Friday, June 21, 2013

Fri Jun 21st Todays News

Winter Solstice!
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Clint Colombin, Amreeta Goundar,Kelly Tran and George Knapman. Born on the same day, across the years. The shortest day of the year in the southern hemisphere. In 1529, War of the League of Cognac: The French army under Francis de Bourbon was destroyed in Lombardy, present-day Italy, by the Spanish army. In 1826, Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army began their invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but they were initially held off by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas. In 1848, In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell proclaimed a new republican government. In 1963, Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Pope Paul VI. In 2004, SpaceShipOne completed the first privately funded human spaceflight. See how your day is encapsulated? When you are careful with warring spirits, when your fortifications ensure the right kind of revolutionary government, you can (in private) reach for the stars. That is not at all show offy.
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Bolt Report on Sunday - and the repeat reappears

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (4:30pm)

On Network 10 on Sunday at 10am - and repeated at 4pm: Warren Truss, Michael Costa and Peter Reith.
Labor killed by victim politics. Men aren’t copping the “sexist” rap.
Warren Truss on warming scams and building the north. Warning to Greens voters: don’t watch.
Can Kevin Rudd really save Labor? Will he even try?
More evidence why the Climate Commission should be sacked.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear. 

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Replacing Gillard will take some footwork

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (11:23am)

Reader Peter explores the practical problems of replacing Julia Gillard with Kevin Rudd:
1. Gillard will be absent from the Caucus meeting as she is attending Hazel Hawke’s memorial service.
How would it look for an accused misogynist and unlawful workplace bully such as Rudd (see Anne Summers ‘Newcastle’ speech) to attempt to sack Gillard while she in effect has her back turned. (Why is the media silent on Summer’s branding of Rudd as a misogynist and unlawful workplace bully?) Source:

Today’s caucus meeting will be the last Ms Gillard attends before the election. She will be absent from next week’s meeting when she travels to Sydney for the state memorial service for Hazel Hawke.
This means that any attempt to remove her would have to come through a special caucus meeting called by petition for late next week - before parliament breaks for the winter and the election.
2. Parliament was scheduled to end on Thursday. However the Senate has been told it must sit on Friday to pass Labor’s legislative package. If any Bill is amended by the Senate, it would need to be considered by the House of Representatives. Albanese has not told the House it is sitting on Friday.
(It would be in Gillard’s interests to disperse the crowd as soon as possible, and it is said Rudd wants to avoid the possibility of a vote of no confidence by taking the leadership after Parliament concludes).
Source:

The 43rd parliament appears likely to sit for one extra day - with Senators notified the upper house will meet next Friday June 28 as the government seeks to push through 33 packages of legislation in the final week.
The fact that the Senate will sit an extra day means members of the House of Representatives will also probably have to stay in Canberra, in order to consider any legislative amendments made in the upper house.
A spokesman for the leader of the government in the house, Anthony Albanese, said “no decision has been made” about whether the house will also sit Friday.
Among the backlog of issues to be considered by the Senate in its final week are:


• the “Gonski” education bills,
• 457 visa changes,
• the government’s aged care reform package,
• legislation setting up the referendum on recognition of local government,
• legislation to require big projects to show attempts to buy Australian inputs, superannuation changes, bills to stop tax minimisation by profit shifting,
• a bill to give the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority more powers to compel cooperation with its investigations into drugs in sport
• and proposed changes to the fair work legislation on industrial relations.
According to a notice of motion circulated to Senators, the Senate is scheduled to sit from 9.30 to 2.40pm on Friday before rising for the final time before the September 14 election.
 Then there’s the problem of convincing the Governor-General that has support of the Independents without testing that in Parliament.

