Sunday, November 22, 2015

Sun Nov 22nd Todays News

More atrocities occur around the world. In Mali, in West Africa, 170 people were taken hostage by jihadists. 27 died. A Belgian MP, A US national and three Chinese nationals are among the victims. Al-Qaeda claims responsibility. The threat around the world is dire. In Sydney a threat locks down a neighbourhood. Already the resentment of Islamic extremism has caused Buddhists from Burma and Hindus in India to retaliate against Islamic communities. As have Christians in Congo. And while jihadist extremists are the root cause, Islamic peoples will be victim of abysmal Islamic leadership. Islamic Leadership holds the key to peace. They have to disown and oppose jihadism in favour of Islam. Because Jihadism brings Islam into disrepute. Jihadism which kills more Muslims than any other cause. 

 For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2014 ===
Free Jonathan Pollard
The name of Jonathan Pollard is not widely known. He is not a normal person, although he has a history of excessive drug use that many consider normal. He worked as an analyst in the US defence community and they failed in their duty of care to properly supervise him. They were clearly aware of his character flaws. He married a woman who seemed to benefit from his espionage. It is known he dealt with Israel, and suspected he dealt with others too. He pled guilty to espionage with Israel and was sentenced to life in prison. Even after Snowden, the US government has claimed Pollard's activity was worse. Parts of Pollard's wikipedia biography seems inflated to make him appear to be a bad person. Someone has posted that his camp activity as a sixteen year old was the worst order of trouble making. Regardless, Pollard has been jailed since 1987. Repeated requests for clemency have been denied. Several efforts of prisoner swaps have failed. Israel denied Pollard was an agent until 1998, when they admitted he was an agent in their Bureau for Scientific Relations. Most recently, Obama offered to release Pollard to Israel as part of his demand Israel release terrorists who had killed from prison for peace. Israel has complied, but Pollard refused to be linked with a prisoner swap. Earlier this year, Israel asked for Pollard to be released. Parole could have been granted so long as the State Department chose not to interfere. Instead, at the parole hearing, State Department chose to browbeat Pollard and smoked the possibility. Obama has lied about his deal for peace. Obama used Holder to prosecute his lie. Even if Pollard is a hopeless case as a drug user, it is wrong for the US government to keep him any longer. He can do no more damage. Those who failed to adequately supervise him have long retired. Set Pollard free. 

Such criminal activity as which keeps Pollard jailed exists wherever there is bureaucracy abusing power. Like the Green activists who have taken farm land and livelihoods from farmers. Jo Nova provids an example of Peter Spencer who bought land to farm, but which the Greens have prevented him from farming or selling, bankrupting him. 

Such criminal mendacity Obama exercises over Pollard is seen elsewhere in Obama's behaviour too. When he was in Queensland recently he was briefed on the Great Barrier Reef, which is prospering despite hysterical claims. After being briefed, Obama added to the hysterical claims. Obama clearly did so for his domestic audience at the expense of his hosts. He has lost Congress, and so now will flip flop his way to bargain for power through division. He is the great divider. 

HRC President Triggs is unreliable on the stand before a court. So her position is untenable. Laurie Oakes is no better in his abuse he employs in lieu of argument. 
From 2013
Piers Akerman is very upbeat in his assessment of the combined best efforts of the ABC and Fairfax to shred the relationship Australia enjoys with Indonesia. I'm glad Piers is well, he has had health problems recently. He always focuses on the issues at hand. The tragedy of some 1500 known deaths by drowning from ALP 'compassion' must not be ignored or repeated. But Indonesian legislators cannot ignore constituents who might punish them for not taking a hard line stance on alleged liberties. Australians should expect more from their dollars than the ABC delivers. Media Watch takes an incredible line on an ALP shadow minister having sex with a constituent that isn't his wife. They feel he should enjoy more anonymity for his private choices. Tellingly, said member already disagreed with the Media Watch position. 

The Media Watch stance on Reese, questions posted in Tim Blair's posts, raises questions about the media response into my issue regarding the death of school boy Hamidur Rahman. After I told Tripodi's office of media interest, they backed off. Apparently, it was enough for Tripodi to tell a story to have the public interest story squashed. The questions can be quite illustrative on a range of media issues, from reporting on Indonesia, through reporting on Global Warming. The implied corruption is worth examining through a royal commission. 

Bob Ellis predicts Mr Abbott will step down as PM before Christmas. UN climate delegates accused of enjoying themselves. Their enjoyment is reportedly public, not army regulation private. But we won't ever know for sure because of the assumed Media Watch position on the issue. Last November saw 2630 illegal arrivals on 43 boats. Under Liberals, now, we have some 200 on four boats. That means people smugglers have less profit and fewer people are drowning. This is viewed by Fairfax as a loss. 

Free speech means more than calling Obama a liar. It involves saying how Obama lied and giving him opportunity to fix his problems. We have free speech. Obama has failed to address his problems. We must not assume the Media Watch position and reward him for his lies, we must call him to account, or step aside. 

Historical perspective on this day
In 498, after the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus was elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius was elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore. In 845, the first King of all Brittany, Nominoe, defeated the Frankish king Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon near Redon. In 1307, Pope Clement V issued the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets. In 1574, Discovery of the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile. In 1635, Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launched a pacification campaign against native villages, resulting in Dutch control of the middle and south of the island. In 1718, off the coast of North Carolina, British pirate Edward Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") was killed in battle with a boarding party led by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard. 

In 1812, War of 1812: Seventeen Indiana Rangers were killed at the Battle of Wild Cat Creek. In 1837, Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie called for a rebellionagainst the United Kingdom in his essay "To the People of Upper Canada", published in his newspaper The Constitution. In 1858, Denver, Colorado, was founded. In 1864, American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hoodinvaded Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General William T. Shermanfrom Georgia. In 1869, in Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark was launched and was one of the last clippers ever built, and the only one still surviving today. 

In 1908, the Congress of Manastir established the Albanian alphabet. In 1928, the premier performance of Ravel's Boléro took place in Paris. In 1931, Al-Mina'a SC established in Iraq. In 1935, the China Clipper, the first plane to offer commercial transpacific air service, took off from Alameda, California, for its first commercial flight. It reached its destination, Manila, a week later. In 1940, World War II: Following the initial Italian invasion, Greek troops counterattacked into Italian-occupied Albania and captured Korytsa. In 1942, World War II: Battle of Stalingrad: General Friedrich Paulus sent Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th Army was surrounded. In 1943, World War II: Cairo Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese Premier Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan. Also, Lebanon gained independence from France. 

