Friday, February 27, 2015

Fri Feb 27th Todays News

On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome.  
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Premier Mike Baird debated an ALP leader in NSW. The ALP leader endorsed union adverts which took money from union members to spread the lie that it would be better to use government services to tax the poorest in NSW rather than privatise them and make the efficient. ABC rated the debate as a draw, meaning Baird won the substance and form of it handsomely. The ALP guy joked that a supporter of his had not known his name. Probably still doesn't.

 Mark Riley spreads rumour. Riley is highly partisan and has often lied in the past about serious matters. He is a senior face of Channel 7 News and one reason why that channel is not taken seriously by people wanting to know the news. But while the rumour cannot be addressed, Mark's release of the rumour is damaging. The Federal Government had worked hard following a spill motion less than three weeks ago, to right the ship of state and had been successful. This opens the wound. It illustrates why it is important that Malcolm Turnbull resign. Turnbull offers nothing to federal politics or ministry. He is competent without being brilliant. He is not a natural conservative.

 A Turkish model has posted a picture on Instagram which the Turkish President feels offended by. So Merve Buyuksarac could be sent to Jail in Turkey, or Australia under section 18C. Under the Australian Legislation, it doesn't matter that Recep Tayyip Erdogan wasn't insulted. Only that he took offence. Two lawyers, once, saw a NZ man carrying a sheep down a street. Said one lawyer to the other "Whatever you do, don't smile."

 On this day in 380, three Roman Emperors asked their subjects to convert to Nicene (Trinity) Christianity, as opposed to the Arian variety. In 425, Theodosius II was convinced by his wife, Aelia Eudocia to begin the University of Constantinople with 31 chairs, 15 of which were Latin and 16 of which were Greek. Aelia had been raised pantheist Greek by her academic father in Athens. When he died, she went to Constantinople. At just that time, Theodosius, who had acquired the throne age one, was twenty years old and wanted a wife. Aelia had the virtues. She became a Christian for him. The institution was one like where her father had taught. In 1812, Lord Byron gave his first address as a member of the House of Lords in defence of Luddites. Thirteen years later he was dead at age thirty six. He had been killed by his doctors bleeding him when he was sick, with dirty instruments. The same doctors asserted that had he lived, he could have been King of Greece. In 1900, The British Labour Party was founded. 
2014
There are holes in the arguments of those that defend the execution of Lieutenants Harry Morant and Peter Joseph Handcock in 1902. It is not disputed that Morant had had nine Boer prisoners of war shot dead. It is disputed that he had orders to do so. It is also clear that the trial and execution were rushed and probably influenced by high command. It is a sad thing silencing a poet. Showing impeccable comic timing, Spike Milligan died a hundred years later. 

Harry wrote of a silent girl in the Bulletin 

When the sklll'd fashioner of female faces
   Designed your mask, he wrought with cunning fist,
   And made a mouth expressly to be kiss'd -
Not for shrill utterance nor pert grimaces.


The curved, ripe lips-above the rounded chin -
   He dyed the hue of summer's reddest rose,
   Then placed a smile upon them to disclose
A glimpse of white and even pearls within.


Those lips are silent, sweetheart! - but your eyes
   Are eloquent, and they love's lesson teach
   Better than other woman's aptest speech -
In their soft light the tend'rest language lies.


In womankind - the world has long confess'd -
A silent mouth and speaking eyes are best.
First published in The Bulletin, 30 September 1893.
Today is also the anniversary of Lincoln's Cooper Union Address which is credited with earning him the Presidency. It is a celebration of libertarian values, by the day's standards, and Lincoln's debate with Douglas over the issue of slavery is an echo of Abbott's debates with Shorten over the direction of Australia. It is that embarrassing for Shorten, who has shown he is incapable of modelling an agenda which supports workers, as ALP has as a reason for existence. Powerless and inept, Shorten can only support the slave trader like people smugglers and their murderous activity on the grounds that it was the policy that few voters supported. 
Historical perspectives on this day 
In 380, Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I, with co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II, declared their wish that all Roman citizens convert to trinitarian Christianity. 425, the University of Constantinople was founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia. 907, Abaoji, a Khitan chieftain, was enthroned as Emperor Taizu, establishing the Liao Dynasty in northern China. 1560, the Treaty of Berwick, which would expel the French from Scotland, was signed by England and the Lords of the Congregation of Scotland. 1594, Henry IV was crowned King of France. 1617, Sweden and Russia signed the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War and shutting Russia out of the Baltic Sea. 1626, Yuan Chonghuan was appointed Governor of Liaodong, after he led the Chinese into a great victory against the Manchurians under Nurhaci. 1700, the island of New Britain was discovered. 1776, American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in North Carolina broke up a Loyalist militia. 1782, American Revolutionary War: The House of Commons of Great Britain voted against further war in America.

 In 1801, pursuant to the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C. was placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. 1812, Argentine War of Independence: Manuel Belgrano raised the Flag of Argentina in the city of Rosario for the first time. Also 1812, poet Lord Byron gave his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defence of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire. 1829, Battle of Tarqui was fought. 1844, the Dominican Republic gained independence from Haiti. 1860, Abraham Lincoln made a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that was largely responsible for his election to the Presidency. 1861, Russian troops fired on a crowd in Warsaw protesting against Russian rule over Poland, killing five protesters. 1864, American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrived at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia. 1870, the current flag of Japan was first adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships. 1881, First Boer War: The Battle of Majuba Hill took place. 1898, King George I of Greece survived an assassination attempt.

