Friday, May 01, 2015

Fri May 1st 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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Drug smugglers and hero worship. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukomaran were executed for their crime of attempted drug smuggling. We have been told they had reformed, but they never set out what it was they had done, precisely, and apologised for it. Partly that is because of legal issues, they had hoped for clemency in even the last minutes. The personal entitlement lobby had trumped their personal responsibility. Had they confessed all when they were caught they might still be alive today. But they claimed shadowy figures had threatened their loved ones. The focus, early on was on ensuring that others were not executed. So Andrew and Myuran took the hit. There is little doubt they had changed. Hugging their executors and singing hymns without being blindfolded suggests behavioural change. But they should have admitted the sentence was right and the laws were just too. Life is sweet and it is ok to hold on. But faith sometimes means letting go. 

The lobbyists using the names of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukomaran are not doing so for their benefit. A college scholarship fund is a good idea in many circumstances, but not for the two who failed to confess what they had done. But the Australian Catholic university have a scholarship, for the writer of an essay on the sanctity of life. The scholarship is in the names of the drug smugglers. It is no good reason to break relations with Indonesia, and luckily that is not how the government are treating it. But the press are interpreting it that way. Australia's government lobbied hard to have the executions commuted to another sentence, but the Indonesian government refused to listen, refused phone calls and refused to discuss the issue. For that reason, Australia has downgraded relations with Indonesia and is seeking to rebuild them. Because the dialog is important and if Indonesia feel they can walk away at any time then the system is flawed. But the media are hoping it is a breakdown like that caused by the ABC's inflations of ALP Government indiscretions. And the ALP are using the names in a cynical way too. Politicising the personal tragedy and misleading the public over how the tragedy played out. Meanwhile, the educators at Castle Hill High School are wrong. They have a flashing electric sign saying the executions were "Merciless, barbaric, futile, weak." But the government of Indonesia was none of those things. They were merciful with Scot Rush and Renae Lawrence. They were not barbaric, or Andrew would not have had those wishes fulfilled. The executions were not futile, as it is a deterrent to drug traffickers. And it was not weak to proceed against the international calls to not do so. 
In 1328, England recognised Scotland as a sovereign nation. In 1707, Scotland joined with England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. In 1759, Josiah Wedgwood founded a pottery company. In 1786, Mozart's The marriage of Figaro was performed for the first time in Vienna. As opera goes, it is definitely a cut above. In 1840, the Penny Black, the world's first self adhesive postage stamp had postage problems licked. In 1844, Hong Kong Police became the world's second modern police force. In 1851, Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in London. In 1884, Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first black person to play in a professional baseball game. In 1900, the Scofield Mining Disaster happened, when coal dust exploded and killed some 200 people. It had been the worst mine disaster at that date, in the US. In 1915, RMS Lusitania embarked from NYC on her 202nd and final crossing of the Atlantic. In 1927, the first cooked meals were served n an airflight for Imperial Airways between London and Paris. In 1930, Pluto was first named. In 1931, the Empire State Building was dedicated in NYC. In 1941, Germany launched an attack on Tobruk. 

 In 1945, a German newsreader officially announced that Adolf Hitler had "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". Also in 1945, Goebbels and his wife killed their own children and then each other, because they didn't want to live with reality. On the same day, in Demmin, Germany, 2500 committed suicide rather than see the Soviets win. In 1956, Jonas Salk's Polio vaccine was made available to the public. In 1960, Francis Gary Powers in a U2 Spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union sparking a diplomatic incident. In 1961, Cuba's elections were cancelled and Fidel Castro made a Rudd like backflip, calling Cuba a socialist nation. It is largely forgotten today that Castro had campaigned for Cuba on the promise of making it a modern democratic state. In 1970, protests erupted in Seattle following President Nixon's announcement that terrorists would be opposed in Cambodia where they were hiding. In 1987, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish Carmelite nun gassed but the Nazis at Auschwitz. In 1999, the body of George Mallory was found on Everest, 75 years after he died there. In 2003, President George Bush announced 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq. In 2011, Osama Bin Ladin was killed before being interrogated and possibly embarrassing Obama over Pakistan intelligence links. 
2014
There are many reasons to beat up the LNP over policy and activity. But as the press gleefully engage in it, it should be remembered it might not be fair or right. 

At the moment, many are tut tutting Abbott over broken promises for something he has not yet done, but which he probably should do; cut spending in numerous areas. Will he cut elements of the ABC budget? Has he promised he wouldn't? The ABC could prosper, were it allowed to, through partial privatisation, or full privatisation. It won't be less unbalanced. The recent attempt by the ABC to undermine government policy in Indonesia cannot be allowed to continue. However, that could happen in the next term of an Abbott government. The campaign regarding election promises then comes into play. The ABC and their 'friends' could claim they are confused about any cuts. As with the GST, they could campaign against it until the ALP are in government. Hockey promised to cut waste. So did Abbott. The hate media will ignore one promise, and hold onto another. 

The Gillard broken promise over a carbon tax was a betrayal of the Australian people. It should be remembered that the Carbon tax will never benefit Australia as a policy. It has not shrunk the production of Carbon Dioxide and it has curtailed industry. However, should Mr Abbott break a 'no cut' election promise, there will be immediate benefits to all Australians. The question is, and this is what confuses the hate media, was the ALP lie the betrayal, or the bad policy? Even if the issue of AGW is real, we cannot afford to do expensive empty gestures .. 

Another case of clear media bias on an issue where criticism may be legitimate is the case of former NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell. There are no suggestions, yet, O'Farrell has done anything wrong, but he looks bad for his association with hucksters who had been well placed after sixteen years of ALP rule. But, it doesn't matter who is in government, they will have a limited pool of talent. The issue of corruption is serious and things need to be transparent. It is clear the ALP ran a corrupt government and fostered corruption. It is a truth of management that anyone can be corrupt, but it is important to limit their ability to be corrupt. It requires eternal vigilance. As sad as the O'Farrell case is, it shows anti corruption process for the libs is working. But it also exposes the libs to hyper criticism. And the disturbing thing is that there may be truth to the barbs. But the scrutiny has not been applied to the ALP and that is not balanced. Mr O'Farrell would have been a fool not to speak to talented, involved individuals. Shame on those individuals for being corrupt. It is a legacy of bad ALP government. A fabulous way to celebrate the life of the corrupt Neville Wran is to recognise how bad he was in office. One valid question of O'Farrell is to do with his support for the appallingly bad legislation of racism and censorship on the federal books. Mike Baird is a supporter of the bad legislation too. The fact is, the law does not protect those who are victims of bigots, but can be used by racists to silence valid public enquiry. It isn't moral to support such bad law. 
Historical perspectives on this day 
In 305, Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor. 524, King Sigismund of Burgundy was executed at Orléans after an 8-year reign and was succeeded by his brother Godomar. 880, the Nea Ekklesia was inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches. 1328, Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton the Kingdom of England recognised the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state. 1455, Battle of Arkinholm, Royal forces ended the Black Douglas hegemony in Scotland. 1576, Stephen Báthory, the reigning Prince of Transylvania, married Anna Jagiellon and they became co-rulers of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

 In 1707, the Act of Union joined the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1753, publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. 1759, Josiah Wedgwood founded the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain. 1776, establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt. 1778, American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet began in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. 1785, Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaiʻi, defeated Kalanikūpule and established the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. 1786, in Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro was performed for the first time. 1794, War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ended, in which French forces defeated the Spanish and regained nearly all the land they lost to Spain in 1793.

