Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Tue Aug 18th Todays News

Man Monis, according to testimony from those involved with a failed attempt to have his bail denied before his murder suicide attack on Lindt Cafe, was given freedom because of inexperienced officers of the District Attorney's office and poor practice. Public safety was not a concern. He'd been facing charges of sexual assault which were historical, but also alleged to have been implicated in the murder of his wife. The police were not legally in a position to arrest him, as the public prosecutor wanted if the public prosecutor's office were to oppose bail. It is clear there is resentment by the police towards the public prosecutor's office for leniency towards people apprehended. 

 The ALP's attack on the Royal Commission into Union Corruption has reached a new low, with a call to the Governor General to exercise a power not used since the 1920s when corrupt ALP used to rule. And if the GG responsibly decides to proceed with the royal commission, then the ALP can be expected to smear him too. There is a process the ALP can employ if they felt that the sitting judge was biased. 

 One particularly hateful meme circulating has it that Hitler said "We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike" reputedly said on may 2nd 1933. Hitler didn't say that on that date or any other. Hitler approved of trade unions which supported Nazis. Hitler did say it was easier to sell a big lie than a small one. Regardless of what the murderous dictator said, it doesn't apply to what is happening with a royal commission having a fact finding mission into union corruption. One might expect that union members wold prefer it that their leaders don't steal their money and give them second rate working conditions. But a staggeringly large number of people want corruption to continue, including Lambie, Lazarus and Muir, who voted down legislation that would prevent union corruption. And they are no different to a public prosecutor who allows a killer to be free. 
=== from 2014 ===
It has taken over thirty four years and the wheels of justice, painfully slow, denying justice for many, unto death, have turned for the Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan who were found guilty by a UN backed tribunal. Nuon Chea (88), or Brother number 2 was the ideological leader of the Khmer Rouge. Khieu Samphan was President of the communist state and is eighty three years old. They have been given life sentences. Their lawyers are appealing the sentence. But if they served a day for each person that died from their depraved civic activity they would not live long enough, and it would do their victims an injustice for not being long enough. There is no chance of rehabilitation. Even now, Samphan argues he didn't understand that he was killing people. Chea has apologised, but won't specify what it was he did wrong, saying to some victims "I feel remorseful for the crimes that were committed intentionally or unintentionally, whether or not I had known about it or not known about it." Victims live around the world, and still feel threatened by those communists. The UN seems to have played a role of harbouring these terrorists. And meanwhile, Australian Media have paid precious little attention to the depravity of the Khmer Rouge. 

However, there is plenty of attention given the accidental shooting of a black man. Not just any black man, an apparent gang affiliated thief who allegedly was fighting the policeman prior to being shot. Obama is a divider along racial lines, when he could have been a healer. No wonder the young Black peoples are feeling disaffected. Obama has promised much which he hasn't delivered. Those dividing are not helping, those rioting can be badly hurt. I hope the policeman is safe. He has never received a reprimand since he began policing four years ago. Remember Nicola Cotton, who died after being ordered to arrest a guy who fought her, grabbed her gun and killed her, before waiting to be arrested. 

Talia Joy Castellano was born on this day in 1999. She died in 2013 at the age of thirteen. She was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when she was seven years old and spent the remaining years of her life being treated for it. She went into remission three times, but it was found she had had myelodysplastic syndrome as well as neuroblastoma and there is no known treatment for that. She was given a short time to live, but an experimental drug lengthened that. But she was indomitable in spirit. She began to blog about make up. And she became a cover girl. Her youtube channels had more than seven hundred and fifty thousand subscribers and over forty five million views. Her siblings continue to maintain her instagram @taliajoy18

On this day, in 684 the Battle of Marj Rahit decided control of Syria. In 1384, at the Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle the French drew with the Flemish. In 1572, the French King Henry III married Margaret of Valois because she was Catholic and he hoped it would unify Catholic and Protestant France. Possibly the only time in history that line worked. In 1587, Virginia Dare was born. She was the grandchild of John White, the colony Governor of Roanoke and Virginia was the first English child born in the Americas. We don't know what happened to her in life as also on this day in 1590, John White returned to Roanoke from a supply trip to England, but the colony was deserted and to this day, no one is certain as to what happened to them. One prominent theory is that the colony sought shelter with a local indian tribe which adopted them. Stones with messages seem to have been left regarding Eleanor Dare, Virginia's mother. The situation was not entirely unexpected. White knew the territory was hostile when he left the colony to get help in England. It was a dangerous journey and when he got back, the captain of the ship refused to sail again in winter. But then the Spanish Armada sailed around the English coast and all sea worthy vessels were used in defence. 

In 1612 the trial of Pendle witches began. One theory regarding Salem Witch Trials is that the Salem Witches were suffering the effects of Ergot poisoning and believed some of what they experienced was supernatural. But the Pendle case is different, where two families profited in trade as witches and competed with each other. Henry VIII had closed a local abbey eighty years before and so the locals had less sophisticated spiritual tastes. The new King James I had strong opinions on the issue. Puritans sailed to America looking for religious freedom. One was found not guilty. Nine were hanged. In 1634 Urbain Grandier was accused and convicted of sorcery and burned alive in France. Some say he was not really a sorcerer but a victim of political machinations of Cardinal Richelieu. In 1783, a huge fireball was seen passing over the east coast of Great Britain. No one was convicted for that sorcery. 

In 1848, the Argentinian dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas ordered the execution of Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez. Camila was in late pregnancy and her unborn child was baptised prior to the firing squad execution. Camila (23) was the lover of the priest, Ladislao (24) and refused to claim she had been raped. There is a letter of her father to Rosas begging him to be just .. and strict .. "exemplary punishment for the most atrocious and unheard of event in this country." We live in different times. In 1868, Helium was discovered. In 1920, women were given the vote by US constitution's nineteenth amendment. In 1948, Don Bradman's invincible cricket side completed a 4-0 test victory on a tour where the tourists never lost a match. In 1958, Nabokov published Lolita in the US. In 1966, 108 Australian Diggers faced down 2500 Vietcong, capturing three. In 1971, Australia and NZ agreed to withdraw their troops from Vietnam. All Whitlam did in '72 was to make a bad decision worse by withdrawing without a plan for those that were defended by Australian troops. In 1977, Steve Biko was arrested at a road block under a terrorism act. He was innocent, but later beaten to death in jail by police. 
=== 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 Shane Kov, Huong Dang and Sophie McHeyzer. Born on the same day, across the years. Along with Jami (1414), Brook Taylor (1685), Antonio Salieri (1750), Brian Aldiss (1925), Roman Polanski (1933), Robert Redford (1936), Edward Norton and Christian Slater (1969) and Riko Narumi (1992). On your day, Long Tan Day in Australia (1966)
684 – Second Fitna: Umayyad partisans defeated the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cemented Umayyad control of Syria.
1487 – Reconquista: After a four-month siege, the Catholic Monarchs conquered the city of Málaga from the Muslims.
1877 – Asaph Hall discovered Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons, six days after discovering Deimos, the other one.
1948 – Australia completed a 4–0 Ashes series win, earning them the nickname of "The Invincibles" for being the first Test cricket match side to play an entire tour of England without losing a match.
1983 – Hurricane Alicia made landfall near Galveston, Texas, US, causing $2.6 billion in damages and 21 deaths. You have cemented power. Reconquered what was lost. Seen the smallest moon of another planet. Completed a victory. And in your wake, left some devastation. Enjoy the party, but clean up after ;)
Deaths
===

OVER TO YOU, BUZZFEED AND MAMAMIA

Tim Blair – Tuesday, August 18, 2015 (4:45am)

Now that criticism of female media and political personalities is an offence requiring resignation or dismissal, let’s see how Fairfax handles this.
===

GOODES BOOING EXPLAINED

Tim Blair – Tuesday, August 18, 2015 (4:33am)

According to Naomi Klein, climate change causes racism: 
Klein said climate change would exacerbate social problems such as racism and inequality, predicting Australia would become “meaner” as it gets hotter.
“You see that in Australia where the treatment of migrants is a profound moral crisis,” she said. “It’s clear that as sea levels rise that this mean streak and open racism is going to become more extreme – climate change is an accelerant to all those other issues.” 
The White Australia Policy was established in 1901 and abandoned in 1958, slightly prior to any warming concerns.
(Via PWAF.)
===

BOWER BOWSER

Tim Blair – Tuesday, August 18, 2015 (3:56am)

Are your stocks of moral superiority dangerously depleted? Here’s a top up. Or, if you wish, a lifetime supply.
Also, if you’re running low on crucial mojgan – and aren’t we all, during 2015’s ongoing mojgan shortage? – Gosford has an inexpensive source.
===

JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE … WITH A PRIVATE JET

Tim Blair – Tuesday, August 18, 2015 (3:41am)

In Iowa, a certain presidential candidate struggles to display the common touch: 
Mrs. Clinton’s celebrity had a way of encroaching on her efforts to show she can be just like everybody else …
After touring the fairgrounds in the slow-moving scrum composed of the news media, staff members and security personnel, Mrs. Clinton, holding a pork chop on a stick and a giant lemonade, climbed into a sport utility vehicle that took her to a private plane destined for Martha’s Vineyard off Massachusetts. 
Martha’s Vineyard, of course, is a blue-collar community mostly comprised of steel mill workers and other private aircraft users.
===

