Saturday, June 20, 2015

Sat Jun 20th Todays News

Bolt report Instructions follow the publishing news. 
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Left wing government supporters are fond of saying there is no difference between conservative and left wing governments in democracy. In some ways there is truth to that. Both styles of government rely on process and policy and make decisions that may be unpopular. But there is a stark difference and that is in how the media analyse government performance. Gough Whitlam's sacrifice of the Balibo 5 journalists in 1975 was a harsh real politic decision. He couldn't forbid the journalists from going or he would have to admit he had permitted Indonesia to invade. Indonesian special forces, according to an Australian Coroner in 2007, had targeted the journalists. On this day in 1979, what role had Jimmy Carter played in the death of ABC newsman Bill Stewart? The murderous arrogance of a left wing revolutionary government being courted by Carter is breathtaking. Had the pictures not been taken, would the public outcry and media analysis been muted as Balibo's had been? 

 Recently, the media have been all over cabinet leaks among the Liberal Party regarding an important decision to address the issue of terrorists returning to Australia and resuming dual citizenship they had renounced. But the media are unwilling to analyse leaks from Bill Shorten's shadow cabinet regarding his policy failures. Democracies stand on a strong, fierce, independent media. But Australia does not have that and it weakens and corrodes infrastructure. In the US, the US President has spoken strongly following the racist shootings in a church in South Carolina. However, Obama's previous claim that the murder of Jews in Paris was random weakens his claim on the current atrocity. His critics may say the atrocity in South Carolina was not racist, but a random attack at a church. It is petty, and wrong, and diminishes the meaning of the atrocity in terms of the victims, which should never happen. In South Carolina, the victims loved ones have stood up in court and addressed the terrorist killer and forgiven him. It is good they have. And it will be good that that forgiven man be executed too. Give him a fair trial first. Let him put forth his argument. And let Obama retract his appalling misstatement. Only the pathetic press won't ask Obama to correct himself. 

 In 451, Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius battled Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreated, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory. Two years later Attila died at his wedding feast and the next year the Huns were crushed. 1248, the University of Oxford received its Royal charter. 1631, the sack of Baltimore: The Irish village of Baltimore was attacked by Algerian pirates. 1652, Tarhoncu Ahmet Paşa was appointed grand vezir of the Ottoman Empire. 1685, Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwater. James was the illegitimate son of Charles II. He was executed for his attempt. Three years later, his idiot Uncle was removed from power by James II's son in law, William of Orange. 1756, a British garrison was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta. 1782, the U.S. Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States. 1787, Oliver Ellsworth moved at the Federal Convention to call the government the United States. 1789, Deputies of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath. The situation was the kingdom owed a Greek type national debt of billions of lires, and the general assembly of estates was called to deal with the issue. Except the third estate (first estate being church, 2nd estate nobility, 3rd estate was 97% of the population) was locked out of meeting. It heralded the coming revolution. 

 In 1819, the U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrived at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey was made under sail. 1837, Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne. 1840, Samuel Morse received the patent for the telegraph. 1862, Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, was assassinated. 1863, American Civil War: West Virginia was admitted as the 35th U.S. state. 1877, Alexander Graham Bell installed the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 1887, Victoria Terminus, the busiest railway station in India, opened in Bombay. 1893, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother. 1895, the Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, was officially opened.

 In 1900, Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China. Also 1900, Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departed Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return. 1921, workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, began a four-month strike.

 In 1940, World War II: Italy began an unsuccessful invasion of France. 1942, the Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, stole an SS staff car and escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp. 1943, the Detroit Race Riot broke out and continued for three more days. 1944, World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concluded with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". Also 1944, Continuation war: The Soviet Union demanded an unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refused. 1945, the United States Secretary of State approved the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to America. 1948, Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, made its television debut. 1956 a Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people. 1959, a rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35. 1960, the Mali Federation gained independence from France (it later split into Mali and Senegal). 1963, the so-called "red telephone" link was established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 In 1972, Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appeared in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex. 1973, Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Snipers fired upon left-wing Peronists. At least 13 were killed and more than 300 were injured. 1979, ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder was caught on tape and sparked an international outcry against the regime. 1982, the Argentine base Corbeta Uruguay on Southern Thule surrendered to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War. 1990, Asteroid Eureka was discovered. 1991, the German Bundestag voted to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin. 2001, Andrea Yates, in an attempt to save her young children from Satan, drowned all five of them in a bathtub in Houston, Texas. 2003, the Wikimedia Foundation was founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.
2014
Today is remarkable for the charter given Oxford University in 1214. The record of greatness coming from that fine institution for learning is substantial, including 26 PMs and 27 Nobel Laureates. People from Oxford include Kings and Queens and heads of government, Bishops and Cardinals and religious leaders, poets and novelists from Joseph Heller, John Donne to Percy Bysshe Shelley. Dramatists like Oscar Wilde or Russel T Davies. Children's writers like Lewis Carroll or Richard Adams. Scholars like Melvyn Bragg, Samuel Johnson, CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein. Rupert Murdoch. Richard Burton. Emilia Fox. Michael York. Rowan Atkinson. Dudley Moore. Donald Crisp. Hugh Grant. Andrew Lloyd Webber. Graham Wiggins. Kris Kristopherson. Edward James and Christopher Wren. Without her, the world would be poorer. 

But today is not just a one thing day. Samuel Morse got a patent for the telegraph in 1840. Alexander Graham Bell installed the worlds first telephone service in 1877. Victoria Terminus, the busiest railway in India first opened today in 1887. On this day in 1893, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her dad and step mum. America is great. In 1940, Italy attempted to invade France, but the greater display of chutzpah was three Jews and a priest from Auschwitz dressing as SS and driving away in an SS marked car in '42. One of them fought for the Polish resistance before being jailed for 7 years by the communists following the war. Typically, the reprisals were tragic, with inmates being tattooed with a number following the escape and family members imprisoned and killed. There were race riots in Detroit in '43. Ed Sullivan show began in '48. A red telephone connected the US President and Soviet Premier in '63. Watergate tapes were found to be an imperfect medium in '72. In Nicaragua the US ABC lost a journalist in '79 .. Carter having done for him as Whitlam had the Balibo 5. 

In 1733, noted Cherry tree hacker Betty Washington Lewis was born, George would try to cover for her (I cannot tell a lie, I cut down that cherry tree). Cricketer Jack Worrall was born in 1860. Errol Flynn in 1909. Audie Murphy in 1924. Brian Wilson in 1942. Anne Murray in 1945. Xanana Gusmao in 1946. Lionel Ritchie in 1949 and Nicole Kidman in 1967. 
Historical perspectives on this day
In 451, Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius battled Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreated, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory. 1248, the University of Oxford received its Royal charter. 1631, the sack of Baltimore: The Irish village of Baltimore was attacked by Algerian pirates. 1652, Tarhoncu Ahmet Paşa was appointed grand vezir of the Ottoman Empire. 1685, Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwater. 1756, a British garrison was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta. 1782, the U.S. Congress adopted the Great Seal of the United States. 1787, Oliver Ellsworth moved at the Federal Convention to call the government the United States. 1789, Deputies of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath.

 In 1819, the U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It was the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey was made under sail. 1837, Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne. 1840, Samuel Morse received the patent for the telegraph. 1862, Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, was assassinated. 1863, American Civil War: West Virginia was admitted as the 35th U.S. state. 1877, Alexander Graham Bell installed the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 1887, Victoria Terminus, the busiest railway station in India, opened in Bombay. 1893, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother. 1895, the Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, was officially opened.