In 1954, The Humane Society of the United States was founded. In 1963, in Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally was seriously wounded. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was later captured and charged with the murder of both the President and police officer J. D. Tippit. Oswald was shot two days later by Jack Ruby while in police custody. In 1967, UN Security Council Resolution 242 was adopted, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab–Israeli peace settlement. In 1973, the Italian Fascist organization Ordine Nuovo is disbanded. In 1974, the United Nations General Assembly granted the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status. In 1975, Juan Carlos was declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco. In 1977, British Airways inaugurated a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service. 

In 1986, Mike Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick to become youngest Heavyweight champion in boxing history. In 1987, two Chicago television stations were hijacked by an unknown pirate dressed as Max Headroom. In 1988, in Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spiritstealth bomber was revealed. In 1989, in West Beirut, a bomb exploded near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him. In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdrew from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her premiership. In 1995, Toy Story was released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery. In 2002, in Nigeria, more than 100 people were killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest. In 2003, Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident: Shortly after takeoff, a DHL Expresscargo plane was struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile and forced to land. In 2004, the Orange Revolution began in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections. In 2005, Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany. In 2012 ceasefire began between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel after eight days of violence and 150 deaths.
=== 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, September, October, 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. 

List of available items at Create Space
===
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 Reinhardt Sosin (?), Alexander Meluskey and Sunny Sivieng. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
November 22: Alphabet Day in Albania (1908); Independence Day in Lebanon (1943); Holodomor Remembrance Day in Ukraine (2014)
Orange Revolution protesters in Kiev
We have a boarding party. Winnebago seems perfect. The boys from Brazil are coming. There will be peace. Don't protest. Let's party. 
Deaths
===

Stop being nice and bomb the terrorists

Piers Akerman – Sunday, November 22, 2015 (12:31am)

HANDOUTS and #hashtags haven’t worked, multi-faith kumbaya sessions haven’t cut any ice — the evidence is that the only way to eradicate ­Islamist terrorism is to kill the terrorists. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Stop being nice and bomb the terrorists'
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Why terrorists have us all under the gun

Miranda Devine – Sunday, November 22, 2015 (12:29am)

THE Australian Army is removing a century-old motto on the hat of army chaplains, because it might offend Muslims.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Why terrorists have us all under the gun'
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The terrorists are weak, they’re just an irritant, it’s our fault, it could be white racists….

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (2:59pm)

Should a man with this record of dud assurances be a media pundit on Islam and a lecturer at Monash University’s Global Terrorism Research Centre?
June 2004:
[O]ne of the greatest problems of unrest within the Muslim community and one of the greatest causes of social problems that’s going to occur between the Muslim community and the wider community is a feeling of not being welcomed and a feeling of not belonging . That will only be exacerbated by this idea that you have to be essentially some white European from the 1950s or you have to subscribe to some set of values, which you probably subscribe to anyway...
April 2013:
[W]e’re finally maturing in the way we handle terrorism. Gone is the triumphalist rhetoric of the “War on Terror”, with its ridiculous promises of a terrorism-free world and the ultimate victory of freedom over tyranny. In its place is a far more sober, pragmatic recognition that terrorism is a perpetual irritant, and that while it is tragic and emotionally lacerating, it kills relatively few people and is not any kind of existential threat.
April 2013 (before it was known the Boston bombers were Chechen jihadists):
But it’s possible, too, that this reticence [of the media to blame Muslims] is a product of the very real suspicion that the perpetrators here are self-styled American patriots.
May 2014:

Nigeria’s Boko Haram group last month kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from a boarding school and its leader announced they were “slaves” he would sell....
As so often when Muslim terrorists strike, [Waleed] Aly was brought on by Channel Ten’s The Project to explain away our fears as “an expert in terrorism”.
“So who is this group exactly?” he was asked.
Not once in his answer did “Muslim” or “Islamic” pass Aly’s lips.
“They are a really, really hard group to define because they are so splintered and so diverse,” he said.
“What we do know though is that the broader movement is a terrorist movement and they’ve been wanting to overthrow the Nigerian government and establish a government of their own.
“But beyond that, this particular group, who have done this particular thing, it’s hard to identify who they are and they might just be vigilantes.”
November 2015:

ISIL is weak. I l know it doesn’t look like that right now, but it’s the truth, and they don’t want you to know it. 
===

On The Bolt Report, November 22

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (2:39pm)

image
On at 10am and 3pm.
Editorial: Malcolm Turnbull and national security.
My guests:  Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese, Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger, Spectator Australia editor Rowan Dean, and Parnell McGuinness, business strategist and thought leadership consultant, whose clients have included Germany’s Green Party..
Terror and surrender. Shorten’s woes. Selling Darwin Port to China. And more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
UPDATE
Interesting. Lots of conservative love for Anthony Albanese in the comments below. Seems that Malcolm Turnbull has opening up a market for Labor by seeming softer on national security.
From the interview:
On how Labor must take the fight to Malcolm Turnbull:
ANTHONY ALBANESE:  ... There’s one additional element, which is the lack of authenticity from Malcolm Turnbull. He believes in climate change action. He believes in marriage equality. But he’s abandoned those policies and put his own personal political desire to be prime minister before his own principles. And I think people will see through that. 
On Malcolm Turnbull suggestion of a ceasefire and power-sharing deal in Syria’s civil war, and not ruling out supporters of the Islamic State. Could it work?
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, look, absolutely not and it’s an extraordinary thing for Malcolm Turnbull to leave open, such an option. But, again, it’s typical of Malcolm Turnbull. He doesn’t know when to stop talking and make a clear statement. Clearly these people [Islamic State] who want to destroy Western civilisation and return to barbarism have no role to play in any civilised arrangements going forward. These people need to be wiped out because what they seek to do is to wipe us and our way of life out. It’s that simple, and Malcolm Turnbull needs to be very clear in his language about that.
On Tony Abbott’s suggestion to send troops, perhaps special forces, to defeat the Islamic State - a suggestion now echoed by Hillary Clinton, but rejected by Turnbull:
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, that, of course, is worthy of consideration, but upon advice of the military officials. But also, of course, there is the Syrian army there as well.
On the Mufti of Australia, who listed five causative factors he said led to terrorism attacks like we saw in Paris - all claims about Australia’s alleged had treatment of Muslims. (Turnbull claimed the Mufti’s subsequent statement condemning the Islamic State had “cleared up” the issue.):
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, it’s completely unacceptable, because what it does is provide some sort of excuse for this behaviour. There is no excuse for the fundamentalist form of Islam leading to terrorism being found to be somehow in the name of religion. What we know is that no religion gives sanctity to death and the sort of ideology that has come through that, and surely –

ANDREW BOLT:  Well, I’m not sure about that in Islam’s case. And that’s the whole point. You need the Mufti to actually start leading that interpretation. Listen, the…

ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, the Mufti –

ANDREW BOLT:  Yeah?

