Thursday, June 04, 2015

Fri Jun 4th Todays News

Todays report stands on its own because this time in 2014, the Conservative Voice was looking for rental accommodation after being forced to sell their unit/home. Bolt report Instructions are after the publishing news. Normal service resumes tomorrow.
===
NSW passes $30 billion investments from the rent of electricity assets. The rental of poles and wires has been opposed by the ALP as a policy. Nick Greiner had a policy for the sale of assets that may well have realised $120 billion in the early '90s, but independent and ALP opposition prevented it. Successive ALP governments weakened the asset, and when they came to attempt a sale, it was possible they would raise no funds. In 2015 terms, $120 billion comes out at over $700 billion, assuming 8% pa from investment. That amount of cash would have pushed NSW into the lead of the world and the infrastructure that would have resulted would do much more to help the poor and needy than any effort of the ALP. But the ALP opposed the worthy policy in the interests of union mates, not the public interest. 

Australia's economy grows after the budget. The small business stimulation seems to have been effective. The ALP, who collectively want house values to fall are disappointed. The result is a growth in jobs, fall in debt, everything the ALP cannot do as they oppose the public interest in favour of Union goals which are often corrupt and rarely favour union members. 

Free Jonathan Pollard. He was arrested for espionage in the US after he was badly managed. Similar typed crimes do not attract the penalty already given to him. Israel wants him. 

Cure for arthritis may unlock extra longevity. Australia has a scientist who believes they may be able to vaccinate against the disease. The implications are astounding. A ten year development cycle is referred to. 

In 1039, Henry III became Holy Roman Emperor. 1411, King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries. 1615, Siege of Osaka: Forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu took Osaka Castle in Japan. The siege success resulted in the destruction of a clan and the establishment of the Shogunate. 1647, Canonicus Grand Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Indian Tribe died. He was Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Tribe (rivals to the Wampanoag) at the time of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth. 1745, Battle of HohenfriedbergFrederick the Great's Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession. 1760, Great UpheavalNew England planters arrived to claim land in Nova ScotiaCanada, taken from the Acadians. 1783, the Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrated their montgolfière (hot air balloon). 1784, Élisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covered 4 kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated). 1792, Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1794, British troops captured Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

In 1802, grieving over the death of his wife, Marie Clotilde of France, King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicated his throne in favour of his brother, Victor Emmanuel. She had been a fat child, and had not wanted to marry. But the King of France used her marriage to advance his agenda. And she came to love her husband. They tried to ave children, but failed. 1812, following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory. 1825, General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, spoke at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his visit to the United States. 1855, Major Henry C. Wayne departed New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps. 1859, Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeated the Austrian army. 1862, American Civil WarConfederate troops evacuated Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee. 1876, an express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. 1878, Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire ceded Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retained nominal title. The Ottoman was 'The sick man of Europe' and her empire was crumbling. When the Ottoman's had been growing, she had used her minorities to forge the empire, but as she collapsed, she abused her minorities. Europe was appalled at how Islam treated Christians, and so created Bulgaria to be independent of the Ottomans. In order to get a better deal, Ottoman's gave Cyprus to Britain, but retained the title in name. It worked and the Ottoman persecution of Armenians and Assyrians continued. 1896, Henry Ford completed the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gave it a successful test run. It was two speed and had no reverse. It could reach 32 km/h. 

In 1912, Massachusetts became the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage. The policy was a wonderful failure, and did not lift wages for the poor, but allowed prosecution of those who paid too little. 1913, Emily Davison, a suffragette, ran out in front of King George V's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She was trampled, never regained consciousness and died four days later. She hadn't wanted to die. She had wanted to cause a spectacle. She made it half way. 1916, World War IRussia opened the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia. Brusilov was a military genius who invented the use of short artillery bursts followed by shock troops. 1917, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded: Laura E. RichardsMaude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall received the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand received the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present DaysHerbert B. Swope received the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World. 1919, Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed suffrage to women, and sent it to the U.S. states for ratification. 1920, Hungary lost 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon was signed in Paris. 1928, the President of the Republic of ChinaZhang Zuolin, was assassinated by Japanese agents.

In 1932, Marmaduke Grove and other Chilean military officers led a coup d'etat establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Chile. 1939, Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, was denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. FDR had known what he was doing and what would happen to the victims. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps. 1940, World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ended – British forces completed evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech. 1942, World War II: The Battle of Midway began. The Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo ordered a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese navy. 1943, a military coup in Argentina ousted Ramón Castillo. 1944, World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captured the German submarine U-505 – the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century. Also 1944, World War II: Rome fell to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.

In 1961, in the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparked the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin. 1965, Duane Earl Pope robbed the Farmers' State Bank of Big Springs, Nebraska, killing three people execution-style and severely wounding a fourth. The crime later put Pope on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list. 1970, Tonga gained independence from the United Kingdom. 1974, during Ten Cent Beer Night, inebriated Cleveland Indians fans started a riot, causing the game to be forfeited to the Texas Rangers. 1975, the Governor of California Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights. 1979, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings took power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo was overthrown.

In 1986, Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel. 1988, three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan exploded in ArzamasGorky OblastUSSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500. 1989, Ali Khamenei was elected as the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death and funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Also 1989, the Tiananmen Square protests were violently ended in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with at least 241 dead. Also 1989, Solidarity's victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparked off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leading to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and beginning the Autumn of Nations. Also 1989, Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near UfaRussia, killed 575 as two trains passing each other threw sparks near a leaky pipeline. 1996, the first flight of Ariane 5 exploded after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission. 1998, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. 2001, Gyanendra, the last King of Nepal, ascended to the throne after the massacre in the Royal Palace. 2010, Falcon 9 Flight 1 was the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40. 2012, the Diamond Jubilee Concert was held outside Buckingham Palace on The Mall, London.
2014
I have returned and will resume the former posting system. But first, an explanation ..
===
The move.
I knew last year (2013) I would have to sell my 3 br unit in Carramar It was likely I would have to move, and so I made plans. I wanted the federal election to be over so the market would settle, I felt it had been compressed because the ALP government was that bad. It doesn’t mean that Liberal governments always mean better house prices, but Liberal government usually mean better growth and lower inflation, and that puts pressure on house prices. I wanted a year of Liberal government before my sale, but I knew I would have to sell before the end of 2013 because I had run out of my own money.

Disaster struck for me on the October long weekend. A main sewerage blockage beneath my unit resulted in my unit being flooded with sewage for over two days. It needn’t have been that long or that bad. I had called strata for the plumber straight away, but it was a public holiday and I accepted their delay. Even so, I indicated where the blockage was and they ignored me, making the spillage worse. On day two my home contents insurance had declared my unit uninhabitable. I stayed. My reasons for staying were sound. Others thought it was a paid hotel holiday. However, I’m way too fat to enjoy a hotel stay and I had things at my home which were too precious to risk losing by allowing unsupervised access. I still lost things, but it was different to what would have happened had I not stayed. It took five months before both insurance companies gave up, and that delayed my sale plan. At the end, incompetent insurance (tip, avoid GIO or any Suncorp related companies, because their premiums are low but they don’t cover legitimate claims) failed to actually repair the damage by dragging out the issue and walking away.

The payout from Allianz was in March but it did not cover my losses. I had under insured and could potentially have complained for much more, but to do so would delay the payout which I needed to prevent the bank from seizing my home and selling it before I was ready. I was forced to give away a $50k library I had collected over my life because I could not take it with me .. I had to scale down and worse, nobody wanted it. I tried giving it to charity, libraries and friends. But I didn’t have those kinds of friends. Mind you, I have some wonderful ones .. they wanted to help .. but for many reasons they couldn’t address underlying issues. I approached the media and they were uninterested. Media were interested in my issue, but not me. I turned to my brother for help and he refused.