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Global yawning

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (11:13am)

Tony Thomas says people no longer seemed fussed by warnings that the planet’s very survival is threatened by our gasses and humans could be wiped out:
What fun! I have just voted in a global poll being conducted by the United Nations to discover what the people of the world care most about. I was global voter Number 623,813 and the 9246th voter from Australia…
The results of the poll to date are that worldwide, we people of the world view the fight against climate change as the least important of 16 issues suggested by the UN. Top-voted issue for importance worldwide is “better job opportunities”, second is “a good education”, and the lower-ranked issues are “better health care”, “affordable and nutritious food”, “support for people who can’t work”, and so on.
Whichever way you slice and dice the results, the climate-change fight is more or less bottom-ranked globally out of the 16 causes. Male voters: bottom. Female voters: bottom. Aged 34-or-under, bottom. Aged 35-54, second-bottom. Over 55, second bottom.

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Tony Abbott goes north

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (9:50am)

Great vision, but there won’t be much money to throw at this:

AN Abbott government will offer lower personal and business tax rates, government relocation subsidies and investment incentives to encourage a major population shift to the country’s north.
Gaps in northern Australia’s port, road, rail, water and manufacturing infrastructure will also be immediately identified and a 15-year rolling priority list of projects developed by Infrastructure Australia for urgent investment.
Announcing the Coalition’s Developing Northern Australia policy in Townsville this morning, Tony Abbott will pledge that, if elected in September, his government will fast-track development of northern Australia as a thriving, strong and prosperous tourism, food bowl, medical and Asian trading mecca.
To encourage significant foreign investment in the undeveloped agricultural potential of the north, the opposition has vowed to consider changing much of its land tenure from long-term crown pastoral leases to freehold title, allowing for vastly expanded irrigated and dryland cropping.

Many global corporate, pension fund and individual investors, especially from Europe, China and India, have been reluctant to buy northern cattle properties to turn into future food bowls, because of their leasehold land status and restrictions on irrigation development and clearing of trees and vegetation.
Shadow finance minister Andrew Robb:

The promise in agriculture - a top strength around the country - is obvious but particularly across the north where more than 60 per cent of our rain falls, but very little is captured and used. The CSIRO also has found that up to 17 million hectares across the north are potentially suitable for agriculture because of the region’s arable soil.
The development of a northern food bowl with an emphasis on premium quality can help us double the number of people we feed globally from 60 million to 120 million. In previous debates about the potential for a food bowl the key missing ingredient was the presence of a huge developing market on our door step. The percentage of the world’s middle class in our Asia-Pacific region is expected to explode from 28 per cent to 66 per cent by 2030, or more than three billion people. This will be the century of food security.
Australia is a high-cost country and this applies more so in the north, but we have a reputation for quality.

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China slows, stocks drop

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (9:45am)

If China really does slow, we’re cactus and will have reason to despise a government which racked up massive deficits in a mining boom that’s gone:
US stocks fell in their biggest one-day slide of the year as anxiety mounted over the potential for the Federal Reserve to pull back its stimulus efforts and investors fretted about a slowdown in the massive Chinese economy. 

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Another Labor woman shows why men despise her party

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (9:34am)

A former staffer of Labor’s Senator David Feeney writes a highly offensive email to the Liberals’ Mal Brough, falsely accusing him of complicity in a sexist menu, linking it to the rape and murder of Jill Meagher and asking Brough to contact her about it:

Ms Boyd emailed Mr Brough last Wednesday, after reports emerged of an offensive menu denigrating Prime Minister Julia Gillard that was allegedly circulated during a fund-raising dinner for Mr Brough. The restauranteur later claimed authorship of the menu and said it had not been used at the event.
In her initial email, Ms Boyd had told Mr Brough he had a ‘’responsibility to lead by example and you have failed’’. She said Mr Brough owed the Prime Minister respect, arguing there was a link between the use of misogynistic language towards women and the rape and murder of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher.
She said she was offended and signed off saying: ‘’I expect to hear from you soon.’’
So Brough does as requested:
Mr Brough replied the next day, forwarding a copy of the restaurateur’s statement, in which he said he had created a mock menu himself ‘’as a light-hearted joke’’, and that it was not produced for public distribution. Ms Boyd did not reply.
On Monday, five days after his initial email response, Mr Brough wrote again, saying that he had tried to ring Ms Boyd all afternoon with no success… Ms Boyd responded that she had no missed calls on her mobile, and Mr Brough replied again, writing that he had looked up Ms Boyd’s home number and had tried the number again.
Ms Boyd’s Victorian address appears on her email signature.
But now Boyd complains that Brough is doing just what she asked:

‘’I didn’t want to talk to him because it just seemed crazy lengths to go to get an apology from a nobody,’’ she told Fairfax Media. ‘’I think he wanted to rant at me, bully me into an apology. At least I was scared that was what he was trying to do.’’
This is just the kind of feminism that has driven men from Labor. A Labor woman falsely smears a Liberal man, demands a response, and then screams he’s a bully when he says he’s innocent.
Grow the hell up.
(Thanks to reader Kass.) 

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No wonder Indonesia’s president doesn’t rate her and won’t help

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (9:22am)

So much for Julia Gillard going to Indonesia to sort out the boat people catastrophe she helped to create:
The (Australian) government said while the boatpeople crisis would be a significant issue, the meeting with Dr Yudhoyono was a scheduled leaders meeting on a range of issues with the timing decided by the Indonesians ...
Presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the meeting agenda had not yet been settled on the Indonesian side ...
However Dr Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa would be reluctant to “delve deeply” into the asylum-seekers question because it was such an intensely polarised domestic issue in Australia with an election imminent.

Greg Sheridan:

To go to Jakarta effectively in the middle of an election campaign, with the express purpose of drawing the Indonesian President into the heart of the hottest domestic issue in Australian politics, is the height of irresponsibility.
Labor has ruthlessly spun this trip as addressing the boat people crisis. In doing this it has breached fundamental standards on courtesy and protocol, not to mention common sense, in dealing with Indonesia…
Just before the last election, three years ago, she tried the same trick. She produced the East Timor solution. The problem was that the solution was a complete con, designed only to get Labor through the election. It neither came into being nor made the slightest contribution to solving the problem. Instead the East Timor solution made a big contribution to wrecking Gillard’s credibility.
(Thanks to reader Peter.) 

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Syria and Egypt dying, and we cannot stop it

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (9:04am)

Spengler says Syria and Egypt can’t be fixed:
Syria and Egypt are dying. They were dying before the Syrian civil war broke out and before the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Cairo… They are dying because they chose not to do what China did: move the better part of a billion people from rural backwardness to a modern urban economy within a generation…
It was obvious to anyone who troubled to examine the data that Egypt could not maintain a bottomless pit in its balance of payments, created by a 50% dependency on imported food, not to mention an energy bill fed by subsidies that consumed a quarter of the national budget. It was obvious to Israeli analysts that the Syrian regime’s belated attempt to modernize its agricultural sector would create a crisis as hundreds of thousands of displaced farmers gathered in slums on the outskirts of its cities…
It is cheap to assuage Western consciences by sending some surplus arms to the Syrian Sunnis. No-one has proposed a way to find the more than US$20 billion a year that Egypt requires to stay afloat…
Egypt remains a pre-modern society, with nearly 50% illiteracy, a 30% rate of consanguineal marriage, a 90% rate of female genital mutilation, and an un- or underemployment rate over 40%… As malnutrition afflicts roughly a quarter of Egyptians in the World Health Organization’s estimate, and the Muslim Brotherhood government waits for a bumper wheat crop that never will come, Egypt is slowly dying…
Even if the Sunnis could eject the Assad family from Damascus and establish a new government – which I doubt – the best case scenario would be another Egypt: a Muslim Brotherhood government presiding over a collapsed economy and sliding inevitably towards state failure. It is too late even for this kind of arrangement. Equalizing the military position of the two sides will merely increase the body count.
More blood there. More boats here.
(Thanks to reader Terry.) 

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Shorten washing his hands of Gillard?

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (8:21am)

Julia Gillard is distancing herself from Bill Shorten - although the fact it’s been leaked like this suggests it’s actually Shorten distancing himself from Gillard:
BILL Shorten has been excluded from Julia Gillard’s inner circle and strategic decision-making team as pressure mounts on him to resolve Labor’s leadership impasse. 

