Monday, February 12, 2018

Mon Feb 12th Todays News

Don't give up on hope. Victoria is suffering under an abysmal ALP government led by Dan Andrews. Industry is failing because of red tape and high power prices and numerous inefficiencies. The state has crumbling infrastructure and high crime rates. There is a corrupt judiciary, an incompetent public service and a loss of public trust. However, the very incompetence of the government is praised by the swamp. Andrews is spending big, but inefficiently on infrastructure. The sky rail project is a complete waste of time which will shut the freight corridor between the Eastern seaboard and the CBD of Melbourne .. and the rest of Australia. That pork barrel alone will cost Australia $trillions moving forward in opportunity costs. But the imposition on commuters of the build, which is poorly planned and executed, gets praise for the government for 'doing something.' 

 Matthew Guy has already stated the course of action of a Liberal government going forward. Guy will address crime, safe schools, infrastructure, red tape and a host of issues dogging Victoria. But as yet he has little recognition because Victoria is still some ten months away from election. News media will twist things to support Andrews. They will put out the word that nobody knows who Guy is or what he stands for. Guy has spoken of the issue of the corrupt ALP practice involving the red shirt brigade, but the media has not reported on it. Yet it is an issue that should be of concern to anyone who values democracy and freedom in Victoria. The choice facing Victoria is stark and well outlined, but the media are drawing outside the lines and confusing the swing voter. As the election nears, more policy will be released by Guy. It will show us planning, urban renewal, building industry, building best practice in Education and more. But the press will say "On the other hand it is even, but Dan is 'doing something.'"

 A threat to a Matthew Guy government is the Federal Liberal Turnbull government. Turnbull is so awful, that Liberals in every state are burned by association. Turnbull dithers on every issue. Right now, Turnbull is dithering on a policy involving the head of the National Party who has been one of the most effective government members. Turnbull doesn't want that talent working for Australia. 
I am a decent man and don't care for the abuse given me. I created a video raising awareness of anti police feeling among western communities. I chose the senseless killing of Nicola Cotton, a Louisiana policewoman who joined post Katrina, to highlight the issue. I did this in order to get an income after having been illegally blacklisted from work in NSW for being a whistleblower. I have not done anything wrong. Local council appointees refused to endorse my work, so I did it for free. Youtube's Adsence refused to allow me to profit from their marketing it. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.

Here is a video I made Yearning From Loss

A lovely song, the lyric composed by a 13 yo boy, known as revive, and the music made by an extraordinary muso named Euphoria.
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=42987
Updated http://youtu.be/CVhXxCr1b6o



=== from 2017 ===
I am reading a research article by Matthew C. MacWilliams , University of Massachusetts Amherst, a PhD student. Matthew is writing on Authoritarian Voters and Donald Trump. Only Matthew employs jargon and mistakes assumptions for conclusions. Because he takes a contrary position to Trump, he will probably get good marks. His article has been reported in NewsWeek and other major journals. In the opening sentence of the abstract, Matthew claims 'the Party Decides Theory' explained previous GOP preselection battles for the Presidential nomination, but not the selection of Trump. Only Matthew does not justify that assertion with his research. The Democratic process of preselection for the GOP has not changed much in the party's history. It was probably most challenged between Taft and Roosevelt over a hundred years ago, when Roosevelt, a former President, started a new party in campaigning for office against his chosen successor. But in fact, GOP processes held. Trump's win was ordinary by the rules which were set out for the campaign. There were no gate keepers who got rolled. There had been opposing campaigns, that normally happens in preselection. As a result of democracy, Trump won overwhelmingly. The resultant support got him a crushing win for President too. The press managed to hoodwink many with their fake news of gatekeepers that were going to support Hillary. Apparently McCain has been paid money to oppose Trump. Nothing illegal there either. Nothing outside of the rules either. 

Matthew's research is on authoritarianism. And he links the success of Trump in the US with European right wingers. Matthew refers to Trump quotes, and to research regarding issues, but that is no excuse for such a handling of public material without nuance. It is absurd and insulting to link Trump to fascism, as the authoritarian claim does. People smashing things, hurting people, and rioting for race seem to be solely Democrat supporters. That is something that fascists did in the thirties. The corruption and cronyism that surround Democrat Party operations and activity are similar to thirties fascism too. Trump is promising to shrink government like Coolidge. But he risks being over run by corrupt Democrats like Hoover. Matthew's research does not show a grasp of current affairs or historical antecedents he is researching. Maybe one day Booker will make him Attorney General. 

In 2015, I wrote Turnbull should resign as he had nothing left to offer, except damaging Liberal governments. Today, Turnbull has proved me right. At the moment, Turnbull is being lauded by the partisan media for insulting Bill Shorten, the ALP leader. A real Liberal leader would not insult Shorten, but point to his failed policy record. Turnbull still has the support of Miranda Devine. But non partisan conservative commentators say that Abbott is the best alternative. Meanwhile, I am hostage to abysmal political leadership and hopeless journalists. My shopfront has opened on Facebook.
=== from 2016 ===
No more columns until I secure accommodation. 
=== from 2015 ===
Obama has changed his mind. He no longer wants to bomb Syria into submission, but wants to use troops to attack. Interestingly, he is asking congress to put their stamp on it. He has failed in Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, the peace process with Israel, as well as Syria. Obama began his presidency bowing to King Abdullah, who is now dead, and Obama was lauded with a Nobel Peace Prize, and hosted the jailers of the next years Nobel Laureate. So much hope and change have become ashes for one the US will never vote for President again. It is left to a GOP congress to clean up his mess.

It is apparent Sukumaran and Chan will be executed soon. Julie Bishop spoke movingly in their defence. But the ABC have worked overtime to limit Australia's influence with Indonesia.

A 22 yo girl shot dead by police at West Hoxton' Hungry Jacks (Burger King in the US) suffered from Aspergers Syndrome. The family has thanked those who went to her aid. Hopefully that includes the police. It seems unlikely that Aperger's syndrome was responsible for the incident and one expects drugs to be present in the toxicology report.

Two terrorists arrested before an attempted beheading in Sydney were aiming for people with blonde hair. They did not ask for bail. The prosecutor has said it will take at two weeks for police to list the scale of the intended assault. Both had come to Australia under the previous government's lax border protection arrangements. 

