Sunday, January 10, 2016

Sun Jan 10th Todays News

From last year. I was right then, and now. .. In 49 BC Caesar crossed the Rubicon. He hadn't hesitated, he had temporised, before crossing. In Rome, those who opposed Caesar were dreading what he was going to choose to do. They were willing to let him have everything he had if he left Rome. But Caesar wanted Rome. By waiting, Caesar's enemies were able to think about what would happen. They lost their nerve. And the rest is history. The world faces a similar moment today. A weak and self doubting West have looked at jihadism, and just like impotent Islamic leaders, have panicked. Some are saying that migration needs to be closed. Some are saying that laws must be passed limiting Islam and worship. Ninety years ago, Ataturk hoodwinked Islamic scholars and got Turkish women to give up their head coverings. It was a rear guard action and made a long term change, but that has sadly failed recently. For the West, the issue is easier to face, although it has not been widely recognised yet. The key is law and order.

 The meekness of modern police is astonishing to those who knew the world before the sixties. The Soviet Union exploited the peace movement as a way to secure reach within the West. And political correctness has been the brainchild of the peace movement, corroding institutions and emasculating police forces around the world. So that a celebrity who is the wrong colour can kill a woman the wrong colour and get away with it. So that a pedophile celebrity can become fabulously wealthy and highly lauded. So that a thief can resist arrest and be compensated. So that a President can openly demean the US public and be re elected. Note, names don't have to be used here because there are numerous examples of each. But part of the cure of the fear of terrorism, the way to address it, is to give police and the courts the latitude to do their jobs. To not have killers walking the streets because "they can't kill their victims again." It means border security like that Mr Abbott desired. It means security laws like that Mr Abbott was trying to pass. It means freedom of speech like Mr Abbott had promised.  

Nothing need change for the West to be free of jihadism. Jail criminals. Police effectively. Have free and fair press. Strong border protection. Effective intelligence agencies. Strengthen cultural assets. 

One footnote, a free and fair press does not mean a partisan press. Partisan left wing media have been complicit in promoting a narrative that has corroded cultural assets and prompted hysterical jihadism. People have died from lies spread by the media regarding so called insults to Islam. Or military activity that hasn't occurred. Case in point being the jailing of Peter Greste who, while adhering to international standards, is still guilty of promoting jihadism. Journalist standards have to rise for press to be free and fair. We must cross the river. 

 For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
In 49 BC Caesar crossed the Rubicon. He hadn't hesitated, he had temporised, before crossing. In Rome, those who opposed Caesar were dreading what he was going to choose to do. They were willing to let him have everything he had if he left Rome. But Caesar wanted Rome. By waiting, Caesar's enemies were able to think about what would happen. They lost their nerve. And the rest is history. The world faces a similar moment today. A weak and self doubting West have looked at jihadism, and just like impotent Islamic leaders, have panicked. Some are saying that migration needs to be closed. Some are saying that laws must be passed limiting Islam and worship. Ninety years ago, Ataturk hoodwinked Islamic scholars and got Turkish women to give up their head coverings. It was a rear guard action and made a long term change, but that has sadly failed recently. For the West, the issue is easier to face, although it has not been widely recognised yet. The key is law and order.

The meekness of modern police is astonishing to those who knew the world before the sixties. The Soviet Union exploited the peace movement as a way to secure reach within the West. And political correctness has been the brainchild of the peace movement, corroding institutions and emasculating police forces around the world. So that a celebrity who is the wrong colour can kill a woman the wrong colour and get away with it. So that a pedophile celebrity can become fabulously wealthy and highly lauded. So that a thief can resist arrest and be compensated. So that a President can openly demean the US public and be re elected. Note, names don't have to be used here because there are numerous examples of each. But part of the cure of the fear of terrorism, the way to address it, is to give police and the courts the latitude to do their jobs. To not have killers walking the streets because "they can't kill their victims again." It means border security like that Mr Abbott desires. It means security laws like that Mr Abbott is trying to pass. It means freedom of speech like Mr Abbott has promised.  

Nothing need change for the West to be free of jihadism. Jail criminals. Police effectively. Have free and fair press. Strong border protection. Effective intelligence agencies. Strengthen cultural assets. 

