Sunday, July 13, 2014

Sun Jul 13th Todays News

Ian Thorpe is possibly Australia's greatest Olympian. He decided to come out as gay. Some see it as significant. I see it as a personal decision he is entitled to make. I am not a fan of government approval of bedroom performance. There is a subtext regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs in his career. Certainly they weren't used later in his career, when he performed as well as Brazil in Brazil in 2014. The question is asked "Why didn't he do it years ago?" But then, who really cares? The world cup ends tonight. My bet is that Argentina will win silver. 

Sometimes bad things happen to bad people for no good reason. Jean Paul Marat discovered that on this day in 1793. Marat was a journalist writing for Jacobin clubs in revolutionary France, the ultra left. The Jacobins had taken over from Girondist clubs who were soft left, having endorsed revolution but not the blood that followed. Jacobins murdered Girondists en masse with guillotine. Marat indirectly on the sidelines cheering them on. Marat took medicinal baths for a skin condition resembling herpes and had done so for three years prior. Charlotte Corday was a Girondist sympathiser who tricked her way into interviewing him at his bath tub. She gave him a list of Girondists he agreed to have killed and then plunged a kitchen knife into him, killing him quickly, but not before he could call out, "Aidez-moi, ma chère amie!" ("Help me, my dear friend!"). Charlotte was guillotined days later. The eulogy for Marat was given by the Marquis de Sade. Maybe it was felt there would never be a journalist like Marat again. And yet the Canberra Press Gallery exists today. 

In 1814, the Carabiniere were established in Italy. In 1863 and in 1977 riots rocked New York city. In 1863, the riots were because Democrats opposed the draft for the civil war ('What is he point? There would always be slavery'). In 1977 it was because the lights had gone out and there was no tv to watch. By way of contrast, when the lights had gone out following a blizzard in NYC in 1965, the crime rate had plummeted to the lowest since records were kept. It is a debunked myth that the blackout in '65 tripled the birth rate nine months later. In 1919, a British airship completed a journey across the Atlantic. In 2003, Ingrid Betancourt was not rescued after French specialists failed in a mission. She was freed in '08 after more than six years in captivity. Born on this day, Patrick Stewart (1940), Harrison Ford (1942) and Ernő Rubik (1944).
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may;
I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

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

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.netwhich will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Shane Songsataporn, Patrick Stewart (1940) and Jay Fo. Born on the same day, across the years. In 1793, Charlotte Corday assassinated Jean-Paul Marat, a leader in both the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, in his bathtub. 1863, Three days of rioting began in New York City by opponents of new laws passed by the United States Congress to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. 1962, In an unprecedented action, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismissed seven members of his Cabinet. 1977, Ethiopia and Somalia went to war over the disputed Ogaden region in eastern Ethiopia. 2003, French DGSE personnel aborted an operation to rescue Colombian politician Íngrid Betancourt from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, causing a political scandal when details were leaked to the press six days later. You seize your chances and will riot to do what is right. Maybe rioting doesn't work, or you'd keep you cabinet positions. You do the right thing at the right time. Make it so. Engage.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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Abbott must wait for PUP to chew itself to pieces

Piers Akerman – Sunday, July 13, 2014 (6:38am)

