Malcolm Turnbull humiliating people he blames for his incompetence will only hasten his political end. It is true that the behaviour of some members is graceless and unbecoming. Turnbull is their role model. And Shorten has shown he has not the talent to capitalise on Turnbull's mistake. Instead, Shorten tried to hurt Australia's economy. It was equivalent to Shorten's tactic of getting his own people booted from the lower house and blaming the speaker. Shorten will be lauded as being a spoiler, but not as a leader. Only Tony Abbott can heal what Turnbull tore apart.
For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
=== from 2015 ===
Mr Abbott makes the sensible claim that IS are unashamed of their atrocities, unlike the Nazis who hid their atrocities. His jihadist #Abbottphobia enemies hysterically declare he was wrong to claim that jihadists were the same as Nazis. But that was not what he said. But just as the left didn't oppose Nazis until they attacked the Soviet Union, they struggle to oppose Jihadis today. Nikki Savva also undermining Mr Abbott. Cold and rain herald the coldest start to spring in a thousand years?
From 2014
It is a simple question deserving a detailed response. The ICAC investigated Angela D'Amore, a sister in law to Joe Tripodi and found insufficient evidence of corruption to convict her of wrong doing. But she had hired electoral officers through her parliamentary office. She had been Chair of the Committee on the office of Ombudsman and Police Integrity. Later she was Secretary assisting the Police Minister. She should have known better. It isn't as if a large family network headed by an ALP minister had not profited from similar corrupt practice obtaining over half a billion dollars. The ALP defended Angela. What benefit was there for the ALP to forgive Angela and not allow her to face justice? What about Tripodi? Yet Tripodi can oppose an ALP candidate and still have the ear of another ALP Minister? There is a fracture in the legal process when giving money to a Liberal is corrupt, but giving money to the ALP is not. In Victoria the return of Shaw to the Parliament following suspension was supposed to be punctuated with an apology from him, which Napthine prescribed as fulsome. And it was. So Napthine has foreshadowed he would call for Shaw's expulsion from Parliament, which the ALP previously called for. But now the ALP are opposing what they had called for. Making a parliament on a knife edge a joke.
ISIS has beheaded another and has claimed a third is going to die too. The video is confronting, with the same executioner with a London accent. The video names events so as to suggest it was made after the previous video was released. In Australia this has prompted Greens to demand that Terrorists not be called terrorists. Greens are concerned at the demonising of terrorists, as if cutting the heads off captives obtained by deception over a year ago wasn't demonic. The misnaming of things is hard to defend against. One US youth wishes to wear make up for an ID photo, only that is not allowed. Authorities can manipulate ID photos that are natural to identify people wearing make up, but they cannot adjust make up images to predict what a person might change their looks to. So the youth is suing for the right to have an ID photo with make up because they mistake the photo for being a sales pitch for their gender identity. They have full rights to their gender identity, but the state has a basic need to be able to identify them without make up. Further on identity, a man complaining that he hasn't been fed fled his Ebola camp where he was detained for a market which had food. It was a threat to the local population who did not have Ebola. Finally the UN restrained the hungry man and trucked him back. The truck was marked UNICEF. How might the Greens respond if they were told the UN were detaining and forcefully restraining youths, and not feeding them?
For the Greens, good is bad and bad is good, and one Green acolyte is Robyn (100m) Williams who did not commit suicide with his body, but intellectually diminishes himself holding onto hysterical fear mongering statements he has made. Rotherham revelations include British Labour Party censuring members who attempted to defend victims by abusing multicultural policy positions. Ukraine has agreed to a cease fire over a fight she initiated. CFMEU video shows members and leaders abusing Fair Work Australia officials through stand over tactics and harassment, exceeding provisions Gillard created to shield them from prosecution for such. Federal ALP surrender the agenda to PUP over passing blocked legislation, and Shorten complains when he could have participated. Luckily for the ALP, PUP are fractured and had a fractured dance at an Ice Bucket challenge. Also, it turns out China will forgo $12 million to exact justice from Palmer for the alleged theft.
Bulletin Boards have advantages over simple blogging as Wikileaks and 4Chan demonstrate. ALP pushed for restrictions on free speech which these bulletin boards are not entirely subject to, through anonymity. Although anonymity means little to four youths enjoying a car ride punctuated by a tree in country NSW, all dead and a country area in mourning for the lost. Cars are not fun toys, as an elderly man found out shortly before accelerating into a dance studio. The car is being investigated for mechanical issues. No deaths at the moment, but one child is in critical care. The elderly man has apologised. The ABC told a sex joke about the PM's mother. One expects a long delay, followed by a fulsome apology from the ABC.
ISIS has beheaded another and has claimed a third is going to die too. The video is confronting, with the same executioner with a London accent. The video names events so as to suggest it was made after the previous video was released. In Australia this has prompted Greens to demand that Terrorists not be called terrorists. Greens are concerned at the demonising of terrorists, as if cutting the heads off captives obtained by deception over a year ago wasn't demonic. The misnaming of things is hard to defend against. One US youth wishes to wear make up for an ID photo, only that is not allowed. Authorities can manipulate ID photos that are natural to identify people wearing make up, but they cannot adjust make up images to predict what a person might change their looks to. So the youth is suing for the right to have an ID photo with make up because they mistake the photo for being a sales pitch for their gender identity. They have full rights to their gender identity, but the state has a basic need to be able to identify them without make up. Further on identity, a man complaining that he hasn't been fed fled his Ebola camp where he was detained for a market which had food. It was a threat to the local population who did not have Ebola. Finally the UN restrained the hungry man and trucked him back. The truck was marked UNICEF. How might the Greens respond if they were told the UN were detaining and forcefully restraining youths, and not feeding them?
For the Greens, good is bad and bad is good, and one Green acolyte is Robyn (100m) Williams who did not commit suicide with his body, but intellectually diminishes himself holding onto hysterical fear mongering statements he has made. Rotherham revelations include British Labour Party censuring members who attempted to defend victims by abusing multicultural policy positions. Ukraine has agreed to a cease fire over a fight she initiated. CFMEU video shows members and leaders abusing Fair Work Australia officials through stand over tactics and harassment, exceeding provisions Gillard created to shield them from prosecution for such. Federal ALP surrender the agenda to PUP over passing blocked legislation, and Shorten complains when he could have participated. Luckily for the ALP, PUP are fractured and had a fractured dance at an Ice Bucket challenge. Also, it turns out China will forgo $12 million to exact justice from Palmer for the alleged theft.
Bulletin Boards have advantages over simple blogging as Wikileaks and 4Chan demonstrate. ALP pushed for restrictions on free speech which these bulletin boards are not entirely subject to, through anonymity. Although anonymity means little to four youths enjoying a car ride punctuated by a tree in country NSW, all dead and a country area in mourning for the lost. Cars are not fun toys, as an elderly man found out shortly before accelerating into a dance studio. The car is being investigated for mechanical issues. No deaths at the moment, but one child is in critical care. The elderly man has apologised. The ABC told a sex joke about the PM's mother. One expects a long delay, followed by a fulsome apology from the ABC.
From 2013
On the issue of the coming Australian election, Rudd has stood up for what he believes in and declared he, like any Christian in his mind, loves the world. I note the Bible has this
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:19
Also
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26
This is not to say there is no truth in what Rudd said, only that the point is finer than he seems capable of understanding or conveying to an audience. Christians are not to judge Gay peoples or anyone else. Marriage is religious and should, in my opinion, be in the domain of churches, not states. If a church wishes to marry gay peoples, let them. But don't force them. The state's sole duty as regards marriage is the property laws regarding civil union.
Of course, none of this has much to do with the Australian election. Except Rudd brow beat a Christian Pastor on the issue on QandA. It might be cheering for Jason Clare who has told me as recently as 2007 that he was raised as an Atheist. Rudd has also said other things that are subsequently found to be wrong or stupid or simple lies. He said that he never called people, who are complex, as simplified diminutions as 'Good' or 'Bad' but Channel 9 followed that statement on the 6 pm news last night with 2003 footage of Rudd doing exactly that in parliament, referring to then Foreign Minister Downer on Darfur. It is as if the mentally ill Rudd who is Zelig like in addressing an audience off the cuff cannot tell the truth.
The NYT has sprung to Rudd's aid, misinterpreting the election favourable, but inexplicably failing to account for why the allegedly negative and aggressive Mr Abbott would be more popular than Rudd. Apparently it is all Col Allen's fault. Maybe Col is making Rudd lie so he can report him?
On the US/Middle East front, Obama is dithering. Russia has detected the launch of missiles from the Mediterranean to the Middle East. No report of any hits.
We are entering the Jewish New Year. I wish the sweetest of blessings to all my friends celebrating it.
Historical perspective on this day
Not done
=== 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.
===
Thanks to Warren for this advice on watching Bolt
Warren Catton Get this for your PC or MAC https://www.foxtel.com.au/foxtelplay/how-it-works/pc-mac.html Once you have installed it start it up and press Live TV you don't need a login to watch Sky News!
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January.
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?
January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
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
The Amazon Author Page for David Ball
UK .. http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B01683ZOWGFrench .. http://www.amazon.fr/-/e/B01683ZOWG
Japan .. http://www.amazon.co.jp/-/e/B01683ZOWG
German .. http://www.amazon.de/-/e/B01683ZOWG
| Happy birthday and many happy returns Jennifer Petterson and Peter Elson. Born on the same day, across the years, as Emperor Go-Sanjō (1034), John Humphrey Noyes (1811), Ferdinand Porsche (1875), Alan Ladd (1913), Al Jardine (1942), Charlie Sheen (1965) and Rina Koike (1993). On your day, Flag Day in Australia; Armed Forces Day in Taiwan (2013) 863 – Byzantine–Arab Wars: The Byzantine Empire decisively defeated the Emirate of Melitene in the Battle of Lalakaon, beginning the era of Byzantine ascendancy. 1651 – English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell won the Battle of Worcester, the final battle of the Third English Civil War. 1783 – Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War. 1941 – The Holocaust: SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch first used the pesticide Zyklon B to execute Soviet POWs en masse at Auschwitz; eventually it was used to kill about 1.2 million people. 1991 – A fire killed 25 people locked inside a burning chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina, US. Your victory was decisive. The civil war is over. The peace treaty was signed in Paris. Don't misuse pesticide or burn chicken. Enjoy your day. And again, thank you for providing that fellowship when I embarked 28 years ago ..
Deaths
|
From Tim Blair
INNOVATION!
===From Andrew Bolt
I apologise for news.com.au. We should be better than Fairfax
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (7:16pm)
Yet again I have to ask, what on earth is news.com.au up to?
This time it picks up another Twitter attack on Tony Abbott and misrepresents the Prime Minister in its very first paragraph:
He made only the perfectly true point that the Islamic State, unlike the Nazis, has no shame about its evils and does not attempt to hide them:
I expect Fairfax to verbal Abbott but I am embarrassed that parts of News Corp have joined in, and even gone further than Fairfax in misrepresenting Abbott simply to attack him. We should be better than that, and certainly better than taking our cues from Twitter.
As for Robert Goot, it would suit him and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to resist joining such a patent beat up. You’ve misrepresented the Prime Minister, Robert, and an apology is called for.
UPDATE
But Fairfax soon catches up in manufacturing more fake outrage about something Abbott said that was actually true. Gosh, you’d think Abbott had done something insensitive - like comparing some Fairfax journalists to Goebbels for their talent for spinning:
But for sheer sanctimonious stupidity we once again cannot go past Jonathan Green, the ABC presenter:
Has Abbott-hatred unhinged this man?. How can Abbott possibly exaggerate the evil of a group which gets children to behead unarmed men?
People such as Jonathan Green now infest the ABC. That is a true mark of how far it has descended into post modernist barbarity.
===This time it picks up another Twitter attack on Tony Abbott and misrepresents the Prime Minister in its very first paragraph:
TONY Abbott says the Islamic State terror group is worse than the Nazis during World War II.Abbott said no such thing.
He made only the perfectly true point that the Islamic State, unlike the Nazis, has no shame about its evils and does not attempt to hide them:
The Nazis did terrible evil but they had sufficient sense of shame to try and hide it. These people boast about their evil. This is the extraordinary thing.What sane person could possibly disagree? When did the Nazis advertise its barbarity as the Islamic State does with videos like these?
They act in the way medieval barbarians acted only they broadcast it to the world with an affrontery that is hard to credit and it just adds a further dimension to this evil.
I expect Fairfax to verbal Abbott but I am embarrassed that parts of News Corp have joined in, and even gone further than Fairfax in misrepresenting Abbott simply to attack him. We should be better than that, and certainly better than taking our cues from Twitter.
As for Robert Goot, it would suit him and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to resist joining such a patent beat up. You’ve misrepresented the Prime Minister, Robert, and an apology is called for.
UPDATE
But Fairfax soon catches up in manufacturing more fake outrage about something Abbott said that was actually true. Gosh, you’d think Abbott had done something insensitive - like comparing some Fairfax journalists to Goebbels for their talent for spinning:
Note again, here is another fake scandal about something Abbott allegedly that is utterly irrelevant - nothing like blowing a surplus, spending billions on trash like free insulation, letting in 50,000 illegal immigrants, luring 1200 people to their deaths or leaving the country with a legacy of massive debt.
