Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Wed Jul 22nd Todays News

Anyone can choose a name, parents can choose a name for many reasons. And many names are similar for different reasons. David Ball the country singer from the US is not the same as David Ball who builds skyscrapers in London, or David Ball the writer from Sydney. Catch the Fire ministries from Toronto or Sydney and around the world are different to Catch the Fire ministry from Melbourne. Danny Nalliah is the senior pastor of the Melbourne group. Danny is Australian born and is of such little faith in the Bible as the word of God that he insists that it must mean the Earth is less than six thousand years old, as a creation. He is convinced evolution means that God does not exist. He is also a political leader of Rise Up Australia which calls itself Christian Conservative but shows no signs of conservatism or the fruits of faith which a humble life embracing God endows. Instead it is a radical group with social conservative mores that are extreme. Danny's God is afraid of Allah. Danny's God wants censorship. Danny's God wants to define people by race. Danny's God has a name, and it isn't God. The God of the Bible has endorsed secular administration, has blessed everyone irregardless of race and despises the selfish. 

Melbourne's Catch the Fire ministry is part of the mob calling itself Reclaim Australia in campaign. Others include neo Nazis.  They are protectionist for industry, meaning that industry is prevented from growing into larger markets and profiting. Protectionism means that the current wealthy can't grow, and the struggling worker can't improve. A healthy, business friendly trade union would want to grow business too, but a corrupt trade union which was willing to prevent workers from having improved conditions, would favour protectionism as it prevents their corruption from being exposed. Social conservatism is all very well, but laws regulating sex lives are over the top and unnecessary and irrelevant to secular administration. Opposing Islam is stupid when opposing jihadism is prudent. 

Danny says he is physically ill thinking of Julia Gillard shaking hands with Bob Brown. Danny also claims to have had three people rise from the dead. But Danny has not got the power of prophecy that is within the Conservative Voice. In 50 years time, Australia will not have sharia law. Jihadism will have been defeated while Islam will still exist, because Islam will join with the world in eliminating the scum. And Danny will have no future within ministry serving God. Australia will have an effective nuclear industry. Dams will have opened the interior of Australia to migration and food production. Sydney will not have extreme high temperatures, from a heated interior of Australia, which will instead be water rich from fresh water Northern Australian rain. 

In 838, Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffered a heavy defeat by the Abbasids. 1099, First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon was elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem. 1209, Massacre at Béziers: The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade. 1298, Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk: King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeated William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk. 1456, Ottoman Wars in Europe: Siege of Belgrade: John Hunyadi, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, defeated Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire 1484, Battle of Lochmaben Fair: A 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas were defeated by Scots forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas was captured. 1499, Battle of Dornach: The Swiss decisively defeated the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I.

In 1587, Colony of Roanoke: A second group of English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony. 1686, Albany, New York was formally chartered as a municipality by Governor Thomas Dongan. 1706, the Acts of Union 1707 were agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each countries' Parliaments, led to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1793, Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific Ocean becoming the first recorded human to complete a transcontinental crossing of Canada. 1796, surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company named an area in Ohio "Cleveland" after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party. 1797, Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Battle between Spanish and British naval forces during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Battle, Rear-Admiral Nelson was wounded in the arm and the arm had to be partially amputated.

In 1805, Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition: Battle of Cape Finisterre: An inconclusive naval action was fought between a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve of Spain and a British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder. 1812, Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War: Battle of Salamanca: British forces led by Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) defeated French troops near Salamanca, Spain. 1864, American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta: Outside Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General John Bell Hood led an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill. 1894, the first ever motor race was held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The fastest finisher was the Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, but the 'official' victory was awarded to Albert Lemaître driving his 3 hp petrol engined Peugeot.

In 1916, in San Francisco, California, a bomb exploded on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade killing ten and injuring 40. 1934, outside Chicago's Biograph Theater, "Public Enemy No. 1" John Dillinger was mortally wounded by FBI agents. 1937, New Deal: The United States Senate voted down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.

In 1942, the United States government began compulsory civilian gasoline rationing due to the wartime demands. Also 1942, Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began. 1943, World War II: Allied forces captured the Italian city of Palermo. 1944, the Polish Committee of National Liberation published its manifesto, starting the period of Communist rule in Poland 1946, King David Hotel bombing: A Zionist underground organisation, the Irgun, bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, site of the civil administration and military headquarters for Mandate Palestine, resulting in 91 deaths.

In 1951, Dezik (Дезик) and Tsygan (Цыган, "Gypsy") were the first dogs to make a sub-orbital flight. 1962, Mariner program: Mariner 1 spacecraft flew erratically several minutes after launch and had to be destroyed. 1963, Sarawak achieved independence. 1976, Japan completed its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during the imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War. 1977, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was restored to power. 1983, Martial law in Poland was officially revoked.

In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee after police discovered human remains in his apartment. 1992, near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States. 1993, Great Flood of 1993: Levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois ruptured, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. 1997, the second Blue Water Bridge opened between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario. 2003, members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attacked a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year-old son, and a bodyguard. 2005, Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by police as the hunt began for the London Bombers responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the 21 July 2005 London bombings. 2011, Norway was the victim of twin terror attacks, the first being a bomb blast which targeted government buildings in central Oslo, the second being a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya.
2014
Russia has no defence and is responsible for the terrorist hit on MH17. However, the questions have not been asked which demonstrates Ukraine culpability and Washington influence. It is entirely predictable Moscow wants to spin the event domestically and internationally. What is disturbing is that commentators are so clearly uncomfortable with describing the crime and a balanced way forward. Placing Ukrainians under an illegitimate government by force of arms is not a solution to this tragedy. And it is worth considering that Russia would not have shot down a passenger jet deliberately .. it is an accident and if the Ukraine have deliberately done things to create conditions for the accident, like flying military jets with civilian identifiers, or flying military close to the civilian jet, then the White House should not be able to protect them from censure. If the Ukraine considered it a war zone, they should have communicated that with the civilian airliner. 