ANTHONY ALBANESE: – he has a critical role, particularly in sending messages to young people. And I note that he made a further statement on the following day, but he needs to be very careful about the messages that are sent out there, particularly to his own community.
On the Northern Territory Government leasing the port of Darwin to a Chinese company linked to the China’s Communist Party when the port is actually sometimes used by Australian and American Defence Forces:
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, there’s that lack of judgement from Malcolm Turnbull. Darwin Port is an incredibly important strategic asset for our nation and because of our arrangement with the United States for joint training in northern Australia, it is important for the US as well. And it is extraordinary that there was no heads-up given to our ally in the United States, but can I go a step further and say that there was no heads-up given to the Australian public either? And of course the Federal Government is directly involved in this because they have a policy as well of a 15% additional payment to any state or territory government privatising an asset… [T]o give up a strategic asset to a company that has links with the People’s Liberation Army in China is, I think, a grave error of judgement and the fact that Malcolm Turnbull laughed this off is, again, I think, symptomatic of his lack of judgement that characterised the last time he was Leader of the Opposition.
It’s astonishing. You’d think Albanese was a Liberal leader criticising a Labor Prime Minister.
The full interview here:

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'On The Bolt Report, November 22'
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Belgium sends army into the streets to deal with the multicultural threat

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (2:33pm)

Encourage mass immigration from the Middle East. Encourage multiculturalism.
Result of the Left’s great demographic experiment: troops and armored cars are deployed in the streets of Brussels to deal with the consequences:
image
Yes, Brussels, capital of the European Union, is in lockdown following jihadists threats. The future of Europe right there. 
===

Is Labor now tougher than Turnbull on national defence?

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (5:56am)

Malcolm Turnbull has taken a wrong turn when even Labor is sounding tougher on national security.
Samantha Maiden:

When he announced his decision to dump [conservative Immigration Minister Peter] Dutton from the [National Security Committee], Turnbull hailed a leaner style of government…
Subsequently, a troika of conservative MPs including Abbott, former defence minister Kevin Andrews and Tasmanian MP Andew Nikolic have challenged the Prime Minister to overturn the decision.
Even more embarrassingly, Labor Leader Bill Shorten has now pledged he would offer a permanent place on the NSC for his immigration minister.
“Malcolm Turnbull’s decisions and the reasons behind them are a matter for him but I’d be concerned if he is letting his personal dislike for Peter Dutton influence important decisions like this,’’ he said.
But to date Mr Turnbull is insisting there is no rational reason to permanently include Mr Dutton when he can be invited to appear when required. This is a jaunty, if slightly naive, response to his Liberal critics. They are loving it.
“How can you not have immigration on the NSC? If not for the boats, what about all the Australians going off or coming back to fight with ISIL?’’ a senior Liberal said.
Laurie Oakes

IT should be no joking matter when a US president expresses concern about the Australian Government’s failure to consult over what Washington sees as a security issue…
Yet, when Barack Obama chided Malcolm Turnbull over just such a situation during their 90-minute meeting in Manila on Wednesday, the Australian Prime Minister chose to make light of it.
Washington, the President said, would have appreciated a heads-up over a decision to hand control of the strategically important Port of Darwin for 99 years to a corporation said to be a front for China’s military and Communist Party. The US administration had found out about it only after the event from The Wall Street Journal.
Turnbull’s reply was that, if Obama had subscribed to Darwin newspaper The NT News, he would have known about the plan to lease the port to the Chinese well before that…
Can that be read any way other than that the US embassy in Canberra, headed by ambassador John Berry, had not been paying attention? You can bet that’s how the Yanks see it…
There was particular anger that neither Defence Minister Marise Payne nor Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop mentioned it when they met their US counterparts in Boston for the annual Australia-US ministerial consultations last month. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry kept quiet publicly, but behind the scenes their displeasure was widely known.
It was conveyed to the Australian Government both at the bureaucratic level and in direct messages to Turnbull and his ministers from US officials passing through Canberra,
And, while the Prime Minister refuses to acknowledge it, the secretary of the Defence Department, Dennis Richardson, has finally conceded Washington should have been kept in the loop.
“Clearly it would have been more sensible to have given them prior advice,” he said in a Homer Simpson-style “D’oh!” moment a few days ago.
(Thanks to readers John and Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Rinehart’s mine starts producing. Lucky us

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (5:41am)

To have built such a huge new mine - to earn billions for the rest of us, as well - is an astonishing feat.  It is also a titanic act of will.
Gina Rinehart deserves a hell of a lot more praise for creating Roy Hill than she is accustomed to getting:

The first shipment of iron ore will soon set sail from her new dock at Port Hedland, WA, destined for China.
It’s clear Rinehart, worth an estimated $14 billion, can hardly believe it.
Last night, she celebrated by hosting a huge black-tie inaugural “Roy Hill Ball”, set in a huge marquee under the stars in the WA port along with her senior staff and closest friends and family…
“We faced the very complex and time and money-consuming task of obtaining many onerous government regulations, approvals, permits, and licences — more than 4000 of them — and that’s not counting even more required for the construction phase,” Rinehart said.
She then had to build her own train line stretching more than 300km from mine to port — as well as secure all the financing required for the entire mega-project.
As it stands, Roy Hill has secured a world record $10 billion debt finance deal, aided by 11 different banks.
Finally, Roy Hill started excavating. Situated about 115km north of Newman, Rinehart described the landmark mine as “world class” — an “asset for a generation” which employs 4000 men and women.
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Hundreds of “real extremists” here

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (5:36am)

That tiny minority is far from tiny enough:
Spy agency ASIO has put the number of Australians actively supporting terrorist groups overseas at 190.
But experts have ­advised officials that the number of Australian sympathisers would be even higher.
“Certainly hundreds, but not thousands of people who are real extremists,’’ [national counter-terrorism ­­co-ordinator Greg Moriarty] said.
“The overall majority of these are young men and women. The ­average age is coming down. The majority would be pro-ISIL.’’
I suspect that the number of extremists, as opposed to “real extremists” is indeed in the thousands.
Hizb ut Tahrir alone had 800 people turn up to its last conference. 
===

Just kidding themselves that they don’t have to fight for their freedom

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (5:15am)