 In 1840, the Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, was issued in the United Kingdom. 1844, Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, was established. 1846, the few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicated the Nauvoo Temple. 1851, Queen Victoria opened the Great Exhibition in London. 1852, the Philippine peso was introduced into circulation. 1856, the Province of Isabela was created in the Philippines in honour of the Queen Isabela II of Spain. 1862, American Civil War: The Union Army completed its capture of New Orleans. 1863, American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville began. 1865, the Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay signed the Treaty of the Triple Alliance. 1866, the Memphis Race Riots began. In three days time, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1869, the Folies Bergère opened in Paris.

 In 1875, Alexandra Palace reopened after being burned down in a fire in 1873. 1884, Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States. Also 1884, Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States. 1885, the original Chicago Board of Trade Building opened for business. 1886, rallies were held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 was celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries. 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago. 1894, Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrived in Washington, D.C. 1898, Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The United States Navy destroyed the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.

 In 1900, the Scofield Mine disaster killed over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what was to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history. 1901, the Pan-American Exposition opened in Buffalo, New York. 1915, the RMS Lusitania departed from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives. 1925, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions was officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members. Also 1925, the first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer was held at the University of Toronto, Canada. 1927, the first cooked meals on a scheduled flight were introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris. Also 1927, the Union Labor Life Insurance Company was founded by the American Federation of Labor. 1930, the dwarf planet Pluto was officially named. 1931, the Empire State Building was dedicated in New York City. 1933, the Roca–Runciman Treaty between Argentina and Great Britain was signed by Julio Argentino Roca, Jr., and Sir Walter Runciman. 1933, the Humanist Manifesto I published.

 In 1940, the 1940 Summer Olympics were cancelled due to war. 1941, World War II: German forces launched a major attack on Tobruk. 1944, World War II: Two hundred Communist prisoners were shot by the Germans at Kaisariani in Athens, Greece in reprisal for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi. 1945, World War II: A German newsreader officially announced that Adolf Hitler had "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag was raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin. Also 1945, World War II: Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children were also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother, Magda. Also 1945, World War II: Up to 2,500 people died in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army. Also 1945, World War II: Yugoslav Partisans freed Trieste. 1946, start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians. Also 1946, the Paris Peace Conference concluded that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy. 1947, Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons were killed and 33 wounded. 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.

 In 1950, Guam was organised as a United States commonwealth. 1956, the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was made available to the public. Also 1956, a doctor in Japan reported an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease. 1957, thirty-four people were killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashed in Hampshire England. 1960, formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Also known as "Maharashtra Day". Also 1960, Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, was shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis. 1961, the Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaimed Cuba a socialist nation and abolished elections. 1965, Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between ROC and PRC, took place. 1970, protests erupted in Seattle, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country. 1971, Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) took over operation of U.S. passenger rail service. 1974, the Argentine terrorist organisation Montoneros was expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón. 1977, thirty-six people were killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during the Labour Day celebrations. 1978, Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, became the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

 In 1982, the 1982 World's Fair opened in Knoxville, Tennessee. Also 1982, Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacked the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War. 1983, Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize. 1987, Pope John Paul II beatified Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. 1989, Disney-MGM Studios opened at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States. 1990, the former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) was granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines. 1991, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland Athletics stole his 939th base, making him the all-time leader in this category. However, his accomplishment was overshadowed later that evening by Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, when he pitched his seventh career no-hitter, breaking his own record. 1993, Dingiri Banda Wijetunga became president of Sri Lanka automatically after killing of R Premadasa in LTTE bomb explosion 1994, three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna was killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. 1995, Croatian forces launched Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence. 1999, the body of British climber George Mallory was found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.

 In 2001, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared the existence of "a state of rebellion", hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, stormed towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion. 2003, Invasion of Iraq: In what became known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended". 2004, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin. 2006, the Puerto Rican government closed the Department of Education and 42 other government agencies due to significant shortages in cash flow. 2007, the Los Angeles May Day mêlée occurred, in which the Los Angeles Police Department's response to a May Day pro-immigration rally became a matter of controversy. 2008, the London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, entered into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention. 2009, Same-sex marriage was legalised in Sweden. 2011, Pope John Paul II was beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. Also 2011, Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks had been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
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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 Cele D'or and Tommy Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years. The same day the Illuminati was founded in 1776 in Bavaria. I like chocolate Bavarian. Thank you.
May Day may sound ominous .. but the call, which is apocryphally said to be for help, was to do with French WW1 pilots calling out "Mai dez" which translates to "Help me!"
Deaths
May 1: International Workers' Day; Beltane in Ireland and Scotland; Law Day and Loyalty Day in the United States
Carl Linnaeus
You seem cross. Everything was organised. It was signed. We played with Rosebud. The workers united. Let's party.
Matches
Hatches

Jacqueline Comerre-Paton
Despatches
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2015
  • Lei Day (Hawaii)
  • May Day (beginning of Summer) observances in the Northern hemisphere (see April 30):
    • Beltane (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans in the Northern hemisphere)
    • Earliest day on which Beltane can fall, while May 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in May. (Ireland, Scotland)
    • Walpurgis Night, celebrated before dawn (Central and Northern Europe)
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Why turn drug smugglers into heroes for our kids?

Piers Akerman – Friday, May 01, 2015 (12:50am)

THE nauseating canonisation of executed convicted heroin smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran was well under way before their corpses had been returned to their families. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Why turn drug smugglers into heroes for our kids?'
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BEER DESTROYED

Tim Blair – Friday, May 01, 2015 (2:37pm)

Oh no! If Jenna Price and the sisters at Destroy the Joint are correct, this athlete is encouraging domestic violence:

image
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SPEAK ENGLISH AND LIVE

Tim Blair – Friday, May 01, 2015 (2:52am)

Climate change is killing non-English speakers in Melbourne: 
AMA president Brian Owler said doctors were already seeing the effects of climate change.
“The heatwaves that we’ve experienced, particularly in some of the more southern climates such as Melbourne ... we have already seen deaths occurring in our public hospitals from people, particularly those who are vulnerable in our community,” Mr Owler said.
“[That’s] the elderly, the young, those that are sick, those that don’t speak English as their first language.” 
Add them to the list.
(Via J.F. Beck)
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NINETY PER CENT PLUS