The Prime Minister has not sought the Workplace Relations and Employment Minister’s advice in recent weeks because of fears that he may have “switched sides” and can no longer be trusted.
Sources close to Mr Shorten, who has been a strong supporter of Ms Gillard, have confirmed that he is “bemused” by some of the strategic decisions that the Prime Minister has been making recently, including trying to elevate the issue of abortion to the national debate.
The ABC’s Fran Kelly, apparently relying on Shorten contacts, says the claims are “baseless”.
UPDATE
Anthony Albanese denies:

I don’t know where the truth lies in this story. But Albanese is right to caution that reporters are terrified they’ll miss the scoop.
To understand some of the reporting of the leadership strife, it’s best to once again read the greatest novel about the pack mentality of the press herd:

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UPDATE
But if Shorten does help install Rudd, the independents could put his mother-in-law, Governor General Quentin Bryce, in an awful position:
While Windsor and Oakeshott say their deals are only with Gillard and that all bets are off if she’s ousted, how will that play out if she’s no longer PM?
The independents would ... have to consider giving Rudd support as it would be for a very short period before the election.
Otherwise Bryce would have to consider sacking the man installed by her son-in-law.
UPDATE
A Rudd backer now says Gillard will lead:
Last weekend, Victorian backbencher Darren Cheeseman was still advocating for a return of Kevin Rudd, ... and told News Limited ... that he did not know who would lead Labor when Parliament finishes sitting in a week’s time…

But last night as he left Parliament, Mr Cheeseman said the leadership was decided by Caucus last year.
“We will be proceeding to the election with Julia as our leader,” he said.
But Simon Benson predicts Gillard will be gone next week:

Gillard is unlikely to survive next week. There is a resignation now even among Gillard’s camp that her leadership will be over by next Thursday, Friday at the latest…
Labor elders talk of retaining just 25-29 seats out of 150…
But it is the Senate that is the bigger story for Labor’s future. On the current primary vote of 29 (given that there is a 3-5 point discount on the primary vote for Labor historically compared to its vote in the Reps), ... the best case scenario for Labor is that the Coalition end up with only 38 Senate spots out of 76 - giving it 50 per cent.
Labor could end up with between 25-26, the Greens 10-11 and conservative independents making up the rest. Worst case is the Coalition get complete control. Either way, Coalition control of the Senate is the end of Labor. And it could be the end of the trade union movement.
It is the Senate that now has smart people in Labor worried. They see Rudd as the man who ... could spare Labor the indignity of being a Senate irrelevancy.
UPDATE
Graham Richardson says Rudd-haters are destroying Labor:

The hatred of so many caucus members for Rudd is still so great that they would rather the party be slaughtered and lose their own seats than contemplate his return from the wilderness…

The argument they make is that the Rudd honeymoon would be short, the Liberals would run advertisements quoting the character references given to Rudd by themselves and destroy his popularity in a trice…
[But] poll after poll tells us that Rudd would provide Labor with a significant bounce even if the Gillard cheer squad is right about the short honeymoon. It’s impossible to argue that Labor would not benefit by about 3 per cent in an election. That would translate to the saving of about 15 seats the government is about to lose.
It is not just the number of seats but who occupies them that worries me. If Rudd could save Stephen Smith, Tony Burke and Chris Bowen, he would be doing the Labor Party a huge favour. If a swath is cut through the next generation of Labor leaders and potential senior shadow ministers, the task of getting back to government in any time short of a decade would be made much more difficult. If Gillard is still in the job after next week it’s not just the number of seats, which I believe would be about 40, that would go. It is all hope for the party’s future that will be forfeited. 