 In 1900, Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China. Also 1900, Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departed Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return. 1921, workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, began a four-month strike.

 In 1940, World War II: Italy began an unsuccessful invasion of France. 1942, the Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, stole an SS staff car and escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp. 1943, the Detroit Race Riot broke out and continued for three more days. 1944, World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concluded with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". Also 1944, Continuation war: The Soviet Union demanded an unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refused. 1945, the United States Secretary of State approved the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to America. 1948, Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, made its television debut. 1956 a Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people. 1959, a rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35. 1960, the Mali Federation gained independence from France (it later split into Mali and Senegal). 1963, the so-called "red telephone" link was established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

 In 1972, Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appeared in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex. 1973, Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Snipers fired upon left-wing Peronists. At least 13 were killed and more than 300 were injured. 1979, ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder was caught on tape and sparked an international outcry against the regime. 1982, the Argentine base Corbeta Uruguay on Southern Thule surrendered to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War. 1990, Asteroid Eureka was discovered. 1991, the German Bundestag voted to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin. 2001, Andrea Yates, in an attempt to save her young children from Satan, drowned all five of them in a bathtub in Houston, Texas. 2003, the Wikimedia Foundation was founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.
=== Publishing News ===
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.
=== Bolt Report Items ===
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.  
===
Dear Members (YOU MUST READ THIS THREAD)
As of today, the rules of this forum are going to be enforced more rigorously. This includes the instant removal of members who personally abuse other members of this forum.
Whilst the use of bad language is often invoked as colourful descriptors of politicians, we ask that people refrain from the C word as there are many people on this forum who do not want to see that as part of every day language here.

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Generally we will give people a 24 hour time out to cool off after they have been removed and those people will be welcome back to the forum once they have applied via an admin..... we will however, permanently remove repeat offenders with a rule of "3 strikes and you're out".

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Regards

Admins

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Happy birthday and many happy returns Betty Washington Lewis, Jack Worrall and Audie Murphy. Born on the same day, across the years. Audie wrote his autobiography that I used to learn to read (To Hell and Back). On your day in 1685, The Duke of Monmouth declared himself King of England at Bridgwater. In 1887, Victoria Terminus, now the busiest railway station in India, opened in Bombay on the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In 1900, Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army began a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing. In 1947, Mafia hitman murdered gangster Bugsy Siegel in Beverly Hills, California. 1963, The so-called "red telephone" was established between the White House and the Kremlin, after the Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated that direct communications between the two nations were necessary. What a day! Rebellion, confusion, building grandeur, and the death of a gangster in Beverly Hills .. it should have been Chicago.
Deaths
SS Savannah
R U ok Hun? We met at tennis and found love. It was steamy. It was a riot. Then we separated. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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WE’RE BAD

Tim Blair – Saturday, June 20, 2015 (3:04pm)

Clementine Ford’s definition of a good man: 
I know that men can be good, respectful and kind people who treat women with the dignity that should be afforded to all human beings. I know this because I have seen evidence of it. I see the goodness in men. I experience it in my own life and I witness it in the change I see in men who take the time to listen to what I have to say. 
Perhaps her persuasive powers could be usefully deployed against Hizb ut-Tahrir, although it’s difficult to be heard from the back of the room. Clementine’s recent antics have given her a definite boost in this year’s frightbat poll, where she’s now reduced Gillian Triggs’s share of the vote to below 60 per cent. 
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FAIRFAX ATTACKS

Tim Blair – Saturday, June 20, 2015 (2:29pm)

The Sydney Morning Herald delivers a backhanded fashion award to Bill Shorten’s wife:

image

A bit rough on old Bill there. He doesn’t look that much like a muppet. Over at the Age, which recently promised “explosive results” from an investigation into the Labor leader, this is so far the best they’ve come up with: 
The Labor man shifts in his chair and glances around the cafe. In footy-mad Victoria, what he is about to say amounts to an accusation of heresy – of disloyalty to a code deeper than politics, deeper than unionism. Deeper even than friendship – or at least some friendships. He draws closer. “You know,” he says, “he changed footy teams quite late ...”
The swap of teams, by the way, did not coincide with South’s move to Sydney. Shorten changed in the late 1980s, seven years or so after the Swans did, when he was at least 21, probably 22, and became a Magpies supporter.
“I think there was an eye on the bigger prize with that decision,” says one old comrade from the time, also recalling that Shorten was not particularly interested in the footy.
Another old friend, George Habib, also remembers it well. A Pies supporter, Habib recalls encouraging Shorten.
“I do remember on numerous occasions saying, ‘Mate, if you want to become Prime Minister of this country you can’t stay with the Sydney Swans.’” 
Shorten’s response: 
Some things can’t go uncorrected — Proudly Pies since 1982 after my dad’s beloved Bloods moved north. The Age never even bothered to ask me! 
The Age piece also repeats the claim that Shorten’s abysmal “everybody is somebody” line came from Martin Luther King. Wrong. It’s from Jesse Jackson.
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WHEN TEACHERS DON’T

Tim Blair – Saturday, June 20, 2015 (1:37pm)

Professor Ken Wiltshire, co-chair of the government’s review into the national curriculum, identifies a central problemwith modern education – the teachers: 
Professor Wiltshire said he was dismayed by some of the new-age teaching methods he uncovered during his review into the curriculum which left him with the view that Australian schools are letting our kids down.
One example included revelations some students had been tasked with identifying the “environmentally irresponsible” passages in the works of 16th century playwright William Shakespeare …
“They take a beautiful piece of literature and instead of enjoying it they take a marker out and start ‘deconstructing’ it.
“They’re given a work by Shakespeare and told to use a brown marker to indicate the racist passages, a purple marker to indicate the sexist passages and a green marker to indicate the environmentally irresponsible passages.” 
In a way, this ties in with the politically-correct creepiness recently noted in the US by comedian Jerry Seinfeld: 
To his credit, Seinfeld isn’t backing down. In fact – and, perhaps this, too, speaks to his sense of invulnerability – he seems more eager than ever to engage the issue, as was clear on the Seth Meyers program. The host is straightforwardly liberal; the other guest that evening, New Yorker editor David Remnick, is that and more – a man ever vigilant, lest an errant thought slip into his magazine …
Remnick said … that some cover sketches do go over the line, and sometimes there’s “a misfire – I got a misfire today.”
“What does that mean, you got a misfire?” Seinfeld asked.
“It was a sketch about a possible cover about the Vanity Fair cover recently,” Remnick said, referring to Vanity Fair’s Caitlyn Jenner cover. “But it didn’t work.”
“I would like to know what it was,” pressed Seinfeld.
“You’re not gonna get it.”
The audience laughed and applauded, as if it was all in good fun, but Seinfeld was clearly in earnest. A moment later, he turned to the other media heavy, Meyers. “I saw on Instagram where you said, ‘I’m not going to make any jokes about Caitlyn Jenner.’”
Meyers looked momentarily abashed, before replying, lamely, “I said ‘that day.’ I sort’ve thought that was a wonderful moment, so it wasn’t a good time to make jokes.”
“Oh, good,” allowed Seinfeld drily. “I feel better about it.” 
Seth Meyers only identifies as a comedian.
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EVERY PERSON AND EVERY GOVERNMENT

Tim Blair – Saturday, June 20, 2015 (12:50pm)