LONG-DISTANCE LIB LINK ALLEGED

Tim Blair – Tuesday, August 18, 2015 (3:14am)

The Sydney McCarthyist Herald reports: 
Dyson Heydon, the royal commissioner under mounting pressure to quit over his links to the Liberal Party, was on a panel that awarded a young Tony Abbott a life-changing scholarship to Oxford University.
Mr Heydon was part of the seven-member Rhodes Trust selection committee in NSW that in 1980handed the prestigious Rhodes scholarship to the future prime minister, then a 23 year-old student politician at Sydney University. 
It’s a 35-year conspiracy!
(Via A.R.M. Jones.)
===

FAST AND FURRIOUS

Tim Blair – Monday, August 17, 2015 (9:17pm)

Mark Latham is apparently filled with cats: 
The festering, sweaty, puss filled boil that was sitting on the a*** end of the Australian media landscape has finally been lanced with the announcement of Mark Latham’s exit from the Australian Financial Review. 
The author then condemns Latham’s “ill-informed and downright dangerous words”, which don’t actually seem that dangerous at all. In fact, none of Latham’s many previous targets – including me – seem to have been damaged in any way. Nor has he damaged any of his present targets. Incidentally, claims that Buzzfeed exposed Latham’s Twitter feed are incorrect. Here’s the Australian, way back in February: 
Latham also appears to have taken up a twitter account, where he is able to directly attack, Mike Carlton-style, those that are subject to the venom of his columns. 
Buzzfeed got there eventually.
UPDATE. Thoughts from Sinclair Davidson.
UPDATE II. Latham was in trouble ever since the day he was shadowed by a species of Doom Clown.
UPDATE III. The cats have been corrected.
===

Now Labor wants even the Governor-General to help save the corrupt

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (5:22pm)

Incredible, the damage Labor is prepared to do to our institutions to protect corrupt union officials:
Labor senators are proposing a motion asking the Governor-General to sack royal commissioner Dyson Heydon, in a parliamentary tactic not employed since 1931.
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong said that, if passed, the motion would leave Sir Peter Cosgrove with the discretion to dissolve the royal commission on the grounds that commissioner Dyson Heydon has “failed to uphold the standards of impartiality” expected of him.
The Liberals must attack on this. It went some way today in Question Time, but this needs to be hammered again and again, and not just because it is politically advantageous.
What Labor is doing is truly shocking and a threat to the integrity of our institutions. A major political party is trashing a good judge to protect corrupt union bosses. That is an utter disgrace. Imagine a country led by a party so craven.
And If Sir Peter Cosgrove refuses to help Labor’s cover-up will Labor then smear him, too?  
===

How politicians agree on what suits them but not us

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (12:02pm)

Peter Costello on the manipulation of public debate by the political class:

TWO weeks ago Speaker Bronwyn Bishop fell on her sword as a result of overusing her travel entitlements.
It looked like being the start of a long procession. People like Tony Burke, the manager of Opposition business, and his opposite number, Christopher Pyne, were in the gun. Then all of a sudden, in a spirit of bipartisanship, both sides of politics began defending the other.
Travel rorts stories dropped out of the media as quickly as they started. The political caravan moved on. No one needs to fear losing their position over such matters now. That’s all in the past.
You can only marvel at the power of bipartisan politics.
We have moved on to new issues. If you listened to Parliament today or read a newspaper you would think there is no issue of more importance to the Australian people than gay marriage.
Yet back in 2004, when the Coalition government amended the Marriage Act to make it clear that marriage consists of a union between a man and a woman, Labor’s shadow attorney-general, Nicola Roxon, made it clear that Labor, as a party, supported that… The Bill passed without a vote being called. 
But when it comes to agreeing to debate on the real issues, ...  hello? Read on. 
===

The CFMEU, threatened again by corruption allegations, calls in old favors to destroy a good judge

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (9:20am)

You could be forgiven for thinking we are seeing a giant political conspiracy to shield corruption in the union movement - and particularly in our biggest and most militant construction union.
What we are seeing is a vast network of patronage, mates and fellow travellers deployed for the third time to protect the CFMEU - and this time to destroy an honest judge. It really does strike me as that sinister and serious.

First, the CFMEU’s web of influence
Here’s Julia Gillard’s link with Michael O’Connor, now national secretary of the CFMEU construction, mining and forestry union:
JULIA GILLARD: One of my first big relationships was with Michael O’Connor…
MICHAEL O’CONNOR, TIMBER WORKERS’ UNION [part of the CFMEU since 1991]:  Probably the first time I met Julia was in the early ‘80s when hundreds of students would come from around the country. She was representing Adelaide University Student Union…
From Gillard’s maiden speech to Parliament:
Today I pay tribute to them and especially to the most committed of them all, Michael O’Connor, who has been my closest confidant since those heady days. I would not have reached this place without his support...
Here’s Labor workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor’s link with Michael O’Connor:
O’Connor’s brother, Brendan, sits in federal cabinet...
Here’s one of Labor’s links with the CFMEU:
AEC Returns show the CFMEU contributed $1.33 million to the ALP in 2013/14… Support for Labor from the CFMEU has totalled $13.4 million over the last 19 years.
Here’s one of the Greens links with the CFMEU:
The CFMEU also tipped in $145,000 to the Australian Greens [in 2013/14].
Here’s ACTU secretary Dave Oliver’s link with Michael O’Connor:
Since taking over the national secretary job in early 2011, [O’Connor has] formed a close bond with fellow manufacturing union bosses Paul Howes and Dave Oliver. The three men teamed up successfully last year to lobby the Gillard government for tougher anti-dumping laws. The Power Index also understands that O’Connor and Howes were crucial players garnering support behind the scenes for Oliver to become ACTU secretary.
CFMEU’s first problem - the cop on the beat
The Australian Building and Construction Commission cracks down on CFMEU lawlessness:
The ABCC had been brilliantly successful in cracking down on lawlessness in the construction industry. Rogue unions - including the CFMEU - were heavily fined. Days lost to illegal strikes plummeted. Nearly 40 matters of possible criminal conduct including extortion, assaults and bribes were referred to police and other law enforcement agencies.
For instance:
In the ABCC’s last year, courts hit unions with more than $2.5 million in penalties. Two unions [including the CFMEU] and several union officials were fined $1.3 million for obstruction, violence and intimidation on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge project… But the CFMEU demanded Labor get this policeman off its back.
Favors are called in to destroy the workplace police for the CFMEU
In 2012, the Greens and Gillard-led Labor scrap the ABCC, as demanded by CFMEU boss Michael O’Connor:

The CFMEU has welcomed the passage of legislation to scrap the Australian Building and Construction Commission… CFMEU National Secretary Michael O’Connor said the ABCC was the last vestige of Work Choices, and its abolition was long overdue…
The Senate passed the legislation this evening with Labor and Greens Senators voted in favour ...
The resulting lawlessness:
FORMER ACTU president Martin Ferguson has backed the reinstatement of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, likening the ­actions of elements of the CFMEU to the outlawed Builders Labourers Federation and declaring the union must be “brought to heel’’…
Mr Ferguson’s comments come after Fair Work Building and Construction director Nigel Hadgkiss warned last week about increasing lawlessness in the industry, saying 75 CFMEU officials were before the courts, facing 403 alleged breaches of workplace laws.
With parliament weighing up a crucial vote on the reinstatement of the ABCC to replace the Fair Work Building and Construction agency, ...  the government needs support of six of the eight crossbench senators…
CFMEU’s second problem - the return of the workplace cop
Abbott’s promise:
TONY Abbott has launched a stinging attack against militant construction unions, warning he will reinstate the building industry watchdog and demand the rule of law is followed by unions.
Another favor called in by the CFMEU
Labor and the Greens yesterday blocked the return of the ABCC:
The government has vowed to reintroduce legislation to revive the Australian Building and Construction Commission after its bill was defeated in the Senate. Employment Minister Eric Abetz flagged the government would “re-engage” with the crossbench following the defeat, with senators Jacqui Lambie, Ricky Muir and Glenn Lazarus opposing the legislation…
The government needs six of the eight crossbench votes to sec­ure passage of the ABCC, given the opposition of Labor and the Greens.
The CFMEU and the CFMEU boss’s Labor brother cheer:
Opposition industrial relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor said the proposed ABCC had powers that were “excessive, undemocratic and unwarranted in terms of regulating civil laws"…
The national secretary of the CFMEU’s construction division, Dave Noonan, said the defeat of the bill was “a vote for equal rights for workers in the construction industry and a vote against discrimination”.
CFMEU’S third problem - a royal commissioner exposing alleged corruption by some of its officials
Dyson Heydon’s royal commission makes a string of findings against the CFMEU in its interim report:
The head of Victoria’s militant construction union, John Setka, should be considered for the criminal charge of blackmail while the construction union acts in “wilful defiance of the law”, an interim report of the royal commission into trade unions has said.
Commissioner Dyson Heydon recommended charges be considered against Mr Setka, state secretary of the Construction Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, along with his assistant Shaun Reardon and a number of other top CFMEU officials from around Australia…
A key focus was the CFMEU and the report recommended charges of blackmail for alleged demands that construction materials multinational Boral stop supplying concrete to construction giant Grocon be considered for senior officials Mr Setka and Mr Reardon…
Justice Heydon has also recommended that charges be considered against Darren Greenfield, from the CFMEU’s NSW branch, for using a telephone to make death threats to his former colleague, Brian Fitzpatrick.
NSW CFMEU boss Brian Parker was also criticised for gross misbehaviour and gross neglect of his duty and “should be removed from office”. Queensland CFMEU officials Michael Ravbar and Peter Close are recommended to face prosecution for charges including extortion.
A third volume of Justice Heydon’s report was not released as it dealt with “serious criminal matters” and making it public would endanger the safety of some people referred to in it.
CFMEU officials arrested last month:

An ex-Canberra Raider footballer has become the third person arrested by the police taskforce attached to the royal commission into trade union governance and corruption.
The Australian understands Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union official John Lomax was taken into custody by the ACT-based federal police taskforce today, and charged with one count of blackmail… Sub-contractor Elias Taleb mentioned Mr Lomax during evidence last week, saying he was connected to former CFMEU organiser Fihi Kivalu who was arrested last Friday.
Mr Taleb alleged Mr Fihi and Mr Lomax demanded payment from him to keep quiet about non-union employees.
The CFMEU now demands the royal commissioner be destroyed. Once again, its mates go to work
The CFMEU smears Dyson Heyson as a Liberal stooge with the ABC’s assistance:
THE ABC last night screened an anti-Abbott Government attack ad during its high-rating and controversial television program Q&A…

The commercial linked Mr Abbott with royal commissioner John Dyson Heydon, who was linked to a Liberal Party fundraiser earlier this week. “The man he hand picked to head it up also agreed to be the headline act at a Liberal Party fundraiser. Independent Mr Abbott?” the commercial said.
Labor, the recipient of CFMEU donations, attacks Heydon:
Labor frontbenchers last week ... trashed Heydon as “conflicted and biased”, a Liberal “bag man” in charge of a “witch hunt” and “farce” whose job was to “smear” the Government’s “opponents”.
Labor frontbencher Brendan O’Connor, brother of the CFMEU boss, attacks Heydon:
Opposition employment and workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor said Mr Heydon needed to disqualify himself from the royal commission.., “I do think there’s improper behaviour of the commission, as I’ve said before,” Mr O’Connor said on ABC TV. “And yes, the proceedings to date are tainted entirely from beginning to end ...”
The Greens, recipients of CFMEU donations, attack Heydon:
Greens leader Richard Di Natale said it made no difference whether Mr Heydon knew the event was a party event. “If he didn’t realise he was attending a Liberal Party function he should resign out of stupidity as well as bias,” he said.
The ACTU boss, recipient of CFMEU backing, attacks Heydon:

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver said the royal commission should be immediately shut down.
And note: all this is done to the cheers of much of the press - and the near silence of the bar associations and law societies, now largely captured by the Left.
Australia really is in peril. If this attempt to destroy the royal commission succeeds, who will ever dare stand against corruption within powerful unions?
(NOTE WELL: As I said on 2GB last night, I do not question the integrity of Michael O’Connor himself. I have never heard a word said against his ethics or personal propriety, either privately or publicly. I’ve even praised him in the past (privately and publicly) for putting his members interests above political considerations. I question not his integrity but his judgement in deploying the union’s might and reach in a way that I believe will protect people in his ranks who should instead be brought to justice. I believe he is blinded by his ideology and tribalism to the practical effect of the positions he takes from principle.) 
===

This defence of free thought should not be necessary

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (8:03am)

It is astonishing and terribly worrying that this kind of defence of academic freedom must now be made - and even considered brave:
Flinders University vice-chancellor Colin Stirling will not prevent staff from collaborating with academic Bjorn Lomborg, and says a push to prohibit a proposal for a so-called Australian Consensus Centre being put to the federal government is contrary to academic freedom.
Professor Stirling said the issue “cut to the heart of the principle of academic freedom and he would defend the right of any of the Adelaide-based university’s academics to pursue work with Dr Lomborg”.
Lomborg’s crime? Simply to point out the bleeding obvious: that to spend billions of dollars on schemes that actually make no real difference to global temperatures might not be the best use of scarce money.
It is a measure of our anti-intellectual times that students and staff believe this reasoning disqualifies an academic from even being heard at a university. 
===

Jew banned

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (7:32am)


Jew hatred is growing in the arts world that Jews have so distinguished. These are sinister days:

Matisyahu ... became famous as the “hassidic reggae star,” although he left Orthodox Judaism in 2011.... Next weekend, on August 22, he was due to perform at the Rototom Sunsplash festival in Benicassim, north of Valencia.
...  [A] group of local Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists ... claimed that Matisyahu is a supporter of “an apartheid state that practices ethnic cleansing,” and demanded that the festival cancel the performance.
Matisyahu is of course not the first Jew to suffer this type of pressure ... in the name of “progressive” values. In London, the Jerusalem String Quartet and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra have been the targets of attempts to cancel their performances. When the performances have gone ahead, they have had to suffer obscene and threatening performance interruptions by protesters. The same has happened to Israeli theatre companies such as Habima – whose performers were insulted and vilified while on stage at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, trying to perform “The Merchant of Venice.” None of the protesters seemed to see the irony of vilifying Jews on stage during that of all plays…
But the treatment of Matisyahu is something new. For Matisyahu is not an Israeli—he is an American. Yet after the intervention of the BDS protestors, the festival’s director ... asked Matisyahu to produce a “signed statement or video” stating “in a very clear way” that he supported the creation of a Palestinian state.... Understandably, Matisyahu refused to respond to this ultimatum, and festival organisers cancelled his performance…

But perhaps we could also initiate some other geostrategic questions that might be demanded of all other performers in the future… Maybe the rest of the world should demand that all musicians from Spain sign a statement or make a video supporting Catalan independence if they are to be allowed to perform in public? 
But, no. These are just rules for Jews, obliging them to support moves to undermine the very existence of a Jewish state.
(Thanks to reader Grendel.) 
===

The silencing of the same-sex argument

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (7:05am)

A Sydney Morning Herald reviewer shows all the respect that newspaper usually gives to people who disagree on same-sex marriage.
The targets this time are a Marxist and a daughter of a lesbian couple who were the two of six people on the Q&A panel last night who dared to differ.
First, the reviewer, Neil McMahon, chides Brendan O’Neill and Katy Faust for allegedly “patronising anybody who opened their mouth”.
But patronising people is clearly not their real sin, because McMahon himself then patronises O’Neill and Faust for opening their mouths, and with extra abuse:

...  tedious ... tiresome ...  hurtful and offensive ... tin-foil hat brigade ... their fever dreams ... their views as both a gigantic yawn or a legal anachronism ... Faust comes blessed with an interesting surname if you want to think about it ... the lights are still off ... quoting in support a certain Eric Abetz, the Liberal senator last seen tending to his Dolce and Gabbana sock collection ...  O’Neill, a British writer whose ability to get on your nerves is so pronounced that mosquitoes must find him annoying ...  like being taken hostage by an opinionated dentist ..  schtick ... prancing shock value ... ability to talk under water ... he had a lesson for the ladies ... a pat on the head only implied ...  this defender of the heterosexual sponge industry
That’s not a review. It’s not an argument.  It’s just a great blast of abuse to drown out an opposing view. 
UPDATE

Credit is due to Paul Barry, host of the ABC’s Media Watch. He supports same-sex marriage but last night called out the muzzling of the other side of the debate, including bans on the ad above:
Yes, some Foxtel viewers don’t just dislike the ads [against same-sex marriage], they think the network shouldn’t be running them… Fairfax and Channel Nine, who also published the ad, ran into similar flak, including this broadside from Mamamia..
The ad’s inaccurate claims are offensive. They are untrue. They are inviting hate… Why on earth did the Nine Network agree to air these ads?
The ad in fact makes hardly any claims at all and in my opinion to say it’s inviting hate is ridiculous.
But by then, other media had already decided to ban it , with Channel Seven, Channel Ten, 2DayFM, The Australian Radio Network and Nova all refusing to give the ad an airing… Nova at least came clean on its reasons, telling the Marriage Alliance in an email:

We simply feel that, this messaging [is] significantly out of alignment with the Nova brand and our audience.
By contrast, an ad from the other side of the debate—which supports same sex marriage or Marriage Equality—has run on Sky, Foxtel and WIN…
Aren’t we about a fair go? ...
But aside from the ads being banned, are opponents of marriage equality getting an equal run in the media?  Or at least a fair hearing. We don’t think they are....
And major one-on-one interviews on radio and TV have also been out of kilter. With two key spokespeople for marriage equality, Rodney Croome and Christine Forster, scoring 32 interviews between them in the first 12 days of August and by our count, two key speakers against—Sophie York and David van Gend—scoring a grand total of only 12.
Amazingly, the ABC has not interviewed Sophie York from the Marriage Alliance even once—despite 16 interviews with Forster and Croome. 

