Thursday, July 02, 2015

Thu Jul 2nd Todays News

At last you can revel in the joys of smaller government on this site for the Bolt Report Supporter's Group on Facebook. If something is broke, you fix it. Or not. There won't be any purges or changes because I've not the time to do much. But if you do something outrageous which I must respond to I will.
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Greece is still in the news. The Greek PM still seems to feel he can spend other peoples money. He is advocating a policy that will see Greece exit the EU. It is bad economic policy which got Greece into this condition. Surely it is obvious that austerity is better and there is no future for getting into further debt. It is true Greece voted for the government they have, but only after being egged on by the international press. 

 Gay Marriage is in the news again after leaked plans to get the government to allow a vote of conscience. It is important that any legislation protects the rights of churches to act on conscience. 

 In 437, Emperor Valentinian III began his reign over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ended her regency, but continued to exercise political influence at the court in Rome. 626, Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushed and killed his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. 706, in China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang interred the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang'an. 963, the imperial army proclaimed Nicephorus Phocas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea. 1298, the Battle of Göllheim was fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.

In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was ratified by Spain. 1504, Bogdan III the One-Eyed became Voivode of Moldavia. 1555, the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis sacked the Italian city of Paola. 1561, Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia, defeated a revolt in Emfraz. 1582, Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated Akechi Mitsuhide. 1613, the first English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia led by Samuel Argall took place. 1644, English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor. 1698, Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine. 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence was not approved until July 4. 1777, Vermont became the first American territory to abolish slavery.

In 1816, the French frigate Méduse struck the Bank of Arguin and 151 people on board had to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault's painting Raft of the Medusa. 1822, thirty-five slaves were hanged in South Carolina, including Denmark Vesey, after being accused of organising a slave rebellion. 1823, Bahia Independence Day: The end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia. 1839, twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué took over the slave ship Amistad. Also 1839, Abdülmecid I became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1853, the Russian Army crossed the Pruth river into the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia—providing the spark that set off the Crimean War. 1871, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy entered Rome after having conquered it from the Papal States. 1881, Charles J. Guiteau shot and fatally wounded U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually died from an infection on September 19. 1890, the U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. 1897, Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtained a patent for radio in London.

In 1900, the first Zeppelin flight took place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany. Also 1900, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia received its première performance in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. 1917, the East St. Louis Riot ended. 1921, World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Imperial Germany. 1934, the Night of the Long Knives ended with the death of Ernst Röhm. 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

In 1940, Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose was arrested and detained in Calcutta. 1950, the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan burned down. 1962, the first Wal-Mart store opened for business in Rogers, Arkansas. 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places. 1966, the French military exploded a nuclear test bomb codenamed Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific. 1976, fall of the Republic of Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam declared their union to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In 1986, Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana were burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile. 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada was elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. 2001, the AbioCor self-contained artificial heart was first implanted. 2002, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon. 2005, the Live 8 benefit concerts took place in the G8 states and in South Africa, More than 1,000 musicians performed and were broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks. 2013, the International Astronomical Union named Pluto's fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx.
2014
Rolf Harris should be ashamed of himself. Having read some of his writings, I gather he is and has been. He is convicted of sexual exploitation of minors. The victims are gearing up for a lawsuit. There is no defence for what Harris has done, although he has claimed the sex contact was when the girls were legal and he has denied the pawing. Even accepting what he admits, he is compromised, but he admits no crime. Some have raised the issue of appreciating his art, but his art is not at issue, save his comedy .. and the comedy gets close to the bone. That is what comedy does. Comedians cross boundaries to be funny, and Rolf's stand up can be confronting. Does that mean it isn't funny? Were it exploitation of his victims on stage ala Saville then it is calculated evil. But I don't see it being like that. Harris denies being as Michael Jackson was accused and admitted. Were Harris to have had porn, child slumber parties and jesus juice he would have been slam dunked. Harris has not been accused of what Roman Polanski fled. Yet the ABC reporting his conviction denounced exactly that. The trial of Harris is not going to relax Julian Assange cringing in his ambassadorial suite. 

One good match does not make a career. Nick Kyrgios played well against Nadal on grass, a surface which suited one over the other, but another grass encounter could go another way. Kudos to Kyrgios, and good luck for the next match. Defeating a world number one from a player ranked beneath the top 100 has not happened in a grand slam since the mid '70s. It highlights the high skill set of tennis today. Nick won a match well, but tennis is the winner. 

Nostradamus died on this day in 1566 .. he didn't see it coming. England lost her Bobby in 1850, and the world lost James Stewart in '97. But nothing worthwhile, nothing loved is ever entirely lost. I thank Mr Peeler for the gift he gave us of civilisation. And Mr Stewart in his character in a Wonderful Life made it wonderful. 

On this day in 1698, Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine. In 1839, a slave rebellion occurred on board Amistaad. 1897, Marconi patented the radio. It is a big day, and punctuated with a long knife taking Ernst Rohm's worthless life in 1934. Blood was pouring, and it would not stop for another eleven years. 
Historical perspectives on this day
In 437, Emperor Valentinian III began his reign over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ended her regency, but continued to exercise political influence at the court in Rome. 626, Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushed and killed his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. 706, in China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang interred the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang'an. 963, the imperial army proclaimed Nicephorus Phocas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea. 1298, the Battle of Göllheim was fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.

 In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was ratified by Spain. 1504, Bogdan III the One-Eyed became Voivode of Moldavia. 1555, the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis sacked the Italian city of Paola. 1561, Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia, defeated a revolt in Emfraz. 1582, Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated Akechi Mitsuhide. 1613, the first English expedition from Massachusetts against Acadia led by Samuel Argall took place. 1644, English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor. 1698, Thomas Savery patented the first steam engine. 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence was not approved until July 4. 1777, Vermont became the first American territory to abolish slavery.

 In 1816, the French frigate Méduse struck the Bank of Arguin and 151 people on board had to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault's painting Raft of the Medusa. 1822, thirty-five slaves were hanged in South Carolina, including Denmark Vesey, after being accused of organising a slave rebellion. 1823, Bahia Independence Day: The end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia. 1839, twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué took over the slave ship Amistad. Also 1839, Abdülmecid I became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1853, the Russian Army crossed the Pruth river into the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia—providing the spark that set off the Crimean War. 1871, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy entered Rome after having conquered it from the Papal States. 1881, Charles J. Guiteau shot and fatally wounded U.S. President James Garfield, who eventually died from an infection on September 19. 1890, the U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. 1897, Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtained a patent for radio in London.