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is criticised for these words: 
Daesh is coming, if it can, for every person and for every government with a simple message: submit or die. 
That view is supported by the New York Times: 
The arrest on Saturday of a Queens college student on charges of conspiring with the Islamic State is just the most recent example of the group’s global strategy, which began about one year ago and has resulted in attacks or arrests in more than a dozen countries. 
Click for a map.
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Russia tempts Greece as Germany threatens

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (2:09pm)

Another Russian-German war, this time to be fought in Greece:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned there must be a deal between Greece and its creditors ahead of Monday’s emergency EU summit… Greece has less than two weeks remaining to strike a deal or face defaulting on a €1.6bn (£1.1bn) IMF loan repayment.
There are fears about the health of Greek banks, amid reports more than €4bn has been withdrawn this week…
Meanwhile, Russia says it will consider granting a loan to Greece if it is asked.
(Thanks to reader Low Profile.) 
===

Work to do. UPDATE: The danger grows

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (11:07am)

There is then a lot to do to warn people that fine feelings can lead us into an ugly future of racial division:
Almost two out of three voters are in favour of recognising ­indigenous Australians in the Constitution.
A Newspoll, conducted exclusively for The Weekend Australian, reveals 63 per cent support constitutional recognition, with 19 per cent opposed and 18 per cent uncommitted.
UPDATE
Encouraged, The Australian now demands more than a symbolic change to our constitution:
The model to be decided upon, be it in a declaration or an addition to the Constitution, should be generous. Australians, as big-hearted people committed to a fair go, would not want to ask indigenous people to accept a mere nod of recognition just to maintain cohesion with a few noisy critics… A nation as generous, welcoming and innovative as ours ought to be able to embrace in its institutional architecture a recognition of the historical truth that indigenous people and their living culture were here for more than 40,000 years before 1788. And neither should indigenous Australians ever again be denied a voice in this nation’s forums.
Er, “indigenous Australians” are not at all “denied a voice in this nation’s forums”. Aborigines have the vote, like all citizens. Aborigines can stand for Parliament, and do. A man with Aboriginal ancestors is Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. People with Aboriginal ancestors have been elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives. No one is being denied a voice, and there is nothing here for a constitutional referendum to fix.
It seems to me that The Australian is now toying with the proposal it has aired - one suggested by Noel Pearson, its favoured Aboriginal leader. That is to write into the constitution a kind of Aboriginal parliament or council that will advise on all matters affecting Aboriginal people. That means one “race”, and one race alone, gets a superior say in politics - a say not just in the Parliament of us all but in this special council. And so apartheid begins.
But how ludicrous this is. Why give additional political rights to people just on the basis of the “race” of some of their long-dead ancestors? Many Aboriginals today actually have some European ancestors and most have lived in Australia for fewer years than have I and many other non-Aborigines of my age who were born right here. What’s the point of this division? What’s the good to come of such racism?
And be sure of what will follow: demands for treaties, sovereignty and the rest. Victim politics. Resentments stoked for negotiating advantage. Arguments about who is Aboriginal and who not, especially among Aborigines. A lawyers’ picnic. A nasty reaction from the marginalised of other “races”. The whole stupid catastrophe.
And not a single Aborigine lifted out of poverty as a consequence.
UPDATE
I’m afraid Chris Kenny of The Australian uses the ultimate no-but-yes argument to defend Pearson’s plan for an Aboriginal-only council, guaranteed in the Constitution, to advise Parliament:
It aims to protect the legal integrity of the Constitution while giving a permanent voice to indigenous people in a way that does not confer special rights but is practically significant.
No “special rights”? So can people of all “races” then vote for it? Can people of all “races” serve on it? Can people of all “races” have similar bodies?
Another no-but-yes argument:
It is not about perpetuating distinctions on race but recognising that we introduced a Western culture into a land where cultures already existed.
I didn’t introduce “a Western culture” to this land, having been born here into an existing one. So who is “we” and why does Kenny draft me into this collective? Isn’t this exactly “perpetuating distinctions on [sic] race”?
Another no-but-yes argument:
If leading advocates could coalesce around a version of this model the only cohorts disappointed would be the entrenched Right, who are opposed to any change, and the entrenched Left, who seek powers equivalent to an indigenous bill of rights… It is a stretch to call such an advisory body “radical”, as it has been characterised by Warren Mundine.
Mundine, a former Labor national president, is neither of the Right nor “entrenched Left, who seek powers equivalent to an indigenous bill of rights”.
Mundine, like me, is against apartheid. It shocks me that so few people see the fundamental principle that is being betrayed here. That this principle is being betrayed by people who mean well is little consolation.
And then yet another no-but-yes:
Could a less-is-more replacement of the race power work…
Rather than perpetuating a race power, it is possible to see formalisation of federal power over indigenous affairs as being more about giving constitutional authority to the government to legislate for a disparate group of Australians who happen to have special land rights (as recognised under common law and subsequent Mabo and Wik legislation) and unique challenges (as recognised under the common sense of national consensus).
This group is identified, in practical terms, mainly by race.
We remove race from the Constitution by defining a group “mainly by race”? Pardon?
And, to add to this folly, we assume all members of this “race” share “unique challenges”? Even when some are ABC broadcasters, professors, politicians, doctors, lawyers and opera singers, often from urban backgrounds and with many non-Aboriginal ancestors?
Why this crude shoe-horning of such disparate and multi-faceted people into “races”? Why treat one side of their ancestry as some kind of permanent stain or collective marker of character, “challenges” or entitlement to privileges?
What madness is this?
Let this instead remain the guide of the civilised, who see beyond “race”:
===

Pope rants against airconditioning

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (9:50am)

The Pope issues an encyclical against air-conditioning?
People may well have a growing ecological sensitivity but it has not succeeded in changing their harmful habits of consumption which, rather than decreasing, appear to be growing all the more. A simple example is the increasing use and power of air-conditioning. The markets, which immediately benefit from sales, stimulate ever greater demand. An outsider looking at our world would be amazed at such behaviour, which at times appears self-destructive.
Recycling paper, actually a biodegradable product of a renewable resource, is now a religious issue?
These problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. To cite one example, most of the paper we produce is thrown away and not recycled.
It is hard to read an encyclical with such passages as a religious document.
But worse is that it contains so much emotional and apocalyptic claptrap of the kind we’d expect in a fundraising pamphlet from Greenpeace but not in a papal encyclical:
The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor.
A “sickness evident in the soil”?  And in “all forms of life”? The earth “laid waste”?  Seriously?
And isn’t it a serious moral error to regard pollution as a sin as great as the worst maltreatment of a human being? This is the voice of pantheism, now triumphant in the Vatican.
There is something manic in this railing:
The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish.
This is simply not true of vast parts of our planet. Go outside and see for yourself.
Nor is this true:
A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system. In recent decades this warming has been accompanied by a constant rise in the sea level and, it would appear, by an increase of extreme weather events, even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon… The melting in the polar ice caps and in high altitude plains can lead to the dangerous release of methane gas…
In fact, there has been a pause in warming of the global atmosphere that has lasted at least 17 years, to the puzzlement of warmist scientists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change itself struggles to find any evidence of “an increase of extreme weather events”, such as cyclones, storms or droughts. One of the two polar ice caps has actually seen an increase in sea ice extent, and the other has seen no further deterioration for several years.
The Pope does not consider the cost to the poor of the shift he now advocates:
There is an urgent need to develop policies so that, in the next few years, the emission of carbon dioxide and other highly polluting gases can be drastically reduced, for example, substituting for fossil fuels and developing sources of renewable energy.
A shift to green power will in many cases mean a big increase in the cost of electricity, keeping it beyond the reach of the poorest people in the world. This is the very point stressed by India, whose Prime Minister has set himself the goal of bring electricity to those who have none.
There is much in the encyclical that is worth considering, not least its appeals to consider the poor, the central importance of the family and the cost of pollution. There is also an argument against abortion which I doubt that the greens now hailing the Pope will demand we heed as they demand we heed his climate alarmism.
But too much of the document seems simply alarmist and just one impatient man’s grumpy opinion.
UPDATE
Reader John defends the Pope, saying I missed a relevant bit of the encyclical:
The encyclical does NOT recommend abandoning cheap sources of energy like coal whilst the search for widely-available (read ‘cheap’) renewable energy is developed. In fact it says the exact opposite to what you have written:


165. We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay. Until greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the lesser of two evils or to find short-term solutions.
UPDATE
Bjorn Lomborg:
The Pope derides those who have “blind faith” in technological advances as a solution to climate change. Instead, his encyclical declares that the world must stop consuming so much. That, he says, will help the poor people who stand to be affected most by global warming. That is troubling, because technical innovation is exactly what we need more of.
Humanity’s answer to huge levels of famine wasn’t to insist we should eat less. 
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Global warming and the death of science

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (9:42am)

Science author Matt Ridley warns that the reputation of science is being destroyed by the warming scare:

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Global warming and the death of science'
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The Bolt Report tomorrow, June 21

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (9:12am)

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On Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 3pm.
My guest: Anthony Albanese, Labor’s Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism spokesman and about the only Labor MP to come out of The Killing Season with his reputation for integrity enhanced.
The panel: Political scientist Jennifer Oriel and Nicholas Reece, former advisor to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
NewsWatch: Miranda Devine, Daily Telegraph columnist and 2GB colleague. 

On boats, Shorten’s horror week, terrorism legislation, the Greens’ coup and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Shorten destroyed by the Left he dares not challenge

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (8:28am)

Bill Shorten’s worst and most crippling decisions have come from trying to placate Labor’s Left, rather than represent his own Right faction.
He has committed Labor to another carbon tax. He has refused to endorse boat turnbacks and temporary protection visas.
Then this week he made one of his worst blunders in siding with the Left, although the ABC’s Barrie Cassidy doesn’t quite tell the real tale:
The Government puts up a perfectly modest and reasonable initiative to rein in spending pensions a change to the assets test that will deny the payment to wealthy Australians and deliver a $15 a week increase to full pensioners.
The Greens - yes, the Greens - sign up, and Labor opposes it. Surely the decision would have been line ball within Labor ranks; a tempting step towards much needed co-operation in the battle against runaway deficits.
But having decided to vote against it, Labor then cranked it up as the definition of evil, mounting a full blown scare campaign.
But wait. Cassidy is actually far too kind to Shorten. Almost protective. The decision wasn’t line ball at all, according to Dennis Shanahan, who said Shorten sided with (among others) two frontbenchers of the Left, one his leadership rival, against the majority and the Right:
On Monday evening, at shadow cabinet, Shorten presided over a heated debate on pension changes, eventually siding with his deputy, Tanya Plibersek, and Labor’s families spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, in a minority decision to oppose the government’s budget changes…
Mr Shorten and Labor families spokeswoman Jenny Macklin prevailed in the shadow cabinet debate over the policy, but there are fears within the caucus that the outcome will damage the opposition’s credibility on budget repair — a central issue at the next election.
What the Labor Right must think of Shorten now:
Labor hardheads such as Chris Bowen, the Treasury spokesman, had been careful to leave room to accept the government plan to save $2.4 billion over four years by tightening the pension asset test.
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill:

Considering the gallery has been been all over Cabinet leaks for weeks, it’s surprising such a significant leak from Shadow Cabinet hasn’t been bigger news. 
The Daily Telegraph’s Simon Benson sums up very well:
Bill Shorten’s leadership is now being questioned by senior right-wing MPs who believe he has all but capitulated to structural forces within a recalibrated Labor Party. They claim he has sold out his own faction to a resurgent and aggressive left, which is not only asserting a new-found political authority but using its influence to shift policy away from the centre — Shorten’s natural political alignment.,,
His caucus is now starting to recognise that there are problems. The most immediate is the breakdown in what has been a ­bipartisanship on national security and Shorten’s inability or ­unwillingness to rein in ­national security spokesman Dreyfus.
His suggestion yesterday that terrorists should be brought back to Australia to be prosecuted — before having their citizenship stripped from them — sent several Labor MPs into a panic.
“It was inexcusable,” said one. “He has done irreparable damage with that single comment.”
Shorten needed to deal with this. He chose not to. Nor has he dealt with the issue of asylum seekers and what Labor’s policy will be. This more than perhaps any other issue has the potential to eviscerate his leadership.
The danger he faces internally was evident in what happened to shadow immigration minister Richard Marles when he dared to articulate earlier this year that Labor had to change tack, suggesting it should adopt the Coalition’s boat turnback policy. Marles was destroyed by the left…
The essential problem for Labor now, which has become manifest in the shift on national security this week, is that it is a party that is now left of centre.
It is a party whose MPs live in the political vacuum of Twitter and the inner-city commentariat, out of kilter with mainstream Australia… The irony is that it has come about from the move to reduce the influence of ­unions at conference. The membership of the ALP is concentrated now around inner-city branches. The bulk of those members are of the left.
(Thanks to readers Peter of Bellevue Hill and brett t r.) 
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Sounds reasonable to me, with the boats stopped and the laws toughened

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (8:04am)

Michael Gordon of The Age:
Having declared that “Daesh is coming, if it can, for every person and for every government with a simple message: submit or die”, Abbott’s emphatic message now is that Australians are safer from terrorism under the Coalition. This is an extraordinary and irresponsible claim.
It is?
Just because a claim hurts Labor doesn’t make it false. 
===

An ad for a new Labor party, courtesy of United Voice

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (7:19am)

United Voice have produced this curious ad to attack the people who have taken over Labor, the party of the unions:
Many members might take this to be a metaphor for the takeover of politics generally. In fact, the ad suggests to me that there are many conservative Labor supporters who would very much appreciate a return to the Labor party of Hawke and Chifley.
Or maybe not. The uproar from the new political class has forced the union to ditch the ad, as the Sydney Morning Herald tut tuts:

One of the country’s biggest unions has been forced to pull a video off YouTube, after social media expressed shock and dismay over its suggestion that union members should reassert their “values” in the ALP over same-sex people, environmentalists and other members. 
The South Australian branch of United Voice originally posted the clip in late May but removed it on Friday afternoon…
The video, entitled “have your say”, begins with a young couple, who share the same “values” and build a house together.
Then a “lawyer” comes by and moves in. “Some students”, “some environmentalists”, a “same-sex couple”, “many religious orders” and “a group called political staffers” - represented as clowns - also move in.
“At first everyone is happy and gets along because everyone under your roof shares the same values. You’re even happy to pay most of the bills,” the voiceover says.
But the house becomes crowded and noisy and “eventually some differences arise”.
The diverse bunch then decides the original owners should leave in order to reduce the numbers - but continue to pay for the costs of the house.
“The same thing is happening to your political party. Your political party is your house, a trade unionist house,” the voiceover continues. 
“It’s time to reclaim the house we built ... we urge you as a trade unionist to stand up and play your part.”
The video, which comes ahead of the Labor Party’s national conference in July, was circulated on social media on Friday, where commenters expressed confusion and surprise.
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Why “confusion”? 
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The ultimate blame-the-victim