But for sheer sanctimonious stupidity we once again cannot go past Jonathan Green, the ABC presenter:
The other thing here on the point of shame and advertising your evil is that IS depend on the likes of Tony Abbott to do that job for them - to exaggerate their evil, to continually talk about their death cultness, to parade this in front of us, this is doing their promotional work for them.“Exaggerate their evil”? Seriously?
Has Abbott-hatred unhinged this man?. How can Abbott possibly exaggerate the evil of a group which gets children to behead unarmed men?
How can Abbott possibly exaggerate a group which runs a sex-slave ring, which crucifies people, which throws gays off tall buildings, which blows up civilians, which beheads aid workers?
People such as Jonathan Green now infest the ABC. That is a true mark of how far it has descended into post modernist barbarity.
Fairfax jihadists censor an inconvenient truth about Bill Shorten
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (10:04am)
Greg Sheridan notes two disturbing things - Bill Shorten’s disgraceful anti-China campaign and the refusal of The Age to report something to his deserved discredit:
===The three Labor premiers — Andrews, Jay Weatherill in Adelaide and Annastacia Palaszczuk in Brisbane — plus Labor ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, and NSW Labor Opposition Leader Luke Foley, have all come out in strong support of the FTA…
[Victorian Premier Daniel] Andrews’s intervention was devastating for Shorten. He told state parliament: “The free trade agreement is something that I support and that our government supports, particularly for those industries — those export markets — that have been a staple, if you like, of our trading relationship and our economic development over such a long period of time, particularly in agribusiness, the food and fibre sector, but also in those new and emerging opportunities, with unprecedented access in terms of the services sector."…
Here is the Victorian Premier, the most powerful Labor figure in government in Australia, on Tuesday in parliament explicitly repudiating Labor’s national leader on a key issue of national policy, and The Age on Wednesday didn’t mention it at all…
This is The Age effectively censoring critical facts that don’t fit its ideological agenda…
The level of dishonesty in this debate, and the basic factual ignorance of so many who comment on it freely in the media, have been staggering. When commenting on Labor’s claims that the FTA undercut labour market testing provisions, [former ACTU president Simon] Crean said: “The agreement doesn’t do that."… The China FTA doesn’t change labour market testing rules at all…
The laziness of so many media commentators weighing in on this is also a sign of the decrepitude of our public debate. On Barrie Cassidy’s Insiders program on ABC television at the weekend, one of the commentators pronounced pompously that in trade agreements there are always winners and losers and the problem is that some of the losers under this FTA, such as Australian tradies, are politically consequential. This was a comment of staggering and invincible ignorance. There is not the slightest evidence that any Australian tradie would be a loser under this agreement. You are not a loser if you have a job that otherwise would not exist.
Europe’s borders crumble
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (9:01am)
Scenes from the invasion of Europe:
===Hundreds of migrants poured overnight onto the high-speed railway linking Paris with London near the French port of Calais, stranding passengers in darkness aboard Eurostar trains....
Outside a Budapest train station, an angry crowd camped out demanding to board trains for Germany, as Europe’s asylum system crumbled under the strain of the influx....
Three Eurostar trains were blocked overnight and eventually continued to London early on Wednesday, while two returned to their departure stations.
Passengers on one London-bound train, which stopped less than a mile from the tunnel, were told at one point to keep quiet and listen for people on the roof…
About 3000 to 4000 migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa camp near Calais, dodging police as they try to board trains and trucks heading to Britain through the tunnel or on ferries. They have disrupted passenger and freight transport between Britain and France throughout the summer.
Desperate Shorten sells Labor to the union dregs
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (8:37am)
BILL Shorten will now destroy anything — Australian jobs, an honest judge — to please the worst of the union movement.
Two examples, one serious and one sinister, have worried even giants of the Labor movement, including three former ACTU presidents.
The most serious is the Opposition Leader’s campaign against the China-Australia free trade agreement.
China has agreed to drop barriers to our farmers and manufacturers and especially to businesses, which can supply its rising middle class with things such as healthcare.
That access to the world’s biggest market will create Australian jobs for decades.
Labor tried for years for something like this and when the Abbott Government clinched it last November, Shorten claimed part of the credit for his party.
But then the giant CFMEU started a television campaign that falsely claimed Chinese workers would now steal Australian jobs.
That’s when Shorten changed his tune and demanded changes to a deal that must still pass the Senate.
He started to repeat the CFMEU’s claims that it watered down existing laws that forced Chinese investors here to offer jobs to Australian workers first.
So why might the CFMEU say that? Well, it must destroy the Abbott Government, which created a royal commission into union corruption that has so far recommended charges against some senior CFMEU officials.
But why might Shorten be repeating those claims?
(Read for article here.)
Trust them on global warming, despite this cold and rain
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (8:25am)
Yet they are absolutely sure we will get dangerous warming over the next few decades (once this 18-year pause ends, that is):
What Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology predicted in May for our winter:
===[Britain’s] Met Office admitted that long term forecasts are ‘still in their infancy’ after it emerged parts of the UK had faced the wettest summer ever despite predictions for a dry, hot seasonUPDATE
El Ninos occur in the Pacific every two to seven years as east to west trade winds drop, heating up ocean surface temperature and triggering global weather changes. In May the Met Office said that it ‘wouldn’t expect (El Nino) to be the dominant driver of our weather’ in the summer months. Yet this weekend Met Office chief scientist Professor Dame Julia Slingo said that the El Nino phenomenon had disturbed weather patterns, which might have been predicted.
What Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology predicted in May for our winter:
Winter is more likely to be drier than normal in southern and inland Queensland, northern and eastern NSW, eastern Victoria and western Tasmania…Once again, it didn’t quite work out that way. Compare the prediction (above) to the reality:
A wetter-than-normal winter is likely for the southern half of WA. Odds for above average winter totals are close to 50% for the remainder of the country… The El Niño pattern in the tropical Pacific is having a drying influence in the eastern half of the country.
Tony Abbott set to defy Fairfax jihadists in Canning
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (7:52am)
Pollster William Bowe on how the polls are calling the Canning by-election:
No wonder the Fairfax jihadists (Mark Kenny this time, to little surprise) have spun this very promising omen into a fantastical conspiracy theory - that Labor is running dead in Canning:
Does this look like “running dead”?
Or this?
Or this?
I note this line from WA Labor:
Niki Savva also floats the running-dead theory and other stories about Abbott’s general uselessness. This attack must be put in perspective:
===We’re seeing a lot of headlines about polls showing it at 50-50, but if you look at them carefully, they’re more favourable for the Liberals than that. Pollsters are better at measuring what people are going to do with their primary vote than trying to work out what people will do with the preferences.That, if true, would be a stunning result for candidate Andrew Hastie and for Tony Abbott.
Two polls from ReachTEL have shown the Liberal Party with a primary vote of 47%, and if that’s right they’re going to bolt home. However, ReachTEL has 80% of preferences from minor parties flowing to Labor, which is not believable. If Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie gets 47% of the primary vote, he’s going to win by about 55-45.
No wonder the Fairfax jihadists (Mark Kenny this time, to little surprise) have spun this very promising omen into a fantastical conspiracy theory - that Labor is running dead in Canning:
Labor has fuelled speculation it is more concerned with ensuring Tony Abbott remains Liberal leader than winning the Canning byelection, mounting what has been reported to federal cabinet as a low profile campaign in the West Australian seat… It has raised questions on whether the ALP would rather see Mr Abbott remain leader than win Canning in an upset.Kenny would want this to be true to deny any credit for Tony Abbott, after first claiming this could be the blow that killed him at last (just as Fairfax jihadists said this about the leadership spill, the Turnbull challenge that never came, the NSW election and the Budget):
Canning by-election looms as make or break for Tony Abbott’s leadershipThe claim now that Labor is “running dead” in Canning is utter bull, and shame on Fairfax for running it.
Does this look like “running dead”?
Or this?
Or this?
UPDATE
I note this line from WA Labor:
Our Community Action Network hit the phones today and made over 800 calls into Canning.Has Labor in WA diverted taxpayers’ money to this Community Action Network as Labor in Victoria did to its own?
To beef up the Community Action Network, the [three Victorian Labor] MPs say that in March 2014, most Upper House MPs were ordered by the then Opposition leader to employ casual electorate officers.UPDATE
These electorate officers were then deployed as field organisers ... to train and manage the army of Labor volunteers who doorknocked and telephoned voters in the lead up to last November’s poll… The initiative, said to involve at least a dozen Upper House MPs and be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, breaches parliamentary rules that electorate staff mustn’t “support the member’s political or party duties”.
Niki Savva also floats the running-dead theory and other stories about Abbott’s general uselessness. This attack must be put in perspective:
The truth about this Fairfax “jihad”
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (7:44am)
MMIGRATION Minister Peter Dutton made a mistake this week. He told the truth about the feral media.
He blurted an open secret about the ABC and the even more feral Fairfax press — particularly the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s Age.
“There’s a huge move by Fairfax at the moment to try and bring the Government down,” he said.
“They’re being helped by the ABC …”
Uh oh. See, the just media can’t accept criticism. Sure enough, the shrieking Age yesterday ran four separate stories attacking Dutton, variously as a conspiracy theorist, fool and hypocrite.
A fifth even said Dutton led a sinister campaign accused of trying to “taunt a Muslim into doing something” like a terrorist attack to win the Government votes. Seriously.
Then Fairfax political reporter Peter Hartcher went on TV to insist that when Fairfax reporters wrote about such things “we are not making these things up”.
Excuse me?
(Read full column here.)
===He blurted an open secret about the ABC and the even more feral Fairfax press — particularly the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s Age.
“There’s a huge move by Fairfax at the moment to try and bring the Government down,” he said.
“They’re being helped by the ABC …”
Uh oh. See, the just media can’t accept criticism. Sure enough, the shrieking Age yesterday ran four separate stories attacking Dutton, variously as a conspiracy theorist, fool and hypocrite.
A fifth even said Dutton led a sinister campaign accused of trying to “taunt a Muslim into doing something” like a terrorist attack to win the Government votes. Seriously.
Then Fairfax political reporter Peter Hartcher went on TV to insist that when Fairfax reporters wrote about such things “we are not making these things up”.
Excuse me?
(Read full column here.)
Dreyfus now smears Heydon with a claim he last month disowned
Andrew Bolt September 03 2015 (7:25am)
The unions don’t have the guts to take their case against royal commissioner Dyson Heydon to the Federal Court, knowing their claim that he seems biased is just a baseless smear.
And now it’s a smear that the two-faced Mark Dreyfus is taking up at some risk to his personal reputation and standing as a QC, not least because he is two-faced.
Dreyfus last month:
===And now it’s a smear that the two-faced Mark Dreyfus is taking up at some risk to his personal reputation and standing as a QC, not least because he is two-faced.
Dreyfus last month:
It is not being suggested that Dyson Heydon is actually biased. Of that we do not know and of that we make no further comment. It is the appearance of bias that is the concern.But Dreyfus now:
Labor’s legal affairs spokesman, Mark Dreyfus QC, had no doubt that the issue concerned not just the appearance, but the reality of bias.This man wants to supervise our courts under a Bill Shorten Government. Beware.
He posted this statement on his blog: “Tony Abbott’s royal commission has descended into high farce, riddled with political bias.” Before entering parliament, Dreyfus was a leading Melbourne silk and, therefore, an officer of the court. His blog dismisses Heydon, a former judge of the High Court, as merely “the hand-picked candidate of the Liberal Party”.
DON’T CALL TERRORISTS TERRORISTS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, September 03, 2014 (12:59pm)
A second American journalist has been beheaded by Islamic … well, not terrorists, according to Greens senatorPeter Whish-Wilson:
I think we need to find better words than ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ because, to me, this implies a very one-sided view of the world. Often our forces could be seen by Iraqi civilians as being terrorists. ‘Terrorist’ is a word that is very commonly used against us by those same people in Iraq who have been radicalised – anything that creates terror is, by definition, terrorism. We use that word because it is a very simple word to use and it demonises people.
Go ahead, then, senator. Let’s hear your alternatives.
Muslim leaders once again see beheading, attack Abbott
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (6:32pm)
August 20 - We learn of the beheading by jihadists of US journalist James Foley:
The time is fast approaching - or here already - when we must conclude it is futile to keep urging Muslim leaders to make a stand against jihadism. The truth may well be that that Islam - or these leaders’ constituents - give them no freedom to condemn what threatens the rest of us.
===ISIS has tried to send a warning to the U.S. in about the most horrifying manner imaginable: by broadcasting the execution of an American citizen captured in Syria over 600 days ago.August 20 - More than 60 of Australia’s Muslim leaders and groups rush out a statement condemning ... Tony Abbott:
This statement articulates our position with respect to the counter-terrorism proposals announced by the Abbott Government earlier this month… We - the undersigned imams, activists, leaders, community organisations and student bodies of the Muslim community - denounce these proposals and the broader ‘war on terror’ regime within which they fit…September 3 - We learn of the beheading by jihadists of US journalist Steven Sotloff:
These laws clearly target Muslims and they do so unjustly… The primary basis of these laws is a trumped up ‘threat’ from ‘radicalised’ Muslims returning from Iraq or Syria… We also reject government attempts to divide the Muslim community into ‘radicals’ and ‘moderates’ and to use the community for its agenda… We are not fooled by those who speak against violence and terrorism but are its proponents at an institutional level through military and foreign policies. We are not fooled by those who speak of peace but maintain cordial ties with dictatorial regimes abroad and who support and justify the most heinous of violence inflicted on innocent people as seen recently in Gaza.
