby and Kristina Keneally and the Independents who awarded Gillard Government in 2010, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor.
The choice of journalists as guests tells us plenty - plenty we knew already, that is:
With Gillard’s less than favourable description of the Canberra press gallery in her book, the only journalists invited to the launch, other than those covering the event, were the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson and Ray Martin, who interviewed her on Channel Nine this week.

And the former Governer-General indulges in the partisanship she occasionally let slip in office:
While she has never spoken ill of Mr Rudd, Dame Quentin’s speech praised Gillard for the way she handled herself as leader, admiring her “characteristic efficiency and attention to detail”. 
The East Timor detention centre deal that wasn’t? The live cattle trade that was killed overnight? The spending that blew out?

(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and John.) 
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No invoices or budget for Clive Palmer’s $12 million of “expenses”

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (8:57am)

This doesn’t sound good news for Clive Palmer’s reputation:
CONFIDENTIAL documents reveal Clive Palmer’s top port executive saw no invoices and prepared no budget for $12.167 million in Chinese funds that were siphoned by the politician from a bank ­account only meant to fund a port.
The documents reveal two cheques, provided under subpoena by National Australia Bank, for $10m and $2.167m in August and September last year shortly before the federal election were signed by Mr Palmer, after he had become the sole signatory of the account into which the Chinese funds were deposited.
Mr Palmer, who has strenuously denied any wrongdoing, is challenging allegations by Chinese company Citic Pacific’s subsidiary Sino Iron in the Queensland Supreme Court that he dishonestly procured the $12.167m and funnelled an unknown amount into the electoral campaign of his Palmer United Party, which secured the balance of power in the Senate.
Mr Palmer’s company, Mineralogy, told Citic Pacific that the money had been spent on “port management services” for an iron ore port in Western Australia. However, the documents show that $2.167m went to a Brisbane agency, Media Circus Network, which managed the saturation advertising by PUP last year. The $10m that was siphoned into the account of a company controlled by Mr Palmer, Cosmo Developments, has not yet been traced in the litigation.
Following the lifting of a suppression order by Supreme Court judge David Jackson, The Weekend Australian yesterday reviewed evidence given in confidential arbitration proceedings four months ago by Mr Palmer’s chief executive at the port, Paul Robinson.
Mr Robinson said he prepared budgets for 2011, 2012 and 2013, and he routinely signed hundreds of cheques for the account that held the Chinese funds, but last year he was removed as a signatory by Mr Palmer.
During questioning in the closed-door proceedings, Andrew Bell, SC, a lawyer for Citic Pacific, asked Mr Robinson: “Plainly enough, if there was a legitimate expense for $10m in relation to the port, you would know about it, wouldn’t you?” He replied: “Yes."…
Mr Robinson agreed that “no invoice passed (his) desk” for $10m or $2m, and that he did not know why he was never consulted about purported expenditure on “port management services” of the money siphoned by Mr Palmer from the account.
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Cambodia has a great exchange rate

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (7:46am)

This won’t empty our detention centres in a hurry:
In a joint statement, the Australian and Cambodian governments announced a bilateral memorandum of understanding that provides “settlement and integration support” in Cambodia for refugees.
The agreement will offer settlement of refugees on a voluntary basis, with the number of refugees accepted to be determined by Cambodia… Cambodia’s interior minister earlier said the government only wanted to take four or five refugees to begin with.
A good deal, then - for Cambodia, unless this ramps up significantly:
Australia will pay Cambodia $40 million in additional aid and also “bear the direct costs of the arrangement, including initial support to refugees, and relevant capacity building for Cambodia”.
UPDATE
Hmm. Champagne, protests, a poor fisher boy… Am I right to conclude from her Twitter feed that the ABC’s South East Asia correspondent is personally against this deal?
image
Still, I’m sure she’ll give Scott Morrison a fair and balanced interview, right?
UPDATE
Answer: no. Her interview with Morrison on AM was astonishing, repeatedly attacking him for accepting champagne from his hosts.
Reader Clayton:
I just heard Samantha Hawley’s interview on AM. What a dreadfully biased piece of work that was. Her biggest issue appeared to be that Cambodia had control over what happened in Cambodia and that they had a glass of champagne (as the request of the host country). Nothing about how Labor signed a similar deal in PNG. Nothing about how the boats have stopped. Nothing about how the deaths at sea have been prevented. Sounds like someone who should be taught how to re-interview in the private market subject of ABC cuts…
Reader Lisle:
No! Heard it on ABCNews24 this morning. Her voice told the whole story. I wouldn’t invite her to my place for dinner. She would undoubtedly make a big fuss if we had a glass of champagne to celebrate friendship.The question is why is an ABC reporter using twitter in this manner?
Reader Jack:
She repeated the question [about drinking champagne] 3 times. Apparently the ABC are the only ones allowed champagne. Socialism and champagne, such a heady mix but both full of air.
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The ABC is not just unbalanced. It is now a public safety hazard

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (7:36am)