On this day, 1209, a theological dispute between Christian sects led to the massacre at Béziers as part of a crusade. In 1298, William Wallace met defeat at Falkirk and lost a valuable second in charge, a Simpsonish name of MacDuff. In 1587, Roanoke Island was reestablished under Queen Elizabeth I. In 1706, the kingdom of Great Britain began through an act of union between England and Scotland. In 1797 Nelson lost an arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He had ordered the surgeon to amputate, and his arm was thrown overboard despite Nelson's wish to keep it as a souvenir. Later, he would meet Emma Hamilton, and her practicality and lack of sympathy endeared Nelson. In 1894, the first ever car race was won by a 3hp Peugeot engine. In 1916, the US was gearing up for entry to WW1, and at a Preparedness Day event in San Francisco, two labor leaders left a suitcase bomb in a crowd, because even then unions were useless. In 1934, Public Enemy number one, John Dillinger, saw his last movie thanks to an FBI bullet. In 1937, FDR failed to load the US Supreme Court with his supporters. In 1942, The US began petrol rationing and the Nazis began to deport Jews from the Warsaw ghetto. In 1951, two dogs loyally launched into sub orbital manoeuvres. Most Soviet Dogs survived their special missions .. Laika later being an exception when launched into space without a return goal. In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested. In 2003 Saddam Hussein's two sons found justice. In 2005, a reminder of how bad Blair was in government when a shoot to kill order was given on the wrong person, an un-targeted civilian. In 2011, an idiot who wanted to join the EDL carried out two terrorist attacks in Norway. Norway is incapable of protecting their citizens applying law, and the terrorist is to be released in twenty one years. 
Historical perspectives on this day
In 838, Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffered a heavy defeat by the Abbasids. 1099, First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon was elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem. 1209, Massacre at Béziers: The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade. 1298, Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk: King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeated William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk. 1456, Ottoman Wars in Europe: Siege of Belgrade: John Hunyadi, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, defeated Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire 1484, Battle of Lochmaben Fair: A 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas were defeated by Scots forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas was captured. 1499, Battle of Dornach: The Swiss decisively defeated the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I.

 In 1587, Colony of Roanoke: A second group of English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony. 1686, Albany, New York was formally chartered as a municipality by Governor Thomas Dongan. 1706, the Acts of Union 1707 were agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each countries' Parliaments, led to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1793, Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific Ocean becoming the first recorded human to complete a transcontinental crossing of Canada. 1796, surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company named an area in Ohio "Cleveland" after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party. 1797, Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Battle between Spanish and British naval forces during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Battle, Rear-Admiral Nelson was wounded in the arm and the arm had to be partially amputated.

 In 1805, Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition: Battle of Cape Finisterre: An inconclusive naval action was fought between a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve of Spain and a British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder. 1812, Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War: Battle of Salamanca: British forces led by Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) defeated French troops near Salamanca, Spain. 1864, American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta: Outside Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General John Bell Hood led an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill. 1894, the first ever motor race was held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The fastest finisher was the Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, but the 'official' victory was awarded to Albert Lemaître driving his 3 hp petrol engined Peugeot.

 In 1916, in San Francisco, California, a bomb exploded on Market Street during a Preparedness Day parade killing ten and injuring 40. 1934, outside Chicago's Biograph Theater, "Public Enemy No. 1" John Dillinger was mortally wounded by FBI agents. 1937, New Deal: The United States Senate voted down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.

 In 1942, the United States government began compulsory civilian gasoline rationing due to the wartime demands. Also 1942, Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto began. 1943, World War II: Allied forces captured the Italian city of Palermo. 1944, the Polish Committee of National Liberation published its manifesto, starting the period of Communist rule in Poland 1946, King David Hotel bombing: A Zionist underground organisation, the Irgun, bombed the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, site of the civil administration and military headquarters for Mandate Palestine, resulting in 91 deaths.

 In 1951, Dezik (Дезик) and Tsygan (Цыган, "Gypsy") were the first dogs to make a sub-orbital flight. 1962, Mariner program: Mariner 1 spacecraft flew erratically several minutes after launch and had to be destroyed. 1963, Sarawak achieved independence. 1976, Japan completed its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during the imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War. 1977, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was restored to power. 1983, Martial law in Poland was officially revoked.

 In 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee after police discovered human remains in his apartment. 1992, near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States. 1993, Great Flood of 1993: Levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois ruptured, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers. 1997, the second Blue Water Bridge opened between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario. 2003, members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attacked a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year-old son, and a bodyguard. 2005, Jean Charles de Menezes was killed by police as the hunt began for the London Bombers responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the 21 July 2005 London bombings. 2011, Norway was the victim of twin terror attacks, the first being a bomb blast which targeted government buildings in central Oslo, the second being a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya.
=== 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.
===
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. 
===
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.
===
Happy birthday and many happy returns Thuy Le, Ronald Tsang, Jenny Thai and Andrew Van Vloten. Born on the same day, across the years. This day traditionally marked the wine harvest beginning in Israel, and is their day for love. It is also the birthday of Rd Dr William Archibald Spooner (1844), Gustav Ludwig Hertz (1887), Rick Davies (1944), Danny Glover (1946), Rufus Wainwright (1973), Franka Potente (1974) and Selena Gomez (1992). 1209 – The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade took place as a crusader army captured Béziers in southern France and slaughtered the inhabitants.
1894 – Despite finishing in first place in the world's first auto race, Jules-Albert de Dion did not win, as his steam-powered car was against the rules.
1933 – Wiley Post became the first pilot to fly solo around the world, landing after a seven-day, nineteen-hour flight at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York City.
1993 – During the Great Flood of 1993, levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois, US, ruptured, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
2002 – Following a trial that captivated Brazil, a court in São Paulo sentenced Suzane von Richthofen to 39½ years in prison for the murders of her parents. 22/7 is an approximation for Pi, and todays date in US notation. It is a day for love, first fruits, or, as the Rd Dr Spooner might say, it is a lay for dove.
Deaths
Rock inscribed by Alexander Mackenzie
You are a rock. We have unity. A committee has directed our future. We have the picture. We got the wrong man. Let's party. 
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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2015
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SOME PREFER SINKING

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (7:46pm)

Bill Shorten announced just a few minutes ago that Labor will now support the government’s turn-back policy on asylum seeker boats, and we’ve already got our first Labor resignation:

image
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KILL THE SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS AND FEED THEM TO CANNIBALS

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (3:33pm)

Master of horror Eli Roth’s latest feature could be the movie of the year: 
Green Inferno tells the story of a group of pampered western clicktivists who travel to the Amazonian rainforest to save an endangered native tribe. The tribe proceeds to open a churrascaria, with annoying Americans top of the menu. Most viewers could figure out that it’s a satire of social justice warriors, but Eli Roth has gone further, explaining to the LA Times precisely who he is satirising and why.
“I wanted to write a movie that was about modern activism,” said Roth. “I see that a lot of people want to care and want to help, but in general I feel like people don’t really want to inconvenience their own lives. The SJW culture has gotten so out of control,” he explained. “Are they doing it just because they believe in it? Or do they just want to look like good people?” 
Roth is describing the phenomenon of virtue-signalling, where pampered, hand-wringing brats use social media to look like heroes — without having to do any of the work.
Seemingly determined to prove Roth right, a change.org petition has called on the director to cancel the launch of Green Inferno on the grounds that it “dehumanizes indigenous people.” 
Please read the whole piece, which details an increasing entertainment industry resistance to social justice pressure. Perhaps we should organise a movie night if Green Inferno is released in Australian cinemas. Or maybe readers would prefer to wait for Cate Blanchett’s upcoming epic about Cornelia Rau.
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TOUGH TRIBUNAL

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (3:09pm)