One footnote, a free and fair press does not mean a partisan press. Partisan left wing media have been complicit in promoting a narrative that has corroded cultural assets and prompted hysterical jihadism. People have died from lies spread by the media regarding so called insults to Islam. Or military activity that hasn't occurred. Case in point being the jailing of Peter Greste who, while adhering to international standards, is still guilty of promoting jihadism. Journalist standards have to rise for press to be free and fair. We must cross the river. 
From 2014
Extreme left wingers seem to feel it is ok to drown people if one feels compassion while doing it. That would not be the position of a reasonable person. It is icing on the cake that illegal immigration also undermines systems that benefit people, such as refugee camps, foreign aid and migration. Because the extreme left have adopted that position, the moderate left have embraced it too. After all, the moderate left see themselves as being compassionate. And they dislike unfettered capitalism. It has to have fetters, like those employed monetarily to refugee seekers willing to pay to risk drowning. Because all lefties think the same, moderate leftists must embrace what extreme leftists espouse. That has not always been the case. Moderate leftists like Hawke and Keating were able to pull the extremists to back them on their compromises. They still managed to convey to extremists they would not behave sensibly. The kind of moderate left leadership provided by Hawke and Keating was surrendered by Beazley who was not capable of filling the vacuum left when Keating retired. Which is sad for boat people, who rely on people like Sarah Hanson Young to keep the drain unplugged as they circle the drain of Keating's vision of Australia. 

The conservative position espoused by Mr Abbott and of long standing public policy of conservative administrations is opposed by the radical left. And so it is also despised by moderates. And so Channel 10's morning show, after interviewing Mr Abbott, discussed the issue and no member of the four person panel spoke in favour of the conservative position. Not even Joe Hildebrand who is a vocal supporter of good government at other times. Such a jaundiced view is unwatchable and not entertaining, but irritating. Channel Ten's program was celebrating fifty episodes. It won't grow if it fails to be different to other channels.
Historical perspective on this day
In 49 BC, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war. 9, the Western Han Dynasty ended when Wang Mang claimed that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beginning of his own, the Xin Dynasty. 69, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus is appointed by Galba as deputy Roman Emperor. 236, Pope Fabiansucceeded Anterus to become the twentieth pope of Rome. 1072, Robert Guiscardconquered Palermo. 1475, Stephen III of Moldavia defeated the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui. 1645, Archbishop William Laud is beheaded at the Tower of London. 1776, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense. 1791, the Siege of Dunlap's Station began near Cincinnati during the Northwest Indian War.

In 1806, Dutch settlers in Cape Town surrendered to the British. 1810, Napoleon Bonaparte divorced his first wife Joséphine. 1861, American Civil War: Florida seceded from the Union. 1863, the London Underground, the world's oldest underground railway, opened between London Paddington station and Farringdon station. 1870, John D. Rockefellerincorporated Standard Oil.

In 1901, the first great Texas oil gusher was discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas. 1916, World War I: In the Erzurum Offensive, Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire. 1920, the Treaty of Versailles took effect, officially ending World War I. 1922, Arthur Griffith was elected President of the Dáil Éireann. 1923, Lithuania seized and annexed Memel. 1927, Fritz Lang's futuristic film Metropolis was released in Germany. 1929, The Adventures of Tintin, one of the most popular European comic books, was first published in Belgium. 1941, World War II: The Greek army captured Kleisoura. 1946, the first General Assembly of the United Nationsopened in London. Fifty-one nations were represented. Also 1946, the United States ArmySignal Corps successfully conducted Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the moon and receiving the reflected signals.

In 1954, BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, exploded and fell into the Tyrrhenian Sea killing 35 people. 1962, Apollo program: NASA announced plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle. It became better known as the Saturn V Moon rocket, which launched every Apollo Moon mission. 1972, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returned to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan. 1981, Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launched its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments 1984, Holy See–United States relations: The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) re-established full diplomatic relations after almost 117 years, overturning the United States Congress's 1867 ban on public funding for such a diplomatic envoy. 1985, Sir Clive Sinclair launched the Sinclair C5 personal electric vehicle, which became a notorious commercial failure and later a cult collector's item. Also 1985, Sandinista Daniel Ortega became president of Nicaragua and vowed to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba; American policy continued to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.