Gerard Henderson:
In the climate of genuine security threat, it is reasonable to expect the taxpayer-funded public broadcaster would act responsibly. This, at the very least, requires a proper balance in the ABC’s presentation of security issues. So far, Mark Scott, the ABC’s managing director and editor-in-chief, has failed to exercise proper editorial control over his employees…
Monday’s Q & A ... was a travesty in so far as fair and balanced coverage is concerned ... (A)fter the police raids in Sydney and Brisbane on September 18, the topic was ... “Be alert but not alarmed"…
For this crucial program, Q & A put together a panel that was grossly unbalanced. Justice Minister Michael Keenan ... with some help from [Labor’s shadow attorney-general Mark] Dreyfus, maintained that the police raids were a response to a genuine security threat. But the rest of the panel, cheered on by a large section of the audience and not discouraged by presenter Tony Jones, was having none of this.
[Greens senator Scott] Ludlam suggested the raids were an “amazing coincidence” in view of the planned changes to national security legislation.
Paul Barry presented the Media Watch program before Q & A went to air. Barry cited with approval a comment in The Guardian Online by Richard Ackland (a former Media Watch presenter) that the media had become “willing pawns in the politics of terror drama”. To Ackland, the raids were but a splash of “commando bombast”.
On September 19, in the wake of the Sydney and Brisbane raids, Lateline ran a “Friday Forum” segment on national security. There was scant debate as defence commentator Allan Behm essentially agreed with human rights barrister Greg Barns.  There was a near common view the raids had been exaggerated by the police (Barns) and overegged by the media (Behm). No view supporting the need for such raids was heard.
It was much the same on Radio National’s Late Night Live last Monday. Phillip Adams ... was in the presenter’s chair with academic lawyers Patrick Emerton and Kiernan Hardy as guests. Adams essentially agreed with the two that the proposed amendments to the security legislation were too tough.  Emerton alleged that in 2007 ASIO officers had committed “serious crimes” of “kidnapping and false imprisonment”. He implied that the Abbott government was intent on making kidnapping “lawful when ASIO does it”. In fact, no ASIO officer was ever charged with, let alone found guilty of, kidnapping and false imprisonment in 2007. But neither Adams nor Kiernan clarified Emerton’s hyperbolic comment…
Channel 10’s left-of-centre Paul Bongiorno appears on RN and Radio 702 in Sydney. On 702 last Thursday, he declared the Abbott government “certainly is panicking the community” on security. No other view was heard.
The ABC remains a Conservative Free Zone, without a conservative in any prominent presenter, producer or editorial position. In his role as editor-in-chief, it is up to Scott to ensure a diversity of views is heard during a time of national emergency.
If he fails to do so, it is the responsibility of the ABC board to ensure that the ABC managing director does what he is paid to do. It’s called governance.
UPDATE
The ABC is becoming lethally stupid in its imbalance. Its AM program today gives the platform to British Muslim convert Yvonne Ridley to speak unchallenged about Islamic radicals and promote her speaking tour here.
It sells her merely as a “journalist” and a Muslim and gives nothing of her background, other than that she was converted by the Taliban. It does note that she’s been accused of being a Muslim “firebrand” and lets Ridley herself explain this is just because some men can’t accept that she wears a “scarf”.
Here is the critical background AM omitted in presenting her as the voice of reason rather than exactly the kind of radical it should not be promoting:
Where to begin? With her ... assertion that the Chechen terrorist leader and architect of the Beslan school massacre, Shamil Basayev, was a ‘shaheed’ or martyr? After the Amman bombings in 2005, Ridley appeared to be reluctant to condemn the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Jordan. When Al-Zarqawi was denounced by his own family, she thought this ‘cowardly’ and said she would ‘rather put up with a brother like Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi any day than have a traitor or a sell-out for a father, son or grandfather’.
On previous tours here she should have proved to the ABC that having her tour here would be like inspecting fuel drums by the light of a match:
Firebrand Islamic convert Yvonne Ridley has accused Australians of being among the worst Muslim haters in the world.
And:
Ridley reportedly told a Belfast meeting of the Islamic Students Association in January there was no innocent Israeli when it came to suicide bombings. Not even children.
“There are no innocents in this war,” she raged, because children could grow up to be Israeli soldiers. And talk of “suicide bombers” was “insulting”.
”Let’s call suicide bombers by their proper name, which is martyrs.”
No, she’s not called a firebrand because she wears a scarf. Here is some more of Ridley’s hate-preaching which the ABC failed to include in its promotion of her and her speaking tour:
[Israel is] that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the Middle East…
Israel is a vile little state. It’s propped up by America. It cannot survive without American money…
Anyone who knows me and why work know I loathe the Zionist State and what it stands for…
Drinking Coca Cola is like drinking the blood of Palestinian children…

The Zionists have tentacles everywhere. We’ve seen with the disgraceful behaviour from the BBC that this interference goes right to the very top of the media, into the very heart of our homes…
We have to end the Zionist state. We’ve got to charge the war criminals. We have to boycott Israeli goods…
During our brief time in Gaza, I did have the privilege to join a few of us together to meet Ismail Haniyeh [leader of the Hamas terrorist group which wants Israel destroyed]… If I could use my Palestinian citizenship, it would be to vote Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas back in again in Gaza. Victory to intifada 3! Victory to Hamas!…
[al Qaeda head] Osama [bin Laden] was, after all, no Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Stalin or Caligula – he headed no country nor ruled over a state; and in fact the last few years of his life have proven to be extremely reclusive, secluded and isolated… That the most powerful man in the world [Barack Obama] can stare straight into the cameras and say: “Justice was done” over Bin Laden’s murder borders on absurdity…
The true Barack Obama is an out of control psychopathic killer with a loaded God complex, and he’s running America. This makes him the most dangerous man in the world as well as the most powerful…
Why is the ABC promoting this kind of person at this dangerous time?
The ABC is the first to criticise people who claim that all Muslims are extremists. So why does it go out of its way to promote Muslims who are extremists?
This is not just dangerous to non Muslims but grossly unfair on moderate Muslims.
What the hell is it up to?
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Claims of voter fraud in Cathy McGowan’s win