On this day in history, 1429, Sir Fastolf successfully defended a supply convoy, but overall he was to lose out to a girl, Joan of Arc, and it would take thirteen years to rehabilitate his career service to England. In 1502, Vasco da Gama set sail from Portugal to India, his second voyage to India. In 1554, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded after having the throne for nine days. Initially, Jane was spared for Treason of having the throne as desired by the previous King, but the Privy Council chose Mary I. After Wyatt's rebellion against Mary, Jane and her husband was executed. She was about seventeen years old. Mary did not prosper. In 1593, Japan invaded Korea and 3000 Koreans defeated 30000 Japanese at the siege of Haengju. In 1689, The Convention Parliament decided James I had abdicated when he fled to France. In 1816, the Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, was destroyed by fire. In 1851, Australia's gold rush began when Edward Hargraves announced that he had found gold in Bathurst, New South Wales. In 1894,  Anarchist Émile Henry hurled a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, France, killing one and wounding 20. Émile was from a family of early French Communists and he just seemed to feel killing people would bring balance to the Force. He was guillotined for his crimes against humanity. In 1924, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premiered in NYC with Gershwin on the piano. In 1946, African American United States Armyveteran Isaac Woodard was severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he lost his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanised the Civil Rights Movement and partially inspires Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil. In 1983, one hundred women protested in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law. In 1990, Carmen Lawrence became the first female Premier in Australian history when she became Premier of Western Australia. Carmen was a disgrace in position of Premier and forgot why she broke a woman using false testimony, the woman, Penny Easton, suicided. In 1999, United States President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial. Clinton was a disgrace. Had lied to the US people, had started the second intifada through incompetence, but was a Democrat and that is what Democrats vote for. In 2002, the trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, began at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He died four years later before its conclusion, escaping justice. 
From 2014
I don't like sharks. Sharks fin soup is a delicacy, but not one I require as part of my regular diet. I enjoy exercise, but swimming for my life is something I'll pass on. Instead, where sharks get close to human habitats, I support sensible management practices like culling the sharks. However, environmentalists don't agree with me. They prefer training sharks to target people. They get people to swim in cages close to sharks, so sharks learn the scent. Then they throw tasty fish guts into the water, so sharks learn to connect food with the scent of people. Sharks don't like people as food. We don't have enough fat, and we are bony. But until a shark has a meal of a person, it doesn't know. All a shark knows, is that an environmentalist has trained it to like the scent of a person for food. Environmentalists have also campaigned through their international networks to prevent management of sharks near human habitats. According to their rhetoric, one shark killed is all of them. There is difference between a pet and a wild animal. 

Speaking of dangerous, wild animals, the ALP have not yet apologised for hurting the building industry with corrupt unions. The dismantling of a safeguard has been measured at a mere 2%, but if you realise that building supports all other industry and a 2% turn around could potentially place Australia in recession over a bad half, and one realises that the ALP have placed Australia in a bad position on several levels. Another who has done Australia no favours is the Corby family. But, look at one who has shamed the US

The US does not have a king. It is in their constitution.
Historical perspective on this day
In 881, Pope John VIII crowns Charles the Fat, the King of Italy: Holy Roman Emperor 1429, English forces under Sir John Fastolf defended a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans from attack by the Comte de Clermont and Sir John Stewart of Darnley in the Battle of Rouvray (also known as the Battle of the Herrings). 1502, Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India. 1541, Santiago, Chile was founded by Pedro de Valdivia. 1554, a year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey was beheaded for treason. 1593, Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseondefenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repelled more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju. 1689, the Convention Parliament declared that the flight to France in 1688by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constituted an abdication. 1733, Englishman James Oglethorpe founded Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day). 1771, Gustav III became the King of Sweden.

In 1814, Battle of Château-Thierry (1814) Also1814, Battle of La Victoria (1814) 1816, the Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, was destroyed by fire. 1817, an Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeated Spanish troops on the Battle of Chacabuco. 1818, Bernardo O'Higgins formally approved the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile. 1825, the Creek ceded the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west. 1832, Ecuador annexed the Galápagos Islands. 1851, Edward Hargraves announced that he had found gold in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, starting the Australian gold rushes. 1855, Michigan State University was established. 1894,  Anarchist Émile Henry hurled a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, France, killing one and wounding 20.

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded. In 1909, New Zealand's worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happened when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sank and exploded at the entrance to Wellington Harbour. 1912, the Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicated. 1914, in Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial was put into place. 1924, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music," in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano.

In 1934, the Austrian Civil War began. Also 1934, in Spain the national council of Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista decided to merge the movement with the Falange Española. 1935, USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sank. 1946, World War II: Operation Deadlightended after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats. Also 1946, African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard was severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he lost his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanised the Civil Rights Movementand partially inspires Orson Welles' film Touch of Evil. 1947, the largest observed iron meteorite at that time, created an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union. Also 1947, Christian Dior unveiled a "New Look", helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world. 1961, Soviet Union launched Venera 1 towards Venus. 1963, construction began on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. 1968, Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre. 1974, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, was exiled from the Soviet Union. 1983, one hundred women protested in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq'sproposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.

In 1990, Carmen Lawrence became the first female Premier in Australian history when she became Premier of Western Australia. 1992, the current Constitution of Mongolia came into effect. 1994, four men broke into the National Gallery of Norway and stole Edvard Munch's iconic painting The Scream. 1999, United States President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial. 2001, NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touched down in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid. 2002, the trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, began at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslaviain The Hague, Netherlands. He died four years later before its conclusion. Also 2002, an Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashed in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119. 2004, the city of San Francisco, Californiabegan issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from MayorGavin Newsom. 2009, Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New Yorkwhile on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.
=== 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.
===
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
===
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
Happy birthday and many happy returns Fiona Woodward, Henry Thay and Linda Tran. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
Fragment of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite
We are independent. We are first. We negotiated abdication. We fell from heaven. They crashed. Let's party. 
===
Tim Blair 2018
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Andrew Bolt 2018
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Tim Blair

BUT CAN LOVE OBAMA HATE?