In 1990, Time Warner was formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications. 1999, Sanjeev Nanda killed three policemen in New Delhi, India with his car, an act for which he was later acquitted, resulting in a sharp drop in public confidence in the Indian legal system. 2005, a mudslide occurred in La Conchita, California, killing 10 people, injuring many more and closing U.S. Route 101, the main coastal corridor between Los Angeles and San Francisco for 10 days. 2007, a general strike began in Guinea in an eventually successful attempt to get President Lansana Conté to resign. 2011, 2010–2011 Queensland floods: Torrential rain in the Lockyer Valley region of South East Queensland, Australia caused severe flash flooding, killing 9 people. 2012, a bombing in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, killed at least 30 people with 78 others injured. 2013, more than 100 people were killed and 270 injured in several bomb blasts in Pakistan.
=== Publishing News ===
This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
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Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, 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 a free kindle version.

List of available items at Create Space
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR
Douglas Sutherland-Bruce via David Daniel Ball
Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.net) which will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.

Happy birthday and many happy returns Stephanie Hurst. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense
Your feet like the ottoman. You have common sense. You have adventures. Your electric vehicle is personal. Everyone in the village comes to you. Let's party. 
Deaths
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FROM WILLKOMMEN TO GEHT WEG

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 10, 2016 (3:16pm)

Then: 
Cheering German crowds greet refugees. 
Now: 
The latest poll in Germany for the first time reports a majority in favour of closing Germany’s borders. 
Reality works quickly. This shift has taken just four months.
===

THE GREAT EXAGGERATORS

Tim Blair – Sunday, January 10, 2016 (11:59am)

Climate alarmists exaggerate everything. They exaggerate security risks, they exaggerate threats, they exaggerate population, they exaggerate depleted water levels, media criticism, and even refrigerator sizes.
And now we have a climate scientist accused of exaggerating his expenses: 
A climate scientist who did research on the Great Barrier Reef for the Federal Government is accused of ripping off taxpayers to the tune of $556,508 by claiming bogus expenses related to his research – for seven years.
Authorities have frozen the superannuation and long-service leave of former career public servant Daniel Alongi pending a trial.
Police allege Alongi, from Townsville, created an elaborate ruse to claim bogus expenses while working for the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

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Alongi, who was well regarded in the science industry, allegedly pretended he was paying for “radioisotopes” imported from the US and to have samples analysed in US laboratories for his Great Barrier Reef research.
He told his boss he could “get a discount” on isotopes because he was a US citizen, and he claimed he was measuring carbon levels in “sediment core samples” taken from the Reef.
He has admitted to police that he made false invoices, credit card statements and created fake email trails to claim expenses over seven years, court documents state …
Details of the 59-year-old father of two’s admissions were revealed after the Australian Federal Police successfully applied to the District Court in Brisbane to freeze his $903,141 in superannuation and $82,000 in long-service and annual leave credits. 
Alongi is due to appear in Townsville Magistrates Court on January 18.
(Via Damon.)
===

FIRST DOG ON HIS BACK

Tim Blair – Saturday, January 10, 2015 (1:46pm)

Walkley Award-winning coward Andrew Marlton’s gossamer-spined response to Islamic terrorism in Paris:

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In fact, there are plenty of words. Words like these: Islamic maniacs have been killing and threatening to kill Western cartoonists and other artists for decades.

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You wouldn’t expect it in New York, either, but that’s where Islamic extremists called for the death of Marlton’s fellow faux-naïve critter-scribbler Michael Leunig in 2006. You also wouldn’t expect cartoonist death plots to emerge from Seattle, Denmark, Sweden or Ireland. Here’s the thing, though; this isn’t about geography. It’s more to do with demographics.

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… not laughing, if he’s even partially sentient. But why would Melbourne-based Marlton be even slightly worried about an “Anders Breivik type”? So far as I’m aware there is only one Anders Breivik type: his name is Anders Breivik, and he’s safely imprisoned 16,000 kilometres away in Oslo. And he never expressed any particular feelings about cartoonists.