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (7:25am)

It is remarkable how the morally superior so often feel entitled to act immorally:
A SPATE of allegedly false voter enrolments in a key seat in last year’s federal election contributed to the surprise defeat of the Liberal Party’s Sophie Mirabella.
Independent Cathy McGowan’s 439-vote winning margin in the Victorian rural seat of Indi came after a number of her dedicated younger backers allegedly engaged in electoral fraud.
They switched voter enrolments to Indi in the weeks before the September 7 election, despite living and working in other seats, including those in metropolitan Melbourne, about 300km away, an investigation by The Weekend Australian has found.
More than 20 dodgy enrolments of McGowan backers that have come to light so far are at the centre of a high-­priority probe by the Australian Electoral Commission’s new integrity unit.
As Bertrand Russell once said:
Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.
Or put it this way:
(Thanks to reader Gab.) 
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Women and children reported beheaded

Andrew Bolt September 27 2014 (7:04am)

Beheadings seem awfully popular in a certain part of the world:
The Taliban militants have beheaded 15 civilians, including women and children in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan.
UPDATE
Nothing to do with Islam. Most Muslims are peace-loving. The real worry is the white backlash etc etc etc:
A man who had just been sacked at an Oklahoma food plant decapitated one female worker and stabbed another before he was shot and wounded by the boss…
Police spokesman Jeremy Lewis told a press conference that Nolen’s colleagues had said “he recently started trying to convert several employees to the Muslim religion”.
However, it is not clear if his beliefs had any link to the attack. 
Incidentally, the US right to bear arms can be useful.
(Thanks to readers The Evil Right, Judo Chop and hazza.) 
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Post by Diamond Imports.

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eminem doesn't sound .. kind ..
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Post by Ricky Williams.

.. not war ..
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Meh, it matters, or it doesn't
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"My current obsession - Acai bowl! " #bondi #wholefood#mykindofday #acaibowl #bananabread
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Post by Matt Granz.

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Post by Diamond Imports.

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David Bowles
Nahuatl word of the day: chincal, "irritating."
Example: Niquihuītequi in chincal oquichpilli, "I smacked the irritating young man."
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Andreas Herrmann
Die erste Konzeption ist immer die natürlichste und beste. Der Verstand irrt, das Gefühl nicht. Robert Schumann
trans "The first concept is always the most natural and best. The mind wanders, feel not."
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her, so she can see how I see her


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Post by Matt Granz.

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Grant Line Road 

on January 23rd, 2010 I was still moving in to our new residence on the east side of Mount Diablo, still learning the area, when the TV announced early this morning that we were under a tornado warning... very unusual to say the least! I was sick with a cold, but still jumped into our Saturn Vue and sped off towards Brentwood where the reports of a funnel cloud were being proclaimed. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn and wound up near the Altamont Pass... I shot this as I realize I was losing the chase. The rest of the year was an incredible experience.
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"Obama and Kerry insisted nothing the US would do would have any impact on the outcome of the Syrian civil war. This was supposed to be the strikes' selling point. But by launching worthless strikes, Obama was poised to wreck America's deterrent posture, transforming the world's superpower into an international joke.http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=327188

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Strawberries: "Stop! We've got you surrounded!"
Chocolate: "Okay FINE, jump in." 
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The Times of Israel
ROUHANI: "No nation should possess nuclear weapons. As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persist. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination."

Guess which country he means?
Iranian President Hasan Rouhani speaks at the UN General Assembly in New York, on Tuesday (photo credit: @nycjim via Twitter)

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Post by Unbelievable facts.

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New Video! Helpful/Hurtful >> http://youtu.be/8iPAK8NmMvg << On when you just want sympathetic ears
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Last week, Glenn purchased the microphone of Iva Toguri – aka Tokyo Rose – used during her World War II radio broadcasts. And this morning on radio, Glenn decided to broadcast with the mic, which had not been used in nearly 70 years.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
My faith, my heart, my marriage, my home, my family, my friends, my life...are ALL under the watchful eye of my protective God!
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David Bowles
If you haven't already read the latest Creature Feature, learn about the ghosts that are said to haunt UTB and its environs:

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Dr. Phil
Are you in debt? Click here to start on your path toward financial freedom: http://bit.ly/Top5FinancialMistakes #DrPhil

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Craig Kelly
Speaking last night at a conference on Egypt at Canterbury Leagues Club.

Also on the panel; Laurie Ferguson member for Werrriwa - The Hon. David Clarke MLC - The Rev Fred Nile MLC - Mrs Fatma Naoot , Egyptian journalist and poet - The Hon. Justice Amir Ramzy - Dr Ihab Ramzy, Professor of Criminal Law/Human Rights.