I had avenues of appeal with authorities. But I was ignored. I am unemployed and have to declare anything that is given to me. ATO have hit me with a disputed bill, meaning they were my highest priority even before my home. I made it known that I would consider selling as fallback while I appealed to authorities. One former student of mine took that as permission to engage an estate agent they were linked to. The pushy agent warned me that if I delayed the sale might be for a lower price. I told them my preference would be to sell for an investor and then lease back. They said they would consult their lists. and would await my permission. My oldest sister came to town to go cruising with my estranged mother. Instead, my estranged mother had a heart attack, and survived, anchoring my sister who couldn’t help and wouldn’t visit but wanted to see me. I expressed my frustration with the refusal of authorities to engage, and the pushy agent contacted me again. They hadn’t even looked at their lists.

A few thousand dollars would have immensely improved my place, but pushy agent did not think it necessary. They advertised $340k for a 3br unit in Carramar adjacent to the train station with water views and park, shared lock up garage new carpet, new paint, new tiles the only balcony on that side of the building, security shutters and split system air conditioning. It was a reasonable price, but high relative to last year. The expectation was there would be lower offers and I might choose to accept or reject. Nobody even offered in the first week. So, on advice, I lowered it for the second week to $330, not wanting to seem panicked, but requiring a quick sale. I had run out of money, including the insurance payout, and the bank was going to be in a position to seize and force a sale, as they had attempted in '10. A lone buyer inspected, and would not make an offer. I instructed the agent to inquire and they offered $300k. I accepted it.

Problem was I had been fuzzy with strata fees. I said they had been $200 a quarter in '02, but were now $400 a quarter. Pushy agent asked "Why so expensive?" which that sum isn't. I ignored it as the agent seemed very young. But the agent had told the buyer $200 a quarter and when I corrected them he began repeating the question. I had let my agent beat up the buyer to $303k. But, when I discovered the strata fees increased to $500 a quarter, the buyer asked to lower the sales price to $300k. I explained to pushy agent that the sum was reasonable. Too late. 

The agent told me the buyer had their own residence and wanted the place as an investment. I said that it hadn't mattered either way, I had to sell, but I preferred being able to stay. The paperwork sent to my solicitor declared a vacant possession. Agent assured me he would broach the issue after the cooling off period. Cooling off period is ten working days and following the exchange of contracts on 23rd April were three public holidays. At the end of the cooling off period, I contacted the agent to make sure I was to stay and they told me the buyer wanted the residence for themselves. The agent's firm had a rental unit. Out of loyalty, I approached them. It was easier than explaining to third parties what had happened. The issue was urgent. I had three weeks to secure a rental property and move. A new agent would require all sorts of papers and details. I found a place I liked in the Agent's list. The agent promised me they would forward my application to the owner. A week passed and they told me they hadn't contacted the owner, but my application was a low priority. I was looking at a bed room unit I was moving from as I had not time to get rid of furniture. But the agent decided I would not want to keep a unit with 3 beds long term. 

I approached several other agencies. I got together the papers needed for an application. I engaged remove-alists without knowing where I would be going. Kents were a big outfit and would bill me, not needing cash on the day. I finally found a unit I liked from Ray White Cabramatta. It was a two bedroom unit close to public transport on the top floor. But I could not secure it in time. My bank delayed payment of the settlement because of their paperwork, so my solicitor offered to allow me a seven day extension. I borrowed money from a friend (Thanks Mona and Nathan) to pay the cash deposit and contacted the removalist who backed out because it was inconvenient. I found another removalist who wanted cash and I borrowed that from my friend too. 

I then got a mobile phone and took steps to reestablish broadband at the destination. My new landline is silent .. it is a blessing not to get the obnoxious calls I had been getting. On the morning of the move, I'm called on my new mobile by the Telstra mechanic keen to connect my internet prior to my move. I rebook for after the move. Solicitor advises me that the disbursements are not electronic. I have bills to pay and the delay will hurt. Removalist informs me they will be delayed until afternoon of the move. I make sure refrigerator is turned off a few hours before the move. Removalist shows. He is a family guy and he has brought his three sons. I had boxed most things, but not the kitchen items. He suggests I leave the old premises to him and prepare in the new one. I agree. He calls me after a few hours about some of the larger items he wants to remove by the windows. I approve. However, I had carried the same items through the front door. It took the removalists eight hours, and I had begun to panic at the destination, where the only seat had been the toilet seat. I discovered that the newly pinter unit was over run with cockroaches. I had instructed the removalist to leave behind a mop and a vacuum cleaner, but he decided to leave behind a car load of material, including all the things I might have used to combat the cockroaches. 

It was 8pm when I found out the removalist had packed my frozen foods by removing them from the freezer and boxing them. He had taken so long not because he used my computer, but because he had reboxed all my goods and wrapped everything in paper. The next day was settlement and I now had to go back to my old place to collect the items the removalist forgot. He had left a mess and not replaced the fly screen he had removed from a window. I phoned a friend with a car (many, many thanks, Tim). Solicitor informed me that the buyer's bank had failed to show for settlement. Settlement was rebooked for the following Monday. I'd already passed on the keys to the pushy agent. On Monday the sale settled, but checks were not prepared for me until the Tuesday. Solicitor gave me bank checks. Pushy agent gave me a personal check. I tried to disburse the bills but my bank wanted the bank checks to clear three working days, aiming for the following Monday, but I negotiated the Friday. For some reason, Bank checks are no longer recognised as being secure.
Historical perspectives on this day
In 1039, Henry III became Holy Roman Emperor. 1411, King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries. 1615, Siege of Osaka: Forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu took Osaka Castle in Japan. 1647, Canonicus Grand Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Indian Tribe died. He was Chief Sachem of the Narragansett Tribe (rivals to the Wampanoag) at the time of the Pilgrims landing in Plymouth. 1745, Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick the Great's Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession. 1760, Great Upheaval: New England planters arrived to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada, taken from the Acadians. 1783, the Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrated their montgolfière (hot air balloon). 1784, Élisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covered 4 kilometres in 45 minutes, and reached 1,500 metres altitude (estimated). 1792, Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1794, British troops captured Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

In 1802, grieving over the death of his wife, Marie Clotilde of France, King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicated his throne in favour of his brother, Victor Emmanuel. 1812, following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory. 1825, General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, spoke at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his visit to the United States. 1855, Major Henry C. Wayne departed New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps. 1859, Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeated the Austrian army. 1862, American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuated Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee. 1876, an express train called the Transcontinental Express arrived in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City. 1878, Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire ceded Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retained nominal title. 1896, Henry Ford completed the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gave it a successful test run.

In 1912, Massachusetts became the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage. 1913, Emily Davison, a suffragette, ran out in front of King George V's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She was trampled, never regained consciousness and died four days later. 1916, World War I: Russia opened the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia. 1917, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall received the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand received the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope received the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World. 1919, Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guaranteed suffrage to women, and sent it to the U.S. states for ratification. 1920, Hungary lost 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon was signed in Paris. 1928, the President of the Republic of China, Zhang Zuolin, was assassinated by Japanese agents.

In 1932, Marmaduke Grove and other Chilean military officers led a coup d'etat establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Chile. 1939, Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, was denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later died in Nazi concentration camps. 1940, World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ended – British forces completed evacuation of 338,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivered his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech. 1942, World War II: The Battle of Midway began. The Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo ordered a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese navy. 1943, a military coup in Argentina ousted Ramón Castillo. 1944, World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captured the German submarine U-505 – the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century. Also 1944, World War II: Rome fell to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.

In 1961, in the Vienna summit, the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparked the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin. 1965, Duane Earl Pope robbed the Farmers' State Bank of Big Springs, Nebraska, killing three people execution-style and severely wounding a fourth. The crime later put Pope on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list. 1970, Tonga gained independence from the United Kingdom. 1974, during Ten Cent Beer Night, inebriated Cleveland Indians fans started a riot, causing the game to be forfeited to the Texas Rangers. 1975, the Governor of California Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights. 1979, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings took power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo was overthrown.