The previous US president oversaw a big increase in the reported number of hate crimes – but his successor is getting all the blame.
12 Feb  8 comments

TRUE FACT

The reason mosquito coils aren’t individually wrapped is so you won’t think they’re Kraft Singles and eat them.
12 Feb  41 comments

NIGHTBAT ENCOUNTER

Late on Friday evening, close to 10pm, I was strolling along a Surry Hills lane towards shops on Crown St. My aim was to purchase an ice cream from a fine local convenience store run by my friend Salah.
12 Feb  46 comments

WE GOT COAL, WE DON’T WANNA USE IT

The madness of Australia’s current energy situation is easily summarised in one paragraph.
12 Feb  47 comments

KHALID THE COMMIE

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed might be even more of a leftist than he is a demented warrior for Allah.
12 Feb  22 comments

THEY DON’T LIKE SOMETHING THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT

Hundreds of New York City high school and college students walked out of classes last week to protest Donald Trump’s temporary ban on arrivals from seven Muslim-majority nations.
12 Feb 
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Piers Akerman
MALCOLM Turnbull and Cory Bernardi stole the headlines but the core issues troubling the Liberal Party remain unchanged, Piers Akerman writes.
PIERS AKERMAN 10 Feb
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Miranda Devine

The Left can’t handle the truth of terror

When politicians and the media downplay Islamic links to terrorism, the public loses faith they will ever be told the truth, explains Miranda Devine.
RENDEZVIEW 11 Feb  55 comments

Spare us the hype — Pauline is not our saviour

Of course Pauline Hanson’s popularity has grown, writes Miranda Devine. But let’s not overstate her role in the surge of voter disaffection with the major parties.
RENDEZVIEW 11 Feb
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Andrew Bolt

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No celebration for no-surprises Abbott — the damage is done

Miranda Devine – Tuesday, February 10, 2015 (12:43am)

SO a “chastened” Prime Minister lives to fight another day.

 Continue reading 'No celebration for no-surprises Abbott — the damage is done'
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Tony can still steer mutinous Libs to safety

Miranda Devine – Wednesday, February 11, 2015 (12:26am)

IT’S ironic that the Labor Party is the party of union fealty, which claims to uphold workers’ rights and workplace decency. Yet when it comes to knocking off leaders they are ruthless assassins, who don’t even pay lip service to the fair and honourable performance management they demand of others.

 Continue reading 'Tony can still steer mutinous Libs to safety'
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HASHTAG LAUNCHED

Tim Blair – Thursday, February 12, 2015 (5:37am)

Attention, stupid Twitter leftists! Now that your smug little #illridewithyou project is done and forgotten, here’s a hip new hashtag campaign to continue promoting thoughtful, caring, Islam-cuddling cultural sensitivity:

 Continue reading 'HASHTAG LAUNCHED'
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OPINIONS BAD

Tim Blair – Thursday, February 12, 2015 (5:26am)

Triple J’s Hack show recently requested an opinion poll from Roy Morgan Research, asking a straightforward question:
In your opinion if an Australian is convicted of drug trafficking in another country and sentenced to death, should the penalty be carried out? 
Obviously, this question followed the Indonesian government’s decision to pursue death sentences for convicted Australian heroin smugglers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, who are scheduled to be shot this month. The ABC’s youth radio network then published the poll’s findings: 
60% of people questioned said the government shouldn’t do any more to help the convicted drug smugglers. Just over half (52%) of respondents also respected the justice system of other countries such as Indonesia, and believe the death penalty should be carried out on Australians sentenced abroad. 
Seems fairly routine. Pollsters ask a question on behalf of a media outlet, get their answers, and the results are released. But ABC Media Watch host Paul Barry thought otherwise: 
We can’t imagine why triple j thought it a good idea to ask this. Even less can we see why they chose to publish the answer online that gave the execution the thumbs up. 
This is a telling statement. Barry appears to be advocating the avoidance of topical questions on challenging issues and the suppression of Australian opinions that don’t match his own. If he’s so scared by what Australians think, perhaps Barry should hand back the $191,259 he receives from them every year for doing next to nothing.
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THEY LIKE BIG BATS AND THEY CANNOT LIE

Tim Blair – Thursday, February 12, 2015 (4:15am)

Gideon Haigh examines various issues associated with  modern cricket bats. Previous thoughts here. In other bat news, Fairfax’s Jenna Price has adopted an alarming new look for 2015. I was quite taken with her previous image:

Sadly, those symmetrical locks have now been brutally altered:

It looks as though someone has stuck a crude outline of Australia’s northern half on top of Jenna’s head. Then again, maybe this is a good thing; it could be a sign of late-onset patriotism.
UPDATE. Hot bat action.
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LOOMPAS RECOGNISED

Tim Blair – Thursday, February 12, 2015 (3:46am)

Craig Kelly, the Liberal member for Hughes, yesterday cited Wednesday’s Daily Telegraph editorial in Parliament. Therefore the words “Oompa Loompa” will live forever in the political history of our great nation.
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$5 MILLION FINE FOR LYIN’ BRIAN

Tim Blair – Thursday, February 12, 2015 (1:33am)

Check out the full-body tilt on NBC desert deceiver Brian Williams:

Last week a Williams fan spoke out in support of the serial storyteller: 
One of Williams’s rare defenders in the journalism business has been a former network anchorman whose own career cratered in 2004 when it turned out that his blockbuster report on President George W. Bush’s checkered military history was based on apparently forged documents.
“I don’t know the particulars about that day in Iraq,” Dan Rather said in a statement Thursday. “I do know Brian. He’s a longtime friend and we have been in a number of war zones and on the same battlefields, competing but together. Brian is an honest, decent man, an excellent reporter and anchor—and a brave one. I can attest that—like his predecessor Tom Brokaw—he is a superb pro, and a gutsy one.” 
That endorsement was enough for NBC bosses, who subsequently banished their $10 million per year fantasist: 
NBC News is suspending managing editor and Nightly News anchor Brian Williams for six months, without pay, in the wake of an internal review of comments about his experiences in the early days of the Iraq war. 
A six-month suspension doesn’t sound so bad, but without pay that works out to a $5 million penalty. At least he’ll have plenty of time to work on that severe posture problem.
UPDATE. NBC is now said to be investigating Williams’s expense accounts.
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YOU WILL BELIEVE A CAR CAN FLY

Tim Blair – Thursday, February 12, 2015 (1:06am)

A heart-stopping (and occasionally car-stopping) rally video compilation.
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GUILT AND CONSEQUENCES

Tim Blair – Wednesday, February 11, 2015 (5:37pm)