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Phillip Jensen
to what extent is our behaviour ‘determined’ by our biology

It comes down to choice. I made the choice to stand up for the dead school child Hamidur Rahman when no one else would. Maybe I really am a southpaw .. but my powers of caring only extend to one thing, and not the other. I thank God that not every choice I make matters. And I beg God to strengthen me to make the ones that do. - ed
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In case you missed the news earlier – extra tickets are now available to the #DoctorWho 50th Celebration in November via a public ballot (closing at 10am BST on 30 September). Get more info and apply for your tickets here:http://bit.ly/DWCballot
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http://www.news.com.au/national-news/treasurer-joe-hockey-and-finance-minister-matthias-cormann-release-budget-update/story-fncynjr2-1226728387873
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And yes, the irony of me writing this is not lost on me.>

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/meet-the-letter-writers-con-vaitsas-20130925-2ue20.html
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Abbott is being too diplomatic, understandably. I'd put it more bluntly as Alexander Downer so aptly did:

uldn't allow ''ourselves to be bullied by the Indonesians in this way''.

Mr Downer said the Indonesian government needed to accept some responsibility for the people-smuggling problem.

''They do have to understand that it's their boats with their crews, their flagged boats, which are breaking our sovereignty and are breaking our law by transgressing our national borders, our maritime borders,'' Mr Downer told Fairfax Radio.

''When we say we'd like to turn back the boats, they need to understand, and they need to understand very clearly, that it is ... their people who are breaking our law and I think they have to be told this very directly.

''There's no point in allowing ourselves to be bullied by the Indonesians in this way. I mean, we have to stand up for ourselves and stand up for our national interest and be prepared to call it as it is. I can understand the [Australian] government not doing that, but since I'm not part of the government, I'm quite happy to.''>

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-says-boats-issue-with-indonesia-a-passing-irritant-20130927-2uhzs.html
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani interviewed by CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Iranian news agency Fars on Wednesday accused CNN of "fabricating" comments made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the Holocaust in an interview with Christiane Amanpour that was aired on Tuesday.
Rouhani who was speaking in Farsi was quoted by CNN as saying: "Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews we condemn," and he added according to CNN, "The taking of human life is contemptible. It makes no difference if that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim. For us it is the same."
Fars, who provided its own translation of Rouhani's remarks claimed that the above quotes were fabrications of the American news network.
According to Fars, CNN either added, completely altered, executed a "conceptual" or not a precise translation or completely changed what Rouhani said.
Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad often made inflammatory remarks denying the Holocaust. In Fars's translation of Rouhani's remarks to CNN there was an unequivocal condemnation of the Nazis' crimes both against Jews and non-Jews.
The Iranian news agency provided the Fars and the CNN translations side-by-side in order to demonstrate the alleged fabrications. The italicized words in the CNN text below are the remarks that Fars claimed were fabricated.
CNN translation of Rouhani remarks:
"I've said before that I am not a historian and then, when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust, it is the historians that should reflect on it. But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime that Nazis committed towards the Jews as well as non-Jews is reprehensible and condemnable.Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn, the taking of human life is contemptible, it makes no difference whether that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim, for us it is the same, but taking the human life is something our religion rejects but this doesn’t mean that on the other hand you can say Nazis committed crime against a group now therefore, they must usurp the land of another group and occupy it. This too is an act that should be condemned. There should be an even-handed discussion".
Fars translation of Rouhani remarks:
"I have said before that I am not a historian and historians should specify, state and explain the aspects of historical events, but generally we fully condemn any kind of crime committed against humanity throughout the history, including the crime committed by the Nazis both against the Jews and non-Jews, the same way that if today any crime is committed against any nation or any religion or any people or any belief, we condemn that crime and genocide. Therefore, what the Nazis did is condemned, (but) the aspects that you talk about, clarification of these aspects is a duty of the historians and researchers, I am not a history scholar."
Amanpour replied to the accusations on her Twitter feed, insisting that "CNN reported exactly what Rouhani said" and providing a link to a video of the full unedited interview.
She also responded to a report on The Wall Street Journal on the controversy, saying she was "stunned by willingness of @WSJ ed page and others to jump into bed with Iranian extremist mouthpiece like Fars."


Because they know he should have said that - ed
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Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and some of his aides have been telling Israelis, Americans and Europeans that they are opposed to violence and terror attacks against Israel, they continue to incite Palestinians against Israel on an almost daily basis
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be allowed to sit in the UN General Assembly's heads-of-state chair, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Abbas, who is scheduled to speak at the UN on Thursday at noon EST, will be the first Palestinian leader to use the chair, reserved for heads of state waiting to take the podium to address the General Assembly.

In the past, Palestinian leaders, who were considered representatives of a stateless people, had to stand while waiting to address the meeting.

The new diplomatic honor bestowed on Abbas comes after the Palestinians' upgrade to an "observer state" at the UN last November.
The UN has a lot of ways of insulting those it harms - ed
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26 Sept 2013 Tehran’s Nuclear Cooperation? : Tehran calls IAEA Iranian Inspections & Findings "unfair, illegal" in 20-page condemnation document
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-iran-nuclear-iaea-idUSBRE98P0XN20130926
the logic which produces those statements .. beggars belief - ed===
Data shows global temperatures aren't rising the way climate scientists have predicted. Now the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change faces a problem: publicize these findings and encourage skeptics -- or hush up the figures.
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Aprille Love
Good morning! Life is all about perspective. Have a great friday!
I'm making a wish - ed===