The media is lapping up all that talk about people not changing the way they live so that the terrorists won’t win. But it’s just more of the same feel-good sludge that’s said to avoid making the hard decisions and taking the real action that keeps people safe.
And it’s rubbish, of course:
Belgian authorities raised the terror alert to its highest level for Brussels and shut the city’s metro system on Saturday as they warned of a “serious and imminent threat” in the capital region.
People in the city should “avoid places where a lot of people come together like concerts, major events, train stations and airports, public transport,” the country’s OCAM national crisis centre said on its website…
Brussels already cancelled a soccer match on November 17 between the national team and Spain because of security concerns.
This is not defiantly carrying on life as normal.
UPDATE
Put this viral video of a French father telling his son that flowers will beat the terrorists guns in the same category. Cooed over by TV presenters here, but a complete fraud:
If it were true, the French would be bombing the Islamic State with rose petals. 
===

This war on the Islamic State won’t work for a long time

Andrew Bolt November 22 2015 (5:05am)

A good assessment of what’s needed to defeat the Islamic State militarily. The bad news is that it will take a long time, and much more resolve than shown so far:

For military planners, destroying the terrorist group’s headquarters and crippling its fighting force is a relatively simple assignment, say strategists: It would require about 40,000 troops, air support and two months of fighting… With the recent experience of Afghanistan and Iraq, that is a job no Western leader wants.
Many officials, especially in Europe, believe a full-scale military response would help Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, by broadcasting an image of Westerners seizing Arab lands…
The options short of a ground invasion are limited. After fighting Islamic State for more than a year through air strikes in Iraq and Syria, military officers, diplomats and analysts agree there is no easy formula for victory…
The US also is considering creation of a base in Iraq to launch raids on Islamic State leaders; tripling the number of special operation forces working in Syria; and expanding the list of Islamic State targets by risking additional civilian casualties in more aggressive air strikes…
Much of Islamic State’s strength comes from controlling vast areas of territory in Syria and Iraq, enabling a flow of taxes, oil profits and extortion money....
Last year, the US Treasury Department estimated Islamic State earned as much as $US1 million ($1.38 million) a day selling oil, which is smuggled to Turkey’s black market or sold locally to domestic refineries…

The Pentagon, defence officials said, had by design struck oil facilities to damage, not destroy them. The US had hoped to expel Islamic State without laying waste to the economic infrastructure of Syria and Iraq… Officials are now weighing more damaging attacks…
US and European officials say the West hasn’t been effective in countering Islamic State propaganda because, in part, it lacks the credibility and immediacy of messages relayed by friends and relatives connected to Islamic State. One way might be to have defectors tell their stories, scholars say…
Some commentators have raised the prospect of using cyberattacks to cut off Islamic State from the internet… The US military is wary of deploying cyberweapons because once they are used, the Chinese and Russian military would get a good look and develop countermeasures, military officials have said…
After conversations with their French counterparts, some US officials believe France would be willing to contribute some special forces, particularly if troops can be freed from Africa — a decision perhaps more difficult after Friday’s attack in Mali…
Currently, jets in the US-led coalition won’t drop a bomb if the military believes there is any risk of accidentally killing civilians.
Easing this policy would open up more Islamic State targets for attack, officials said. But many military leaders believe it would alienate the very population the West needs to win to their side…
“There is only one thing that is going to beat these guys and that is a ground army,” a military official said. “And there are only two ways to do that: provide one yourself or rely on someone else’s. It is either invade Syria or do what we are doing.”
UPDATE
How many lives have been lost through Obama’s timidity?

It is mind-boggling that the secretary of defense is only now considering loosening the rules of engagement. How many civilians have died because of the unnecessary political constraints that have allowed ISIL fighters to live on unmolested and wreak havoc upon the helpless? Let’s not forget that the law of war prohibits only “excessive” civilian casualties in relation to the military advantage anticipated; it doesn’t require “zero” civilian losses.
(Thanks to reader Shocked.) 
===

Abetz affirmed

Andrew Bolt November 21 2015 (8:14pm)

Malcolm Turnbull dumped conservative Eric Abetz from a great height - from Leader of the Government in the Senate to backbencher.
But the Liberal members in Tasmania have a rather different estimation of him. Even though Stephen Parry now outranks him as President of the Senate, Abetz today still kept his top spot on the Liberals’ Senate ticket for the next election, winning very handsomely with 55 primary votes of a possible 66.
Not going away. 
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PRIVATISATION IS FOR OTHER PEOPLE

Tim Blair – Saturday, November 22, 2014 (2:40pm)

Media Watch host Paul Barry in 2013: 
I believe in the free market, I believe in freedom of speech, I believe actually in privatisation … 
Impressively, Barry is able to keep his deeply-held belief in privatisation to himself during any discussion of ABC funding.
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THE DIRTY ARM IS DEALING

Tim Blair – Saturday, November 22, 2014 (1:37pm)

Guardian master journalist Antony Loewenstein demonstrates his awesome command of language:

image

For just $229 per session, masterful Antony will teach you how to become a Guardian-quality spellerer and punctualiser.
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ELIZABETH BORES FOR NSW

Tim Blair – Saturday, November 22, 2014 (11:38am)

At least she’s not on bike paths anymore: 
About 25 metres below ground, just beyond the Woolworths national headquarters at Norwest, Elizabeth is boring away.
As of Tuesday afternoon, she had travelled just over a kilometre, grinding her way forward in bursts of 1.7 metres. 
Possibly a few delivery trucks are blocking her way. Just go around them, dear. Speaking of Ms Farrelly, here’s a line from her latest column: 
in 14 short months, Abbott-ism has made hate and hypocrisy Australia’s working norm. 
Elizabeth Farrelly shouldn’t give Tony Abbott all the credit. Her own hate and hypocrisy were evident more than 12 months prior to last year’s election.
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The Bolt Report tomorrow, November 23

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (8:25am)

image

On The Bolt Report on Channel 10 tomorrow at 10am and 4pm.
Editorial: Fight!
My guest:  Family First Senator Bob Day on a Senate gone crazy. And is there a call now - after UKIP’s success - for a new conservative group here, too?
The panel: former Treasurer Peter Costello, fresh from giving the Greens what-for, and former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Costa.
NewsWatch:  Nick Cater, Australian columnist and head of the Menzies Research Centre, on the ABC being cut to size. Or maybe not.
So much to discuss, including saving the Abbott Government, kicking Obama, the Palmer circus, the Victorian election, Obeid, a sinking Budget and more.
The videos of the shows appear here.
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Fight! Inspiration for Liberals: Baird goes biff, Reckless declares for freedom and country

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (8:16am)