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“Probably racist.” That’s beautiful, Andrew. Care to identify the offended race? Of course, Marlton’s appeasement goes further than his reluctance to draw some goofy prophet. Last year, faced with evidence that a large Islamic bookstore in Sydney was selling works that celebrate Hitler, describe Jews as baby-killing animals and condemn women as worth only half as much as men, Marlton deliberately talked it all down.
Charlie Hebdo editor and publisher Stephane Charbonnier said he would “rather die standing than live on my knees.” Even the latter option is unavailable to Marlton. His kind is kneeless.
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THIRD AND FINAL DAY

Tim Blair – Friday, January 09, 2015 (9:37pm)

The two Charlie Hebdo terrorists are now trapped by police at a small printing plant near to Charles de Gaulle airport. They are believed to be holding one hostage.
UPDATE. A woman barricaded nearby describes the scene: 
Christelle Alleaume told the i-Tele TV channel that she could see about 15 policemen in front of CTD’s premises on an industrial estate in Dammartin-en-Goële.
“They’re heavily armed and wearing helmets,” she said. “I can see four helicopters overhead. The police have cordoned off the whole area. They came and told us to stay inside as we’re right in the middle of it and there’s a hostage situation. We heard three or four shots fired.”
A local MP, Yves Albarello, said one hostage was being held. He said the gunmen had indicated to negotiators that they wanted to “die as martyrs”. 
UPDATE II. Fox News, CNN and the ABC are presently locked on to pool footage of a large industrial building where they report the terrorists are located. The actual site of the siege, however, appears to be a much smaller building next to the larger structure:

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UPDATE III. Police now link the murder of a Paris policewoman yesterday to the Charlie Hebdo terrorists.
UPDATE IV. Yet another attack in Paris, with another man reportedly taken hostage: 
An armed man has apparently taken a hostage in a kosher grocery in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris. Reports that one person wounded in a shootout at the shop.
It is thought that it is the gunman who shot dead a policewoman, Clarissa Jean-Philippe, yesterday morning. 
Live Sky streaming at this link. Latest reports claim there may be five hostages at the kosher store shooting site. A reminder: according to Australian experts, Islamic terrorists are mere irritants who can easily be defeated by audacious confidence in the fundamental goodness of others. For some reason, neither of these experts has recently been contacted by French authorities.
UPDATE V. Two reported deaths at the kosher siege.
UPDATE VI. Police say there are TWO terrorists at the kosher supermarket siege. One appears to be a young white woman named Hayat Boumeddiene:

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UPDATE VII. Ten seconds of gunfire and then explosions at the print plant hostage site. Smoke now above the area. Further gunfire and continuing explosions:

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UPDATE VIII. Several explosions at the kosher siege site in Paris.
UPDATE IX. Sky is now reporting, but not confirming, that Charlie Hebdo terrorists  Said and Cherif Kouachi have been killed. Also reported but not confirmed: their hostage has survived. Hostage liberations are reported in Paris.
UPDATE X. A report from the scene of the print hostage scene, just prior to the conclusive police action. At this stage – 3.40am Sydney time – hostages at both sites are reported to be alive and all terrorists dead. Hopefully these reports are accurate.
UPDATE XI. Tragically, those early reports are now contradicted by claims that four people held in the kosher supermarket may have been killed.
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No, you are not all Charlie.

Andrew Bolt January 10 2015 (8:03pm)