We are all lab mice now: White House didn’t think this Obamacare promo through [pic] ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/09/26/we-are-all-lab-mice-now-white-house-didnt-think-this-obamacare-promo-through-pic/
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Glenn began the radio this show this morning in a bit of a bad mood. Since Senator Ted Cruz wrapped up his marathon anti-Obamacare speech yesterday around noon after 21 hours, the media wasted no time mocking the Senator. Considering how recently the media lionized Democratic Texas State Legislator Wendy Davis in the wake of her 11-hour filibuster against stricter abortion laws, Glenn found himself especially frustrated.
“Here’s my problem. My problem is I have no problem living in a world where we all have different opinions. I have no problem coexisting with people. I have no problem if I can’t convince you to come my way. I have no problem with your religion, I have no problem with whom you voted for,” Glenn said. “But there is something called the freedom of conscience. And what I believe is what I believe. What you believe is what you believe. And that’s good. That’s really good. That’s what makes the world go around. Here’s what I can’t take anymore. I can’t take people who won’t treat people and conditions the same.”
Consistency of opinion is an admirable trait in any person, but it should be seen as a necessary trait for the media. In theory, it is the job of the media to present both sides of a situation and let the audience decide. Or, in the case of cable news, be up front about the angle you are taking. But the media coverage of Sen. Cruz has proven that such a standard simply does not exist in the American media today.
“Now [Wendy Davis is] a woman who stood up for what she believed in and she made a cogent case. I disagree with her, but she made a cogent case and people heard her. And all of the newspapers reported it,” Glenn said. “Ted Cruz gets up and he makes a cogent case for 20 hours and nobody reports on what he’s really saying. They make it all into Green Eggs and Ham – like all he did for 20 hours was talk about Green Eggs and Ham, that all he did was talk about White Castle.”
One of the more egregious offenders was CNN

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Dai Le
http://t.co/pNPSxmIR0E
DAWN - creating our brand:Top Tips For Creating a Recognisable Brand | LinkedIn http://t.co/pNPSxmIR0E

=
Tried to post this great quote on LinkedIn but it cut it short! So here is the amazing quote. To my DAWNs....

The Social Synapse
From: The Neuroscience of Human Relationships

“If you would like to establish a connection with people from another culture is it always good to offer a few gifts as a gesture of friendship. But, an even better way to forge a lasting bond is by creating something together. Whether it’s a meal, an art project, or just a spontaneous dance party, when you create with others, you build a connection that lasts a lifetime.”
From the social synapse by Nona Epinephrine and Sarah Tonin
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Bette Midler accuses Ted Cruz of not being a real Christian, beclowns herself in the process ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/09/25/bette-midler-accuses-ted-cruz-of-not-being-a-real-christian-beclowns-herself-in-the-process/
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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/experts-right-to-give-suzuki-a-hard-time/story-fni0ffxg-1226727156895
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Denis Napthine

Prime Minister Tony Abbott meets with the Premier in Melbourne for the first time since his election victory earlier this month.

Top of the agenda for discussion is the congestion busting East West Link project.

The Federal Coalition has committed $1.5 billion to fund Victoria’s top priority infrastructure project.

LIKE the State and Federal Coalition partnership building for Victoria's growth.


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A KENYAN doctor has told of finding eyes, ears and noses torn from the bodies of hostages recovered from Nairobi's Westgate Mall.
The doctor told Kenya's The Star newspaper that the hostages had been tortured before being killed.
"Those are not allegations. Those are f****ng truths," the emotional doctor is reported as saying.
"They removed (testicles), eyes, ears, nose. They get your hand and sharpen it like a pencil then they tell you to write your name with the blood. They drive knives inside a child's body. Actually if you look at all the bodies, unless those ones that were escaping, fingers are cut by pliers, the noses are ripped by pliers."
The doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the condition of the bodies was worse than those he had seen after a 2009 oil tanker explosion in Sachangwan claimed 139 lives.
Kenya The Terror Begins

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/nairobi-westgate-mall-survivor-tells-i-used-dead-teens-blood-to-fool-terrorists/story-fndir2ev-1226727931521#ixzz2g4H9z5UX
Further testimony at the link - ed
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Budget blow out .. Joe Hockey talks money. Picture: AFP

THE new Government today used a $20 billion blowout revealed in final Budget figures for 2012-13 to accuse Labor of a “Budget mess” only the Coalition could fix.
Treasurer Joe Hockey accused the Labor government of “over-promising and underdelivering” and falsely claiming there had been a fall in revenue caused by the easing of the mining boom which required spending cuts.
“The fact is it is a litany of failures and political promises,” Mr Hockey told reporters.
The figures had no substantial surprises and closely matched the estimates presented by Treasury just before the September 7 election.
And Treasurer Hockey denied he had promised a surplus in his first year in office, saying he was now dealing with “an entirely different set of numbers”.
Mr Hockey said there had been “a further deterioration’’ in the figures projected for subsequent years, and he was testing Labor’s forecasts to see how “robust” they were.
“But what Australia needed was an injection of confidence. And we have done that,” said Mr Hockey, declining to speculate on further forecasts.
He said the $1.8 billion Labor had claimed was being dodged on fringe benefits tax on vehicles had already been found to be untrue.
The Coalition in Opposition had argued the government was spending too much, not bringing in too little in tax returns.
“There has been no ‘fall in revenue and receipts’ as often asserted by Labor,” Mr Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Corman said in a statement.
“Receipts for 2012-13 alone increased by 6.4 per cent, or $21 billion, over the previous year, 2011-12.”
The final figures for the year showed that forecasts made in May 2012 for the 12 months to the end of June this year were well off the mark:
* GDP growth estimated to be five per cent came in at 2.5 per cent;
* The expected $1.5 billion Budget surplus became an $18.8 billion deficit — a $20.4 billion deterioration;
* Net debt estimated to be $143.3 billion ended at $153 billion;
* Interest payments on debt were expected to reach $7 billion but ended up at $8.3 billion