 In 1900, the first Zeppelin flight took place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany. Also 1900, Jean Sibelius' Finlandia received its première performance in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. 1917, the East St. Louis Riot ended. 1921, World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signed the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Imperial Germany. 1934, the Night of the Long Knives ended with the death of Ernst Röhm. 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan were last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

 In 1940, Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose was arrested and detained in Calcutta. 1950, the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto, Japan burned down. 1962, the first Wal-Mart store opened for business in Rogers, Arkansas. 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places. 1966, the French military exploded a nuclear test bomb codenamed Aldébaran in Mururoa, their first nuclear test in the Pacific. 1976, fall of the Republic of Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam declared their union to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

 In 1986, Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana were burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile. 2000, Vicente Fox Quesada was elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. 2001, the AbioCor self-contained artificial heart was first implanted. 2002, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon. 2005, the Live 8 benefit concerts took place in the G8 states and in South Africa, More than 1,000 musicians performed and were broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks. 2013, the International Astronomical Union named Pluto's fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx.
=== 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.
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Happy birthday Jacquie Paix, Thomas Cranmer (1489) and Vicente Fox (1942). Born on the same day, across the years. In 706, In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang interred the final bodies in the Qianling Mausoleum, which remained unopened until the 1960s. In 1890, The U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first United States government action to limit monopolies. In 1917, White residents of East St. Louis, Illinois, burned entire sections of the city and shot black inhabitants as they escaped the flames. In 1950, A mentally ill Buddhist monk set fire to the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji, destroying what is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in Japan. In 1976, More than a year after the end of the Vietnam War, North and South Vietnam officially united under communist rule to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Your gift is buried in the present for the future. You don't seek to monopolise. Outraged at bigotry, you take action. You fix mistakes. And at the end, you unite. Thank you.
Deaths
July 2: Feast day of Martinian and Processus (Roman Catholic Church)
Amelia Earhart
Please walk through the gate, don't stand in it. Paint everything that gets wet. Call and we'll come for you. How do Walmart stores multiply? Asian Financial Crisis was tough. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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This Q of fools can kiss my A

Piers Akerman – Thursday, July 02, 2015 (7:25pm)

Two weeks ago, I accepted an invitation to appear on next Monday’s Q&A program. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'This Q of fools can kiss my A'
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ISIS INSERTED

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 02, 2015 (2:38pm)

This weekend, the gate-delay channel CNN had an “exclusive” revealing that the black flag of ISIS had been spotted at London’s Gay Pride parade, and so they quickly rustled up Peter Berger and other crack national-security analysts to provide insight on this unexpected convergence of the jihad and the gayhad.

image

Unfortunately for CNN, the black flag of ISIS turned out to be a black flag showing various sex aids. 
Video here. Via Dan Lewis. 
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CHILD ABUSE

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 02, 2015 (2:27pm)

Gary Johns on the Greenist invasion of our schools: 
“Climate Action for a Safe Environment” is a Greens-inspired campaign to infiltrate schools, indeed the minds of schoolchildren. The campaign website contains a note for teachers: “Students can craft a persuasive letter based solely on the information in Curtin’s CASE flyer” (emphasis added) …
The letter to parents directs them to the campaign website where a standard letter is ready and waiting.
“Dear Julie Bishop,
“My name is … and I am an average … student ... please help this goal of mine (to stop global warming) become yours too because we can make a difference for Australia” …
This is high-pressure propaganda and it is taking place in primary schools right now. 
Johns is on a mission to stop the abuse: 
The Greens are no doubt presenting this “lesson” at more than one school. Please, parents, if you have examples of this propaganda send them to me.
Help him if you can.
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BOSSES BLAMED

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 02, 2015 (1:44pm)

His choice to drink, his decision to abuse his employers, somebody else’s fault: 
The work Christmas party may become an alcohol-free zone after a Fair Work Commission decision in which a worker was unfairly sacked for sexual harassment and telling his bosses to “f--- off” after he was served unlimited drinks.
Leading employer groups have warned businesses of the new risks they face in serving alcohol to employees at Christmas parties following a successful unfair dismissal case. 
You know, I bet his employers didn’t force him to drink. Shouldn’t this defence also work for drunk drivers?
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Why are no ABC errors in Abbott’s favour?

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (5:46pm)

Of course the ABC isn’t biased.
It’s pure coincidence that Emma Alberici’s two mistakes, made while tag-teaming against Gerard Henderson, made Tony Abbott look worse and Islamist Zaky Mallah look better:
Corrections and clarifications ...
On Thursday, June 25, During an interview with Gerard Henderson and Jonathon Holmes, presenter Emma Alberici stated that Tony Abbott referred to Zaky Mallah as a “convicted terrorist”. Mr Abbott’s exact words were that Mallah was a “convicted criminal and terrorist sympathiser”. The presenter later quoted Zaky Mallah saying on Q&A that Steve Ciobo’s comments would “encourage [Australian Muslims] to join Islamic State”. Mr Mallah said that Mr Ciobo had “justified to many Australian Muslims in the community tonight to leave and go to Syria and join ISIL”.
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The ABC’s agenda

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (2:17pm)

Of course the ABC isn’t biased. Doesn’t it demand the same from both sides of politics - to support its pet causes and heroes?
Lateline’s agenda last night:
image
AM’s agenda this morning:
image
(Thanks to reader Tim.) 
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Greece betrayed by its no-yes-no leader

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (8:42am)

What kind of idiot is running Greece?
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has called a referendum on the bailout conditions demanded by Europe and asked Greeks to say no:
I’m calling on you to reinforce our negotiating effort. I’m calling on you to say no to bailout recipes that are destroying Europe.
Yet with the referendum just days away Tsipras himself now blinks and is saying yes - with conditions:
The prime minister’s hardline speech, which some eurozone officials saw as a declaration of impending Grexit, came despite an apparent major climbdown just hours earlier. In a letter sent to Greece’s creditors he accepted most of the terms of the earlier bailout. Markets across Europe rose on the news.
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Triggs shows how marginalised the Human Rights Commission is

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (8:24am)

How far Left does Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs have to travel now to find an audience for her anti-conservative preaching?
This far - to the launch of a book by far-Left Aboriginal activists attacking a policy supported even by Labor and which they describe as follows :
June 21 will mark eight years since the introduction of one of Australia’s most racist government policies, – the Northern Territory National Emergency Response package – otherwise known as the NT Intervention.
And in this crowd of advocates of a new form of race-based politics Triggs finally finds a home and a hearing:
It is wonderful for me to be with friends and people who at least listen to what I have to say.
Triggs has completely marginalised the Human Rights Commission. The more the far-Left adopt her, the more she’s given everyone else reason to dismiss her.
UPDATE
But any opponent of the Abbott Government is a friend of the ABC, which today promotes Triggs as the victim rather than the perpetrator of her own demise:

Gillian Triggs unbowed by months of government rancour
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Where’s the sorry for that great Reef scare?

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (8:15am)

In 2002, the ABC and warming alarmists told us the Great Barrier Reef was dying:
KERRY O’BRIEN: ...  the greenhouse effect could also spell disaster for coral reefs around the world, including our own natural wonder, the Great Barrier Reef. As Australia prepares for another hot summer, one man is on a mission to capture as many corals as possible on high-definition camera before even more stretches of once-spectacular reef are bleached bone-white.
Joanne Shoebridge reports.
JOANNE SHOEBRIDGE: ... There is agreement that a permanent rise in sea temperatures of two degrees will be fatal for most corals. Even the Marine Park Authority isn’t optimistic. The question is: how long do they have?
DR PAUL MARSHALL, BARRIER REEF MARINE PARK AUTHORITY: We’re seeing some reefs start to lose lots of their coral… So there’s no doubt that if global warming continues reefs are going to look way, way different in the near future…
JOANNE SHOEBRIDGE:… In the worst-case scenario, David Hannan believes virtual reality cinemas might be as close as our children, or grandchildren ever come to experiencing coral reefs.
Now, 13 years later, the ABC reports:
MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: The United Nations’ World Heritage Committee has voted not to place the Great Barrier Reef on the “in danger” list. Intense lobbying and hundreds of millions of dollars from the Federal and Queensland Governments to protect the site have convinced the 21 nations that the reef is on the right track.
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The ABC not sorry at all

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (7:42am)

THE ABC has changed its mind. It’s actually not sorry at all for giving a platform to a convicted Islamist criminal. So get stuffed.
Want proof that the ABC cannot be reformed?
Sure, last week an ABC manager kind of apologised after the Q&A program helped Islamist Zaky Mallah ambush the Abbott Government’s Steve Ciobo with a gotcha question on air.