Tim Blair – Friday, May 01, 2015 (2:23am)

People, it is my glorious duty to inform you that Sydney’s water storage has officially reached the Flannery Elevation:

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UPDATE. The Flannery Elevation increases:

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UPDATE II. “It’s Flannering down in Brisbane.”
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ONE PAPER ISN’T LOADED WITH DUMB SNOBS

Tim Blair – Friday, May 01, 2015 (2:14am)

A Google search sums up the difference between the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald:

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Stop this mad emoting and scapegoating now

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (7:50pm)

Get a damn grip:
A SWINBURNE university lecturer has sparked controversy by questioning whether Indonesian students should attend his class in the wake of the Bali executions.
Dr Julian Oldmeadow, whose research interests are listed to include stereotypes, beards, and social psychology, has since apologised for the remarks, which he said he made in an early morning class while feeling “psychically ill” about the executions.
UPDATE
The Australian Catholic University actually creates a scholarship to commemorate the two drug smugglers:

The scholarships will be equivalent to the full tuition of the recipient’s course duration up to four years.
These will be awarded to academically qualified applicants upon the submission of an essay on the theme of ‘the sanctity of human life’.
In a small but deeply symbolic way, the writing by Indonesian students on the sanctity of life would be an ongoing contribution toward the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Indonesia.
The scholarships would be a fitting tribute to the reformation, courage and dignity of the two men.
UPDATE
What happened to a brave defiance of the mob? Another copy of the photo could always have been printed:
A photo of Indonesian president Joko Widodo has been removed from public display at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in Canberra after the executions of the Bali Nine ringleaders…
Gallery director Angus Trumble said its removal was a temporary measure… He said they were concerned the portrait might be defaced by someone angry about the executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in the early hours of Wednesday.
UPDATE
Piers Akerman notes a certain Sydney school’s venting:
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Reader Duncan is astonished by radio station Mix102.3, suggesting Abbott is a racist:
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UPDATE
A bit of sanity:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the Australian Catholic University’s decision to offer scholarships in honour of executed drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is open to profound question…

Mr Abbott said there could be no truck with drug trafficking and the university’s proposal sent a very unusual message.
He said this was an odd thing for a university to do, particularly an institution which was supposed to stand up for the best values.
Mr Abbott, a staunch Christian, said forgiveness was part of the Christian faith but another part called people to be their best selves.
“We know that they were repentant, we know that they were rehabilitated, we know that they seem to have met their fate with a kind of nobility and all of that is admirable,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.
“But whether that justifies what has apparently been done is open to profound question.”
(Thanks to reader Gab.) 
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This is not a protest but an act of aggression

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (10:22am)

This not to persuade but provoke. This is not a demonstration of compassion but contempt. This is not to help but hurt:
THOUSANDS of protesters are expected to cause chaos as they flood into the city during evening rush hour today.
About 11,000 protesters, out of 30,000 invited, plan to march through the CBD before settling at the junction of Flinders St and Swanston St by about 5pm.
The protest, organised by Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, said it was holding the rally to protest against “the forced closure of Aboriginal communities”.
The protesters could meet in a park, on a pavement or on an oval to make their point. If they really had to block a road they could chose some quieter one, and some time that wasn’t peak hour.
This is an aggressive act - one of sheer bastardry - seemingly calculated to cause maximum annoyance to the maximum number of people.  I smell the socialist movement at work.
So who permitted this protest at this place? And if no permission was given, will the law against wilfully blocking a road be upheld?
Oh, and how is that reconciliation movement going, by the way? It’s already robbed us of our right to speak freely, and now to move freely, too.
UPDATE
Just deliberate harassment:

The city was shut down for about two hours in scenes that were a repeat of a rally which caused chaos less than a month ago.
Indigenous leaders earlier today told commuters to “get used to” the disruptions.
Who designated them “leaders”, by the way? 
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Who let it get to this?

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (10:10am)

The cost of mass immigration from the Middle East in France:
French President François Hollande announced on Thursday that a 7,000-strong force would be dedicated to patrolling sensitive sites around the country on a permanent basis as the country boosts security in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks… In March top counter-terrorism officials warned that the threat of a jihadist attack in France has reached a level “without precedent” and new attacks are inevitable.
In NSW:
In yet another escalation of anti-terror measures, NSW firefighters are being warned not to wear their uniforms in public.
9NEWS understands Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner Greg Mullins ... also advises firefighters to travel in groups in uniform and cover identifying logos when travelling to and from work…
The Rural Fire Service has issued a similar message to its members. 
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Cut the ABC, the public cries

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (10:01am)

The ABC is slowly losing public support, at least from the 50 per cent of the public it insults with its unapologetic bias:
The ABC and SBS are among the things Australians would most readily cut to balance the budget, according to a survey by Choice magazine.
The survey showed 26 per cent of respondents selected “public broadcasting” from a list of 16 areas pulled from the news that could potentially be the target of cuts in next month’s budget.
(Via the IPA.)
UPDATE
Envy politics corrective. The richest one per cent of Australians combined pay a lot more tax than the poorest 50 per cent - 16.1 per cent to 12.4.  Add welfare payments and the net figures would be even more dramatic.  
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On The Bolt Report on Sunday, May 3

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (9:13am)

On the The Bolt Report on Channel 10 on Sunday at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: The haters who will hurt us if we heed them on Indonesia.
Guest:  Social Services Minister Scott Morrison on dealing with Indonesia, and breeding the underclass that smuggles drugs.
The panel - and more balance than you’ll see on the ABC:  former Gillard advisor Nicholas Reece and former Labor president Warren Mundine. What is Tanya Plibersek up to, and did Labor reach peak stupid this week? And is the anti-Indonesia/anti-capital punishment frenzy actually a turn-off to most Australians?
NewsWatch: Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB presenter Miranda Devine on blaming Abbott for the Indonesian executions and other examples of media derangement.
And much more, including the truth about capital punishment that most reports won’t admit.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Scholarship given

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (7:35am)

He won a scholarship given to a class of people who are disadvantaged:
Mr Hill’s mother is an artist and teacher, and his father is a dentist.
Legal restrictions on our free speech make it too dangerous for me to comment.
(Thanks to reader GoldCoastSeer. No comments.) 
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No principle, all side: fighting racism with more racism

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (7:09am)

Last month I noted the no-but-yes advocates claiming to be against racial division in our Constitution by adding racial division to our Constitution.
Yesterday I noted the no-but-yes Leftists claiming to fight for free speech by supporting the shouting down of others trying to speak.
Today, more no-but-yes Leftists claiming to fight against racism by banning people of other “races”:
White people, men and other “oppressors” should be barred from attending some anti-racism events, a leading university student union has insisted.
Student officers from the University College London Union claimed that members of ethnic minority groups would not feel able to talk freely about their experiences if white people are present - even if they do not speak…
“Only students who have experienced specific oppressions know what solutions they need and it is important that these students are given the space to direct this.
“Whilst allies in defeating oppression are appreciated, it is important in discussions and organisational meetings that the individuals that are experiencing oppression are the ones leading their liberation.
“This is not always possible when individuals with more privilege are present as the power imbalance can dominate and drown out oppressed voices.”
Too many people are confusing a principle with a side.
(Thanks to reader once a trot always a trot.) 
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ABC preaches, not teaches, on global warming