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national-news/hockey-exposes-8220litany-of-failures8221-in-labor8217s-forecasts-but-stops-short-of-promising-a-surplus-in-its-first-year/story-fncynjr2-1226728442460#ixzz2g4KOjiPt
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THE Mars rover Curiosity has had a major breakthrough: It has found water after scraping the dusty surface of the red planet.
The fine-grained soil has revealed a water content of about 2 per cent - a level which could be useful for future human missions.
The water is not free flowing, but is bound to other molecules contained in the dirt.
The Curiosity rover has been scouring the surface of mars since August 2012.
NASA scientists formally published a series of papers last night detailing the results of experiments carried out by the robot's various scientific instruments.
"We tend to think of Mars as this dry place  to find water fairly easy to get out of the soil at the surface was exciting to me," said Laurie Leshin, lead author on the Science paper which confirmed the presence of water.
Mars rover Curiosity

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/mars-rove-curiosity-finds-water-contained-in-soil-on-the-surface-of-the-red-planet/story-e6frfro0-1226728319860#ixzz2g4LIbrId
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A GOLD Coast police officer shot in the face by an armed robbery suspect is being lauded for his bravery after returning fire to help capture his attackers.
On the same day Gold Coast detective Damian Leeding's killers were due to be sentenced, which also happened to be Police Remembrance Day, Sergeant Gary Hamrey could very well have been another fallen officer.
The crime scene at Arundel Tavern of a shooting

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/police-officer-shot-on-gold-coast/story-e6frfku9-1226728178860#ixzz2g4M5CNh9
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trade treaty.jpg
WASHINGTON –  Secretary of State John Kerry signed an international treaty on arms regulation Wednesday, angering conservative lawmakers and rattling the National Rifle Association despite claims that the treaty won't infringe on gun rights. 
If it doesn't do anything, why sign it? - ed
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Bill Gates has confessed that it was a mistake to set "Control-Alt-Delete" as a way to log in to Windows.
During a talk at Harvard, Gates said that there was an option to make a single button for such a command, but the IBM keyboard designer didn’t want to give Microsoft one.
"You want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signaling to a very low level of the software -- actually hard-coded in the hardware -- that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect, instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen, and then it listens to your password and then it’s able to do that," Gates said. "It was a mistake."
David Bradley, a designer of the original IBM PC, invented the "Control-Alt-Delete" combo.
"I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous," Bradley said.
The command also effectively restarts the computer, but Bradley said "Why they used it for the log-in also, I don’t know."


They made lots of mistakes - ed
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A last-ditch effort to refute climate “skeptics”—people unconvinced that we need to spend trillions to reshape our economies to halt or slow  “climate change”-- has failed.
Last week, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) published a study by 13 prestigious atmospheric scientists that supposedly provides “clear evidence for a discernible human influence on the thermal structure of the atmosphere.”
The NAS researchers pointedly echo the famous declaration by the United Nation-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, that the “balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” With this new study, the authors claim to clinch the case. The IPCC, we’re supposed to believe, has been right all along.
With the IPCC now issuing the first segment of its latest mammoth study on the same topic, readers should take the NAS pronouncement with a large grain of salt—and the IPCC report too. This is an attempt to change the subject and ignore the elephant in the room: the crisis in “consensus” climate science arising from the growing mismatch between model-predicted warming and observed warming.

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Just a reminder that The #DoctorWho Exhibition at the ABC Centre Ultimo, Sydney is open this weekend! You can check out costumes, monsters, a Dalek and more!
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Just days after dozens of innocent victims were massacred and hundreds more injured during Al-Shabaab’s attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, handmade flags resembling the black flag of Islamic jihad were spotted flying around New York City.
TheBlaze commissioned numerous translations of the flags. One could not make it out. Three others said they weren’t positive, but that the flags appeared to show the “shehadah,” one of the five pillars of Islam that’s also said by those converting to Islam and a staple on so called “black flags of jihad.” Similar looking flags have been used for numerous reasons, but more recently they have become to be associated with both Al Qaeda and Al-Shebaab — the group claiming responsibility for the massacre at the Kenyan shopping mall.
The event where these flags were spotted? The annual Muslim Day Parade in New York City.
Both black and white versions of the flags were spotted:

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When Jestin Anthony Joseph walked into a McDonald’s and asked for a cup of water, that’s not all he was after.
Witnesses say the 24-year-old soon pulled out a gun and pointed it at employees and customers — who were with children — demanding their possessions.
Prayer Credited After Gun Inexplicably Misfires During Attempted Robbery by Jestin Anthony Joseph at Texas McDonalds