In 1986, Jonathan Pollard pled guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel. 1988, three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan exploded in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500. 1989, Ali Khamenei was elected as the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death and funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Also 1989, the Tiananmen Square protests were violently ended in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with at least 241 dead. Also 1989, Solidarity's victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparked off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leading to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and beginning the Autumn of Nations. Also 1989, Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, killed 575 as two trains passing each other threw sparks near a leaky pipeline. 1996, the first flight of Ariane 5 exploded after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission. 1998, Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. 2001, Gyanendra, the last King of Nepal, ascended to the throne after the massacre in the Royal Palace. 2010, Falcon 9 Flight 1 was the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40. 2012, the Diamond Jubilee Concert was held outside Buckingham Palace on The Mall, London.
=== 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.
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August https://www.createspace.com/4124406September https://www.createspace.com/5106914October https://www.createspace.com/5106951, 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 the purchase of a kindle version for just $3.99 more. 
===
For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Or the US President at
https://www.change.org/p/barack-obama-change-this-injustice#
or
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/change-injustice-faced-david-daniel-ball-after-he-reported-bungled-pedophile-investigation-and/b8mxPWtJ or http://wh.gov/ilXYR

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.
=== Bolt Report Items ===
On Bolt Report an ongoing policy is that any Islam post can only be on the pinned leader. Normal rules apply in that if it is merely foul and abusive it will be deleted. Otherwise comments are welcome.  
===
Dear Members (YOU MUST READ THIS THREAD)
As of today, the rules of this forum are going to be enforced more rigorously. This includes the instant removal of members who personally abuse other members of this forum.
Whilst the use of bad language is often invoked as colourful descriptors of politicians, we ask that people refrain from the C word as there are many people on this forum who do not want to see that as part of every day language here.
Blatant racism, homophobia and religious slurs will be removed from the forum, along with the person who posted them.
Crass, vile & vitriolic hate posts will also be removed along with the person who posts those comments or threads.
Generally we will give people a 24 hour time out to cool off after they have been removed and those people will be welcome back to the forum once they have applied via an admin..... we will however, permanently remove repeat offenders with a rule of "3 strikes and you're out".
We are trying to encourage legitimate debate, conversation and discussion on this forum where people are able to have free thought and their own opinions without "mob" rule attacking them for thinking differently, however, in saying this, members who are here to deliberately cause trouble or "troll" will be removed without warning.
The standard of this forum needs to be better and people are responsible for their own behaviour.... bullying of others or bullying of admins will also result in that person being removed.
Legitimate criticism is appreciated, along with logical and rational commentary.
Admins decisions are final.... so make of this forum what you want of it and do not complain if you are removed for behaviour that is contrary to the posting protocols.
If you feel intimated or threatened by another person, contact an admin immediately so the situation can be monitored and mediated.
Regards
Admins
===
Happy birthday and many happy returns Robert Tram and 'Mattie Gir. Born on the same day, across the years. You won't believe what happened on your day. In 1855, Major Henry C. Wayne departed New York aboard the USS Supply to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps. In 1913, Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, was fatally injured when she was trampled by King George V's horse at the Epsom Derby. In 1920, The Kingdom of Hungary lost 72% of its territory and 64% of its population with the signing of the Treaty of Trianon in Paris. In 1944, A United States Navy task group captured German submarine U-505, which survives today as a museum ship at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. In 1996, The maiden flight of the Ariane 5 failed, with the rocket self-destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a malfunction in the control software—one of the most expensive computer bugs in history. I guess the moral is that Bill Clinton had the wrong software, and royally backed the wrong horse in WW1, offending women, while looking for salvation in great depths with a camel. I'm not much with morals, but hope you have an awesome day.
Deaths
June 4Corpus Christi (various Western Christian churches, 2015); Day of National Unity in Hungary; Independence Day in Tonga (1970)
Governor of California Jerry Brown in 1978
It is good to have goals, but not to be run over chasing them. Check the small print. Enjoy the Schnitzel. Help the farmers. The fruit of corruption is bad. Let's party.
Matches
Hatches
Despatches
===
2015
=== No new posts ===

Public servants line up with Labor in fight to the death

Piers Akerman – Tuesday, June 04, 2013 (12:45am)

THE Gillard minority government’s slash and burn policy as it moves toward the election is going to devastate the nation for years to come.
Having politicised the Treasury to an obscene degree, it has ensured that other agencies are just as compliant to its political goals.
Yesterday it was revealed that the board of the CSIRO sent a text message to opposition science spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella to let her know the institution’s boss had been reappointed for an extra year.
The move was a “politeness”, Science Minister Don Farrell told a Senate committee.
CSIRO yesterday announced its chief executive Megan Clark would stay in her role for an extra year, until the end of 2014, while an international search for her successor took place.
That reappointment was a decision for the CSIRO board but was approved by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the cabinet, the estimates hearing was told.
Senator Farrell said the CSIRO board chairman, Simon McKeon, had tried to contact Ms Mirabella on Thursday and Friday last week to inform her of the decision.
Mr McKeon told Ms Mirabella’s office he had an important issue to discuss with her.
When he was unable to talk to her, he sent a text message directly to the Liberal MP, also stating he needed to discuss an important issue.
In April, Tony Abbott said he was concerned the Labor government was trying to appoint a number of key positions before September’s poll in a bid to reach out from “beyond the political grave”.
But Senator Farrell said that Mr Abbott wasn’t prime minister at the moment and his view about appointments was not relevant in this case.
“It is, given the term wasn’t due to expire until after the next election,” opposition parliamentary secretary for science Richard Colbeck replied.
“We made a polite request asking you not to make any appointments.”
Senator Farrell replied: “We politely declined.”
“I’d hardly call that polite, minister,” Senator Colbeck shot back.
Senator Colbeck is correct.
Later, Ms Mirabella said that contrary to evidence to the hearing, it was not Mr McKeon who tried to contact her office but a female bureaucrat.
She said the text message she received on Friday said Mr McKeon wanted to speak with her briefly about a CSIRO issue that could be of interest.
Ms Mirabella got another text message informing her about the appointment yesterday, about 40 minutes before Dr Clark informed CSIRO staff.
“There was no urgency in the text sent by Mr McKeon on Friday,” Ms Mirabella said.
“It’s a bit cute and somewhat curious that they waited until the 11th hour to raise the issue.”
Not really.
The CSIRO is on a hiding to nothing over its defence of the government’s global warming scare campaign.
It has gone out of its way to promote those who support the nonsense and it has stifled those scientists who don’t think science supports the humbug.
Global warming science took another knock yesterday with The Australian reporting that banned aerosols were probably to blame for temperature increases since the 1970s – not carbon dioxide.
So much for the useless carbon tax.
Expect more of government department’s to try and fight the inevitable as the election approaches.
Labor has long held the public servants captive and they are now fighting for their sinecures. 

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Eddie McGuire’s career is just one long gaffe

Miranda Devine – Saturday, June 01, 2013 (10:35pm)

EDDIE McGuire claimed his racist King Kong outrage on radio last week was a slip of the tongue, an aberration in an impeccable public life of service to others and the pursuit of equality. 


In defence of McGuire, I note Miranda’s assertion regarding Sydney is tenuous. McGuire is smart and articulate but clearly not in Devine’s class. But that doesn’t mean he is a fool. A lot of those who left 9 did so not because Eddie didn’t like them, but because 9 had overspent on talent previously. 9’s current failings are more closely related to abysmal programming. They have consistently failed to find good programs since they stole Babylon 5 from 7.
McGuire is a buffoon. But a capable one. I’d be happy for him to MC my wedding. It is a particular personality type that is good at public speaking in a relaxed atmosphere. He doesn’t have the precision to compere Ready, Steady Cook .. but that is because of experience .. he doesn’t have to. - ed

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THE MINNOW WILL BE LOST

Tim Blair – Tuesday, June 04, 2013 (1:39pm)

Advice for Julia Gillard: 
NSW MP Laurie Ferguson, who Ms Gillard saved in a 2010 preselection contest, told the Prime Minister: “Unless you personally get out there and campaign on boats, we’re dead”. 
The last time the Prime Minister campaigned on a boat, she immediately sank it. 

