Thursday, February 26, 2015

Thu Feb 26th 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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History began on this day, according to Ptolemy, in 747 BC. This was the beginning of the reign of Nabû-nāṣir. Not much is known about the King of Babylon who ruled from 747 to 734. He provided precise historical records according to time and this impressed Ptolemy. In 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba. Within a year he lost at Waterloo and forever. In 1909, Kinemacolor was the first colour motion picture process, shown at the Palace Theatre London. In 1917, The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first Jazz album for the Victor Talking Machine Company. It started Jazz. In 1935, Hitler broke the treaty of Versailles by ordering the building of the Luftwaffe. On the same day in 1935,  Robert Watson-Watt carried out a demonstration near Daventry which led directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom. A year later, in 1936, some young Japanese officers attempted a coup. In 1993, a car bomb was detonated to take out the Twin Towers. It was beneath the North tower, killed six and injured a thousand. Years later, a perpetrator flying over NYC with a federal agent, the agent told the perpetrator that that was the tower he tried to take down. The perpetrator said if he had had more money he would have been successful. 

 Today is the day some backbenchers have claimed that they could remove Mr Abbott from the Prime Minister's position and install a vain and foolish Malcolm Turnbull. This is a tragedy for NSW voters so close to the NSW election. It is not yet noticed, but the ALP in Cabramatta are engaged in placing signs inappropriately on State Rail property. They have done so in previous elections too, with impunity. But that doesn't concern the ambitious and ambivalent Malcolm Turnbull. 
2014
Everything changes. I will continue with my columns, but the look and feel will be different. I intend to sell up some time in April, so I have an opportunity to do something substantive and creative. I have ended my campaigns, and only have a petition for the NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell to remedy my whistle blower situation. I was going to cut back on Face Book, but somebody beat me to it, making false complaints to get me banned from posting for a time. I would like to thank my hard working team, Mandy, Stephanie, John and Phil .. and also Jenny who has moved on, but will always be part of the team. Also thanks to Dean who proposed this format. I'm working on a sequel to my autobiography, Thief! which I finished in '04 and which I now need to update with a new look. I had added on extra material, but my view now is very different to what it was then. I can't post aspects of it, as I will sell it through Amazon .. and because I released elements last time, they won't credit it as a new original work. Also many thanks to my brother in Christ Timothy Ly. Tim has embarked on his new project a mini series of martial arts made in Australia by Australians. He was the brains behind Maximum Choppage round 2 and Rumble Pictures. Due for release in 2015. Also, many thanks to Daniel and the team at Caroline Glick. It is a privilege to be your friend. Also J-Fo. I can't say why, but if you are lucky, you will see Gillard in the dock, and J-Fo asking questions of her dad .. it'll never happen outside of an Alan Jones Speech at a luncheon.

On this day in 1995, a brilliant young Mexican American performer entranced a crowd of some 65000. I provided a few youtube offerings after historical 'Matches.' Her name was Selena. She had been performing since she was 11 years old. Days after this concert, she was dead. She had been shot by a President of her fan club. It might be argued that the fan hadn't meant to kill her. It was a shot in the shoulder which severed an artery. But it is stupid to think you could shoot someone and not expect death to follow. The President had been embezzling money and had been fired for it. They had agreed to hand over essential documents to Selena. And so, a 23 yo woman with so much promise was eliminated by someone they had trusted.

On another year, but on this day, 2012, a thug whom Obama would later describe as someone who "Could have been my son" died after beating up an armed man. In the rush to prosecute the victim, courts ignored and compromised evidence Trayvon had been involved with a substantial number of break and enters. One certainty is Trayvon never did that after this day in 2012.

It is hard to imagine how Conroy could have put in a worse performance in the senate without hurting a puppy in front of a camera. But Shorten still views Conroy as front bench material. It all seems very confusing for the ALP, but the short story is the conservatives have stopped the boats when the ALP had started them. I don't mind the 50k people who have come to Australia after they were vetted by the UN. I'd rather have had 50k refugees. But the 1400 or so deaths is 1400 too many. It isn't compassionate to drown people. Jason Clare said that.
Historical perspectives on this day 
In 747 BC, Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy's Nabonassar Era. 364, Valentinian I was proclaimed Roman Emperor. 1233,  Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months. 1266, Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeated a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred was killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invested Charles as king of Sicily and Naples. 1794, the first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burned down. 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba. 1876, Japan and Korea signed a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.

 In 1909.  Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, was first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London. 1914, HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, was launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. 1917, the Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York. 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park - the Grand Canyon National Park. 1929, President Calvin Coolidge signed an Executive Order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

 In 1935, Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Also 1935, Robert Watson-Watt carried out a demonstration near Daventry which led directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom. 1936, in the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempted to stage a coup against the government. 1946, Finnish observers reported the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets. 1952, Vincent Massey was sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada. 1960, a New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashed into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board. 1966, Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket Also 1966, Vietnam War: The ROK Capital Division of the South Korean Army massacres 380 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam.

 In 1971, U.N. Secretary General U Thant signed United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day. 1972, the Buffalo Creek Flood caused by a burst dam killed 125 in West Virginia. 1980, Egypt and Israel established full diplomatic relations. 1987, Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebuked President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff. 1991, Gulf War: United States Army forces captured the town of Al Busayyah. 1992, Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces opened fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead. 1993, World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center exploded, killing six and injuring over a thousand. 1995, the United Kingdom's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapsed after securities broker Nick Leeson, lost $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts. 2012, a train derailed in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45. 2013, a hot air balloon crashed near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.
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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 Elisabeth Hammarlund-Lorenzsonn and to those others born on this day, including
Napoleon's Return from Elba, by Charles Auguste Guillaume Steuben
Mongols have won. Again. Boney left Elba. Radar heard it coming. One of our own is chief. The authorised speculative trades were bad, too. Let's party.  
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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Did Gillian Triggs actually ask the government about a job offer?