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (6:55am)

Global warming - propaganda

For the second time in a week, ABC Radio National Breakfast runs a long segment on global warming entirely from the alarmist side.
Once again critical facts are omitted in order to prevent doubt, notably this:
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Where is the balance? Where is the intellectual integrity? 
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Cruz blames Obama for stoking racial tensions

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (6:24am)

Ted Cruz, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, gets very personal:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday blamed President Barack Obama for the racial tensions and unrest unrolling across the U.S., including the current turmoil in Baltimore, Maryland.
“President Obama, when he was elected, he could have been a unifying leader,” Cruz lamented in a question and answer session hosted by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Instead, the presidential candidate argued, Obama “has made decisions that I think have inflamed racial tensions, that have divided us rather than bringing us tougher.”
As evidence of Obama’s poor record on the matter, Cruz pointed to vice president Joe Biden’s comments during the 2012 campaign, in which Biden claimed Republicans would put African-Americans “back in chains.”
Pressed by reporters ... to name a specific case where the president inflamed racial tensions, Cruz cited the 2011 “beer summit,” in which Obama invited black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. to have a beer at the White House with white police Sgt. James Crowley, who had arrested Gates at his home.
Obama “has not used his role as president to bring us together,” Cruz said. “He has exacerbated racial misunderstandings.”
The race politics at Baltimore have turned dangerous:
Nearly 100 officers have been hurt since violence broke out in the city on Monday, Baltimore Police said.
Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said Thursday afternoon that more than 40 officers required some sort of treatment at the hospital. Protesters have been throwing bricks, bottles and other items at officers trying to contain demonstrations after the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered critical injuries while he was in police custody.
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Full dams, but still no sorry from Flannery

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (5:44am)

Global warming - dud predictions

Hold the scaremongers to account.
Climate Council head Tim Flannery in 2005:
Where does Sydney go for more water?… There’s only two years’ water supply in Warragamba Dam… If the computer models are right then drought conditions will become permanent in eastern Australia.
Climate Council head Tim Flannery in 2007:

So even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems...
Climate Council head Tim Flannery in 2007:
In Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, water supplies are so low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months.
Brisbane’s dams today, including its main Wivenhoe dam:
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Sydney’s dams today, including its main Warragamba dam:
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Forecast today - more rains to fill those dams and our river systems:
A new low pressure weather system off Australia’s east coast has parts of southern Queensland and northern NSW bracing for heavy falls and near-cyclonic wind this weekend.
South-east Queensland including the Fraser Coast, Gold Coast and inland to the Darling Downs is set to receive falls of up to 400mm this afternoon and tomorrow.
UPDATE
Those storms are not what warmists told the credulous Sydney Morning Herald to expect after a huge downpour last year:
Still getting over this week’s monster storm that struck Sydney? If so, you may be comforted to know that climate scientists predict a lot fewer such events for eastern Australia as the century unfolds.
As a result of changes to atmospheric conditions, though, the frequency of such lows may drop by 40 per cent by 2100 if carbon dioxide levels continue to rise on their current high trajectory, according to Andrew Dowdy, a research scientist at the bureau.
Mind you, when Sydney does indeed get more storms, the warmist Sydney Morning Herald turns on a dime. On Wednesday it predicted global warming will actually give us more of these storms, not fewer:

Sydney’s rain is becoming more torrential, particularly during summer, a trend researchers say will increase with further global warming and force engineers to design resilient structures that are able to limit the flood impacts.
A study of 69 rain gauges in the greater Sydney region from 1966 to 2012 found that the number of short but intense rainfall events increased, while longer-duration deluges decreased, according to research by the University of Adelaide published in Nature Climate Change on Wednesday…
“We do find that these [rainfall] extremes are increasing in the future, and we do find – in our model – that they increase by more than you’d expect, just based on the trend from the observations,” Professor Evans said.
More, less, whatever. It’s global warming.
(Thanks to reader Mark M.) 
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Since when was Brian Owler a doctor for the planet?

Andrew Bolt May 01 2015 (12:03am)

Dr Brian Owler, head of the AMA, is a neurosurgeon, not a climate scientist.

So why is he suddenly holding himself out as an expert, issuing an official AMA diagnoses of global warming? Naturally, he is an alarmist and promptly makes a rookie mistake, claiming that thanks to our gasses “there is going to be ... increased frequency but also intensity of cyclones”.
In fact, even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the cathedral of the warming faith, has had to admit in its most recent report that there is no credible evidence yet for what Owler claims. There has been no known increase in intensity of cyclones, and in fact a decrease in frequency:
In summary, confidence in large scale changes in the intensity of extreme extratropical cyclones since 1900 is low… Over periods of a century or more, evidence suggests slight decreases in the frequency of tropical cyclones making landfall in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific, once uncertainties in observing methods have been considered. Little evidence exists of any longer-term trend in other ocean basins… Several studies suggest an increase in intensity, but data sampling issues hamper these assessments…
Callaghan and Power (2011) find a statistically significant decrease in Eastern Australia land-falling tropical cyclones since the late 19th century although including 2010/2011 season data this trend becomes non-significant (i.e., a trend of zero lies just inside the 90% confidence interval). 
Owler is simply repeating baseless alarmist propaganda. Why is he getting involved in a subject he plainly does not understand? Is he after Labor preselection? 
UPDATE
True, I am not a climate expert either, but do as a consequence take the trouble to consult what the data actually says before opening my mouth about cyclones:
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UPDATE
The White House preaches global warming:
2014 was the hottest year on record. In fact, 45 million Americans experienced 100-degree temperatures for 10 or more days last year.
The White House blames record cold for terrible growth figures:
Economic growth in the first quarter was restrained by factors including tepid foreign demand and harsh winter weather.
(Via Iowahawk. Thanks to readers Mark and Antony.) 
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Shorten exploits executions. Has the Left reached peak stupid?