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CLUES OFFERED

Tim Blair – Tuesday, June 04, 2013 (1:27pm)

One or two hints emerge about the possible motivation behind last month’s London street killing: 
Michael Adebolajo, one of the men accused of murdering soldier Lee Rigby, asked to be called Mujaahid Abu Hamza when he appeared in court for the first time. 
Hmmm. Abu Hamza is the celebrated hook-handed, mono-eyed cleric currently resident in an American prison. 
The 28-year-old waved, smiled and appeared to blow a kiss to a relative in the public gallery as he entered the dock at Westminster magistrates’ court clutching a copy of the Koran. 
All signs point to Presbyterianism, but we should wait until cultural detectives at the ABC and SBS have finished their investigations. Meanwhile: 
An inquest into Drummer Rigby’s death was opened and adjourned at Southwark coroner’s court last week.
It heard that the father-of-one had to be identified from dental records … 

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TREND EVIDENT

Tim Blair – Tuesday, June 04, 2013 (3:06am)

Newspoll highlights:
• Labor down to primary support of 30 per cent.
• Coalition up to primary support of 49 per cent.
• Labor down to two-party preferred support of 42 per cent.
• Coalition up to two-party preferred support of 58 per cent.
• Julia Gillard’s approval down to 28 per cent.
• Tony Abbott’s approval up to 36 per cent.
Were this sentiment to be reflected electorate-wide, Labor would be reduced to around 38 seats in the next parliament. Labor is also losing Victoria
Julia Gillard’s home state has abandoned her with as many as six seats in Victoria now at risk of falling to the Coalition, including that of her Attorney General Mark Dreyfus …
An exclusive JWS/Herald Sun poll reveals a 15.4 per cent swing against Mr Dreyfus in the once-safe seat of Isaacs, enough to remove him. If repeated in neighbouring seats, the PM’s hopes of retaining the furniture in her home state could be dashed. 
And in Queensland
Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan looks set to lose his Brisbane seat of Lilley, with internal polling suggesting Labor will struggle to retain any Queensland seats at the September 14 federal election.
In a result even worse than the 1996 ‘’baseball bats’’ election, when Labor was reduced to two of the then 26 seats in Queensland, Labor may retain only one MP – former prime minister Kevin Rudd. 
Just 101 days to go.

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TO THE BONE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, June 04, 2013 (2:29am)

It’s going to be a tough year for election campaign slogans. Labor’s most famous slogan – “It’s Time”, from 1972 – just wouldn’t work in 2013. Today, in reference to Labor, it suggests a priest’s doleful final words to a death row prisoner.
Bless them, for still they hope. The Labor government has been chanting “cut to the bone” ever since the budget, attempting to make something of the fearful reductions in services we can expect under an austere Tony Abbott regime.
This is in contrast to the slogan wheeled out online by Labor last June, when the government was still telling everybody that a surplus was on the way. “Cash for you” promoted Labor’s Schoolkids Bonus program. Or maybe it was a late-night ad for pawn shop hucksters.
Considering the current Labor cabinet, it’s difficult to pick the difference. Probably the hucksters are turning a profit.

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CITY OF CORPSES

Tim Blair – Tuesday, June 04, 2013 (2:05am)

The perfect Adelaide event
Acclaimed Swedish crime writer Hakan Nesser will be a guest at an unusual new Adelaide festival calledThe Body in the Garden …
Australian writers who have accepted invitations include Gabrielle Lord, Paul Bangay and the Melbourne duo, Fabian Capomollo and Mat Pember. 
All invitees appear to already possess Adelaide names.

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BOOTLEG MARGARINE

Tim Blair – Tuesday, June 04, 2013 (2:01am)

Mark Steyn on my favourite Canadian law
At the behest of dairy manufacturers, margarine was banned outright in Canada from 1886 to 1948. Indeed, in the same period when Americans were getting bootleg liquor smuggled in from Canada, Canadians were getting bootleg margarine smuggled in from Newfoundland, not yet part of the Dominion of Canada. It’s not often I get the chance to type the phrase “bootleg margarine”, so I just thought I’d throw that in …
Provincial strictures on margarine remained for decades. Quebec’s ban on colorized margarine was not repealed until 2008 … I am no fan of state coercion in matters of butter-substitute coloration, but I confess to a slight pang of regret when the Quebec yellow margarine ban was overturned. 
Latest news from the lawful north: a Toronto Star reporter was arrested, put in headlock, handcuffed and charged with trespassing for taking pictures of an injured railway officer: “News photographers are not allowed to take photoswithout permission at Union Station.”

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The word “asbestos” is all it took to make the NBN look sick

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (5:32pm)

In one blow, NBN turns from a Labor boast into a Labor embarrassment to match the pink batts disaster:
LABOR is fighting off new safety fears over its National Broadband Network as more cases of asbestos exposure during its construction fuel a growing political brawl over the management and cost of the $37.4 billion project. 
The health risks spread to all mainland states yesterday after the Queensland safety regulator revealed three new incidents and federal authority Comcare warned of an “alarming” spate of asbestos safety breaches by contractors.
While Labor sought to blame Telstra for the failures, the Coalition declared the government and its agency, NBN Co, bore ultimate responsibility for managing the risk to public health. 
An emergency meeting in Canberra yesterday confirmed the scale of the problem as NBN contractors rebuild many of the eight million pits on the Telstra network, of which 10 to 20 per cent contain asbestos.
The Gillard Government insists it is in no way responsible.
Trouble is, what it says is contradicted by what it has done - calling meetings with Telstra and the NBN, demanding assurances and holding press conferences. The public will conclude that if the Government can act now, it could also have acted sooner. And indeed it could:
[Workplace Relations Minister Bill] Shorten was yesterday challenged in parliament over three letters he wrote to Telstra showing he was aware of the asbestos risks in 2009. Mr Shorten asked Telstra in his 2009 letters to consider removing all its asbestos. Mr Thodey responded in December 2009 by saying a pro-active program to remove it was not justified at that point because of the cost, the risk of disturbing the material and the looming rollout of the NBN.
But here’s what puzzles me. In the huge media storm, I’ve seen almost no attempt to measure the actual risk involved. Several licensed asbestos removers and people who’d once handled the stuff rang me on 2GB last night to claim the health scare was a huge beat-up. Hear them give their reasons here.
I don’t know one way or the other, but I do know it’s a beat up Labor would not dare call out for fear of seeming heartless, and one the Liberals would not play down given the opportunity to damage the Government. And the media has always liked a good environmental scare.
UPDATE
Not a very convincing performance by Shorten in Parliament yesterday. Again I note his unfortunate habit of snarking when he’s under most pressure to simply answer the damn question.
UPDATE
I suspect a lot of vested interests in whipping up needless panic - vested interests in politics and the media:
Professor Bruce Armstrong is a public health specialist, who’s been investigating asbestos related disease for decades and he says that in this instance, the dangers of asbestos contamination have been exaggerated
Professor Armstrong told Eliza Harvey that he blames politicians and asbestos groups for failing to ease the concerns of affected residents.
ELIZA HARVEY: What do you see is the risk associated with the asbestos that we find bound within these concrete fibres?
BRUCE ARMSTRONG: It’s very low. Provided it remains bound in the asbestos cement form then the risk from it is negligible.
ELIZA HARVEY: So therefore how should we be discussing this risk in light of this week’s debate about the dangers of excavating the pits?
BRUCE ARMSTRONG: The hazard that was generated, to the extent that I know anything about exactly what happened, would have been to the workers knocking the asbestos around and not to people living nearby. 
Those fibres, to the extent that they were present around the workers would be very rapidly diluted in a large volume of air and the probability that anyone else is exposed is going to be very low.

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The other story in Newspoll - Greens dying

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (4:44pm)

Newspoll hasn’t just measured the fall of Labor, but the dying of the Greens. At the election, it won; 11.8 per cent of the vote. Now it’s at 9 - a quarter of its support gone.
Good.  

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How bankrupt Labor now is

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (4:08pm)

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How Cheap Labor has become. How bankrupt of vision.
Raffling the PM like this. And for no higher purpose than simply to “stop Tony Abbott”.
(Thanks to reader Richard.) 