According to her lawyer, privacy invader Freya Newman would suffer from the consequences of her actions for the rest of her life, including affecting future employment. But just a few months later: 
The former fashion school student who leaked details of a scholarship awarded to one of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s daughters is now working as a paid intern for the Greens.
Ms Newman, 21, pleaded guilty last year to accessing restricted data from the Whitehouse Institute of Design, but avoided a conviction or a possible two-year jail term.
Ms Newman applied for a paid internship with Greens higher education spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon last November.
“Following an extensive application process involving over 160 applicants and two rounds of interviews we offered the position to Freya,” Senator Rhiannon said in a statement.
“Freya was an outstanding applicant and we are very much looking forward to having her on board.” 
If any taxpayer funding is involved in this, the government should audit the entire process. 
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Triggs should explain why we should trust her report

Andrew Bolt February 12 2015 (7:29pm)

Gillian Triggs, the Human Rights Commission president, waited until the Abbott Government was elected before holding her inquiry into children in detention.
She didn’t call her inquiry when Labor was in power, when children were drowning at sea and when there were 10 times more children in detention than there are today. She waited until after the election, after discussing the timing with Labor ministers - a fact on which she gave conflicting evidence to the Senate. And during the inquiry she made claims from the bench and in the media about harsh conditions in detention that were false, highly improbable or strongly denied by officials and the Government.
If she now has trouble convincing the public about the fairness and impartiality of her findings, I believe she has no one but herself to blame. Indeed, I think she should resign for the sake of her own commission:
THE federal government has slammed a damning report that calls for a royal commission into children in detention as “redundant’’, questioning the Aus­tralian Human Rights Commission’s motivation to wait until the Coalition was in power to investigate the issue. 
The 315-page report, tabled in the Senate last night, finds that more than one in three children in detention had serious mental health disorders.
It makes 16 recommendations, including calling for a ­judicial inquiry to examine the long-term impacts of detention on the physical and mental health of children as well as to examine the justification for con­tinued offshore detention.
The inquiry, chaired by commission president Gillian Triggs, also recommends “remedies” for any breaches of human rights, saying “harsh and cramped’’ ­living conditions on Christmas Island created physical illnesses among children…
There are 192 children remaining in detention and the number is expected to continue to fall — substantially down from a peak of 1992 children who were held in July 2013 under Labor…
Former human rights commissioner Sev Ozdowski, whose 2004 report was instrumental in securing the release of children from detention under the Howard government, said he was concerned the work of the commission had been politicised. He said he was “quite surprised when the situation was really bad, when we had enormous number of children in immigration detention under the Rudd and Gillard governments, basically the commission was doing very little’’. Dr Ozdowski, who spoke before the tabling of the report, said: “What’s happened … undermines the good name of the commission, undermines the nature of human rights commission inquiries because it politicises it — it is very regrettable.’’ 
Naturally the ABC this morning treats Triggs’ report as the word of God. The questioning of Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is actually argumentative, accusing him of having the wrong priorities.
One question. The ABC political editor grilling Dutton demands to know why children who report high levels of sexual assault are not released from detention. Let’s leave aside a debate about possible atrocity-mongering to pressure the Government into releasing the children. Leave aside a debate about whether releasing children will bring back the boats and the drownings. Leave aside the great drop in numbers in detention, and assume the allegations are all true. The question: who is assaulting these children and should we even dream of letting them into Australia?
UPDATE
Naturally, ABC Radio National Breakfast host Jonathan Green and commentator Paul Bongiorno agree the report is great, the children should be released and Triggs is just a victim of slanted reporting by certain newspapers.
They go on to criticise the Government’s economic arguments, praise Clive Palmer’s and snipe at Tony Abbott.
The ABC’s bias is unrelenting and shameless.
UPDATE
Abbott on 3AW gives Triggs’s report a tremendous whack, calling it partisan and raising the points above. The Human Rights Commission should “be ashamed of itself”:
Now, I have a very simple question – where was the human Rights Commission during the life of the former government when hundreds of people were drowning at sea? Where was the Human Rights Commission when there were almost 2,000 children in detention. Now, frankly, Neil, this is a blatantly partisan, politicised exercise and the Human Rights Commission ought to be ashamed of itself.
Welcome back, Prime Minister. 
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Why did Labor let them in?

Andrew Bolt February 12 2015 (9:08am)

How on earth did Labor let such people into the country, when the risks - and costs - are so obvious?
TWO alleged terrorists ­accused of being hours from attempting a public beheading trained as body builders and boasted that they acted for “soldiers of Islamic State”. 
Omar al-Kutobi, 24, and Mohammad Kiad, 25, who is on the dole, had flown under the radar…

Social media also depicted Kiad, a nurse from Kuwait unable to transfer his qualifications to Australia, as a lover of luxury labels such as Dolce & Gabbana and Rolex…
The Daily Telegraph can ­reveal that [the two men] came to Australia as refugees under the former Labor government…
Omar al-Kutobi, 24, arrived in Australia by plane in 2009 as an Iraqi national using another person’s passport, a senior intelligence source has confirmed to The Daily Telegraph. They also confirmed that he was granted a protection visa soon after and that he was then granted citizenship in 2013…
It was also confirmed that the second man charged, Mohammad Kiad, entered Australia in 2012. He was granted a visa under the family and spousal visa arrangements. Kiad was receiving welfare, a Newstart allowance, at the time of his arrest. It is believed he applied for and was granted welfare within 12 months of arriving in Australia. Al-Kutobi had also previously been on a Newstart ­allowance. 
UPDATE
Tony Abbott in Parliament describes the video the two men allegedly made:

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Obama really did mean to call Jews just “random” victims of their Islamist killer

Andrew Bolt February 12 2015 (9:02am)

Barack Obama this week tried to portray the Islamist murder of Jews at a kosher supermarket in Paris as just some random killing by some random crazy:
President Barack Obama has called the terror attack on Jews in a kosher supermarket in Paris last month an act of random violence, rather than a terror attack or an antisemitic attack. 
Obama’s remark appears in an interview with Matt Yglesias of Vox.com. The president calls the attackers “violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.”
Obama’s spokesman, Josh (Not In) Earnest, has simply made this disgrace worse by suggesting Obama’s evasion is actually deliberate:
 KARL: This was not a random shooting of a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris. This was an attack on a kosher deli. Does the president have any doubt that those terrorists attacked that deli because there would be Jews in that deli?
EARNEST: Well, Jon, it is clear from the—the terrorists, in some of the writings that they put out afterwards, what their motivation was. The adverb that the president chose was used to indicate that the individuals who were killed in that terrible tragic incident were killed not because of who they were, but because of where they randomly happened to be.
KARL: Well, they weren’t killed because they were in a Jewish deli, though? Because they were in a kosher deli?
EARNEST: These individuals were not targeted by name. This is the point.
KARL: Not by name but by—by religion, were they not?
EARNEST: Well, Jon, there were people other than just Jews who were in that deli.
KARL: So you think that was a—that deli was attacked because it was a kosher deli…
EARNEST: No, Jon. Any random deli, Jon.
KARL: It was a kosher deli.
EARNEST: I answered the question once. No. 
(Thanks to reader Grendel.) 
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Why don’t our Muslim leaders issue a fatwa against the terrorists?