GIVEN the choice between watching a circus or grappling with substance, the public will opt for the clowns every time.
That was a bit of a plus for the publicity-seeking Clive Palmer and his PUPpies when they made their first appearance in the senate and it was a small bonus for Labor, though not necessarily the Greens.
In dealing with Palmer and the PUPs, the Abbott government faces the classic dilemma anyone who has ever dealt with an absolute lunatic must consider. Do you pretend that the idiot is sane and try to negotiate as if the fool was ­rational, or should you ­approach them as you would an unbalanced and irrational gibberer and attempt to show them why their confused ill-ogic cannot provide a solution?
Contrary to Palmer’s assertion, the Abbott government didn’t doublecross the PUP. The Abbott government accepted a PUP amendment on Wednesday night but the PUPs had changed it by Thursday morning and would change it again before attempting to put it before the senate.
It was the PUP, not the government who attempted to present an unconstitutional amendment, and it was the PUP, not the government, who made the unreasonable demand for total carbon tax ­compensation.
How, for example, can consumers be fully compensated for all carbon tax costs when it is patently clear to all but populist oafs that the cost of the carbon tax levied on such items as the refrigerants used in abattoirs and cool stores and in supermarkets cannot reasonably be calculated and ­returned to customers.
The PUP wasn’t doublecrossed, they doublecrossed themselves. Or, in language that Jacqui Lambie might understand, they piddled on their own swag time and again.
That was last week’s circus performance. This week’s is still being scripted and it is to be hoped that the PUPs are walked through the most basic steps of parliamentary process and given a course in kindergarten constitutional law ­before they return to Canberra.
The substance of the situation is that from July 1, the balance of power in the senate shifted from the ALP-Green centre-Left axis to the PUP and other crossbenchers, a centre-Right axis.
The Abbott government has shown it is prepared to ­attempt to negotiate with the PUP, and others, such as independent senator Nick Xenophon, when necessary.
It has not, as Labor and Greens insinuate, capitulated to the PUP. If anything, it is settling down to play a long game and give the PUP plenty of time to selfdestruct.
Palmer’s populist image has so far been built on advertising, and court papers indicate that his Chinese business colleagues may have unwittingly underwritten his campaign publicity costs. His attempts to portray himself as something of a homespun philosopher are rapidly foundering as he has been unable to present anything resembling consistency of policy.
Past performance in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania would indicate he hopes his blustering populist buffoonery would distract his followers from examining his lack of realistic policy goals and sufficiently confuse them into thinking he can ­deliver something meaningful despite a total lack of evidence.
If he hopes to force the government’s hand with his stunts and push it into calling a double dissolution, he may be whistling in the dark. It is ­apparent that the Abbott government is not going to rush to a double dissolution election and would probably only consider employing such a tactic towards the end of its term.
While Palmer has captivated the media, Labor has been let off the hook. Last year, Labor boasted that it had dumped the carbon tax. It had not, no more than it had ­returned the budget to surplus.
It went into the election with a firm promise to enact legislation repealing the carbon tax. It has not voted against doing so. As the government leader in the senate, Senator Abetz has pointed out, every senator, other than the 10 Greens, was elected on abolishing the carbon tax.
“So it is a bit frustrating when you look around the chamber at 76 senators and see only 10 senators that were committed to the carbon tax yet we can’t get the numbers together to repeal it,” he said.
The unfortunate Senator Lambie, still smarting from the fact that she did not receive a single vote when she sought preselection as Liberal Party candidate, has demanded Prime Minister Tony Abbott sack Senator Abetz “immediately” for what have, in fact, been the PUPpies’ blunders.
“If you want to come into the kennel with the PUPs, be prepared to be chewed up and spat back out. Stop these silly games,” she shrilled during an interview on Friday.
The senator needs reminding of the old adage that those who lie down with dogs do run the risk of picking up fleas.
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Leave champion for women alone

Miranda Devine – Sunday, July 13, 2014 (9:52am)

MARGARET Mary Cunneen, SC, has locked up Australia’s worst pedophiles and gang rapists. Her scalps are legion: Pedophiles Robert (Dolly) Dunn, Philip Bell, Michael Guider, Colin Fisk, three priests of the Order of Saint Gerard Majella, the Campsie serial rapist, and the Ashfield and Skaf gang rapists.

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Wasn’t 1200 dead enough?

Miranda Devine – Friday, July 11, 2014 (1:38am)

NOW refugee advocates reportedly are “coaching” mothers to self-harm.
Someone in authority has to stop these so-called “well-meaning” advocates. They are hurting the very people they feign to protect.
As for the media that uncritically reported the story of ten women on Nauru supposedly attempting suicide ... You have to ask, what vested interests are so desperate for the Abbott government to fail on border protection?
A FORMER director of offshore processing in Australia’s immigration detention camps claims asylum-seekers are coached and encouraged to attempt self-harm by refugee advocates who then use the incidents as political capital.

Greg Lake made his strident ­attack on “certain refugee advocates” whose behaviour “is at odds with their mandate as advocates” as the Refugee Action Coalition backed down from claims in a press release on Monday that up to “10 mothers in the family camp have attempted suicide in the last two days on Christmas Island”.