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (7:07am)

A racist misfit - given a gun by his insanely stupid father - shoots dead a black pastor and eight of his black parishioners.
This happens in America, so guess which character in this evil is being blamed by National Rifle Association board member Charles L. Cotton?
Unbelievably, it’s the pastor, who is also a South Carolina State Senator who voted for more comprehensive background checks on gun sales:
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In defence of Shorten’s deals

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (6:47am)

Kelty and Ferguson make good points in defence of Bill Shorten’s controversial deals with bosses:

Bill Kelty and Martin Ferguson have followed the lead of former Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd in praising the improved productivity and workplace flexibility the now ­Opposition Leader oversaw at a major Melbourne road project in 2005.
The deal with joint venture partner Thiess John Holland for the $2.5 billion EastLink tollway is said to have saved the company up to $100 million and delivered the project five months early…
“He was brave and flexible when the country needed brave and flexible union officials to make big changes,” Mr Kelty, ACTU secretary in 1983-2000, told The Weekend Australian.
“To be criticised for that flexibility and adaptability borders on the class warfare of the 1890s in ­reverse, which is ‘How dare you deal with the employer, how dare you embrace good employers’. It’s the sort of thing you would expect of the loony Left.”
Mr Ferguson, ACTU president in 1990-96, said the deal struck with Thiess John Holland for Melbourne’s tollway was an example of “what the Hawke and Keating governments achieved”.
“The leadership of the AWU under Bill Shorten in partnership with the Victorian government was something we could only hope that was achieved on more infrastructure projects, especially when you compare it to the debacle and thuggery on parts of the upgraded West Gate (project), with the CFMEU aggressively trying to undermine the AWU and cause industrial disruption,” he told The Weekend Australian.
True, and it’s the point I’ve made several times on 2GB: thanks to Shorten’s deals, taxpayers and road users have probably been saved a lot of money. Imagine such projects in the hands of the CFMEU. Indeed, if the CFMEU had more such projects, we’d have less. Investment would be frightened off, and workers would have fewer jobs.
So thank Shorten for that.
But how does any of that explain this?:

However, the AWU went on to receive more than $200,000 in payments from the company in subsequent years, including a $134,500 “donation” to the union’s Victorian branch in 2006-07…
The government has continued to hound Mr Shorten over any connection to a series of deals, following evidence to the commission that low-paid cleaners missed out on $2 million in penalty rates in return for $75,000 and payments to the union by a builder for more than $225,000 that were disguised.
Tony Abbott said yesterday it seemed to have been a pattern of the AWU that workers had been “ripped off” so that union bosses could benefit.
That is the bit that will cause Shorten a lot of trouble, I expect, at the royal commission.
Ferguson has a go:
Mr Ferguson ... was yesterday confident the payments of more than $200,000 made by Thiess John Holland to the AWU would have been used for legitimate training purposes.
May I just add that Ferguson is defending Shorten even though Shorten failed to defend Ferguson from union moves to expel him from Labor? 
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Chad bans burqa after Islamists kill 33

Andrew Bolt June 20 2015 (5:52am)

Chad, predominantly Muslim, now bans the burqa:

THE central African nation of Chad has banned the full-face Muslim veil and ordered security forces to seize burqas from markets after 33 people were killed in suicide bombings blamed on Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram.
“Wearing the burqa must stop immediately from today, not only in public places and schools but throughout the whole of the country,” Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet said in a speech to religious leaders on Wednesday, a day before the start of the holy Muslim festival of Ramadan.
Any type of clothing that leaves only the eyes visible was a form of “camouflage"… Anyone found wearing a burqa would be “arrested, tried and sentenced in summary proceedings”, he said…
Boko Haram extremists ...  have in the past used female suicide bombers to launch attacks by hiding explosive devices under their clothes.
(Thanks to reader WaG311.) 
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This three-year-old sales video by Israel's Elbit Systems describes the anti-missile systems all of Israel's civilian...
Posted by The Jewish Standard on Wednesday, 23 July 2014

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Amazing & Unique Starfish  ᴷᴬ
Posted by Architecture & Design on Tuesday, 16 June 2015

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Don't let summer distractions slow you down. Follow these 5 tips to stay productive: http://bit.ly/1JI1NAX
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Friday, 19 June 2015

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Have we been doing it wrong this whole time?Morgs.
Posted by Chef Co-Op on Tuesday, 5 May 2015

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O vídeo mostra a lindíssima Mariposa Atlas-Gigante (nome científico Attacus atlas).Esses insetos incríveis são...
Posted by JornalCiencia on Monday, 28 July 2014

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Photo of the Day: A rainbow brightens the sky over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia.
Posted by Fox News on Wednesday, 17 June 2015

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Structure...or SLC, which stands for Scary Looking Clouds.  This will probably look lousy here on Facebook and I will more than likely post a link to Flickr after I post it there tomorrow.
Posted by Matt Granz on Friday, 19 June 2015

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>> PowerofPositivity.com
Posted by Power of Positivity on Thursday, 18 June 2015

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=== Posts from last year ===

SERIOUSLY

Tim Blair – Friday, June 20, 2014 (2:13pm)

Frightbat was actually a thing on ABC News 24. At the two-minutes mark:



In other frighty developments, Margo Kingston orders: 
Don’t contribute to Blair blog – trying build his brand off your energy. 
Oh, it’s already built, dear. Now I’m just adding a pool and a four-car garage. Clem Bastow complains: 
Good to see that Tim Blair went to the trouble of finding one of my skimpier Instagram shots to link to in his latest piece. 
No trouble, Clem. That shot appears at the top of the very first page of a Google search. Total effort: one click.
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PLOY REVEALED

Tim Blair – Friday, June 20, 2014 (12:50pm)

Isn’t marriage merely a clever ploy to keep us quiet about the trickier issues such as the deportation of lesbian asylum seekers? 
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The Bolt Report on Sunday

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (4:11pm)

On Sunday on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm…

My guest: Labor’s immigration spokesman Richard Marles Immigration Minister Scott Morrison on boats and immigration.
The panel: Janet Albrechtsen and former Labor advisor Bruce Hawker.
NewsWatch: Sharri Markson,.
Plus the obligatory dig at the Greens, whose rudeness needs repaying.
And a question: how come the mud isn’t sticking to Bill Shorten?
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Latham smells conspiracy

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (10:47am)

The AWU scandal

Most people of reason would think three independent witnesses testifying to the same thing as a powerful corroboration.
Mark Latham sees it as conspiracy:
Documents aside, what verbal evidence has come before the commission concerning Gillard? Like a parade of ageing Oompa Loompas, three impish men – Ralph Blewitt, Wayne Hem and Athol James – claimed to remember cash being exchanged in and around her Melbourne home. 
Indeed, the nature of their recollections is remarkably similar.
Bizarre.
(Via Michael Smith.)


Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Latham smells conspiracy'
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Gore blames Syria on global warming

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (10:25am)

Al Gore blames the jihadist uprising in Syria on global warming:
Syria is one of the countries that has been in the bull’s-eye of climate change. From 2006 to 2010, a historic drought destroyed 60 percent of the country’s farms and 80 percent of its livestock - driving a million refugees from rural agricultural areas into cities already crowded with the million refugees who had taken shelter there from the Iraq War. As early as 2008, U.S. State Department cables quoted Syrian government officials warning that the social and economic impacts of the drought are “beyond our capacity as a country to deal with.” Though the hellish and ongoing civil war in Syria has multiple causes - including the perfidy of the Assad government and the brutality on all sides - their climate-related drought may have been the biggest underlying trigger for the horror. 
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ABC campaigns against royal commission

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (10:13am)

The ABC’s bias is now shameless - and dangerous in a state organisation that is now by far our biggest media outlet:
THE ABC and its Melbourne radio host Jon Faine have been attacked over their reporting of the royal commission into union corruption, with a veteran Coalition senator calling on managing director Mark Scott to step in to ensure the broadcaster’s coverage was accurate, fair and balanced. 
Liberal National Party senator Ian Macdonald ...  last night told the Senate that Faine had been “reprimanded before by his bosses for not being impartial in relation to the royal commission, and it would seem he needs to be reprimanded again’’.
He said the ABC appeared to have joined Faine in imposing a “reporting ban’’ on covering any critical news out of the commission.
“The ABC’s editor-in-chief Mr Scott really needs to review his organisation’s coverage of the royal commission and instruct them to report accurately, widely and fairly in a balanced way. That is what the public demands for their dollar,’’ Senator Macdonald told parliament. Senator Macdonald ... quoted Media Watch’s criticism on Monday of the ABC’s reporting of the royal commission and the subdued coverage in Fairfax publications, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
UPDATE
Piers Akerman on the ABC’s shameful protection racket, running dead on the AWU slush fund story:
The ABC, under its ­self-­described editor-in-chief Mark Scott, flatly refused to run any news stories about the investigations launched by the Victorian police into Gillard’s former boyfriend and her role in providing legal advice for the ­establishment of a slush fund which was later shown to be the vehicle for his ­corrupt behaviour, the AWU Workplace ­Reform Association. 
ABC Insiders’ host Barrie Cassidy, and his Left-leaning guests, rejected any discussion of the ongoing case… Other ABC figures ­continuing to run interference for Gillard include Melbourne radio host Jon Faine and the Sydney radio host Linda Mottram.
On Tuesday last week, Faine laboriously read on- air a lengthy statement by Bruce Wilson, which ­included some claims that he had allegedly been ­offered $200,000 by veteran union lawyer Harry Nowicki to fabricate ­material implicating Gillard in the AWU Reform Association scam.
Two days later royal commissioner Dyson Heydon said flatly: “I would reject those paragraphs as irrelevant.”
The ABC’s Faine was at it again this week with another attack on Harry Nowicki based on a 2011 Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal reprimand against the Melbourne lawyer.
Nowicki had admitted swearing to an affidavit without properly reading and investigating the ­material attached, which ­related to how his firm had divided a settlement it won for a woman injured in a car accident.
“That’s about as bad a finding short of getting struck off that a solicitor can have,” Faine said, branding the decision as “extraordinary stuff”.
In reality, a reprimand is possibly the least finding that could have been made given that both parties agreed to the facts and ­indeed made joint submissions as to disposition ­including penalties and submitted consent orders for the tribunal to consider. A reading of the VCAT ­decision shows deputy ­president Michael Macnamara actually wondered whether Nowicki’s failure to ­adequately probe the ­affidavit prepared by his ­office really amounted to professional misconduct.
“I think it is a relatively finely balanced issue and one on which minds might differ,” he said.
Faine, a former lawyer, was reprimanded by ABC management last year ­following interviews he ­conducted with broadcaster Michael Smith and Age ­editor-at-large Mark Baker about the case. And he deserves another whack for his attempts to impugn the commission’s witness. 
Faine is entitled to his opinion, ill-founded and politically motivated though it is. The question for the ABC is: which of its other presenters offers the balance?
The ABC is out of control.
UPDATE
It takes only 400 Leftists to turn up at a pub for the ABC to treat it like a new mass movement:
CHRIS UHLMANN: Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser says the major parties are showing a “descent into inhumanity” in their treatment of asylum seekers. In front of a packed crowd in a Sydney pub last night, Mr Fraser was critical of policies on both sides of the political divide… AM’s Thomas Oriti went along. 
(Sound of noisy pub)
THOMAS ORITI: The weekly Politics in the Pub event in Sydney is described as a discussion for the political left. But at what was arguably the most successful event in its 26 year history last night, former Liberal Party prime minister Malcolm Fraser was the star… Over the years, Sydney’s Harold Park Hotel has hosted countless events. But the publican, William Ryan, says he’s never seen a crowd quite like this.
WILLIAM RYAN: We’ve always done the Politics in the Pub, the Poets in the Pub, but tonight probably caps off everything we’ve ever done.
THOMAS ORITI: And the event attracted all ages.
Ardy Prasad was born almost a decade after Malcolm Fraser lost the 1983 election. ARDY PRASAD: It’s just really out of curiosity and to see a man who has been in the Liberal Party and to see how much things have changed in the past 30 or 40 years and how he’s reacted to that sort of change.
Wow. The next time I speak to 400 people, will the ABC give me that awed treatment, too? Or is it reserved only for speakers of the Left?
Stupid question. 
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Richo: Labor would lose an election now

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (9:23am)

Graham Richardson says Labor shouldn’t be daring Tony Abbott to call a double dissolution election: 
Newspoll captures the mood of the nation at a given point in time. Last weekend the government would have lost an election by a considerable margin, and that is all well and good up to a point — there was no election. Moreover, elections are held only after a minimum five-week campaign where Labor and the Greens will be massively outspent by the Liberal and Nationals parties, let alone the Clive Palmer spectre now lurking in the foreground of Australian politics. 
Such a campaign would feature millions of dollars in advertising Labor’s failures in economic management. While those claims would no doubt be highly exaggerated, it would be impossible to camouflage the political ineptitude and downright stupidity of the Rudd and Gillard prime ministerships. The images of that incompetence are still vividly imprinted on the minds of voters and the 53 per cent-47 per cent two-party preferred result in Newspoll would be reversed in the first few weeks of any election campaign held any time soon. Labor will not win an election held this year and would do well to chloroform those who push this envelope too far.
And of course:
Shorten has ...  been less than inspiring.... [H]e must tell Australia soon what he would do as opposed to what he refuses to allow the government to do. 
And Richo is right to warn the Government against counting on Palmer’s rabble of Senators to split from him any time soon:
Dio Wang from Western Australia works for Palmer and will be financially dependent on him when he fails to be re-elected in six years — and fail he will.
Jacqui Lambie from Tasmania is a former spurned Liberal whose capacity to spit out nasty rhetoric is the most impressive talent she appears to have.
Then there is Glenn Lazarus, who seems a fundamentally decent fellow but is quite obviously seriously out of his depth. He is the likeliest to break away from his boss, but it won’t happen in time to save any measure in this budget. The brilliant work done by Mike Willesee on the Seven Network a couple of weeks ago demonstrated a level of dependence on Palmer from these three that was almost sickening. Ricky Muir’s level of dependence on Palmer was actually sickening. 
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Party of bad bosses

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (9:07am)

How embarrassing for Labor - again:
DANIEL Andrews has issued a grovelling apology and party figures are questioning his judgment after Labor’s bully fiasco. 