The media is skewing the debate. That explains a lot of the Left’s hostility to a public vote. There would have to be at least the pretence of a debate - one that many in the media have been very eager to suppress. 
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And if gay marriage were a conservative cause he’d be against it

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (6:59am)

I’ve noted before with many in the tribalist Left that it’s not the principle that counts but the side. Today’s example is Marxist Guy Rundle of Crikey:
I don’t think same-sex marriage — as opposed to fully equal civil unions — means anything much, least of all a genuinely progressive or radical cause. But one is always interested to see the conservative forces suffer a fresh blow.
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Stay classy, Em

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (6:14am)

Em Rusciano, a news.com.au columnist, has manners advice for Mark Latham:
Stay classy
This advice is buried in a mountain of abuse:
...festering, sweaty, pus-filled boil that was sitting on the a*** end of the Australian media landscape… Latham is officially the drunk, handsy uncle at the family BBQ ... downright dangerous words ... White men with limited life experience in unity against vulnerable people ... hate-spewing .... bullied ... good riddance to you Latho, good f***ing riddance
I have often criticised Latham myself for his abuse, his cruel betrayal of confidences of former colleagues and his indifference at times to the facts. His abuse of Cate McGregor was appalling. But it takes a self-confessed “left-wing feminist” to now so viciously abuse Latham for using that same abuse against unapproved targets - against peddlers of the politics of identity and victimhood rather than against conservatives and “white men”.
Indeed, this is an example Rusciano gives of Latham’s “dangerous” and “hate-spewing” words:

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Seems from that example that Latham’s real offence is not his lack of manners but lack of loyalty to the tribe.
(Via Tim Blair, whose biggest problem was the reference to cats.)
UPDATE
The Financial Review’s Will Glasgow puts it well:
I reckon Mark was a brilliant columnist. I think it’s a terrible thing that he resigned from the Financial Review. Australian journalism is now even duller.
Yes, the Twitter account @RealMarkLatham was ill advised – if it was run by Latham. That account’s trolling of Leigh Sales, Annabel Crabb and co. wasn’t a credit to anyone.
But what a shame that tedious social media, in concert with awful Buzzfeed, has ended one of the best reads in the paid media – the media the other stuff makes much of its money talking about.
Glasgow also notes that the Left actually don’t mind Latham’s style of abuse, but only when it’s not directed at his own:
Sometimes you would be forgiven for thinking Australia’s not very comfortable with debate. I remember going to a lunch-time lecture at university to listen to Latham promote his Diaries…
It was the former ALP leader at his best – well argued, funny and provocative.
I was already impressed, even before a halfwit who I went to school with and who had since joined Young Labor (rarely a good sign in an 18-year-old) lost his temper in the question and answer session.
“You f----- up. You blame everyone – the unions, the Labor Party. But what about you?” shouted this little genius, before descending into language that would make even @RealMarkLatham blush.
Latham kept his cool… 
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Tourists die in Bangkok bombing

Andrew Bolt August 18 2015 (6:03am)


A tragedy - and a deeply worrying development in Thailand:

At least 27 have been killed and many injured after a bomb exploded Monday outside a popular religious shrine in Bangkok, scattering body parts and debris across the city’s commercial core. 

Local media is reporting that four of those killed were foreign tourists…
While there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, suspicion was likely to fall on the kingdom’s rival political factions.
Thailand has been seared by a near-decade of political violence that has left the country deeply divided and seen repeated rounds of deadly street protests and bombings — but none on Monday’s scale…
Thailand’s defence minister said the bombers had targeted “foreigners” to try to damage the tourist industry, which is a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economy…
Thailand is also fighting a festering insurgency in its Muslim-majority southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia. More than 6,400 people — mostly civilians — have been killed there.
In the so-called Deep South, bombs are a near-daily reality alongside shootings and ambushes of security forces… There has never been a confirmed attack by the insurgents outside the southern region despite the years of war.
The Erawan is an enormously popular shrine to the Hindu god Brahma but is visited by thousands of Buddhist devotees every day.
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LAKEMBRANCE DAY

Tim Blair – Monday, August 18, 2014 (5:35am)

The Lakemba Hotel is one of the last Anglo holdouts in Sydney’s otherwise Middle Eastern south-western suburb. Frankly, the old joint – it opened in 1928 – isn’t putting up much resistance. Most nights the bar is closed by 8.30pm or so, because by then what few customers it attracts are insufficient to cover running costs.
Still, it’s friendly and hospitable. Staffer Poppy helpfully showed me to my $50 per night room, which is the only option in Lakemba for anyone seeking short-term rented accommodation. There are no other hotels or motels. In fact, there are no other rooms besides number 15, in the hotel’s residential wing. All the others are taken by boarders, one of whom has been here for 20 years. 
It isn’t exactly luxurious. The room has a sink, which is nice, but nothing else by way of amenities. There isn’t even a Gideon’s Bible. Instead, reflecting certain demographic changes in the area, there is a Ramadan eating schedule.
Lakemba may be only 30 minutes from the centre of Sydney, yet it is remarkably distinct from the rest of our city. You can walk the length of crowded Haldon Street and not hear a single phrase in English. On this main shopping street the ethnic mix seems similar to what you’d find in any major Arabic city. Australia may be multicultural, but Haldon Street is a monoculture.
This does have its advantages. If you’re ever in need of groceries at 3am, head to Lakemba, where shopkeepers keep unusual hours, particularly during Ramadan. The food is delicious, of course. I recommend La Roche and Al Aseel, but all restaurants in Haldon Street are good. If you’re unfamiliar with Lebanese food, just go for anything with the word “mixed”.
And then there are the downsides.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'LAKEMBRANCE DAY'
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PROPER NOUN EXPLOSION

Tim Blair – Monday, August 18, 2014 (4:29am)

Random capitals on Fox Sports:

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Why do people do this? Is everyone German all of a sudden?
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LITERATURE OUTREACH PROGRAM #1

Tim Blair – Monday, August 18, 2014 (4:24am)

Attention to all frightbats who may wish to protest – the Islamic Bookstore is in Haldon Street, Lakemba:

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Some people keep asking about the denizens of Hell and the reason why women will go to hell in large numbers …
Men’s perfection is because of various reasons: intelligence, religion, etc … At most, four women have this perfection. 
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EDITOR APPROACHED

Tim Blair – Monday, August 18, 2014 (4:04am)

Personally, I’m on Noel’s side: 
Shortly after 11 am last Friday, Noel Pearson, chairman of the Cape York Group and a nationally prominent Aboriginal leader, walked into the newsroom of The Sydney Morning Herald and approached a senior editor. He proceeded to berate the editor, loudly, obscenely. He took off his jacket and told the editor he would “beat you to a pulp”. He also mentioned throwing him off the balcony. 
Well, Noel might have overdone things a touch. But who among us can say we wouldn’t do the same?
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LITERATURE OUTREACH PROGRAM #2

Tim Blair – Monday, August 18, 2014 (3:58am)

Also on sale at the Islamic Bookstore:

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No one can deny the fact that the Jews are the worst kind of barbarian killers the world has ever known!!! The decent great Adolf Hitler of Germany never killed in the manner of the Jews!!! Surely only mad people or those who love killing infants, pregnant women and the infirm will think differently …
Humor and jokes are strictly forbidden by the Jewish religion. 
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BIG MONEY WANTED

Tim Blair – Monday, August 18, 2014 (3:54am)

The Clown Shoe is a retirement plan. Especially because I’ll probably be retired before I can drive it again.
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LITERATURE OUTREACH PROGRAM #3

Tim Blair – Monday, August 18, 2014 (2:41am)

Another community-enriching title from our friends at Sydney’s Islamic Bookstore:

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Question 43: Is it allowed to support and love disbelievers?
Answer: No, it is not allowed. 
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Why is Keysar Trad advising the Prime Minister on our security?

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (3:04pm)