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Labor’s identity politics are for little people, not David Feeney

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (2:58pm)

Labor MP David Feeney is all for affirmative action except when he’s the man who should make way for a token woman:
Senator Feeney said he was a strong supporter of the party’s affirmative-action policies but they should not rest on the outcome of the Batman preselection.
How we laughed.
The fact is Feeney is exactly the kind of man who should stand aside, if his principles mean anything:
Ms Macklin on Sunday endorsed the executive manager of Plan International, Mary-Anne Thomas, for the prized Labor seat and made some rare public comments on the party, saying the ALP was failing to meet its rules that required 40 per cent of candidates in winnable seats to be women… 
“...I am very concerned that if a woman is not preselected for Batman, the ALP in Victoria will have only 27 per cent of candidates in held seats who are women,’’ Ms Macklin said. 
Funny, how Feeney is now arguing against the identity politics he once championed, saying performance should count for more than gender - at least in his case:

Senator Feeney said the seat should not become the litmus test for the ALP’s affirmative-action rules. He said preselectors should instead consider his own abilities ...
Why shouldn’t all male candidates get the treatment Feeney demands for himself - to be judged on performance, not penis?
UPDATE
But let’s not make Feeney too much the victim of identity politics. It’s not as if his candidacy is all about abilities:


In a lengthy political career, Feeney’s backing of Gillard has been his biggest, and worst, call.
But before the electoral axe falls on Labor, one of Gillard’s last political favours has been to offer her backing for Feeney to win preselection in the northern Melbourne electorate of Batman, at nearly 25 per cent the nation’s safest....
He survives because he backed Gillard in 2010. 
No more, no less.
UPDATE
A far more sinister form of identity politics is urged by Guy Rundle, the Fukushima hysteric and correspondent for the far-Left Crikey. From his letter to Labor today (no link):
Please, in arrogantly concluding that the seat is ALP personal property, ignore the most important lesson of US politics—that you fit the candidate to the district, and allow the candidate to adopt the district’s values. Please instead, impose one of Parliament’s most fervent Zionist-shills on a multicultural electorate with a large Middle Eastern presence.
Seriously? Labor should not appoint any pro-Israel politicians in seats with lots of Muslim voters? Could Guy tell us if Jews are allowed to stand in such electorates?
This country is heading down a dangerous path when such politics are not just urged - but, alas, now practised by Labor.  

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Rumor: Bob Carr asks Julia Gillard to resign

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (2:50pm)

Julie Bishop to Julia Gillard in Question Time:

Can she confirm media reports that Bob Carr asked her to step down for the good of the party?
Gillard:
Reports are “entirely untrue”.
Remember when Carr denied plotting against Gillard - a claim Canberra journalists treated as a complete lie? Not sure this latest claim is true, but am sure Carr’s previous denials were not.
UPDATE
Another rumor of the Gillard Government looking after its mates - while stacking the judiciary. A political insider writes:
For what it is worth there is a rumour circulating around the Victorian Bar that the government is going to appoint Nicola Roxon to the Federal Court.
I would be appalled if that were true. I trust it is not. 

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Snarky Bill Shorten needs lessons on how to seem sincere

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (2:46pm)

I discussed in an earlier post today the habit of Workplace Minister Bill Shorten to resort to snark and sanctimony when under pressure just to answer a question.
His responses to heavy questioning of his handling of the asbestos risk of the NBN rollout has badly exposed his weakness. Shorten, if he has leadership pretentions, needs a serious course on how to seem humble and less sanctimonious. No wonder Labor polling suggests there is a huge swing against him in his own seat.
I raise this again having listened to his performance in Question Time today.
The normally urbane Opposition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull was thrown out of Parliament for an excellent jibe, asking the Speaker to remind Shorten mid-bluster he was “not in a North Carlton pie shop”.
Shorten then continued struggled badly under precise questioning over what steps he took, after being alerted in 2009 to the asbestos hazard in the Telstra pits, to warn the Government of the risks involved in the NBN roll out.
He was warned by the Speaker against abusing the Opposition, rathern than answering it, before Abbott asked him again what he did to warn the Government of the asbestos risk in disturbing millions of Telstra pits in the NBN roll out. Could he also confirm he did nothing?
In two goes at the questions, Shorten gave not one direct answer, resorting again to abuse. The Speaker asked him to withdraw the word “hypocrite”.
I don’t think Shorten realises that most people listening to him shout and snark think they are listening to a phony.
UPDATE
In his press conference yesterday, Shorten gave a typical example - five times  - of the kind of sanctimony and hypocrisy that sets my teeth on edge.
BILL SHORTEN: There are people who have not yet been exposed that if we don’t prevent their exposure, will die. More people will die from asbestos in Australia than died in the fields of Flanders in World War I.  [Really?] This is not acceptable and we do need to tackle it and we need to do it not in a partisan way but in a way which goes towards actually dealing with the scourge of asbestos. But you do have to say we’re happy to look at the track record of our Opposition when they were in government, what they did on asbestos. 
Let’s not play politics with this awful issue. But how about that rotten Opposition?

I tell you what, I didn’t trip over any Federal Liberal MPs when I went out to Penrith on Saturday.  The residents didn’t say they’d been inundated with calls from the front bench of the Opposition to see how they’re going. And whilst one shouldn’t point score, a search of Hansard in the last nine years shows that the Opposition Communications Minister has not mentioned the word asbestos until last Thursday.
Let’s not play politics with this awful issue. But how about this heartless Opposition?

Does anyone here seriously think that the Opposition would be tackling the issue of asbestos in the way they tried to if it wasn’t for NBN Co and the politics of that?  Let’s call it for what it is in Australia, the rubbish has to stop. What worries me is people in Penrith have been exposed.  What worries me is a thirty-two-year old cable layer could spot problems with contractors and yet he’s got his eleven week old son potentially exposed.  What worries me is that his aunt, a very good woman, Catherine, her husband died of asbestos, of mesothelioma. Now we’ve got the Liberals carrying on about who knew what when… I think it is important that the Opposition try to resist the temptation to play politics about health and safety ...
Let’s not play politics with this awful issue. But how about these Opposition vultures?
But by the same token, this is a subtle issue, because frankly, if you’ve had a pit remediated in your street, or my street, and your kids or my kids might have been exposed, nothing less than all the details is acceptable. And of course, what struck me about these residents in Penrith, when I met them on Saturday, is they just don’t want other people to go through this tension. You know, we get all the politics of the issues and the Libs trying to score points for whatever reasons and what have you. For me, it is not about Liberal or Labor, this issue. For me, this issue is about Matthew O’Farrell, I think his name is - in Penrith.  Got a beautiful young child - two children, his wife.  
Let’s not play politics with this awful issue. But why can’t this vicious Opposition be more like noble me, weeping tears of compassion for people whose names I got staff to jot down for this moment?
What the Government will do is we will work with Telstra, we will work with everyone in the chain of communications who has a duty of care, we will make sure that asbestos exposure does not occur. We will have our Comcare inspectors and we will work with state regulators. We will work with the Opposition when they’re so minded to work with us on this. This issue is above politics. I just feel particularly motivated when I think about this thirty-two year old chap, living in a street in Penrith, who’s not sure if as a parent he’s failed his kids because somehow a possible exposure may have taken place. That is what I keep in my mind when I answer all your questions Michelle. 
Let’s not play politics with this awful issue. But how about this cruel Opposition, refusing to work with non-partisan me to help what’s-his-name in Penrith?
In Question Time yesterday, the same transparent and tawdry hypocrisy from a man of bluster:

BILL SHORTEN: What is it about asbestos that you think is the need pollute with your political palaver?… The first point I want to make in coming to the answer of the Member’s question is this: asbestos should not be a political football… And I met with a family, I met with a family whose 11-week-old child may have been exposed to asbestos.
The same hyocrisy six times in the one day. The same fake emotion, the same confected outrage.
If Shorten wishes to ever become Prime Minister, nothing will help him more than a careful study of this post - and of his own words within it.
Those words do not seem sincere, Bill. Indeed, I believe they are not sincere. Just when you think you are responding with strength, you are digging your grave.
You can deny it all you will. But while you deny it, you will never succeed. 