That’s a relief: 
Taxpayers will not have to pay $67,000 for massage and osteopathy therapy for a former public servant who has post traumatic stress disorder after an argument with her boss in a lift in Canberra six years ago. 
Fairfax’s Canberra Times describes this Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision as evidence of a new “get-tough policy”. Seriously.
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MOVE SLIGHTLY INLAND

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (2:52pm)

Aiiieee! We’re all going to drown: 
In what may prove to be a turning point for political action on climate change, a breathtaking new study casts extreme doubt about the near-term stability of global sea levels.
The study – written by James Hansen, NASA’s former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields – concludes that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years …
In the study’s likely scenario, New York City – and every other coastal city on the planet – may only have a few more decades of habitability left. 
Well, good. Some of those coastal slums could use a wash. According to Hansen, that’ll only be the start of the fun: 
Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea level rise could be devastating. It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization. 
I’m up for it. Let the floodening commence!
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ARSE OWNED

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (3:58am)

Email critic Stuart L. did not appreciate Monday’s column: 
You’re such a dumb c**t. You’re entire article is bs. The abc should have your arse. F**king liar. 
Speaking of my future arse custodians, on Monday night the ABC’s Paul Barry spent some time dismissing reports that we may face a future mini ice age. Curiously, the ABC was never so critical of claims that Sydney would run out of water by 2007. Instead the ABC promoted those claims, despite Tim Flannery’s warning to our tax-funded monster media network: 
Well, you can’t predict the future. 
===

GOOD ADVICE FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (3:46am)

Former Julia Gillard senior advisor John McTernan declares: 
It’s an iron law of politics that you should never underestimate the stupidity of your opponent. 
Particularly when those opponents keep hiring John McTernan. 
===

SOPHIE’S CHOICE

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (2:45am)

New Zealand’s Sophie Devine may be the last international cricketer who refuses to wear a helmet: 
Actually, I’ve never really worn a helmet. The only time I can really remember is playing boys’ high school cricket and a few boys were going after me, bowling at around 130-135kph, so I put one on. I back myself to get out of the way. If I get hit, I guess it’s my own fault, and probably people will be saying I’m a bit silly for that. But it’s a comfort thing as well and just something that I’ve always done. 
Devine’s cricketing accomplishments are stratospherically beyond mine, but we do have a similar helmet history. Back in 1979, I wore a helmet for the first and only time after fellow Geelong College student and brilliant fast bowler Andrew Scott warned that he wouldn’t take it easy against me during an intra-school game.
It was a fair warning. A month or so later Scott – now sadly deceased – proved rapid enough to dismiss West Indian Test players Desmond Haynes, Collis King, David Murray and Lawrence Rowe during a tour match. In other cricket news, this week the Daily Telegraph ran one its the briefest editorials since the paper was founded in 1879, just two years after the very first Australia-England Test match: 
English groundkeepers prepared a Second Test pitch specifically designed to blunt Australia’s pace bowling advantage. The result was England’s fourth-largest Test defeat in history.
The Daily Telegraph encourages England to continue with this strategy. 
Let visiting teams have first option on batting and pitch doctoring will no longer be an issue.
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MULLAHS OVER MATES

Tim Blair – Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (12:53am)

Great call from PWAF:

image
===

LOBSCAR

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 21, 2015 (11:43pm)

It’s a close call, but this may be the all-time greatest NASCAR trophy:

image

That’s winning driver Kyle Busch’s wife Samantha on the right, evidently a little surprised that her husband’s living lobster trophy is even larger than their two-month-old baby son. 
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TOMI GUN

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 21, 2015 (11:22pm)

22-year-old Tomi Lahren tells it straight:



Further from Lahren here. Via Quadrant, which also carries this excellent piece: 
In 2008, the University of NSW awarded its university’s highest honour to a sexual predator and perjurer.
Do read on.
===

Hockey loses hundreds of thousands of dollars in defending his reputation

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (4:34pm)

Suing Fairfax for defaming him turns out to have been a very expensive mistake for the Treasurer:

Fairfax Media has been ordered to pay 15 per cent of Joe Hockey’s legal costs incurred during a year-long defamation battle over publications that claimed he was “for sale”.
This ruling is likely to leave the Treasurer substantially out of pocket, even accounting for the $200,000 he was awarded by the Federal Court in damages last month, and another $7000 in interest.
His legal costs are estimated to have run into the many hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Federal Court judge Richard White last month awarded Mr Hockey $200,000 in damages after finding that a Sydney Morning Herald poster and tweets from The Age Twitter account promoting a series of articles with the words “Treasurer for sale” were defamatory…
Fairfax last week argued the case had been an “unmitigated disaster” for Mr Hockey and he should be ordered to pay 60 per cent of Fairfax’s legal costs.
Its barrister argued this was because Fairfax had won “the core” issue of the case — namely, whether its news articles, rather than the poster and tweets promoting them, were defamatory… Today, Justice White agreed with Fairfax that the articles were “the real core” of the trial…
Under an ordinary costs award, a successful plaintiff is able to recover up to about 70 per cent of their legal costs. Mr Hockey will be able to recover only 15 per cent of this portion.
The Government’s week just got worse. 
===

The populism that will ruin us: Labor promises more spending but not the taxes to pay for it

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (9:12am)

Paul Kelly on Labor’s intellectual bankruptcy under Bill Shorten:
Certainly, there is no honesty in federal Labor on the GST. As reality begins to dawn — with even ABC interviewers suggesting a freeze into perpetuity on the GST is irrational — the opposition sounds even more shrill. That is hardly a surprise when [South Australian Premier Jay] Weatherill, asked about the hostility of federal Labor, replied: “I don’t have the luxury of just ­opposing for the sake of doing so
Just to prove this critique was justified, Bill Shorten thundered: “I’m against raising the GST. What a lazy bunch of people we have in the current government … why is it that Mr Abbott and his out-of-touch Liberal team always resort to increasing taxes for real Australians? ... He wants Aussies to pay more for fresh food and their school fees for kids.”
You get the drift. Federal Labor is bankrupt on this issue. It chants no change to the GST, saying it’s regressive. Well, nobody has ever proposed an exclusive change to the GST. [NSW Premier Mike] Baird said there should be compensation via the tax and welfare system. Everybody knows this is essential…
Federal Labor is ­irrelevant in the policy debate. It campaigns against Tony Abbott’s $80 billion funding reduction to the states but cannot pledge to restore the funds. It faces a Victorian premier calling for income tax increases and a NSW premier calling for a 15 per cent GST — both ideas anathema to federal Labor. The real point is that federal Labor won’t admit the problem and, as a result, resorts to negative politics, a tactic still likely to win electoral traction.
It remains in denial about the unfunded long-run spending commitments it implanted in the budget before its election defeat. It has no solution to the rising personal income tax burden on middle Australia. It perpetuates the notion that problems can be solved by more taxes on the rich.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Still waiting for Godot, the climate refugee

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (8:49am)