I’ve said the Abbott Government should get some mongrel. Should fight. If you can’t seduce your foes then at least inspire your friends.
Mild-mannered Christian Mike Baird, the NSW Premier, sure showed how this week:
I’ve said the Abbott Government should fight for values and inspire its supporters. Mark Reckless’ acceptance speech on winning UKIP’s second seat from Britain’s insipid Conservatives was very fine:
If you believe in freedom, if you believe in low taxes, if you believe in clean government, if you believe in localism, if you believe in people power. 
If you believe that the world is bigger than Europe, if you believe in an independent Britain, then come with us and we will give you back your country.
Such an appeal to freedom, independence and patriotism would resonate here, too.
(Thanks to reader Brian.)  
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Stopping the land grab by green believers

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (8:10am)

Jo Nova:
Peter Spencer’s story is one I didn’t think could happen in Australia. He is the farmer in New South Wales who bought a farm and then lost 80% of it when rules changed to stop people clearing native vegetation. Unable to use most of his property, he was slowly bankrupted. Though he broke no law, he lost his life’s work and his beloved farm in late 2010. There was no way out. He couldn’t sell the property — who would buy a piece of land that could not be used? Farmers all around Australia lost billions of dollars in assets as the value of their land and produce declined. The legality of this is finally being tested in the Federal Court in Sydney starting this Monday, November 24, and continuing for the next three weeks. Hold your breath. This could be an enormous case, with implications for land holders across the continent.
More at the link.  Support Peter Spencer here. 
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Labor: either crude or craven. UPDATE: Government finally gets tough on windbag Obama

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (7:48am)

Mark Latham in 2003: 
(JOHN) Howard and his government are just yes-men to the United States. There they are, a conga line of suckholes on the conservative side of Australian politics. The backbench sucks up to the prime minister and the prime minister sucks up to George W. That is how it works for the little tories, and they have the hide to call themselves Australians. In my book they are not Australians at all, just little tory suckholes. That is all they have left on their rotten little side of politics ... The truth is the prime minister has forgotten how to stand up for the national interest. He has forgotten how to be a good Australian, not some yes-man to a flaky and dangerous American president.
Tanya Plibersek yesterday: 
WE heard Campbell Newman a few days ago criticising the US President Barack Obama for daring to say that he hoped that the Great Barrier Reef would still be there in 50 years’ time … Campbell Newman is no diplomat so I guess people might not be surprised that he’s gone the US President on this. What is more surprising is that the Abbott government and our Foreign Minister are now also criticising the (US), our good and close friend, for daring to say that we should look after the Barrier Reef. This is an extraordinarily petulant performance that just shows how stung the Abbott government is by the fact that they tried to keep climate change off the G20 agenda and they failed ...
Hang on a minute, Tanya:
JOURNALIST: Julie Bishop obviously took a swipe at President Obama over his speech. Isn’t she right to stand up for Australia on any issue?
Plibersek: Julie Bishop’s not standing up for Australia. She’s berating the President of the United States, a very good friend to Australia …
UPDATE
Greg Sheridan:
THE United States embassy in Canberra advised President Barack Obama not to make the provocative, anti-Abbott speech on climate change which he made at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. 
That the President acted against the advice of his own embassy reveals a deeply divided and in part dysfunctional Obama administration…
The speech was not only damaging for Tony Abbott, as it will be used by all his opponents on climate change up until the next election, it was a disaster for US foreign policy, because the gratuitous climate change remarks completely overshadowed all the regional and security content which Obama’s foreign policy team wanted to be the main point of his major address on his Asian tour…
Obama’s speech was deliberately designed to hurt Abbott… Historians of the relationship cannot cite a single similar example of a visiting president going out of his way to wound an Australian prime minister…
There was also an element of cowardice in the speech. Obama would never have given that speech at home before the congressional mid-term elections. There would have been some courage in such a speech delivered, say, in West Virginia, or Ohio, a week before the mid-terms. What was Obama’s purpose? Can one more celebrity orgasm really be more important to the President than maintaining his relationship with his closest ally in Asia? Was Obama preparing for his post-presidential life, as a new and improved Al Gore?
Simon Benson:
EARS are still ringing in the US embassy in Canberra after one unlucky State Department official received a terse phone call last weekend… 
The caller ... a senior staffer from ... Tony Abbott’s office and rang to express their displeasure at not being afforded the courtesy of a forewarning that the US President was planning to come to Australia to dump on the PM. 
I enjoy very much this kind of briefing from Abbott officials - painting the picture of Obama hitting back after being shown up for the failure that so many US voters now see:
One has to consider why [Obama] didn’t make his line-in-the-sand speech on climate change before the mid-term elections and, well, to a domestic audience in America… 
There are those who also believe the US administration has also been waiting for a chance to give Abbott a serve…
The US was also annoyed at Australia’s free-trade agreement with Japan, believing it undermined its own domestic ambitions being pursued through the Trans Pacific Partnership. It is also still smarting over the PM’s use of veto to kill the Graincorp deal.
Abbott has also been perceived by some officials to have shown Obama up on several occasions — most notably his refusal to go to water over the Snowdon leaks like Obama did and, more recently, his hawkish and early calls on action against Islamic State terrorists, which Obama had been accused of having no clear plan to deal with.
Senior officials are now hoping the rupture caused by Obama’s speech doesn’t have implications for other more important aspects of the US-Australia relationship, which is sure to be tested further as the West continues its global political realignment and shift to the centre right.  This political realignment is evident in the relationship between Abbott, his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper and UK PM David Cameron. Combined with a conservative government in NZ, already there are four members of the Five Eyes intelligence network led by centre-right conservatives. And this at a time when the fifth and most powerful member, the US, is not only under the command of a president who abandoned the centre for the left, but whose power has been circumscribed...

A call for more effective US leadership in Iraq and more US support for Israel might not go astray, either.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Obama now defies Congress, opens US doors

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (7:46am)

Barack Obama seems determined to go out as a hero of the Left, but at what cost to America?:
After six years of often bitter back-and-forth with congressional Republicans over the issue of immigration, President Obama announced he has decided to go it alone by temporarily shielding up to 5 million immigrants from being deported… 
Obama said that he would defer the deportation of the parents of children who are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, and that he also would expand that protection to more “DREAMers,” or children who entered the country illegally with their parents. Those two groups also will be allowed to work in the United States legally, after passing a background check and paying a fee…