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The AFL’s presumption of innocence seems selective

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (8:08am)

The AFL, run as a socialist paradise with regular programs of conscience raising, seems to have difference standards of justice, depending on the cause.
The presumption of innocence was sacred last year when Melbourne’s Liam Jurrah was charged (later cleared) with hitting a man in the head with an axe:
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou has backed Melbourne Football Club’s decision to name Liam Jurrah in the team to play against Sydney at the SCG tomorrow, just hours after the forward had faced an Alice Springs court via video link…
“He’s not the first player who’s been charged who’s been able to play football,” Mr Demetriou said.
“We understand the complexities of Liam Jurrah as a person, as an Indigenous elder. I value the presumption of innocence. Everyone is entitled to have their day in court.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions...”
But when Stephen Milne, not an indigenous elder, was this week charged with rape:

St Kilda has stood Stephen Milne down from playing duties for an indefinite period while he faces four rape charges stemming from an alleged incident in 2004…
“The (club) board acknowledges this is a most serious matter, one that is distressing to all the parties involved,” St Kilda president Greg Westaway said in a statement…

“In considering the matter the board has been mindful of the rights and obligations of everyone impacted...”

I accept that even on Milne’s account of that night nine years ago, his conduct was sordid. But thank heavens his team-mates have an understanding of the presumption of innocence:
St Kilda has thwarted a potential player rebellion by assuring its senior group that it had every intention of clearing Stephen Milne to play, potentially within the next four weeks.
A deputation of senior players including Milne, his captain Nick Riewoldt and Jason Blake met a group of club directors early on Thursday seeking urgent clarification of Milne’s status as a St Kilda player.
There seems to me a dangerous sanctimony in the AFL today, in which the presumption of innocence applies only when it suits the AFL’s ideology - or its sponsors. Ask James Hird, who earlier this year was scapegoated for legally taking legal drugs that for a professional athlete could be performance enhancing:
The AFL gives players who take illegal drugs - even cocaine - three chances before naming or shopping them, but is now reportedly considering action against [Essendon coach] Hird for taking drugs that are legal.
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou even hinted last week Hird should step down: “That is an option he has to consider.”
UPDATE
Gun lawyer Justin Quill:
Milne has been treated differently from just about any other man who might have been charged with rape this week. Milne is in the public eye and, because of that, he has been treated differently. And I don’t think it’s fair…
I don’t think it is fair that he should be stood down from playing unless he is found guilty… [He] should be afforded the presumption of innocence. That is, he is innocent until proven guilty. So if Milne is innocent right now, why should he be stood down? If an accountant or a plumber were charged with rape, their employer probably would not know of the charges.
And even if the employer knew of the charges, the worker would not be stood down. In fact, there’s a pretty strong argument to say it would be unlawful for an employer to stand the average worker down just because of an as yet unproven charge.

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Is Clive Palmer’s word as good as his credit?

Andrew Bolt June 21 2013 (7:36am)

Is political hopeful Clive Palmer still a billionaire? How good is his word?

In a telephone interview with The Australian, he admitted last night that he was not receiving $500 million a year in iron ore royalties he had claimed China’s CITIC Pacific was paying him.
But he said he had a wealth of about $6 billion based on undeveloped assets of coal, iron ore and oil and gas. Analysis by The Australian shows some of his companies are losing significant sums and do not have the capital reserves to continue unless Mr Palmer tops them up from his personal cash…
Mr Palmer’s nickel refinery yesterday cut its $100,000 plus a year sponsorship of Townsville Enterprise.
The head of Townsville Enterprise, David Kippin, said the refinery was having “internal operational issues”, exacerbated by the low price for nickel and high running costs…
Mr Palmer said that next Monday he would announce, in Townsville, important news at the refinery, which lost $58m in the last financial year, according to an affidavit he lodged two months ago.
While Mr Palmer’s affidavit declared the loss of $58m, he told journalists last August that it had made a “modest profit”.
More signs of strife:
AS the mining boom hit full steam in early 2008, Queensland tycoon Clive Palmer declared he would donate $100 million of his wealth to Aboriginal communities in Western Australia as part of an overall giveaway of $1 billion across the nation....
Since making the pledge, Mr Palmer, who has declared he is running for prime minister backed by about 150 candidates for his Palmer United Party, has started building a replica of the Titanic, purchased a soccer team, become Australia’s biggest political donor and amassed a collection of private jets and boats…
...groups working on indigenous health in the Pilbara say there is no record of Mr Palmer donating any money to the cause or starting his own charity work since 2008…
A spokesman for Mr Palmer declined to comment on when the $100m donation might be delivered, how many staff were being employed on the charitable venture or whether it had started doing any work.
More:
In 2010, the flamboyant tycoon announced with great fanfare that his flagship company, Mineralogy, would donate $6m to the Duke of Edinburgh Awards for Australian youth over 10 years…
Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Australia chief executive Peter Kaye said yesterday that Mr Palmer had personally stumped up $700,000 in 2010 and 2011 as part of the promise, but Mineralogy’s planned $600,000 in annual contributions had never begun.
He said he had no indication from Mr Palmer or Mineralogy on whether the Duke of Edinburgh Awards would ever receive the remaining $5.3m owing under the pledge...
Who does Palmer think he is? Julia Gillard? 