In his worst day as Opposition Leader, his candidate for the key seat of Frankston was forced to resign over a bullying scandal revealed by the Herald Sun. 
Helen Constas, who aimed to topple rogue MP Geoff Shaw at November’s election, stood aside yesterday after the ALP was briefed on a confidential workplace bullying case brought by her former assistant at the Peninsula Community Legal Centre.
According to a court statement of claim, Ms Constas “screamed” and “threatened” the 60-year-old during repeated phone calls the day she resigned.
It was alleged that she presided over a culture of “bullying and harassment” while chief executive of the Frankston centre. The Supreme Court claim, which was settled confidentially last year, escaped Labor’s vetting process for new candidates.
I’m always suspicious about bullying claims, but it’s odd that the party of workers seems to attract them.
Clare O’Neil, who at 23 became the youngest female mayor in Australian history, has emerged as a contender for the safe Labor seat of Hotham. 
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday announced the preselected Labor candidate, Geoff Lake, would be dumped after revelations that he had verbally abused a wheelchair bound woman during a 2002 council meeting.
UPDATE
A friend of Constas and Liberal donor says I have every reason to be suspicious of bullying claims. So easily made, so hard to defend, so tempting to reach a settlement which in this case is confidential, leaving Constas now unable to defend herself. 
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Obama puts back troops he withdrew. UPDATE: Terrorists seize Saddam’s chemical weapons

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (8:43am)

Barack Obama yesterday blamed Iraq for making him pull out all his troops in Iraq in 2011:
[JOURNALIST]: Just very quickly, do you wish you had left a residual force in Iraq?  Any regrets about that decision in 2011? 
THE PRESIDENT:  Well, keep in mind that wasn’t a decision made by me; that was a decision made by the Iraqi government.  We offered a modest residual force to help continue to train and advise Iraqi security forces.  We had a core requirement which we require in any situation where we have U.S. troops overseas, and that is, is that they’re provided immunity since they’re being invited by the sovereign government there, so that if, for example, they end up acting in self-defense if they are attacked and find themselves in a tough situation, that they’re not somehow hauled before a foreign court.  That’s a core requirement that we have for U.S. troop presence anywhere. The Iraqi government and Prime Minister Maliki declined to provide us that immunity.
Question: if Iraq’s refusal to offer immunity to troops in 2011 forced Obama to pull out all troops in 2011, why does he now feel free to send back troops in 2014?:
We’re prepared to create joint operation centers in Baghdad and northern Iraq to share intelligence and coordinate planning to confront the terrorist threat of ISIL ... and we’re prepared to send a small number of additional American military advisors—up to 300—to assess how we can best train, advise, and support Iraqi security forces going forward. 
American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq, but we will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people, the region, and American interests as well.
Has Iraq offered those 300 soldiers immunity, after all? Or is Obama dropping that demand, at least for advisors?
And just how hard did he argue for immunity in 2011?
UPDATE
This is not satire: 

Sunni extremists in Iraq have occupied what was once Saddam Hussein’s premier chemical-weapons production facility, a complex that still contains a stockpile of old weapons, State Department and other U.S. government officials said. 
U.S. officials don’t believe the Sunni militants will be able to create a functional chemical weapon from the material. The weapons stockpiled at the Al Muthanna complex are old, contaminated and hard to move, officials said. 
Nonetheless, the capture of the chemical-weapon stockpile by the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, known as ISIS or ISIL, the militant group that is seizing territory in the country, has grabbed the attention of the U.S.

Among other things, this demonstrates why removing Saddam was essential. What could terrorists have seized had Saddam’s weapons programs continued?
(Thanks to reader Alan RM Jones.) 
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Fixing Abbott’s messaging

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (8:07am)

David Crowe on the Abbott Government’s muddled media messaging:
The conventional wisdom is that Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, is pulling the strings behind every move. If that’s so, the ministers certainly aren’t responding as they should. 
If anything, Abbott and his office seem to show remarkable restraint when ministers wander away from the government’s core business.
When Brandis aired his view on East Jerusalem, the Prime Minister’s first response was to let his minister have his way.
When Pyne opened a new front in the HECS debate, members of the leadership team could not even get their lines straight. Behind the scenes in recent days, Abbott addressed some of these challenges in talks with ministers. While it might be going too far to say there were rebukes for those who haven’t been helping, the Prime Minister’s concerns would have been obvious.
My own observations:
- In fact, some of the media “mistakes” would seem less so if the Government actually took on its critics with verve and wit, instead of backing and filling. Apologise less, and assert more. Think Keating. It is better to seem too confident than too hesitant.
- Minor media stunts such as the video support of “Mike” Jedinak just aren’t up to scratch. It’s not up to Abbott to check Jedinak’s first name. And who on earth thought it would be convincing to have Abbott tape his support from an office with just a Socceroo scarf tossed over his suit to simulate interest in soccer? So clumsy and lazy. Howard at least got into green and gold tracksuits and released photos of him jumping with excitement as he watched sport. Bob Hawke got himself sprayed with booze watching the America’s Cup.
- Abbott is not being shown as natural. He always seems formal and often on the defensive, peppered by hostile questions. Why is he not shown out and about with people who like him, being as normal and easy as he privately is?
- Ministers often do media with an only too apparent - and only too justified - awareness of the hostility of most press gallery journalists and presenters. They seem then defensive or, in a couple of cases, smart-arse or aggressive in responding. Ministers should realise the people they must convince are not the journalists but the audience watching. Radiate more geniality and authority. More smiles. Don’t look so under siege. Learn from Hockey.
- Where is the attention to media happenings that the Liberals in Opposition did so well? Just calling a press conference is like putting yourself at the wrong end of a duck shoot. Don’t just tell but show. Illustrate more. I remember Abbott in Opposition going to business after business to show people complaining about their carbon tax bill. It worked for him then, so why hasn’t he repeated that kind of campaigning as PM?
- For heaven’s sake, look in charge.
This is exactly not the embattled look the Government wants, but which that hostile media is imposing:
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Four senior ministers in the Abbott government have been assigned secret-service style protection amid an angry backlash over the federal budget, while a fifth minister is also receiving personal protection over specific threats.
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Petrol head wooed by Greens

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (7:55am)

The incompatibility of Senator and issue should be plain:
Ricky Muir could frustrate the Abbott government’s plans to dismantle Labor’s carbon tax package in its entirety as the likelihood the elusive senator-elect will decide the fate of the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation is growing… 
Mr Muir, of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party, ... is being courted by the Greens.
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McKitrick: the warming theory is falling apart

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (7:18am)

Global warming - dud predictions

Ross McKitrick, professor of environmental economics, says the warming pause is about to smash global warming theory:
Both satellites and surface records show that sometime around 2000, temperature data ceased its upward path and leveled off. Over the past 100 years there is a statistically significant upward trend in the data amounting to about 0.7 oC per century. If one looks only at the past 15 years though, there is no trend. 
It will by 2017 be impossible to reconcile climate models with reality
A leveling-off period is not, on its own, the least bit remarkable. What makes it remarkable is that it coincides with 20 years of rapidly rising atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. Since 1990, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen 13%… Climate models all predicted that this should have led to warming of the lower troposphere and surface. Instead, temperatures flatlined and even started declining…
The chart on this page reproduces an important diagram from Chapter 9 of the IPCC report. The gray line shows the surface temperature record (HadCRUT4 from the UK Met Office) from 1860 to the present. The black line shows the average of climate model runs covering the same interval. The black line in effect sums up mainstream views on how the climate works....
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The data prior to the year 2000 represent historical reconstructions. Modellers were able to “peek at the answer” ... . The match over the historical interval is therefore not proof of model accuracy since the models were forced to line up with observations.
But as of around 2000, the models are run prospectively, and this is where they begin to fail.... [T]he post-1999 gap is something new. It has not only run the longest of any previous gap but it is still widening… [I]t is difficult to see models and observations ever agreeing again… We will reach the 20 year mark with no trend in the satellite data at the end of 2015, and in the surface data at the end of 2017. With CO2 levels continuing to rise, it will at that point be impossible to reconcile climate models with reality and the mainstream consensus on how the climate system responds to greenhouse gases will begin breaking apart… At this point it seems unlikely that climate models in their current form will survive another five years.  
(Thanks to reader Steve.) 
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Pensioner on jihad