Director of television Richard Finlayson said it was “an error in judgment” to let Mallah ask a question live, so comments could not be edited if he went nuts.
But that apology already missed the point. The ABC should never have invited Mallah to attack the Government’s anti-terrorism laws, given he’d been jailed for threatening to kill ASIO officials.
The slightest research would have revealed more reasons to give Mallah the boot — his support for terrorists linked to al-Qaeda and tweets recommending two female commentators be “gang-banged”.
But within days of the apology, ABC head Mark Scott backtracked, foolishly claiming the “free speech” defence.
(Read full article here.) 
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The truck that hit Greece is coming our way

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (7:35am)

image
GREEKS aren’t bludgers. That’s not what’s driven their economy over the same ageing cliff we’re heading for.
Forget that idea, because it blinds us to the urgent lesson from Greece defaulting on its massive debts.
Forget this sneering about lazy Greeks doing the Mediterranean manana on money borrowed from hardworking Germans, because OECD figures tell a different story.
In fact, Greek workers put in 42 hours in the average week, while Germans knock off after about 35.
True, those hours are often spent sitting in a shop till midnight, or in a government office counting paperclips or on a farm chasing goats while Germans are building Mercedes. We’re not talking productive here.
Then there’s that other whinge about Greek workers downing tools too young. Some truth in that, sure, given Greek men on average retire at 63, but that’s just one year earlier than Germans — hardly a telling difference.
They also retire on less money by our standards — about $300 a week — albeit only after Greece was forced by European lenders to slash pensions by a third.
No, the Greeks aren’t lazy. Just greedy — and in that envious way so typical of countries run too long by the Left.
(Read full article here.)    
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How disabled?

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (7:23am)

Welcome to Welfare-istan. No wonder the boats were so full:
A PRISONER using a contraband phone from his cell co-ordinated a complex drug network and deliveries from the outside to keep a Sydney prison supplied with the horror drug ice, police allege. But Windsor correctional centre prisoner Hassan Chehab was allegedly having his phone tapped by a police squad…
One of his alleged accomplices on the outside, disability support pensioner Ali Haidar, 25, was in Sutherland Local Court this week to be sentenced for his part in supplying ice to John ­Moroney Correctional Complex in January last year. Haidar pleaded guilty to supplying and possessing, methylamphetamine…
(No comments.) 
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The ABC is kidding us with this inquiry

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (7:11am)

The ABC board is kidding us, right? They pick these guys to check the ABC’s Q&A for bias?
The Board said the review will take into account the key editorial decisions that impact on the delivery of the program including audience selection, panel selection and make-up, subject selection and social media strategy, including on-air tweets.
The review will be undertaken by the former Managing Director of SBS, Mr Shaun Brown and the television journalist, Mr Ray Martin.
This is the Ray Martin who will check Q&A for bias?
Conservative talkback hosts have the loudest voice on politics, Martin says.
“While ever commercial television isn’t offering any balance to (politics), I think they’re dangerous. Those who are most successful tend to be conservative - and those who have a small-L liberal bent, they usually lose the ratings.
“Phillip Adams couldn’t be anywhere else than Radio National. Why don’t we have any moderates?”
Martin says compassion is diminished by the conservative opinions popular on talkback and commercial current affairs programs, on issues including boat people.
And this is the Shaun Brown who will help check for bias, too, after Q&A asked on a sympathiser of terrorists linked to al Qaeda? From 2006:

But in recent weeks, SBS’ ability to provide an impartial view of world events has been vigorously questioned. As the subject of a Senate Estimates Hearing Committee in Canberra last Monday, the broadcasting service was charged with gross imbalance of reporting and of systemic bias in favour of terrorist organisations.
Liberal Senator Michael Ronaldson said George Negus had expressed “pro-Arab” sentiments on international current affairs program Dateline and Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said SBS had “sided” with Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks and exhibited “a rather equivocal view of terrorism”.
Ronaldson told Green Guide: “I want a robust, informative, even a controversial national broadcaster but there’s got to be complete balance and there’s got to be lack of bias and the SBS cannot continue to hide under the mantra of neutrality . . . Even when it was put to (Shaun Brown, managing director of SBS television), the question of Osama Bin Laden, (he said) that SBS would refuse to refer to (al-Qaeda) as a terrorist organisation, which is patently stupid…
Speaking after the Senate hearing, Shaun Brown said he expected SBS to come under fire in the wake of government focus on the ABC’s editorial policies on balance and bias.
I suspect the ABC board has deliberately commissioned a whitewash. In no way can the Government accept this inquiry as serious.
UPDATE
Where is the wider inquiry into ABC bias? This morning again on ABC Radio National it was the same old story - Fran Kelly heckling same-sex marriage opponent Cory Bernardi before bringing on commentator Paul Bongiorno to praise the “light in the tunnel” - a private members bill for gay marriage - and kick the Prime Minister for side-tracking it.
Incredibly, Bongiorno then refused to criticise Labor’s Bill Shorten for falsely claiming he hadn’t been briefed on the creation of the new border force he’d actually voted for. Bongiorno instead insisted Shorten was right to say the whole thing was shrouded in “secrecy”.
It’s comic, until you remember you’re forced to pay for this.
(Thanks to reader Peter H.) 
===

The ABC’s bias cannot be fixed, warns former ABC chairman

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (7:05am)

Like me, former ABC chairman Maurice Newman is being forced to conclude that the ABC’s bias cannot be reformed and the only option is the axe - or privatisation:
The question of public broadcasting has been thrown into the spotlight ...  from a growing perception the ABC is refusing to live up to its statutory obligations. It is judged across many genres to be partisan and invariably to the left....
The ABC board and management reject these perceptions. Allegations of bias are met with Jesuit sophistry, moral equivalence or downright denial… That the ABC’s strongest defenders are of the Left and 40 per cent of its journalists, according to a credible 2013 survey, align with the Greens (four times the national vote) add substance to the critics’ claims.
Certainly the 1983 act unambiguously requires the board to “ensure that the gathering and presentation of news and information is accurate and impartial according to the standards of objective journalism"…

It is this clash between the requirements of the ABC’s statutory obligations and the deep impulse of contemporary journalists to change the world that makes coexistence virtually unworkable. We should forget balancing left and right. It’s too late for that. In the same way management can no longer separate journalism from advocacy. The genie is out of the bottle and, for all practical pur­poses, impossible to put back…
When the operating costs are north of $1 billion a year and growing, it is legitimate for any government to question whether taxpayers are getting value for money, particularly for output that is replicated broadly in the private market. It is a difficult case for the broadcaster to win…