Why is Tony Abbott consulting with a Keysar Trad on our national security?
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is meeting Muslim community leaders in Sydney this afternoon in a bid to sell the Government’s proposed counter-terrorism laws… 
Keysar Trad from the Islamic Friendship Association is attending the meeting and says Australian Muslim leaders are just as concerned about Australia’s national security… But Mr Trad says some of the Government’s proposals go too far, such as the move to make it illegal to travel to an area of terrorist activity, such as Iraq or Syria.
That’s this same Keysar Trad, now claiming to be just as concerned as the rest of us about jihadists:
Trad was the former spokesman of the pro-Hezbollah Mufti of Australia, the extremist Sheik Taj Al-Din Al-Hilaly… [Trad] had been a translator for the pro-Osama bin Laden and pro-jihadist Nida’ul Islam magazine, where he wrote: ``The criminal dregs of white society colonised this country . . . and the descendants of these criminal dregs tell us that they are better than us.’’ 
Senator Cory Bernardi tells the Senate his views on Trad, now advising the Prime Minister on how to deal with national security:
In 2009, the New South Wales Supreme Court found that Mr Trad ‘incites people to commit acts of violence’, ‘incites people to have racist attitudes’ and is a ‘dangerous and disgraceful individual’. This stemmed from a defamation case that Mr Trad brought against Harbour Radio… 
The courts based their finding that Mr Trad incites people to commit acts of violence on the following evidence: Mr Trad’s own website used to have a link to a website he touted as having ‘very good articles concerning Islam and Muslims’. But the courts found that this website held ‘significant anti-Semitic views’… When he was interviewed by a journalist, Mr Trad said words to the effect of, ‘There are many Jews who question how many died in the Holocaust’, which the judge saw as ‘an attempt to diminish the significance of those events.’ In the end, both courts deemed that this showed that Mr Keysar Trad incited violence against Jewish people…
Then there is the finding that Mr Trad is a ‘dangerous individual’… This was based on the following opinion of Mr Trad: When talking about the gang rape of young women in Sydney by a group of Lebanese men, in one interview Mr Trad chose to tell a joke and described these types of perpetrators as ‘stupid young boys’. The court said that his comments about the issue ‘demeaned the victims of the crime’, ‘did not condemn the perpetrators’ and ‘trivialised the responsibility of rapists.’ ..
Mr Trad failed to condemn [Hilali’s] reference to ‘the blessings of the 11th of September’ and the Sheik’s condoning of the use of boys as martyrs in the cause of radical Islam. The court said that this ‘involved putting forward ideas which risk an unbalanced or fanatical person being encouraged, or encouraging others, to participate in such activities’…
In 2005, he wrote an article published in the Daily Telegraph that said ‘Australians should be more concerned with the United States than radical Islam.’ ... And a year after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, Mr Trad was reported in the Weekend Australian as saying: 
Osama bin Laden would have trouble teaching someone to drive a car ... how could a man living in a backward country mastermind the hijacking of several planes, with the whole operation going off like clockwork? ... I just don’t want to believe Muslims were behind it.
But what I find most galling is that the once-proud Labor Party reportedly entertained for eight months the idea of having this man as a candidate for political office. And for years the media have lauded him as a national spokesman on Islamic matters. 
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Palmer told to get on with case that could cost $30 million

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (10:09am)

How much more money can this bully afford to lose?
THE corporate regulator is turning the screws on Clive Palmer after his Federal Court loss to owners over his Coolum resort and dinosaur park, which could end up costing him $30 million. 
Mr Palmer, who is at war with the owners of villas at the Sunshine Coast resort, has been told the Australian Securities & Investments Commission wants no more delays and intends to proceed as soon as possible in a case shaping as an expensive disaster.
Lawyers’ correspondence, ­obtained by The Australian yesterday, shows Mr Palmer wants to delay his own appeal in the legal proceedings, after an adverse finding that would see the part-owners of villas at the resort paid out $65,000 each for their parcel.
The resources tycoon has appealed a Federal Court finding in favour of the villa owners two months ago that exposes him to being forced to pay as much as $30m to buy all of the owners out.
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Obama’s “mission accomplished”. More Yazidis slaughtered

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (9:02am)

August 14 - Barack Obama says mission accomplished. No need for US troops in Iraq:
The MV-22 Ospreys and most of the 129 troops rushed to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq for a possible rescue mission will be withdrawn quickly following the lifting of the siege of Mount Sinjar, President Obama said Thursday. 
“The situation on the mountain has greatly improved and Americans should be very proud of our efforts” against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Obama said from Martha’s Vineyard, where he is vacationing. “We broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar… “We helped vulnerable people reach safety, and we helped save many innocent lives,” said Obama, who has been under fire for his response to the rise of ISIL in Syria and Iraq.
August 15 - mission accomplished?:
MORE Than 300 Yazidi men were killed and 1,000 women and children were taken hostage after Islamist militants stormed their village in north-western Iraq… 
The village lies near the town of Sinjar, which the jihadists had stormed on August 3, sending tens of thousands of Yazidis fleeing to the nearby mountain.
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Tim Blair visits Lakemba. A pity Sussan Ley didn’t join him

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (8:33am)

As I said yesterday, no more sweet untruths:
I mean well-meaning deceptions like this, from federal frontbencher Sussan Ley:
We must be really careful with the - we must recognise several things about Muslim ... One is that Islam is a religion of peace. It absolutely is.
Really? Tim Blair checks into the Lakemba Hotel to visit the Islamic heartland of Australia:

A few weeks ago a large crowd of mostly young men assembled outside the Lakemba Hotel. Waving black flags, the men chanted: 
Palestine is Muslim land
The solution is Jihad ...
You can never stop Islam
From Australia to al Sham [Syria].
... Across the road from the hotel is the Islamic Bookstore… Three books caught my eye. Here’s an extract from Muhammad bin Jamil Zino’s What a Muslim Should Believe, a handy 64-page Q & A guide to the Koran’s instructions: 
Question 43: Is it allowed to support and love disbelievers? 
Answer: No, it is not allowed.
...The History of the Jews seems a bland enough title, but the back cover quotes lines from Martin Luther that were used by Nazi propagandists: “The sun never did shine on a more bloodthirsty and revengeful people as they.” The book offers this view, on page 16: 
No one can deny the fact that the Jews are the worst kind of barbarian killers the world has ever known!!! The decent great Adolf Hitler of Germany never killed in the manner of the Jews!!! Surely only mad people or those who love killing infants, pregnant women and the infirm will think differently.
... Another must-read is Mansoor Abdul Hakim’s charming 2009 text, Women Who Deserve to go to Hell. Turns out it’s quite a lot of them.
“Some people keep asking about the denizens of Hell and the reason why women will go to hell in large numbers,” writes Hakim in the book’s foreword, before listing various types of hell-bound females, including the grumbler, the quarrelsome woman, women with tattoos and women who refuse to have sex during menstruation. “Men’s perfection is because of various reasons: intelligence, religion, etc,” Hakim explains. “At most, four women have this perfection.”
Mix this level of ignorance and loathing with the Islamic community’s high rate of unemployment, and conflict is inevitable. The Islamic riots of 2012 ended up in central Sydney but began here in Lakemba and surrounding suburbs, where seething young Muslims formed their plans, including printing signs reading “Behead all those who insult the prophet”. One of the men arrested in those riots was Ahmed Elomar, who was subsequently convicted for bashing a police officer with a flagpole.... Lately Elomar’s brother Mohammed has posed with severed heads in Iraq, where he is fighting alongside fundamentalist Islamic State extremists. 
UPDATE
Theologian John G. Stackhouse explains:
First, Islam is indeed a religion of peace, but in a crucially qualified sense. The root word of both “Islam” and “Muslim” is “s-l-m”, which is also the root for “salaam” or “peace” — but it most basically means “submission” (to God). 
So peace will be achieved by the rule of God extending over the world… That global peace has not arisen yet, because the world is still divided into two realms: dar al-Islam, where people live in submission to God, and dar al-Harb, the abode of war, where non-Muslims do not yet submit to the beneficent reign of Allah. Once Islam triumphs over the whole world, humanity will have global peace… Islam’s scriptures not only allow for, but in some places encourage, the use of force. The so-called sword verses of the Koran in particular encourage believers to fight to defend the faith and the faithful community, and subdue enemies of the faith. Muslim scholars have long disputed the interpretation and application of these verses. At one extreme are those who preach them as the chief duty of Muslims who feel embattled or aggressive. At the other are liberal Muslims who doubt their authenticity, particularly in the face of many other verses in the Koran that advocate peace. But every educated Muslim knows that the sword verses are there.
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Noel Pearson is not a god and cannot be excused this behaviour

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (8:15am)

I have repeatedly warned that Noel Pearson’s much-hailed reforms at Cape York are still dangerously dependent on a Big Man style government, a model that I believe has been unhealthy in other parts of Aboriginal Australia.
I’ve also pointed out the poor gain for the incredible government spending lavished on Pearson’s domain. From last year:
Noel Pearson’s name - and political contacts - save a program I am assured does good, but comes at an astonishing cost: 
...[An independent assessment] finds that, since the trial began in July 2008, the Cape York communities of Aurukun, Coen, Hopevale and Mossman Gorge in far north Queensland have experienced improved school attendance, care and protection of children, and community safety…
The Cape York welfare trial has received about $100 million from the federal and Queensland governments.
$100 million is incredible, given the four towns between them have fewer than 3500 people, according to census figures. 
Pearson has the strong support and admiration of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and The Australian newspaper, so he may well do far more good than I am aware of, having met him only once (and cordially).
But this account, from Paul Sheehan, only confirms my doubts:
Shortly after 11 am last Friday, Noel Pearson, chairman of the Cape York Group and a nationally prominent Aboriginal leader, walked into the newsroom of The Sydney Morning Herald and approached a senior editor. He proceeded to berate the editor, loudly, obscenely. He took off his jacket and told the editor he would “beat you to a pulp”. He also mentioned throwing him off the balcony. He dropped the “c” bomb repeatedly…
This is the other side of Noel Pearson, the unelected, unaccountable bridge-burner who has left a trail of damage and division that offsets and undermines his efforts to break the cycle of social dysfunction in many indigenous communities…
One of his tirades was recorded by a former federal minister. Even after Pearson was advised he was being taped he continued a long, expletive-laden soliloquy of abuse and invective…
The trigger for Pearson’s rage on Friday was an old sore, a profile published in Good Weekend two years ago, on August 25, 2012, by Jane Cadzow…
Her profile began with this confronting scene: ... A Queensland government delegation was in Cairns to confer with Noel Pearson…
What followed, according to former parliamentarian Stephen Robertson, was “a tirade of expletives and abuse”, including, more than once, the phrase “f---ing white c---s"… starting very slowly, very deliberately, and speaking quite softly, then over the next 15 or 20 minutes reaching a crescendo”.
Among those present was state environment minister Kate Jones, whose female adviser was dismissed by Pearson as an “arse-wipe”. Robertson says his own chief-of-staff, an indigenous man, was called a “sell-out c---”. Another member of the group sums up the rest of the diatribe: “‘You f---ing white c---s’, scream, scream, scream. Full on, for half an hour. Nobody could get a word in.” The story presented a troubling portrait of a charismatic bully who has extracted millions of dollars of funding for indigenous programs from governments and corporations, via persuasion or browbeating. The portrait of Pearson’s older brother, Gerhardt, was also troubling.  
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Abbott is right on Scotland, actually