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Joel Fitzgibbon mocks the spin as Gillard dies in the polls

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (1:34pm)

 Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon, a Rudd supporter who knew long ago Julia Gillard was hopeless, can only laugh at the polls and the Labor spin.
UPDATE
ABC AM’s political correspondent struggled on this morning, after Newspoll showed Labor’s preferred vote sinking from a 44-56 split to a catastrophic 42-58:
Well we’re seeing there’s no great change in Newspoll. The two party preferred vote is pretty much the same but the Prime Minister’s own personal approval ranking has taken a bit of a hit there.
More realism:

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come under fire from one of her strongest Caucus supporters, the western Sydney MP Laurie Ferguson, who has told her she needs to sell the Government’s message better otherwise “we are dead”, the ABC understands. 
It is believed that Mr Ferguson, the Labor MP for the seat of Werriwa, challenged Ms Gillard in today’s Caucus meeting about the issue of asylum seekers, telling her “we are dead” in reference to crucial seats in western Sydney.

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Mopping up some “Dickensian” spin

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (12:03pm)

image
Too lazy to even go find one of their own members. Union spin unspun:
Marie Angrilli is the 64-year-old face of the union movement’s push to raise the minimum wage. Year after year. 
In 2007, The Age described her life as “Dickensian”; in 2008, the part-time cleaner told SBS TV’s Insight that rising cost-of-living pressures meant “everything’s more expensive”; in 2011, she complained to the Herald-Sun the annual minimum wage rise was “not enough” and in 2012 she told Bloom­berg that people in her industry were “underpaid and we need to band together for better rights”.
What wasn’t reported is that Ms Angrilli is the unpaid Victorian president of the United Voice union, which recently boasted that its members are “among the best-paid cleaners in the country”.
Following the Fair Work Commission’s self-described “modest” 2.6?per cent pay rise on Monday, which directly affects 1.5?million employees, Ms Angrilli was presented by ACTU national secretary Dave Oliver as an example of a minimum-wage worker.
The latest rise, which will push minimum weekly wages up to $622.20, or about $32,300 a year – the highest in the world in current exchange rates – was a “kick in the guts for low-paid workers”, she said.
But is her life Dickensian?
“I don’t know if I would say it was Dickensian; I think our wages have gone up since the 1830s but it is still very difficult to live on the minimum wage,’’ Ms Angrilli later said in an interview. 
Ms Angrilli is not well paid. She takes home $463.85 a week and without the help of her son, who lives at home, she would struggle to pay the bills. But she owns her home in the Melbourne suburb of Diamond Creek because of an inheritance and drives to work every day for the 3.30am starts.

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Anti-racism lets Sam de Brito be what he says he hates

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (10:16am)

Fairfax columnist Sam de Brito has a disturbing way of expressing himself to people who think the adoration of the lead singer of indigenous rock group Yothu Yindi has gone too far:
image
When losing an argument, as Schopenhauer observed, the very last tactic of the desperate is to abuse:
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I often marvel how noisy moralists feel licensed to be vicious - but isn’t that the story of the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, the Khmer Rouge etc etc?:

image
Give such a man real power, as well as a “moral” cause, and how funny would his jokes soon be?

image
This from the same columnist who recently wrote:

The less attractive you are, the more outraged you tend to get on the internet.
For the third time in this mad week, I will quote the only too apposite Bertrand Russell:
Much that passes as idealism is disguised hatred or disguised love of power.
Take de Brito. Anti-racism seems to have made him exactly what he purports to damn. He seemingly feels licenced to indulge in abuse and fantasies of violence, as he dreams of a race-based punishment of whites for sins dredged from a lurid imagination:

Racism? We don’t get it, because there are no consequences for being an ignorant, smug arsehole in this country. 
Had Eddie McGuire made his King Kong remark on US radio, he would not work in the American mainstream media again. Game over, Ed. Buy a yacht.
If NSW State of Origin NRL assistant coach Andrew Johns had called an opponent on another team “a black c---” in American sport, he’d first have been knocked out by the closest black player and may now, possibly, be coaching some high school team in Alabama while nursing a prescription drug addiction.
If a 13-year-old white girl called LeBron James an “ape” at an NBA game, not only she, but her entire entourage, would have had to have been escorted from the arena FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY. I guarantee there would have been a 13-year-old black girl so in her face, whitey could sketch her from memory…
We do not understand the anger, the shame, the frustration, the bitterness and sorrow of what was taken from indigenous Australians.
We can’t even be honest enough to call it “slavery”: like black folks just loved the idea of working on cattle stations seven days a week so they could get some beans and flour and see their daughters raped on weekends.
We said “sorry”, but for what? Crippling your culture? Raping your women? Murdering your children?…
You make a King Kong statement like Eddie McGuire did in that studio, you’ve got 25 people in the newsroom who are gonna press you against the lift doors and tell you why you’re a maggot and you need to LEARN. FAST.
I’m not suggesting violence is the best response to racism - whether that racism is casual, unintentional or sharpened to puncture hearts like so much of the muck we read from white apologist news commentators. 
I’m saying we need to get real about punishing it.
This does not sound the voice of compassion, humanity and reconciliation. It certainly does not sound the voice of someone who judges people not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character. 
UPDATE
Reader Blair neatly skewers the racist construct of de Brito’s rant:

We said “sorry”, but for what? Crippling your culture? Raping your women? Murdering your children?…” I was born in 1946; have murdered no indigenous children, raped no indigenous women and crippled no indigenous culture. So whom are you talking about? The de Brito family?
Reader Steve:
Sam has revealed a clear unconscious prejudice in that column. Basically his argument shows that he sees African Americans as a people who can only respond with violence, rather than reason, argument or intellect. He has conferred this trait on an entire race, which is textbook racism.
UPDATE
Sam de Brito raises an interesting point. Is it actually possible to take a tweet out of context?
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If the tweets - and the rant I quoted - were indeed “out of context”, can someone please explain what context was overlooked to justify such language, such hatred, such stereotyping, such legitimising of violence? 

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Bess Price calls out the urban Aboriginal spokesmen

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (8:11am)

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It is too dangerous for me to comment in detail, being white and conservative, but I could not agree more:

ABORIGINAL culture is being “fetishised” and indigenous women, particularly the young, are lambs on the “altar of culture sacrificed to assuage white guilt”according to Aboriginal woman Bess Price and her husband, Dave Price, in a new book. 
The pair argue that southern indigenous and non-indigenous people have no understanding of the experience of Aborigines in remote Australia.
Ms Price, the Northern Territory Country Liberals member for the seat of Stuart, and her husband ...  argue that key parts of traditional culture need to be “discarded” if there is to be hope for the future of remote community residents…
And in comments that will offend scores of indigenous people—particularly in Sydney and Melbourne—they argue that the majority of Australians who identify as indigenous speak English, live in suburbs, and have children with Australians who do not identify as indigenous.
“Many of them do quite well in the mainstream economy and society, supplying indigenous Australia with its middle class and the majority of its spokespeople.
“They are regularly asked by journalists to define the ‘indigenous view’ on any issue. Unless they have studied anthropology and linguistics, their understanding of traditional law and culture will come from the half-remembered musings of aged relatives, themselves several generations removed from the traditional life,” they assert. 
Asked who they were specifically writing about, Mr Price said the “term would certainly include Larissa (Behrendt), Tiga Bayles, Barb Shaw, and many, many others”.
Bess and Dave’s essay is published in In black and white: Australians all at the crossroadsOrder here.
POSTSCRIPT
Note those deadly words: “in comments that will offend scores of indigenous people—particularly in Sydney and Melbourne...”
Such are our laws that to offend indigenous people on the basis of race is actually grounds for legal action under the Racial Discrimination Act - an obscene restriction on free speech. Bess Price will be betting that those she offends will not risk making that law look even more stupid by trying to shut up someone blacker than them.
UPDATE

As if to illustrate the point, here comes Anita Heiss, author of Am I Black Enough For You?, a book on Aboriginal identity asking a question l was legally prevented from answering - even having several posts removed on legal advice.
Heiss now tweets the name of a famous dead Aboriginal singer before being alerted to what is said to be Aboriginal custom:

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UPDATE
Some consternation:

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UPDATE
Heiss, who earlier claimed she knew the protocol, now refines that claim:

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It’s strange. I certainly knew of the protocol.  Then again, I grew up with Aboriginal friends and teammates out bush. 