As [un]appealing as this may be for some staff, the inescapable reality is today’s public ownership model is an anachronism.
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The Age of Abbott-hatred

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (6:35am)

The Age campaign against the Abbott Government is becoming hysterical:
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Bill Shorten caught without his briefs

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (12:47am)

Another PR blunder for Bill Shorten:
Bill Shorten says he has “not seen” proposals to merge Customs with the Immigration Department, despite the Labor Party voting the legislation through parliament less than two months ago…
The Opposition Leader, when asked whether he believed Customs and Immigration should be merged, said today: “We haven’t seen the propositions around that. I will wait to see details before I start commenting...”
The ABF was conceived under Labor justice minister Jason Clare. Legislation to establish the agency cleared the House of Representatives with Labor support on March 25, and passed the Senate on May 14.
A free kick for Tony Abbott:
“As for Border Force, the Labor Party voted for the legislation and I expect them to be familiar with it,” Mr Abbott said.
UPDATE:
To make things worse for a man who last week had to express regret for lying:

LABOR’S claim to be in the dark over the government’s asylum seeker turn-back operations has been exposed, with revelations the Opposition has received eight top-secret briefings in the past year. 

The Daily Telegraph can reveal shadow immigration minister Richard Marles has been briefed on highly sensitive material on at least eight occasions since November 2013 — and as recently as four weeks ago.
Labor leader Bill Shorten was also offered a standing invitation as early as February, 2014, to attend highly classified briefings by then-commander of Operation Sovereign Borders General Angus Campbell.
However he declined to attend and instead offered to send a junior staff member, an offer which was rejected considering the classified material being presented. 
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Not a policy that was well-implemented

Andrew Bolt July 02 2015 (12:18am)

A big price to pay for a non-smoking policy:

RIOTING prisoners destroyed up to $10 million worth of property at Victoria’s largest remand centre. The estimated damage bill eclipses those for all previous jail outbreaks and will blow a hole in the state budget.
This does not seem to have been managed well. 
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What ABC bias?

Andrew Bolt July 01 2015 (9:21pm)

The ABC’s Lateline promotes the God of the Left, riding from heaven on a rainbow:
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Australian Federal Police officers have raided the office of NSW Labor MP Noreen Hay.  #BSwNbPM #SameOldLabor #AusPolA...
Posted by Bill Shorten will NEVER be Prime Minister on Thursday, 2 July 2015

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http://wakeup-world.com
Posted by Wake Up World on Wednesday, 1 July 2015

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Happy Birthday George Orwell!
Posted by Weird Tales Magazine on Thursday, 25 June 2015

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The new "Congressman" from Ruger http://bit.ly/1kVEkil
Posted by Drudge Report on Sunday, 8 June 2014

meme from the extreme left wing, bitter they don't own the house
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A look at some inspiring places that authors go to seek their muse. Where is your favorite place? http://bit.ly/1Bz4Lqj
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Tuesday, 30 June 2015

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6 misconceptions about self-publishing. Do you agree? http://bit.ly/1LjNAv4
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Wednesday, 1 July 2015

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+> Music Videos @ www.frogtoon.comSUPER !!!
Posted by Frogtoon Music on Sunday, 7 June 2015

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=== Posts from last year ===

TH*SE PEO*LE A*E INS*NE

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 02, 2014 (1:11pm)

Our friends at Sydney University, who recently presented a list of gender variations with more options than there are weeks in a year, subsequently returned to the subject: 
When we teach our children gender, we teach them intolerance. 
Children tend to notice different genders without being taught. That’s because, unlike university students, children aren’t completely stupid. Note, by the way, that intolerance is now caused by education. 
At university, asking gender diverse students to tick a box marked ‘Male’ or ‘Female’ diminishes their identities and robs them of their personal experiences. 
If this problem only exists “at university”, the solution seems obvious: leave. Imagine getting stuck behind one of these cissy-gendered whatevers in a customs queue when they demand to submit a 1500-word essay on their “personal experiences” instead of just ticking M or F. Sydney University is now taking steps to address this awful injustice: 
On campus, the Queerkat collective has been established for people who identify both as queer and non-cis men, the Wom*ns Collective recently altered its title from ‘Women’ to ‘Wom*n’ in order to reflect a broader push for trans* inclusivity, and the Queer Collective is currently lobbying the university for students to be able to use their preferred names instead of their legal names on Blackboard. The USU recently passed amendments within its constitution in an attempt to remove every reference to gender where possible. 
So much for diversity.
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CLOWNS AND SHARPIES

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 02, 2014 (11:38am)

Melbourne was beautiful in the 1970s:

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Well, apart from the doom clowns, who even then were horribly abundant:

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NADAL NICKED

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 02, 2014 (11:16am)

Until last night, the last Australian to win a set against Rafael Nadal was Alun Jones – seven years ago. Nick Kyrgiosnot only defeated Nadal, but he also became the first teen to defeat a top-ranked player in a major tournament since 2005. And there was this shot …
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Ricky Muir’s new minder

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (9:05pm)

Ricky Muir has a strange choice of staffer - a man I saw today actually pushing his “boss” in the back to get him to the doors of Parliament:
Peter Breen, ...  a human rights and media defamation lawyer, entered the NSW upper house in 1999, representing the Reform the Legal System party before joining Labor from the crossbench in 2006. 
Just 74 days later, then premier Morris Iemma dumped him from Labor after a media storm erupted over comments Mr Breen had made in a book he was writing about feeling a compassionate ‘’form of love’’ for one of the three killers convicted of the rape and murder of Cronulla bank teller Janine Balding.
Mr Breen has fought for years to overturn the life without parole sentences for the killers - one as young as 14 years old - who were locked up in 1990 and remain behind bars. During his time in Parliament, Mr Breen also protested the innocence of Phuong Ngo, the man convicted of murdering state MP John Newman. 
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Gravy for union official: $190,000 for six days work

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (4:59pm)

The union members must pay this nice little earner out of their super savings:
A TRANSPORT Workers Union official was paid $190,000 by the union’s own super fund for a mere six days work. 

John Berger, the assistant secretary of the TWU Victoria Branch confirmed to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption today that his generous salary package was 50 per cent funded by his union’s member superannuation contributions to TWUSuper. 
The commission heard Mr Berger was asked to jointly fulfill the role of Tasmanian Superannuation Liaison Officer for TWUSuper in 2009, requiring him to travel to the state and liaise with members on workplace and superannuation matters.
But despite the evidence that Mr Berger only conducted five days of work in Tasmania in 2010-11, the TWU invoiced TWUSuper for $93,434 to pay 50 per cent of the official’s salary.
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Waleed Aly does it again: giving the murder of three young Jews some “broader” context

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (3:58pm)

I’ve worried before about Waleed Aly, the most influential Islamic apologist in the country.