Refugee coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul told The Australian yesterday that women in the family camp wanted to get off Christmas Island for the mainland, though some said they would be happy to go to Nauru.
“I probably shouldn’t have said attempted suicide,” he said.
“People drinking concoctions of shampoo or detergent generally don’t die — was it a drastic cry for help? Yes, it was, and it remains that way.”
Extra guards continued to be stationed in the island’s family camp yesterday to keep watch on women who had either threatened, attempted or carried out self-harm during the past week.
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has rubbished claims published in Fairfax Media that up to 12 mothers had attempted suicide so their orphaned babies would be raised in Australia.
The government has described the self-harm as minor. While ­asylum-seekers are flown to mainland hospitals in the event of medical emergency, the only person to leave the Australian territory this week for medical reasons was a Christmas Island resident.
The asylum-seeker women on watch at the camp this week include a young Iranian who does not have children; she spent time in the camp’s medical centre after leaping from what guards have ­described as the flat roof of one-­storey transportable accommo-dation on Sunday. She had recently returned from medical treatment on the mainland.
Mr Rintoul said he had communicated with the women before they harmed themselves but ­denied encouraging them to do so or having prior knowledge that they would.
“Of course not,” he said.
“There may have been some indication of people heading this way — they were extremely worried about the presence of the Serco guards and the police (over the weekend).
“It’s clear to me now that Serco was expecting a situation.”
The tense atmosphere continued in Christmas Island’s family camp as authorities prepared to send more asylum-seekers to Nauru. Tonight a group of detainees is scheduled to leave the island for Nauru, and more frequent flights are expected as more accommodation comes online.
Mr Lake said in his time at what is now called the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, he grew disgusted by the actions of some refugee advocates who were clearly urging asylum-seekers to self-harm as a form of protest so they could put out a press release about it.
He said the advocates communicated with the asylum-seekers by Facebook message, phone and email. While the department did not read asylum-seekers’ communications, he said what was going on was obvious and often emerged later in interviews with detainees who had hurt themselves on purpose.
He said he believed some advocates communicated with a ringleader, who then “stood over” other detainees to compel them to make a statement through self-harm.
“There are certain prominent advocates who will coach and encourage asylum-seekers to self-harm as a political protest and it makes me very upset and I believe it is at odds with their mandate as advocates,” Mr Lake said.
“The problem is, outside of the government or public service, people aren’t aware of their tactics.”
Mr Lake, who resigned as an immigration official in April last year, claimed that one of his last tasks on Nauru was to interview eight asylum-seekers who had joined a lip-sewing protest, but who had been bullied into it by a detainee who was in communication with a refugee advocate.
“These guys didn’t want anything to do with it,” he said.
“They only did it because they were pushed by the ringleader.”

The Australian has learned that refugee advocates and others working inside the Christmas Island compounds are linking this week’s self-harm incidents to a recent decision by Mr Morrison to allow three vulnerable ­Somali girls to leave the camp and live in Sydney’s west. 
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OVER TO YOU, MACQUARIE DICTIONARY

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 13, 2014 (6:07am)

Australia’s favourite metaphorical endocentric compound is mentioned once again in the Sydney Morning Herald
With The Fictional Woman, Moss has triumphantly made the leap from apocryphal dingbat to fully-fledged frightbat. Now when she walks into a room, she will not only turn heads, but change minds. 
The great thing about this latest mention is that it comes with no qualifiers or explanations. It’s simply assumed that readers will understand “frightbat”. My darling little word is now part of the language. 
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JUDGE FITZSIMONS

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 13, 2014 (5:46am)

Peter FitzSimons seems both amused and offended that Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe is gay: 
Ian Thorpe is gay, you say? He’s reportedly “Come out” in his interview with Sir Michael Parkinson on Channel Ten on Sunday night? Gay, you say?
Well, who would have thought it?
Apart from just about everyone that’s met and talked to our greatest Olympian, I mean. 
Whoa! Stereotype much, Peter? The Fairfax columnist then condemns Thorpe for dishonesty: 
Lie about it Thorpe has, for a long time, make no mistake.
“For the record,” he wrote in his autobiography two years ago, “I am not gay and all my sexual experiences have been straight.”
Porky pie? Much more than that. What you write about your life in your autobiography is a little like what you say when under oath. When you call that autobiography This is My Life it is a further affirmation that what I am telling you is the dinkum oil.
But it wasn’t.
“The thing that I find hurtful about “speculation that I’m gay,” Thorpe went on, with the ABC, “is that people are questioning my integrity and what I say. That’s the only part I find hurtful, that this is something I would be embarrassed about and that I would hide ... ”
More nonsense. 
Man, give the guy a break. Thorpe has just announced his sexual preference to the world – bravely, at potential risk to his commercial and media income – and in response he’s called a nonsensical liar. This seems needlessly and stupidly brutal. So Thorpe said he wasn’t gay, and now says he is. So what? Why be so morally outraged?
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF WRONG