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How Singaporeans are coping with the Haze
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Taken on May 8th as I was traveling up north through Ohio near the town of Esselburn during my time on the road with Yahoo! for their weather project.

I was watching these dark clouds gather as I was driving down the highway and was amazed at just how black and cauldron like they were when I remembered I had my sunglasses on…

Oddly, when I took off the shades, the sky remained looking decidedly ominous and darker than just about any I had seen before. I saw this small farm and quickly pulled over for a quick photo.

The storm quickly let up and I continued on my way. …searching for more photo ops.

To be continued...
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4 her
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Unbelievable facts
McDonalds doesn't sell hot dogs because, according to founder Ray Kroc, "there's no telling what's inside a hot dog's skin, and our standard of quality just wouldn't permit that kind of item."

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Today saw the release of The Coalition’s 2030 Vision for Developing Northern Australia.http://lbr.al/1v3b

We want to put in place the policies and plans to develop Northern Australia’s potential with more investment, infrastructure, jobs and services.

Please SHARE this if you support our Plan to promote economic development in Northern Australia.
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Phil Box And did you know that the Hubble took this image. If you close up three fingers and make a tiny pinhole and then hold your arm outreached to the sky, that tiny pin prick represents the field of view that this pic represents. Now imagine all those pixels 360 degrees all around the Earth in a sphere and you'll not even begin to imagine how vast the cosmos is. If there are ten thousand galaxies in this pic then there are almost uncountable pixels of sky all around Earth in which there are ten thousand galaxies. Big innit. Doncha feel small now. God has created an infinity akin to him.
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NOT ‘THE AUSTRALIAN’, SURELY! 

“Shorten left out of the Gillard loop”, screamed ‘The Australian’ this morning. “Hmmm”, I thought, “Gillard’s loop? What the hell would Shorten be doing in Gillard’s loop anyway?” He’s an ambitious little loner with a blue tie!

"She isn't getting advice from the right people," wrote Onselin, quoting a source close to Mr Shorten. 

Golly, an anonymous source close to Shorten really said that? Well I’ll be stuffed! You could have knocked me over with a feather.

‘The Australian’ is blessed with too many incisive journos to mention, so why did Editor Mathieson allow Peter van (well, I believe you Prime Minister) Onselin’s concocted nonsense on Page One?

Onselin is an affable enough bloke but a seasoned political animal he is not, and it shows.

A short lifetime amassing university credentials does not replace the street-smarts necessary to interpret politics.

Onselin went on, “The Prime Minister has not sought his (Shorten’s) advice in recent weeks because she fears that he may have switched sides and can no longer be trusted”. Blimey teddy!

So Julia fears he can’t be trusted and hasn’t asked his advice because she believes he may have switched sides? What sort of nonsense journalism is that?

It’s the sort that begs a retraction, and of course it was retracted. The Australian’s on-line version was thankfully replaced with, “Shorten still the man in the middle” by Ben Packham.

Bill Shorten has never graced Gillard’s inner circle. He is certainly not on the outer, but a Gillard confidante? No, never.