Once the spokesman for the Islamic Council of Victoria, he is now an ABC radio host, a Channel 10 co-presenter and an Age columnist. 
He is even a politics lecturer at Monash University’s Global Terrorism Research Centre, despite having no doctorate and having qualified in engineering and law.
This week Aly showed the style that’s made him such a pet of the establishment Left but a worry to me.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram group last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls…
As so often when Muslim terrorists strike, Aly was brought on by Channel Ten’s The Project to explain away our fears as “an expert in terrorism”.
“So who is this group exactly?” he was asked.
Not once in his answer did “Muslim” or “Islamic” pass Aly’s lips… “… they might just be vigilantes.”

This was not an atypical approach from Aly.
When jihadists bombed the Boston marathon, he initially jumped to an improbable conclusion, informing Age readers of “the very real suspicion that the perpetrators here are self-styled American patriots” and “our own societies might just be implicated”.
Aly also assured 3AW the then Mufti of Australia, Sheik Taj el-Din el-Hilali, was not a worry even though he’d praised suicide bombers as “heroes” and called the September 11 attacks “God’s work against oppressors”.
Aly said he had no idea who had made Hilali mufti and he represented no one. In fact, Aly’s own Islamic Council of Victoria had voted with other members of the Federation of Islamic Councils of Australia for Hilali to represent their faith.

When Dutch writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, raised a Muslim, visited Australia to warn against Islamic radicals, Aly mocked her as just “a rock star” doing “actually very, very well out of” her message. In fact, Hirsi Ali had already had her collaborator, film director Theo van Gogh, slaughtered by a Muslim extremist and was herself forced to live under constant police protection.
 Aly this week did it again, trying on the ABC to play down (or “contextualise”, as academics would say) the kidnapping and murder of three teenaged Israeli hitchhikers, apparently by Hamas gunmen. He’d asked on a Left-wing Israeli academic who, he discovered, would not play ball:
Waleed Aly:  So, joining us now is Professor Yossi Shain, who’s the chairman of the Political Science Department at Tel Aviv University. Yossi, thank you very much for speaking to us today. Hamas denies this. Do we actually have any evidence as to who was behind it?
Yossi Shain: Well, of course. The Israeli security forces discovered, in fact, a day after the abduction the guys who committed the crime but they could not locate them…
Waleed Aly: But, is all we have to go on the words of the Israeli security forces?
Yossi Shain: In this business, they are the best words for us, and in fact the people disappeared from their homes. Their family doesn’t know where they are. They are Hamas activists, who were, prior to that, in Israeli jails for committing other crimes. They were released from jail and, so, there is - undoubtedly they disappeared just the day of the abduction…

Waleed Aly: Now, Israel’s a very diverse, sometimes fractured society. Is it fractured at all in its response over this?
Yossi Shain: Not fractured whatsoever. I think this is such a heinous crime. You pick up three kids hitchhiking to go home from schools. You take them to the field and you just, like, kill them. Point blank. Shooting them. And this is, it’s terrifying, unforgivable and any word that I would say has nothing to do with debates in Israel about security, debates about peace with the Palestinians, possibilities of accommodation, etcetera. This is across the board - left, right, centre, north, south. Everybody is mourning because just tell them how senseless killing occurs here, and we are in the Middle East. One should not underestimate the beastiality, the brutality here in this region. I know the people who make this talk. But if you look at Syria, when thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands are murdered and in the border with Lebanon and on the border with Iraq and Jordan, when you have the new jihadists, but they kill their own people. Like dogs, kneel them down and just shoot them. One should not be surprised in this business. And it doesn’t matter whether you are Left or Right…
Waleed Aly: So, it sounds really like what you’re trying to do is create a narrative here that Israel, a nation, the Jewish nation, is surrounded by a collection of Arab nations that are effectively populated by barbarians. Is that your argument?
Yossi Shain: This is not a narrative. I’m not talking about narratives, and I’m not talking about barbarians or not. It’s a reality. The Arabs can self-describe, and the moderates in the Arabs can self-describe. It’s a reality. It’s not a question of narrative. Narrative is a post-modern notion. We’re talking about reality!
Waleed Aly [talking over Shain] Well, what exactly is the reality that you’re describing?
Yossi Shain: We have 10 million - we have 10 million people displaced in Syria. Ten million. Hundreds of thousands of people being murdered. We have murders every day taking place in Iraq and the east of Iraq and in Syria and on the border. We have cases like that every day. There is shelling, constant shelling on the Israeli south. [Gets talked over again] It’s not a question of narrative.
Waleed Aly: Okay, I understand that. Let me ask you this question, then. Is there any understanding in any part of Israeli society that this, these killings, which you correctly described as heinous, are connected to a broader political picture? … For example…
Yossi Shain: Nothing. No. [Starts to answer although Aly keeps on talking over him]
Waleed Aly: Is there any discourse about this being …
Yossi Shain: On the contrary, on the contrary, even Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian…
Waleed Aly: [talking right over Shain] …part of a response to the occupationor is it just about this being… sorry, just let me finish the question - is it just all about this being just an unprovoked act of barbarism.
Yossi Shain: It’s an act of barbarism undoubtedly. There is no, there is no political gain whatsoever once can understand, you know, that you say to yourself, we negotiate on this… But you take three kids and just murder them, I don’t understand what is beyond questioning about a barbaric act. What kind of actions are those?
Waleed Aly: Well, say for example - sorry to interrupt. For example, is there any sense, because I understand these kids were in Hebron. Is that right?
Yossi Shain: No. They were not in Hebron. These kids were travelling from their school in a neighbourhood adjacent to Jerusalem and they were picked up in the neighbourhood and were just on their way from school and hijacking and so on. That’s it. Just like my kids will travel and God forbid will be kidnapped. We had that case before in many cases in Tel Aviv as well. We had, you know, suicide bombings of kids in Tel Aviv and so on. But this is just, you pick up three kids, hijacking from school home, and you just kill them. Now you, you can think that it’s not an act of barbarism or it’s narrative, but this is a reality here that no one can tolerate and no one will tolerate.
Waleed Aly: I’m not expecting you to tolerate it. And I’m not saying it’s anything other than an act of barbarism and I’m not hiding behind any concept of narrative. I’m simply asking questions about whether or not in Israel this is viewed as entirely isolated from the broader political environment. I mean, isn’t there, for example, any conversation in Israel about whether or not this is the killing of settlers as some kind of reprisal.
Yossi Shain: No, I don’t think so. I think no one knows if they’re settlers or not settlers. These are not questions - one kid in this side of the green line, the other on the other side. It doesn’t matter. These people were intending on finding, as their father said, there is a pride to be a jihadist and anyone who kills Jews should be a martyr. Now, when you have such a theology, and I don’t say this is a theology which is pervasive all around, but it’s a theology, you are not selecting them according to their place of residence. You select them just by the sheer fact that they are Jews living in the State of Israel whether they live here or there, whether they live in Tel Aviv, Holon, Haifa and all the other cities of Israel or whether they crossed the line, on the Green Line, hundred meters or two kilometres. It doesn’t matter. When you have such a theology, when you don’t recognise these people as human beings you will kill them just like that… and it’s a theology. 
Waleed Aly: We have, of course, many, many Palestinians who were killed in the process. In fact, I think just during the period of the search, five Palestinians were killed. Four hundred were arrested.
Yossi Shain: Yes.
Waleed Aly: Is that part of the conversation in Israel at all?
Yossi Shain: Absolutely! Look, we are seeking to have peace with the Palestinians. And, in fact, Mahmoud Abbas himself, the leader of the Palestinians, the moderate forces saying he’s ready. And he understands that this is injuring his cause. Now, once you understand, the Palestinians are divided. There are Hamas and the PA are completely different stories. Many people in the PA understand that this is undercutting their development. If you go to Ramallah, you go to other places, people want to live good life. One should not make the claim that everyone is barbarians. No! There is a barbaric, there is a barbaric segment with such a theology. Many, or maybe most or the vast majority would like to live a good life alongside the Israelis and one should not also underestimate the fact that Israel, when Israel controlled some of the territories, people are suffering. These are two separate stories! And how to keep a political solution to this conflict is a long-standing issue.
Waleed Aly: Yeah, but is..
Yossi Shain: But beside of all of this issue, there is the question of the theology plus an action that you kidnap kids and you kill them, just like that. This is, this is something that is beyond, not only the pale, not something happening here, but it can happen - one cannot comprehend it as a human being. And indeed, this notion of a lack of humanity, the lack of humanity pervades the Middle East nowadays. When people are killed like dogs by their own brothers, and this is one should not underestimate - it’s a culture of killing. It’s sacred to many people. Waleed Aly: Okay. There are many things there I don’t have time to pick up now, Yossi, but maybe we’ll speak again sometime and have a broader and deeper conversation about it. But thank you very much for your insights this time around. 
UPDATE
In this clash of civilisations, one side represents barbarism. Here is the mother of one of the men suspected of murdering the boys:

(Thanks to readers AS and Charles.) 
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Did Palmer win by spending missing Chinese cash?

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (9:20am)

An election bought with misappropriated Chinese money?:
THE Palmer United Party spent up to $4.7 million on advertising during last year’s federal election campaign, with at least half funded by the Chinese government. 
Court papers this week revealed $2.167m from the Chinese state-owned company Citic Pacific was spent with Media Circus Network to purchase advertising for Mr Palmer’s election campaign…
Clive Palmer last night refused to detail how the remaining $2.5m of his ad spend was funded… Group M chairman and chief executive John Steedman said $2m would buy approximately 1000 ratings points across the five capital cities, which would equate to 125 advertising spots in prime time in each market, enough to sustain a four-week TV campaign in the mass market. Other media buyers and political campaigners agreed the political impact of a more than $2m campaign would be substantial when targeted in particular seats.
Hedley Thomas:
THE actions of a once-obscure Clive Palmer-controlled company called Cosmo Developments, which had received $10 million of ­Chinese funds allegedly wrong­fully siphoned from a National Australia Bank account, are being forensically examined amid a quasi-judicial probe into the missing cash… 
Records show that, after 14 years as a director, Mr Palmer resigned from Cosmo Developments in late May, a fortnight after it was first revealed in The Australian that Mineralogy had been ­accused in the Federal Court in Perth of wrongfully siphoning $10m in August last year and a further $2.167m just days before the September 7 federal election.
Australian Securities & Investments Commission records show Mr Palmer ended his role at Cosmo Developments on May 25, the same day his nephew, Clive Mensink, joined as sole director of the company, having been ­appointed the company secretary in May last year…
However, other documentary records show Mr Palmer’s resignation as a director of Cosmo Devel­opments was not detected publicly because it was omitted from his May 27 update of a federal parliament “register of members’ interests”.
In this May 27 update, which bears a May 29 stamp from the parliamentary registry, Mr Palmer disclosed that he had resigned as a director of the four most prominent and significant companies in his business group ... There was no mention of Cosmo Developments.
Asked by The Australian yesterday if he had resigned from Cosmo Developments to distance himself from the $10m in Chinese funds that went into the company from the NAB cheque account, Mr Palmer did not respond. He did not reply to a question about why his May 27 update to parliament did not disclose his resignation from Cosmo Developments. However, Mr Palmer issued a tweet in which he said that The Australian was a “real threat to democracy”. “I’ll be commencing defamation action against Hedley Thomas over latest erroneous smear,’’ tweeted Mr Palmer.
Palmer’s use of defamation laws to attack his critics is sinister.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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If the seas are so dangerous, why was this boat there?

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (9:13am)

The “refugee” lobby will howl at having their prize snatched from them:

A BOATLOAD of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers found near Cocos Island at the weekend is being transported by Australian authorities to a treacherous mid-ocean transfer to a Sri Lankan naval ­vessel in the midst of the deadly south-west monsoon.
“Treacherous”? “Deadly”? So why were the boat people sailing in such weather? I believe our navy can be trusted to handle the seas at least as well.
That said, reports are conflicting about whether the transfer is happening or not. In fact, the boat and/or passengers really should be returned to India, if that is where they are really from. 
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Burqa ban upheld

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (9:08am)

A decision you’d not have expected from this court a few years ago:
The European Court of Human Rights has upheld France’s 2010 ban on full-face veils in public, dismissing a case brought by a French woman against the state for breach of religious freedom. 
France has ... the largest Muslim minority in Europe, estimated at 5 million…
It was the first European country to pass a law banning burqa and niqab garments that conceal the face in public. Belgium later followed suit…
Authorities passed the law under former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s administration, casting the full-faced veil as an affront to the country’s tenets of secularism as well as being degrading to women. It is also a security risk, preventing the accurate identification of individuals, officials have said.
It was close, though:
The Strasbourg-based court ruled the general ban imposed by the government wasn’t justified on public-safety grounds, or to protect women’s rights. But it said France’s aim of improving social cohesion through the ban was legitimate. 
“The court was…able to accept that the barrier raised against others by a veil concealing the face was perceived by the respondent state as breaching the right of others to live in a space of socialization which made living together easier,” it said.
(Thanks to reader James.) 
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Greens want Aboriginal exhibits kept traditionally poor

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (9:00am)

The Greens like their Aborigines kept primitive and poor, exhibits in a museum of natural history. Warren Mundine: 

It was great to see Cape York traditional owners defeat Queensland’s Wild Rivers legislation in the Federal Court last month.
In 2009, the Bligh Labor government declared three major Cape York rivers as “wild rivers”. It was a politically motivated decision to secure Greens preferences in a close state election. It locked up major areas of Queensland’s far north making it impossible for traditional owners to pursue developments, including things like horticulture and tourism.
It made a mockery of the Labor party’s support for land rights. Aboriginal people in Cape York had their land but, unlike every other landowner in Australia, weren’t allowed to prosper from it. The Wilderness Society was the main agitator for the 2009 declaration…
Globally about two-thirds of poverty reduction comes from economic growth… But the Wilderness Society doesn’t want Aboriginal people who are living in poverty to get richer. This organisation was also instrumental in killing off the James Price Point gas hub… In April, I challenged the Greens to name one place in Australia where they’d support a new mine and one place in Australia where they’d support oil or gas exploration and processing. So far I’m yet to hear anything… Green groups should hang their heads in shame for wanting to keep indigenous Australians in poverty.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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The Gore-Palmer mystery: don’t mention Al Gore’s business ties

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (8:37am)