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Gillard was dead two years ago. Why did Labor keep her?

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (8:02am)

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With Labor now at  42 per cent to the Coalition’s 58 in Newspoll, Labor MPs must ask how they for three years let the utterly inept Julia Gillard lead them to this utterly predictable disaster, with the party about to be destroyed and its reputation trashed.
Did they let machine men hijack a party they’d rather control in defeat than lose power over in victory?
Did they believe too readily in the cheer squad of the Canberra press gallery, urging them on in their carbon tax folly and politics of hate?
Did they let the party by overrun by New Labor lawyers, who could execute a brief but never write one? Who had a magisterial contempt for the very people they purported to represent?
Did they fall for the foolishness of the identity politics of the New Racists and dated feminists, and seek to divide Australians into warring tribes - to the dismay of voters who instead prefer to look for what unites us?
Did they fall for the old failing of the Left - that love of seeming above doing, of myth above substance? Did they let themselves get carried away by the collectivist mirages of the global warming crusade, the class war, the New Racism?
I said this disaster was predictable because I did predict it. Here is some of a column I write in March 2011, more than two years ago:

JULIA Gillard is finished. It seems she’s lied too brazenly and nothing in her erratic performance suggests she can recover… 
Clearly, many voters are livid that Gillard will now impose the “carbon tax” that she promised just before the election she wouldn’t…
Some Labor supporters may still hope Gillard’s tax will at least, as Channel 9’s Laurie Oakes put it, give her finally “something to fight for. A cause.”
But what makes them think she’d be any good at this fighting?
Didn’t she lose the election debates? Is it really likely, with Abbott rampant, that she can now win an argument over this painful tax that she claims will somehow help stop global warming?
Dream on. You are talking about a leader with such disastrous political judgment that she decided a winning strategy involved these three elements:
First, to lie to the public and bring in the tax she swore before the election to never inflict.
Second, to stake everything on this tax that will drive prices higher without driving temperature lower.
Third, to please the Greens extremists who hold just one of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives, rather than appeal to the voters who chose the other 149, not one of which campaigned for her tax.
Gosh, you mean voters don’t like this? What a surprise…
Gillard can’t even buy them off by pointing to a string of achievements.
Truth is, her record in office is of unbroken failure—the still undecided mining tax, the still unbuilt East Timor detention centre, the still unstopped boats, the stillborn “cash for clunkers"… 
No, can’t govern and can’t even sell. 
If even I could see Gillard was finished two years ago, how could Labor MPs be so blind - or, if not blind, so powerless?
This will be the great reckoning Labor must have when it starts to rebuild. What was so wrong with the party that for the past two years it kept marching straight to disaster under a zombie PM?
UPDATE
Dennis Shanahan notes another case of tin ear:
JULIA Gillard appears to have suffered the most ... [over] the bipartisan plans to hit taxpayers for $20 million more in public election funding… 
For his part, the Opposition Leader appears to have escaped voters’ censure over the funding deal because he went out publicly, said the people had spoken and listened to his Liberal colleagues who told him it was immoral.

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Dreyfus, face of New Labor, losing a once-safe working class seat

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (7:52am)

Other polls confirm the scale of the devastation described in Newspoll, which puts Labor’s vote after preferences to an astonishing 42 per cent to the Coalition’s 58.
A (small) JWS Research poll shows Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus could lose even the once-safe seat of Isaacs, taking in much of working class Dandenong: 
IN two-party terms the Liberals have a 55-45 per cent lead in Isaacs - a swing of 15.4 per cent. 
JWS Research managing director John Scales said Labor was suffering in Isaacs from “poor perceptions” of Mr Dreyfus and Ms Gillard… “One source of Mr Dreyfus’s problem is his own poor name ID, with 53 per cent of Isaacs voters either having not heard of him or having no view of him.”
No wonder people in Dandenong have “no view” of Dreyfus when he actually lives in a rich suburb 20 kms away. Here is a true representative of New Labor, a pompous QC addicted to wagging fingers and passing oppressive laws as he prays to the gods of global warming.
Internal Labor polling suggests Kevin Rudd could again lead Labor - since there will be next to nobody else to either lead or be led, with even Treasurer Wayne Swan tossed out:

The Queensland polling is believed to show [Swan’s] primary vote has collapsed to just 28 percent, compared to 41 per cent at the last election. 
A “worst case” scenario indicates former prime minister Kevin Rudd could be the only Queensland MP to retain his seat
As the Newspoll results leaked last night, Rudd posted this:

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UPDATE
How much is Dreyfus the symbol of New Labor? He promotes government handouts - in this case the Schoolkids bonus - not just in English but in VietnameseAlbanianArabicKhmerand Sinhalese.
Free money for those too unassimilated to even know English and not obliged to learn enough for even a handout.
And people wonder why the boats are full.
(Thanks to reader M.) 

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Is kissing the Koran enough of a clue?

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (7:23am)

SBS is probably still wondering what motivated him:
One of two main suspects in the killing of a British soldier in London made his first appearance in court Monday, kissing a copy of the Koran

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A freezing kind of global warming

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (12:24am)

Global warming - dud predictions
More signs of the failure of the world to warm as the warmists predicted:

According to the Central England Temperature Series, England has just experienced its coldest Spring since 1891.

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Are the ACTU’s ads moaning about Gillard?

Andrew Bolt June 04 2013 (12:09am)

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The script for the ACTU’s new ads raises several questions.
Why must this sad family look Greek or Italian? Does the ACTU think Greeks and Italians are more likely to feel like losers? Or does the ACTU think the rest of us think that way about Greeks and Italians?
Why are there still bastard bosses after years of the most pro-union Labor Government in decades?  What more does the ACTU want from this lot?
Or are more workers doing it tough because Labor has hurt the economy?
And why, in this election year, does this script have nothing to say in Labor’s favor? 

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Essential poll:  Labor dead. UPDATE Newspoll has Labor down to 42 to 58

Andrew Bolt June 03 2013 (10:45pm)

Groundhog day at Essential Media: Labor 45, Coalition 55.
Interestingly, the Greens primary vote - 11.8 per cent at the election - now bumps along at just 8 per cent.
UPDATE
The poll explains why Gillard Government Minister Jason Clare now chooses to campaign in Liberal blue:

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UPDATE
Newspoll has Labor on just 42 to the Coalition 58, after preferences.
It could hardly be worse for Labor, having fired all its big guns - the Budget, the disability scheme and the Gonski “reforms”. It has also used up its big Abbott-the-woman-hater scare, and has nothing left. Apart from a change of leadership, but even that’s been left too late.
Changing leaders might help, though. Gillard is now being beaten badly even in the preferred PM contest once touted hard by her media sympathisers: 35 to Abbott’s 43.
Don’t think Gillard couldn’t now be dumped. Labor is letting itself be led to destruction by a woman so deservedly unpopular that her approval is just 28 per cent and disapproval 62.
Labor’s primary vote is now 30 per cent. The Coalition could almost win the election on its primary vote - now 49 per cent.
A question for any Labor MP putting up their hand for a leadership role after the election: why should we trust you when you put your trust in Gillard?
(Thanks to reader EndGame.) 

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Did warmist David Karoly actually read the paper he told the ABC was wrong?

Andrew Bolt June 03 2013 (7:27pm)

Global warming - propagandaMedia
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The study challenged the “consensus”:


Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are to blame for global warming since the 1970s and not carbon dioxide, according to new research from the University of Waterloo published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B this week. 