Prayer works - ed
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“For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:30-31 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The myrtle trees that were in the bottom."
Zechariah 1:8
The vision in this chapter describes the condition of Israel in Zechariah's day; but being interpreted in its aspect towards us, it describes the Church of God as we find it now in the world. The Church is compared to a myrtle grove flourishing in a valley. It is hidden, unobserved, secreted; courting no honour and attracting no observation from the careless gazer. The Church, like her head, has a glory, but it is concealed from carnal eyes, for the time of her breaking forth in all her splendour is not yet come. The idea of tranquil security is also suggested to us: for the myrtle grove in the valley is still and calm, while the storm sweeps over the mountain summits. Tempests spend their force upon the craggy peaks of the Alps, but down yonder where flows the stream which maketh glad the city of our God, the myrtles flourish by the still waters, all unshaken by the impetuous wind. How great is the inward tranquility of God's Church! Even when opposed and persecuted, she has a peace which the world gives not, and which, therefore, it cannot take away: the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the hearts and minds of God's people. Does not the metaphor forcibly picture the peaceful, perpetual growth of the saints? The myrtle sheds not her leaves, she is always green; and the Church in her worst time still hath a blessed verdure of grace about her; nay, she has sometimes exhibited most verdure when her winter has been sharpest. She has prospered most when her adversities have been most severe. Hence the text hints at victory. The myrtle is the emblem of peace, and a significant token of triumph. The brows of conquerors were bound with myrtle and with laurel; and is not the Church ever victorious? Is not every Christian more than a conqueror through him that loved him? Living in peace, do not the saints fall asleep in the arms of victory?

Evening

"Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen."
Zechariah 11:2
When in the forest there is heard the crash of a falling oak, it is a sign that the woodman is abroad, and every tree in the whole company may tremble lest to-morrow the sharp edge of the axe should find it out. We are all like trees marked for the axe, and the fall of one should remind us that for every one, whether great as the cedar, or humble as the fir, the appointed hour is stealing on apace. I trust we do not, by often hearing of death, become callous to it. May we never be like the birds in the steeple, which build their nests when the bells are tolling, and sleep quietly when the solemn funeral peals are startling the air. May we regard death as the most weighty of all events, and be sobered by its approach. It ill behoves us to sport while our eternal destiny hangs on a thread. The sword is out of its scabbard--let us not trifle; it is furbished, and the edge is sharp--let us not play with it. He who does not prepare for death is more than an ordinary fool, he is a madman. When the voice of God is heard among the trees of the garden, let fig tree and sycamore, and elm and cedar, alike hear the sound thereof.
Be ready, servant of Christ, for thy Master comes on a sudden, when an ungodly world least expects him. See to it that thou be faithful in his work, for the grave shall soon be digged for thee. Be ready, parents, see that your children are brought up in the fear of God, for they must soon be orphans; be ready, men of business, take care that your affairs are correct, and that you serve God with all your hearts, for the days of your terrestrial service will soon be ended, and you will be called to give account for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil. May we all prepare for the tribunal of the great King with a care which shall be rewarded with the gracious commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant"
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Today's reading: Isaiah 1-2, Galatians 5 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Isaiah 1-2

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.

Today's New Testament reading: Galatians 5

Freedom in Christ
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love....
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Bathsheba