 In 1900, Second Boer War: In South Africa, British military leaders received an unconditional notice of surrender from Boer General Piet Cronje at the Battle of Paardeberg. Also 1900, the British Labour Party was founded. Also 1900, Fußball-Club Bayern München was founded. 1902, Second Boer War: Australian soldiers Harry 'Breaker' Morant and Peter Handcock were executed in Pretoria for war crimes. 1921, the International Working Union of Socialist Parties was founded in Vienna. 1922, a challenge to the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, allowing women the right to vote, was rebuffed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Leser v. Garnett. 1933, Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, was set on fire, apparently by the Communists. 1939, United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sit-down strikes violated property owners' rights and were therefore illegal. 1940, Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14. 1942, World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike force was defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies. 1943, the Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, exploded, killing 74 men. Also 1943, the Rosenstrasse protest started in Berlin. 1951, the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, was ratified. 1955, Soviet Union regional elections, 1955.

 In 1961, the first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation was inaugurated. 1962, two dissident Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to assassinate South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem. 1963, the Dominican Republic received its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo. 1964, the Government of Italy asked for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over. 1971, Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) started to perform aborti provocati. 1973, the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota. 1976, the formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declared independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. 1986, the United States Senate allowed its debates to be televised on a trial basis. 1988, Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community of Sumgait in Azerbaijan was targeted in a violent massacre. 1989, Venezuela was rocked by the Caracazo riots. 1991, Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announced that "Kuwait was liberated". 1995, Zakho: A terrorist explosion in a market in the city of Zakho left about 100 dead and 150 wounded.

 In 2002, Ryanair Flight 296 caught fire at London Stansted Airport. Subsequent investigations criticise Ryanair's handling of the evacuation. Also 2002, Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torched a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims. 2004, a bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack killed 116. Also 2004, the initial version of the John Jay Report, with details about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the United States, was released. 2007, the Chinese Correction: The Shanghai Stock Exchange fell 9%, the largest drop in ten years. 2010, an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale struck central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii shortly after. 2012, a section of a nine-story apartment building in the city of Astrakhan, Russia, collapsed in a natural gas explosion, killing ten people and injuring at least 12 others. 2013, at least 19 people were killed when a fire broke out at an illegal market in Kolkata, India. Also 2013, five people (including the perpetrator) were killed and five others injured in a shooting at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland.
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This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406, September https://www.createspace.com/5106914, October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more. 
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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 David Bowles. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
The burning Reichstag building
We came to a decision. All three of us. One decision. There are so few loyalists. Soccer is a game of life. There are few bigger disco infernos than parliament. Try not to start fires. Let's party.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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Sex, the silly old man, and a hothouse of indecent desire

Piers Akerman – Friday, February 27, 2015 (12:25am)

PHEW, the temperature within the UN’s IPCC is obviously a lot hotter than even blowhard climate fantasist Tim Flannery might have predicted.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Sex, the silly old man, and a hothouse of indecent desire'
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The Bolt Report for Sunday, March 1

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (4:59pm)

The Bolt Report on Channel 10 on Sunday at 10am and 4pm.
Editorial: Turnbull vs Morrison. The dirty truth about this so-called challenge.
My guest: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and bombs and plots.
The panel: The Australian’s Janet Albrechtsen and Nicholas Reece, former senior advisor to Julia Gillard. The Triggs “scandal” and the leadership challenge the media beat up so hysterically.
NewsWatch: the great Rowan Dean on the howling media pack and ABC boss Mark Scott’s telling tweet. 
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Apocalypse delayed

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (11:00am)

Global warming - dud predictions

First they denied their warming predictions were false. Now they hunt for an excuse - and one that keeps their scare alive:
FORCES of natural climate variability have caused the apparent slowdown in global warming this century but the effect will be temporary, according to new research…
Byron Steinman, of the University of Minnesota Duluth, and Michael Mann and Sonya Miller, of Pennsylvania State University, found that these natural, or “internal”, forces had recently been offsetting the rise in global mean surface temperature caused by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.
They published their results in the latest edition of the American journal Science… Some research, including studies by Australian scientists, suggests that an increase in the heat taken up by the deeper waters of the Pacific as well as a pronounced strengthening of Pacific trade winds in recent years due to natural climate variability is responsible.
This latest research supports that hypothesis…
“We subtracted this externally forced component from the observational data to isolate the internal variability in northern hemisphere temperatures caused by the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation and a component of the Pacific decadal oscillation, “Professor Steinman told The Australian…
“This showed that the current slowdown is being driven largely by a negative internal variability trend in the Pacific,” he said. 
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The Islamic State now destroys the past

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (8:39am)

Savages. Enemies of civilisation. Such totalitarians that they wish even to destroy the past:

Ultra-radical Islamist militants in northern Iraq have destroyed a priceless collection of statues and sculptures from the ancient Assyrian era, inflicting what an archaeologist described as incalculable damage to a piece of shared human history.
A video published by Islamic State on Thursday showed men attacking the artifacts, some of them identified as antiquities from the 7th century BC, with sledgehammers and drills, saying they were symbols of idolatry.
“The Prophet ordered us to get rid of statues and relics, and his companions did the same when they conquered countries after him,” an unidentified man said in the video.
The smashed articles appeared to come from an antiquities museum in Mosul, the northern city which was overrun by Islamic State last June, a former employee at the museum told Reuters.
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Baird mocks the trolls

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (8:34am)


Clever.  Effective, I think:
PREMIER Mike Baird is going after Gen-Y voters- posting a video to his YouTube page where he reads mean tweets.The clip, modelled on the popular skit on US TV show Jimmy Kimmel Live, shows the premier at his desk, flicking through social media on his phone.The first tweet he reads says: “You look like the ‘smilling assassin’. Your charming smile hides your black Liberal heart."… It appears the clip is the first of a series of episodes the Premier will film during the election campaign.
(Thanks to reader WaG311.) 
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Turnbull knows his last best hope to become Prime Minister is to destroy Abbott by Tuesday