CFCs are already known to deplete ozone, but in-depth statistical analysis now shows that CFCs are also the key driver in global climate change, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. “Conventional thinking says that the emission of human-made non-CFC gases such as carbon dioxide has mainly contributed to global warming. But we have observed data going back to the Industrial Revolution that convincingly shows that conventional understanding is wrong,” said Qing-Bin Lu, a professor of physics and astronomy, biology and chemistry in Waterloo’s Faculty of Science. “In fact, the data shows that CFCs conspiring with cosmic rays caused both the polar ozone hole and global warming.”

So the ABC went to a reliable warmist to atttack it:

Professor David Karoly is one of Australia’s leading experts on climate change. He was a lead author on the fourth intergovernmental panel on climate change assessment report. He’s a review editor on the fifth assessment report… 

DAVID KAROLY: ...  My assessment of this is the study is completely wrong. A number of other studies have looked at the magnitude of the likely impact of chlorofluorocarbons on changing global temperatures.
This has been done in both the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) assessments and in a number of other studies and yes, chlorofluorocarbons are a small contributor to global warming through their role as a greenhouse gas. But, much, much smaller than the role of carbon dioxide…
This research would not have survived peer review by experts in the area…
MARTIN CUDDIHY: So the prediction put forward in this study, that global temperatures will fall for the next 50-70 years, can we put any stock in that? 
DAVID KAROLY: That prediction is wrong and is based purely on the global warming influence of chlorofluorocarbons. The replacement chemicals for chlorofluorocarbons are hydrofluorocarbons, which are used as refrigerants, have already got as large a greenhouse influence as the reductions in the chlorofluorocarbons. And, in fact, the global warming influence of these chemicals, the hydrofluorocarbons, is already growing more rapidly than the reductions in chlorofluorocarbons. 
Karoly, incidentally, has still not been tackled by the ABC over the embarrassing withdrawal of his own co-authored paper claiming unprecedented warming of Australasia, thanks to global warming, after sceptics picked up flaws that got through peer-review. The ABC hyped that alarmist paper, but said nothing I’ve heard about its withdrawal. Why not?
But Karoly’s debunking of this latest paper has sure puzzled its author, who suggests Karoly can’t possibly have read it. Marc Hendrickx got this reply from Professor Lu after passing on Karoly’s claims:

Here are my brief answers to your questions:

Q: “Do you have any comments regarding Dr Karoly’s criticism of your paper?”

A: From reading Dr. Karoly’s comments, unfortunately, it seems obvious that he did not read my recent paper published in IJMPB, not even the abstract of my paper.  For example, he argues “That prediction is wrong and is based purely on the global warming influence of chlorofluorocarbons. The replacement chemicals for chlorofluorocarbons are hydrofluorocarbons, which are used as refrigerants, have already got as large a greenhouse influence as the reductions in the chlorofluorocarbons. And, in fact, the global warming influence of these chemicals, the hydrofluorocarbons, is already growing more rapidly than the reductions in chlorofluorocarbons.” This criticism is quite wrong, as the greenhouse effect of hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs) is included in my results presented in my paper and can be easily seen even at the abstract “Then natural and anthropogenic contributions to these phenomena are examined in detail and separated well through in-depth statistical analyses of comprehensive measured datasets of quantities, including cosmic rays (CRs), total solar irradiance, sunspot number, halogenated gases (CFCs, CCl4 and HCFCs), CO2, total O3, lower stratospheric temperatures and global surface temperatures.”
He mentioned the IPCC models to criticize my work. But in my paper, I do point out the key assumption in the IPCC models, namely using a logarithm relationship to calculate the radiative force of CO2 with CO2 concentration, does not agree with the observations and is wrong.  Otherwise, there is no major difference in maths between IPCC models and my calculations… 
Since he is a professor, I believe that Dr. Karoly is a scientist; I would wish that he would have given his criticisms in a scientific rather than political way. Perhaps he was too busy and did not get enough time to read my paper before he made the comments...

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 It's Not About the Nail from Jason Headley on Vimeo.
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Tim Samaras
Just saw this on FB feed. For those who are starting out in their career--don't be easily derailed--this cartoon accurately describes the challenges--I've been there. Follow your dream and passion--go get it!

Speaking of which--time to chase! 

Tim died from a tornado the other day. But his legacy was substantial. - ed
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"No government should be determining what is and isn’t legitimate Islam. What they should be doing is addressing threats emanating from Islam. There is no need to study the Koran in order to understand those threats. Muslim terrorists have been willing to patiently explain that they are killing us in the name of Islam... "
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saudi body
Under Sharia law she was guilty of being raped. - ed
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mm banner28413-0
michelle at garden of the gods
Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for June 3rd. Enjoy!

From the Blog

More From the Right Side of the Web

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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Because it's totally hilarious to joke about killing people.

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German submarine U-505
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“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"These were potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work."
1 Chronicles 4:23
Potters were the very highest grade of workers, but "the king" needed potters, and therefore they were in royal service, although the material upon which they worked was nothing but clay. We, too, may be engaged in the most menial part of the Lord's work, but it is a great privilege to do anything for "the king"; and therefore we will abide in our calling, hoping that, "although we have lien among the pots, yet shall we be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold." The text tells us of those who dwelt among plants and hedges, having rough, rustic, hedging and ditching work to do. They may have desired to live in the city, amid its life, society, and refinement, but they kept their appointed places, for they also were doing the king's work. The place of our habitation is fixed, and we are not to remove from it out of whim and caprice, but seek to serve the Lord in it, by being a blessing to those among whom we reside. These potters and gardeners had royal company, for they dwelt "with the king" and although among hedges and plants, they dwelt with the king there. No lawful place, or gracious occupation, however mean, can debar us from communion with our divine Lord. In visiting hovels, swarming lodging-houses, workhouses, or jails, we may go with the king. In all works of faith we may count upon Jesus' fellowship. It is when we are in his work that we may reckon upon his smile. Ye unknown workers who are occupied for your Lord amid the dirt and wretchedness of the lowest of the low, be of good cheer, for jewels have been found upon dunghills ere now, earthen pots have been filled with heavenly treasure, and ill weeds have been transformed into precious flowers. Dwell ye with the King for his work, and when he writes his chronicles your name shall be recorded.

Evening

"He humbled himself."
Philippians 2:8
Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. We need daily to learn of him. See the Master taking a towel and washing his disciples' feet! Follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble thyself? See him as the Servant of servants, and surely thou canst not be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of his biography, "He humbled himself"? Was he not on earth always stripping off first one robe of honour and then another, till, naked, he was fastened to the cross, and there did he not empty out his inmost self, pouring out his life-blood, giving up for all of us, till they laid him penniless in a borrowed grave? How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark his scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and his whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in his outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it: if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know him. You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God's only begotten. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you, bow yourself in lowliness at his feet. A sense of Christ's amazing love to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even a consciousness of our own guilt. May the Lord bring us in contemplation to Calvary, then our position will no longer be that of the pompous man of pride, but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much because much has been forgiven him. Pride cannot live beneath the cross. Let us sit there and learn our lesson, and then rise and carry it into practice.
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Aholiab

[Ăhō'liăb], AHOLAH [Ā ho'lah], AHOLIBAH [Ăhŏlĭbah], AHOLIBAMAH [Ăhŏl ibā'mah] - a tent. These names in the A.V. are also given in the RV as Oholah - her own tent; Oholiab - a father's tent; Oholibah - my tent is in her; Oholibamah - tent of high place.
  1. A Danite, appointed by God to work with Bezaleel in the erection of the Tabernacle (Exod. 31:6; 35:34; 36:1, 2; 38:23).
  2. A chief who sprang from Esau ( Gen. 36:41; 1 Chron. 1:52).
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Today's reading: 2 Chronicles 19-20, John 13:21-38 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: 2 Chronicles 19-20

When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, 2 Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is on you. 3 There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God...."

Today's New Testament reading: John 13:21-38

21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me."
22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means."
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"
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