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 13, 2014 (4:08am)

Recent online predictions from Bob Ellis, longtime Labor speechwriter and 72-year-old Labor groupie:

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BEAUTIFUL ONE DAY, GORED THE NEXT

Tim Blair – Sunday, July 13, 2014 (4:02am)

Al Gore recently shared a Canberra press conference with a prominent Queenslander. The Gore Effect instantly struck out nation’s capital, and it has now spread to Queensland
Brisbane has hit its coldest temperatures in 103 years.
Not since July 28 1911 has Brisbane felt this cold, getting down to a brisk 2.6C at 6.41am. 
Other Queensland locations have also felt the force of Gore Effect by proxy.
(Via reader Dave)
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The Bolt Report today, July 13

Andrew Bolt July 13 2014 (6:00am)

On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm… Should Tony Abbott call a double dissolution election before Clive Palmer destroys his government? And why these untruths and exaggerations about boat people?
My guest:  Labor’s Anthony Albanese.
The panel:  IPA boss John Roskam and former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Costa
NewsWatch:  The Australian’s media editor Sharri Markson.  Plus spin of the week.
Warning: not safe for climate alarmists, refugee activists and anyone else for whom the truth doesn’t matter if the cause is just.
The videos of the shows appear here.
13 JULY 2014
INTERVIEW WITH ANTHONY ALBANESE
ANDREW BOLT, PRESENTER: On Thursday the Prime Minister thought, finally, the new Senate would give his Government its biggest win.

TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER: Today should be the day when the carbon tax is finally scrapped.
ANDREW BOLT: But Clive Palmer had just thought of yet another thing he wanted in the bill to scrap the tax, even heavier penalties for companies not passing on the savings.
CLIVE PALMER, PALMER UNITED PARTY LEADER: In the old amendment which was drafted by the government, right, it had a lot of ‘mays’, right? We’ve changed those ‘mays’ to ‘musts’. We’ve stiffened it up.
ANDREW BOLT: But the Senate clerks said Palmer’s last-minute changes weren’t constitutional, he arced up and so, whoops, Palmer’s four senators voted to save the tax they’d promised to axe, for another week, at least. Palmer just loved being at the centre of attention again, but what a shambles he’d created, leaving the government scrambling to save face after losing the vote. 
STEPHEN PARRY, SENATE PRESIDENT: Order, the result of the division is 37 ayes and 35 no’s, which means the report of the committee has been adopted, and the bills have been negatived.
ERIC ABETZ, SENATE LEADER: I believe that, next week, we can resolve the issues that were of a technical nature.
ANDREW BOLT: Joining me is Labor transport spokesman Anthony Albanese, who was the Gillard Government’s chief negotiator with the independents, and Greens MP, who then held the balance in the lower house. Thanks for joining me.
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Good to be with you, Andrew.
ANDREW BOLT: look, dealing with people like Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor must’ve been a doddle compared to dealing with Clive Palmer. How much damage could this man do to Parliament?
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, it’s a chaotic government, Andrew, and what we’re seeing, writ large, is that Tony Abbott had a plan to get into government, but he doesn’t have a plan to govern. The sort of skills that made him a very effective opposition leader, being able to stick to a script, have those three-word slogans, he’s finding, don’t equip him very well to be an effective Prime Minister. And that’s why we see the government’s struggling to find a narrative, struggling to get its agenda through of its budget of broken promises, and we’re finding out pretty quickly that Australians are now all seeing that Government
isn’t perhaps as easy as Tony Abbott and the Coalition thought it was.
ANDREW BOLT: OK. Well, that was your free kick, but the question was about Clive Palmer. What do you think this bloke’s agenda is? Is it to destroy the Government?
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, Clive Palmer certainly likes being at the centre of attention, but Clive Palmer, of course, is a creation of the Coalition. He’s a life member of the LNP, and I note that he still appears in the Queensland branch’s latest booklet for their conference as a life member. Tony Abbott was so negative and created, I think, a feeling of distrust of the major parties and so people voted for minor parties, be it Clive Palmer or some of the other
fringe parties that are now represented in the Senate, Tony Abbott has to deal with this. This is a reality. This is the parliament that the Australian people gave him.
ANDREW BOLT: I know that, I know he has to deal with it, but I want - yeah, but I want to go back to Clive Palmer. We’ve got it, OK? You think Tony Abbott’s all stuffed it up, but I want to talk about Clive Palmer because the future of the Parliament depends on what his real game is. Do you think it is to just, you know, help the Government run things better, or is it to destroy the Government?