Andrew Bolt April 30 2015 (9:15pm)

How low can Bill Shorten go?
The bipartisan response to the execution of the Bali nine drug smugglers has collapsed only a day after the men were killed…
In 2010, Labor’s then minister for home affairs, Brendan O’Connor, included Australia’s opposition to the death penalty in his official ministerial direction to the AFP. This was removed from a new ministerial direction issued last year by the Abbott government.
[Labor’s Justice spokesman David] Feeney said the omission “raises concerns that protecting Australians from the risk of being subject to the death penalty in a foreign jurisdiction is no longer to be considered a critical priority for the AFP”.
When asked why he removed the reference to the death penalty in his ministerial directive, Mr Keenan said: “I’m pretty outraged and offended that the Labor Party would use the tragedy of two Australians being executed to make what is an incredibly cheap and invalid point...”
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she was “very angry” Labor had questioned the government on the directive.
“To think that less than 24 hours after the executions have taken place, the Labor Party is seeking to take a cheap, political shot. Shame on them,” she said.
Mr Keenan said Labor was deliberately creating confusion because the AFP’s internal guidelines on dealing with the death penalty have not been changed since Labor’s time in office.
The AFP’s National Guideline on International Police-to-Police Assistance in Death Penalty Situations requires the AFP to consider “the degree of risk to the person in providing the information, including the likelihood the death penalty will be imposed” when co-operating with overseas agencies.
Reader James wonders if the Left has just hit peak stupid:

Will this week of indulgent blunders and bluster be a turning point for the perception of the left of politics by mainstream Australians?
Consider the last week- 
SBS reporter’s disgraceful attack on ANZACs on the 100th anniversary
The ludicrous attack on Abbott by the buffoon actors
Waleed Aly not taking that hint and doubling down on the Abbott blaming
Plibersek unveiling her inner totalitarian and dividing her party on Gay Marriage
Labor hanging their Jewish supporters out to dry in the drive for Muslim votes
Shorten being slapped down by Julie Bishop over politicising the executions
Dan Andrews pathetically claiming a Napthine project as his own and then topping this the next day with a Western road thought bubble
I’ve never seen so many bad moves in such a short time that have been so jarring to the public!
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You know anybody? ;)
Posted by Ayurveda on Sunday, 26 April 2015

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Gifts for mother
Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. They discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.
The first son said: "I built a big house for our mother”
The second son said: "I sent Mom a Mercedes with a driver".
The third son said: "You remember how our mother enjoys reading the Bible. Now she can’t see very well. So I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. The Elders at the church spent twelve years to teach him. Mama just has to name the chapter and the verse and the parrot recites it".
Soon thereafter, their mother sent out her letters of thanks.
“William,” she wrote, "the house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house".
“Arnold, she said, "I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home so I rarely use the Mercedes. That driver is so rude, he is a pain!”
"But David,” she said, "the chicken was delicious” 
David explained to her all that had gone into teaching the bird. And Mother said "Well, if it was that talented, why didn't it say anything?"===
Storm over Newcastle Doppler
Posted by Matt Granz on Friday, 1 May 2015

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<3 Lessons Learned In Life
Posted by Lessons Learned In Life on Saturday, 27 December 2014

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The first polio vaccine was made available to the public 60 years ago today. Thank you, Dr Salk.Image: Yousuf Karsh for Wisdom magazine (1965)
Posted by ScienceAlert on Thursday, 30 April 2015

An excellent reminder on marketing choices
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Posted by TobyMac on Monday, 9 March 2015

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=== Posts from last year ===

FOR WHOM THE BELL DOESN’T TOLL

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 01, 2014 (12:54pm)

When she’s on her bike, the Sydney Morning Herald‘s Elizabeth Farrelly fights with truck drivers. When she’s on foot, Farrelly fights with cyclists: 
Anzac Day, mid-morning. A quiet street on quieter day. I’m poodle-walking. 
Of course you are, dear. 
Behind me comes the jolly yet peremptory “tring!” of a bicycle bell. Ignore it. 
Warning bells are for other people. Elizabeth steps aside for nobody. 
Beside me, the road is empty, as is its designated cycle lane.
“Tring! Tring!” The bell is closer now, more insistent. A (young, female) voice sings, “Excuse me!” 
Them’s fighting words to Queen Elizabeth. Most people would endure without complaint the barely-measureable inconvenience of making room for a bike, regardless of cycle lane proximity. Cities are crowded places. You’re always making room for someone or other. Reluctantly, Elizabeth complies: 
I let her pass, contenting myself with the obvious. “There is a road right there.”
“This is a cycle path,” she retorts, cycling off.
“Actually, not,” I inform her retreating back.
This is a matter of fact, not opinion. 
It all took place within mere seconds, yet Farrelly is still seething about this nearly a week later. Elizabeth now generates another 875 words on the Great Footpath Wronging of 2014: 
There’s a cycle lane clearly designated on the road beside us. Yet at the top of the hill she stops, shouts back, “Don’t be so rude, lady!” 
Thus the cycling community and Sydney truck drivers find common ground. 
This exchange is not so much about who was correct. It’s not about the right-to-cycle, which I strongly support. (So strongly, in fact, I’d put it nearer obligation than right). It’s not even about the sweet paradox that it’s the entitlement generation that has decided urban – the most etiquette-dependent of living patterns – is hip. No, my exchange with the footway cyclist is about power relations in a tight spot. 
Or it could be about someone wanting to ride past a slow-moving poodle lady. Just a theory. 
Managing the power relations of proximity is, of course, what manners are for. 
Go tell it to the truck driver, Liz. 
Etiquette. Protocol. Rubric. As increasing numbers of cyclists, male/female, young/old, appear on city footways, our need for a protocol intensifies. 
Doesn’t it just? Only the other day, a supermarket shelf-stacker’s stock cart delayed my shopping for a full 1.7 seconds. As I rained cans down on the poor man’s head, I couldn’t help but feel the intensifying need for a protocol. 
Today’s footway cyclistas are sufficiently bold to risk rain and rage but insufficiently bold to take their rightful place in the traffic. In other words, it’s a relatively timid, safety-focused denomination. This in itself reveals much about just how intimidating our road traffic is for cyclists. And it should concern us all, since anti-cycle sentiment is an accurate measure of social primitivism. 
It’s all they’re talking about in Somalia. 
Friendly is not how it feels to have a bell rung at you from behind. Impatient is how it feels. Superior. Peremptory. Out of my way. 
Quite so. Cyclists stuck behind Liz and her poodle should use this instead. 
The footpath is the walker’s home ground. It is a place – often the only public place – where you can meander, drift, dream, window-shop, phone-check, randomly dance, take photos, guffaw, tie shoelaces and generally shilly-shally with impunity. 
The last time I checked Sydney’s official footpath protocols, random dancing was prohibited under Section 3C, sub-ruling 17i. 
There’s no doubt that, in the long term, bikes belong on on-road cycleways. But until that system becomes credible, prohibition will not stop foot-path cycling. So a code of conduct is required. 
So we’re already ditching the protocols? 
Something, perhaps, like this. Bikes will be tolerated on footpaths only where the road conditions are unsafe. Bikes must travel no faster than comfortable walking speed (say 5km/h) especially when overtaking pedestrians. They do not ‘tring’ peremptorily but hang back until passing is easy. They say thank you. Too much to ask? 
All of this could have been avoided if only Elizabeth had worn that poodle on her head, as usual.
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TWITTER FINDS A DOG

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 01, 2014 (11:02am)