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (4:41pm)

This could, if true, dramatically deflate the hysterical reporting of the Abbott Government allegedly offering Gillian Triggs an “inducement” to quit as president of the Human Rights Commission.
David Speers on Sky News, giving no sources, says he’s given to understand that a number of HRC commissioners had some weeks ago formed the view that Triggs should indeed quit. Triggs was considering it, but didn’t want to look as if she’d been hounded out. She wondered what she could do next. Hence the government suggested the face-saver of a job in international law.
But then Triggs, egged on by supporters, changed her mind about quitting. She has now denounced the offer of a face-saver as “disgraceful”.
I cannot say whether this account is true. I suspect Triggs would deny it. And no wonder, given it is something which, if true, could reflect on her reputation and credibility.
Watch this space.
UPDATE
Triggs has reportedly denied raising any job offer for her with the Government.
On the other hand, I understand the Government believes she did. The stakes just got raised, and Labor could end up looking like it wildly overplayed its hand. Has it been rope-a-doped?
UPDATE
Suddenly one answer given to the Senate committee on Tuesday by Immigration Department secretary Chris Moraitis makes a lot more sense. He was asked about the job which the Government had suggested was open to Triggs:
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.
Video at 00:35:00
Well, well.  If Labor and the Greens insist on calling the job a “bribe”, they might severely embarrass more than the Government.
But, again, Triggs herself refused to call the job an “inducement” and, I believe, denies asking about it.
UPDATE
Via Sky News:

image
(Thanks to readers Peter H. and Nathan.) 
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The ABC won’t defend our prime minister as the Indonesian media now does

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (1:29pm)

An Indonesian commentator in an Indonesian newspaper defends Tony Abbott in a way no ABC commentator has against the false claims the ABC promoted of Abbott costing the Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan their last chance of a reprieve:
INDONESIAN President Joko Widodo is “carefully considering Indonesia’s position” over the planned executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Tony Abbott says.
The Prime Minister last night made a last minute personal appeal to Mr Joko, reportedly stressing in a phone call that the Bali Nine duo had been rehabilitated and become model prisoners in their decade in prison…
The conversation came as the Indonesian media for the first time took aim at Mr Joko for his stance over the impending executions of the convicted duo.
In an article in the Jakarta Globe, one of Indonesia’s two major English language newspapers, political analyst Johannes Nugroho warned Mr Joko not to risk damaging international relations by rejecting clemency for the Australian pair and other foreigners listed for execution on drugs charges.

He slammed as narrow minded and isolationist those Indonesians who accused Mr Abbott of bullying tactics after he reminded the country of the aid Australia had given Jakarta in the wake of the Aceh tsunami.
“In the current death penalty spat Australia, being a Western country, is an easy target for our pseudo- and ultra-nationalists,” Mr Negroho wrote.
In a strongly worded editorial that accompanied the article, the newspaper criticised Mr Joko for exploiting the executions “to look tough in the midst of a leadership crisis”.
“People on death row will be shot for the sake of macho posturing,” The Globe wrote. “Now’s the time to stop without losing face. Message delivered, Mr. President. We get it, the whole world does: You mean business. Now knock it off.”
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Unilateral blindness

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (11:32am)

Readers are astonished by those who will not see.
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill:
Peter van Onselen writes: 
Abbott would be doing a doorstop later in the morning [yesterday]...I asked the PM whether the deployment of troops to Iraq was discussed at a dinner on November 25.
Attendees included the US ambassador, the chief of staff to the US Air Force and the Australian secretary of Defence. Abbott’s press secretary quickly called “last question”, putting an end to any follow up to John Lyons’ story in The Weekend Australian. Let’s not dig any deeper there.
AB, didn’t PvO catch up with the news from Senate Estimates the same day, where the Defence Force chief and Defence Department secretary buried and cremated Lyons’ story?  What’s left for PvO to dig for? A bigger hole?
Reader John:
Peter van Onselen continues with the now discredited allegations made in the John Lyons story from last weekend’s The Australian (that PM Abbott suggested a unilateral invasion of Iraq, with 3500 Australian ground troops to confront the Islamic State terrorist group).
On his Twitter today after the PM Sydney press conference, van Onselen tweets.Part 1

When I asked the PM at his presser about the dinner with US & Aust defence officials his press secretary called “last question”. Hmmm
Part 2

That is, the dinner revealed at Estimates today: 25 November with the chief of staff to the US airforce & Aust dept defence secretary.
Maybe he was unaware, of the comprehensive rebuttal by Defence Chiefs in the Senate, under oath, earlier in the day of the Lyons allegations.
However van Onselen even when he is completely aware of the Defence testimony, and the Lyons story has collapsed, he replied to a twitter user at around 9PM Wednesday night (this is from the twitter feed the Part 2 linked above):
Sean Garman ?@SeanSJG @vanOnselenP Given the testimony today don’t you think that you should row back on your insinuations?
Peter van Onselen ?@vanOnselenP @SeanSJG no way!
 It is a highly dangerous time when a vocal section of the media, like van Onselen here, deliberately ignores independent verified facts from multiple witnesses because it conflicts with his own fantasy of damaging PM Abbott.
UPDATE
John Lyons last night defended his story again - that Abbott “raised the idea” of a “unilateral invasion of Iraq” with “Australia’s leading military planners” at a “meeting” and “the military officials were stunned”.
Now he admits that this “unilateral invasion of Iraq” was in fact (allegedly) always intended to be a deployment with Iraq’s permission:
What he meant by that was without United States or NATO cooperation. It wasn’t without Iraqi cooperation, of course, because Australia is already co-operating with Iraq.
How could Lyons possibly describe a deployment with Iraq’s cooperation and permission as a “unilateral invasion of Iraq”?
Our “leading military planners” at the dinner - the heads of the Defence Department, the Australian Defence Force and the Air Force - have all denied hearing Abbott say anything about any “unilateral invasion”. Lyons says they may not have heard the comments because “it is a long table, which might explain why some people at one end of the table didn’t hear the particular reference”.
But how could Lyons in his article have claimed Abbott had “raised the idea with Australia’s leading military planners” and “stunned” them when none actually heard any such thing? Binskin and Richardson, incidentally, say the acoustics in the room were excellent. 
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Burnside and the art of not checking the inconvenient truth