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'The Bolt Report today, July 13'
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Palmer could push other Senators into stopping carbon tax repeal

Andrew Bolt July 13 2014 (5:46am)

Clive Palmer’s demands are so extreme or wildly expressed that other crossbench senators are nervous:
Prime Minister Tony Abbott faces a fresh threat to the abolition of the carbon tax, with two key crossbenchers warning that if the government continues to pander to Clive Palmer it risks losing their support.
NSW senator David Leyonhjelm and South Australia’s Bob Day issued the stern warning on Saturday, saying they were concerned that ‘’severe compliance’’ obligations placed on business by Palmer United Party amendments to the carbon tax repeal bills could be ‘’worse than the tax itself’’.
Senator Leyonhjelm told The Sunday Age: ‘’We are signalling to the government they don’t have a blank cheque with us. If you give too much ground to PUP you might lose us. We want to see the carbon tax removed, but not at the price of some big brother obligation that makes life difficult for industry.’’…
Senator Day said under PUP’s ‘’confusing requirements’’ that appear to have been accepted by the government, energy suppliers could face fines of $85,000 for not submitting paperwork like a ‘’carbon tax removal substantiation notice’’ on time. “Power companies will simply pass these hefty fines for non-compliance onto consumers,” he said.
Can Abbott survive dealing with Palmer and his fellow extremists?
The crossbench of the senate, which now consists of 18 independents and minor party MPs (the 10 Greens), has asserted its new authority over the government in ways that Tony Abbott failed to anticipate and in a manner which has many in the Coalition horrified.
Not only have Palmer and his minions refused to honour commitments to support the government’s repeal of the carbon tax, they have punched a further $10 billion hole in Joe Hockey’s Budget, turning a budget emergency into a $50 billion fiscal calamity…
Abbott hadn’t factored in the possibility that at least one of the new senators might be, in the words of one Coalition minister, “completely stark raving mad”. And they weren’t talking about Palmer.
Who could have guessed the petrol-loving Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir would become a supporter of taxpayer-funded renewable energy subsidies and would want to keep the sloth-driven bureaucracy that is the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The price for Muir’s vote, which delayed the second attempt to repeal the tax, cost the government $1.5 billion…

Palmer’s tactics are obviously wrapped up in one of two possible but deliberate motives. Either he plans to scuttle Abbott’s plans to axe the tax and destroy the government or he wants to grandstand on the costly promises he has exacted to prove the point that he can exercise power over the Prime Minister no matter what cost to the Budget.
Palmer could destroy this government if it doesn’t destroy him first.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 
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Ricky Muir speaks and my wallet flinches

Andrew Bolt July 13 2014 (5:39am)

Ricky Muir - like Clive Palmer - talks green to charm the media. He’s also the first of Palmer’s four Senate votes to talk rebellion:
In his first interview since arriving in Canberra, Senator Muir, who expects to help kill the carbon tax this week, revealed an agenda far wider than simply pushing the interests of motorists.
The so-called ‘’rev-head senator’’ outlined personal passions that include organic food, which he grows and eats from his garden in rural Victoria, preventive healthcare, which he is interested in championing at a political level, and renewable energy, following his surprise intervention last week to protect the Australian Renewable Energy Agency from the government’s budget knife.
With questions over whether the PUP senators, Glenn Lazarus, Jacqui Lambie and Dio Wang would remain together on every vote, Senator Muir stressed his agreement with the bloc boiled down to being ‘’together but autonomous’’.
‘’The memorandum of understanding [signed with PUP] did say, and I stand by it, we will work together where practical. But we’re going to need to do our own research on every different topic and then work together where practical.’…
Senator Muir revealed a broad belief in the environment, renewable energy and organic food. ‘’...I don’t think many people would argue that renewable energy is the way of the future.’’…
On the $7 Medicare co-payment and cuts to pensions he said: ‘’That’s one I haven’t looked into very much … Again, it’s hitting the lower to mid income earners where it hurts.’’
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The gang that couldn’t shoot straight