Even before Obama delivered his speech, congressional Republicans warned that this action would kill any chance of passing comprehensive immigration legislation. Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn took it a step further, warning of a political and social firestorm. “The country’s going to go nuts, because they’re going to see it as a move outside the authority of the president, and it’s going to be a very serious situation,” Coburn said.
Charles Krauthammer:
This executive action is a gigantic neon sign on the Rio Grande saying to Central Americans and to other people around the world, if you wait in line and you apply for legal immigration, you’re a sap. You come here illegally, you have children, and eventually you will be legalized. 
This will cause a complete new cohort. We will have 11 million new illegal immigrants in 10 or 15 years, we will be through this again and again. I would not oppose this if we were going to be serious about shutting the border. There is no seriousness whatsoever coming out of the administration or the Democrats on that. This is an invitation to a mass migration.
Senator Jeff Sessions warns against the means Obama has chosen as well:
President Obama’s executive amnesty violates the laws Congress has passed in order to create and implement laws Congress has refused to pass. The President is providing an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants with social security numbers, photo IDs and work permits—allowing them to now take jobs directly from struggling Americans during a time of record immigration, low wages, and high joblessness. This amnesty plan was rejected by the American people’s Congress. By refusing to carry out the laws of the United States in order to make his own, the President is endangering our entire Constitutional order. 
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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The Goverment still doesn’t dare call out Obama and other warmist hysterics

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (7:40am)

The Abbot Government has belatedly started to attack Barack Obama’s grandstanding over the Great Barrier Reef.
But what no one in the Government yet says - or dares say - is that Obama’s comments were simply hysterical and unscientific:
The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threatened. ... All countries, whether you are a developed country, a developing country or somewhere in between, you’ve got to be able to overcome all divides, look squarely at the science and reach a strong global climate agreement next year. ... Because I have not had time to go to the Great Barrier Reef and I want to come back and I want my daughters to be able to come back and I want them to be able to bring their daughters or sons to visit. I want that there 50 years from now.
Does anyone sane seriously think that a “climate agreement next year” is the difference between having a Great Barrier Reef in 50 years or no reef at all?
Really?
Warming alarmists have held the reef hostage for years now, and one of the most notorious alarmists - an IPCC author - bobbed up in The Age  and Sydney Morning Herald yesterday to defend Obama:
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute, backed the US President, saying Mr Obama was “right on the money”.

“We have one of the jewels of the planet in our possession and we should care a lot about climate and he wasn’t getting that from our leader [Prime Minister Tony Abbott],” Dr Hoegh-Guldberg said. Peer reviewed research by Dr Hoegh-Guldberg says that even global warming limited to 2 degrees will be devastating to the reefs.
Sounds impressive, until you do what Fairfax papers won’t and check Hoegh-Guldberg’s record of dud predictions of reef doom:
In 1998, Hoegh-Guldberg warned the reef was under pressure from global warming, and much had been bleached white. 
In fact, he later admitted the reef made a “surprising” recovery.
In 1999, Hoegh-Guldberg claimed warming would so heat the oceans that mass bleaching of the reef would occur every second year from 2010.
In fact, the reef’s last mass bleaching occurred in 2006.
In 2000, Hoegh-Guldberg claimed “we now have more evidence that corals cannot fully recover from bleaching episodes such as the major event in 1998” and “the overall damage is irreparable”.
In fact, he admitted in 2009 he was “overjoyed” to see how much the reef had recovered and the Australian Institute of Marine Science says “most reefs recovered fully” from the 1998 bleaching.
Indeed, an AIMS study found the previous 110 years of ocean warming were good for coral growth.
In 2006, Hoegh-Guldberg warned high temperatures meant “between 30 and 40 per cent of coral on Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef could die within a month”.
In fact, he later admitted this bleaching had “a minimal impact” and his team was “genuinely surprised/relieved about how quickly some of these coral colonies had recovered”. In 2007, he warned temperature changes were again bleaching the reef.
In fact, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network the next year reported no net decline in coral cover over the previous four years.
Professor Peter Ridd, a James Cook University reef researcher, insisted the reef was in “bloody brilliant shape” and said unnamed scientists were “crying wolf” — and getting funding.
In 2011, Hoegh-Guldberg predicted a “large-scale mortality” of reef-building corals on West Australian reefs from Shark Bay to Exmouth within three months.
In fact, he later admitted the famous Ningaloo Reef, the largest there, had actually “had a narrow escape”.
If the Government had the courage of its convictions it would say such things. It would hold Hoegh-Gulberg to account.  It would challenge the extremist rhetoric and apocalyptic forecasts of so many warmists.
Sure, it would still be denounced, but would be the criticism be any worse than the flaying it’s getting now, when it pretends to share the fear that the world is warming disastrously?
At least it would seem strong. It would speak the truth. And it wouldn’t seem hypocritical to both friends and foes by claiming to believe we face a climate disaster but being reluctant to throw money at dealing with it. 
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How can Triggs head an inquiry when she’s this unreliable with evidence?

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (7:18am)

The taxpayer-funded Human Rights Commission has long been used to shill for the Left. But Chris Kenny says president Giliian Triggs may now have gone too far for her own good::
THE future of Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs is under a cloud after a disastrous appearance before a Senate committee, during which she contradicted her evidence about the political considerations of delaying an inquiry into children in detention. Under questioning, Professor Triggs revealed she had decided an inquiry was necessary early last year but did not act until after the federal election because she feared it would be “highly ­politicised” and “very destructive” ... 
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has challenged Professor Triggs’s justification.
“For a position which is supposed to be free of political influence,” he said, “it was puzzling to see Professor Triggs justify not holding an inquiry in mid-2013 as ‘we were moving into an election ­period’, yet described this issue as having caused ‘serious concerns’ in December 2012, well before any election was called."…
Liberal senator Barry O’Sullivan pressed her on whether she briefed Labor about her intentions for an inquiry.
“I certainly did not discuss that as far as I recall with the minister,” she said.
But as questioning continued her answers changed to “I don’t recall” and then that her “discussions with the minister are private”.
Then, under sustained interrogation, she revealed she had in fact spoken to two Labor immigration ministers.
“I have discussed the possibility of an inquiry with minister Chris Bowen and with minister (Tony) Burke,” she revealed.
Professor Triggs initially said the discussion with Mr Burke had occurred during the election caretaker period but later retracted. 
Well, well. And, of course, there have been other reasons for me to doubt Triggs’ word:
[In July], for instance, she claimed “we’ve had reports that have been confirmed during the day that 10 women have attempted suicide” on Christmas Island. 
False. There has been only one case of self-harm by a woman that could with any credibility be described as “attempted suicide"…
Triggs also claimed last month she’d visited the detained children on Christmas Island and “almost all of them, including the adults, were coughing, were sick, were depressed, unable to communicate (and) weak”, which made her want to ask: “What’s going on? Why is this child not being treated?”
False again. Sick children are indeed being treated and the Government hotly disputes Triggs’ claim that almost every detained child on Christmas Island is sick…
Triggs insisted “the people on Christmas Island are being detained in a prison effectively” because on her three visits she had noticed “you cannot get into any of the sections without going through armed guards”.
That infuriated the Immigration Department secretary Martin Bowles, who protested at Triggs’ “emotive statements”.
“It is not fair to characterise the detention system as a jail,” he said, and Triggs should correct a falsehood.
“We do not have armed guards, President. I would like you to acknowledge that.”
Triggs would not, despite being repeatedly challenged on her “facts”. But if the head of an inquiry can see armed guards where there are none, and a prison where there are only pool fences, what else is she imagining about what she’s supposed to impartially judge?
(Thanks to readers Chris and Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Laurie Oakes demonstrates the lazy way to arguing back: make up what the other guy said

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (7:05am)

It’s strange that Laurie Oakes - having acknowledged I’ve written a lot about the ABC - still manages to completely misrepresent my central argument and ascribe to me a view I’ve never expressed:
Bolt has been frothing at the mouth over the ABC for a long time. Its mere existence seems an affront to his ideology.
To help Laurie:
The ABC is too big: discuss.
The ABC has a legal obligation to be balanced but isn’t: discuss.
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How stupid or dishonest are warmists?