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (7:06am)

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We paid Khaled Sharrouf a disability pension, but he’s not too disabled to serve with jihadists in Iraq.
(Via Tim Blair.)  
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India fights green imperialism

Andrew Bolt June 20 2014 (6:59am)

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India says no to green imperialism:

Following an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report that alleged foreign-funded NGOs were creating obstacles to India’s economic growth, the Home Ministry has clamped down on Greenpeace, an international campaign group present in 40 countries. 
In a letter dated 13th June, the Ministry has directed the Reserve Bank of India that all foreign contributions originating from Greenpeace International and Climate Works Foundation — two principal international contributors to Greenpeace India Society — must be kept on hold until individual clearances are obtained from the Ministry for each transaction…
Greenpeace was specifically targeted because the IB report had charged it with orchestrating “massive efforts to take down India’s coal-fired power projects and mining activity.” According to the report, public protests in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli region — which produces 15,000 MW energy — were being engineered by Greenpeace, “actively aided and led by foreign activists.”
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G’day friends,
Bad luck comes in threes, they say, and fate’s cruel blows cannot have had a greater recent impact than on the sports-minded residents of the Sunshine Coast. Hot on the heels of Queensland’s loss to NSW in the State of Origin, the first time that unnatural state of affairs has manifested itself in eight years, the Socceroos went down to defeat in Brazil. And just to cap off the litany of misery visited upon residents in the seat of Fairfax there can be no consolation off the pitch. After all, having sent the antic Clive Palmer to Canberra last September, every day’s headlines are reminder that the ballot box will suffice for a net when voters are determined to kick own goals.
Of course I am counting on the good sense of humour of my many Queensland friends who may just follow Rugby League & International Soccer……… Nothing personal!
Have a great weekend and I hope your team wins (as long as they are not playing against the Mighty Sydney Roosters)
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist
0414293765
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G’day,
I believe that if the Iraq Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government had not insisted that the US troops left back in 2011 and that the US President, Barack Obama had not been so compliment with the request, then the current civil war and quite possibly the sectarian implosion of the the Middle East would not be happing today. Nuri al-Maliki’s was  still struggling with a delicate power-sharing arrangement between Shi’ite, Kurdish and Sunni parties, leaving Iraq vulnerable to meddling by Sunni Arab nations and Shi’ite Iran and of course the interests of Syria. Sure puts truth to the adage , “Careful what you wish for, for you might just get it>”
Seems like a Vietnam all over again but this time, unlike Vietnam the US may just have to go back in and try to sought these warring sides out. Another damn waste of lives of course and I sure as hell hope that our PM stays well and truly out of this mess, we just do not need to be there. We’ll no doubt do our best when it comes to humanitarian aid and refugee placement. 
I hope I am wrong but I think this is just the beginning and that this conflict will set off a conflict that will engulf us all…… please I hope I am wrong!
Godspeed
Zeg
Freelance Editorial Cartoonist
0414293765
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afghangster: If any photograph of Afghan children deserved to be the cover of National Geographic (or any publication for that matter), it’s this one.  I guess a photograph of disillusioned youth is less appealing than the refugee and/or wounded children they usually exploit in their spreads.  I saw Babel .. these kids don’t seem Afghan .. they seem Morrocan. 
I saw Babel .. these kids don’t seem Afghan .. they seem Morrocan. - ed
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Church tells girl to burn in hell
WHAT started as a five-year-old girl selling lemonade outside a church has sparked a twitter tirade of the most unholy kind.
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A ship in the Kiel Canal
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“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,” Ephesians 5:25-26 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."
Acts 2:4
Rich were the blessings of this day if all of us were filled with the Holy Ghost. The consequences of this sacred filling of the soul it would be impossible to overestimate. Life, comfort, light, purity, power, peace; and many other precious blessings are inseparable from the Spirit's benign presence. As sacred oil, he anoints the head of the believer, sets him apart to the priesthood of saints, and gives him grace to execute his office aright. As the only truly purifying water he cleanses us from the power of sin and sanctifies us unto holiness, working in us to will and to do of the Lord's good pleasure. As the light, he manifested to us at first our lost estate, and now he reveals the Lord Jesus to us and in us, and guides us in the way of righteousness. Enlightened by his pure celestial ray, we are no more darkness but light in the Lord. As fire, he both purges us from dross, and sets our consecrated nature on a blaze. He is the sacrificial flame by which we are enabled to offer our whole souls as a living sacrifice unto God. As heavenly dew, he removes our barrenness and fertilizes our lives. O that he would drop from above upon us at this early hour! Such morning dew would be a sweet commencement for the day. As the dove, with wings of peaceful love he broods over his Church and over the souls of believers, and as a Comforter he dispels the cares and doubts which mar the peace of his beloved. He descends upon the chosen as upon the Lord in Jordan, and bears witness to their sonship by working in them a filial spirit by which they cry Abba, Father. As the wind, he brings the breath of life to men; blowing where he listeth he performs the quickening operations by which the spiritual creation is animated and sustained. Would to God, that we might feel his presence this day and every day.

Evening

"My Beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether."
Song of Solomon 2:16-17
Surely if there be a happy verse in the Bible it is this--"My Beloved is mine, and I am his." So peaceful, so full of assurance, so overrunning with happiness and contentment is it, that it might well have been written by the same hand which penned the twenty-third Psalm. Yet though the prospect is exceeding fair and lovely--earth cannot show its superior--it is not entirely a sunlit landscape. There is a cloud in the sky which casts a shadow over the scene. Listen, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away."
There is a word, too, about the "mountains of Bether," or, "the mountains of division," and to our love, anything like division is bitterness. Beloved, this may be your present state of mind; you do not doubt your salvation; you know that Christ is yours, but you are not feasting with him. You understand your vital interest in him, so that you have no shadow of a doubt of your being his, and of his being yours, but still his left hand is not under your head, nor doth his right hand embrace you. A shade of sadness is cast over your heart, perhaps by affliction, certainly by the temporary absence of your Lord, so even while exclaiming, "I am his," you are forced to take to your knees, and to pray, "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved."
"Where is he?" asks the soul. And the answer comes, "He feedeth among the lilies." If we would find Christ, we must get into communion with his people, we must come to the ordinances with his saints. Oh, for an evening glimpse of him! Oh, to sup with him tonight!
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Today's reading: Nehemiah 12-13, Acts 4:23-37 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Nehemiah 12-13

Priests and Levites
1 These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Joshua:
Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
2 Amariah, Malluk, Hattush,
3 Shekaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
4 Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,
5 Mijamin, Moadiah, Bilgah,
6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,
7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah and Jedaiah....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 4:23-37

The Believers Pray
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
"'Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.'
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