THE British executioner who killed US photographer James Foley is believed to have beheaded US journalist Steven Sotloff in a new video released by the Islamic State.September 3 - The Australian National Imams Council rushes out a statement condemning ... Tony Abbott:
The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC), as stated previously, believes that one of the main causative factor for local radicalisation in the west has been the western governments’ military involvement in the Middle East. The support of unjust, dictatorial regimes as well as unilateral military aggression based on duplicitous foreign policy positions has only aggravated the state of global fear and violence.The timing, once again, is shameful. The attacks on Abbott are ludicrous. Blaming the West for jihadist terrorism is deceitful. Criticising the West more than the terrorists is alarming. And the repeated warnings that we must change our policies in the Middle East or face more terrorism at home are deeply sinister.
If the Australian government is serious about reducing the terror threat locally, then it must review its foreign policy decisions with regard to this region. It is on this basis that His Eminence, Professor Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, Grand Mufti of Australia and ANIC, opposes the government’s current decision to transport and provide weapons to the Kurdish forces in Iraq.
The decision by the government, given the complexities present in Iraq, is confounded by the ... likelihood of mission creep given the government has already foreshadowed the possibility of deploying SAS soldiers and fighter jets…
The Government will be imputed for further radicalization locally if it continues military intervention in the middle East.
The time is fast approaching - or here already - when we must conclude it is futile to keep urging Muslim leaders to make a stand against jihadism. The truth may well be that that Islam - or these leaders’ constituents - give them no freedom to condemn what threatens the rest of us.
Abbott wins from Palmer deal - and Shorten loses
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (8:31am)
Dennis Shanahan rightly notes how big yesterday’s deal with Clive Palmer was for Tony Abbott - and how bad for Bill Shorten:
Peter Martin says the deal doesn’t cost workers their super so much as it protects their wages:
===TONY Abbott, Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann have had a huge political and policy win for the Coalition…UPDATE
(I)t demonstrates the Coalition can negotiate legislation through the Senate and undermines the impression of a Senate deadlock and an ungovernable nation. A new tone within the government gives the public a fresh perspective.
While it is an undoubted victory for the Coalition, it is a palpable blow to Labor and Bill Shorten.Clive Palmer — keen to alter his growing destructive and obstructive image before the Queensland election early next year — has demonstrated how easily he can make the ALP and Greens irrelevant if they remain implacably opposed to Abbott’s agenda…
In the first two sitting weeks of the new Senate, the carbon tax was repealed; in the second two-week sitting the mining tax has been repealed. There’s plenty more to come but the impression of gridlock is going. Labor and the Greens are left irrelevant and on the sidelines.
Peter Martin says the deal doesn’t cost workers their super so much as it protects their wages:
We’ve dodged a bullet. Had compulsory super contributions climbed as legislated, Australian workers would have lost 0.5 per cent of wages from their next pay increase, 0.5 per cent from the following one then 0.5 per cent from each of the following three. By 2019 they would be earning 2.5 per cent less than if the government had left compulsory super alone.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Labor legislated to increase compulsory super recklessly. After being stalled at 9 per cent of pay since 2002, Labor wanted to lift it to 12 per cent ... [over] the next five years.
Labor knew the money would come out of wage rises. Its superannuation minister Bill Shorten said so.
But he said we would get healthy wages increases nonetheless. He told Fairfax Radio in 2012 the impost was just “a quarter of a per cent”
“So I’m assuming without, you know, and again this is a forecast, I’m assuming that wages in 2013-14 will probably move somewhere between 3 and 4 per cent. I am assuming that a quarter of per cent of that 3 to 4 per cent may well go into your compulsory savings, which is concessionary taxed, so that’s a plus.”
It didn’t sound that bad. But he was wrong.
In 2013-14 wages climbed by just 2.6 per cent. Prices climbed 3 per cent, meaning real wages went backwards. One of the reasons they went backwards was that employers were asked to fork out an extra 0.25 per cent for super on July 2013 and knew they would be again on July 2014.
CFMEU exposed
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (7:30am)
What kind of union is this?
===Video evidence tendered to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption captured Fair Work Building Inspector Seamus Flynn repeatedly being called a “f***ing piece of s***” by officials from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).What kind of union is this?
Mr Flynn told the commission he confronted three CFMEU officials at the Ibis Hotel construction site in Adelaide in May, 2014, after site managers advised the union had entered without permits. He located the officials in a hallway of the building and took photographs of them, sparking abuse from one, John Perkovic....
In his statement, Mr Flynn said Mr Perkovic “quickly moved towards me, saying `you f****ing maggot, what are you taking a photo of me for you piece of s***’”.
Mr Flynn said Mr Perkovic, who was taller and larger than him, came close and pushed against his stomach with his body, pushing him backwards…
In another incident, Fair Work Building Inspector Matthew Barr told the inquiry he and his colleagues were repeatedly called “dogs”, spat at and intimidated on visits to the Barangaroo construction site in Sydney in July, 2014.
Mr Barr told the inquiry he went to Barangaroo to investigate unlawful industrial action. When workers attended a 6.30am meeting outside the building site, he said, CFMEU official Luke Collier singled out fellow inspector Jared O’Connor, using a megaphone to address the crowd.
“That grub Jared O’Connor is here,” Mr Collier allegedly said, and read out Mr O’Connor’s mobile phone number to the crowd… At another meeting a few days later, he said, Mr Collier told him: “Jared, you think all I got is your phone number?”
Kylie Wray, general manager of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union’s NSW branch, told the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption on Tuesday that she instructed staff to clean out their emails to free up disk space…
Ms Wray directed staff to delete emails on June 24, less than a month after the royal commission issued the union with an order to produce documents, including electronic records.
She said she personally cleaned out CFMEU secretary Brian Parker’s emails and denied suggestions she was seeking to avoid compliance with the commission’s notice…
When issuing the direction, Ms Wray knew the email server had not been backed up since May 2010, when there had been a fire.
In an email to staff, she said the CFMEU was not receiving external emails because the mailbox store was full.
“As we are days away from the royal commission kicking off and there is a lot going on, we need everyone to make this a priority please,” she wrote. CFMEU barrister John Agius, SC, said there was no evidence that any deleted emails were caught by the royal commission’s notices to produce.
Raped by multiculturalism
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (7:22am)
The scandal of Rotherham grows:
A Home Office official who investigated the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham accused the council of being involved in the unauthorised removal of information from her office.The perpetrators had no such squeamishness about mentioning race:
Her report in 2002 suggested there were then more than 270 victims of the scandal, which was finally exposed last week with revelations that at least 1,400 children were abused from 1997 to 2013.
She told Panorama that she had sent her report to both the council and the Home Office on a Friday, but when she returned on Monday she found her office had been raided…
The Home Office researcher, who was not named by Panorama, also said she had been accused of being insensitive when she told one official that most of the perpetrators were from Rotherham’s Pakistani community.
A female colleague talked to her about the incident. “She said you must never refer to that again – you must never refer to Asian men.
“And her other response was to book me on a two-day ethnicity and diversity course to raise my awareness of ethnic issues.” The Home Office researcher said that at one point the council tried to get her sacked and the report was never published.
In 2003, aged 13, [victim] Emma went to the police who recorded her evidence on video.So which party was most involved in sweeping this grotesque abuse under the multicultural carpet?
Describing the abuse, she told police: “They were pushing me head on the floor and that and grabbing me neck and stuff and pulling me by the hair.
“I were saying that I didn’t want to do it and stuff and they said: ‘Course you want to do it’, and that ‘we don’t like girls saying that’. “He said that I were a white bitch and that he’d had enough of me and he punched me in the mouth.”
[T]he Labour party suspended four Labour councillors in the town.
Roger Stone, who had already resigned as council leader, Gwendoline Ann Russell, Jahangir Akhtar and Shaukat Ali were suspended pending investigation after Ed Miliband said last week that large numbers of young people in Rotherham were systematically abused and let down by those who should have protected them.
Akhtar stepped down from his role as deputy leader of Rotherham council and vice-chair of the police and crime panel when it was reported that he knew about a relationship between an underage girl and man who had abused her. In November he said he had always maintained his “absolute innocence of the scurrilous allegations"…
“We’ve acted as we can to have the accountability and transparency we need in Rotherham,” Tristam Hunt, the shadow education secretary, told Sky News. “We know there was a culture of denial … and we are acting to have a clean sweep.”
Palmer (dis)United Party
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (7:00am)
The divisions get worse:
===CLIVE Palmer threw a tantrum on the lawn of Parliament House and stormed out on a PUP senator doing a live broadcast of her attempt at the ice bucket challenge minutes before it was to go to air.
The MP joined a crew from the Ten Network show The Project as they prepared to film Senator Jacqui Lambie taking the charity challenge.
But as they were to cross to the studio, Mr Palmer walked out of shot, upturned one of the ice buckets and marched off declaring: “never again”.
Asked by The Daily Telegraph about his hissy fit, Mr Palmer responded: “I just don’t like the ice bucket challenge ... It’s my business, see you later.” ... Senator Lambie, meanwhile, was notably absent from the Senate for the first 15 minutes of colleague Glenn Lazarus’ maiden speech and was seen wandering the corridors as the ex-footballer gave an emotional address.
Report: Palmer tried to repay $11 million. China says it will see him in court
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (6:40am)
It seems his Chinese partners no longer just want money from Palmer but justice:
===CLIVE Palmer tried unsuccessfully to repay $11 million to China five days after revelations from a Federal Court hearing, bank statements and legal documents raised serious claims he had wrongfully siphoned huge sums to bankroll his political campaign.Palmer denies any wrongdoing. The way Citic is playing this suggests it wants to take this all the way and put Palmer out of action for good.
Documents filed in the Supreme Court in Brisbane show a bank cheque for $11,345,013 was authorised by the Palmer United Party leader on May 13, following the legal action launched by Citic Pacific and reports in The Australian days earlier.. Lawyers for Citic Pacific, China’s international investment vehicle that has poured about $10 billion into a disastrous iron ore development based on Mr Palmer’s tenements in Western Australia, returned the two largest cheques. The Australian understands the cheques were returned as the Chinese decided they wanted the courts to make findings about the conduct of Mr Palmer and his companies, which are accused by Citic Pacific of acting fraudulently and dishonestly.
Second US journalist beheaded
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (6:15am)
Another US journalist beheaded:
UPDATE
Even the head of the UN - the Greens’ ultimate secular authority - wants military action in Iraq:
===ISLAMIC State extremists have released a video purportedly showing the beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, and warning President Barack Obama that as long as US air strikes against the militant group continue, “our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.”The killer, with a British accent, says:
The footage — depicting what the US said appeared to be a sickening act of brutality — was posted two weeks after the release of video showing the killing of James Foley and days after Sotloff’s mother pleaded for his life…
Sotloff, 31, who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, vanished in Syria in August 2013 ... In the video, the organisation threatens to kill another hostage, this one identified as a British citizen ... .
I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State, because of your insistence on continuing your bombings and ... on Mosul Dam, despite our serious warnings.Peter Foster in The Telegraph:
So just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.
If confirmed, the killing of Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State (Isil) will arouse the righteous anger of the US public and only increase demands for Mr Obama to take a more proactive approach to dealing with the jihadist threat in Iraq and Syria.(Video has only the audio of the killer’s warning.)
Last week, pleading the need for more time to develop a workable plan, Mr Obama admitted that “we don’t have a strategy yet” on hitting Isil in Syria. The gaffe prompted derision from his political opponents who said the president was not judicious, as his supporters contend, but weak and indecisive. However the apparent killing of the two Americans in the most gruesome manner imaginable now plunges this issue right through the psychological defences of a war-weary middle America that has tried to keep the collapse of Iraq at arms-length.
UPDATE
Even the head of the UN - the Greens’ ultimate secular authority - wants military action in Iraq:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for governments to support “very decisive and determined actions” to prevent atrocities in Iraq has heaped further pressure on the Abbott government’s opponents, including the Greens, to back the multilateral humanitarian mission…What say the Greens now?
Mr Ban, speaking yesterday in New Zealand, said the crisis in Iraq was “very worrisome and the activities by Islamic State are totally unacceptable”.“Without addressing this issue through certain means, including some military and counterterrorist actions, we will just end up allowing these terrorist activities to continue.”
Richard Crichton exhibition
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (12:45am)
I was very lucky to chat to artist Richard Crichton about his art and his friendships with peers Albert Tucker, Arthur Boyd and John Perceval, as well as with the younger Brett Whiteley when both were painting in New York.
Crichton is a wonderfully charming man, but, obviously, missed out on the fame of the others. Yet gallery owner Rod Eastgate has for some time been certain that Crichton will also in time be discovered as an incredibly creative talent.