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (10:27am)

Julian Burnside QC today tries to justify his outrageous and dangerous claim that I am a greater danger than the Islamic State to Australia’s way of life. His grasp of reality may be judged from this statement:
If there are 50 jihadists in Australia who would fight with Isis (unlikely), that represents about two Australians in a million who are sharply at odds with us.
This reveals either great ignorance or great deception.
Last week:
SYDNEY siege terrorist Man Haron Monis was deemed such a small risk by spy and policing agencies that he didn’t even rate among the top 400 people in Australia identified as being potential national security threats.
Even more alarming is the admission in the Commonwealth and NSW government review of the Martin Place siege — released yesterday — that there are several thousand people in Australia who are now classified as a “security concern”.
Tony Abbott this week:
Already at least 110 Australians have travelled overseas to join the death cult in Iraq and Syria… ASIO has over 400 high-priority counterterrorism investigations.
February 10:
Almost 100 Australians are believed to be fighting with Syria and Iraq as the number of foreign fighters joining the IS group continues to rise… [Foreign Minister Julie] Bishop said that to date, the passports of 90 Australians have been cancelled and five suspended. A further 10 passports were not issued.
From the ABC today:

Up to 40 Australian women are known to have taken part in or supported terrorist activity in Syria, Iraq and Australia, including so-called “jihadi brides”, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says.
If Burnside so grossly misrepresents the easy-to-check statistics, what value can we place on his absurd and dangerously inflammatory conclusions?


Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Burnside and the art of not checking the inconvenient truth'
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And how many women here would join IS, too, if they could?

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (9:01am)

Evil attracts. Totalitarianism attracts the young particularly:
UP to 40 Australian women have secretly travelled to Iraq and Syria to join terrorist groups and the government fears some have signed up to notorious all-female religious police units formed to enforce strict sharia.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop appealed to schools and families to warn authorities about “an increasi­ng number of young female­s” meeting up with their foreign fighter husbands or seeking to find partners as so-called jihad­i brides.
She revealed there were more than 500 women from Western nations among the foreign fighters attracted to Islamic State despit­e the “depraved” group’s reputation for sexual slavery and abuse of prepubescent girls.
The “tiny minority” argument looks far less convincing today. 
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The Andrews Government must break a reckless promise it should never have made

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (8:46am)

Victoria’s Labor Government won last year’s election by making a reckless promise it could not keep - that it would tear up a contract to build a needed road tunnel, and would do it without having to pay compensation.
It was a fraud. If the Government does not now back off, the damage to the state could be severe:
GLOBAL tunnel construction and legal experts have warned Premier Daniel Andrews against using Parliament to avoid paying the $1.1 billion East West compensation bill.
The high-powered group yesterday wrote to the Premier, warning Australia’s financial reputation could be trashed and Labor’s proposed Melbourne Metro rail tunnel jeopardised if laws were passed to dodge a payout.
Infrastructure law expert Arnold Dix, who heads the legal chapter of the International Tunnelling Association, has written to Mr Andrews pleading with him to rule it out.
“We write to implore your Government, as commanders of the Sovereign of the State of Victoria NOT to enact legislation to alter the rights and obligations between the State of Victoria and the companies it has lawfully contracted with.” The letter was sent yesterday with support from experts from Greece, Italy, the US, Sweden and Switzerland.
UPDATE
Labor feeds Victoria to its union mates:
During its three months in power the new Victorian Labor government has implemented five policies that directly benefit unions and is considering a law that would allow it to alter the scope of royal commissions, including the one into trade unions initiated by the federal government.
Since being elected on November 29 the government has abolished the state’s building code, introduced legislation to drop move-on laws at picket lines, declared a public holiday on Easter Sunday, has said it will not adhere to the 2.5 per cent wages limit of the previous government and abolished drug and alcohol testing on building sites…

The government’s approach to the royal commission on trade unions also hangs in the balance, with suggestion it will fold the unit established within the Department of Premier and Cabinet that was established to deal with the inquiry. It is also suggested the government will resubmit its submission to the inquiry after the current submission was devised by the former government and requested the CFMEU be deregistered.
This week it will introduce legislation to change the Parliamentary Committees and Inquiries Act in which relevant letters patent can be “updated”, potentially allowing the terms of reference for the royal commission to be changed or refuse for the inquiry to be lengthened.
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Where are those critics of the “hate media” now?

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (8:25am)

The list of Age political opinion pieces suggests its campaign to destroy Tony Abbott has passed the point of simply hysteria. I’d be surprised if any Liberal now bought a paper so manically of the Left:
image
Remember how former Fairfax editors would rail in The Age how Rupert Murdoch’s papers were allegedly one-sided?
Former Sunday Age editor Gay Alcorn:
The decision by the Murdoch press to replace news with propaganda during this election campaign ... startled at the aggression of what’s been called the most partisan coverage of an election since 1975 ... Rupert Murdoch declared via Twitter that the public have had enough of Labor, and some of his key newspapers have obliged by campaigning against the government from day one.
Former Age editor Bruce Guthrie:
Certainly there’s a growing paranoia within Labor circles and elsewhere that the Murdoch press is against them ... it seems increasingly apparent that Labor and the Greens are going to be facing a largely hostile popular press between now and any election. ...  it looks just as obvious that Tony Abbott has Rupert Murdoch in his corner.
Labor’s then Communications Minister, Steven Conroy, denounced the alleged campaign by Murdoch papers against the Gillard Government:

“I don’t need an inquiry to establish that some organs in the Murdoch press are clearly running a campaign against this government,” Senator Conroy said…
However, he said he had been clear in the past about his criticisms of “some organs of the Murdoch Press”. He singled out The Daily Telegraph, saying the paper’s “campaign against the government has been blatant"…
Then Greens leader Bob Brown demanded - and got - a media inquiry into the Murdoch “hate media” he claimed were running a political campaign:
BOB BROWN: ... I mean, as far as the Greens are concerned, his mission in his editorials in the Australian is to destroy the Greens at the ballot box....  It is the hate media and central, and, it’s lost track of what’s news and what’s views. It’s a views paper essentially. ... We’ve got an independent media inquiry now which is popular with the Australian people, the idea of a media inquiry, that can look at a whole diversity of things… But I would be comfortable to see if for suggestions coming out of a media inquiry, for example, it lifted its standards. I think that would be a good thing for the public interest.
TONY JONES: In what area precisely?
BOB BROWN: Well, for example, in putting news on its front page instead of mixing it with - you know, its own ethics, say, it won’t mix up opinion and news, but from front page through to the opinion pages, it is a views paper.
So where are the ex-Fairfax editors now, complaining about newspapers campaigning against the government? Where are the Greens, demanding an inquiry examine the “hate media” that’s attacking the Liberals?
Hypocrites.   
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Brandis too nice to Triggs

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (8:10am)

IT is astonishing to see Gillian Triggs become the victim. We can blame Attorney-General George Brandis for being too nice.
Triggs should be finished as president of the Human Rights Commission. She has destroyed its reputation — such as it was — for impartiality. She refused to hold an inquiry into children in detention when Labor was in power and there were nearly 2000 of them, minus the dozens who’d drowned coming over.
No, she waited until after the 2013 election, when the Abbott Government was in power, stopping the boats and releasing all but 10 per cent of the children that Labor locked up at its peak.
Moreover, during her inquiry Triggs made wild claims — that armed guards were posted at Christmas Island and children were denied medical care.
But Brandis is a gentleman.
(Read full article here.) 
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Can you blame them if they hate Australia?

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (7:56am)

Culture wars

image
SURE, Prime Minister Tony Abbott was right to tell our Muslim leaders they must do more to turn young Australians away from terrorism.
But why are we letting so many non-Muslim leaders off the hook? Why not demand the same help from the politicians, teachers, artists and journalists who recklessly make Australia seem hateful to the young — and not just to young Muslims?
Don’t they see the danger of teaching children that Australia is a racist, genocidal, child-thieving and land-raping nation built on stolen land to which they can never fully belong?

No wonder some young Australians figure they’d rather identify with some other country or culture, even with the Islamic State. Anything but this cringeing wreck.
I’ve worried about this ever since I dropped in a decade ago on the then Moreland Secondary College to learn why its results were through the floor and why non-Muslim students were fleeing.
The new principal explained her plans to fix the mess and proudly showed me a video the students had made of themselves, which she thought summed up the school spirit.
“I’m Lebanese,” declared one student in an Australian accent. “I’m Egyptian,” said the next.
“I’m Turkish.”
“I’m Lebanese-Australian.”
Yes, that is the fruit of a state-funded multiculturalism that stupidly teaches children to identify with their parents’ country, often prouder than our own.
I wasn’t surprised when one of the school’s former teachers rang to say a few of those students had even celebrated the September 11 attacks on the US.
Nor was I surprised when the college was soon closed and its last remaining students scattered to other state schools.
Let me guess what many of those children have since been taught about Australia.

Like so many students of their generation, they would probably have been taught that this country has a genocidal past — a false but fashionable smear.
(Read full column here.) 
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A contrast: Turnbull vs Morrison and Bishop

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (7:54am)

There are three possible replacements for Tony Abbott should he eventually fall. How they are making their case for leadership speaks volumes.
One the one hand there are Scott Morrison and, now making a more subtle pitch, Julie Bishop.
On the other there is Malcolm Turnbull.
Morrison and Bishop are making their respective cases by performing as brilliantly as they can as Ministers in the Abbott Government. In doing so, they also maximise the Abbott Government’s chances of survival.  Their self-promotion is at the same time loyal - both to their leader and their party.
Turnbull, in contrast, makes his own case not by performing well but behaving badly - by sniping and sneering at Abbott in a clear attempt to tear him down. In doing so, he minimises the Abbott Government’s chances of survival. His self-promotion is disloyal - both to his leader and his party.
Turnbull’s latest effort is to echo and amplify the defence mounted by Labor, the Greens and the ABC of the appalling performance of Gillian Triggs:
I’ve known [Triggs] for some years, she’s a very distinguished legal academic, but this debate about Gillian Triggs misses the main point. The main point is the children. Children in detention is something that nobody wants. We certainly don’t want that. Our policy has demonstrably res­ulted in children being taken out of detention. That’s what we should be focused on.
Shoulder to shoulder with Labor leader Bill Shorten:
Shorten went further and praised Malcolm Turnbull, seen as an alternative Liberal leader, for not criticising Triggs, whom he has known for years.
Turnbull’s false and offensive insinuation that Abbott is forgetting the children and is being too aggressive is portrayed by journalists of the Left as the true measure of the sentiment of most Liberal MPs. In fact, if Turnbull were leader, I suspect most Liberal MPs would chafe at Turnbull’s support of a Leftist bureaucracy that has gone to war against them and one of their greatest achievements in government to date - and one of Morrison’s, too.
Liberal MPs should consider well that contrast.
Do they want as their next leader a man who, like Rudd, would seek to destroy their own in a bid to grab power? Who sides with the Liberals’ natural enemies? 
Or do they choose instead a colleague who has performed best in the service of the government, and discomfited its foes?
The answer is becoming more obvious by the day. Time is the friend of Morrison and Bishop, and I expect Turnbull to step up his destabilisation of Abbott as he realises that, too. 
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No excuse for this ABC censorship

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (7:32am)