He has been very busy counting faction numbers and, as I have said before, the counting may well be in regard to his leadership ambitions and not Rudd’s... and at least I don’t quote “sources close to” saying that!

Peter, if you have something stupid to say, then YOU say it and YOU own it! Leave the “sources close to” garbage to the tabloids.

Write that sort of drivel as an opinion piece not a news story we should be able to rely on.

Journalists who suspiciously quote these anonymous sources should ensure the info is near to correct or ask those concerned to confirm or deny.

But if Onselin had picked up the phone, his silly Page One story would have flown out the window where it belonged.

Come on ‘Oz’ you are about the only paper left we can trust, so please don’t allow ambitious schoolkids dodgy Page One leads when you have the likes of Shanahan, Kelly and Sheridan.

That said, I quite like Peter.
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President reopens White House to tours (virtually, that is) ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/06/20/president-reopens-white-house-to-tours-virtually-that-is/
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Mo Gelber
Have you ever paid for something that didn't work and went back to the store and asked for a refund? Of course you have. That is what you are supposed to do.

I once bought a ticket on the long island railroad for $8. after waiting on the platform for 2 hours, an announcement came over the speaker that there would be no trains because of a broken power switch. I went home in a taxi.

The next day I was near the railroad Office and went to return my unused ticket for a refund.they said the railroad policy is to charge a $10 dollar fee to process refunds so it would have cost me $10 to get my $8 back. I felt the easier way to get justice was to sneak on the train for free the next time I used that train.

Then I upped the ante by instituting a policy of charging a $500 inconvenience fee for any time I rode public transport and the trains were late or overcrowded and I couldn't get a seat.

So anytime I am on the subway and hear "we are delayed due to train traffic ahead", it means I will ride the subway for free 200 times until I collect my $500 inconvenience fee
#mtasucks

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Gen. George S. Patton was assassinated to silence his criticism of allied war leaders claims new book

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/gen-george-s-patton-assassinated-silence-criticism-allied-war-leaders-claims-book/

“We have had a victory over the Germans and disarmed them, but we have failed in the liberation of Europe; we have lost the war!” George S. Patton
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Aloese Seumanutafa
"Ladies: Place your heart in the hands of God and He will place it in the hands of a man who He believes deserves it"

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The Northpoint Lighthouse in Milwaukee WI at Sunset. Taken while on the road with Yahoo! as their weather photographer.

I came into town late after a day of driving and discovering the areas between Michigan and here. Once in town, I checked into the hotel and did a quick bit of research and found out about this lighthouse. I made a mad dash for this place before sun set and arrived just as everything was turning colors. I felt very lucky.
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Allyson Christy.
Lebanese president urges Hezbollah to pull out of Syria - Reuters

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Throwback Thursday: Teaching Jaden Smith in The Karate Kid!
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Zaya Toma Reminds me of a quote by Benjamin Franklin, 'Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both'. The TSA is notorious and a prime example of why people need to be more worried about big Government than terrorism.
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This soldier swore his allegiance to #Israel - on a Quran. Read the remarkable story of two Muslim brothers serving in their nation’s army: the #IDF
http://goo.gl/78uEv 
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JULIA OFF TO JAKARTA... Larry Pickering
but maybe as a tourist

Is Julia’s heart breaking for the thousands drowned or is her neck breaking to discredit Abbott’s plans to stop the boats? The latter is the obvious but Julia will not be welcome in Indonesia and she may not even be PM.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not be keen to embroil himself in a crass attempt to politicise an Australian crisis to Gillard’s electoral advantage.

He knows the boats must stop.

Shortly he will have to thrash out a solution with Abbott and will not allow Gillard to pollute that.

Gillard’s sudden concern for illegal immigration will not be allayed by these proposed talks but there is no doubt Gillard will seek to imply “a breakthrough”.

Abbott, Bishop and Morrison’s talks with Indonesia have remained confidential, as they should, but Julia’s talks, if they occur, will be megaphoned in a display of blatant misconstruction aimed at discrediting the Coalition.