His gallery, Eastgate and Holst, will hold an exhibition of just some of the work Crichton has kept with him during his very long career (although Crichton still refuses to release his American series). The exhibition starts at 10am on Saturday at 158 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, and I’m hoping to catch up again with Crichton there.
From the exhibition catalogue essay:
The paintings in this exhibition span a period of fifty years. The earliest work “Blue Christ” was painted in 1954 when Richard Crichton was nineteen years old. A few years earlier, the Blake Prize for religious art had been established Australia-wide… Dulux (Ripolin) enamel was his chosen medium, and the large scale chosen for the picture both challenged and suited his youthful enthusiasm, - his home-made frame giving it the required finishing touch! However, when this large and ambitious project was completed, he found that the cost of crating it, paying the entry fee and sending it interstate was beyond his means, so it was simply stored away, not to be seen until now.
Richard Crichton has always worked in themes and series that relate closely to his personal life. Betty Clarke, in her article in ‘Art and Australia’ in 1980 described these as his ‘environmental bands’. The coastal and beach images of the 1960’s and later years exhibited here clearly demonstrate the endurance of these themes. Images of isolated figures, beach and coastal themes, seafarers, ancient cultures are observed, dreamed and imagined…
Crichton’s cows were painted in the 1970’s after his return to Australia following two years abroad. Some paintings and drawings from this series were exhibited at Australian Galleries Melbourne in 1971. Beginning with pastoral images, these soon developed into the more complex ‘cutout’ or camouflaged cow-in-landscape images and stacked cow forms.... The images were largely based on Crichton’s impression of the actual constructed animal forms used to camouflage airfields in WW2 described to him by sculptor Victor Greenhalgh, a friend and mentor and Head of Art School at RMIT (1955-65), and formerly Director of Camouflage for the army during the war… Crichton paints sailing ships – ships leaving Cobh Harbour in Ireland taking survivors of the great famine of the 1840’s to a new land; ships approaching the coast of southern Australia transporting convicts and free settlers, - migrants all, on life’s journey - arriving on an unknown shore.… “These looming apparitions would have seemed both magical and threatening to the first Australians…. These ship paintings, more elegantly formal than most, are all the more unsettling for their conjunction of beauty and latent threat” (Ronald Millar, May 2012).
Naomi Oreskes tells Robyn “100 metres” Williams an even taller tale
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (12:21am)
Just how crazy are the world’s leading global warming alarmists? Tony Thomas investigates the strange case of Naomi Oreskes, and how the ABC’s Robyn “100 metres” Williams didn’t even blink an eye:
Oh, and can he finally admit there’s actually no possible way the seas could rise 100 metres this century?
===Global warming is going to “wipe out” every Australian man, woman and child, according to Naomi Oreskes, the much-quoted Professor of the History of Science at Harvard. Revered by catastropharians the world over, she was a guest on a recent edition of Robyn Williams’ Science Show on Radio National…While he’s correcting the record, Williams might also add that contrary to these scares he broadcast, we’ve actually seen fewer hurricanes and cyclones, no increase in hurricane and cyclone severity, a warming pause for 15 years or more, and record food crops.
The glum forecast is in her latest book, The Collapse of Western Civilisation (co-author Erik Conway)…
What Oreskes predicts is that some people in northern inland regions of Europe, Asia and North America, plus some mountain people in South America, will survive the killer warming. These lucky ones are able to “regroup and rebuild. The human populations of Australia and Africa, of course, were wiped out,” she says, writing from a viewpoint some 400 years into the future…
But Oreskes forecasts something much worse than the death by climate for every Australian human. She prophesises the climate deaths of puppies and kittens…
“The loss of pet cats and dogs garnered particular attention among wealthy Westerners, but what was anomalous in 2023 soon became the new normal. A shadow of ignorance and denial had fallen over people who considered themselves children of the Enlightenment."…Radio National’s Williams was delighted with Oreskes’ pet-panic strategy. He chimed in,
“Yes, not only because it’s an animal but it’s local. You see, one criticism of the scientists is they’re always talking about global things…And so if you are looking at your village, your animals, your fields, your park, your kids, and the scientists are talking about a small world that you know, than it makes a greater impact, doesn’t it...”Oreskes starts The Science Show by reading from her book. Be afraid:
“By 2040, heatwaves and droughts were the norm… In wealthy countries, the most hurricane- and tornado-prone regions were gradually but steadily depopulated… Then, in the northern hemisphere summer of 2041, unprecedented heatwaves scorched the planet, destroying food crops around the globe. Panic ensued, with food riots in virtually every major city. Mass migration of undernourished and dehydrated individuals, coupled with explosive increases in insect populations, led to widespread outbreaks of typhus, cholera, dengue fever, yellow fever, and viral and retroviral agents never seen before… The European Union announced similar plans for voluntary northward relocation of eligible citizens from its southernmost regions to Scandinavia and the United Kingdom…”The ever-credulous Williams, instead of asking Oreskes, “Mmm, you’re smoking something good?” merely observed that all of the above is “fairly shocking"…
Williams, or the ABC (the official website isn’t specific) introduced the Oreskes episode on the Science Show with a big fib:
“The Earth’s climate is changing at the highest of predicted rates.”In its draft for its Fifth Report, the IPCC showed actual temperatures running below the lowest bound of the IPCC forecasting. This graphic conveniently disappeared from the published report, replaced by this account:
However, an analysis of the full suite of CMIP5 [modeling] historical simulations … reveals that 111 out of 114 realisations [forecasts] show a GMST [global mean surface temperature] trend over 1998–2012 that is higher than the entire HadCRUT4 [actual temperature] trend ensemble …” Chapter 9, WG1, Box 9.2In other words, actual temperatures are running lower than 97% of the forecast runs, not at “the highest of predicted rates” as claimed by The Science Show. Expect a correction from Robyn Williams any day (as I’ve put in an official complaint).
Oh, and can he finally admit there’s actually no possible way the seas could rise 100 metres this century?
Greens Senator: don’t call the Islamic State head-cutters “terrorists”
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (12:20am)
Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson seems to have trouble asserting that Australian soldiers, unlike the Islamic State’s genocidal beheaders and rapists, are not terrorists:
===I think we need to find better words than ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ because, to me, this implies a very one-sided view of the world. Often our forces could be seen by Iraqi civilians as being terrorists. ‘Terrorist’ is a word that is very commonly used against us by those same people in Iraq who have been radicalised—anything that creates terror is, by definition, terrorism. We use that word because it is a very simple word to use and it demonises people.No, we wouldn’t want to demonise people who are crucifying and beheading men and selling women into slavery. It might hurt their feelings.
Now the ABC tells sex joke about Tony Abbott’s mother
Andrew Bolt September 03 2014 (12:02am)
Has the ABC learned nothing? Are there no bounds to its malice to conservatives?
ABC television late last year broadcast a show calling conservative critic Chris Kenny a “dog f...er” and showing a doctored photograph of him sodomising a dog. It had to apologise. It then called me a racist on air and made a number of false claims about my alleged bullying of a woman. It had to apologise.
Now it shows a cartoon with no wit, no real point, showing the Prime Minister’s mother in bed with an animated solar panel that’s just been having sex with her.
Juvenile doesn’t even cover it. Most juveniles I know would think this stupid and nasty. The only message that comes through in this witless skit is that vile abuse of conservatives - and even their parents - is OK by the ABC, and rather fashionable in ABC circles.
The ABC is out of control. When will the board order Mark Scott to reform it?
===ABC television late last year broadcast a show calling conservative critic Chris Kenny a “dog f...er” and showing a doctored photograph of him sodomising a dog. It had to apologise. It then called me a racist on air and made a number of false claims about my alleged bullying of a woman. It had to apologise.
Now it shows a cartoon with no wit, no real point, showing the Prime Minister’s mother in bed with an animated solar panel that’s just been having sex with her.
Juvenile doesn’t even cover it. Most juveniles I know would think this stupid and nasty. The only message that comes through in this witless skit is that vile abuse of conservatives - and even their parents - is OK by the ABC, and rather fashionable in ABC circles.
The ABC is out of control. When will the board order Mark Scott to reform it?
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It is not Russia and China that disgrace the international community. It is the Free World that for dozens of years now has been sliding toward hypocrisy, double standards and appeasement, while getting much more violence in return. It is the Free World whose “human rights activists” sympathize with the apparatus of evil and get much more violence in return. Should the Free World not get to the apparatus of evil, this instrument of evil shall reach the Free World. It’s already getting there.===
THE academics at the centre of the Sydney University boycott, sanctions and divestment row will be left to cover their own legal costs as campus controversy over the anti-Israeli movement blazes.
Protesters gathered at the university yesterday to protest action lodged against Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies director Jake Lynch and council member Stuart Rees by the Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin Israel Law Centre.
Shurat HaDin alleges the support of Associate Professor Lynch and Emeritus Professor Rees for the BDS movement violates the Racial Discrimination Act.
The complaint is before the Australian Human Rights Commission, but Akiva Hamilton, the Australian lawyer with Shurat HaDin, says it is unlikely to be resolved in that jurisdiction.
"Based on Associate Professor Lynch's response to the Australian Human Rights Commission, Shurat HaDin expects that the AHRC will be unable to conciliate the racial discrimination claim," he said.
Sydney University will not indemnify professors Lynch and Rees if the matter proceeds.
"The university does not provide legal support for staff in relation to complaints or proceedings against them in respect of their activities in a personal capacity," a spokeswoman said.
Professor Rees, who is also the director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, was asked at the rally about reports Jewish students felt offended and intimidated by the tenor of the BDS debate towards Israel.
Professor Rees said it was "absolute nonsense". "You should see the hate mail I get as a result of taking a stand. They call me anti-Semitic," he said.
He said the Greens were genuflecting to political survival instincts by pretending the party did not support the BDS campaign. "Well, they're making political calculations because they know the mainstream media and they know that most of the people in Canberra are cowards, irrespective of party," he said.
NSW Greens Legislative Council member David Shoebridge defied federal leader Christine Milne -- who says party policy is not to support any BDS campaign -- to attend the rally.
The Australian understands other NSW parliamentary Greens were angry at Mr Shoebridge. "With the attacks on the Centre for Peace Studies here we've seen attacks on two academics who have stood up, we've seen a response," he told about 35 people.
"And it's effectively a slap-suit; litigation raised against them to silence their voice of dissent and to stop them speaking truth to power."
Alon Tal, a 22-year-old commerce/law student, was offended by the framing of the campaign.
"As a Jew, my Zionism is inextricably linked with my Jewish identity so the fact that these people are calling for a boycott on Israel which is, essentially, calling for the destruction of Israel, it's really an affront to me," he said.
Professor Rees claimed he had "silks" lining up to offer pro bono legal support.
"It is a Rupert Murdoch nonsense, actually worse than nonsense, portraying that this is a movement to do with the abolition of Israel or that it is racist or anti-Semitic," he said.
"It only gets treated as some kind of extremist leftie plot in this country because the general public are effectively anaesthetised by the front page of the Daily Telegraph or by the editorial or frequently the front pages of The Australian. That's not journalism, that's the campaign."
If the complaint is not resolved in the AHRC, Shurat HaDin will apply to the Federal Court.
"Shurat HaDin expects the AHRC to terminate the matter on the basis that the complaint involves an issue of public importance that should be considered by the Federal Court and that there is no reasonable prospect of the matter being settled by conciliation," Mr Hamilton said.
If the AHRC terminates the complaint, Shurat HaDin will have 60 days to lodge Federal Court action.
The issue has spilt over into Israeli media, with Professor Lynch telling The Jerusalem Post the complaint was "nonsense".
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | During a visit last week to Dachau, the former concentration camp near Munich, German Chancellor Angela Merkel laid a wreath in memory of the tens of thousands the Nazis murdered there. The memory of their fate, she said, "fills me with deep sadness and shame."
Dachau — the original concentration camp, established in March 1933 — radiates a constant reminder about the bottomless human capacity to commit evil, or to look away when evil is committed. "How could Germans go so far as to deny people human dignity and the right to live?" Merkel asked. "Places such as this warn each one of us to help ensure that such things never happen again."
Never?
As Merkel spoke, Copts and other Christians in Egypt were reeling from a wave of attacks more savage than any in modern Egyptian history. Islamist mobs across the country torched scores of churches — some more than 1,000 years old — along with convents, monasteries, and Christian-owned homes and businesses. A Franciscan school near Cairo was looted and burned, said Sister Manal, the principal; then she and other nuns were paraded through the streets "like prisoners of war" to the jeers and abuse of the mob.
Merkel's speech also coincided with the latest evidence of a chemical-weapons attack by the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Graphic video clips posted online by anti-Assad rebels east of Damascus showed rows of corpses, including those of women, children, and babies. Hospitals in the area described a sudden influx of patients gasping for breath and suffering from convulsions, nausea, and vomiting — symptoms consistent with chemical-weapons poisoning. The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders put the death toll at 355; other estimates ranged far higher. The massacre took place one year to the week after President Obama's warning that any use of chemical weapons by Assad would be a red line. In fact, as even the Obama administration has conceded, Assad crossed that line months ago. Last week's attack was not the first, only the most brazen.
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Those who are wondering why Al Gore chose to publicly resurface in a Washington Post interview last Thursday with that paper’s ever-pliable Journolist founder Ezra Klein only need to look in three places.