On some subjects - Islam, ethnic crime, global warming and “stolen generations”, for instance - the ABC censors the truth.
It’s for your own good, it believes. In fact, it’s a denial of information meant only to protect the Leftist beliefs the ABC holds sacred.
Today’s example is this ABC report, omitting one of the most critical facts you’d need to understand what allegedly occurred and why:
A man has been charged after he allegedly married a 15-year-old girl in Sydney’s south-west.
Police said the man, who was 18 at the time, and the girl were wed in a private ceremony at a home in Lurnea in November last year.
It is alleged the pair have lived together at a home in Yagoona in Sydney’s south-west for the past four months.
Police searched the home and arrested the 19-year-old man today.
He was charged with marrying a person not of marriageable age and was refused bail.
He is due to appear at Bankstown Local Court today.
Police said investigations would continue and have urged anyone with information about the incident, or any other incident involving the marriage of a child, to come forward.
Even the Sydney Morning Herald has given up on censorship so blatant. Here’s the start of its own report:
A backyard Islamic marriage between an 18-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl was only discovered when the young bride took herself to a western Sydney hospital believing she had suffered a miscarriage, police allege.
Mustafa Abdel Ghany, 19, was charged on Wednesday with marrying a 15-year-old girl in the backyard of her father’s Sydney home in November.
A sheikh allegedly officiated over the ceremony...
There is zero excuse for the ABC denying the public the relevant information it suppressed. What else won’t the ABC tell you?
(Via Paul Murray.) 
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The truth about Triggs’ unfitness to lead the Human Rights Commission

Andrew Bolt February 26 2015 (7:16am)

Paul Sheehan gives details of Gillian Triggs’ misjudgements that a string of ABC reports - on PM, the TV news and 7.30, among others - has deliberately omitted in the ABC’s open campaign to make the Human Rights Commission president a martyr:
When thousands of children were in detention, there was no national inquiry by the commission. Yet after the Coalition government quickly and effectively shut down the people smuggling trade, closed a dozen detention centres, and the number of children in detention plunged by 80 per cent in its first year, Dr Triggs moved with haste to attach blame to the government.
She signed off on a report whose very title is incendiary, inaccurate, and seeks to blame the very government which staunched the wound. Far from being forgotten, not a single child was placed in detention by the Coalition government. Most were removed from custody.
When asked about the belated timing of the inquiry, she has given five different reasons at various times.
Dr Triggs told this week’s Senate inquiry that about 700 children had been removed from detention under the Coalition and about 330 remained in detention. This wildly understated the government’s progress. More than twice as many children as claimed, 1482, have been removed from detention, and 242 are awaiting placement in community care.
She expressed hope her inquiry may have sped up the process, implying that it did. The government’s election promise was always to have zero boats and zero children in detention as soon as possible.
Dr Triggs claims to have been pressured to resign by the government and was “shocked” and “appalled” by this. Again, her claim is both incendiary and does not withstand scrutiny. It was Dr Triggs who contacted the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, Chris Moraitis, to set up a meeting to discuss where she stood with the government in the wake of sustained public criticism of her performance.
She was told the truth. The government had lost confidence in her. She saw this response as pressure to resign, which she said was “shocking”. The same could be said of Dr Triggs’ conduct on this matter. She was never asked to resign…
Late last year, she claimed the detention centre on Christmas Island was patrolled by armed guards. This was not true and was one of several inflammatory observations that did not withstand scrutiny.
Last year, Dr Triggs recommended that John Basikbasik, who entered the country illegally in 1985, later murdered his pregnant partner, and was involved in a revolving door of violent incidents, be removed from detention and paid $350,000 in compensation for his long-term incarceration. The government rejected her recommendation.
UPDATE
Naturally ABC host Fran Kelly today heckles Treasurer Joe Hockey over government attacks on Triggs’ appalling behavior. She quotes Malcolm Turnbull against Abbott - just the effect Turnbull was looking for - as if its Turnbull who is the voice of reason. She then immediately follows up the interview by having Paul Bongiorno, of the softest Left, to come on and trash the government and claim it has “shot itself in the foot”. He, too, praises Turnbull. 
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=== Pots from last year ===

Selena performs 'Como La Flor' in Acapulco Mexico in the Summer of 1994.

Un recuerdo inolvidable,Ultimo Concierto de la Gran cantante Selena Quintanilla
En 1995 ...
Siempre en nuestros corazones

Derechos reservados EMI BMI

y FAMILIA QUINTANILLA
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The hypocrites of the left

Miranda Devine – Tuesday, February 25, 2014 (7:41pm)

“A YOUNG man came to our doorstep seeking our help and we killed him. That is what happened on Tony Abbott’s watch and Tony Abbott now needs to show some principle and sack Scott Morrison”.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The hypocrites of the left'
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To Whom It May Concern,

It obviously made an impact.

Some one I upset complained about this comment I made several months ago.

Go figure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Guardian apologises over Hamilton article: “disclaim any racist intent”

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (4:21pm)

Oh, how funny. The green extremist Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics, has written an article for which the impeccably Leftist Guardian has had to apologise.
The article was headlined: “Wealthy Chinese buyers are making Sydney’s housing problem worse”. The apology for it starts badly enough:
The author and Guardian Australia disclaim any racist intent. ...
Of course Hamilton is not racist.  He may be an abusive, and dictatorial Gaian catastrophistwith a talent for vilification.  But not a racist, surely.
But then there’s this unfortunate tendency to see all Asians as alike - a tendency the Guardiannobly accepts as its own fault and not Hamilton’s:
Two pieces of anecdotal evidence from real estate agents also appeared to support the original headline, but on closer examination they are not strong enough to do so. The author was not at fault; in the editing process, Guardian Australia itself did not draw sufficiently precise distinctions between references to Asian buyers in the housing market and those who are ethnically Chinese. Nor did we distinguish properly between ethnically Chinese buyers from abroad and those ethnically Chinese buyers who are local and may, of course, be several-generations Australian. 
Like I say, the Guardian takes the blame and clears Hamilton of racist thinking. But the odd thing is that I’ve commented before on Hamilton peddling this racial stereotype with little basis in fact:
...binge-drinking and obesity are two signifiers of the curse of speaking English...
The ABC never dreamed of apologising for that offensive generalisation. 
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Wilkie damns Conroy

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (4:03pm)