Andrew Bolt February 12 2015 (7:55am)

TWO more Muslim men were arrested in Sydney yesterday for — police alleged — plotting to kill civilians.
But why have none of the many men arrested so far for alleged terror attacks here planned to kill moderate Muslim clerics?
Australian historian Christopher Clark, in his widely admired Sleepwalkers, points out “one abiding strand in the logic of terrorist movements, namely that reformers and moderates are more to be feared than outright enemies and hardliners”.

Terrorists hate compromisers. Islamists murdered Egyptian president Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel.
But which Muslim clerics are in danger of being too moderate?
(Read full article here.) 
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Doubt on vote that made Shorten leader

Andrew Bolt February 12 2015 (7:14am)

This stinks:
The integrity of the vote that installed Bill Shorten as federal Labor leader is under scrutiny after an ALP tribunal found the mailing addresses for dozens of ballot papers were altered at the request of a staff member of senator Sam Dastyari. 
The mailing addresses of at least 20 ALP members were changed to the home address or post office box of disgraced Auburn councillor Hicham Zraika, who has been suspended from the Labor party for six months after branch stacking charges were brought against him.
A tribunal decision obtained by Fairfax Media says changes to the addresses of 50 members were authorised by NSW Labor Right assistant secretary Kaila Murnain at the request of Michael Buckland - a former Young Labor president who at the time worked for Senator Dastyari…The October 2013 national ballot to elect the federal Labor leader pitted Mr Shorten, who is aligned with the party’s Right faction, with Anthony Albanese, of the Left… Mr Shorten lost the rank and file vote but won the caucus vote to defeat Mr Albanese by 52 per cent to 48 per cent… Senator Dastyari declined to comment. 
Tony Abbott is criticised for unilaterally making Prince Philip a knight. Has someone unilaterally made Shorten an Opposition Leader? I know which is more serious
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Global warming is killing the old nuclear scare

Andrew Bolt February 12 2015 (12:31am)

Global warming - general, The green movement

ALARMISTS like Jay Weatherill now finally admit nuclear power isn’t actually a terrifying mass-killing menace.
Now they say we need nuclear to stop their latest terrifying mass-killing menace — global warming.
Can you believe these guys? Nuclear power has switched from our greatest threat to greatest saviour. Yet none of these hypesters has said sorry for having peddled such baseless scares.
Take Weatherill, South Australia’s Labor Premier. As a budding politician he was “­opposed to nuclear power, all elements of it”, but this week said he’d changed his mind.
(Read full article here.)   
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Greens show Newman the consequences of breaking the law

Andrew Bolt February 11 2015 (7:27pm)

As Tim Blair notes:
According to her lawyer, privacy invader Freya Newman would suffer from the consequences of her actions for the rest of her life, including affecting future employment. 
In fact, it turns out there is one employer who is only to keen to hire someone who was prepared to break the law, breach someone’s privacy, leak private information and expose their target to public vilification. Oh, yes, and even better if they hate Tony Abbott so much that they would humiliate his daughter:
The former fashion school student who leaked details of a scholarship awarded to one of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s daughters is now working as a paid intern for the Greens. 
Ms Newman, 21, pleaded guilty last year to accessing restricted data from the Whitehouse Institute of Design, but avoided a conviction or a possible two-year jail term.
Ms Newman applied for a paid internship with Greens higher education spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon last November.
“Following an extensive application process involving over 160 applicants and two rounds of interviews we offered the position to Freya,” Senator Rhiannon said in a statement. “Freya was an outstanding applicant and we are very much looking forward to having her on board.” 
Is it too much to hope that Rhiannon is given exactly the same kind of loyal and confidential service that Freya gave the Whitehouse Institute? 
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David Bowles

Your daily Nahuatl:

icnīuhmoyactli, an word that means "friend-scatterer," the kind of person who hates everyone and only comes around to piss folks off and break up the good time they're having together.

[Pronunciation is something akin to ick-knee-oo-mo-YACKT-lee.]===


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Chains aren't strong enough .. try being a friend .. 
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Barry Shaw
According to President Obama. The attack on the Kosher store in Paris was not a targeted anti-Semitic attack.
In his words it was "a random shooting on a bunch of folks."
This appalling statement was compounded by the White House.
"They weren't killed for who they were, but where they happened to be." White House Spokesman, Josh Earnest, at daily press conference.
He didn't explain where they happened to be, or who the victims were.
This is a new low point for the American presidency and the Obama Administration
So all those Christians murdered in Iraq by ISIL in the last year were also random I guess. - ed
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A tasty dish for a very big fish … and it’s all our fault

Miranda Devine – Tuesday, February 11, 2014 (8:09pm)

THE misanthropic insanity of the environmental movement was on full display at Manly Beach earlier this month, when thousands of people staged a protest against shark culling. In Western Australia.