Even Al Gore’s advisors were amazed that he endorsed Clive Palmer’s press conference to announce Palmer’s Senators would help scrap the carbon tax, and would block the government’s direct action schemes as well:
Al Gore was urged by his US-based advisers to pull out of the Clive Palmer press conference when it became clear the Palmer United Party would not link its support for the abolition of the carbon tax to an immediate move to an emissions trading scheme. 
Key figures behind the year’s strangest political alliance have confirmed Mr Palmer was shown legal advice that Australia could easily move directly from a fixed price on carbon to an ETS. When Mr Palmer could not convince his three incoming senators to place conditions on their support to repeal the carbon tax, Mr Gore’s advisers told him to pull out of a public appearance with Mr Palmer.
The story gives no clue to a possible motivation for Gore’s bizarre praise of Palmer. It somehow overlooks self-interest, and Gore’s business ties to the renewable energy industries Palmer had offered to help. 
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Threat video to be shown at commission

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (8:31am)

I wouldn’t want to be a political leader beholden to this union:
THE building industry is set to be rocked by an explosive video and claims of corruption, death threats and intimidation during royal commission hearings in Melbourne next week. 
The Herald Sun understands witnesses will detail claims about senior figures in the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.
At least one witness due to give evidence has received death threats from people linked to the union.
The Herald Sun understands footage of a senior Victorian CFMEU official intimidating a builder will be revealed at the hearings.
Links between the official, the union and an underworld figure will also be aired.
It is understood the whistleblower in the video was warned his business may be threatened if he released it.
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Palmer United Party joins Greens and Labor in threatening the media

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (8:11am)

When Murdoch newspapers questioned the global warming scare and the AWU slush fund scandal, Labor and the Greens set up a media inquiry to cow it. It was the most sinister threat to media freedoms from an Australian government in my life time:
No, far more chilling - because it was so shamelessly explicit - was the promise made by Greens deputy leader Christine Milne on Monday to punish newspapers which publish articles sceptical of global warming and critical of the Gillard Government… 
“The Murdoch press has been running a very strong campaign against action on climate change.
“The bias is extreme, in The Australian in particular.
“You’ll see column inch after column inch of every climate sceptic in the country ... You’ll find day after day a real attempt at regime change…
“And one of the useful things about the hacking scandal in the UK is that it will lead to an inquiry into the media in Australia.
“We are at least going to see some real discussion ... around issues such as the level of ownership and dominance of the Murdoch press in several capital cities in Australia.
“We’ll also have a look at a range of other issues, including who are fit and proper people into whether we need that test into people to be running media outlets. It’s time we had a good inquiry and certainly bias is certainly going to be one of the things that’s certainly to be looked at."…
Know also that Prime Minister Julia Gillard has already agreed to consider this inquiry: “I anticipate we’ll have a discussion amongst parliamentarians about this, about the best review and the best way of dealing with all of this.” 
Unfortunately, the Palmer United Party is likewise threatening Murdoch newspapers - this time for investigating claims Clive Palmer unlawfully took $12 million from a Chinese company to pay for his political activity:

The Australian’s Rosie Lewis follows up with a question in writing to [PUP Senator Jacqui] Lambie’s office yesterday: 
HOW serious do you take these allegations that Mr Palmer spent $12 million of Chinese government money to help pay for his election campaign?
Lambie issues a statement, “Reply to questions from The Australian regarding Twitter Comments”: 
AT a time when the owner of the Australian News Paper (Rupert Murdoch) is being interviewed over serious criminal matters by England’s crack police investigators at Scotland Yard — and his former employees have been found guilty of serious crimes … It’s amazing and more than a little predictable that a business dispute and civil matter being fought out in the Australian courts regarding Clive Palmer — is receiving such attention in some sections of the media…
More scrutiny! More Lambie: 
BRING on a Senate inquiry into media ownership. If Australia must have a Billionaire who has influence of the destiny of our great country … at least let it be one of our own — an Australian Billionaire — not an overseas one.
Whenever a politician demands a media inquiry, ask what scandal they’re trying to cover up. 
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Kyrgios beats Nadal

Andrew Bolt July 02 2014 (7:49am)

Amazing, every way you slice it:
Nick Kyrgios has delivered the most outstanding performance of his fledgling career to shock world No 1 Rafael Nadal to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals… 
His 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 triumph over 14-time grand slam champion Nadal is the first time a teenager has beaten a world No 1 at the majors since 2005…
By the end of the match, Nadal — grand slam tennis’s ultimate warrior — was broken and baffled on losing to world No 144 Kyrgios…
Few would be prepared to write of the youngster who over the past week created a huge impression. First-round victory over Frenchman Stephane Robert was followed by a herculean effort to save a Wimbledon record nine match points against Richard Gasquet before he edged past Czech Jiri Vesely… Contesting only his 14th match at senior level, Kyrgios blazed his way past a grand slam immortal — only two weeks after losing in the first round of a Nottingham Challenge. 
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Hating the America they use

Andrew Bolt July 01 2014 (7:50pm)

Victor Davis Hanson on America and its power being resented by the very people who most want it:
Maliki failed to grasp that Obama had even less trust in the influence of America to do good things abroad than did Maliki himself. But the larger irony is that now Maliki is begging for a return of American hard power to save his government from those killers that his policies helped create. In extremis, he understands that no other country would depose an oil-rich tyrant, stay on to foster democracy, leave the oil to its owners, and then leave when asked — and finally consider coming back to the rescue of an abject ingrate. 
The Latin America narrative in the age of Obama — often best characterized in Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, or Venezuela — is little empathy south of the border for the Yanqui paradigm of free-market democratic capitalism. The stale 1960s rhetoric of colonialist, imperialist, racist, etc. is back in vogue in much of Latin America, and Mexico as well, encouraged by an administration that itself is unlikely to defend present or past U.S. conduct.
Likewise the themes of most Chicano-Latino studies programs in the U.S. are American culpability, racism, and colonialism — the same old, same old whine of the myriad faults of the U.S. In my community, the time it takes a first-generation foreign national to cross the border illegally, and then to develop a sort of resentment toward the U.S. and a romance about the birthplace he abandoned, seems about five years.
Why then are tens of thousands of Latin Americans willingly flooding into a supposedly racist country where cutthroat capitalism ignores the poor and the oppressed such as themselves? In most past polls of Mexican citizens, two general themes often show up: the majority of Mexican nationals believe that the American Southwest still should belong to Mexico, and a sizable minority would like to leave Mexico for the U.S. You figure out the mentality.

(Via Instapundit.) 
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Caroline Glick
My friend, Latma's actress Ronit Avramov-Shapira and her family were stoned last night when they were driving through Samaria. She and her two year old daughter were injured -- lightly, thank G-d -- by broken glass. Her husband saw the rocks on the ground and had the presence of mind to warn her to protect their daughter just before Palestinian terrorists hurled a rock the size of a grapefruit through her window.
It was a murder attempt.
It wasn't reported.
After all, who cares about stone throwing?
If you don't feel like throwing up or breaking something upon reading this, there is something deeply wrong with you. If you don't feel like throwing up or breaking something upon reading this, then, welcome to the majority of the global elite. Pat yourself on the back. You are a true progressive.
Oh, and go to hell.
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Larry Pickering
THERE’S A MUSLIM IN THE MINISTRY

Okay, so what! Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are... oops I’d better not be politically incorrect. Anyway there are enough of them (Muslims I mean, not terrorists) here now to warrant Parliamentary representation. No big deal.