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (8:28am)

Why have Malcolm Turnbull and his allies suddenly stepped up their campaign to destroy Tony Abbott, tonight telling journalists Turnbull now has the numbers to replace Abbott next week?
Why have they leaked and briefed and heckled and done everything possible to wreck Abbott’s comeback in the two weeks since they lost the spill motion?
Because next week is Turnbull’s last best chance to be Prime Minister.
Time has suddenly become his enemy.
Tony Abbott has performed well these past couple of weeks. He is changing as critics claimed he wouldn’t. His poll numbers are recovering. it is now clear he could indeed beat Bill Shorten if he were given a loyal team, rather than one undermined by the likes of Laming, Roy and Sinodinos.
That’s one pressure on Turnbull.
Another is Scott Morrison. Morrison has performed brilliantly as Social Services Minister. The man who stopped the boat now charms the votes. He looks genial and constructive. His presentation of the problems with rising welfare payments this week was masterly. His media presentation skills are of a high order, and he now commands the respect of most interviewers. More importantly, unlike Turnbull he has not offended the party’s conservative base, despite not being a conservative himself, and will not split the party if made leader. He is the classic compromise candidate, and will only grown stronger with every passing week.
Julie Bishop, too, can no longer be relied upon by Turnbull. Indeed, an unnamed supporter was cited on Channel 7 saying that she would stand against Turnbull in any spill.
As time passes, Turnbull is likely to grow weaker and Morrison and Abbott stronger, with Bishop’s crucial support up for grabs.
So Turnbull needs to call on another showdown as soon as possible. He needs to destroy Abbott, not wait in hope for him to fail.
He needs to be a wrecker, and wrecking is now what you see. The time is fast approaching where he faces two options - to knife Abbott or be sacked as a snake.
UPDATE
The ABC’s 7.30 washes Malcolm Turnbull clean:

SABRA LANE, POLITICAL EDITOR: ... Malcolm Turnbull might be the one to challenge, but he is not agitating for this at all.
Seriously?
On ABC Radio National Breakfast, three women of the Left - Fran Kelly, Laura Tingle and Michelle Grattan - all agree with each other that the media has not pushed along the campaign against Abbott, and agree Abbott is hopeless etc etc etc.  
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The boat children debate. The brutal facts

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (7:27am)

Reader Mr. Jordon:

Under the ALP children spent just a few months in detention. Under Abbott children are now spending years in detention.

Reader Peter F57:
Under the ALP children are now spending eternity on the bottom of the ocean.
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Hello Haddad. And Jihad John, the “gentle” beheader

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (7:19am)

image
Revealed:
WISSAM Haddad has long been at the centre of radical Islamic preaching in Sydney.
Until recently, the 34-year-old was the head of the al-Risalah ­Islamic Centre, a meeting place for Sydney’s small community of ­Islamic extremists and a platform for radical preaching.
But, until today, his face was largely unknown to the public.
Despite being one of the most prominent Australian supporters of Islamic State, Mr Haddad has never allowed his photo to be taken by media.
Another Islamic state supporter allegedly revealed:
image
THE masked Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John’’, who is apparently responsible for beheading Western hostages, was named last night as Kuwaiti-born London computer programmer Mohammed Emwazi by experts and the media…
London’s Metropolitan Police would not confirm a report that first appeared in the Post, which identified the suspect as Emwazi, who grew up in west London after moving to Britain aged six…
Emwazi, believed to be in his mid-20s, was identified to the Post by friends and others familiar with the case, with one close acquaintance telling the paper: “I have no doubt that Mohammed is Jihadi John”.
He is from a middle class family and earned a degree in computer programming before travelling to Syria around 2012, according to the report.
He is described as being quiet and polite with a taste for stylish clothes…
Jihadi John, named after Beatle John Lennon due to his British accent, is believed to be responsible for the murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Allan Henning and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig....
Referring to his middle-class upbringing, the [International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at London’s King’s College] said it showed that radicalisation “is not something driven by poverty or social deprivation”.
Hmm:

The research director of a human rights group ... Asim Qureshi of Cage ...  appeared to choke up as he told a press conference: “[Emwazi] was such a beautiful young man ... He was the most humble young person that I knew. This is the kind of person that we are talking about."…
The Post quoted Mr Qureshi as saying Emwazi had contacted the organisation after allegedly being questioned by MI5…

“When are we going to finally learn that when we treat people as if they’re outsiders they are going to feel like outsiders and they will look for belonging elsewhere?” he asked.
In a series of tweets published today, Cage said Emwazi’s family did not believe it was him in the videos released by Isis. 
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Importing the innumerate, exporting the skilled

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (7:17am)

Britain’s immigration program is weakening the country:
One in ten of Britain’s best workers have been lured from the UK in a brain drain and been replaced by low skilled migrants, research has found....
But in their place the UK has attracted more than two million migrants with low numeracy skills, the [University College London] report concluded…

The UCL study also found that migrants in the UK are six times more likely to have never worked than those born here. Migrants are also more likely to be unemployed, with unemployed female migrants almost double the rate of British born.
Dr John Jerrim, of the UCL Institute of Education, said: “Immigrants account for one in four of the 9.6 million working age adults living in the United Kingdom with low level numeracy skills...”
He found that between 1964 and 2011 some 684,000 “highly numerate individuals” left the UK.
And although a similar number of “very numerate immigrants” arrived in the UK over the same period ...  immigration added some 2.4 million people to the UK population with low numeracy skills.
“Although immigration from South Asia has added many highly numerate people to our labour force, immigration from the same region and Africa has added six times more people with low numeracy skills to the UK than those with high numeracy skills,” he said.
The West’s mass immigration programs, distorted by an exaggerated fear of seeming racist, will prove to be one of the most disastrous social experiments launched by the Left. And not adequately resisted by conservatives.
(Thanks to reader Barry.) 
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A question for Liberal MPs: If Turnbull fails to replace Abbott next week…