I am in Holland and the other night, in Groningen, passed one of those demonstrations now held all over Europe in support of the magazine Charlie Hebdo and the journalists murdered this week by Islamists. Many people held up the sign seen at all these demonstrations: Je suis Charlie. I am Charlie.
Pardon me, but those signs are just not true. Charlie Hebdo was selected by al Qaeda for attack precisely because almost no one else was Charlie Hebdo. It was almost alone in newspapers and magazines to mock the ideology that some many other journalists fear. That is what it was the target, and, say, The Age, The Guardian or the New York Times not.
And I suspect this attack will work.  There will in fact be fewer Charlie Hebdos than ever. More on this in tomorrow’s Sunday Herald Sun, once the lawyers have carefully checked what I am permitted to say under our already absurd laws against free speech. 
===
Dallas Beaufort
ABC must confront the inconvenient truth about Islamic terrorism
Gerard Henderson Columnist THE AUSTRALIAN JANUARY 10, 2015 
SO Paris is the most recent city to experience a dose of what Monash University academic and former ABC Radio National presenter Waleed Aly has termed a “perpetual irritant”. However, to everyday Parisians, the murder of Charlie Hebdo staff and two ­policemen was by no means an ­“irritant”.
The latest attack by an Islamist group on a democratic society again pointed out the difference in approach to such events taken by most members of the general public and some members of the intelligentsia. To the former, jihadist inspired murder is just jihadist inspired murder. To some commentators, on the other hand, murderers have complicated ­intentions along with motives that appear other than what they are. Still others decline to call a jihadist a jihadist.
On early Thursday morning news broke in Australia on the latest terrorist attack in France. In Sydney, ABC Radio 702 issued the following tweet: “Waking up and learning of the overnight violence in Paris? Here’s some of the history of Charlie Hebdo.” To which one tweeter responded: “Overnight violence? How about calling it an ‘Islamist terrorist attack’? That’s what it is.”
Good point. Since the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo had been fire bombed in 2011 by jihadists who resented its presentation of the prophet Mohammed, it was obvious that a planned ­attack on its staff was a terrorist ­attack. Not a manifestation of “violence”.
Soon after, on ABC radio RN Summer Breakfast, presenter Jonathan Green interviewed Greg Barton of the Global Terrorism Research Centre at Monash University. Barton usually talks sense on national security issues. It’s possible that, on this occasion, he was influenced by Green’s inner-city leftist agenda.
While Green did condemn the murders, he added the following comment: “Things are very tense in France, in Paris. Racial or religious divisions are strong and they have all sorts of manifestations through economic division as well. This will play out awkwardly, there is tension underlying this incident.”
Barton, accommodating Green’s line, replied: “One fears so, Jonathan. The hope is that … the better angels of French nature rise to the surface … saying — we’re not going to be provoked … we’re not going to give them [terrorists] what they want.”
Barton went on to talk about high levels of youth unemployment in France and how “it’s hard to get a job if you have a Moroccan or Algerian name”. He added that this leads to “a real sense of alienation”.
Maybe it does. But, according to available evidence, there is no causal relationship between French unemployment and the attack on Charlie Hebdo. None at all. Rather, this was a jihadist attack armed at silencing the satirical magazine. In other words, the Paris murderers took aim at freedom of expression.
Moreover, Barton’s assessment, in response to Green’s questioning, was misleading. There is no evidence that the French jihadists want to provoke French society to respond in like fashion. If this were the case, the gunmen would have stayed at the scene of the crime and attempted to kill others, rather than fleeing.
The jihadists in our midst do not want to provoke us. Rather, they want to silence us. In short, jihadists want Western democracies to submit to their demands across a range of issues — from winding back freedom of expression to changing foreign policy with respect to the Middle East and on to the eventual establishment of Sharia law.
Green added to the Barton-­induced confusion when he commented “this sort of violence is almost an admission of weakness” on the part of the attackers. No, it’s not. The terrorists did not exhibit weakness but, rather, their ability to murder at will and temporarily close down a modern city. That’s a sign of strength.
Soon after the Australian-born journalist Annette Young, who works for the television news station France 24, appeared on ABC News 24. She also threw the switch to irrelevance by declaring that “the problem” with the attack on Charlie Hebdo was that “it comes at a time when there’s been fraught relations between the Muslim community and the ruling political elite; for instance … the [Muslim] veil has been banned.”
Young’s reference to the “ruling political elite” was, in fact, a comment about the French political system. Francois Hollande happens to be the socialist president of France. As such, he is a democratically elected politician — not the head of a political elite. Moreover, on all the available evidence, there is no causal relationship between the attack on Charlie Hebdo and the debate over whether the hijab should be worn in government schools in France.
Young then moved quickly to discuss the likelihood that the terrorist attack “will see a rise in support for the far-right National Front”. Later, on ABC radio’s The World Today, Young described a possible growth in support for the National Front, and its leader Marine Le Pen, as the “big worry” following the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
Once again, this is a view from the intelligentsia. The real “big worry” of the events, which ­occurred in France on Wednesday, is that Charlie Hebdo staff along with police were murdered and French society was terrorised. The attack had nothing to do with the National Front. In any event, Marine Le Pen does not share the anti-Semitism of her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and her political position does not warrant Young’s reflex dismissal.
So much of the early commentary on the most recent outbreak of terrorism in France turned on anything but the inconvenient truth. Which is that there are jihadists within Western democracies, particularly in western Europe, who want to establish an Islamist state. This is documented by Soeren Kern in a paper, published by the New York-based Gatestone Institute, titled The Islamisation of Britain in 2014.
The recent attacks in France and Belgium (where a French terrorist murdered visitors at a Jewish museum) demonstrates why nations like Australia are correct in attempting to stop young Muslims travelling to Iraq and Syria where they will be trained in terrorism, which is much more than an irritant or a manifestation of ­violence.
Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute.
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Where was Bill Shorten MP? On holidays ..
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Acting PM? She is worthy
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Bad luck Sarah, but that boat won’t float