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (7:39am)

At first I was tempted to think Tony Abbott had gone too far:
“As a friend of Britain, as an observer from afar, it’s hard to see how the world would be helped by an independent Scotland,” Mr Abbott told British newspaper The Times on Saturday. 
“I think that the people who would like to see the breakup of the United Kingdom are not the friends of justice, the friends of freedom, and the countries that would cheer at the prospect ... are not the countries whose company one would like to keep.”
Like I said, I was first tempted to think he’d gone too far:
But then I thought of the governments which would have loved pesky Britain to be weaker:
Napoleon’s France
The Kaiser’s Germany
Hitler’s Germany
Mussolini’s Italy
The Soviet Union
Mao’s China, particularly over Korea
The junta’s Argentina
Milosevic’s Serbia
The Taliban’s Afghanistan
Saddam’s Iraq
There there’s Britain’s steadying role on the UN Security Council and its resistance to the creeping European Union bureaucratic autocracy. Add, moreover, the encouragement its dissolution on ethnic grounds would add to the destructive New Racism movement. 
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The real problem isn’t the Abbott Government

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (7:36am)

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IT is easy to attack this stuttering Abbott Government. Just ask me: I’m a conservative and even I’ve joined the pack.
How dare this Government break its promise to restore free speech?
How can it still not have made one single cut to welfare spending?
Why can’t it get its Budget through the Senate and get on with governing?
Why let Clive Palmer, that great bag of wind, posture like a kingmaker?
Business is growing restless, too. Real wages are actually falling and the deficit keeps growing, but where are the reforms to save us? Why this log jam?
(Read full article here.)  
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Qantas plays race politics

Andrew Bolt August 18 2014 (7:32am)

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QANTAS has for the first time in its 94 years turned its aeroplanes into political billboards. Worse, it’s doing it in a racist cause.
The national airline this week painted a giant Recognise slogan on a new QantasLink Q400, and all 31 aircraft in its Q400 regional fleet will soon sport the logo, too.
“As an Australian icon, Qantas is proud to lend its support towards ensuring the first chapter of Australia’s story and the people who forged it are recognised,” said Qantas group executive Olivia Wirth.
But Recognise is not just a campaign to change the Constitution to recognise Aborigines as the first Australians, which is supported by the Abbott Government.
(Read full article here.)  
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Allyson Christy 
An accumulation of hypocrisy, double-standards and bias, and all under the auspices of a familiar scapegoating sentiment and underlying inclinations of hate.
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Great article .. I'd take it further and say you can't be two cultures, and so multiculturalism is impossible in theory, while cultural diversity is desirable in our little world. Catholic churches have embraced Buddhism too in similar ways .. and real Buddhists get very upset. Christian converts are quite shaky as a result .. Numbers who profess Christ are quite large, but examine South American (as an example) practice and it sometimes becomes indistinguishable from voodoo. Which isn't to say some, possibly many, aren't sincere. I feel Judaism has a past and future and I respect and would promote our shared prosperity.- ed
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I feel it is natural to yearn for progress, but at the moment I feel the best that can be achieved is to sit on our collective hands and do nothing until Obama is no longer President and a threat to world peace. Of course, the problem there is that Iran becomes nuclear before then .. - ed
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There will be no peace among Islamic nations while the world negotiates with terrorism in the name of Islam. The two have to be separate. In Israel, Islamic Israeli peoples have shown the lie that all Islam is terrorist .. but sadly the world has promoted terrorist Islamic peoples in negotiation and through attrition of moderates. - ed
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Sources have revealed that PM Kevin Rudd signed a deal with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that will see taxpayers forking the bill for Indonesian efforts to stop boats, and fly “refugees” in Indonesian camps directly to Australia.
The scope of the deal, according to sources, is that:
Immigrants who arrived in Indonesia prior to July 15 will be automatically accepted into Australia for processing. Arrivals after this date will remain within Indonesia.
Australia will fund the cost of the transport and maintenance of refugees both directed to Australia and remaining in Indonesia.
To hide the blow-out costs in the Budget, Rudd intends to mask the expenditure as part of a Beef Export Deal with the Indonesians advertised as a “face saving” effort following the Live Export Ban by the Gillard government
The deal is apparently already well known by smuggling operators and facilitators in Indonesia, explaining the very sudden spike in boat departures from southern Indonesia since Rudd’s visit there. It’s like a fire-sale for people smugglers.
The actual cost of the deal we were not informed, but based upon the cost of covering the efforts in two nations, I would expect it to be several billion dollars. Possibly $5-10 Billion over the next 5 years.
The straight up deal will deliver about 7,000 illegal aliens currently in Indonesia to Australian shores. This explains the desire to significantly expand the capacity at Manus Island, with similar upgrades to be announced soon for Australian mainland centres.
Unlike the failed Gillard Malaysian Deal this will not require an Act of Parliament, as the intake and the expenditure will be managed through DFAT and Treasury, with the increase in numbers and transport flights factored into the current Immigration Department budget.
Polliter’s assessment of this deal is that this is a smoke-screen, allowing for direct flight-based transportation of aliens in Indonesian processing centres, with the sole intent of eliminating irregular boat arrivals. Unlike boats, scheduled plane arrivals would no longer be classified as “irregular”, therefore avoiding publication of figures.
If anything, this will increase the number of arrivals, and increase dramatically the costs associated with economic refugee processing, as Australia will be funding refugee camps and detention programs both here and in Indonesia.
The PMO Press Office refused to offer comment when questioned about the deal.
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Allyson Christy.
"..perhaps the gravest strategic threat confronting Israel today – at least on a par with the Iranian menace, and in fact, acts to intensify the latter. Delegitimization does impinge on the nation’s ability to physically defend itself. 
For not only does increasing delegitimization make Israel an increasingly legitimate target, but it makes its endeavors to deal with adversaries increasingly illegitimate.

But a nation cannot seek legitimization by abandoning its vital interests. It must do so by legitimizing those interests through effective conduct of its diplomacy.

...release of murderers is almost certain to have, is the appalling symbolic significance that it conveys – to Jews, Arabs and the world at large.

For stripped to basics, it conveys a message that Judeocide is justified.

It reflects a disregard – or at least a diminished regard – for the value of Jewish lives, and does so in a dual sense: Both toward the known victims of the past and toward the unknown victims of the future.

With regard to the past: It cheapens the value of Jewish blood, because it signals that those who shed it will be exonerated; that even the most heinous slaughter of Jews can be overlooked and its perpetrators pardoned.." - Martin Sherman
The idea is what was once called an 'executive decision' which is to do nothing while the timing is bad. Israel cannot make a good choice right now as she isn't being offered anything .. so Israel has to do nothing for the short term .. that is the only response to delegitimisation that leaves Israel intact. It means Netanyahu has to work very hard to stand still. - ed
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Peter Singer also co-wrote the Greens manifesto with Bob Brown in 1996. Find out more about the extreme Singer here http://ow.ly/nYNng and help me stop his Greens party http://ow.ly/nCMYg
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What’s So Wrong With Adultery by Phillip Jensen
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Egypt continues to spiral out of control, andAmerican congressmen are calling for foreign aid to be cut. CNN’s Jake Tapper respectfully but firmly asked State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki if any weapons supplied by the United States to Egypt were now being used in the government crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood pro-Morsi protesters.
Three times Psaki demurred, ignoring the question and babbling on. My incredible powers of deduction lead me to believe that the answer is “yes.”
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Allyson Christy.
Into the Fray: Justifying Judeocide - jpost
"Why is such a move, which the American broker would probably not agree to at all if the terrorists had killed US citizens, let alone as a condition for starting negotiations, become a legitimate condition because Palestinians are demanding it of Israel? – Justice Elyakim Rubinstein

With regard to the future: Given precedent and probability, it is a statistical certainty that some of the releasees will revert to acts of terror that result in the death of Israelis.