James Morrow discovers a way to tame Twitter: 
How do you turn Twitter, which is universally acknowledged as a hateful time-wasting sewer with the collective IQ of dishwater and more trolls than an Icelandic bridge crossing, into an engine of sympathy and genius?
Simple. Just tell it your dog is missing. 
Do read on.
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FROM MOD SQUAD TO F-TROOP

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 01, 2014 (10:57am)

In 1973, Mod Squad star Michael Cole scandalised television viewers when he said “shit” during the Logies broadcast.
Times change. These days that word is more likely to be used as a description of the Logies broadcast, while other shows have moved on to more extreme terms.
For example, on the ABC’s Q & A last month guest Mona Eltahawy repeatedly used the word “f—k” in the sort of conversational way you might hear in a pub. “We are well and truly f—ked,” was Eltahawy’s concise summary of life in her Egyptian homeland.
Host Tony Jones didn’t seem to mind. Perhaps this points to a new ABC style guide, which should at least make future weather reports more interesting.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'FROM MOD SQUAD TO F-TROOP'
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THEY’RE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO THIS

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 01, 2014 (10:48am)

Labor yesterday announced it would start its own online news service, calling on party members to fund a $95,000 editor who would “write useful, interesting articles for the site on issues like cuts to pensions and the Commission of Audit.”
In an email to party members, ALP National Secretary George Wright said the Labor Herald would provide “handy facts, interesting articles and video.”
But the proposed news service immediately became a nationwide joke, with social media users ridiculing the concept by suggesting possible Labor Herald correspondents:

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'THEY’RE ACTUALLY GOING TO DO THIS'
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ONLY THE BRAVE MAY VIEW

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 01, 2014 (10:06am)

Yesterday I asked the Daily Telegraph‘s John Tiedemann to draw promise-breaking Tony Abbott as Julia Gillard, in one of the ex-PM’s more celebrated moments. The result is disturbing and should be restricted from general publication.

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BOB HOSKINS

Tim Blair – Thursday, May 01, 2014 (9:24am)

Pennies from Heaven star Bob Hoskins has died at 71:

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Commission of audit: ending the age of entitlement

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (2:18pm)

No to the age of entitlement. Yes to that old Australia that prized self-reliance:
The ... National Commission of Audit ... calls on the Abbott government to retreat from health and education and other services to avoid duplication with the states while warning against the cost of new initiatives like the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which it seeks to delay by three years.
It sets out 10 major asset sales including short-term proposals to sell Snowy Hydro and Defence Housing Australia, along with long-term plans to sell Australia Post, the Royal Australian Mint and the Australian Rail Track Corporation…
Rejecting Mr Abbott’s signature paid parental leave policy in its current form, the audit commission calls for the payments to be capped at average earnings of about $57,500 a year.
This would limit payments to $28,000 for the wealthiest new parents, available to all with no means test, rather than Mr Abbott’s new limit of $50,000 announced in recent days.
Family Tax Benefit B, which goes to families with partners who do not work, would be abolished while Family Tax Benefit A would be drastically curtailed so the payments would start falling once a household exceeded $48,837 in annual income.
As revealed in The Australian today, the report calls for the family home to be included in the asset test that determines the size of the age pension.
The pension change would not take effect until 2027-28 and would only limit the payments to coupled pensioners with homes worth more than $750,000 in today’s dollars…
Treasurer Joe Hockey has already signalled an increase in the retirement age to 70 by 2029, compared with the commission’s suggestion of 2053.
Unemployment benefits would be taken away from young people aged 22 to 30 who do not have dependents or special exemptions and are not willing to relocate to “higher employment areas” after getting the benefits for 12 months…
Healthcare is a major target for reform in the audit report, which calls for a $15 co-payment on visits to GPs, compared with the government’s plan for a $6 charge, with the cost falling after 15 visits a year…
The audit report shows that government spending would rise to $690 billion by 2023-24, compared with $409 billion today in a “business as usual” scenario that is central to the claim — rejected by Labor — that the nation faces a “budget emergency” and must slash services. There are no detailed costings of individual measures, with those on the commission arguing it is hard to be precise, but the full suite of 86 recommendations is estimated to produce savings of $60 billion to $70 billion by 2023-24.
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Gerry Adams arrested over IRA murder of widow

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (9:26am)

Good news:
Police in Northern Ireland arrested Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams on Wednesday over his alleged involvement in the Irish Republican Army’s 1972 abduction, killing and secret burial of a Belfast widow… 
Police long had been expected to question Adams about the killing of Jean McConville, a 38-year-old mother of 10 whom the IRA killed with a single gunshot to the head as an alleged spy…
“I believe that the killing of Jean McConville and the secret burial of her body was wrong and a grievous injustice to her and her family,” Adams said. “...I am innocent of any part in the abduction, killing or burial of Mrs. McConville."…
Adams was implicated in the killing by two IRA veterans, who gave taped interviews to researchers for a Boston College history archive on the four-decade Northern Ireland conflict. Belfast police waged a two-year legal fight in the United States to acquire the interviews, parts of which already were published after the 2008 death of one IRA interviewee, Brendan Hughes… [T]he second IRA interviewee, Dolours Price, ... died last year. Both Hughes and Price agreed to be interviewed on condition that their contents were kept confidential until their deaths.
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A broken promise could break Abbott

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (9:16am)

Politics - federal

image
TONY Abbott wants to break a promise, after all. But his deficit tax would break the wrong one and risk killing his Government. 

The Prime Minister before the election promised “tax cuts without new taxes”.
That’s good. But he also promised a six-month parental leave scheme that’s wildly generous, even after maximum payments were cut this week from $75,000 to $50,000.
Now, having to fix Labor’s financial disaster, Abbott seems to have decided one promise must go.
But wait. Why is Abbott planning a new tax that will be jeered when he could instead scrap his $5 billion leave scheme — hated even by many Liberals — and be cheered?
Why is Abbott planning a new tax that the Senate would likely block when he could scrap a parental leave scheme the Senate may not pass either? Why create a second Senate headache when he could save himself both?
But why is Abbott thinking about breaking any promise at all?
The answer is depressingly simple.
(Read full column here.) 
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Not all broken promises are bad

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (9:08am)

Reader mozza sums up:
The difference between Ms Gillard and Tony Abbott? Ms Gillard broke a promise she should have kept. Mr Abbott must break at least one promise he should never have made. Nothing could be simpler.
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Savva, Sheridan and Kennett: the case for the deficit levy

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (8:59am)