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (7:05am)

...  should he quit politics to spare the party more of this calculated destabilisation?
UPDATE

The Seven Network and the ABC have reported that Malcolm Turnbull has been told he has the numbers to topple Abbott.
But a government insider and Abbott supporter says Mr Turnbull just doesn’t have the numbers.
He said this latest leadership speculation was down to the same few disaffected MPs as last time trying to beat up support for Mr Turnbull.
“The vast majority of people know we can’t win the election with Malcolm as leader, because with Malcolm as leader we would lose a chunk of our base and no party has ever won an election without its base,” he told AAP.
UPDATE
I’ve mentioned before how Liberal MP Andrew Laming is a mighty warrior for Labor. Liberal members in his electorate should know he is again on 774 ABC Melbourne this morning willingly helping the ABC to destroy the Abbott Government.
And you thought you’d chosen Laming to fight Labor instead.
Laming has so burrned his bridges that his future career depends totally on Turnbull becoming leader. And Turnbull’s chances are slipping fast. Next week is his last best chance. Thus this frantic destabilising now, as Abbott starts to recover and Morrison and Bishop emerge as the natural compromise candidates.
No party should be led by the likes of those now trying to destroy Abbott, rather than help him succeed. Just as Labor should never have been led by the likes of Kevin Rudd.  
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A question for Liberal supporters: If Malcolm Turnbull became leader…

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (6:58am)

... what party would you vote for?
(Your MP, I’m sure, would welcome your feedback.)
UPDATE
Steve Kates at Catallaxy Files: five reasons why I’d never vote for a party led by Malcolm Turnbull. 
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Did Gillian Triggs ask about alternative jobs - before denouncing the Government for suggesting one?

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (6:35am)

Chris Kenny on claims that call into question the evidence given to a senate committee by Gillian Triggs:
THE conduct of Australian Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs has again been called into question amid revelations she signalled she would consider resigning the post if her reputation could be protected and she could secure altern­ative employment.
Evidence that Professor Triggs sent indirect signals to Attorney-General George Brandis just last month comes after a week of controversy in which she claimed to have been shocked by suggestions from the government that she might resign — even though it was revealed she instigated the meeting about her standing.
It also came one day after Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull defended her, a move interpreted as an attempt to distance himself from the strong attacks on her conduct from Senator Brandis and Tony Abbott.
Late yesterday, Professor Triggs “categorically” denied “any suggestion that the issue of a job and resignation” came at her instigation, saying she “stands by her evidence” at this week’s estim­ates committee.
However, multiple highly placed sources close to the government and the commission, together with the evidence at this week’s Senate estimates hearings, support the version of events that has Professor Triggs kicking off considerations about her future.
Professor Triggs ended last year deeply mired in controversy after a disastrous Senate estim­ates performance when she contradicted herself and failed to explain why she did not hold an inquiry into children in detention under Labor, when close to 2000 children were detained at any one time, but launched a public inquiry after the Coalition took government and stopped the boats.
Over the Christmas break and through the first half of last month, the president discussed her future with a number of other AHRC staff members and trusted colleagues.
Some of them urged her to stand aside for her own peace of mind and to protect the commission from further damage.
She indicated to them that she was thinking of taking that option but would need assurances that her reputation would not be damaged in the process and that she might obtain suitable alternative employment.
These considerations were relayed to the Attorney-General, who sent a response through the same back-channels that he would speak positively and publicly about her and he was certain consultancies in her special field of international law might be available.
However, on Tuesday, Profes­sor Triggs told the Senate estim­ates committee she was “deeply shocked” when, in a meeting with the secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department Chris Mor­aitis, the option of her departure was raised.
“He said he had been asked to deliver the message from the attor­ney that he required my resignation,” Professor Triggs said.
Mr Moraitis flatly denied this version of events: “I never sought resignation — I did not use the word ‘resignation’ ever.”
In his evidence, Mr Moraitis revealed that his meeting with the president came about only after Professor Triggs phoned him last month.
Subsequently, she confirmed this call had taken place.
As for that job, the evidence of the secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department to a senate committee this week was that Triggs had the job in her mind even before he passed on the message from Brandis:

Senator Wong: Did you tell Professor Triggs what the role was?
Mr Moraitis: Yes. Professor Triggs was aware of the role even before I mentioned it to her.
UPDATE
How Mark Kenny of Fairfax misrepresents the issue:

Mr Abbott and Mr Brandis ... launched politically motivated attacks on Professor Triggs’ performance.
A fairer account would require the shifting of two words:  Mr Abbott and Mr Brandis ... launched attacks on Professor Triggs’ politically motivated performance.
Kenny’s colleague Peter Hartcher is a little fairer, yet still dismisses as “so what” the fact that the president of the $25 million-a-year Human Rights Commission has played rank politics with an inquiry into children in detention:
Was Triggs guilty of playing partisan politics? It seems so. Why didn’t she inquire into the problem of children in detention when they were being locked up at an increasing rate under Labor? Why wait until now? Abbott is probably right on this point. But so what? Triggs’ report gave the government an opportunity to highlight its progress in solving the problem.
Quadrant sums up Hartcher’s argument:
Gillian Triggs is indeed a biased political operative masquerading as a human-rights champion.Also according to Hartcher, Tony Abbott is wrong to paint her as a biased political operative masquerading as a human-tights champion
How Fairfax just smothers Abbott’s message. He’s wrong even when he’s right.
UPDATE
Labor is forgiven for doing what the media Left would crucify Abbott for:
TWO Queensland government department chiefs have been axed and others could go if they don’t believe they can implement Labor’s election commitments.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has issued the warning while noting that acting director-general of premier and cabinet Kevin Yearbury has met with all departmental directors-general.
He’s told them they need to be 100 per cent committed to seeing out Labor’s election commitments.
Not the principle but the side.
UPDATE
More ABC bias, detailed by Geoffrey Luck:

On Tuesday, February 24, the [ABC TV 7pm bulletin] story about Professor Triggs’ interrogation by the Senate Estimates Committee left me with the uneasy feeling that its treatment in a report fronted by Canberra political correspondent Julie Doyle (one of the many) was particularly snaky.
The first warning that something was wrong: the conclusion was in the opening.

Presenter Juanita Phillips: They have no power to sack her, but today it’s emerged the lengths the Abbott government has gone to, to force the Human Rights Commissioner to resign.
Read on to see how the ABC treated almost every word from Triggs as the gospel, and omitted the critical denials and the key defence given by Attorney-General George Brandis. Also omitted, a telling admission from Triggs. In short: a stitch up.
UPDATE
No, it’s not driven by the media. It’s just a coincidence that the Sydney Morning Herald’s menu of political stories is just one massive onslaught against Abbott, his government or Liberal politicians generally:
image
Can we hear from Bob Brown again about the “hate media”?
John O’Sullivan in Quadrant:

What I perhaps underestimated, therefore, was the ruthless determination of the Liberal old guard to mount a relentless campaign of leaks to undermine the Prime Minister by, among other tactics, exploiting the hostility of the Left-liberal media and the hunger for scoops of all the media—and not least the pack bloodlust of journalism when a quarry seems cornered or in flight. I don’t think it will succeed. It is both too blatant and too smoothly disingenuous… It is a technique, whether successful or not, that draws attention to its own manipulativeness. And if it does succeed, it will leave behind enormous ill-will and a bitterly divided party.
I wish I shared that faith that malice will not be rewarded.
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill, Leanne and Eagle Dan.) 
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No ticket, no start at university publishing house

Andrew Bolt February 27 2015 (6:34am)

Truly shocking. Collectivism - the enemy of free inquiry - is enforced even at the University of Queensland Press:

University of Queensland Press and its open spirit of inquiry. Sarah Vog­ler, The Courier-Mail, yesterday: 
THE University of Queensland Press has rejected the option of publishing Campbell Newman’s memoir ... publisher Madonna Duffy said she believed the publisher had no choice but to reject it, due to Mr Newman’s decision ... to axe the Premier’s Literary Awards ... Chief executive Greg Bain supported the decision ... “Whilst we did not see sustained interest in such a book with a likely publication date one year out; far more importantly we stand by our colleagues in the writing and reading community who ... were enraged and insulted by the axing of the Literary Awards,” he said.
Indeed. Ira Stoll, Reason. com, ­Monday:

ONE of the most annoying traits of left-wingers is their tendency to ­assume that you, too, must share their political views.
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=== Posts from last year ===

TIM vs THE POLAR VORTEX

Tim Blair – Thursday, February 27, 2014 (9:32am)

Earlier this week, in a tribute to heroic climate change geologist Chris Turney, I became completely trapped by several feet of snow and ice.
This was no simple accomplishment. My trapping required serious lack of planning, massive ignorance of local conditions and a great amount of sheer reckless arrogance. In other words, I perfectly duplicated the mission of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, except in a rented VW Touareg. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'TIM vs THE POLAR VORTEX'
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Sack this Climate Change Authority now

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (1:10pm)

You’d think the economy was booming. You’d think we had so many jobs we wouldn’t mind closing a few more factories. You’d think the rest of the world really was making similar sacrifices. You’d think the planet had warmed these past 16 years. You’d think cutting Australia’s emissions would make a difference to temperatures.
But then you’d also have to think the Climate Change Authority wasn’t staffed by extremists and fantasists:
THE Climate Change Authority will today recommend the nation increase its target for cuts to carbon emissions from 5 per cent below 2000 levels to 19 per cent below, a move that will spark a political storm over how much the nation should do to combat climate change.
Sack it now.
UPDATE
You wonder which fools could propose something both so expensive and so pointless? These fools:
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Tell me why the authority members include Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics who isa former Greens candidate and absurd catastrophist? Why on earth should we listen to him?
Tell me why it includes militant warmist David Karoly, with his history of predictions?
Why does it include John Quiggin, a warmist who had to admit to having grossly exaggerated the difference our carbon tax could actually make? 
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Of course the leave scheme is too costly

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (9:48am)

I hope the Government uses this excuse to change its mind: 
The Commission of Audit has criticised the government’s proposed paid parental leave scheme as excessive at a time when fiscal restraint is needed. 
The Australian Financial Review understands the commission’s interim report, delivered to the government 13 days ago, supports the concept of paid parental leave but finds that Mr Abbott’s scheme is too generous given the state of budget… The finding will complicate plans within government to release the report as early as possible before the May 13 budget so the public can be educated on the need for cuts. 
If the Government does back down, it will want to do so later in its term to avoid for as long as possible the taint of promise-breaking.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)  
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Hannan speaks

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (9:09am)

 Don’t miss British politician Daniel Hannan’s talk in Melbourne tomorrow:
In the last few years, Daniel Hannan has been recognised all over the English-speaking world as one of this generation’s most eloquent voices for freedom. Hannan has a scholar’s mastery of the history of liberty and a politician’s grasp of the powerful forces vying to determine our future. 
Now Hannan brings his urgent and invigorating message to Australia. Read his conversation with Nick Cater here 
To book.
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If I called for Mark Scott to be beheaded would the ABC still laugh?