Remember how Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth said there were lots of these global warming refugees already?
The citizens of these Pacific nations have all had to evacuate to New Zealand.
In fact:

Kiribati man Ioane Teitiota has just lost his appeal to the New Zealand Supreme Court, to be recognised as the world’s first climate refugee.
(Thanks to reader fulchrum.) 
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Your car, but a hacker is steering

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (8:42am)

We are only a decade or two from driverless cars. Or, rather, from cars where the driver might turn out to be a hacker like the ones who can already take over a Jeep Cherokee:

Hackers took control of a car and crashed it into a ditch by remotely breaking into its dashboard computer from 10 miles away.
In the first such breach of its kind, security experts cut out the engine and applied the brakes on the Jeep Cherokee, sending it into a spin – all while sitting on their sofa.
The US hackers said they used just a laptop and mobile phone to access the Jeep’s on-board systems via a wireless Internet connection.
They claim that more than 470,000 cars made by Fiat Chrysler could be at risk of being attacked by similar means – including those driven in the UK.  
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Will the university withdraw its warmist honor?

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (8:25am)

Tony Thomas has a quiz question:
In 2008, the University of NSW awarded the university’s highest honor to a man later revealed to be a sexual predator and perjurer. Concurrently, the sexual predator and perjurer became the ‘godfather’ to the university’s Climate Change Research Centre, having been awarded the honor of opening the facility. Who was that man?
A clue:

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Another Planned Parenthood executive haggling over price for dead baby parts

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (8:14am)

Abortion brutalises us. It is a slippery slide which slides us to this:
In the second video released today by the Center for Medical Progress, yet another senior medical adviser to Planned Parenthood of America appears to negotiate the price of selling baby body parts to actors playing entrepreneurs from a start-up biotech firm.
Dr. Mary Gatter, President of Planned Parenthood’s Medical Director’s Council, is asked, “What would you expect for intact tissue?”
Gatter starts to haggle immediately, “Why don’t you start by telling me what you’re used to paying?”
When pushed for a number, Gatter says, “Well, you know in negotiations the person who throws out the figure first is at a loss, right? So…”
When pushed again for how much her Planned Parenthood affiliate is willing to sell baby body parts for, she responds, “Okay, $75.”
When the buyer tells her that number seems low Gatter responds, “I was going to say $50.”
Then the buyer offers her $100 to which Gatter quickly responds, “Okay.”
After the first video was released last week in which Dr. Deborah Nucatola also appears to negotiate the price of fetal body parts, Planned Parenthood insisted that the price Nucatola mentioned was only related to the costs incurred by Planned Parenthood with no profit involved. In the Nucatola video, however, she is seen and heard explaining that the Planned Parenthood affiliates in the body parts business wanted to do more than “break even."…
At the end of the video, like Nucatola, Gatter talks about changing the abortion technique to get intact specimens, changing from a rather violent suction method ...  She calls it a “less crunchy” way to get intact organs.
At the end of the tape provided by CMP, Gatter jokes about wanting “a Lamborghini” for body parts.
The Nucatola video:

New undercover footage shows Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, describing how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of aborted fetuses, and admitting she uses partial-birth abortions to supply intact body parts…
Nucatola explains, “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
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First the Berlin Wall fell, then Greece. Scott Morrison on the failure of modern socialism

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (7:31am)

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, in a speech today to the IPA:
In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell… This year we have witnessed the collapse of another socialist inspired edifice of a different kind. This time in Greece.
In just one generation Greece has been forced to surrender their economic sovereignty. The source of their troubles can be traced back, amongst other contributing factors, to the election of the Socialist PASOK Government under Andreas Papandreou in 1981.
PASOK ruled Greece for 19 of the next 22 years, enshrining the modern Greek age of welfare entitlement. In PASOK’s first two years, Greece’s ratio of debt to GDP increased from 21% to 32%. In 1983 the OECD said of Greece that ‘reducing the current structural component of government borrowing is all the more urgent since, in the years ahead, social transfers are projected to grow markedly’.
The report’s warnings cited as evidence large increases in pensions flowing from the significant extension of coverage and rights, the projected ageing of the population and planned expansions in social services expenditure.
Instead of heeding this warning the welfare continued to flow and the debt continued to mount.  When they were defeated in 2004, debt to GDP had already eclipsed 100% on their watch and was hovering just beneath that mark.
Debt was out of control. When the GFC hit, all of Greece’s fiscal defences were down. At the end of 2014, Greek debt to GDP was 177%...
Icon Arrow Continue reading 'First the Berlin Wall fell, then Greece. Scott Morrison on the failure of modern socialism'
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Shorten vs the economy: demands higher power prices

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (7:14am)

Under pressure on leadership, Bill Shorten lurches even more to the Left, promising a policy that will savagely increase the cost of electricity:
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is set to unveil a bold climate policy goal requiring half of Australia’s large-scale energy production to be generated using renewable sources within 15 years.
This means more than doubling green power but without using more of the hydro electricity that so far produces most of it. (Labor won’t build more dams.):

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That vast expansion of wind and solar will not happen without paying a fortune in subsidies and forcing consumers to use more green power, given how expensive it is:
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This will potentially cost taxpayers and consumers billions more each year, when we already subsidise green power by around $3 billion a year.
Effect on global warming? Nil.
Effect on the economy? Business lost, jobs lost.   
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Shorten vs the economy: attacks free-trade deal

Andrew Bolt July 22 2015 (6:32am)

Yes, he’s pandering to unions, populism and racism, but Bill Shorten’s campaign will be effective unless the Abbott Government takes it very, very seriously and produces facts, not just “trust me” assurances:

Bill Shorten has endorsed a union-led assault against the China-­Australia free-trade pact, revealing Labor will take up the fight in ­parliament to rewrite ­labour ­standards, conditions and skills testing in the historic multi-­billion-­dollar agreement…

Mr Shorten argues Tony ­Abbott brought home an FTA with China that undermines safeguards for Australian jobs…
The Labor leader’s decision to back unequivocally the industrial campaign, which Trade Minister Andrew Robb has dubbed as racist and business has slammed as shameful, will be interpreted by the Abbott government as a sign he is kowtowing to unions before this week’s ALP national conference. But Mr Shorten is pitching his message to Labor’s heartland, writing that while trade is essential to the economy, “Australia cannot and should not try to compete with other nations in a race to the bottom on wages and conditions’’....
Writing in The Australian today, Mr Shorten vows: ... “In the parliament, Labor will fight to retain labour market testing, so employers need to show they cannot find suitable local workers before they turn to temporary migration for projects greater than $150 million...”
DFAT took the unusual step last weekend of releasing a myth-busting fact sheet countering the basis of the union campaign. DFAT dismissed union claims that Chinese workers would have unrestricted access to the Australian labour market and would no longer be required to meet relevant skills and licensing conditions, and that Chinese companies investing more than $150m in specific types of infrastructure projects would be able to import unskilled or underpaid Chinese workers without first offering jobs to Australians.
Mr Shorten today challenges DFAT’s facts. “For example, the government claims ChAFTA will not allow unrestricted access to the Australian labour market by Chinese workers,’’ he writes. “The fact is that the agreement clearly states that Australia will not ‘impose or maintain any limitations on the total number of visas to be granted’ or ‘require labour market testing, economic needs testing or other procedures of similar effect as a condition for temporary entry’.’’
UPDATE
From the DFAT fact sheet:

First myth: Chinese companies will have unrestricted access to Chinese workers for major projects, threatening Australian jobs
Reality: FALSE
ChAFTA will not allow unrestricted access to the Australian labour market by Chinese workers. It will not allow Australian employment laws or conditions to be undermined, nor allow companies to avoid paying Australian wages by using foreign workers.
Australia’s existing visa arrangements, including the 457 visa program, will continue to be the basis for implementing Australia’s commitments on labour mobility under ChAFTA. The 457 visa program assists employers to address labour shortages by bringing in genuinely skilled workers where they cannot find an appropriately skilled Australian....
Through Investment Facilitation Arrangements (IFAs) made available under a separate MOU concluded alongside ChAFTA, Chinese companies making significant investments in Australia (more than $150 million in specific types of infrastructure development projects) will have increased access to skilled overseas workers when suitable local workers cannot be found.
IFAs will strengthen infrastructure development and investment, leading to the creation of jobs and increased economic prosperity for all Australians. 
IFAs will not allow unskilled or underpaid Chinese workers to be brought in to staff major projects. In fact, consistent with existing programmes, IFAs will provide certainty that investors will be able to access skilled overseas workers, under Australian employment conditions, when suitable local workers cannot be found.
Under IFAs, Australian workers will continue to be given first opportunity. Consistent with existing practice, employers will not be permitted to bring in overseas skilled workers unless there is clear evidence of a genuine labour market need, as determined by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. 
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The compassion of a union organiser and refugee spokesman

Andrew Bolt July 21 2015 (10:09pm)

Charming person we’ve given a new home to:
Aran Mylvaganam was born in Nagar kovil in Northern Sri Lanka. Between 1995 and 1997 he lived in a refugee camp in Udayarkaddu, before coming to Australia as a 13-year-old unaccompanied refugee in 1997. He was detained in Villawood detention centre for three months. In 2011 he founded the Tamil Refugee Council. Aran currently works as a union organiser with the Finance Sector Union and spokesperson for the Tamil Refugee Council.
He bids farewell to Don Randall, the respected Liberal MP who died suddenly today:
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The Left is the natural home of the modern barbarian. The Tamil Refugee Council needs a new spokesman as of now. 
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Un-bearable!
Posted by Grammarly on Monday, 20 July 2015

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For more like: Manter Credit: Mike 'Camike' Fox
Posted by Manter on Tuesday, 21 July 2015

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Happy Birthday to the one and only Ernest Hemingway! What's your favorite Hemingway piece?
Posted by Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing on Tuesday, 21 July 2015

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Kodachrome (SD card)Gives us those nice bright colorsGives us those greens of summersMakes you think all the world's...
Posted by Matt Granz on Tuesday, 21 July 2015

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=== Posts from last year ===

Court of international opinion shames Moscow over MH17

Piers Akerman – Tuesday, July 22, 2014 (5:30pm)

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin suffered his first defeat in the court of international opinion when Russia joined in the unanimous adoption of a UN Security Council resolution demanding access to the wreckage of MH17 shot down over eastern Ukraine.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Court of international opinion shames Moscow over MH17'
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PERCENTAGE DENIERS

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 22, 2014 (1:45am)

One beautiful little number might have helped turn the climate change debate in Australia, ultimately leading to last week’s triumphant demolition of the carbon tax.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'PERCENTAGE DENIERS'
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MOSMAN POWER RANGERS

Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 22, 2014 (12:24am)

On reflection, perhaps we were wrong to dismiss so quickly Mosman Council’s plan to give its parking rangers the power to book motorists for traffic violations.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'MOSMAN POWER RANGERS'
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Russia lies

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (6:06pm)

I’ve just watched some footage from a popular chat show on Russian TV where some clown went on at some length how Ukraine had, with American help, shot down MH17 itself in such a clever way that the wreckage fell in rebel-held area. And, with everyone else nodding wisely, he said this was a plot to discredit Russia and its allies.
Dutch TV has just shown a startling report contrasting what Russia’s cowed media reports to Russians and what Russia says to the rest of the world. And even that is poisonous, to judge by Russia’s English-language RT network, whose sick reports I’ve been following.
So Julia Davis has written a piece that could be useful in rebutting Russia’s lies:

Here is a collection of the most outrageous lies with respect to the shooting down of the Malaysia airliner.
Read on. Pravda lives.
(Thanks to reader Sid.) 
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Come the crisis, come the man. The very best of Tony Abbott

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (12:40pm)

Dennis Shanahan puts it well:
TONY Abbott’s personality as Prime Minister is beginning to emerge from behind a too-­controlled facade, a fear of being himself or acting instinctively and taking the lead. 

The Prime Minister’s early and hard call that Russia was ultimately responsible for the shooting down of MH17 and must support an independent and unfettered investigation was ahead of other ­national leaders and against the trend of more cautious official ­advice. 
Abbott made a call as a leader and demonstrated genuine anger as well as moral conviction without being either stilted or artificial…
Abbott responded with personal but controlled anger, clear logic and common sense that did not require an intelligence dossier with iron-clad conclusions…
Foreign missions have ­observed Abbott’s actions and leadership and some leaders have come quickly closer to his forthright language… Fearing the stereotypical criticism of being aggressive and out of control, Abbott started as prime minister too cautiously and appeared anodyne and weak. While the MH17 incident has been an unwelcome test, it has displayed the best aspects of Abbott’s strength of character and conviction as a leader, a human and a parent.
(Thanks to reader brett t r.)
UPDATE
I was impressed, as I said on Sunday, with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s backing of the Prime Minister following the MH17 horror:
I rise to support the words of the Prime Minister – and I thank him for the conversations that we have had this morning… And I appreciate that when I rang the Prime Minister this morning, he has been most forthcoming. I greatly appreciate it… 
I say this to the Prime Minister today – Labor understands the complexity and difficulty of the decisions you will face. We understand that as people are working through the pain and grief, there will be many understandable calls for all sorts of action.
I say that Labor is prepared to support the Government, and co-operate with the Prime Minister and the Government on what is the right next step that is to be taken in this most bewildering and shocking of events. Whether or not that involves anything to do with the G20, we say to the Government – we will work with your measured approach.
True, there is nothing to criticise in Abbott’s response. But Shorten from the start has stood with Abbott in showing Australia is united not just in its grief but in its demand for justice.
Now contrast. Here is Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek yesterday:
JOURNALIST: Tony Abbott came out against very strongly Russia very early. Do you support how he’s handled the response to this on behalf of Australia? 
PLIBERSEK: I think emotions have run very high. We know now that at least 37 Australians, citizens and permanent residents, have lost their lives. It’s a very emotional time for our country. It is important that we establish a proper investigation now so that those who are responsible can face the consequences of their actions.  
I do not consider Plibersek a leader. I believe she is a divider. Her response is ungenerous and unworthy of her and her party.  
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Jacqui Lambie not well hung between the ears