First, there’s the recently revealed empirical evidence that the “global warming” movement’s claim that climate change is causing increased extreme weather events isn’t true. Second, there’s a new summary of historical research which blows up the movement’s infamous core “hockey stick” chart forecasting unprecedented, accelerating warming. Finally, there’s a new report due to arrive in a month from an increasingly desperate United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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“We don’t accept for any Arabic country to be attacked and we condemn the use of chemical weapons by any group. The solution to the Syrian crisis must be political and there is no military solution. We want a peaceful solution for Syria,” Abbas said in a speech to Fatah’s revolutionary council, according to Ma’an News Agency.
Asserting that the U.S. is likely to attack Syria, Abbas was unequivocal in stating the PA’s “position towards it is fixed, we are against a military attack.”
Abbas said the PA had drafted a paper with suggestions for ending the Syria conflict, which it submitted to international bodies, but he provided no further details, Ma’an reported.
A military solution would leave Syria divided along sectarian and ethnic lines, and lead to civil war Abbas said.
“The other solution is the political one, for everyone to sit around the table and make suggestions and recommendations. We are against the attack on Syria and this is our position and policy,” he concluded.
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As the first drops of a cool afternoon rain begin to fall from the sky, the administration that has been described as the most ruthlessly zealous in pursuit of whistleblowers is showering down its own rain of leaks about the upcoming attack on Syria.
Stand outside the New York Times building with a bucket in one hand and a thick wad of wood pulp in the other, and you may even be able to figure out whether we’re going to war or, as one official told the Los Angeles Times, the air strikes will be “just muscular enough not to get mocked”… but not sinewy enough to really upset Tehran and Moscow.
===Israelis sneaking into Jordan to help Syrian refugees
Quote from the article at link below:
"... the Arab countries offer condolences... but the best role is provided by the Israelis because they are crossing the border to provide assistance to the refugees who fled deprived of everything, risking their lives without a word of thank you..."Let's go to the videotape.
http://www.alwatanvo.../25/290509.html
The organisation is an NGO called IL4Syrians - front page of website has some pics:
http://il4syrians.org/
Website also describes themselves, their mission and their projects (they do work elsewhere as well).
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Facebook is the world’s largest social media website, one with hundreds of millions of users in well over a hundred countries. Despite its size, however, Facebook is not an entirely public forum on which “anything goes.” Rather, it is a worldwide gathering place where certain forms of speech and certain kinds of images are not allowed.
On its community standardspage, the site lists a variety of types of speech that are not allowed, including threats of violence, pornography, and spam. Among those prohibited is “hate speech,” about which the policy is as follows:
“Hate Speech: Facebook does not permit hate speech, but distinguishes between serious and humorous speech. While we encourage you to challenge ideas, institutions, events, and practices, we do not permit individuals or groups to attack others based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition.” [Emphasis added.]
This has nothing to do with censorship (which is a government activity, and cannot be engaged in by a private individual or organization), but with maintaining a civil space for the exchange of ideas. Granted, that isn’t always the case, but that’s why Facebook makes provision for hate speech to be reported. One can disagree with the policy, but it is clear what sorts of speech are being curtailed.
Click photo to download. Caption: An anti-Semitic illustration on “The Untold History” Facebook page. Credit: Facebook.
I was recently pointed in the direction of a Facebook page entitled The Untold History, run by a group out of Sweden that calls itself the European Knights Project, a partner of the Institute for Historical Review. On its masthead, it proclaims in all-caps that it is a “HISTORICAL SITE NON-POLITICAL,” but this is a sham. It is, in fact, a Holocaust denial site that not only presents bogus and falsified history, but also traffics in the vilest sort of anti-Semitism.
Presented primarily in the form of graphics with messages, Photoshopped pictures, and cartoons, the page offers all of the anti-Semitic greatest hits: Jews control America and want to control the world; the Holocaust never happened; Jews exploit the Holocaust myth for money; the Allies did far worse to the Germans, Japanese, and Japanese-Americans than the Nazis did to the Jews; Hitler was a great guy who was just standing up for Christian civilization; Communism is a Jewish tool; Israel is the source of all evil in the world; 9/11 was a Mossad job; etc. In one graphic, a “quote” fabricated by the American evangelist Texe Marrs is put in the mouth of Menachem Begin:
“Our race is the ‘Master Race.’ We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects…. other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves.”
Once I had examined “The Untold History” for myself, I reported it to Facebook, and expected it to be quickly removed. Instead, I received this response from administrators:
“Thank you for taking the time to report something that you feel may violate our Community Standards. Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment. We reviewed the page you reported for containing hate speech or symbols and found it doesn’t violate our community standard on hate speech.”
Flabbergasted by this response, I began contacting my Facebook friends, and urging them to report “The Untold History” for violating site standards. Dozens have done so, and all have received the same response. For some reason that is impossible to fathom, the administrators of Facebook seem completely incapable of recognizing anti-Semitism when it is staring them in the face, or see how it constitutes a violation of terms of use that ban hate speech.
In an effort to put pressure on Facebook to act, I have set up a page called Protest “The Untold History” and Other Anti-Semitic Pages. Oddly enough, this page seems to have a problem with disappearing posts. But you can still “like” it to send a message. I have also contacted the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Anti-Defamation League to look into Facebook’s non-disapproval of hate speech directed at Jews. As the word gets out, hopefully the company will do some serious self-examination, and ask itself why it has such a difficult time seeing what is obvious to all but the most bigoted observer.
David Fischler is an Evangelical Presbyterian pastor and writer who blogs issues of religious and moral import, including anti-Semitism in the mainline churches, at www.standfirminfath.com.
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“If Damascus is attacked, Tel Aviv will burn,” a Syrian higher-up bristled this week. Israel, therefore, cannot watch the escalating cliffhanger with detached equanimity from the sidelines.
There can be no passivity when potent threats are hurled at Israel from a coterie of evil powers in the context of a struggle in which Israel is uninvolved. In a fairer existence, this very fact alone ought to have acutely unsettled the international community. But it’s almost futile to expect a modicum of fair-mindedness where Israel is concerned.
So far the anti-Israel bluster from Damascus, Tehran and Hizbullah strongholds in Lebanon appear to have disturbed none of the foreign statesmen or opinion-molders, whose alacrity to condemn Israel for any perceived transgression is nothing short of remarkable. Moreover, the veiled hints from Moscow about dire repercussions for the entire region in the event of an American attack, might also imply warnings about impending punishment for Israel.
All the while, Israeli commentators strive to outdo each other with educated guesses about whether or not we are vulnerable, whether it would serve Bashar Assad’s interests to fire at us, whether we should retaliate and how.
Much of the babble is superfluous. Regardless of what eventually transpires, all Israelis should be deeply troubled by the profound indifference abroad to our lot – blameless as we are in the internecine Syrian strife. The very fact, that a neighboring state could be presumed to be held to ransom for occurrences entirely out of its control, should shock world opinion. But it does not.
Israelis might be forgiven for suspecting that the reaction would be radically different had any other country been similarly threatened for no fault of its own. Sadly we must come to terms with the likelihood that different criteria are applied to the Jewish state.
This is disconcertingly reminiscent of our extremely traumatic experience during the First Gulf War. Events then were also played out beyond the Israeli context. Nonetheless, Israel suffered repeated heavy missile attacks, including 40 Scud hits. The deadly warheads were aimed directly and unmistakably at civilian population centers.
Saddam Hussein’s raison d’être was that by targeting Israel he was hurting the US. In the view of all too many Mideastern despots and potentates Israel is nothing but an American underling. At the time there was no audible international indignation. The only American response was to advocate Israeli restraint. Indeed Israel avoided retaliation, thereby compromising its deterrence and underscoring its vulnerabilities for the sake of American interests.
But there was no gratitude for Israel’s sacrifices. Washington only pressured Israel for territorial concessions, never counted Saddam’s anti-Israeli aggression among his sins and treated Israel largely like a mistress whose favors are required but must never be publicly acknowledged.
This might well be the role which the Obama administration now wants Israel to reprise. This is precisely the behavior which Israel must under no circumstances repeat.
This time indeed Israel has made it clear – through pronouncements by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.Gen. Benny Gantz – that this country and its inhabitants will not be pawns in the wars that others wage.
Thus notice had duly been served on friend and foe alike and all shades in between that Israel won’t consent again to humbly become a whipping boy for others. If anything can daunt the Shiite axis that buttresses Assad, along with his more distant supporters in Russia and China, it is such an unequivocal advance cautionary message from Israel.
Some Assad-watchers in Israel maintain that he understands quite well that Israel of 2013 isn’t Israel of 1990. They note that it would make no sense for him to strike out against Israel because he knows that vigorous Israeli retribution would seal his fate.
The experts are right – rationally that is just so. However, we had likewise heard precisely such learned estimations immediately prior to the first American invasion of Iraq and they too sounded eminently reasonable… to us. The problem is that this region does not operate according to our logic.
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This proverb is apparently lost on the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. The faction, which controls the Gaza Strip, has been under intense fire from the Egyptian military since the toppling of Mohammed Morsi last month. The Egyptian army has largely shut down the Egypt-Gaza border while destroying hundreds of subterranean tunnels connecting Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula, which serve as Hamas's financial lifeline for a wide array of goods, not to mention hard currency, through the practice of bulk cash smuggling.
The Egyptian military has made it clear that it views Hamas as an enemy because it is an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, which lately has been the target of unprecedented army violence. More than 600 were killed in clashes across the country in recent days.
Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, went on record as saying, "Hamas condemns the terrible massacre in Nahda square and at Rabaa al-Adawiyya, and we call for an end to the bloodshed and to excesses against peaceful demonstrators." This statement echoed a piece on Hamas' Arabic website two days ago, calling upon the military to halt the violence.
The faction's website this morning cites prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as saying that Hamas has "no role" in the recent bloodshed, and lamenting the loss of Muslim lives. However, at the same time, Hamas supporters staged an anti-military protest at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Invoking the ire of the Egyptian military is the latest misstep among many that has left Hamas isolated and desperate for regional patronage and protection. Admittedly, there is little that Hamas could say to mitigate the animus of the Egyptian military, which clashed with the Muslim Brotherhood over its Hamas policy during the last year. But condemnations will be viewed as provocations. And we have seen how the military responds to provocations.
Jonathan Schanzer is vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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UNRWA is the special “refugee agency” set up to deal ONLY with Palestinians because the UN’s main refugee agency, UNHCR, actually does useful stuff like, you know, turning refugees into citizens of other places.
As we reported, one of the 3 Arabs killed during a massive violent riot happened to work for the UNHCR. This is not surprising: UNHCR is one of the largest “employers” of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. It’s just a massive make work program and vehicle for the Palestinian Authority to suck funds out of anyone fool enough to help them.
So the following, particularly pointed, statement from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is rather welcome.
While omitting to mention any context or reason for the Israeli operation, it was quick to cite “credible reports” in determining that its employee had been shot “…on his way to work, and was not involved in any violent activity.”Israel regrets the fatalities that resulted from yesterday’s military operation to arrest a Palestinian terrorist suspect. A formal investigation has been launched by the IDF, as part of a standard procedure in any case involving civilian casualties.Without prejudice to the outcome of the investigation, we were disappointed (but not surprised) at UNRWA’s press statement from yesterday. While omitting to mention any context or reason for the Israeli operation, it was quick to cite “credible reports” in determining that its employee had been shot “…on his way to work, and was not involved in any violent activity.” Quite aside from the fact that UNRWA did not even bother to approach any official Israeli sources for comment, its statement was rushed to the press while the violent riots were still raging on in Qalandiya. Hence, it begs the question of how it was possible for the Agency to collect forensic evidence, cross reference personal eye-witness reports and reach peremptory conclusions – all of that in the space of just a few hours.It is regrettable that UNRWA has consistently failed to display similar zeal and enthusiasm when asked to investigate its own cases of alleged wrongdoing. Earlier this month, for example, the Agency was forced to admit that it had negligently allowed a third party to use some of its installations in order to organize ‘summer camps’ where anti-Semitism and incitement to violence were preached to Palestinian youth. Needless to say, UNRWA’s half-hearted admission was released only after “a lengthy and detailed investigation”, as opposed to the rushed superficial procedure it adopted yesterday.We therefore call upon UNRWA to return to its original humanitarian agenda of assisting Palestinian refugees, while refraining from any one-sided political advocacy activities. Only thus can it hope to be taken seriously – both by Israel and the international donor community.
Update: if you don’t know much about UNRWA, here’s a video by Pierre Rehov to tell you more. (h/t Facebook comments)
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A SCHOOLGIRL seduced at the age of 14 by a paedophile teacher who groomed her on Facebook, says she still "has feelings" for the man, who has been jailed for having sex with underage girls.
Sam Bradley, 23, groomed three girls from the same school whom he approached through Facebook. He then asked them to send him photographs of themselves in their underwear, the Daily Mail and other UK news sites have reported.
He lured one of the girls to his house where she drank alcohol and Bradley touched her outside and inside her clothes.
"I can't help how I feel about him," said the girl, who is now 16 years old.
"I was just so happy he'd chosen me above all the other girls who fancied him."