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (9:07am)

Why is a national broadcaster publicising such grossness?
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The ABC: out of control.
UPDATE
Triple J removes the tweet. No apology is offered.
(Thanks to reader Daniel.) 
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Brandis denies white-anting Abetz.  No one believes it

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (8:45am)

Not good for the government:
Senior Liberal MPs are alarmed at the divisions between Attorney-General George Brandis and [Senate leader Eric Abetz], who form the Senate leadership team. 
Senator Abetz’s supporters are accusing the Brandis camp of destabilising Senator Abetz, with the medium-term ambition of seizing the Senate leadership from the Employment Minister…
Senator Brandis has denied any breakdown in his relationship with Senator Abetz, emphatically rejecting claims of leaking against his colleague. “Senator Abetz and I have had for almost four years an excellent working relationship,” Senator Brandis told The Australian. “We are a close and mutually supportive team as is known to all the senior people in the government.”
No, it’s not, and, no, it isn’t. 
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The ABC tidies up after Steve Conroy. UPDATE: And again

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (8:45am)

Media

 ABC Radio National’s Breakfast show this morning applies a big bucket of whitewash to Steve Conroy’s disgraceful and damaging attack on Lieutenant General Angus Campbell.
Commentator Paul Bongiorno says Conroy raised a “valid point” and the issue should be pushed. Host Fran Kelly says this army does indeed have a “culture of secrecy” and wonders if the Government “brought this on itself” by appointing a military man to handle Operation Sovereign Borders. She praises Bill Shorten’s weak, irrelevant and deceptive speech as sounding strong.
Nothing is said in their discussion to damn Conroy’s attack on a general who was merely following orders, and executing them well. Nothing is said about the damage done by Conroy’s selfish refusal to apologise to the general. Nothing is said about Shorten’s telling inability to make Conroy apologise. Nothing is said about Conroy’s (in)ability to function properly as Labor’s shadow defence minister after such a political attack on a general - and one that earned him the public rebuke of the head of army.
Where is the balance on the ABC?  What is the Abbott Government going to do about it?
UPDATE
The ABC’s 7.30 last night also chose to ignore the Conroy fiasco, preferring to go over yet again the trivial fuss over Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash’s now-ex chief of staff. And it manages to file a whole new piece on that despite this admission:
CONOR DUFFY: For all the noise, no new revelations or resignations emerged, but the minister refused to reveal if she’d offered to quit.
No new revelations, but here’s a big report anyway on a bad Liberal.
UPDATE
Barnaby Joyce on 7.30 tries to explain why the Government cannot give more than five years of drought relief for farmers, only to be treated like a naughty schoolboy:
SARAH FERGUSON: But there are lots of farmers, including in particular cattle farmers, who say it’s going to take more than five years to rebuild their properties; five years isn’t long enough. 
BARNABY JOYCE: Well I understand that, and in a perfect world we wouldn’t be heading towards $660 billion in gross debt and $123 billion in combined deficit. SARAH FERGUSON: Just stick to the subject. 
Is it only on the ABC that explaining an inability to actually pay for a grand scheme under discussion is seen as off-topic?
UPDATE
More whitewash from The Age, which thinks the Conroy uproar is of almost no interest when there’s more stale fuss to present over the Liberals’ sinister Fiona Nash, the Liberals’ boat people meanness and the Liberals’ nasty penny-pinching:

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UPDATE
Meanwhile, Bill Shorten just digs himself a deeper hole:
Bill Shorten has apologised for mistakenly telling Parliament that Liberal frontbencher Michael Ronaldson called the former Chief of Army Ken Gillespie a ‘’coward’’. 
The Opposition Leader apologised on Wednesday night, after receiving a letter from Senator Ronaldson demanding to see the evidence for his ‘’coward’’ claim..
Trying to deflect attention from Senator Conroy’s attack on General Campbell, Mr Shorten told the House on Wednesday: ‘’What I also know is that . . . when Chief of Army General Gillespie was at estimates it was Senator Ronaldson who called him a coward,’’ during debate on a motion to admonish Senator Conroy.
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‘’I’m sure that, given his time again, Senator Ronaldson might have chosen his words differently,’’ Mr Shorten said. 
(Thanks to reader Dan.) 
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Anglican tells Muslims they’re not

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (8:35am)

The judge, educated in a Church of England school, tells two Muslim men they do not follow the real Muslim faith:
The two men who hacked to death a young soldier in Woolwich in south London last year have been sentenced to life in prison… 
Adebolajo started shouting ‘‘Allahu akbar’’ and Adebowale called out ‘‘that’s a lie’’ as the judge told them their extremist views were ”a betrayal of Islam”.
UPDATE
That SMH report takes eight sentences before mentioning the killers were Muslim. The caption to the photograph identifies the alleged ideology only of the protesters:
RAW VISION: Family of murdered British soldier Rigby arrive at court for the sentencing of his Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale while right-wing protesters demonstrate outside.
(Thanks to reader Maurie.) 
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Thank Scott Morrison for saving lives instead

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (8:30am)

Boat people policy

 IN the six years Labor ran our border policies one boat person — on average — died every two days. The death toll was horrific — at least 1100. 