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (12:04pm)

Bogans will cheer, but it is both shameful and alarming that this kind of woman has a critical say in the running of this country:

SENATOR Jacqui Lambie is looking for a man and she only has two requirements, they must be wealthy and well-endowed… 
“They must have heaps of cash and they’ve got to have a package between their legs, let’s be honest,” Lambie said [on radio].
The 43-year-old politician and mother of two was then introduced to a 22-year-old listener named Jamie, who called into the Tasmanian radio show to express his interest in dating the Senator. “Do you have plenty of cash?” Lambie asked Jamie… And then Lambie asked the really important question, “Are you well-hung?”
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Naftali Bennett reminds reporter it’s easy to say “disproportionate” when you’re sitting in London

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (11:38am)

 (Thanks to reader Ian C.) 
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UN Security Council authorises investigation. But will Russia cooperate?

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (10:13am)

Australia’s resolution is passed, the train carrying the dead is moving ... but will Russia and its rebel allies actually cooperate with the investigation? Will they produce the murder weapon?
THE UN Security Council has unanimously backed Australia’s draft resolution demanding full access for investigators to the Malaysia Airlines jet crash site in eastern Ukraine… 
Other Security Council members, including the US, the UK and France, applauded Australia’s leadership on the disaster.
The vote confirmed Russia’s support for the UN resolution… However speaking after the resolution was passed, Russia’s representative to the Council, Vitaly Churkin, deflected responsibility for the crash saying it was the result of an “armed clash in Ukraine’’…

Malaysia’s Prime Minister ... said that as part of an agreement he reached by phone with rebel leader Alexander Borodai, independent international investigators will be given “safe access’’ to the site…
Meanwhile, the remains of 282 of the crash victims were being moved by train ... to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where [the train] will be met by senior officials from Australia and other nations. From there, they will be flown to Amsterdam… “I must stress that although an agreement has been reached, there remain a number of steps required before it is completed,’’ Mr Najib warned. 
UPDATE
I can’t see how the block box will answer the most critical questions, which is why the delay in handing even them over says plenty that’s bad:
THE black box flight recorders from the doomed Malaysian Airways flight MH17 were finally handed over to Malaysia early today… 
The two black boxes were handed over after hours of talks and one earlier aborted attempt. It is not clear why they were not passed over earlier.
And does this mean the pro-Russian militias are finally cooperating - or that anything incriminating Russia has been removed?
The three major crash sites of the aircraft were left open to the public late yesterday with militia troops pulling out totally leaving the blackened wreckage and personal belongings of its passengers out in the elements. No international investigator or observer was there to secure and preserve the crime site yesterday. 
One rebel driving away said there was nothing left to guard as far as they were concerned and the team of international aviation experts, including three Australians could do what they like.
Is Russia trying to minimise its responsibility in the rebel-held area?
Late yesterday News Corp Australia watched as columns of tanks and Armoured Personnel Carries many flying the Russian flag drove at high speed away from the self-proclaimed capital of the Donestsk People’s Republic.
UPDATE
But how much evidence can Russia really hide? Justin Bronk, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in London, has tweeted several examples of photographic evidence that he says shows MH17 was brought down by a missile strike. Here’s one example:

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The lesser Abbott will be more

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (10:04am)

Terry McCrann says Tony Abbott should now stop fighting for measures that won’t get through the Senate anyway. Don’t need the drama. Don’t need the bastard compromises:
THE biggest and most clear-cut consequence of Tony Abbott’s abolition of Julia Gillard and Bob and Christine’s and, now it would appear, also Bill Shorten’s carbon tax — apart from of course, the abolition itself — is that it rules out absolutely any chance of an early double dissolution election. 
This means the Government can — or rather, it should — settle down to just, well, “governing”, for the next two-plus years through to late 2016.
It can, it should, move away from a reality and even more an impression of crisis after crisis in the Senate…
This also means or assumes two other things. First, that the Government does give up on trying to get the “nasties” in Joe Hockey’s Budget through the Senate. And — Hockey won’t like me writing this — it won’t be the end of the world if it does give up.
More basically, it would be bad politics and policy almost as bad to keep going to war over the Budget cuts… There are neither votes nor good policy in that.
The carbon tax was different. It and the boats were the two absolutely core signature issues of both Abbott personally and of his Government… [But] the [promise to fix the] Budget is more an argument over degree; and ...  it will largely fix itself (absent the return of another big-spending Shorten or Albanese Labor government) by the automatic tax increases from “bracket creep"… Now let me make it perfectly clear. Responsible economic management would aim to get the Budget back to balance by 2017-18… Half fixing the deficit via bracket creep is both unfair and economically damaging… But all that said — and with the qualification especially of all those known and even more unknown global unknowns — the likely Budget state in 2017-18, assuming the Government can stop itself from new spending, won’t be that bad. 
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The Age tells untruths to push its warming alarmism

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (9:56am)

Global warming - propaganda

Why does The Age tell so many blatant untruths to push its global warming faith?
The Age editorialises yesterday: 
THE emission of greenhouse gasses (sic) as a result of human activity is contributing to a rise in temperate (sic) …. We are appalled, then, that the Coalition has repealed the carbon tax, which was a transitional step towards an emissions trading scheme the like of which is working in Europe and elsewhere.
Working in Europe? Reuters, July 15: 
THE European Union handed out too many free carbon permits in its Emissions Trading System and did not set a deep enough emission reduction goal, China’s top climate negotiator said on Monday…. “(The EU ETS situation) is not so good ... you issued too many free quotas and the overall emission target was not enough. This made the market very sluggish,” Xie (Zhenhua) said at an online press conference … in Berlin, Germany.
Or did they mean working in Europe? Alfonso Esparza, Market Pulse, July 2:
EUROPEAN unemployment rate ­remains 11.6 per cent in June
The Age editorialises yesterday: 
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott ... has a policy to cut emissions. It’s called ­Direct Action, but is better thought of as limp inaction, for it is essentially a scheme to plant tress (sic) … Australia (is) the nation with the highest level of emissions per capita ...
Highest per capita emissions? UN Millennium Goals indicators, July 1 last year:
EMISSIONS per capita (tonnes per capita): Qatar 40.1, Trinidad & Tobago 37.78, Kuwait 34.24, Netherlands Antilles 23.55, Brunei Darussalam 22.96, United Arab Emirates 22.31, Aruba 21.59, Luxembourg 21.34, Oman 20.56, Falkland Islands 19.56, Bahrain 19.18, United States, 17.5, Saudi Arabia, 16.92, Australia 16.75.
The Age editorialises yesterday:
(AUSTRALIA) is now left in a lamentable limbo ... (this is) the first time a government has wound back action on climate change ...
First time? CBC News, June 4, 2007:
PRIME Minister Stephen Harper told a German business audience Monday that Canada won’t meet its Kyoto targets to lower greenhouse gas emissions … “Of course we are not happy ... that Canada has abandoned Kyoto’s goals,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel (said).
Not the last time. Reuters, July 17:
EFFORTS to put a global price on greenhouse gases have been hampered as countries such as Japan, New Zealand, Russia and Canada look to weaken some of the measures they are taking to combat climate change.
Reuters, July 18:
SOUTH Korea’s Finance Minister has called its impending emissions trading market “flawed in many ways”, hinting that he would pressure other ministries to delay the planned 2015 launch 
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Give the man from the right “race” an A