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (6:35am)

Terry McCrann:
Have we seen a more perfect union of stupidity and dishonesty, hypocrisy and hysteria than the global warming cause and its legions of true unthinking believers?
Latest of countless examples? The warmist media hailing the “deal” Barack Obama signed with China to “cut” emissions, when the truth is that China promised nothing at all to the showboating president:
In a historic press conference with US President Obama, ...Chinese President Xi committed China to “increase its CO2 emissions until 2030”. 
After that date it might stop increasing them; after that date it might — although, most unlikely — even start to cut them. But the one thing it is going to do between now and 2030 is increase them… China’s economic growth comes first and second.
UPDATE
Tony Thomas enrols in the University of Queensland’s new “Denial 101X” course to learn how to close his mind against wicked denialists and their arguments. 
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Even after these “deep” cuts the ABC will have 220 websites, 5 radio stations, 4 TV channels

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (5:30am)

The ABC spends taxpayers’ money to run 320 websites? Really, it is far, far too big:
THE ABC will shut about 100 websites as it searches for savings in the wake of its $50-million-a-year funding cut... 
In an interview with The Weekend Australian, (ABC managing director Mark) Scott ­denied the anticipated website closures were related to calls for the ABC to vacate the digital space and stop competing with commercial organisations.
“Not at all,” he said. “We will be investing more in online and ­mobile services, but it will be done in a more focused way.”
In the interview Mr Scott also: 
Predicts a television revolution next year that could lead to the closure of some TV and radio broadcast transmissions and their replacement with internet streaming services. 
Reveals plans to charge for some iView services may be extended to other ABC products, but said major news websites would remain free… 
Accepts that the buck stops with him on editorial content regardless of whether he holds the title of editor-in-chief…
The ABC has about 320 websites, established for individual television programs and for each of its radio stations in four local and national analog networks as well as its digital radio services…
It is understood the surviving sites with the highest priorities will centre on news services, TV catch-up viewing through iView and youth audiences through the Triple J sites. The controversial opinion site The Drum will also continue. Responding to criticism that the ABC had spent thousands of dollars on internet search engine optimisation to promote its news services at the time of former prime minister Gough Whitlam’s death, Mr Scott says the online cuts would not extend to SEO payments.
UPDATE
A protest is called - and for the first time I can recall it’s a protest demanding more cuts to the ABC, not less:
Saturday, November 29 at 1:30pm 

Malcolm Turnbull has announced a 5% cut to the ABC but that is not enough. There is no reason for government to be funding a media corporation when there is easy access to content with the advent of the Internet, and as content becomes easier and cheaper to produce.
This is a protest against government owned media, and for removal of tax payer funds that are wasted on something that can be provided by the free market, and government crowding out other media sources. We need to show that the government hasn’t gone far enough. Show that the silent majority is sick of the vocal minority running politics and show the government that there is support for the ABC to be fully privatised.
We’ll start at Railway Square as a meeting point at 1:30 until 2:00-2:15 before marching down to the Ultimo ABC Studio and stay around there for 15-30 minutes.(This may be longer on the day depending on reception.)
This event is hosted in conjunction with Australia and New Zealand Students for Liberty, and The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance.
I don’t expect a huge turnout, but this is a first.
(Thanks to reader Eagle Dan.) 
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God sees even dropped parcels and justice will be his

Andrew Bolt November 22 2014 (12:52am)

“God sees all,” the priests used to say as a warning to the sinners.
The Internet and the smart phone has recreated that God, as a Virgin baggage handler is just the latest to discover. 
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Australians for Nuclear Energy

For those concerned about climate change, Nuclear energy is the only real answer, It is cheaper, safer and just as clean as wind or solar power whilst being massively more reliable and able to supply baseload power 24/7. Even if you dont believe in climate change, there is still a lot of reasons to...
Community: 30 like this.
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I'm angry. Marvin the Martian angry. I'm really becoming quite irate with GIO. I've contacted personal injury lawyers. They haven't returned my call yet, so if you know any feel free to suggest them. - ed

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Not very photogenic? Then give squinching a go
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/not-very-photogenic-then-give-squinching-a-go-20131122-2y09j.html
"If you're a human being who wants to look hot or better or more confident in front of the camera, this is going to do it for you."
Is this from the Age's political reporter? - ed
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US Campaign for Burma
The Burmese government & some from the National League for Democracy party have banded together to reject this week's United Nations General Assembly draft resolution that urges Burma to grant the #Rohingyacitizenship.

“Even if anyone pressured us, we will not give citizenship to those who are not qualified," presidential spokesperson Ye Htut said on Facebook. A spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, Nyan Win, also criticized the resolution: “Even the United Nations is interfering in Myanmar’s internal affairs,” he said.
Government says Myanmar won’t bend to UN pressure over ethnic Rohingya citizenship
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/government-says-myanmar-wont-bend-to-un-pressure-over-ethnic-rohingya-citizenship/2013/11/21/af20821e-52ad-11e3-9ee6-2580086d8254_story.html

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar will not allow itself to be pressured by a U.N. resolution calling on it to grant citizenship to members of the Muslim ethnic minority that identify themselves as Rohingya, an official said Thursday.Presidential spokesman Ye Htut insisted in a posting on his Facebook page t...
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“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge—” 1 Corinthians 1:4-5 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Grieve not the Holy Spirit."
Ephesians 4:30
All that the believer has must come from Christ, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the Holy Spirit, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious act, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same Spirit. Even if the good seed be sown in you, yet it lies dormant except he worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Do you desire to speak for Jesus--how can you unless the Holy Ghost touch your tongue? Do you desire to pray? Alas! what dull work it is unless the Spirit maketh intercession for you! Do you desire to subdue sin? Would you be holy? Would you imitate your Master? Do you desire to rise to superlative heights of spirituality? Are you wanting to be made like the angels of God, full of zeal and ardour for the Master's cause? You cannot without the Spirit--"Without me ye can do nothing." O branch of the vine, thou canst have no fruit without the sap! O child of God, thou hast no life within thee apart from the life which God gives thee through his Spirit! Then let us not grieve him or provoke him to anger by our sin. Let us not quench him in one of his faintest motions in our soul; let us foster every suggestion, and be ready to obey every prompting. If the Holy Spirit be indeed so mighty, let us attempt nothing without him; let us begin no project, and carry on no enterprise, and conclude no transaction, without imploring his blessing. Let us do him the due homage of feeling our entire weakness apart from him, and then depending alone upon him, having this for our prayer, "Open thou my heart and my whole being to thine incoming, and uphold me with thy free Spirit when I shall have received that Spirit in my inward parts."