But where were the GetUp candlelight rallies then to match the one we saw last week for the one boat person, Iranian Reza Berati, who died last week under the Abbott Government?
Where was the wall-to-wall ABC coverage? Where were the demands then for the resignation of the politicians behind the deadliest mistake of any peacetime Australian government — to weaken our border laws in 2008 to seem more “compassionate”, only to put people smugglers back into business?

What we are seeing now is not just the hypocrisy of the Left. It is also an illustration of a key difference between them and conservatives: the Left judging by how things seem; conservatives by how things work.
It is the difference between children and adults.
(Read full article here.) 
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The mystery is why Tim Flannery is still a guru

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (8:22am)

Global warming - dud predictions

 PROVING Tim Flannery wrong on global warming is too easy. Explaining why he’s still a guru is the hard one.
This week the University of Canberra honoured our former Chief Climate Change Commissioner by letting him give its annual Krebs Lecture.
Strange. Shouldn’t warmists distance themselves from a man whose astonishing record of dud predictions has so hurt their cause?
(Read full article here.) 
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What Qantas needs now, and it isn’t more bloody-minded unions

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (8:11am)

Terry McCrann:
QANTAS needs both things it is asking the Government for — a debt guarantee and the freedom to copy Virgin Australia in seeking major foreign shareholders. 
The results from Qantas today are also going to show with brutal clarity that even with that help, it will still face a fundamental struggle to survive…
Now, there’s an important qualification to government help. The debt guarantee should operate in a strictly limited way — just to bridge the gap to the repeal of the Qantas shareholder restrictions.
Once Qantas is able to get major foreign shareholders, as does Virgin, it would be completely inappropriate for that company to continue to be guaranteed by the taxpayer. Of course, all that is in the hands of the uncertain Senate after June.
McCrann is right to challenge the critics of Qantas CEO Alan Joyce to come up with an alternative plan that did not involve falling market share, increasing losses and fewer jobs.
How stupid does that damaging 2011 industrial dispute look now? How many of the unionists today losing their jobs fought three years ago against the cost cutting the airline clearly needed?:
When independent arbitrator Fair Work Australia invoked national interest in terminating all industrial action between Qantas and striking aviation unions at 2 a.m. Monday, it brought an end all industrial action in a bitter dispute that has dragged on for 14 months…

Make no mistake: this was an industrial war that struck at the heart of nationalism, protectionism and old-school political divides… 
The long-running labor dispute at the world’s second-oldest airline reached its boiling point during the Qantas Annual General Meeting on Friday, October 28.
Chief executive Alan Joyce ... accused the unions of “slowly crippling our business and trashing our brand."…
His restructuring plan to make Qantas more competitive in the international market received near unanimous support from shareholders… The plans were the catalyst for two unions—the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU)—to implement rolling strikes this year. A third union, the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), made unauthorized, in-flight announcements to vent their concerns…
With the ongoing dispute already costing Qantas $70 million, Joyce threatened an employee lockout, and promised to ground the airline at a cost of $20 million a day by way of forcing the government’s hand in ordering arbitration. This is exactly what happened.
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Barry backs down, but his sources seem dodgier than ever

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (7:32am)

A mistake is admitted by Media Watch - but that’s at least one admission too few:
MEDIA Watch moved yesterday to correct its inaccurate reporting of The Australian’s financial position, just hours after the newspaper lodged a complaint with the communications watchdog about the ABC program’s coverage. 
After nine days of stonewalling, Media Watch host Paul Barry finally admitted he had put to air false information, writing on the program’s website that “Media Watch accepts that the insider’s figure of $40 million to $50 million was too high”.
Too high is right:
[Australian editor Chris] Mitchell, the nation’s most experienced newspaper editor, said he should not need to point out to Barry that the claims by Media Watch that his newspaper was losing $50m were 3 1/2 times more than The Australian’s actual loss.
This mistake Barry still needs to apologise for:
“Paul Barry shows an edited clip of Sharri Markson’s interview with me,” Mr Mitchell said. 
“The full interview on The Australian website shows my quote was specifically rejecting the $50m figure. “This quote was edited [by Media Watch] in a deliberately dishonest way to make it look like I was admitting something I was specifically denying...”
And there is this: exactly what kind of News Corp “insider” was Barry relying on? How much of an “insider” was this anonymous source really when he could get the Australian’s losses so wildly wrong?
What else did Barry get wrong, given how heavily he relied on this “insider” - or perhaps two of them - for his claims against a media organisation he clearly hates?
As Gerard Henderson notes: 
When discussing News Corp publications [this week], his sources included “one former News Corp editor”, an “ex-News Corp editor”, “another ex-News Corp executive”, an “ex-News Corp executive”, “insiders”, “one former News Corp editor”, “another former News Corp executive” and “a former executive”, along with “industry insiders” and the catch-all “some”. In any decent university course such a dissertation would have earned a fail mark or, at best, a requirement that the piece be rewritten.
Henderson will be my guest in my new NewsWatch segment when the Bolt Report returns on Network 10 on Sunday at 10am and 4pm. 
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Morrison hiding in plain sight

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (7:26am)

Niki Savva is as puzzled as I am by the attempts by Labor and friendly journalists to claim Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has somehow been caught in a cover-up of the Manus riot:
Morrison’s sin was to show too little scepticism in relaying information later found to be inaccurate. He is also, gasp, rude to reporters. He caused particular offence on Saturday when he released his statement at 8.44pm, even though the 24-hour news cycle was invented a few years ago. Late edition Sunday papers reported it, Sunday’s television talk shows were full of it and it has received saturation coverage ever since. Some cover-up.
Savva also puts the essentially inconsequential fumbling of assistant health minister Fiona Nash into context: 
This is a rough patch for the government, which is bound to get worse, but what tends to be forgotten is just how rocky it was in the Howard years, especially in the beginning. 
Howard lost two frontbenchers in his first six months, and in 18 months, hit a grand total of seven.
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Is Elizabeth Farrelly really in Australia? Or even on this planet?