 Independent MP Andrew Wilkie puts real sting to the condemnation of Stephen Conroy for sliming Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, a former classmate of Wilkie’s.
He proposes a motion condemning Conroy, and it’s seconded by the Government. (Did the Coalition know this was coming?)
Wilkie in doing this slams the Government’s boat people policies, but that’s dog-bites-man stuff.
And now the test for Bill Shorten. How to respond?
Julie Bishop in seconding the motion rightly notes Shorten had not worked out a line of response yet and, as she speaks, is in an urgent huddle with his team, including David Feeney. Bishop is scathing as Shorten scribbles notes, crying: “it’s too late.”
In fact, it is hard to see how Conroy can now be an effective Labor spokesman for defence, especially after this blast from the head of army:
Defence Force chief General David Hurley has hit back at Labor defence spokesman Stephen Conroy over his attack on the integrity of the Abbott government’s military border protection chief… 
‘’I was surprised at the accusations made against Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell,’’ General Hurley said. ‘’I am pleased these accusations were withdrawn but unfortunately once said, the shadow will linger.
‘’Lieutenant-General Campbell has a reputation in Canberra, and more widely in Australia and overseas, of integrity, intellect and studied impartiality. He is widely respected across Australia’s political divide.’’
UPDATE
Shorten says he won’t support the resolution. (If he had, Conroy would have had to go.)
Shorten slips: he says he agrees with “some of what has been said” about the “distinguished career” of Campbell.
“Some”?

He agrees Campbell “should not be treated as some sort of political target”.  
Says does not support “hiding behind the military” (but that, Mr Shorten, has nothing to do with Conroy’s personal attack on Campbell).
Says Conroy withdrew his comments - but does not address Conroy’s failure to apologise.
“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel,” shouts Shorten, taking refuge in anti-patriotism, the refuge of scoundrels of the Left. He even mentions the war dead and accuses the Coalition of “faux patriotism”.
He mentions everything except what Conroy actually said. He gives no apology to Campbell and - of all things - accuses the Coalition of smearing the military.
How bizarre. A truly second-rate response.
UPDATE
The Opposition does not even call for a division. Instead there is a brawl about the Speaker’s ruling against a Labor amendment that just expressed a general support for members of the armed forces. Burke says he moves a dissent against the Speaker but is thrown out, as was Mark Dreyfus before. (Is Dreyfus the most unctuous man in Parliament?)
UPDATE
Here is the weird thing. Conroy clearly erred. He clearly gave the Opposition a big headache. Yet he refused to help Shorten by apologising. He left Shorten to become roadkill in Parliament. Conroy’s pride was put before Labor’s interests. And Shorten, of course, was not powerful enough to make Conroy do the team thing. 
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Malcolm Turnbull breaks the heart of those of us who’d love him in our corner

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (3:48pm)

I have to say that despite my political differences with Malcolm Turnbull, the bugger can talk a treat. His skewering of Labor’s Senator Stephen Conroy and Conroy’s mad meltdown yesterday was masterly. The House even applauded, and I believe some Labor MPs joined in the laughter.
If I can find a clip I will post.
UPDATE
Here it is:
Thinks to readers Peterus, Brian, Doc, Damian, Peter, Shane and others.) 
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Paul Barry and the ABC need some media watching

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (7:46am)

Media

I think Paul Barry is in trouble with this one:
MEDIA Watch host Paul Barry is again under fire for failing to meet the same journalistic standards to which he holds other media outlets to account. 
In an extraordinary admission, the ABC’s lawyers claimed the program was not required to seek comment for stories, in defence of Mr Barry’s failure to contact The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell before airing claims about the newspaper’s finances…
Last night, the ABC program misrepresented an interview given by Mr Mitchell, selectively editing the clip to make it seem like the paper had a bleak future. In the original interview, originally shown on The Australian’s website, Mr Mitchell, the nation’s most experienced editor, said: ‘’Well you know It’s probably not profitable on The Australian as people have noticed we’ve had a hard time since the GFC but the idea that we’re losing $50 million is ridiculous.’’ Sharri Markson: ‘’Those figures are incorrect?’’ Chris Mitchell: ‘’Completely incorrect and we’ve never gone even close to that.’’ Media Watch chose to edit the quote halfway through, deleting Mr Mitchell’s comments relating to the inaccuracy of the figures reported on Media Watch.
Barry is right to say he had no obligation to call The Australian for comment. But it looks pretty bad when you then make a false claim about the paper’s alleged losses.
And this claim strikes me as patently false:
[Barry] denied he had an anti-Murdoch agenda.
Really? Just Google “Paul Barry” and “Murdoch” to see how laughable that claim is, or checkthis transcript:
PAUL BARRY: I think 70% of newspapers [true figure: 23 per cent] owned by one man is too much, particularly when it’s Rupert Murdoch and particularly when he owns a newspaper like The Australian, which chooses to run campaigns against those people he doesn’t like and chooses to intimidate those people that disagree with it. So, yes, absolutely, I do think that… 
It’s specifically The Australian that I think goes beyond what is – I wouldn’t say permissible but beyond what I personally find acceptable and it’s a problem because The Australian, although it’s a small newspaper, is backed by the great might of Rupert Murdoch… 
I really think the ABC is out of control and too big, and its bias badly needs addressing.
Some sign of the pressure, but no real repentance: 
ABC managing director Mark Scott has signalled a dramatic shift in the way the national broadcaster publishes corrections and apologies after becoming embroiled in a series of controversies over the standard of its reporting and its refusal to admit mistakes.
Mr Scott, who is also editor-in-chief of the ABC, last night rejected suggestions the broadcaster did not publish corrections but conceded to a Senate estimates hearing that it needed the equivalent of a “page two”, where newspapers typically run corrections, apologies and clarifications.
The ABC has been criticised this year for airing allegations that Australian navy personnel deliberately burned the hands of asylum-seekers intercepted at sea, and then being slow to correct the record and apologise when the incidents could not be proved. It has refused to apologise for portraying Chris Kenny, a columnist for The Australian and television personality, having sex with a dog, triggering a defamation action. And last night, the corporation’s Media Watch program ended a week of stonewalling by indicating it would correct false claims The Australian was losing $40 million-$50m a year, although host Paul Barry was resisting an on-air correction.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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The Left prefers to kill 1100 with compassion

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (7:35am)