Andrew Bolt July 13 2014 (5:35am)

Hamas barely seems to care who it shoots, shelling even Palestinian towns such as Bethlehem and even Hebron, on the West Bank:
Code Red rocket sirens blared throughout Jerusalem, Ma’ale Adumim, Hebron and other surrounding areas on Saturday evening.
Rockets landed in Hebron and Bethlehem, the IDF Spokeperson said.  Four rockets landed in total in the attack- three in Palestinian areas and one near a Jewish West Bank settlement.  
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If you can read this call to jihad, thank a teacher

Andrew Bolt July 13 2014 (5:29am)

An Islamic hate-preacher, now arrested in the Philippines, has paid tribute to Victoria’s education system:
Mr Cerantonio, who attended a small Catholic primary school in Footscray before enrolling in the former Footscray Technical College, described his high school as “a very liberal school”, influenced by the politics of socialism.
“We didn’t have uniforms, we wouldn’t call our teachers by their [surnames] - they wanted to instil in us a sense of freedom, and [to follow] politics”.
In what Mr Cerantonio described as a “socialist and atheist” atmosphere, the teenager soon began seeking solace in religion.
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Remember Brisbane the next time a warmist hypes some hot weather

Andrew Bolt July 13 2014 (5:21am)

Someone will soon blame global warming for this wild weather ...  or maybe not this time:

Brisbane has hit its coldest temperatures in 103 years.
It’s almost as if the world really has been cooling over the past decade:
Antarctica continues to defy the global warming script, with a report from Meteo France, that June this year was the coldest Antarctic June ever recorded, at the French Antarctic Dumont d’Urville Station
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Ian Thorpe says he’s gay. I think he’ll find there was nothing to fear

Andrew Bolt July 13 2014 (5:01am)

I don’t know why it was an issue, but expect and hope it no longer is for anyone. In fact, I hope Ian Thorpe finds he’s even more admired for trusting people with the truth:
The 31-year-old confirms his sexuality for the first time Sunday in an exclusive interview on Channel 10, telling all to veteran British interviewer Sir Michael Parkinson.
It’s understood the interview ...  includes a full admission from Thorpe that he is gay despite having dated women in the past.
In the emotional sit-down shot last month, Thorpe also details the years of depression he has battled while denying his sexuality from the world. Part of that concealment included his own autobiography This Is Me, published in 2012, in which Thorpe wrote that he found questions about his sexuality hurtful…
Friends close to Thorpe have noted that in the past months his family has played a much bigger part in his life, following several years of him living in the United Arab Emirates. Returning home to Sydney towards the end of last year, Thorpe has been increasingly supported by his parents Margaret and Ken, who have been active in their son’s recovery.
Hiding must have been a nightmare:
In his 2012 autobiography, This is Me, Thorpe confronted the speculation head-on: ‘’For the record, I am not gay and all my sexual experiences have been straight. I’m attracted to women, I love children and aspire to have a family one day … I know what it’s like to grow up and be told what your sexuality is, then realising that it’s not the full reality. I was accused of being gay before I knew who I was.’’
Earlier this year, Thorpe was admitted to a rehabilitation facility to receive treatment for his ongoing battle with depression.
If you were wondering why Thorpe was reluctant to be honest until now…
BRIAN Taylor has apologised after calling Geelong premiership star Harry Taylor a “big poofter” on ­national television.
There were calls for the Channel 7 commentator to be sacked after he made the gibe in the lead up to the game between Sydney and Carlton.
He made the remark after footage was shown of Harry Taylor giving a royal wave to the crowd as he was being chaired off the ground after his 150th game last week.