 Continue reading 'A tasty dish for a very big fish … and it’s all our fault'
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Progress report

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (8:40am)

I have been in lengthy correspondence with the Sydney Morning Herald asking it to correct a false claim made by Tim Flannery to Mark Dapin. Flannery has defended the false claim by suggesting another to the newspaper which I have also refuted.
I shall let you know whether the Herald does the right thing. The whole exchange should, I hope, enlighten the paper about Flannery’s credibility.. 
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Labor should come clean on why it killed the construction industry watchdog

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (8:33am)

John Lloyd on the Australian Building and Construction Commission which he once led - and which Labor two years ago scrapped to please construction unions: 
The ABCC gains translated into substantial benefits for the national economy. Econtech modelling estimated the benefit to be $7.5 billion for consumers of the industry’s services…

Allen Consulting Group estimated the ABCC regime achieved a 2 per cent reduction in project labour costs.The economic benefits of a lawful building and construction industry are tangible… 
Opponents of the ABCC and the royal commission will contest these findings. Dave Noonan, national secretary of the construction division of the CFMEU, said at the union’s national conference last October: “Their (the Coalition’s) economic case for the ABCC - that it improves productivity in the industry and is therefore in the national interest - is based on a lie.” I urge caution in accepting this argument. In the same speech he said: “There is simply no credible evidence of criminality by the union.”
The Gillard Government’s decision to scrap this watchdog - thus enabling more lawlessness - stinks to high heaven. I expect the royal commission will examine it. 
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Bookmark

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (8:23am)

Free speech

People who airily deny that my free speech (and, by extension, yours) has been taken away in part by our courts should know that I have again been advised by my lawyers not to comment on a recent publication by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or even to simply republish the DFAT item without comment.
This is far from the first time. Our laws against free speech are a disgrace. The effect is to allow people - in this case DFAT - to promote a certain point of view on a matter of great moral importance without fear of contradiction.
This post, then, is a bookmark to note where an article should have appeared. 
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CSIRO: Fewer than 50 per cent of Australians believe we’re heating the planet

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (8:05am)

The CSIRO buries the startling lead in reporting its latest survey of Australians’ attitudes to climate change:
Survey respondents were asked to rate which of a series of statements best described their thoughts about the causes of climate change (Figure 2). The large majority thought climate change was happening (86.1%), but more considered it a result of human activity (47.3%) rather than solely the result of natural temperature variability (38.8%). Only 7.6% thought it was not happening at all.
Bottom line: fewer than half the Australians surveyed think humans are changing the climate.
PS: Why is the CSIRO conducting surveys into attitudes to climate change? How does this advance scientific knowledge?
(Thanks to reader IC.)
UPDATE
Reader give us good government:
Once again, they fail to ask the key question - if those who think climate change is happening, and humans are causing it, how many think that the warming will be catastrophic? After all, THAT is the premise by which we’re being asked to fork over $billions of our hard-earned tax dollars to ‘stop’ warming, and hence forego new schools, hospitals, etc.
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Reith: government lacks stomach to fix ABC

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (7:48am)

Former Howard Government minister Peter Reith warns that the Abbott Government lacks the heart to fix the ABC’s bias:
But a cultural war is not about to erupt… There is no appetite in the government to go after the ABC. 
The most likely outcome of this melee will be found in the May budget. The ABC will be cut hard but in much the same way as everything else. Its efficiency review will be the extent of the cuts. Later, there may be some changes to the ABC board. Additionally, the ABC will probably lose its small contract for the Australia Network, which is not a core business anyway. Of course, there is a strong argument that government should not be running a TV business… But to all the ABC fans, don’t worry; Australian politics is far too conservative for that sort of free enterprise approach. 
Sigh. 
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Three tricks Shorten could have tried

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (7:24am)

Labor leader Bill Shorten on Toyota’s decision to end car-making in Australia:
And even if it wasn’t possible in the long-term to avoid it, there’s a big difference between Labor and Liberal; We won’t stop fighting for people’s jobs until we’ve turned over every rock and we’ve tried every trick.
“Every trick”?  Toyota’s submission to the Productivity Commission three months ago suggests three job-saving tricks Labor and its union allies actually blocked.
One: Labor imposed a carbon tax which actually does nothing to stop global warming. Result:
n Toyota Australia’s case, $115 per vehicle is the actual carbon tax impact
on Camry and Aurion taking into account all costs directly incurred as well as supply chain pass-through costs. It should also be noted the carbon tax price has been absorbed by Toyota Australia and not passed through to the end customer. 
Two: Labor imposed tough new workplace laws who made it harder for companies to make job-saving changes opposed by militant unions. Result:
Changes to the industrial relations framework should be contemplated to, amongst other things: 
- Require industrial laws including those surrounding bargaining to be based, at least to some degree, on productivity and flexibility gains
- Set a more reasonable threshold for the definition of ‘significant harm’ in the context of preventing damaging industrial action. 
Three: Using Labor’s laws, Toyota unions persuaded the Federal Court to stop Toyota from even asking workers to approve changes it said were needed to save its Australian plant:
On 31 October 2013 the company announced that it was seeking the co-operation of its employees to achieve productivity improvements in its manufacturing operations through varying terms and conditions in its existing Workplace Agreement. The changes being considered are aimed at improving flexibility and removing out-dated and uncompetitive practices and all owances that increase labour costs and reduce global competitiveness. Employees will vote on the proposal on 13 December 2013.
There are three “tricks” Labor and the unions actually blocked.
UPDATE
From the Financial Review:
Toyota told the federal government in December that the key impediment to the company staying in Australia was the workplace conditions at its Melbourne plant, the government claims… 
Treasurer Joe Hockey met Toyota Australia president Max Yasuda on December 3. Sources familiar with the meeting said that Mr Hockey asked Mr Yasuda whether Toyota would also leave if Holden departed.
Mr Yasuda said he could convince Toyota headquarters in Tokyo to stay in Australia as long as it could pare back the conditions which the company contended were hampering productivity. These included a lengthy shutdown period over Christmas, 10 days’ paid leave for union delegates and blood-donor leave the company felt was being abused. “He said he needed something to take back to Tokyo,” a source said
He didn’t get it.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Why let in a culture that produces this?