Evening

"Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him."
John 12:2
He is to be envied. It was well to be Martha and serve, but better to be Lazarus and commune. There are times for each purpose, and each is comely in its season, but none of the trees of the garden yield such clusters as the vine of fellowship. To sit with Jesus, to hear his words, to mark his acts, and receive his smiles, was such a favour as must have made Lazarus as happy as the angels. When it has been our happy lot to feast with our Beloved in his banqueting-hall, we would not have given half a sigh for all the kingdoms of the world, if so much breath could have bought them.
He is to be imitated. It would have been a strange thing if Lazarus had not been at the table where Jesus was, for he had been dead, and Jesus had raised him. For the risen one to be absent when the Lord who gave him life was at his house, would have been ungrateful indeed. We too were once dead, yea, and like Lazarus stinking in the grave of sin; Jesus raised us, and by his life we live--can we be content to live at a distance from him? Do we omit to remember him at his table, where he deigns to feast with his brethren? Oh, this is cruel! It behoves us to repent, and do as he has bidden us, for his least wish should be law to us. To have lived without constant intercourse with one of whom the Jews said, "Behold how he loved him," would have been disgraceful to Lazarus; is it excusable in us whom Jesus has loved with an everlasting love? To have been cold to him who wept over his lifeless corpse, would have argued great brutishness in Lazarus. What does it argue in us over whom the Saviour has not only wept, but bled? Come, brethren, who read this portion, let us return unto our heavenly Bridegroom, and ask for his Spirit that we may be on terms of closer intimacy with him, and henceforth sit at the table with him.
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Today's reading: Ezekiel 16-17, James 3 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Ezekiel 16-17

Jerusalem as an Adulterous Wife
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices 3 and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.
6 “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!”

Today's New Testament reading: James 3

Taming the Tongue
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell....
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Melchisedec, Melchizedek[Mĕlchĭs'e dĕc, Mĕl chĭz'e dĕk]—king of righteousness or justice. The priest and king of Salem, who met Abraham and blessed him (Gen. 14:18; Ps. 110:4; Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1-21). His pedigree is not recorded ( Ezra 2:59,62).

The Man Who Prefigured Christ’s Priesthood

Although a mysterious figure, Melchisedec is yet a figure of great importance. His biography is short. He comes before us in history (Gen. 14); in prophecy (Ps. 110); in doctrine (Heb. 7), and prefigures Christ’s priesthood. He is King of Righteousness, and King of Peace—cause and effect. Christ alone can bring us peace since He is our righteousness (Isa. 32:17 ). In a book consisting of genealogies, Melchisedec has no record of father, mother, birth or death. Such silence is part of the divine plan to make him typify more strikingly the mystery of Christ’s birth and the eternity of His priesthood.
The priesthood of this mysterious man was not based on what he was, or on any inherited right. Christ was without father on earth as to His humanity, and without mother as to His deity. He was the only-begotten of the Father, and without pedigree as to His priesthood. The greatness of Melchisedec is seen in that Abraham gave him tithes, and was blessed of him. Christ being greater, deserves and demands our all.
In Christ we have an unchallengeable priesthood, for He was made Priest by the solemnity of a divine oath. His is also an uninterrupted priesthood, for death cannot overtake Him. His priesthood is likewise nontransferable—it cannot be delegated to anyone on earth. Christ, like Melchisedec, had in His office as Priest, no ancestor, no associate, no descendant. With the Aaronic priesthood it was different.
Tradition identifies Melchisedec as Shem, the son of Noah (Gen. 11:11), or as Philitis, the builder of the great Pyramid of Egypt.
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Euodias

The Woman Who Fell Out With Her Friend
Scripture References - Philippians 4:2(see Acts 16:13-15; 17:12)
Name Meaning - Euodias is actually a man's name. Euodia is its right form here ( Philippians 4:2, rv). Euodias means "prosperous journey" - Euodia, "fragrant." Wilkinson has the note, "Euodia is 'a good journey,' and was used in the colloquial Attic Greek as the French use the expression bon voyage." Euodia is coupled with another female, Syntyche, and both may have been among the women who resorted to prayer at the river bank (Acts 16:13-15), and among the honorable women who believed ( Acts 17:12). Scripture is silent on the genealogy and family association of these two women who, after their conversion became colaborers with Paul in the Gospel (Philippians 4:3). Belonging to a class bespeaking prosperity they doubtless ministered unto Paul of their substances.
At Philippi women were the first hearers of the Gospel and Lydia the first convert. If Euodias and Syntyche were also brought to the Lord there, they naturally took a leading part in teaching the Gospel to other women in a private sphere of labor once the Church had been formed there (1 Timothy 2:11, 12).
When Paul exhorted these two prominent workers to "be of the same mind in the Lord," he implied that they had been previously at variance. What caused the breach between these two deaconesses in the Philippian Church we are not told. Perhaps one had a more dominant personality than the other and received more attention. Whatever the dispute was, it became serious and hindered the work of the Lord, so Paul besought the two women to give up their differences and live at peace in the Lord. The lack of harmony between Euodias and Syntyche disturbed the Apostle, so he urged a reconciliation, for as those professing to be redeemed their whole life should be lived in peace and in an endeavor to please Him who had saved them.
A humorist has suggested that because of the strife between these sisters in Christ they should have been called Odiousand Soon-touchy . It was sad that there was this difference of opinion, and more tragic still that divisions have kept Christians apart all down the ages. "How can two walk together except they be agreed?" is an old adage we have lost sight of. We like to believe that Paul did not plead in vain, and that Euodias and Syntyche were completely reconciled and went on unitedly to serve the God of peace. Is there any need of such a reconciliation in your life as a Christian? If so, for the sake of your own peace of heart and your influence in the world, go out and put wrong things right.
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