“I don’t know whether you guys down there can hear me or not. I am up here getting ready for the game and I’ve just seen that c--p from Harry — he’s a big poofter, I mean give them this one Harry,” Taylor (right) said as he made a rude gesture.
“You can’t be doing the old royal wave. Next thing you’ll have your mum and dad out there,” Taylor said.
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children are like that ..
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=== Posts from last year ===
4 her so she can see how I see her

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Holly Sarah Nguyen
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
Psalm 34:17-20
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
There are so many different "points" of our day/lives. High points, low points, sadness, pain, happiness, excitement and so on. But remember to keep yourself girded in prayer. God has a solution for every problem; a smile for every tear and a "lift up" for every fall. Through the good times and the bad he's still so worthy to be praise. And he truly sticks closer than a brother:)
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The account is ok, but it fails to raise the most salient issue .. why. I believe the reason for the destruction of the evidence is related to the politics of the day. Before the myth of the stolen generations, a big issue was Aboriginal deaths in custody. Steps had been taken to ensure Aboriginal people wouldn't suicide in custody. For an ALP government to have detained an Aboriginal girl who was subsequently pack raped would have looked very bad for the entire ALP brand ..
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Allyson Christy.
Kerry set to make sixth Mideast visit next week in attempt to restart peace talks - jpost
'The visit, if it indeed takes place, comes as some in the US are questioning whether this is the area where Kerry should be focusing his time and energy right now.

US sources said..... US President Barack Obama – who, beyond giving Kerry public backing, has kept a low profile during the secretary of state’s efforts to prod the sides back to the table – has given Kerry the green light to try to move the sides together, but does not want to get too personally involved to avoid a diplomatic failure.

The sources said the feeling in the White House was that in this way if Kerry succeeded, Obama would obviously enjoy much of the credit, but if he failed, then Obama could distance himself from the failure that would be dropped at Kerry’s doorstep." - Herb Kenon

And as, an Administration remains entrenched within scandals, weakened economic policies and failed foreign policy directives, a determined pursuit lies within the scope of creating a presidential legacy; and a sentiment to include....if only.

http://paper.li/allysonchristy/1338794440
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A dramatic reenactment from 'Nicky's Family' of a British mother choosing a rescued child for adoption. (photo credit: Courtesy of Menemsha Films)
Dave Lux remembers that he lived with his family in an isolated rural area in Slovakia near the Hungarian border, and that his father was a baker in a nearby village. He also recalls that his parents fled with him and his older brother the day after some soldiers came to their house in spring 1939.
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Tuolomne Twilight. I shot this last night after the sun had set. I had taught an Aperture Academy class right next to this location a month ago and have been dying to return. Cathedral peak can be seen in this image, standing tall over this high valley in the lowering light of evening time.
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Am I the only one who never head of a fiddlehead fern? Saw one for the first time on ColoradoASTA newsletter.
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2004: The lost patriots of Hollywood by Michelle Malkin

http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/2004-the-lost-patriots-of-hollywood-by-michelle-malkin/

Box-office patriotism is dead. And so the question is: If Hollywood refuses to support America, why should we support Hollywood?
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Finally found a place to fix my frozen yogurt addiction in Canberra Noggi Belconnen Love Taro yogurt. Thy Hadba Jeremy Nilsvang
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Pastor Rick Warren
At 3 months, an unborn baby girl in her mother's womb can swallow, squint, swim, grasp, suck her thumb, and feel pain.
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oh! and nothing beats natural window light!! mum was extra excited today because she's finally fit into her pre-preggers jeans! Love IT!

Mary Cagalitan Photography |www.marycagalitan.com
 
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Meticulously Detailed Drawing Made with Graphite and Chalk!