Piers Akerman – Thursday, January 09, 2014 (6:39pm)

OUR ABC, and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, choked the pre-election airwaves with wild predictions that the Coalition’s turn-back-the-boats policy was unworkable.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'Bad luck Sarah, but that boat won’t float'
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SEXIST, RACIST DECISION REVERSED

Tim Blair – Friday, January 10, 2014 (12:53pm)

Excellent result: 
An African woman who was denied permission to travel to Australia for facial reconstruction surgery by the Gillard government has had a second visa application approved.
Ayaan Mohamed, 25, suffered horrific facial injuries when she was shot as an infant during Somalia’s brutal civil war.
Brisbane’s Wesley Hospital and Rotary offered to bring Ayaan to Australia for the complicated surgery free of charge, but she was denied a medical visa last March.
Ayaan made a second visa application in October, which Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has now approved. 
More than 40,000 people petitioned the government on the woman’s behalf.
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BIGGER THAN THE MOON

Tim Blair – Friday, January 10, 2014 (11:54am)

Antarctic tourism academic Chris Turney claims: 
Never before has a science expedition reached out live to so many people from such a remote location. 
Roger Corbett responds: 
… er, “one small step for a man ...” 
(Via John R.)
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FIGHTY WHITEYS

Tim Blair – Friday, January 10, 2014 (11:47am)

This might be the lamest and palest human chain of all time:

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ABBOTT NOT BLAMED

Tim Blair – Friday, January 10, 2014 (11:38am)

Melbourne leftoid Jeff Sparrow blames violence in Sydney on George W. Bush: 
If you sought to normalise brutality, to present killing as an acceptable way for perpetrators to get what they wanted without repercussions, could you conceive of a better way than the war against Iraq? 
Fundamentalist Islam, for one. But in Sydney’s case, the violence is probably more due to drunken idiots on ice or steroids rather than any geopolitical or religious factors. Just a theory.
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HYPOTHETICAL HANSON-YOUNG

Tim Blair – Friday, January 10, 2014 (11:17am)

Piers Akerman deals with Greens senator Sarah Accidents-Happen: 
The Senator flippantly shrugged off any Greens responsibility for contributing to the deaths of about 200 people who tried to enter aboard an illegal people smuggler boat in December 2011 with the astoundingly superficial comment: “Tragedies happen, accidents happen.”
Hanson-Young is now dismayed the Australian naval personnel may be responsible for saving lives at sea.

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Speaking to “our” ABC after Indonesian authorities reported at least two illegal people smuggler boats had returned to Indonesia (there have been more), the pointless South Australian said the people-smuggler passengers ”could have drowned”. 
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My German Professor Made Verbal Love To Obamacare
www.thecollegefix.com
When I enrolled in an advanced German for beginners class last fall at The College of New Jersey, I intended to improve my ability to speak and write in conversational German. What I did not expect to learn in German
" When I enrolled in an advanced German for beginners class last fall at The College of New Jersey, I intended to improve my ability to speak and write in conversational German. What I did not expect to learn in German 103 was that the Affordable Care Act – a.k.a Obamacare – is the answer to our prayers..."
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David Bowles
Excited about an awesome project I'm about to embark on for Lamar University Press with the collaboration of the amazing artist Jose Mlndz. Got to wrap up the Mythological History of Mexico manuscript first, though. :cracks knuckles and neck muscles: ¡A chambiar!
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Beyond MP3: New push for high-resolution music so clear you can hear a pin drop
www.foxnews.com
A growing number of musicians, composers and sound engineers aim to put the fidelity back into your digital hi-fi, and get the output -- the digital song file you listen to -- to match the effort that went into it at a mixing board. Your ears won’t believe the detail and clarity, they say.