Yudhoyono will anticipate Gillard’s tactic and it will blow up in her face if she attempts to misrepresent any “done deal”. But she will do exactly that, just watch.

Pickering Post has consistently forecast illegal immigration as the developing and overarching election issue, due to a predictable explosion of arrivals in a frantic pre-Abbott rush.

The rush (and deaths) is happening and Gillard’s belated lurch at a diplomatic solution is far too little and far too late.

Numbers have ballooned because of a clear international consensus that our borders will remain open under Gillard and will be closed under Abbott.

If her planned trip to Indonesia eventuates, Gillard will be guilty of trashing sensitive channels of diplomacy in exchange for vulgar electoral advantage.

But we are witnessing another real Julia now... the desperate, unprincipled one
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How does Obama's government handle the scandal-plagued IRS that discriminates against Conservatives?

By giving their employees $70 million in bonuses.
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Video: John Wayne is “Big Jim McLain” (1952)

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/video-john-wayne-is-big-jim-mclain-1952/

All 6’4″ of John Wayne plays the title role, a federal agent ferreting out subversives in Hawaii. Rallying to the cause are co-stars Nancy Olson and Veda Ann Borg. And 6’7″ James Arness (when Wayne would later recommend to star on TV’s Gunsmoke) is McLain’s war-hero partner Baxter. The documentary-style story moves swiftly, with good-natured humor peppered throughout. Pre-statehood Hawaii locales range from elite resorts to a Shinto temple and from the sunken remains of the battleship Arizona to a Molokai leper colony. Give Big Jim McLain a big hand. Because that’s a lot of movie.
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The Cheapside Hoard - a priceless collection of 16th and 17th century jewellery found buried in London in 1912 on display in the Museum of London.
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For more News on the Mid-East Go tohttps://www.facebook.com/AssociationForGeoStrategicAnalysis
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Unforgettable John Wayne by Ronald Reagan

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/unforgettable-john-wayne-by-ronald-reagan/

“I looked over the audience, realizing that there were few willing to be publicly identified as opponents of the far left. Then I saw Duke and said, “Why I believe John Wayne made the motion.” I heard his strong voice reply, “I sure as hell did!” The meeting and the radicals’ campaign was over.” ~ Ronald Reagan
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.Psalm 147:5 
We serve a supernatural God. He can do what medicine cannot do. He is not limited by your education, your background, the family you came from. He’s not moved by the things people have spoken over you. He’s not up in heaven all frantic, trying to figure out how to get you to your destiny. He knows the end from the beginning. He already has solutions to problems you’ve not even had. He is all powerful and all knowing. People may have tried to push you down, but if you’ll just remove those labels and get into agreement with God, He will push you up. He will take you where you could not go on your own. You don’t have to figure it all out. All God asks you to do is believe. When you believe, all things are possible. When you believe, doors will open that should have never opened. When you believe, God will take you from the back to the front. Don’t let negative labels hold you down. Remember, we serve a God who knows no limits! Get in step with Him and live your life without limits, too.You are blessed.

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Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for June 20th. Enjoy!

From the Blog

Speaker at rally supporting ‘Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ cites Boston Marathon bomber as victim of gun violence

Crazy with a capital “C,” but then again we are talking about a Michael Bloomberg organization...

Chris Matthews curses Helios: Obama’s Berlin speech ‘ruined’ by the sun

If you saw President Obama’s speech in Berlin today (the numbers were certainly limited compared to 2008), you might have noticed The Greatest Orator of All Time™ stumbling over a few “ums” and “uhs” due to the bright sun rendering TOTUS useless...

More From the Right Side of the Web

Featured Video

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This morning on "FOX & Friends," Michelle talked about D.C.'s ever-expanding "source chilling" campaign.

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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Once more, with feeling!

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June 21: Midsummer festivities (Northern Hemisphere); Winter solstice festivals (Southern Hemisphere); International Surfing Day;National Aboriginal Day in Canada
Pope Paul VI

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