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (6:46am)

Once again, I wonder the wisdom of importing so many people from a culture so at odds with our own - at least without proper scrutiny of the willingness and ability of each to assimilate:
A 14-YEAR-OLD girl was forced into an Islamic marriage with a western Sydney drug gang member who raped and beat her and later physically abused their daughter… 
It was also alleged the man, who has a string of violence convictions, stopped the victim from attending high school or watching television, and wanted her to become a “soldier of Islam”, forcing her to watch snuff DVDs of people being brutally slaughtered.
The story came to light after the Daily Telegraph reported the arrest of a man who had been living with a 12-year-old as his wife in Sydney. The imam who married the pair, Riaz Tasawar, was yesterday arrested by police...
But once again that polite refusal to give things their proper name - and face up to them:
Eman Sharobeem from the Immigrant Women’s Health Service said hundreds of children as young as 11 were being sent overseas to be married after being “shopped” on Facebook. “It’s far more prevalent and well-known than people think,” she said.
Dr Sharobeem said not enough was being done to build awareness about underage marriage. “Regulation needs to be put in place within different religions,” she said. 
“Religions” plural? Doesn’t Sharobeem mean one in particular? And if so, which? 
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ABC science unit hides the warmist decline. Time the cleaners came in

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (12:31am)

Global warming - propaganda, Media

The ABC’s science unit has been the most fervent pusher of the global warming faith. The ABC’s chief science presenter, Robyn Williams, tried to stop the ABC from showing a documentary questioning global warming, and even claimed global warming could cause the seas to rise by an (impossible) 100 metres this century. Presenter Dr Karl claimed last year the warming since 1997 was six times more than what the data showed.
And now there’s this....
The ABC’s science unit, 2006:
The vast looping system of air currents that fuels Pacific trade winds and climate from South America to Southeast Asia may be another victim of climate change, scientists say.... This important system has weakened by 3.5% over the past 140 years, and the culprit is probably human-induced climate change…
The ABC’s science unit, 2014:
Stronger than normal trade winds in the central Pacific are the main cause of a 13-year halt in global surface temperatures increases, an Australian study reveals.
Notice how the ABC has not tried to reconcile what it once reported with the opposite it reports today?
Remember how Robyn Williams in 2012 attacked the sceptics who warned that this pause was occuring, contrary to predictions by the IPCC?:
What if I told you that paedophilia is good for children, or that asbestos is an excellent inhalant for those with asthma? Or that smoking crack is a normal part and a healthy one of teenage life, to be encouraged? You’d rightly find it outrageous. But there have been similar statements coming out of inexpert mouths again and again in recent times, distorting the science. 
The ABC’s presentation of global warming has been a disgrace - not just one-sided, alarmist and error-filled, but extremely abusive. 
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Conservative revolution at the bookshop

Andrew Bolt February 12 2014 (12:03am)

Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon, chosen to head the Abbott Government’s royal commission into union corruption, introduces a new book by Professor James Allan in a way that sings to a rationalist and a conservative:
This book stands in the long Anglo-Saxon tradition of controversialist pamphleteering.  It is vigorous, energetic, independent-minded and full of boisterous good humour.  It has relentless drive.  It never loses sight of the main elements of the argument.  Those elements centre on the primary threats to majoritarian democracy in the United States and four other states which owe many of their political institutions primarily to the British Isles – the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 
The first threat, which applies to all five, comes from an over-mighty judiciary administering bills of rights, whether expressly created or implied into constitutions.  The second threat, for the United Kingdom, is the European Union.  The third threat, for all five, is the spreading influence of international law – both treaty law and customary law – and international institutions on domestic constitutions and statutes ¬– a point on which the book is particularly strong.  Then there are more darkly veiled threats, like the exploitation of mass immigration for political ends:  though electors may choose governments, governments can choose electors. For those whose world view is shaped by academia, by the public service ethos, by the metropolitan press, and by a judicial-political consensus which does not tolerate dissenting opinions, the book will seem deeply shocking.  For anyone else it will be wonderfully refreshing and cleansing, like a sudden storm after a long succession of oppressively sultry days.
Allan’s book promises much:
Democracy in Decline charts how democracy is being diluted and restricted in five of the world’s oldest democracies – the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. 
James Allan targets four main, interconnected causes of decline – judicial activism, the transformation and growth of international law, the development of supranational organizations, and the presence of undemocratic elites… Allan looks ahead to further deterioration caused by attacks on free speech, intolerant worldviews, internationalization through treaties and conventions, and illegal immigration. 
Mark Steyn, whose own free speech is again being attacked, writes:
The core Anglophone democracies – among the oldest, most stable, constitutionally-evolved societies on earth, and the indispensable members of that small group of western nations which resisted the totalitarian temptations of the 20th century – have been spending the first years of this new millennium in a remorseless retreat from liberty. In a commanding and trenchant analysis, James Allan examines this disturbing phenomenon… This is an important book that charts free nations’ beguiling seduction into soft tyranny.  
Order online here.
UPDATE

Remember how Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi’s new book, The Conservative Revolution, was vilified by the Left and even some Liberals? Remember how Leftists, egged on by Fairfax, bombarded Amazon with “reviews” damning it. I am delighted to report that the Amazon campaign actually backfired, causing sales via Amazon to soar. The book is already long in reprint and has reached best-seller status for a political tome.
Order your copy here.
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How Shorten cheated on our world-beating car subsidies

Andrew Bolt February 11 2014 (5:13pm)

Toyota and its militant unions were given more than $100 million a year from taxpayers, and still it wasn’t enough:
Toyota’s decision to shut down local manufacturing ...  comes despite the Japanese car maker receiving government grants of up to $492 million over the past four years.
So how much more does Labor want to take from us to give to Toyota? Labor leader Bill Shorten flings around some figures:
BILL SHORTEN: Well ... every government sees it’s in their national interest - and that’s what interests me: what’s good for the nation - to provide some form of subsidy to their car industry… Australia subsidises its car manufacturing in the order of about $17 [per Australian per year], whereas the Germans do it at about somewhere between $65 and $90 and the Americans, $250. 
Shorten should clarify. Is he seriously arguing that Australians should be hit for another $50 to $230 per person per year to match subsidies paid by our competitors? If not, how much exactly does he want taxpayers to hand over?
Reader Andrew says Shorten seems to want us to pay subsidies to 100 per cent of the value of a new car:
$250 a head to match the US claim is $6bn. We make about 250k cars. By my count that would involve a subsidy of $23k PER CAR in order to make cars that sell for...$23k. 
But Shorten is deceiving voters. First, he’s including in his US figures - from a highly atypical year in the global financial crisis - an $80 billion rescue package of which most was actually a loan since repaid, and his German figures include the cost of a one-off cash-for-clunkers kind of scheme. Second, he excluded the cost of Australia’s tariff protection and other forms of non-budgetary assistance.
Third, and worst, he’s used a deceptive subsidies-per-head-of-population measure rather than the more telling subsidies-per-car measure, which shows that our government budgetary assistance for car makers is the highest in the world, given how few cars we actually make.  Here’s how the Productivity Commission report this year put it:
Even the ABC Fact Check Unit, trying not to be too critical, concedes:
[Shorten’s] claim is based on outdated numbers that are irrelevant to the current debate. 
(Via Judith Sloan. Thanks to reader Andrew. Post bumped from separate post below.) 
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File:PAUL DELAROCHE - Ejecución de Lady Jane Grey (National Gallery de Londres, 1834).jpg
The Execution of Lady Jane Grey is an 1833 painting by Paul Delaroche which was bequeathed to theNational Gallery in London in 1902. It portrays, erroneously in some regards, the moments preceding the death of Lady Jane Grey, who served as de facto Queen of England for nine days in 1553 before relinquishing the throne to Mary Tudor; Queen Mary later charged Lady Jane Grey (among others) with high treason.
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Holidays and observances
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“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