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (9:48am)

Not just racist but anti-intellectual:
Earlier this year, the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty senate adopted a new Framework for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, which, according to the campus’s Board of Regents, “places the mission of diversity at the center of institutional life so that it becomes a core organizing principle.” ... 
UW economics professor W. Lee Hansen notes something profoundly disturbing in the framework, which apparently went unnoticed by the faculty and the administration: 
To achieve the plan’s vague aims, the Ad Hoc Diversity Planning Committee ... calls for “proportional participation of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups at all levels of an institution, including high status special programs, high-demand majors, and in the distribution of grades.”
Absolutely astonishing - and appalling.
(Thanks to reader Craig.) 
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Australia urges India to take back 153 “asylum seekers”

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (9:41am)

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Finnish shipowners report:
AS Tallink Grupp and Bridgemans Services Ltd. have entered into a charter agreement to charter the cruise ferry Silja Europa to Australia from August 2014 as an accommodation vessel. The period of the charter is at least 14 months with an option to extend up to 48 months.
UPDATE
No, it seems the ship may have been hired as accommodation for an energy project.
UPDATE
Meanwhile:
INDIAN officials are preparing for a visit to New Delhi by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, with discussions expected to centre on the 153 asylum-seekers in legal limbo and enhanced co-operation on people-smuggling. 
India’s high commissioner to Australia, Biren Nanda, last night told The Australian Mr Morrison was “proceeding to India and he will be meeting with our foreign and home ministers tomorrow’’…
Any discussions would include the 153 asylum-seekers at the centre of a legal challenge to Australia’s immigration regime after refugee lawyers told the High Court this month the boat came from a Tamil refugee camp in Pondicherry in southern India. The Abbott government has given a legal undertaking not to hand over the people to any foreign power or its agents without giving the court 72 hours’ notice.
(Thanks to reader Trevor.) 
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Who could run Fairfax best?

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (8:23am)

Any names you could suggest?
FAIRFAX Media’s largest shareholder and Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart is believed to be considering buying Fairfax if she can find the right leaders to run it.
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No, not enough ocean heat to explain that warming pause

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (8:01am)

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Jim Steele, Director emeritus Sierra Nevada Field Campus, San Francisco State University, reports on Watts Up with That:
Two of the world’s premiere ocean scientists from Harvard and MIT have addressed the data limitations that currently prevent the oceanographic community from resolving the differences among various estimates of changing ocean heat content (in print but available here)… 
As a by-product of that analysis they 1) determined the deepest oceans are cooling, 2) estimated a much slower rate of ocean warming, 3) highlighted where the greatest uncertainties existed due to the ever changing locations of heating and cooling, and 4) specified concerns with previous methods used to construct changes in ocean heat content, such as Balmaseda and Trenberth’s re-analysis…
They concluded, “Direct determination of changes in oceanic heat content over the last 20 years are not in conflict with estimates of the radiative forcing, butthe uncertainties remain too large to rationalize e.g., the apparent “pause” in warming.” ...
Their results ... suggest a flattening or slight cooling in the upper 100 meters since 2004, in agreement with the -0.04 Watts/m2 cooling reported by Lyman (2014). The consensus of previous researchers has been that temperatures in the upper 300 meters have flattened or cooled since 2003,4 while Wunsch and Heimbach (2014) found the upper 700 meters still warmed up to 2009.
The deep layers contain twice as much heat as the upper 100 meters, and overall exhibit a clear cooling trend for the past 2 decades… The detected cooling of the deepest oceans is quite remarkable given geothermal warming from the ocean floor.... Given those uncertainties, they concluded that much less heat is being added to the oceans compared to claims in previous studies.
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Crackpot theory: Russia blames Ukraine for downing of MH17

Andrew Bolt July 22 2014 (7:13am)

Russia deflects: 
“Russian air space control systems detected a Ukrainian Air Force plane, presumably an SU-25 (fighter jet), scrambling in the direction of the Malaysian Boeing ... The distance of the SU-25 plane from the Boeing was from 3 to 5 kilometres (2 to 3 miles),” Air Force Lieutenant-General Igor Makushev said. 
“Earlier, Ukrainian officials said that on the day of the Boeing 777 crash there were no military aircraft in the region - as you can see this does not appear to be true.” Another officer, Lieutenant-General Andrei Kartopolov, said that, “whether it is a coincidence or not”, a U.S. satellite had been monitoring the area at the time.
Why would Ukraine shoot down a plane? It had no fear of them. The rebels have no military aircraft and Ukraine would be very, very stupid to even want to attack Russian planes.
The pro-Russian separatists, however, had already brought down at least 10 Ukrainian planes and helicopters it feared was bringing troops and supplies to the front.
UPDATE
Not us, says the chief thug of the rebel movement:
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Ukraine attacks

Andrew Bolt July 21 2014 (7:58pm)

Ukraine moves against Donetsk, the key rebel-held city:
The Ukrainian military on Monday renewed its assault on this rebel-held city, even as international investigators in the region were trying to secure the remains of all 298 passengers and crew killed in the downing of a Malaysian Airlines jet. 
Explosions and artillery fire could be heard in central Donetsk from the direction of the city’s train station and airport, and a spokesman for the pro-Russian rebels also said there was fighting near the central market. Portions of the city 40 miles from the crash site were closed off. “This is a planned offensive,” said a Ukrainian military spokesman, Vladislav Seleznev. The military is trying to push rebels away from the airport, he said. “Aviation and artillery are not aiming at civilian residences,” he said. “Their only aim is to block the terrorists and fighters.”
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Pastor Rick Warren
Having authority implies accountability. If you reject the blame for failures under your watch, people reject your leadership.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Talent that sits on the shelf rots. Use it or lose it.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Stress at work is often caused by HOW you are doing it rather than how much you are doing.
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Subject: Be Alert & Cautious 

A man came over and offered his services as a painter to a female who was putting gas in her car and left his card. She said no, but accepted his card out of kindness and got in the car. The man then got into a car driven by another gentleman. As the lady left the service station, she saw the men following her out of the station at the same time. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy and could not catch her breath. She tried to open the window and realized that the odor was on her hand; the same hand which accepted the card from the gentleman at the gas station.