Governor General, Quentin Bryce, welcomed Ed Husic to Office. “It is a great day for multiculturalism”, she proclaimed as he swore his Oath of Allegiance clutching the Koran.

Kevin Rudd brought to the GG’s residence today a Ministry overflowing with eleven females (obviously a counterweight to his recent slaying of Australia’s first female Prime Minister) led by Emily Lister and long-time faithful comrade of Julia, Jenny Macklin.

They go back a long way, as far back as the bonded sisterhood of the “Socialist Forum” where government payments for late-term abortions were promoted, (see Bernard Gaynor’s article today in www.pickeringpost.com ).

Jenny and Julia were a formidable item. They both drew up the manifesto that forbade Labor Party members membership to the Forum. Why would that be you say?

Well, the manifesto also called for the Forum’s radical Communist members to infiltrate the Labor Party to impose extreme Left policy. The Socialist Forum appears to have done well.

Anyway, poor ‘ol Jenny must have thought her Socialist Forum’s aims far outweighed her trusted comrade Julia’s friendship, because today she nestled lovingly into Rudd’s clutch of the sisterhood with barely a thought for Julia.

I guess all revolutions expect blood to be spilt by a few.

Anyway, Kev certainly covered a few bases today with a tilt at the women’s vote and the Islamic vote. He also made a sincere attempt at rapprochement with those in the ALP who hate him.

But back to this Koran thing. I’m agnostically atheistic and don’t care for any religion. I accept that some Aussies believe in the most incredulous stuff, but whether I like it or not, we are a Christian society.

After all, Parliament opens with prayers?

Yet, I wonder if the besieged Muslim Brotherhood Government of Egypt would allow the Koran to be replaced with the Bible in its swearing in ceremonies.

I guess I must be a racist because I find the Koran, used as it was today, to be a bit unsettling.

Well, in time we may need to accept cultural change. Could “ring the bells for four minutes” eventually become an echoing call to the House with “four minutes’ wailing”?
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Roma Downey
"Don't confuse your path with your destination. Just because it's stormy now doesn't mean you aren't headed for some sunshine."
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Just heard that Chris Brown was accused of injuring two people while driving recklessly. He later issued a statement refuting the claims "these accusations are ridiculous......I don't hit people with a car".........
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Barry Shaw 

"in a reasonable world, the Palestinians can live with blocks of Jewish townships already established. In a reasonable world, the Palestinians can live with prosperous Jewish industry that gives gainful employment to Palestinian workers and managers, and earns mutual respect between Jews and Arabs.
In a reasonable world, the Palestinians have much to benefit from Israeli ingenuity and cooperation.
Unfortunately Israel is not living in a reasonable world."
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July 2: Feast day of Martinian and Processus (Roman Catholic Church)
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
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“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”Romans 12:3 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"In summer and in winter shall it be."
Zechariah 14:8
The streams of living water which flow from Jerusalem are not dried up by the parching heats of sultry midsummer any more than they were frozen by the cold winds of blustering winter. Rejoice, O my soul, that thou art spared to testify of the faithfulness of the Lord. The seasons change and thou changest, but thy Lord abides evermore the same, and the streams of his love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever. The heats of business cares and scorching trials make me need the cooling influences of the river of His grace; I may go at once and drink to the full from the inexhaustible fountain, for in summer and in winter it pours forth its flood. The upper springs are never scanty, and blessed be the name of the Lord, the nether springs cannot fail either. Elijah found Cherith dry up, but Jehovah was still the same God of providence. Job said his brethren were like deceitful brooks, but he found his God an overflowing river of consolation. The Nile is the great confidence of Egypt, but its floods are variable; our Lord is evermore the same. By turning the course of the Euphrates, Cyrus took the city of Babylon, but no power, human or infernal, can divert the current of divine grace. The tracks of ancient rivers have been found all dry and desolate, but the streams which take their rise on the mountains of divine sovereignty and infinite love shall ever be full to the brim. Generations melt away, but the course of grace is unaltered. The river of God may sing with greater truth than the brook in the poem--
"Men may come, and men may go,
But I go on forever."
How happy art thou, my soul, to be led beside such still waters! never wander to other streams, lest thou hear the Lord's rebuke, "What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink of the muddy river?"

Evening

"The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day."
Genesis 3:8
My soul, now that the cool of the day has come, retire awhile and hearken to the voice of thy God. He is always ready to speak with thee when thou art prepared to hear. If there be any slowness to commune it is not on his part, but altogether on thine own, for he stands at the door and knocks, and if his people will but open he rejoices to enter. But in what state is my heart, which is my Lord's garden? May I venture to hope that it is well trimmed and watered, and is bringing forth fruit fit for him? If not, he will have much to reprove, but still I pray him to come unto me, for nothing can so certainly bring my heart into a right condition as the presence of the Sun of Righteousness, who brings healing in his wings. Come, therefore, O Lord, my God, my soul invites thee earnestly, and waits for thee eagerly. Come to me, O Jesus, my well-beloved, and plant fresh flowers in my garden, such as I see blooming in such perfection in thy matchless character! Come, O my Father, who art the Husbandman, and deal with me in thy tenderness and prudence! Come, O Holy Spirit, and bedew my whole nature, as the herbs are now moistened with the evening dews. O that God would speak to me. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth! O that he would walk with me; I am ready to give up my whole heart and mind to him, and every other thought is hushed. I am only asking what he delights to give. I am sure that he will condescend to have fellowship with me, for he has given me his Holy Spirit to abide with me forever. Sweet is the cool twilight, when every star seems like the eye of heaven, and the cool wind is as the breath of celestial love. My Father, my elder Brother, my sweet Comforter, speak now in lovingkindness, for thou hast opened mine ear and I am not rebellious.
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Mattaniah

[Mătta nī'ah] - gift of jehovah.
  1. A brother of Jehoiakim, made king instead of his nephew, Jehoiakim, also called Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:17).
  2. A Levite, descendant of Asaph and founder of a tribal family (1 Chron. 9:15; 2 Chron. 20:14; Neh. 11:17, 22; 12:8, 25, 35).
  3. A son of Heman the singer in David's time (1 Chron. 25:4, 16).
  4. A descendant of Asaph who assisted Hezekiah in the cleansing of the Temple (2 Chron. 29:13).
  5. A descendant of Elam who had married a foreign wife (Ezra 10:26).
  6. A son of Zattu who had done the same (Ezra 10:27).
  7. One of the family of Pahath-moab who had done the same (Ezra 10:30).
  8. A son of Bani guilty of the same act (Ezra 10:37).
  9. A Levite whose descendant, Hanan, was one of Nehemiah's treasurers (Neh. 13:13).
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Today's reading: Job 20-21, Acts 10:24-48 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Job 20-21

Zophar
1 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 "My troubled thoughts prompt me to answer
because I am greatly disturbed.
3 I hear a rebuke that dishonors me,
and my understanding inspires me to reply.
4 "Surely you know how it has been from of old,
ever since mankind was placed on the earth,
5 that the mirth of the wicked is brief,
the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 10:24-48

24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. "Stand up," he said, "I am only a man myself."
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?"
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