Bradley told the girl she was "the prettiest by far" in her class and he would give her his phone number, although he was worried about losing his job.
The girl promised not to tell anyone and the man began texting her.
He later convinced her to send a video of herself performing a sex act.
A second girl who went to the same school in South Yorkshire, UK, also received Mr Bradley's number and after texting each other, went to his house where she woke up the next morning next to him.
Mr Bradley was wearing only a pair of boxer shorts.
The girl said all her schoolfriends thought Mr Bradley, who worked as a teacher's assistant, was good looking and "a real joker".
It was only when a friend she claimed she was staying with called her house and spoke with her mother that the girl's relationship with Bradley was exposed.
Investigating police officers who examined Bradley's phone discovered he had also been having a sexual relationship with a third girl, a former pupil of the school who described him as "sex obsessed".
Bradley is now serving a three-year sentence.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/schoolgirl-still-8216has-feelings8217-for-paedophile-teacher/story-fndir2ev-1226709520958#ixzz2dpbCdI9g
.. he apparently drugged them too? ed
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Anti-Israel students and activists showed their “true colors” last Wednesday night, Jewishstudents at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa said.
Moving quickly from “anti-Zionism” to classic anti-Semitism, a melange of studentsand BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activists began screaming “Shoot the Jews” at a concert featuring religious Jewish jazz saxophonist Daniel Zamir.
Zamir, who is Israeli, had been invited to perform by several Jewish organizations. Zamir is world-renowned as a klezmer and jazz musician, having played with jazz luminaries such as John Zorn.
The anti-Israel protest was sponsored by BDS South Africa. Operating since 2010, the group claims that it “facilitated numerous campaigns, including: the University of Johannesburg (UJ) academic boycott, the South African Artists Against Apartheid cultural boycott campaign, and the annual Israeli Apartheid Week.”
Dozens of South African Muslims and BDS supporters gathered outside Wits' Great Hall, with security personnel keeping them outside. Several scuffles were reported, and concert-goers were subject to a great deal of verbal abuse.
At that point, said witnesses, the protesters broke into a sing-song chant of “kill the Jews,” (“Dubula e Juda” in Zulu), a take-off on a protest song sung in the 80s against whites. When questioned, Muhammed Desai, coordinator of the protest and leader of "BDS South Africa," said that the protesters did not mean the term “kill the Jews” literally.
“Just like you would say 'kill the Boer' at funeral during the eighties it wasn’t about killing white people, it was used as a way of identifying with the [opposition to the] apartheid regime,” he said, adding that “the whole idea anti-Semitism is blown out of proportion,” and that if anyone in BDS had committed anti-Semitic acts, the group would not tolerate it.
But concert goers and Jewish students at Wits said that this time the BDS group had gone too far. Many said that they no longer felt safe at the university, with others saying that actual shooting of Jews or other violence against them was just a matter of time.
“How is ‘shoot the Jew’ not racist rhetoric?,” asked one student. “It is blatant anti-Semitism. If people are blowing anti-Semitism out of proportion then they are blowing apartheid out of proportion too. Have people forgotten about the Holocaust?”
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As Israeli leaders continue toreact to American prevarication on Syria, one former IDF commander has summed up the general mood.
"We have no one to rely upon except for God and our veteran troops," said former IDF General Uzi Dayan, attacking US President Barack Obama’sdecision to postpone actionon Syria until an official approval from Congress.
Dayan’s comments were featured on his Facebook page on Sunday, opening with a statement saying that the Israeli government should “continue with its sensible policies” of refraining from a Syrian intervention unless the conflict were to spill in Israel’s direction.
Regarding Israel's relationship with the United States, Dayan pointed out that Israel should “strengthen the unity of values, strategic coordination, and mutual respect for one another, and to not divide the American and Zionist common mission.”
Yet Dayan echoed many other Israeli politicians' concerns that Iran is closely lurking and waiting for any signs of weakness in Israeli and American.
Summing up, Dayan asserted that Israel can only rely on itself for security.
“The strategic conclusion is not surprising, that is: ‘if I am not for myself, who will be for me’?" he said, paraphrasing the well-known Jewish proverb.
“And to my fellow brothers in Israel [I say]: return the gas masks to storage, regain our senses, and rebuild our society and our country. Let us prepare for the upcoming Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year] which should be a blessed one upon us.
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After nearly two-and-a-half years of dithering, President Barack Obama finally seems poised to take action against the thuggish regime of Bashar Assad.
When the Syrian military attacked rebel-held suburbs of Damascus last week with chemical weapons, killing hundreds of innocent people in what US Secretary of State John Kerry labeled a "moral obscenity," Washington could no longer ignore calls that it intervene.
Not since Saddam Hussein rained poison gas down on the Kurds of Halabja in northern Iraq in March 1988, has a Middle Eastern leader made such brazen use of chemical weapons against civilians.
Allowing such an incident to go unpunished would clearly set a dangerous precedent, paving the way for rogue regimes around the world to employ fearful weapons with impunity. Hence, if and when the US and its allies do strike Syria, they deserve our full backing and support.
But while international wrath has justifiably been aimed at Assad and his minions for their malevolent and indiscriminate slaughter, there is a troubling question related to this latest turn of events which few seem prepared to tackle: just how much responsibility does Obama himself bear for what happened? After all, by ignoring Assad's previous atrocities, and even his use of chemical weapons earlier this year, didn't the president's inaction serve to encourage further escalation? Since March 2011, the dictator of Damascus has been waging a deliberate campaign of homicide against his opponents, be they real or imagined.
Upholding his father's lethal legacy, young Bashar has shown no compunction about slaughtering his own people in his attempt to crush the uprising against him.
As a result, more than 100,000 Syrians have been killed and another two million have been turned into refugees since fighting flared between loyalists and opponents of the regime. This carnage was greeted with little more than hand-wringing by Washington, which found itself unwilling to become involved in another foreign entanglement, particularly one which pitted bad guys (Assad & co.) versus other bad guys (al-Qaida-dominated rebel groups).
But it was Obama himself who then drew a line in the sand, clearly demarcating the ostensible limits of American patience.
Recall that at a news conference back on August 20, 2012, Obama told reporters, "We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized."
That, the president insisted, "would change my calculus. That would change my equation."
Sure enough, eight months later, in April 2013, reports surfaced that Assad had used Sarin nerve gas against the rebels. The White House even issued a statement on April 25 saying that US intelligence believed "with varying degrees of confidence" that Syria had deployed chemical weapons on a "small scale." The British Foreign Office went even further, declaring that, "Material from inside Syria tested positive for sarin."
Despite this unabashed crossing of his "red line," Obama did nothing. He hemmed and hawed until the issue faded from public view. But Assad clearly got the message. He saw that his atrocious actions were met by American inaction. And clearly the Damascene despot understood that he could literally get away with mass murder.
As Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain noted this week, "Assad was able to use chemical weapons before and there was no response, and so why not do it again?" "This should surprise no one," McCain said, adding, "They viewed that not as a red line but as a green light, and they acted accordingly."
McCain has a point. In a world where many countries still look to the United States for leadership, what Washington chooses not to do is often as important as what it does. By electing to sit on the sidelines for months on end and failing to uphold his own "red line," Obama projected weakness and a lack of will, which Assad interpreted as a license to pull the trigger. The inescapable conclusion to be drawn is that the current crisis is a direct result both of Assad's action and Obama's impotence.
At this point, the question of whether to strike Damascus is no longer just about Syrian chemicals. It is about American credibility and whether the sole remaining superpower still has the moxie to stand by its word and maintain and preserve global order.
I don't envy the position in which Obama now finds himself or the choices he is being forced to make. But as the leader of the free world grapples with how to react, he should take a moment to consider just how much it was his own failings which gave rise to our present predicament.
===#whateverittakes
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/fact-checker/have-parties-won-elections-when-so-far-behind-in-the-polls-20130903-2t2b8.html
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ALL around Australia men's arms are thickening and women are comparing their ab muscles.
Your Facebook feed is filled with former colleagues whose body fat is plummeting and friends from school who are perennially dressed in exercise gear.
These people all belong to the same cult. And if you haven't heard of it yet, you're well behind the curve.
You could say CrossFit is sweeping the world, but really it has swept, mopped and put on a load of washing before you've even hit the snooze button for the first time.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/the-five-crossfit-moves-you-can-do-at-home/story-fneuzle5-1226709704051#ixzz2dpa29aVx
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It’s the science story that many gyms may not want to hear. What if you could reap the benefits of running and weight-bearing exercise without any expensive runners or contracts and do it all in, say, seven minutes?
Exercise science is a fine and intellectually fascinating thing. But sometimes you just want someone to lay out guidelines for how to put the latest fitness research into practice.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/plenty-to-gain-with-just-seven-minutes-of-pain-20130830-2sw2i.html#ixzz2dpaBeSfz
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The winner of this year’s $2000 Blankfeld Award for Media Critique has been chosen and comes from a most unlikely source. Sri Lankan-born Timon Dias was adopted in the Netherlands at the age of three months and is a Clinical Psychology Masters degree student at Leiden University.
His winning articles were all published in the Jerusalem Post and impressed the staff of HonestReporting above all of the other candidates.
In “The lack of Western disgust for Hamas,” Timon sought to explain why many Western college students and mainstream opinion makers tend not to loathe or despise Hamas in the way it deserves.
“The EU shows it doesn’t understand the conflict” explains how the anti-Israel bias within the EU can be traced back to its founding principle of undoing the concept of nation states, of which Israel is a demonstrably successful one.
In “Whose taxpayers fund UNRWA?” Timon asks why Western nations pay 71% of the annual UNRWA budget while Muslim countries pay next to nothing while addressing the role of UNRWA in keeping Palestinians dependent and incapable of making peace.
But what drives a non-Jewish student with no familial ties to Israel to defend what is an increasingly difficult cause on campuses worldwide ? We asked Timon:
===Change Of Our Lives for those who haven't seen it. BTShttp://www.youtube.com/
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"Isn't it amazing that when Israel defends itself from Hamas terror and smuggling of weapons, it is violating the human rights of 1.6 million Gazans - but when Egypt does the exact same thing, it is simply defending itself?" - Elder of Ziyon
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If your face gets magnified this big, it shows every flaw! (Rwanda National Stadium celebration. PEACE Plan)
Pastor Rick Warren
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SYDNEY, Australia — A lot has happened since Col Allan, the editor in chief of The New York Post, returned to Sydney to provide “extra editorial leadership” for Rupert Murdoch’s Australian newspapers.
Fascinating to see how wrong the Grey Lady gets it the Hogans Heroes photo flattered Rudd, but the diminishment to calling it a Nazi uniform is only apparent to the most partisan .. interestingly, Fairfa got a photo op of Rudd with actual Nazis in the background on Euro Nazi Remembrance Day where they recall the holocaust. The allegation that Newscorp is partisan is at odds with similar articles coming from Fairfax, but I gather a balanced news source isn't allowed to criticise an incompetent leftwing government.
At least the NYT got the 59% figure right .. the ALP keep claiming 70% ownership .. in fact it is 29% ownership, but circulation figures are high because people want balanced reporting .. something the NYT fails at. ed
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A Black Reporter Summarizes Barack
The below summarization of Barack and Michelle Obama’s 5 year reign in the White House is by far the best I’ve ever read as it squarely hits the nail on the head. And it took a black reporter writing it to make it as effective as it is. A white man’s account would be instantly criticized by the liberal media as pure racism. But, how can anyone scream Racist when an exacting description of the Obamas is penned by a well known journalist of color?
BEST SUMMATION OF BARACK AND MICHELLE EVER!
Mychal Massie is a respected writer and talk show host in Los Angeles.
The other evening on my twitter, a person asked me why I didn't like the Obama's? Specifically I was asked: "I have to ask, why do you hate the Obama's? It seems personal, not policy related. You even dissed (disrespect) their Christmas family picture."
The truth is I do not like the Obamas, what they represent, their ideology, and I certainly do not like his policies and legislation. I've made no secret of my contempt for the Obamas. As I responded to the person who asked me the aforementioned question, I don't like them because they are committed to the fundamental change of my/our country into what can only be regarded as a Communist state.
I don't hate them per definition, but I condemn them because they are the worst kind of racialists, they are elitist Leninists with contempt for traditional America. They display disrespect for the sanctity of the office he holds, and for those who are willing to admit same, Michelle Obama's raw contempt for white America is transpicuous. I don't like them because they comport themselves as emperor and empress.
I expect, no I demand respect, for the Office of President and a love of our country and her citizenry from the leader entrusted with the governance of same. President and Mrs. Reagan displayed an unparalleled love for the country and her people.
The Reagan's made Americans feel good about themselves and about what we could accomplish. Obama's arrogance by appointing 32 leftist czars and constantly bypassing congress is impeachable. Eric Holder is probably the MOST incompetent and arrogant DOJ head to ever hold the job. Could you envision President Reagan instructing his Justice Department to act like jack-booted thugs?
Presidents are politicians and all politicians are known and pretty much expected to manipulate the truth, if not outright lie, but even using that low standard, the Obama's have taken lies, dishonesty, deceit, mendacity, subterfuge and obfuscation to new depths. They are verbally abusive to the citizenry, and they display an animus for civility.