She then noticed the men were immediately behind her and she felt she needed to do something at that moment. She drove into the first driveway and began to honk her horn repeatedly to ask for help. The men drove away but the lady still felt pretty bad for several minutes after she could finally catch her breath.

Apparently, there was a substance on the card that could have seriously injured her.

This drug is called 'BURUNDANGA' and it is used by people who wish to incapacitate a victim in order to steal from or take advantage of them like REPEATED GANG RAPE. This drug is four times more dangerous than the date rape drug and is transferable on simple cards.

So take heed and make sure you don't accept cards at any given time alone or from someone on the streets. This applies to those making house calls and slipping you a card when they offer their services 
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Allyson Christy
Op-Ed: Israel Doesn’t Need Anyone’s Recognition - Israel National News 
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A CAMERA video highlights the unhealthy obsession with Jews in too much of the Arab and Muslim world. With so many being taught thatal Yahud — the Jews — are unimaginably evil, it will be difficult for leaders to sign and sustain a peace agreement with Israel, and difficult for those societies to function in a healthy manner.
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Federal Study: Fracking Process To Drill For Oil and Gas Does NOT Pollute
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Last election time local media moved to protect Jason from being opposed as he journeyed with Gillard. Recently, he has sent election peoples around the neighborhood bearing his name and wearing Liberal colours .. ed
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AN 11-year-old Yemeni girl who escaped an arranged marriage has taken to the internet to declare: "I'm not an item for sale." - technically, she is .. - ed
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Bigotry is never isolated to one thing by a bigot, although they focus, occasionally. Those so called faithful islamists in Iran hate everyone .. they hate each other .. but they don't hate equally all the time - ed
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Dear God, give me courage,
for perhaps I lack it more than anything else.

I need courage before men against their threats
and against their seductions.

I need courage to bear unkindness,
mockery, contradiction.

I need courage to fight against the devil,
against terrors and troubles, temptations,
attractions, darkness and false lights,
against tears, depression, and above all fear.

I need Your help, dear God.

Strengthen me with Your love and Your grace.

Console me with Your blessed Presence
and grant me the courage to persevere
until I am with You forever in heaven. Amen
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Larry Pickering
‘GETUP!’ OFFERS $40,000 BRIBE IN GOLD TO VOTERS

The oddball, far Left, union financed, Getup! has got a little over-excited about Kev’s return. An incredible $40,000 in gold bars is on offer for enrolling to vote, providing at the same time you join Getup!

"A huge number of young Australians aren't enrolled to vote and we want to give them every reason to'', GetUp! National Director, Sam Mr McLean, said today.

Mr McLean has recently taken over the activist group from Simon Sheikh who had taken to nodding off in interviews. Getup! has had substantial financial backing from the AWU.

“There are 1.4 million people eligible to vote who aren’t on the electoral roll, with 493,000 of those under 24. Those who enrol and register with GetUp! will go into a draw, with one winner from each State and Territory getting $5,000 worth of gold.” Mr McLean said.

Perhaps Mr McLean might run that idea past his lawyer before he finds himself in the slammer for 2 years.

Section 326 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act (Bribery) is pretty clear about offering inducements to vote in any way.

Sec 326 1. A person shall not ask for, receive or obtain, or offer or agree to ask for, or receive or obtain, any property or benefit of any kind... (d) the purpose of which is, or the effect of which is likely to be, to influence the preferences set out in the vote of an elector.

So, there you go, and if you are "likely" to sign up with Getup!, there’s no way you will be voting for anything other than the Communists, Labor or the Greens.

And don’t forget anyone agreeing to accept such a bribe can expect a $5,000 fine, an adjacent jail cell to McClean, or both.

(The AEC has promised to return my call asking for their response. As yet they have not responded.)
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Wiley Post
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“I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.” Psalm 119:30 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee."
Isaiah 37:22
Reassured by the Word of the Lord, the poor trembling citizens of Zion grew bold, and shook their heads at Sennacherib's boastful threats. Strong faith enables the servants of God to look with calm contempt upon their most haughty foes. We know that our enemies are attempting impossibilities. They seek to destroy the eternal life, which cannot die while Jesus lives; to overthrow the citadel, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail. They kick against the pricks to their own wounding, and rush upon the bosses of Jehovah's buckler to their own hurt.
We know their weakness. What are they but men? And what is man but a worm? They roar and swell like waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. When the Lord ariseth, they shall fly as chaff before the wind, and be consumed as crackling thorns. Their utter powerlessness to do damage to the cause of God and his truth, may make the weakest soldiers in Zion's ranks laugh them to scorn.
Above all, we know that the Most High is with us, and when he dresses himself in arms, where are his enemies? If he cometh forth from his place, the potsherds of the earth will not long contend with their Maker. His rod of iron shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel, and their very remembrance shall perish from the earth. Away, then, all fears, the kingdom is safe in the King's hands. Let us shout for joy, for the Lord reigneth, and his foes shall be as straw for the dunghill.
"As true as God's own word is true;
Nor earth, nor hell, with all their crew,
Against us shall prevail.
A jest, and by-word, are they grown;
God is with us, we are his own,
Our victory cannot fail."

Evening

"Why go I mourning?"
Psalm 42:9
Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God's love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as much as thou dost; he only cares to use it for that reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's ladder with the angels, and behold him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then "forever with the Lord," thy bliss shall never wane.
"Faint not nor fear, his arms are near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
Only believe and thou shalt see,
That Christ is all in all to thee."
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Today's reading: Psalm 29-30, Acts 23:1-15 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 29-30

A psalm of David.
1 Ascribe to the LORD, you heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 23:1-15

1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!"
4 Those who were standing near Paul said, "How dare you insult God's high priest!"
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Hur

[Hûr] - noble or splendor.
  1. The man who, with Aaron, held up the hands of Moses, so that by the continual uplifting of the sacred staff Israel might prevail over Amalek. Jewish tradition has it that Hur was the husband of Miriam and the grandfather of Bezaleel (Exod. 17:10, 12; 24:14).
  2. A son of Caleb the son of Hezron (Exod. 31:2; 35:30; 1 Chron. 2:19, 20; 2 Chron. 1:5).
  3. The fourth of the five kings of Midian slain with Balaam (Num. 31:8; Josh. 13:21).
  4. The father of one of Solomon's purveyors in Mount Ephraim (1 Kings 4:8).
  5. The father of Caleb and eldest son of Ephratah (1 Chron. 2:50; 4:4).
  6. A son of Judah (1 Chron. 4:1).
  7. The father of Rephaiah, who was ruler of half of Jerusalem and who assisted in the repair of the walls (Neh. 3:9).
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