Andrew Bolt February 27 2014 (6:44am)

Media

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Elizabeth Farrelly says she lives in Australia but I fear there has been some mistake:
Say there was civil war here. Say some West Australian mining despot took power and began censoring news, jailing journalists, disappearing opponents. Say you were dragged from your bed, interrogated at midnight, your kids threatened with rape and torture. It’s not so far fetched.
Er, it’s not? If so, shouldn’t Farrelly actually devote her entire column to explaining why we are on the brink of this tyranny, just so we have time to pack or to fight? Which mining despot does she suspect as likely to become dictator in this “no so far fetched” future?
Now Hanson has gone but the hate-wells are still open, gushing red like the earth we refuse to share, and the blood we spill defending it.
Wow. Where are all those people we’re killed to defend this land? Does she mean boat people? Which ones? Where?
Fear makes us harsh, as in 1930s Germany and any populace that accommodates an inhumane regime.
So we’re like Nazis now? And Abbott like Hitler? Gosh. So why are “refugees” fleeing towards us and not from? And seeing that Manus was Kevin Rudd’s idea in the first place, shouldn’t his “regime” be criticised, too?
There’s probably some guilt in there too, since many asylum seekers are from countries we have helped destroy. 
We helped to destroy the lands of the Manus men, who reports tell us are from ”Afghanistan, Sudan’s Darfur region, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, Somalia, and Syria”? Really?  We destroyed Afghanistan by toppling the Taliban and pumping in aid? We’ve destroyed Iran? Syria is our fault, too? Pakistan?
Yet in this whole immigration shemozzle three things are abundantly clear. One, that we are all boat people.
We are? My parents flew here on an invitation from the government. How does that make me a “boat person”, trying to get here illegally? Are we all illegally here, then?
Many of our ancestors came explicitly as criminals. Most of those, having arrived, colluded in what would now be war crimes.
They did? Not my parents or my wife’s ancestors, lady, or those of my closest friends. So define “many”.  Identity the “war crimes”.  While we’re at it, identify the “war”.
We know this when even China can credibly critique our human rights record.
“Credibly”? China to Farrelly is now a “credible” arbiter of human rights, and we are not?
Does Farrelly truly have an audience for such bizarre fantasising? How fashionable is this torrent of hatred and fear of this country?
Or maybe she should just check her passport. Is she really in this country or in, say, China’s Tibet? 
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This Herald headline is a lie

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (6:03pm)

The Sydney Morning Herald yet again misrepresents the Prime Minister:
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Jacqueline Maley’s copy gets dangerously close to the wild misrepresentation of her sub-editor’s headline:
In the hunt for the high moral ground in politics, the defence of ‘’Hey, at least we’re not as bad as Thommo!‘’ is not usually one’s first stop. 
And yet, in a press conference on Wednesday, when defending the actions of his Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash, Prime Minister Tony Abbott deployed the unusual tactic of comparing his government’s conduct to his predecessor’s in relation to the erstwhile member for Dobell Craig Thomson.
So did Abbott honestly use the phrase - twice put in quotation marks - that is ascribed to him: ‘At least we’re not as bad as Thommo’?
Of course not. From much deeper into the story, Abbott’s real words:
And then, he launched Thommo defence: ‘’I’d ask you to compare the way this government has dealt with this with the way the former government dealt with the scandal involving the former member for Dobell who was, let’s face it, protected for three years.’’
And as Maley then acknowledges the truth of the words her paper mocks:
True, of course.
Pretty despicable stuff.
(Thanks to reader Sandi.) 
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“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” - 1 John 4:9
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

February 26: Morning
"Salvation is of the Lord." - Jonah 2:9
Salvation is the work of God. It is he alone who quickens the soul "dead in trespasses and sins," and it is he also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and Omega." "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because he upholds me with his hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord's strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God's chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven's hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: "Salvation is of the Lord."
Evening
"Behold, if the leprosy have covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean that hath the plague." - Leviticus 13:13
Strange enough this regulation appears, yet there was wisdom in it, for the throwing out of the disease proved that the constitution was sound. This evening it may be well for us to see the typical teaching of so singular a rule. We, too, are lepers, and may read the law of the leper as applicable to ourselves. When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and in no part free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of his own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then he is clean through the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. Hidden, unfelt, unconfessed iniquity is the true leprosy; but when sin is seen and felt, it has received its deathblow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with it. Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness, or more hopeful than contrition. We must confess that we are "nothing else but sin," for no confession short of this will be the whole truth; and if the Holy Spirit be at work with us, convincing us of sin, there will be no difficulty about making such an acknowledgment--it will spring spontaneously from our lips. What comfort does the text afford to truly awakened sinners: the very circumstance which so grievously discouraged them is here turned into a sign and symptom of a hopeful state! Stripping comes before clothing; digging out the foundation is the first thing in building--and a thorough sense of sin is one of the earliest works of grace in the heart. O thou poor leprous sinner, utterly destitute of a sound spot, take heart from the text, and come as thou art to Jesus--

"For let our debts be what they may, however great or small,
As soon as we have nought to pay, our Lord forgives us all.
'Tis perfect poverty alone that sets the soul at large:
While we can call one mite our own, we have no full discharge."
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Today's reading: Numbers 12-14, Mark 5:21-43 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Numbers 12-14

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this.
3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 5:21-43

Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." 24 So Jesus went with him....

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