I do not like them, because they both display bigotry overtly, as in the case of Harvard Professor Louis Gates, when he accused the Cambridge Police of acting stupidly, and her code speak pursuant to not being able to be proud of America. I view that statement and that mindset as an insult to those who died to provide a country where a Kenyan, his illegal alien relatives, and his alleged progeny, could come and not only live freely, but rise to the highest, most powerful, position in the world.
Michelle Obama is free to hate and disparage whites because Americans of every description paid with their blood to ensure her right to do same. I have a saying, that "the only reason a person hides things, is because they have something to hide." No president in history has spent millions of dollars to keep his records and his past sealed.
And what the two of them have shared has been proved to be lies. He lied about when and how they met, he lied about his mother's death and problems with insurance, Michelle lied to a crowd pursuant to nearly $500,000 bank stocks they inherited from his family. He has lied about his father's military service, about the civil rights movement, ad nausea. He lied to the world about the Supreme Court in a State of the Union address. He berated and publicly insulted a sitting Congressman. He has surrounded himself with the most rabidly, radical, socialist academicians today.
He opposed rulings that protected women and children that even Planned Parenthood did not seek to support. He is openly hostile to business and aggressively hostile to Israel. His wife treats being the First Lady as her personal American Express Black Card (arguably the most prestigious credit card in the world). I condemn them because, as people are suffering, losing their homes, their jobs, their retirements, he and his family are arrogantly showing off their life of entitlement - as he goes about creating and fomenting class warfare.
I don't like them, and I neither apologize nor retreat from my public condemnation of them and of his policies. We should condemn them for the disrespect they show our people, for his willful and unconstitutional actions pursuant to obeying the Constitutional parameters he is bound by, and his willful disregard for Congressional authority.
Dislike for them has nothing to do with the color of their skin; it has everything to do with their behavior, attitudes, and policies. And I have open scorn for their constantly playing the race card.
I could go on, but let me conclude with this. I condemn in the strongest possible terms the media for refusing to investigate them, as they did President Bush and President Clinton, and for refusing to label them for what they truly are. There is no scenario known to man, whereby a white president and his wife could ignore laws, flaunt their position, and lord over the people, as these two are permitted out of fear for their color.
As I wrote in a syndicated column titled, "Nero In The White House" - "Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood...
Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation, and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement - while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed."
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Kevin Rudd's much tweeted and Facebooked response to a pastor's challenge on his recent decision to support gay marriage bears a suspicious similarity to a line from a famous episode of the US television series The West Wing.
Mr Rudd won much applause and a storm of support across social media for his reply to Pastor Matt Prater, who demanded of the Prime Minister on ABC-TV's Q&A how he could call himself a Christian after chopping and changing his position on same-sex marriage.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/kevin-rudds-samesex-response-straight-from-the-west-wing-20130903-2t2ng.html#ixzz2dpM9T5jQ
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- 1189 – Richard the Lionheart (pictured) was crowned King of England in Westminster.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The British Army and their Hessian allies defeated an American militia in the Battle of Cooch's Bridge.
- 1838 – Future American abolitionist Frederick Douglassescaped from slavery.
- 1942 – The Holocaust: In possibly the first Jewish ghetto uprising, residents of the Łachwa Ghetto in occupied Poland, informed of the upcoming "liquidation" of the ghetto, unsuccessfully fought against their Nazi captors.
- 2001 – The Troubles: Protestant loyalists began picketing a Catholicprimary school for girls in the Protestant portion of Ardoyne, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- 36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate.
- 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus.
- 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great).
- 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne.
- 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid.
- 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster.
- 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire.
- 1650 – Third English Civil War: In the Battle of Dunbar, English Parliamentarian forces led by Oliver Cromwell defeat an army loyal to King Charles II of England and led by David Leslie, Lord Newark.
- 1651 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Worcester: Charles II of England is defeated in the last main battle of the war.
- 1658 – Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England.
- 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London.
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time.
- 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain.
- 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize.
- 1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.
- 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana.
- 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery.
- 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens.
- 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.
- 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23.
- 1874 – The congress of the State of Mexico elevates Naucalpan to the category of villa, with the title of "Villa de Juárez".
- 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers.
- 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
- 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the The Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire.
- 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association.
- 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule.
- 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers.
- 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy.
- 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil.
- 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States' first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne.
- 1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m).
- 1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph.
- 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies.
- 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic.
- 1941 – The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs.
- 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva, in present-day Belarus.
- 1943 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Italy begins on the same day that U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign the Armistice of Cassibile aboard the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson off Malta.
- 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later.
- 1945 – A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2.
- 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix.
- 1951 – The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its first episode on the CBS network.
- 1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
- 1954 – The German submarine U-505 begins its move from a specially constructed dock to its site at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
- 1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight.
- 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state.
- 1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars.
- 1981 – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women enters into force.
- 1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya.
- 1994 – Sino-Soviet split: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.
- 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64.
- 2001 – In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. For the next 11 weeks, riot police escort the schoolchildren and their parents through hundreds of protesters, some of whom hurl missiles and abuse. The protest sparks fierce rioting and grabs world headlines.
- 2014 – Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods leave over 200 people dead across India and Pakistan.
- 1034 – Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan (d. 1073)
- 1499 – Diane de Poitiers, French mistress of Henry II of France (d. 1566)
- 1568 – Adriano Banchieri, Italian organist and composer (d. 1634)
- 1675 – Paul Dudley, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1751)
- 1693 – Charles Radclyffe, English captain and politician (d. 1746)
- 1695 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian viola player and composer (d. 1764)
- 1704 – Joseph de Jussieu, French explorer, geographer, and mathematician, (d. 1779)
- 1710 – Abraham Trembley, Swiss biologist and zoologist (d. 1784)
- 1724 – Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, Irish-English general and politician, 21st Governor General of Canada (d. 1808)
- 1781 – Eugène de Beauharnais, French general and politician (d. 1824)
- 1803 – Prudence Crandall, American educator (d. 1890)
- 1810 – Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter (d. 1871)
- 1811 – John Humphrey Noyes, American activist, founded the Oneida Community (d. 1886)
- 1814 – James Joseph Sylvester, English mathematician and academic (d. 1897)
- 1820 – George Hearst, American businessman and politician (d. 1891)
- 1840 – Jacob Christian Fabricius, Danish composer (d. 1919)
- 1841 – Tom Emmett, English cricketer (d. 1904)
- 1849 – Sarah Orne Jewett, American author and poet (d. 1909)
- 1851 – Olga Constantinovna of Russia (d. 1926)
- 1854 – Charles Tatham, American fencer (d. 1939)
- 1856 – Louis Sullivan, American architect and educator, designed the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building (d. 1924)
- 1869 – Fritz Pregl, Slovenian chemist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930)
- 1875 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian-German engineer and businessman, founded Porsche (d. 1951)
- 1878 – Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, English tennis player (d. 1960)
- 1880 – Gwynne Evans, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1965)
- 1882 – Johnny Douglas, English cricketer and boxer (d. 1930)
- 1887 – Frank Christian, American trumpet player (d. 1973)
- 1893 – Andrey Dikiy, Russian-American journalist, historian, and politician (d. 1977)
- 1897 – Sally Benson, American author and screenwriter (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
- 1900 – Percy Chapman, English cricketer (d. 1961)
- 1900 – Urho Kekkonen, Finnish journalist, lawyer, and politician, 8th President of Finland (d. 1986)
- 1901 – Eduard van Beinum, Dutch violinist, pianist, and conductor (d. 1959)
- 1905 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- 1905 – John Mills, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1972)
- 1907 – Loren Eiseley, American anthropologist, philosopher, and author (d. 1977)
- 1908 – Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1988)
- 1910 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite, and game show panelist (d. 2007)
- 1910 – Maurice Papon, French civil servant (d. 2007)
- 1911 – Bernard Mammes, American cyclist and sergeant (d. 2000)
- 1913 – Alan Ladd, American actor and producer (d. 1964)
- 1914 – Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician, 17th Governor of Washington (d. 1994)
- 1915 – Knut Nystedt, Norwegian organist and composer (d. 2014)
- 1915 – Memphis Slim, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1988)
- 1916 – Trigger Alpert, American bassist (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Eddie Stanky, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1999)
- 1918 – Helen Wagner, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1919 – Phil Stern, American soldier and photographer (d. 2014)
- 1920 – Tereska Torrès, French soldier and author (d. 2012)
- 1921 – John Aston Sr., English footballer (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Thurston Dart, English pianist, conductor, and musicologist (d. 1971)
- 1921 – Marguerite Higgins, American journalist and author (d. 1966)
- 1923 – Glen Bell, American businessman, founded Taco Bell (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Fred Hawkins, American golfer (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Mort Walker, American cartoonist
- 1924 – Mary Grace Canfield, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Anne Jackson, American actress (d. 2016)
- 1925 – Bengt Lindström, Swedish painter and sculptor (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Shoista Mullojonova, Tajikistan singer (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Hank Thompson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Uttam Kumar, Indian actor, singer, director, and producer (d. 1980)
- 1926 – Alison Lurie, American author and academic
- 1926 – Irene Papas, Greek actress
- 1927 – Nora Denney, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Whitey Bulger, American gangster and murderer
- 1929 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Steve Rickard, New Zealand-Australian wrestler, trainer, and promoter (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Armand Vaillancourt, Canadian sculptor and painter
- 1930 – Cherry Wilder, New Zealand author and poet (d. 2002)
- 1931 – Albert DeSalvo, American serial killer (d. 1973)
- 1931 – Dick Motta, American basketball player and coach
- 1931 – Guy Spitaels, Belgian academic and politician, 7th Minister-President of the Walloon Region (d. 2012)
- 1932 – Eileen Brennan, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
- 1933 – Basil Butcher, Guyanese cricketer
- 1933 – Tompall Glaser, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Freddie King, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
- 1935 – Helmut Clasen, German-Canadian motorcycle racer
- 1936 – Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Tunisia
- 1936 – Pilar Pallete, Peruvian-American actress
- 1938 – Sarah Bradford, English historian and author
- 1938 – Caryl Churchill, English-Canadian playwright
- 1938 – Richard MacCormac, English architect, founded MJP Architects (d. 2014)
- 1938 – Ryōji Noyori, Japanese chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1940 – Frank Duffy, English architect
- 1940 – Pauline Collins, English actress
- 1940 – Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist and author (d. 2015)
- 1940 – Brian Lochore, New Zealand rugby player and coach
- 1941 – Sergei Dovlatov, Russian-American journalist and author (d. 1990)
- 1942 – Al Jardine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – Valerie Perrine, American model and actress
- 1944 – Geoff Arnold, English cricketer and coach
- 1945 – George Biondo, American bass player and songwriter
- 1945 – Peter Goddard, English physicist, mathematician, and academic
- 1947 – Eric Bell, Northern Irish guitarist and songwriter
- 1947 – Kjell Magne Bondevik, Norwegian minister and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Norway
- 1947 – Michael Connarty, Scottish educator and politician
- 1947 – Mario Draghi, Italian banker and economist
- 1947 – Gerard Houllier, French footballer and coach
- 1947 – Susan Milan, English flute player and composer
- 1948 – Don Brewer, American singer-songwriter and drummer
- 1948 – Lyudmila Karachkina, Ukrainian astronomer
- 1948 – Fotis Kouvelis, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice
- 1948 – Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Zambia (d. 2008)
- 1949 – José Pékerman, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager
- 1949 – Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (d. 2004)
- 1950 – Doug Pinnick, American singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1951 – Denys Hobson, South African cricketer
- 1951 – Prince Jazzbo, Jamaican DJ and producer (d. 2013)
- 1952 – Şehrazat, Turkish singer-songwriter and producer
- 1953 – Jean-Pierre Jeunet, French director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1953 – George Peponis, Greek-Australian rugby player and physician