The Woman Whose Beauty Resulted in Adultery and Murder
Scripture References - 2 Samuel 11:2, 3; 12:24; 1 Kings 1:11-31; 2:13-19; 1 Chronicles 3:5
Name Meaning - The Seventh Daughter, or The Daughter of an Oath. "Bath" means "daughter." A kindred name is Bath Shua, a Canaanite name which implies, "the daughter of opulence." The wife of Judah is referred to as "Shua's daughter" (Genesis 38:2;1 Chronicles 2:3). Bath Shua was also the name of the daughter of Ammiel and wife of David (1 Chronicles 3:5).
Family Connections - Bathsheba came of a God-fearing family. She was the daughter of Eliam or Ammiah, who was the son of Ahithophel. Eliam, whose name means "God is gracious," was one of David's gallant officers. Bathsheba became the wife of Uriah, the most loyal of David's men. After the murder of Uriah, she became the wife of David, and mother of five sons by him. The first died in infancy. The others were Solomon, Shimea, Shobub and Nathan. She is mentioned in our Lord's genealogy as "her that had been the wife of Uriah" ( Matthew 1:6).
The sacred record informs us that David's association with Bathsheba was the only stain upon the escutcheon of David. "David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah" (1 Kings 15:5). If this was the only blot on his page, it was a heavily engrained one, and one that could not be erased, as far as the effects of his treatment of Uriah was concerned. While God freely pardons a sinner, often the effects of committed sin remain. The tragic lapse in the life of the man after God's own heart is built up with consummate art, from David's first sight of Bathsheba to the climax of his unutterable remorse when realizing the enormity of his most grievous sin, he flung himself upon the mercy of God.
The sad story begins with the significant phrase, "But David tarried still at Jerusalem" ( 2 Samuel 11:1 ). The Israelites were at war with the Ammonites, and the king who had shown himself brave and victorious in battle should have been with his army. But now a mature man, and veteran of many wars, and ruler over Israel for some twelve years now David had become somewhat soft and self-indulgent. He had had his day of hard campaigning and war weariness. Now it was time to leave the rigors and risks of battle to his officers, and sit back and take things easy. But no longer fighting the battle of the Lord, David was open to attack and so found himself involved in the triangle drama of passion, intrigue and murder.
Lazing around on the flat roof of his palace, David saw a woman on the roof of a nearby house undressing and bathing herself, and his passions were excited. Bathsheba, the woman exposing herself nudely, was "very beautiful to look upon," and David, ever attracted by lovely women, coveted her, and became guilty of an outrageous disgrace. Although David was to confess that his foul sin was his, and his alone, one wonders how far Bathsheba was the accomplice in such a sin, as well as its provocation. Had she been a careful, modest woman, surely she would have looked around the easily seen adjacent roofs, and if others had been looking her way, she would have been more appropriately modest in bathing herself.
Further, when sent for by David, had she been a true wife and a woman of principle she should have refused to obey the king's summons. As she saw David feasting his eyes upon her, did she have a presentiment of what would happen? If not, then, when before the king, she should have bravely refused to yield to adultery. Later on in the sacred record, a heathen woman - a queen - brave Vashti, stoutly refused to expose herself before wine-in-flamed men, and was expelled from court. Had Bathsheba shown the same determination to preserve her dignity, David, the anointed of Israel, would never have sinned as he did. After the adulterous act in the king's bedchamber, Bathsheba manifested no sense of guilt, but after her husband's murder almost immediately went to the palace to supplement David's many wives.
Bathsheba only added insult to the injury by indulging in her illicit affair with another man, while her lawful husband was risking his life in the service of her seducer. Learning of Bathsheba's pregnant condition, David hurried Uriah home to allay suspicion, but returning, the devoted soldier, a man of highest principle, refused any physical contact with his wife. David's clever plan failed, and the plot thickens. Uriah must be gotten rid of, so he was sent back to the battlefield with a letter to Joab to put Uriah in a foremost place where he was bound to be killed. Godly, gallant Uriah had no ideas that that sealed letter carried his death warrant. Thus, for David lust, adultery, deceit, treachery and murder followed in quick succession.
After the accustomed period of mourning Bathsheba became the wife of David, and their child of an adulterous union was born without disgrace, only to die within a week of his birth. "The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare David." The deep grief of David over the sickness and death of the child, while not relieving the king of his murderous crime, gives us a glimpse of his better nature and of his faith in reunion beyond the grave. Perhaps no other passage of the Bible has been used to comfort sorrowing hearts in the hour of death as that in which David assures us of immortality. Mourning over his dead child he said, "Can I bring him back again?" No, he could not. Then came words binding up the cruel wound death causes, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." Both David and Bathsheba must have had much agony of soul as they became deeply conscious that the death of their son, conceived out of wedlock, was a divine judgment upon their dark sin.
Divinely instructed, Nathan the prophet brought David to a realization of his terrible evil, and sincere in his confession of his iniquity, he received from Nathan the assuring word, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin." Much has been written about David's repentance preserved for us in Psalm 51 - a Psalm saturated with penitential tears - and of Psalm 32, expressing David's gratitude to God for His pardoning grace and mercy. But graciously forgiven, even God could not avert the natural consequences of David's transgression, and he came to prove its inevitable subsequent sorrow. Evil rose up against him in his own house ( 2 Samuel 12:11). David found himself disgraced by one son (13:4), banished by another (15:19), revolted against by a third (1 Kings 2), bearded by his servant, betrayed by his friends, deserted by his people, bereaved of his children.
What about Bathsheba? With David, was she made conscious of her share in the iniquitous transaction of the past? Coresponsible in David's sin, did her tears of repentance mingle with those of her husband's? It would seem so, because God blessed them with another son whom they called Solomon, meaning, "Beloved of the Lord." Why was not such a son given to one of David's other wives? Given to David and Bathsheba was not Solomon an evidence and expression of God's pardoning love for both? Then, is not Bathsheba's inclusion in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1) another token that God had put her sins behind His back? Restored to divine favor, and now virtuous and wise as well as beautiful, Bathsheba brought up her son Solomon in all godly diligence and care. Solomon himself came to write, "Train up a child in the way he should go" (Proverbs 22:6), which counsel reflected his own godly upbringing. Tradition says that it was Bathsheba who composed Proverbs 31, as an admonition to Solomon on his marriage to Pharaoh's daughter. If this be so, we can understand all the warnings against the flatteries of strange women with which Proverbs abounds.
After her lapse, recovery and the birth of Solomon the rest of Bathsheba's life is veiled in silence. We can imagine how noble calmness, gentle dignity and queenly courage became hers. That she retained her influence over David until his death is proven by the way she reminded the king of his promise to make their son, Solomon, his successor. The veil of silence is lifted again when Solomon became king, and Bathsheba, whom Solomon revered, came into his presence to ask that Abishag, who cared for David in his last days, be given in marriage to Adonijah, the son of Haggith, one of David's other wives.
A lesson we can learn from Bathsheba is that being assured of God's forgiveness she did not let her one sin ruin her entire life. Repentant, she used her mistake as a guide to future, better conduct. When we brood over sins God has said He will remember no more against us, we actually doubt His mercy, and rob ourselves of spiritual power and progress. Read again Psalm 51 and then Psalm 32.
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Demetrius

[Dēmē'trĭŭs] - belonging to demeter. Demeter was the goddess of agriculture and rural life.
  1. The silversmith at Ephesuswho made silver models of the celebrated Temple of Diana, and who opposed Paul and incited the mob against him (Acts 19:24, 38).
  2. A believer, well-commended by the Apostle John (3 John 12 ). This man of God had the testimony of all men of the truth and of John also. It is one of the finest recommendations of the Gospel when a Christian impresses and attracts those around him by the reality of his or her life.
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