Niki Savva says Tony Abbott should not have promised so much, but has no option now but to break his promise and impose a deficit tax:
This will be vital to the integrity of the budget as an equity measure — given the Medicare co-payment, and mooted changes to welfare and pensions — as well as a revenue raiser.
Unpalatable as it may be, as unpopular as it inevitably will be, it will happen. It must…
“We have to be able to look pensioners and low-income earners in the eye and say everybody will be making a contribution,” one senior source said… Trust has always been an issue. It is not more important now than it was. That short-term pain for long-term gain applies as much to the government as it does to voters, who ultimately pay on results. The government will not be rewarded for standing by every word of every pledge if it fails to fix what is wrong.
I may differ with Niki on the importance of keeping promises, but totally agree on this:
Bill Shorten deepens the rot at the heart of the Labor Party by ratting on two prime ministers, serving in an outfit that wastes billions, fails to keep its word, leaves deficits of epic proportions, then refuses to accept or admit responsibility for what ails the party and the economy.
Labor’s response to the Government’s attempts to fix what Labor smashed is grotesque. It pretends there isn’t a Budget problem or, if there is, it’s created by Abbott. It blocks savings it once promised and fights tax rises. It is peddling poison to voters - a fantasy that there is no Budget crisis and nothing worth doing to fix it.  It is like the captain of the Korean Sewol ferry.
UPDATE
Greg Sheridan agrees with Niki:
Our gross government debt, at $360 billion, is more than 22 per cent of GDP. This is modest by some international comparisons, but we have jumped into that debt at an astonishing and alarming rate, and the debt is rising rapidly. In one year, from 2011 to 2012, we nearly doubled our net debt. Yet there was no net debt when Labor came to office in 2007… 
The Abbott government is telling us with maximum honesty that we face a serious and growing budget crisis that is immediate and long-term… Already, because of the debt incurred under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, we pay $12bn a year in interest on government debt… At $12bn, interest payments are more than twice our aid budget, nearly half our defence budget. Is it progressive to let that debt payment rise to $20bn or $30bn?…
Abbott should not have promised in opposition to maintain spending in so many areas, but he is going to make a start now…
But he also may share the sacrifice by imposing a temporary levy on high-income earners. 
Jeff Kennett:
So here we are in a country which has ... a massive debt and the levers that should be available to our government today are simply not available because they themselves have withdrawn them. So you tonight talk about backflips, others will talk about broken promises, which mean the chances of there being a very short, sharp fix to the deficit - not the debt, but the deficit - is less likely to occur and therefore the pain over the years ahead will be extended because no-one’s got the courage to do what’s required right now… 
[T]he last people who should be criticising is the Labor Party. They created this mess… [W]hat’s more important? A backflip, a broken promise or the country’s long-term interest? 
UPDATE
This tax is more to sell the cuts than fix the deficit - although it will help there, too: 
The Commission of Audit today will recommend deep cuts across the government but won’t advocate an increase in income tax… 
Mr Abbott is being pulverised for breaking a no-new-tax promise and people close to him counselled the government may still drop the tax hike plan and opt for another solution.
UPDATE
I doubt the deficit tax will be dropped:
Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, hit the phones on Wednesday to explain the proposal telling backbench MPs it was not a “new tax” but merely an increase in existing taxes and temporary at that. 
They told the MPs it was not being done for fun but to restore the fiscal balance and could be fully justified to voters as the best way of ensuring that not all of the burden of restoring the budget is left on the shoulders of welfare recipients, and the low paid. 
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann effectively confirms there will be a deficit tax:
We’re not doing any of this out of fun. We’re not doing any of this, we are not considering any of these measures because it gives us any pleasure. We’re doing it because in our judgement we need to consider some of these things to strengthen the country… 
[I]f we went to repair the budget and if we think that we need to make a special immediate effort before structural savings can properly kick in, then there’s two ways that you can do it: You can cut spending, or you can increase your revenue.
Now, in terms of cutting spending, that necessarily is targeted at those that receive government payments…
Now if we were to do as Bill Shorten appears to be suggesting, and that is exclusively focus on spending, then what he really is asking us to do is to force lower income families to carry the whole burden of the budget repair job ahead of us....
Now, higher income earners, the only we can effectively insure that higher income earners carry their fair share of the burden is through well targeted, time limited measures through the tax system.  
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Living overseas off a bad back

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (8:48am)

This is how some people use the taxes taken off me?
...7313 disability support pensioners are living overseas, costing $99.9 million a year. 
The most popular destination is Greece, where 1242 live; Turkey has 849…
Social Service Minister Kevin Andrews said he was seeking clarification on the residency requirements for such pensioners… The Federal Government now disallows the pension for those who are overseas for more than six weeks…
Michael Urdzal kept his disability pension despite living in Bali for almost nine years and returning on day trips for Centrelink appointments.
The AAT ruled last month that although he was not an Australian resident, he was entitled to the pension because of the severity of his disability
Paul Ray, who’s travelled to Bali 18 times since being granted a disability pension in 2003, and who has started a family there, also successfully appealed against a departmental move to strip him of the pension over breaching residency requirements. Mr Ray, who grew up in Port Melbourne, told the tribunal he suffered a back injury in a car accident in the late 1980s and his doctors had suggested a warmer climate would provide some relief.
(Thanks to reader CA.) 
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Greens against a higher tax on the rich because Abbott proposed it

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (8:25am)

The hypocrisy of the Greens - and their AbbottAbbottAbbott hatred - is astonishing.
Two years ago Greens leader Christine Milne suggested an increase in the top tax rate:

TAX is not a dirty word. A suite of ... proposals (including) a fair increase in the top marginal tax rate for millionaires to 50 per cent could raise many billions more.
Two months ago Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt demanded the rich pay more tax:
I’m sick of billionaires telling us that the only way we can make ends meet in the country is if ordinary people pay more and people like Gina Rinehart herself pay less. 
The government’s revenue is decreasing and it’s threatening our ability to fund the services Australians expect. We’ve got two choices: we can either say people like Gina Rinehart ought to pay a fairer share, or we can start cutting back on health and on schools.... Australia, comparatively, is now taxing at a relatively low rate, certainly lower than what it used to. And even if we just increased tax back to where it was under John Howard - hardly a radical move - we would be in a much better position to afford healthcare that people deserve and to afford schools ...
But now that Tony Abbott indeed proposes a new tax on the rich, the Greens are against:
I’M not prepared to support a deficit levy of this kind.
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Leave the fight against racism to the people, not the police

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (8:08am)

Free speech

 PAUL Weston quoted Winston Churchill on Islam outside a town hall last weekend and was arrested for being offensive. That was in Britain, which has laws against free speech as stupid as our own. 