In the past, scores of Israelis have been killed and maimed by terrorists released in “deals.” There is little reason to believe that this time will different." - Martin Sherman

http://paper.li/allysonchristy/1338794440
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Reporters on Thursday pressed the State Department on Barack Obama’s foreign policy – particularly his approach to Egypt – with one reporter asking whether that policy is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
With the Mideast in chaos, reporters were eager to get State’s take on whether Barack Obama has “earned” his Nobel Prize, particularly given that he has “led from behind” from the early days of the first Egypt revolt, through the Libyan revolution, and now in Syria. All while Israel becomes further isolated and Iran rushes headlong toward a nuclear weapon.
While Egypt continues to spiral out of control; more than 600 have been killed this week in bloody street battles between the Egyptian military and supporters of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood president, Barack Obama vacations on Martha’s Vineyard – although he did take time out to make a statement on Egypt which, in all likelihood, will only serve to exacerbate the situation.
Obama’s absence this week was not unlike that in 2011, when he and the family jetted off to Rio while France’s Nikolas Sarkozy took over the role as coalition leader as air strikes in support of Libyan rebels commenced in the battle to oust Gaddafi.
While there weren’t any easy questions at Thursday’s press briefing, one in particular hit the nail on the head:
“Do you think or is the administration confident that the steps — that the policy that you have pursued thus far in Egypt and also in Syria are worthy of a president who not so long ago won the Nobel Peace Prize?”
Spokesperson Jennifer Psaki’s response: “Yes, Matt.” Good to know.
Thus far – dating back to the days before Muslim Brotherhood member and former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was ousted in a coup – Obama’s response has been mostly perceived (in Egypt) as pro-Morsi and pro-Brotherhood. Now, as the violence grows, Obama’s words and actions only serve to embolden both sides.
Suspension of joint military exercises and thinly veiled threats to cut off aid not only steel the resolve of the military – a military that has been respected throughout Egypt for decades – but build ill will within the military toward the U.S. Those same actions, along with continuing to refer to the pro-Muslim Brotherhood riots as “peaceful demonstrations” embolden the minority Muslim extremists, which are not only fairly well-armed, but have taken time out to destroy countless Christian churches along the way.
On second thought, maybe it’s better if Obama were to remain on vacation. Nobel Peace Prize and all.
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I couldn't exist without friendship and love. And you ?
In this song, I've recorded more guitars than in my latest recordings. 
Drums are recorded using Ultrabeats in Logic Express.
Smooth jazz perhaps ...
Hope you like, thanks in advance for comments smiley
Have a nice day !
- LaFayette
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Israel’s decision to release terrorist prisoners as a “gesture” to the Palestinian Authority led some Israeli MKs to criticized the United States for allegedly pushing the release. MK Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) even wrote a strongly critical letter to Secretary of State John Kerry in which she accused him of “forcing Israel to capitulate to terrorism.”
However, it appears that U.S. actually opposed the prisoner release in at least one case.
According to The Daily Beast, the U.S. State Department expressed concern over the release of Al-Haaj Othman Amar Mustafa – but Israel decided to free him anyway.
Mustafa murdered Frederick Steven Rosenfeld, who was a U.S. citizen and a former U.S. Marine.
He and other attackers ambushed Rosenfeld, attacking him from behind after pretending to befriend him as he walked near his home in the town of Ariel, in Samaria (Shomron), in 1989. The three stabbed Rosenfeld and left him to die.
A State Department spokesperson told The Daily Beast, “The State Department conveyed the administration’s concerns regarding the release of this prisoner to the government of Israel, while recognizing the victim was a dual national of Israel and the United States.”
The Israeli side “acknowledged our views, but it was ultimately their decision to determine which prisoners to release. This is a very difficult situation for all involved, and further highlights the importance of making these negotiations successful,” she added.
Mustafa, along with other terrorist killers freed last Tuesday night, waswelcomed as a hero upon his release.
The decision to release terrorists was made following meetings between Kerry and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu aimed at getting Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table.
Abbas had agreed to negotiate with previous Israeli prime ministerswithout preconditions, but under Netanyahu’s administration began demanding a full ban on Israeli construction east of the 1949 armistice line – a region home to over 500,000 Israeli citizens – before talks could begin. Netanyahu was reluctant to agree to a construction freeze after a previous building freeze which exacerbated Israel’s housing crisis and failed to yield productive talks with the PA.
Abbas agreed to meet with Netanyahu only when the building freeze was nearly over, then ended talks shortly afterward when the freeze ended.
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There are few symbols more powerful than the Purple Heart. Whether displayed next to a carefully-folded flag on a mantle, on a fraying old uniform at a veteran’s parade, or even on a license plate designating the driver as “combat-wounded,” the Purple Heart is synonymous with service and sacrifice.
For the families of the slain, Purple Hearts are treasured heirlooms, not only preserving the memory of the fallen but providing deep meaning to their sacrifice, a meaning that harkens back to the Gospel of John: “Greater love hath no man than this, that one lay down in his life for his friends.”
For the combat-wounded living, the Purple Heart is more than a symbol, entitling veterans to health care and benefits a grateful nation provides those who’ve bled in her service. 
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Math is all around us, in everything we do. Since the beginning of recorded history, mathematic discovery has been at the forefront of every civilized society, and in use in even the most primitive of cultures. But what exactly is mathematics? http://oak.ctx.ly/r/a21c

Can you name this equation? Check out the world's most beautiful equations here:http://oak.ctx.ly/r/a21l
"The Callan-Symanzik equation is a vital first-principles equation from 1970, essential for describing how naive expectations will fail in aquantum world," said theoretical physicist Matt Strassler of Rutgers University.
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CORBY AN EXAMPLE OF INDONESIA’S DISRESPECT FOR AUSTRALIA

On the eve (perhaps) of Schapelle Corby’s release on parole from the hell hole that is Kerokoban prison, disturbing, unanswered questions still haunt many who have followed her case... and a condition of her bail is that she must stay in Bali. Why is that?

As years roll endlessly on, it’s easy to forget the plight of others. Concern and anger are dulled by time, but the victim’s minutes become hours and hours weeks until, eventually, insanity becomes the biggest enemy.

While on parole in Bali, Schapelle and her supporters must not disclose or discuss publicly, under threat of re-incarceration, what appear to be glaring evidential anomalies behind her conviction of importing to Indonesia 4.2 kilo of cannabis.

Anomalies like AFP involvement and missing CCTV tapes from three separate airports.

Indonesian prosecutors’ refusal to allow DNA testing of the cannabis to determine its source before burning it and their refusal to fingerprint the boogie board plastic cover, despite Australian Government requests.

A potential disparity in weight when Corby first checked the bag in and when it arrived in Bali was not recorded.

Sydney airport baggage handlers were arrested without allusion or connection to charges against Corby.

Under Australian law Corby could not have been convicted due to inconclusive, curiously missing and tainted evidence rendering the charges “reasonably doubtful” in law.

But this is not about Corby’s guilt or innocence. An acquittal was available, as has often been the case, if money had changed hands at certain levels within the Indonesian justice system.

Big-noting failed Australian entrepreneur Ron Bakir (also known as Rani Muhuddine Hassan) claimed that Indonesian officials had asked him for money to ensure Corby’s release. That claim finally sealed her 20-year sentence.

Corrupt Indonesian judges’ priorities became clear when Bali bomber, Umar Patek, was also sentenced to 20 years’ jail for his part in killing 88 Australians.

It’s difficult to equate 4.2 kilo of cannabis to what Bali’s Chief of Police called, "the worst act of terrorism in the country's history”.

Patek was finally captured in January 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, near to where Osama Bin Laden was found and killed.

He was also found to have smuggled firearms from the Philippines into Indonesia in 2010, with plans for a militant camp in Aceh.

As is always the case in Indonesia, money underpins justice and the three who endangered Bali’s tourist dollars by planting the bombs, Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron were publicly executed on another island.

Radical cleric and bombing mastermind, Abu Bakar Bashir, was initially acquitted but after outrage from Australia and other countries at what appeared to be a clear injustice he was re-charged and grudgingly sentenced to 15 years' jail.

It was shown that Bashir had also plotted the 2008 assault on Mumbai hotels in India and was responsible for hundreds of killings in a train siege lasting several days.

Bashir is still the “spiritual leader” of Indonesia's Islamic home-grown terror network, Jemaah Islamiyah, the cell that trained the bombers in Australian-financed madrassas.

With remissions Bashir will not serve more than eight years, approximately the same or less than Corby.

Indonesians who pilot illegal boats to Australia, overloaded with well-heeled “queue jumpers”, are dutifully returned to Indonesia upon request while our requests to return Corby are ignored.

One day the truth behind that 4.2 kilo of hooch will be known but the inequities of Indonesia’s corrupt justice system will live on.
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Dolphinarium - suicide bombing at the Dolphin disco June 1, 2001

21 people were killed and 120 were wounded when an Arabs (P.A) suicide bomber blew himself up outside a disco near Tel Aviv's Dolphinarium along the seafront promenade just before midnight on Friday, June 1.
The terrorist mingled with a large group of teenagers, who were standing in line to enter the disco. While still in line, he detonated the explosives strapped to his body. The explosive charge contained a large number of metal objects - including balls and screws - designed to increase the extent of injuries.

Most of those killed were youngsters from the former Soviet Union who had planned to attend a dance party at the Dolphin disco. Others who had been waiting in line to enter an adjacent nightclub known as the Pacha were also caught in the blast.