Greens MP Adam Bandt ups the Left’s hyperbole on asylum seekers:
A young man came to our door seeking our help and we killed him. The Minister must resign & island prisons must stop 
Miranda Devine puts Bandt in his box:
THAT single quote from Greens MP Adam Bandt sums up the emotional flatulence and sanctimonious hypocrisy that has been spewing from the Establishment Left all week. 
If by “we”, Bandt meant the Greens and the rest of the opportunistic bleeding hearts who have been parading their compassion all week, then he would have been correct.
Because if anyone is to blame for the death of 23-year-old asylum seeker Reza Berati during a violent riot at Manus Island it is those very people who persuaded Kevin Rudd to dismantle the Howard government’s hard-won border protection.  And further, it was the toxic partnership of the Greens and Labor which turbocharged the people smuggling racket and lured asylum seekers like Berati with the promise of open borders.
Yet Labor’s Senator Sue Lines had the hide to accuse Scott Morrison of having “Blood on his hands”.Greens leader Christine Milne even came close to accusing Immigration Minister Scott Morrison of “murder”.
What a joke.
Janet Albrechtsen:
On the weekend, the Greens encouraged like-minded people to gather in parks, light a candle to mark the sad death of Reza Berati and demand the end to the Manus Island detention facility… Greens leader Christine Milne called the death of Berati a “murder,” demanded a royal commission and the sacking of Immigration Minister Scott Morrison. 
Milne’s hubristic leadership stalker Sarah Hanson-Young presumed to speak for all Australians when she said the Australian people were “shocked” at this “gulag” and wanted it closed. Not to be outdone, Greens MP Adam Bandt said “a young man came to our doorstep seeking our help and we killed him.” More low-rent politics from Labor MP Sue Lyons who said Morrison definitely had “blood on his hands”. GK Chesterton once said there was scarcely a shade of difference left between meaning well and meaning nothing. Alas, the hysteria from the disaffected Left is not a case of well-meaning nothingness. It is downright dangerous.
Start with the rank hypocrisy of those who favour emotion over reason. Did the human candle-holders demand a change in the former Labor government’s policies that encouraged the people-smuggling business that led to 1200 tragedies between 2007 and last year? Did these grandstanders call for the resignation of the stream of Labor immigration ministers under whose watch 1200 men, women and children died? ... Even worse, their demand that the Manus detention facility be shut down points to a grotesque morality. It would kick-start the people-smuggling business, encouraging more people to venture across dangerous seas and inevitably lead to hundreds if not thousands more deaths.
(Thanks to reader John.) 
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Not the city of churches any more

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (7:30am)

It’s a sign of depression and decline:
ADELAIDE ... does have more adult entertainment shops per person than any other Australian city.
Nothing to do? Then play with your privates. 
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Gittins’ next trick: to judge us by Mugabe’s standards?

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (7:21am)

Fairfax’s Ross Gittins freelances as the dupe of China’s fascists:
So far have our standards sunk that we must now suffer the indignity of being lectured on human rights by the Chinese government.
It takes a particularly severe case of cultural cringe to judge Australia by what China’s autocrats say of it. 
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What side of politics produced someone who voted 15 times?

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (7:13am)

This lack of voting integrity could, if exploited in an organised way, change an election result in a tight seat:
Nearly 2,000 Australians have admitted to voting more than once in last year’s federal election, electoral officials say, with one voter casting as many as 15 ballots… 
Acting Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers ...  said “the greater majority of those, over 81 per cent” were elderly or had poor literacy or a “low comprehension of the electoral process”. Mr Rogers said other instances of multiple voting, however, were still being investigated.
Rogers also said Kevin Rudd cost us $1 million in election expenses by quitting Parliament after the general election. 
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Whistleblowers on union corruption threatened

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (7:01am)

How interested is the CFMEU really in rooting out corruption?
Building union corruption whistleblowers have been threatened and warned not to co-operate with investigations into alleged criminal activity as the federal government prepares to launch a national police taskforce to examine the construction sector. 
Fairfax Media can also reveal that corruption suspects have been meeting to plan their responses to the Abbott government’s royal commission into unions, raising concerns evidence has been destroyed and false stories agreed upon in a bid to stymie investigators…
At least two CFMEU corruption whistleblowers have allegedly been targeted with threats and intimidation…
Another whistleblower, builder Andrew Zaf - who earlier this month revealed to Fairfax Media and the ABC’s 7.30 program his role giving CFMEU officials bribes and inducements during the 1990s and early 2000s - has also been intimidated.
Mr Zaf said that in the past fortnight he had reported to police two incidents he believed were linked to his decision to speak out against building industry corruption.
One incident involved an unknown person allegedly tampering with Mr Zaf’s car in an apparent attempt to cause an accident.
Mr Zaf also reported to police an altercation at a Melbourne hotel in which a CFMEU identity slammed a door on Mr Zaf’s back and abused him. Mr Zaf said this incident involved no physical harm but was an attempt to intimidate him… Victorian CFMEU secretary John Setka last month strongly denied a claim by Mr Zaf that he was given free roofing material in the mid-1990s as part of an attempt by Mr Zaf to buy industrial peace.
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Stephen Conroy at his charming work, abusing people

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (6:34am)

Labor frontbencher Stephen Conroy, representing the party of compassion and reconciliation, had an abusive day at the office yesterday:
TOM IGGULDEN: Former communications minister Stephen Conroy rounded on the new national broadband network boss, Ziggy Switkowski, who has been critical of Labor’s record in rolling the network out. 
STEPHEN CONROY: It’s actually misleading the Senate; it’s a contempt of the Senate to treat the Senate like that. But you are simply lying to the committee now and representing service class 0 and you should be ashamed of yourself…
TOM IGGULDEN: Senator Conroy then fronted another committee, this time looking into the Government’s asylum seeker policies....
ANGUS CAMPBELL, COMMANDER OPERATION SOVEREIGN BORDERS: I’m not commenting, Senator, obviously…
STEPHEN CONROY: Can’t we handle the truth?
ANGUS CAMPBELL: It kind of sounds like a movie, Senator.
STEPHEN CONROY: It is a movie, and we’re living it Colonel Jessup… That’s called a political cover up.
ANGUS CAMPBELL: I feel I’ve explained the basis of my decision.
STEPHEN CONROY: That’s a political cover up. It’s time we called a spade a spade. ANGUS CAMPBELL: I would like to put on the public record I take extreme offence at that statement you made.
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The Museum of Tolerance should get Trioli’s tape, too