Meanwhile, Donald Sterling, owner of the LA Clippers basketball team, was taped ordering his girlfriend not to bring black people to his games. No one arrested him and no one could. That was in the US, home of free speech, which has no law as restrictive as our Racial Discrimination Act.
Now decide which country is healthier. But wait — don’t give in to our enthusiasm for banning stuff until you hear what happened to Sterling.
That enthusiasm is exactly what got Weston arrested as he read aloud from Churchill’s The River War, about a war in Sudan in which Churchill served. Parts of the book sound strong now we’re so proudly multicultural that we fear a rude word might cause a race riot.
But they appealed to Weston, chairman of the nationalist Liberty GB party, who quoted Churchill’s dim view of Islam.
(Read full article here.) 
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We shouldn’t pay pensioners to keep their mansions

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (7:33am)

Of course the family home must be considered in pension assets tests:
In a deeply controversial finding, the [Abbott Government’s audit] commission identifies billions of dollars in savings from including the family home in the eligibility test for the age pension, arguing it is unfair for ordinary workers to subsidise pensions for the wealthy. 
The Australian has learned that senior ministers have already dismissed the idea of including the family home in the assets test as politically impossible, forcing them to search for savings and revenue measures elsewhere.
Why should taxpayers fork out pensions to people living in mansions? Or if we must, then at the very least give the taxpayers equity in the house, to be recovered on its sale or the death of the pensioner.
UPDATE
Another Budget time-bomb left by Labor:
THE Coalition’s Commission of Audit will today recommend the Abbott government cap the cost of the national disability insurance scheme and slow down the timetable for its full rollout to control its ballooning cost to the federal budget. 

The recommendations come after Amanda Vanstone, one of the authors of the Commission of Audit’s report, which will be unveiled today, told a political breakfast yesterday that the designers of the scheme were “criminally negligent” and its costs were out of control.
(Thanks to reader PaulC.) 
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A refugee program should not import danger

Andrew Bolt May 01 2014 (7:22am)

In Melbourne yet another brawl involving members of this new immigrant group, largely brought out here as refugees for safety:
A vicious brawl involving up to 40 African men in Docklands has been caught on security cameras. 
One man was stabbed to the face with a fork and another was hospitalised with head and spinal injuries. The fight erupted after the group stepped off a boat cruise in Central Pier.
Examples of previous brawls in Melbourne here and here.
I am not certain aspects of our immigration and refugee policies are working to the advantage of Australians. 
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I just want them to be competent. 
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An old man was going for a walk on the beach, when he noticed a little boy feeding a thin, shaggy looking dog with bits of bread.

He went up to the boy and asked him why he was sharing his bread with the dogs.

The little boy answered, "Because they have nothing. No home, no family, and if I don’t feed them they will die."

“But there are homeless dogs everywhere," the old man replied. “So your efforts don’t really make a difference”

The little boy looked at the dog and stroked him. “But for him, for this little dog, it makes all the difference in the world.”
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Thank God Ninos Khoshaba didn't get his way with the former compromised motion, the motion, which was passed by the NSW Parliament reads as follows: 

Whereas the NSW Parliament passed a motion in 1997 recognising and condemning the Genocide of the Armenians, this House recognises that Assyrians and Greeks were subjected to qualitatively similar genocides by the then Ottoman Government between 1914 -- 1923: and

(a) joins the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks communities of New South Wales in honouring the memory of the innocent men, women and children who fell victim to the first modern genocides;

(b) condemns the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks, and all other acts of genocide as the ultimate act of intolerance;

(c) recognises the importance of remembering and learning from such dark chapters in human history to ensure that such crimes against humanity are not allowed to be repeated;

(d) condemns and prevents all attempts to use the passage of time to deny or distort the historical truth of the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks, and other acts of genocide;

(e) recalls the testimonies of ANZAC prisoners-of-war and other servicemen who were witness to the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks;

(f) recalls the testimonies of ANZAC servicemen who rescued Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks genocide survivors;

(g) acknowledges the significant humanitarian relief contribution made by the people of New South Wales to the victims and survivors of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks; and

(h) calls on the Commonwealth Government to condemn the genocides of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks.
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May 1: International Workers' Day; Beltane in Ireland and Scotland;Law Day, Loyalty Day, and National Day of Prayer in the United States (2014)
Stephen BáthoryAnna Jagiellon
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“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” -Ephesians 4:15
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"And all the children of Israel murmured."
Numbers 14:2
There are murmurers amongst Christians now, as there were in the camp of Israel of old. There are those who, when the rod falls, cry out against the afflictive dispensation. They ask, "Why am I thus afflicted? What have I done to be chastened in this manner?" A word with thee, O murmurer! Why shouldst thou murmur against the dispensations of thy heavenly Father? Can he treat thee more hardly than thou deservest? Consider what a rebel thou wast once, but he has pardoned thee! Surely, if he in his wisdom sees fit now to chasten thee, thou shouldst not complain. After all, art thou smitten as hardly as thy sins deserve? Consider the corruption which is in thy breast, and then wilt thou wonder that there needs so much of the rod to fetch it out? Weigh thyself, and discern how much dross is mingled with thy gold; and dost thou think the fire too hot to purge away so much dross as thou hast? Does not that proud rebellious spirit of thine prove that thy heart is not thoroughly sanctified? Are not those murmuring words contrary to the holy submissive nature of God's children? Is not the correction needed? But if thou wilt murmur against the chastening, take heed, for it will go hard with murmurers. God always chastises his children twice, if they do not bear the first stroke patiently. But know one thing--"He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." All his corrections are sent in love, to purify thee, and to draw thee nearer to himself. Surely it must help thee to bear the chastening with resignation if thou art able to recognize thy Father's hand. For "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons." "Murmur not as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer."

Evening

"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God."
Psalm 139:17
Divine omniscience affords no comfort to the ungodly mind, but to the child of God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking upon us, never turns aside his mind from us, has us always before his eyes; and this is precisely as we would have it, for it would be dreadful to exist for a moment beyond the observation of our heavenly Father. His thoughts are always tender, loving, wise, prudent, far-reaching, and they bring to us countless benefits: hence it is a choice delight to remember them. The Lord always did think upon his people: hence their election and the covenant of grace by which their salvation is secured; he always will think upon them: hence their final perseverance by which they shall be brought safely to their final rest. In all our wanderings the watchful glance of the Eternal Watcher is evermore fixed upon us--we never roam beyond the Shepherd's eye. In our sorrows he observes us incessantly, and not a pang escapes him; in our toils he marks all our weariness, and writes in his book all the struggles of his faithful ones. These thoughts of the Lord encompass us in all our paths, and penetrate the innermost region of our being. Not a nerve or tissue, valve or vessel, of our bodily organization is uncared for; all the littles of our little world are thought upon by the great God.
Dear reader, is this precious to you? then hold to it. Never be led astray by those philosophic fools who preach up an impersonal God, and talk of self-existent, self-governing matter. The Lord liveth and thinketh upon us, this is a truth far too precious for us to be lightly robbed of it. The notice of a nobleman is valued so highly that he who has it counts his fortune made; but what is it to be thought of by the King of kings! If the Lord thinketh upon us, all is well, and we may rejoice evermore.
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Today's reading: 1 Kings 8-9, Luke 21:1-19 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 1 Kings 8-9

The Ark Brought to the Temple
1 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD's covenant from Zion, the City of David. 2 All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
3 When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites carried them up, 5 and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted....

Today's New Testament reading: Luke 21:1-19

The Widow's Offering
1 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 "Truly I tell you," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down...."
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