The organization took responsibility for the attack as "Hezbollah palastin".
it later emerged that a former israeli arab resident (from jaffo) was the one who drove the palestinian suicide bomber to the club

In 2002, captured Husam Badran, commander of the Hamas military wing in Samaria, who was involved in the attack at the Dolphinarium and other attacks. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison, but released in 2011, part of the agreement to release Gilad Shalit.

The attack:
Suicide bomber Saeed Hotari was standing in line on a Friday night in front of the Dolphinarium, when the area was packed with youngsters (most of them Russian new arrivals) waiting for admission. Survivors of the attack later described how the young Palestinian bomber appeared to taunt his victims before the explosion, wandering among them dressed in clothes that led some to mistake him for an orthodox Jew from Asia, and banging a drum packed with explosives and ball bearings, while repeating the words in Hebrew: "Something's going to happen". At 20:30 pm, he detonated his explosive device. It was the second attack in five months on the same target.[6] Witnesses claimed that body parts lay all over the area, and that bodies were piled one above another on the sidewalk before being collected. Many civilians in the vicinity of the bombing rushed to assist emergency services.

Fatalities:
dolphinarim massacre memorial in tel aviv dolphinarium
21 civilians, mostly teenagers died in the attack:

Maria Tagiltseva, 14, of Netanya.
Raisa Nimrovsky, 15, of Netanya.
Ana Kazachkova, 15, of Holon.
Katherine Kastaniyada-Talkir, 15, of Ramat Gan.
Irina Nepomnyashchi, 16, of Bat Yam.
Mariana Medvedenko, 16, of Tel-Aviv.
Yulia Nelimov, 16, of Tel Aviv.
Liana Saakyan, 16, of Ramat Gan.
Marina Berkovizki, 17, of Tel Aviv.
Simona Rodin, 18, of Holon.
Aleksei Lupalu, 16, of the Ukraine.
Yelena Nelimov, 18, of Tel Aviv.
Irena Usdachi, 18, of Holon.
Ilya Gutman, 19, of Bat Yam.
Roman Dezanshvili, 21, of Bat Yam.
Pvt. Diez (Dani) Normanov, 21, of Tel Aviv.
Ori Shahar, 32, of Ramat Gan.
Yael-Yulia Sklianik, 15, of Holon – died of her injuries on June 2, 2001.
Sergei Panchenko, 20, Ukraine – died of his injuries on June 2, 2001.
Jan Bloom, 25, of Ramat Gan – died of his injuries on June 3, 2001.
Yevgeniya Dorfman, 15, of Bat-Yam – died of her injuries on June 19, 2001.

SHARING IS CARING!

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More specifically, do you remember all the attention that was paid to the Chevy Volt, the hybrid electric vehicle that was supposed to mark the rebirth of General Motors?
Now think back. Have you heard that much about it recently? No? Neither have we. So we started looking into the issue to figure out what happened.
First, let’s take a look at what appears to be a general decline in interest in the Volt. Here is a chart of Google search trends showing the difference between interest in the Volt and the apparently more popular Toyota Prius (charts 2012 to present day, with the blue line representing the Volt):
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So why do many of the Asian countries' schools outperform Australia's? Is not because of money – many of them have far less. It's not because of class sizes – Asian classes are usually larger than ours. The answer is simple. Asian schools just apply the tried and tested methods which were used to. It's just a left-wing elites who have taken over our education and administration and policy have thrown out those methods and applied new fashionable theories which are being abandoned in the countries where they first proposed.

You see the elites hate the idea of students being assessed on their performance. They want to make schools into utopian communist societies which have never existed anywhere where everybody is absolutely equal and receives the same rewards.

In a recent piece in the Australian, Kevin Donnelly writes that an analysis of national and international test results proves what a failure federal Labor's education policy has been under Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.
He says the penny has dropped and the left wing education establishment is admitting that our students, especially talented ones, underperform and that something urgent needs to be done.
He warns you should not things to improve if Labor is returned. Rudd's Better Schools Plan and National Education Reform Agreement, compulsory for all schools, enforce a cultural-left, lowest-common-denominator view of education.""
"Funding and resources are directed at the usual victim groups, in the mistaken belief such groups are always disadvantaged and that disadvantage is the main cause of students underperforming; while the needs of gifted children are ignored."
The left are against what successful Asian countries do and we did once - competitive assessment, the rewarding of merit and a rigorous, academic curriculum.
All achieve success and all are celebrated.

We don't do this in sport and we shouldn't do it in education.

But the intellectual elites and the powerbrokers who run our politics work together to ensure that education policies are devoid of common sense - the commonsense that most ordinary Australians have.

That's why we have to do empower the ordinary Australians so that the politicians are truly accountable.
@profdavidflint

Read more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/its-high-time-to-foster-meritocracy-in-education/story-e6frgd0x-1226698711971
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A rare breed of tigers in Russia has been spotted behaving bizarrely for more than a decade, stumbling into villages and roads, emaciated and unafraid of people, and now researchers say they may know why. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/a1e3
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I could do that. But I'd have to train .. build up to it. First, I'd practice with Super models in place of the lions .. it would take many years of practice. - ed

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August 18: Krishna Janmashtami (Hinduism, 2014)
Royal Australian Air Force helicopter
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“But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.” 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"The mercy of God."
Psalm 52:8
Meditate a little on this mercy of the Lord. It is tender mercy. With gentle, loving touch, he healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He is as gracious in the manner of his mercy as in the matter of it. It is great mercy. There is nothing little in God; his mercy is like himself--it is infinite. You cannot measure it. His mercy is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners, after great lengths of time, and then gives great favours and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God. It is undeserved mercy, as indeed all true mercy must be, for deserved mercy is only a misnomer for justice. There was no right on the sinner's part to the kind consideration of the Most High; had the rebel been doomed at once to eternal fire he would have richly merited the doom, and if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause, for there was none in the sinner himself. It is rich mercy. Some things are great, but have little efficacy in them, but this mercy is a cordial to your drooping spirits; a golden ointment to your bleeding wounds; a heavenly bandage to your broken bones; a royal chariot for your weary feet; a bosom of love for your trembling heart. It is manifold mercy. As Bunyan says, "All the flowers in God's garden are double." There is no single mercy. You may think you have but one mercy, but you shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies. It is abounding mercy. Millions have received it, yet far from its being exhausted; it is as fresh, as full, and as free as ever. It is unfailing mercy. It will never leave thee. If mercy be thy friend, mercy will be with thee in temptation to keep thee from yielding; with thee in trouble to prevent thee from sinking; with thee living to be the light and life of thy countenance; and with thee dying to be the joy of thy soul when earthly comfort is ebbing fast.

Evening

"This sickness is not unto death."
John 11:4
From our Lord's words we learn that there is a limit to sickness. Here is an "unto" within which its ultimate end is restrained, and beyond which it cannot go. Lazarus might pass through death, but death was not to be the ultimatum of his sickness. In all sickness, the Lord saith to the waves of pain, "Hitherto shall ye go, but no further." His fixed purpose is not the destruction, but the instruction of his people. Wisdom hangs up the thermometer at the furnace mouth, and regulates the heat.
1. The limit is encouragingly comprehensive. The God of providence has limited the time, manner, intensity, repetition, and effects of all our sicknesses; each throb is decreed, each sleepless hour predestinated, each relapse ordained, each depression of spirit foreknown, and each sanctifying result eternally purposed. Nothing great or small escapes the ordaining hand of him who numbers the hairs of our head.
2. This limit is wisely adjusted to our strength, to the end designed, and to the grace apportioned. Affliction comes not at haphazard--the weight of every stroke of the rod is accurately measured. He who made no mistakes in balancing the clouds and meting out the heavens, commits no errors in measuring out the ingredients which compose the medicine of souls. We cannot suffer too much nor be relieved too late.
3. The limit is tenderly appointed. The knife of the heavenly Surgeon never cuts deeper than is absolutely necessary. "He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." A mother's heart cries, "Spare my child;" but no mother is more compassionate than our gracious God. When we consider how hard-mouthed we are, it is a wonder that we are not driven with a sharper bit. The thought is full of consolation, that he who has fixed the bounds of our habitation, has also fixed the bounds of our tribulation.
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Today's reading: Psalm 97-99, Romans 16 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 97-99

1 The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
3 Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
4 His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.
7 All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast in idols-
worship him, all you gods!

Today's New Testament reading: Romans 16

Personal Greetings
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae. 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. 4They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
5 Greet also the church that meets at their house.
Greet my dear friend Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.
6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you.
7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was....
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Kish, Cis

 [Kĭsh,Cĭs] - power or straw.

  1. A. Benjamite, a son of Abiel and father of Saul, Israel's first king (1 Sam. 9:1, 3; 10:11, 21). Called Cis in Acts 13:21.
  2. Son of Abi-gibeon, a Benjamite (1 Chron. 8:30; 9:36).
  3. A Levite in David's time, of the family of Merari and the house of Mahli ( 1 Chron. 23:21, 22; 24:29).
  4. A Levite and a Merarite who assisted in the cleansing of the Temple in Hezekiah's time (2 Chron. 29:12).
  5. A Benjamite, ancestor of Mordecai, the cousin of Queen Esther (Esther 2:5).
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