- 1954 – Jaak Uudmäe, Estonian triple jumper and coach
- 1955 – Steve Jones, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1956 – Jishu Dasgupta, Indian actor and director (d. 2012)
- 1956 – Pat McGeown, Northern Irish republican activist (d. 1996)
- 1956 – Stephen Woolley, English director and producer
- 1957 – Garth Ancier, American businessman
- 1957 – Earl Cureton, American basketball player and coach
- 1957 – Steve Schirripa, American actor and producer
- 1960 – Nick Gibb, English accountant and politician
- 1962 – David De Roure, English computer scientist and academic
- 1963 – Sam Adams, American politician, 51st Mayor of Portland
- 1963 – Mubarak Ghanim, Emirati footballer
- 1963 – Malcolm Gladwell, Canadian journalist and author
- 1964 – Adam Curry, American-Dutch businessman and television host, co-founded mevio
- 1964 – Spike Feresten, American screenwriter and producer
- 1964 – Junaid Jamshed, Pakistani singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Charlie Sheen, American actor and producer
- 1966 – Steven Johnson Leyba, American painter and author
- 1966 – Vladimir Ryzhkov, Russian historian and politician
- 1967 – Chris Gatling, American basketball player
- 1967 – Luis Gonzalez, Cuban-American baseball player
- 1968 – Grace Poe, Filipino educator and politician
- 1969 – Noah Baumbach, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – John Fugelsang, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
- 1969 – Robert Karlsson, Swedish golfer
- 1969 – Marianna Komlos, Canadian bodybuilder, model, and wrestler (d. 2004)
- 1969 – Matthew Offord, English journalist and politician
- 1970 – Jeremy Glick, American businessman (d. 2001)
- 1970 – George Lynch, American basketball player and manager
- 1970 – Gareth Southgate, English footballer and manager
- 1971 – Kiran Desai, Indian-American author
- 1971 – Glen Housman, Australian swimmer
- 1971 – Chabeli Iglesias, Portuguese-Spanish journalist
- 1972 – Christine Boudrias, Canadian speed skater
- 1972 – Bob Evans, American wrestler and trainer
- 1972 – Robbie O'Davis, Australian rugby league player
- 1972 – Martin Straka, Czech ice hockey player
- 1973 – Norihiko Hibino, Japanese saxophonist and composer
- 1973 – Jennifer Paige, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1973 – Damon Stoudamire, American basketball player and coach
- 1974 – Clare Kramer, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
- 1974 – Rahul Sanghvi, Indian cricketer
- 1975 – Daniel Chan, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor
- 1975 – Cristobal Huet, French ice hockey player
- 1975 – Redfoo, American singer-songwriter, producer, and dancer
- 1976 – Valery V. Afanasyev, Russian ice hockey player and coach
- 1976 – Jevon Kearse, American football player
- 1976 – Raheem Morris, American football player and coach
- 1977 – Rui Marques, Angolan footballer
- 1977 – Olof Mellberg, Swedish footballer
- 1977 – Nate Robertson, American baseball player
- 1978 – Terje Bakken, Norwegian singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
- 1978 – John Curtis, English footballer
- 1978 – Michal Rozsíval, Czech ice hockey player
- 1978 – Nick Wechsler, American actor
- 1979 – Júlio César, Brazilian footballer
- 1979 – Tomo Miličević, Bosnian-American guitarist
- 1980 – B.G., American rapper and actor
- 1980 – Daniel Bilos, Argentinian footballer
- 1980 – Cindy Burger, Dutch footballer
- 1980 – Jennie Finch, American softball player
- 1980 – Justin Halpern, American blogger and author
- 1980 – Jason McCaslin, Canadian singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
- 1981 – Fearne Cotton, English radio and television host
- 1982 – Sarah Burke, Canadian skier (d. 2012)
- 1982 – Andrew McMahon, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1982 – Kaori Natori, Japanese singer
- 1982 – Tiago Rannow, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Augusto Farfus, Brazilian race car driver
- 1983 – Nicky Hunt, English footballer
- 1983 – Marcus McCauley, American football player
- 1983 – Valdas Vasylius, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1984 – Garrett Hedlund, American actor
- 1984 – Seo In-young, South Korean singer and dancer
- 1985 – Scott Carson, English footballer
- 1985 – Kelvin Wilson, English footballer
- 1986 – Shaun White, American snowboarder, skateboarder, and guitarist
- 1987 – Modibo Maïga, Malian footballer
- 1987 – Dawid Malan, English cricketer
- 1987 – James Neal, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Jérôme Boateng, Ghanaian-German footballer
- 1988 – Marine Debauve, French gymnast
- 1988 – Hana Makhmalbaf, Iranian director and producer
- 1992 – August Alsina, American singer-songwriter
- 1994 – Francis Molo, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1994 – Glen Rea, English-Irish footballer
Births[edit]
- 264 – Sun Xiu, Chinese emperor (b. 235)
- 863 – Umar al-Aqta, Arab emir
- 931 – Emperor Uda of Japan (b. 867)
- 1354 – Joanikije II, Serbian patriarch and saint
- 1402 – Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Italian son of Galeazzo II Visconti (b. 1351)
- 1420 – Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (b. 1340)
- 1467 – Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1434)
- 1592 – Robert Greene, English author and playwright (b. 1558)
- 1634 – Edward Coke, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales (b. 1552)
- 1653 – Claudius Salmasius, French scholar and author (b. 1588)
- 1658 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician (b. 1599)
- 1720 – Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, French general and diplomat (b. 1648)
- 1729 – Jean Hardouin, French historian and scholar (b. 1646)
- 1766 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (b. 1686)
- 1808 – John Montgomery, American merchant and politician (b. 1722)
- 1850 – Ikey Solomon, English criminal (b. 1787)
- 1857 – John McLoughlin, Canadian-American businessman (b. 1784)
- 1866 – Konstantin Flavitsky, Russian painter (b. 1830)
- 1877 – Adolphe Thiers, French historian and politician, 2nd President of France (b. 1797)
- 1883 – Ivan Turgenev, Russian author and playwright (b. 1818)
- 1886 – William W. Snow, American lawyer and politician (b. 1812)
- 1893 – James Harrison, Scottish-Australian engineer, journalist, and politician (b. 1816)
- 1906 – Mihály Kolossa, Hungarian author and poet (b. 1846)
- 1914 – Albéric Magnard, French composer and educator (b. 1865)
- 1929 – John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, English jurist and politician (b. 1840)
- 1936 – Nikita Balieff, Armenian-Russian puppeteer and director (b. 1876)
- 1942 – Will James, Canadian-American author and illustrator (b. 1892)
- 1944 – John Lumsden, Irish physician, founded the St. John Ambulance Brigade of Ireland (b. 1869)
- 1948 – Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1884)
- 1954 – Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (b. 1887)
- 1961 – Robert E. Gross, American businessman (b. 1897)
- 1962 – E. E. Cummings, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1894)
- 1963 – Louis MacNeice, Irish poet and playwright (b. 1907)
- 1967 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer and banker (b. 1893)
- 1969 – John Lester, American cricketer and soccer player (b. 1871)
- 1970 – Vasil Gendov, Bulgarian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1891)
- 1970 – Vince Lombardi, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
- 1970 – Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1943)
- 1974 – Harry Partch, American composer and theorist (b. 1901)
- 1980 – Barbara O'Neil, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1980 – Duncan Renaldo, Romanian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1904)
- 1981 – Alec Waugh, English soldier and author (b. 1898)
- 1985 – Johnny Marks, American songwriter (b. 1909)
- 1986 – Beryl Markham, English-Kenyan pilot, horse trainer, and author (b. 1902)
- 1987 – Morton Feldman, American composer and educator (b. 1926)
- 1988 – Ferit Melen, Turkish civil servant and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1906)
- 1989 – Gaetano Scirea, Italian footballer (b. 1953)
- 1991 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1897)
- 1993 – David Brown, English businessman (b. 1904)
- 1994 – James Thomas Aubrey, Jr., American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
- 1994 – Major Lance, American singer (b. 1939)
- 1994 – Billy Wright, English footballer and manager (b. 1924)
- 1996 – Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Australian painter (b. 1910)
- 2000 – Edward Anhalt, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
- 2001 – Pauline Kael, American film critic and author (b. 1919)
- 2002 – Kenneth Hare, Canadian climatologist and academic (b. 1919)
- 2002 – W. Clement Stone, American businessman, philanthropist, and author (b. 1902)
- 2003 – Alan Dugan, American soldier and poet (b. 1923)
- 2003 – Paul Jennings Hill, American murderer (b. 1954)
- 2003 – Rudolf Leiding, German businessman (b. 1914)
- 2005 – R. S. R. Fitter, English biologist and author (b. 1913)
- 2005 – William Rehnquist, American lawyer and jurist, 16th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Carter Albrecht, American keyboard player and guitarist (b. 1973)
- 2007 – Syd Jackson, New Zealand trade union leader and activist (b. 1939)
- 2007 – Jane Tomlinson, English runner (b. 1964)
- 2008 – Donald Blakeslee, American colonel and pilot (b. 1917)
- 2010 – Noah Howard, American saxophonist (b. 1943)
- 2010 – Robert Schimmel, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Griselda Blanco, Colombian drug lord (b. 1943)
- 2012 – Harold Dunaway, American race car driver and pilot (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor (b. 1957)
- 2012 – Siegfried Jamrowski, Russian-German soldier and pilot (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Sun Myung Moon, Korean religious leader and businessman, founded the Unification Church (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Charlie Rose, American lawyer and politician (b. 1939)
- 2013 – Ralph M. Holman, American lawyer and judge (b. 1914)
- 2013 – Pedro Ferriz Santacruz, Mexican-American journalist (b. 1921)
- 2013 – José Ramón Larraz, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Janet Lembke, American author and scholar (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Don Meineke, American basketball player (b. 1930)
- 2013 – Lewis Morley, Hong Kong-Australian photographer (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Aarno Raninen, Finnish singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1944)
- 2014 – A. P. Venkateswaran, Indian soldier and politician, 14th Foreign Secretary of India (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Adrian Cadbury, English rower and businessman (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Judy Carne, English actress and comedian (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Carter Lay, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1971)
- 2015 – Zhang Zhen, Chinese general and politician (b. 1914)
Deaths[edit]
- Christian feast day:
- China's victory over Japan commemoration related observances:
- Armed Forces Day (Republic of China)
- V-J Day (People's Republic of China)
- Feast of San Marino and the Republic, celebrates the foundation of the Republic of San Marino in 301.
- Flag Day (Australia)
- Independence Day, celebrates the second independence of Qatar from the United Kingdom in 1971.
- Levy Mwanawasa Day (Zambia)
- Memorial Day (Tunisia)
- Merchant Navy Remembrance Day (Canada)
- Merchant Navy Day (United Kingdom)
Holidays and observances[edit]
“The earth is filled with your love, LORD; teach me your decrees.” Psalm 119:64 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
Very interesting is this little peep into the house of the Apostolic Fisherman. We see at once that household joys and cares are no hindrance to the full exercise of ministry, nay, that since they furnish an opportunity for personally witnessing the Lord's gracious work upon one's own flesh and blood, they may even instruct the teacher better than any other earthly discipline. Papists and other sectaries may decry marriage, but true Christianity and household life agree well together. Peter's house was probably a poor fisherman's hut, but the Lord of Glory entered it, lodged in it, and wrought a miracle in it. Should our little book be read this morning in some very humble cottage, let this fact encourage the inmates to seek the company of King Jesus. God is oftener in little huts than in rich palaces. Jesus is looking round your room now, and is waiting to be gracious to you. Into Simon's house sickness had entered, fever in a deadly form had prostrated his mother-in-law, and as soon as Jesus came they told him of the sad affliction, and he hastened to the patient's bed. Have you any sickness in the house this morning? You will find Jesus by far the best physician, go to him at once and tell him all about the matter. Immediately lay the case before him. It concerns one of his people, and therefore will not be trivial to him. Observe, that at once the Saviour restored the sick woman; none can heal as he does. We may not make sure that the Lord will at once remove all disease from those we love, but we may know that believing prayer for the sick is far more likely to be followed by restoration than anything else in the world; and where this avails not, we must meekly bow to his will by whom life and death are determined. The tender heart of Jesus waits to hear our griefs, let us pour them into his patient ear.
Evening
A craving after marvels was a symptom of the sickly state of men's minds in our Lord's day; they refused solid nourishment, and pined after mere wonder. The gospel which they so greatly needed they would not have; the miracles which Jesus did not always choose to give they eagerly demanded. Many nowadays must see signs and wonders, or they will not believe. Some have said in their heart, "I must feel deep horror of soul, or I never will believe in Jesus." But what if you never should feel it, as probably you never may? Will you go to hell out of spite against God, because he will not treat you like another? One has said to himself, "If I had a dream, or if I could feel a sudden shock of I know not what, then I would believe." Thus you undeserving mortals dream that my Lord is to be dictated to by you! You are beggars at his gate, asking for mercy, and you must needs draw up rules and regulations as to how he shall give that mercy. Think you that he will submit to this? My Master is of a generous spirit, but he has a right royal heart, he spurns all dictation, and maintains his sovereignty of action. Why, dear reader, if such be your case, do you crave for signs and wonders? Is not the gospel its own sign and wonder? Is not this a miracle of miracles, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish"? Surely that precious word, "Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely" and that solemn promise, "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out," are better than signs and wonders! A truthful Saviour ought to be believed. He is truth itself. Why will you ask proof of the veracity of One who cannot lie? The devils themselves declared him to be the Son of God; will you mistrust him?
===
Today's reading: Psalm 137-139, 1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 137-139
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy....
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy....
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
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Matthias
[Măt'thī'as] - gift of god. A disciple chosen by lot to succeed Judas Iscariot as an apostle. He had been a follower of Jesus from the beginning of His ministry and was a witness of His resurrection (Acts 1:23, 26). Tradition says Matthias was one of the seventy (Luke 10:1).
[Măt'thī'as] - gift of god. A disciple chosen by lot to succeed Judas Iscariot as an apostle. He had been a follower of Jesus from the beginning of His ministry and was a witness of His resurrection (Acts 1:23, 26). Tradition says Matthias was one of the seventy (Luke 10:1).
David Smith feels that the choice of Matthias was not of God. The disciples prayed for guidance but instead of trusting for divine direction, had recourse to the superstitious practice of casting lots. The election of Matthias was set aside, Paul becoming the true successor to the vacant office. We have no record of him after his election. Tradition says that he went to Ethiopia and labored there where ultimately he was martyred.
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