February 11: Morning
"And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus." - Acts 4:13
A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is his living biography, written out in the words and actions of his people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be, we should be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of him, that the world would not have to hold us up by the hour together, and say, "Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness;" but they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of him; he is like him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and every-day actions." A Christian should be like Christ in his boldness. Never blush to own your religion; your profession will never disgrace you: take care you never disgrace that. Be like Jesus, very valiant for your God. Imitate him in your loving spirit; think kindly, speak kindly, and do kindly, that men may say of you, "He has been with Jesus." Imitate Jesus in his holiness. Was he zealous for his Master? So be you; ever go about doing good. Let not time be wasted: it is too precious. Was he self-denying, never looking to his own interest? Be the same. Was he devout? Be you fervent in your prayers. Had he deference to his Father's will? So submit yourselves to him. Was he patient? So learn to endure. And best of all, as the highest portraiture of Jesus, try to forgive your enemies, as he did; and let those sublime words of your Master, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," always ring in your ears. Forgive, as you hope to be forgiven. Heap coals of fire on the head of your foe by your kindness to him. Good for evil, recollect, is godlike. Be godlike, then; and in all ways and by all means, so live that all may say of you, "He has been with Jesus."
Evening

"Thou hast left thy first love." - Revelation 2:4

Ever to be remembered is that best and brightest of hours, when first we saw the Lord, lost our burden, received the roll of promise, rejoiced in full salvation, and went on our way in peace. It was spring time in the soul; the winter was past; the mutterings of Sinai's thunders were hushed; the flashings of its lightnings were no more perceived; God was beheld as reconciled; the law threatened no vengeance, justice demanded no punishment. Then the flowers appeared in our heart; hope, love, peace, and patience sprung from the sod; the hyacinth of repentance, the snowdrop of pure holiness, the crocus of golden faith, the daffodil of early love, all decked the garden of the soul. The time of the singing of birds was come, and we rejoiced with thanksgiving; we magnified the holy name of our forgiving God, and our resolve was, "Lord, I am thine, wholly thine; all I am, and all I have, I would devote to thee. Thou hast bought me with thy blood--let me spend myself and be spent in thy service. In life and in death let me be consecrated to thee." How have we kept this resolve? Our espousal love burned with a holy flame of devoutedness to Jesus--is it the same now? Might not Jesus well say to us, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love"? Alas! it is but little we have done for our Master's glory. Our winter has lasted all too long. We are as cold as ice when we should feel a summer's glow and bloom with sacred flowers. We give to God pence when he deserveth pounds, nay, deserveth our heart's blood to be coined in the service of his church and of his truth. But shall we continue thus? O Lord, after thou hast so richly blessed us, shall we be ungrateful and become indifferent to thy good cause and work? O quicken us that we may return to our first love, and do our first works! Send us a genial spring, O Sun of Righteousness.
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Adam 
[Ăd'ăm] - of the ground or taken out of the red earth.
The first human son of God (Luke 3:38), and God's masterpiece and crowning work of creation.
The Man God Made
All men should be interested in the history of the first man who ever breathed, man's great ancestor, the head of the human family, the first being who trod the earth. What a beautiful world Adam found himself in with everything to make him happy, a world without sin and without sorrow! God first made, as it were, the great house of the world, then brought His tenant to occupy it. And it was not an empty house, but furnished with everything needed to make life content. There was not a single need God had not satisfied.
The Bible does not tell us how long Adam's state of blessedness and innocence lasted. But Paradise was lost through listening to the voice of the tempter. Relieved of his occupation as a gardener, Adam was condemned to make his livelihood by tilling the stubborn ground, and to eat his bread in the sweat of his face.
I. Adam was a necessary complement to the divine plan. "There was not a man to till the ground" (Gen. 2:5). The accomplishment of God's plan required human instrumentality. God made the earth for man, and then the man for the earth.
II. Adam was fashioned a creature of God, bearing the image of God and possessing God-like faculties (Gen. 1:27; Ps. 8:6; Eccles. 7:29).
III. Adam was created a tripartite being, having a spirit, soul and body (Gen. 2:7; 1 Thess. 5:23).
IV. Adam was alone and needed companionship to satisfy his created instincts (Gen. 2:18), thus Eve was formed.
Society, friendship and love
Gifts divinely bestowed upon man.
V. Adam was enticed and sinned (Gen. 3:6). After the satanic tempter there came the human tempter, and the act of taking the forbidden fruit offered by Eve ruined Adam and made him our federal head in sin and death. "In Adam we die."
VI. Adam received the promise of the Saviour. The first promise and prophecy of One, able to deal with Satan and sin was given, not to Adam, but to the one responsible for Adam's trangression (Gen. 3:15), and in the coats of skins God provided to cover the discovered nakedness of Adam and Eve we have a type of the sacrifice of the Cross. In Adam we die, but in Christ we can be made alive. The first man Adam was of the earth earthy, but the Second Man, the last Adam, was from heaven and kept His first estate of sinless perfection.
Adam was not only the name of earth's first man and the joint name of both Adam and Eve (Gen. 5:2), but also the name of a town on the east of Jordan (Josh. 3:16).
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Today's reading: Leviticus 11-12, Matthew 26:1-25 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Leviticus 11-12

Clean and Unclean Food
1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 2 "Say to the Israelites: 'Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: 3You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud...."

Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 26:1-25

The Plot Against Jesus
1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 "As you know, the Passover is two days away--and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, 4 and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. 5 "But not during the festival," they said, "or there may be a riot among the people...."

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