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (6:21am)

Now I know what inspired the ABC’s Virginia Trioli:
THE Museum of Tolerance has acquired a 1937 letter written by Bertrand Russell in which the Nobel prize-winning philosopher says if the Nazi army invades his native England the British should invite Adolf Hitler to dinner rather than fight ... “If the Germans succeed in sending an invading army to England we should do best to treat them as visitors, give them quarters and invite the commander and chief to dine with the prime minister,” Russell wrote to British critic Godfrey Carter. “Such behaviour would completely baffle them.”
Trioli on the ABC on September 20, 2001 - on dealing with the terrorist who’d just brought down the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon: 
This is possibly a realistic example: Despite the fact that George W. Bush and everyone else have in their view identified Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect, which is what they call him, what if that involved bringing him somewhere, absolutely safely, sitting down with him, treating him like a human being and talking about it, and then Osama bin Laden going home again, not bombing the hell out of bin Laden?  That’s the suggestion: Talk to him, understand their anger, listen to them.
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And the man who ran this disaster is still on Bill Shorten’s front bench

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (6:10am)

A truly scandalous waste of money by Labor: 
ALMOST $7 billion of government funds have been ploughed into the National Broadband Network to complete just 3 per cent of the rollout and NBN Co’s much-vaunted “Gigabit Nation” service does not have a single end-user customer. 
NBN Co made the revelation about the turbocharged one-gigabit service during Senate estimates hearings yesterday, which Labor’s former communications minister Stephen Conroy had boasted would help drive productivity growth and create the jobs of the future. It also emerged there was only one end customer on NBN Co’s 250 megabits-per-second service - which is one quarter of the speed of the gigabit service - in a fillip to the Coalition’s model of a cheaper, slower NBN.
Unforgivable. It astonishes me that Stephen Conroy, the Communications Minister who with Kevin Rudd designed this debacle, still has a a front-bench job under Bill Shorten. 
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Spray of the year

Andrew Bolt February 26 2014 (6:03am)

I take it the deal is off, then:
Sydney radio tsar John Singleton unleashed yesterday on his one-time would-be business partners at Fairfax Media, calling its chairman a “pompous pr..k” and the CEO an “idiot”. 
Singleton then says what he really thinks.
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“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” -Matthew 22:37-39
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
February 25: Morning
"The wrath to come." - Matthew 3:7
It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself; to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away, and to note the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the sunlight. That is the position of a Christian. He is going through a land where the storm has spent itself upon his Saviour's head, and if there be a few drops of sorrow falling, they distil from clouds of mercy, and Jesus cheers him by the assurance that they are not for his destruction. But how terrible is it to witness the approach of a tempest: to note the forewarnings of the storm; to mark the birds of heaven as they droop their wings; to see the cattle as they lay their heads low in terror; to discern the face of the sky as it groweth black, and look to the sun which shineth not, and the heavens which are angry and frowning! How terrible to await the dread advance of a hurricane--such as occurs, sometimes, in the tropics--to wait in terrible apprehension till the wind shall rush forth in fury, tearing up trees from their roots, forcing rocks from their pedestals, and hurling down all the dwelling-places of man! And yet, sinner, this is your present position. No hot drops have as yet fallen, but a shower of fire is coming. No terrible winds howl around you, but God's tempest is gathering its dread artillery. As yet the water-floods are dammed up by mercy, but the flood-gates shall soon be opened: the thunderbolts of God are yet in his storehouse, but lo! the tempest hastens, and how awful shall that moment be when God, robed in vengeance, shall march forth in fury! Where, where, where, O sinner, wilt thou hide thy head, or whither wilt thou flee? O that the hand of mercy may now lead you to Christ! He is freely set before you in the gospel: his riven side is the rock of shelter. Thou knowest thy need of him; believe in him, cast thyself upon him, and then the fury shall be overpast forever.
Evening
"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa." - Jonah 1:3
Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it. There are occasions when God's servants shrink from duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God's love. When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should do, our God is with us; and though we have the whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O my God, where hast thou gone? How could I have been so foolish as to shun thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright shinings of thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to my allegiance, that I may rejoice in thy presence." In the next place, Jonah lost all peace of mind. Sin soon destroys a believer's comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn for comfort in any other case. He could not plead the promise of divine protection, for he was not in God's ways; he could not say, "Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of my duty, therefore help me through them." He was reaping his own deeds; he was filled with his own ways. Christian, do not play the Jonah, unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find in the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will of God than to at once yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time, for he had to go to Nineveh after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us yield ourselves at once.
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Joash, Jehoash, Joash, Jehoash 
[Jō'ash, Jēhō'ăsh] - jehovah supports, is strong or hastens to help.
1. A son of Becher, a Benjamite ( 1 Chron. 7:8).
2. An officer who had charge of David's oil-cellars ( 1 Chron. 27:28).
3. A son of Manasseh and father of Gideon, of the family of Abiezer (Judg. 6:11-31; 7:14; 8:12, 32).
4. A son of Ahab, king of Israel ( 1 Kings 22:26; 2 Chron. 18:25).
5. A son of Ahaziah, king of Judah ( 2 Kings 11:2). Also called Jehoash.
6. A son of Jehoahaz, and grandson of Jehu ( 2 Kings 13).
7. A descendant of Shelah, son of Judah ( 1 Chron. 4:22).
8. A Benjamite of Gibeah who joined David at Ziklag ( 1 Chron. 12:3).
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Today's reading: Numbers 9-11, Mark 5:1-20 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Numbers 9-11

The Passover
1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said, 2 "Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. 3 Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations...."

Today's New Testament reading: Mark 5:1-20

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man
1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones...

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