Artist : ©Paul Cadden
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New Star Trek ornaments debut this weekend. Details at http://bit.ly/18dzief
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Home made porridge with brown sugar apples
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Sometimes the Island security is on your side and lets you wander around this area at night freely and sometimes it doesn't... just matters who the guard is. I have to say this night was enhanced by the island security... he had no troubles with us, but did have concerns with a couple who seemed strange and possibly threatening, who might have been scoping us and our equipment out. Sometimes you need a protector in the night. This evening we had one.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
There is such a thing as good luck and bad luck .. but only a fool would follow it. - ed
I don't believe in bad and good luck, I believe in Lessons and Blessings.
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I put up two landscape shots, an urban industrial, and now a stormscape... that's a full day of imagery!
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Modern Carabiniere officer
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” Matthew 4:4 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"Sanctified by God the Father."
Jude 1
"Sanctified in Christ Jesus."
1 Corinthians 1:2
"Through sanctification of the Spirit."
1 Peter 1:2
Mark the union of the Three Divine Persons in all their gracious acts. How unwisely do those believers talk who make preferences in the Persons of the Trinity; who think of Jesus as if he were the embodiment of everything lovely and gracious, while the Father they regard as severely just, but destitute of kindness. Equally wrong are those who magnify the decree of the Father, and the atonement of the Son, so as to depreciate the work of the Spirit. In deeds of grace none of the Persons of the Trinity act apart from the rest. They are as united in their deeds as in their essence. In their love towards the chosen they are one, and in the actions which flow from that great central source they are still undivided. Specially notice this in the matter of sanctification. While we may without mistake speak of sanctification as the work of the Spirit, yet we must take heed that we do not view it as if the Father and the Son had no part therein. It is correct to speak of sanctification as the work of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit. Still doth Jehovah say, "Let us make man in our own image after our likeness," and thus we are "his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." See the value which God sets upon real holiness, since the Three Persons in the Trinity are represented as co-working to produce a Church without "spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." And you, believer, as the follower of Christ, must also set a high value on holiness--upon purity of life and godliness of conversation. Value the blood of Christ as the foundation of your hope, but never speak disparagingly of the work of the Spirit which is your meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. This day let us so live as to manifest the work of the Triune God in us.

Evening

"His heavenly kingdom."
2 Timothy 4:18
Yonder city of the great King is a place of active service. Ransomed spirits serve him day and night in his temple. They never cease to fulfil the good pleasure of their King. They always "rest," so far as ease and freedom from care is concerned; and never "rest," in the sense of indolence or inactivity. Jerusalem the golden is the place of communion with all the people of God. We shall sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in eternal fellowship. We shall hold high converse with the noble host of the elect, all reigning with him who by his love and his potent arm has brought them safely home. We shall not sing solos, but in chorus shall we praise our King. Heaven is a place of victory realized. Whenever, Christian, thou hast achieved a victory over thy lusts--whenever after hard struggling, thou hast laid a temptation dead at thy feet--thou hast in that hour a foretaste of the joy that awaits thee when the Lord shall shortly tread Satan under thy feet, and thou shalt find thyself more than conqueror through him who hath loved thee. Paradise is a place of security. When you enjoy the full assurance of faith, you have the pledge of that glorious security which shall be yours when you are a perfect citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. O my sweet home, Jerusalem, thou happy harbour of my soul! Thanks, even now, to him whose love hath taught me to long for thee; but louder thanks in eternity, when I shall possess thee.
"My soul has tasted of the grapes,
And now it longs to go
Where my dear Lord his vineyard keeps
And all the clusters grow.
"Upon the true and living vine,
My famish'd soul would feast,
And banquet on the fruit divine,
An everlasting guest."
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Zacchaeus

[Zăcchae'us] - pure or justified.

The Man Who Overcame Obstacles

Zacchaeus was the wealthy man of Jerusalem who gathered revenue for the Roman government, but who became a disciple of Christ (Luke 19:1-10). A "chief publican," Zacchaeus might have been of a higher grade than Matthew.
Although not one of Christ's expected converts, Zacchaeus had heard much about Christ and was determined to see Him for himself. When ultimately Christ came his way there were two obstacles in his way - the crowd, and his own short stature. But he quickly overcame both hindrances.
I. The crowd. It is strange that those who were enthusiastic about Christ were the very people blocking Zacchaeus'view. What a lesson for our hearts can be gleaned from this fact!
II. The short stature. The other difficulty was Zacchaeus himself. His native hindrance was his small stature, which he quickly overcame. Up the tree he climbed and had the best view of Jesus that day. If we would see Jesus we too must scramble higher than ourselves.
III. The call to discipleship. Our Lord called Zacchaeus down and invited Himself to his house. Zacchaeus was a sinner and Christ saved him. Quickly Zacchaeus revealed the depth of his surrender to his newly found Master. There came an immediate and generous restitution.
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Today's reading: Psalm 4-6, Acts 17:16-34 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 4-6

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David.
1 Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
3 Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
4 Tremble and do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the LORD....

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 17:16-34

In Athens
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating foreign gods." They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean." 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
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