I'm too old to know the difference or care .. my ears probably wouldn't hear the pin .. But it allows them to rebadge their material .. - ed
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OMG! Bernardi isn't just a conservative! He's a libertarian! Gasp.
catallaxyfiles.com
Oh dear - a fine example of lazy journalism. A similar lesson applies to his fellow-travellers in the ''conservative'' commentariat. Whether it is Andrew Bolt, Tim Blair or Piers Akerman (who lies ...
There is diversity amongst conservatives .. but Libertarians are pretty well defined within the conservative movement .. Bernardi is not Libertarian even if he takes on economic conservative views .. his social conservatism is apparent with his embrace of regulation as a solution to much. - ed

1) Libertarian/Classical Liberal.
2. Conservative.
3) Fascism.
Moving from centre to Left.
4) Left-liberal (inner-city leftie)
5) Social democrat
6)Communism.

Of course there are overlaps between 1) and 4) (e.g social progressiveness, freedom), 2) and 5) (e.g valuing family, God) and 3) and 6) (e.g totalitarianism, use of violence). And some people have particular views on certain topics.>
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Danish Cinnamon Rolls too Spicy for EU Rules
www.breitbart.com
Easy on the cinnamon! That advice from Denmark's food authority has rankled pastry chefs whose cinnamon rolls were found to violate the European Union's spice rules.

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Here's The Fascinating Origin Of Almost Every Jewish Last Name
www.businessinsider.com
A look back at how Jewish surnames were chosen in 18th century Europe.

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Why now? Glenn reacts to the accusations in former Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new book
www.glennbeck.com
"I'm sorry, Mr. Gates, I don't have time to purchase or read your book. But thanks for the tip that we can't trust this administration. That comes as a total surprise."

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“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:19-21
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

January 9: Morning
"I will be their God." - Jeremiah 31:33
Christian! here is all thou canst require. To make thee happy thou wantest something that shall satisfy thee; and is not this enough? If thou canst pour this promise into thy cup, wilt thou not say, with David, "My cup runneth over; I have more than heart can wish"? When this is fulfilled, "I am thy God", art thou not possessor of all things? Desire is insatiable as death, but he who filleth all in all can fill it. The capacity of our wishes who can measure? But the immeasurable wealth of God can more than overflow it. I ask thee if thou art not complete when God is thine? Dost thou want anything but God? Is not his all-sufficiency enough to satisfy thee if all else should fail? But thou wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest rapturous delight. Come, soul, here is music fit for heaven in this thy portion, for God is the Maker of Heaven. Not all the music blown from sweet instruments, or drawn from living strings, can yield such melody as this sweet promise, "I will be their God." Here is a deep sea of bliss, a shoreless ocean of delight; come, bathe thy spirit in it; swim an age, and thou shalt find no shore; dive throughout eternity, and thou shalt find no bottom. "I will be their God." If this do not make thine eyes sparkle, and thy heart beat high with bliss, then assuredly thy soul is not in a healthy state. But thou wantest more than present delights--thou cravest something concerning which thou mayest exercise hope; and what more canst thou hope for than the fulfilment of this great promise, "I will be their God"? This is the masterpiece of all the promises; its enjoyment makes a heaven below, and will make a heaven above. Dwell in the light of thy Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with his love. Get out the marrow and fatness which this portion yields thee. Live up to thy privileges, and rejoice with unspeakable joy.
Evening
"Serve the Lord with gladness." - Psalm 100:2
Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God requires no slaves to grace his throne; he is the Lord of the empire of love, and would have his servants dressed in the livery of joy. The angels of God serve him with songs, not with groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks. That obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord looketh at the heart, and if he seeth that we serve him from force, and not because we love him, he will reject our offering. Service coupled with cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true. Take away joyful willingness from the Christian, and you have removed the test of his sincerity. If a man be driven to battle, he is no patriot; but he who marches into the fray with flashing eye and beaming face, singing, "It is sweet for one's country to die," proves himself to be sincere in his patriotism. Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in the joy of the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of difficulties. It is to our service what oil is to the wheels of a railway carriage. Without oil the axle soon grows hot, and accidents occur; and if there be not a holy cheerfulness to oil our wheels, our spirits will be clogged with weariness. The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that obedience is his element; he can sing,

"Make me to walk in thy commands,
'Tis a delightful road."

Reader, let us put this question--do you serve the Lord with gladness? Let us show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.
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Today's reading: Genesis 23-24, Matthew 7 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Genesis 23-24

The Death of Sarah
1 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 4 "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead."

Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 7

Judging Others
1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

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