Wind turbines are an ornament in electricity generation - analysis of data from our generation grid
Saturday, 18 July 2015
Thanks to reader Graeme of Malvern for this timely analysis and summary.
July 2015
Sascha Baron Cohen's Admiral General Aladeen saw President Obama coming
Saturday, 18 July 2015
Genius.
This extract is from the Israel Video Network website - which makes this claim
The Prime Minister of Israel Has Called on Everyone to Share This Video
Sacha Baron Cohen says it like it is (or tries to) in the opening scene of the movie “The Dicator”. What makes this scene truly funny is it’s subtle use of the pseudo-reality that the Muslim countries have been creating for quite a while. As they blatantly state in Arabic that they want to destroy Israel, they create worldwide publicity that accuses Israel of being a ruthless and oppressive agressor. It’s a bit confusing. Even for them.
The dictator in this movie, having a hard time coming to terms with gross inconsistencies in his speech and his intentions, is working on.. keeping a straight face.
We wish him the best of luck.
Published: July 17, 2015
Well if Prime Minister Netanyahu didn't say it, he should have.
A few days ago Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke to Steve Forbes of www.forbes.com
Why Iran Deal Is So Deadly: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Talks With Steve Forbes
This sobering interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was conducted in Israel several days ago on condition that it be embargoed until formal announcement of the Iran nuclear deal. It covers Iran’s ominous nuclear program, the now-announced agreement and other critical security issues. Make no mistake: The very safety of the U.S. itself is at stake.
STEVE FORBES: Prime Minister, President Obama has said that if there isn’t a deal with Iran it will mean war. What we’ve learned about the deal is not reassuring. What’s your take on this?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: I think if the deal goes through we’re in danger of war, and it might be the worst kind of war we can imagine. Because this deal will open the way for Iran not to get a bomb but many bombs. Within a decade it will be free to enrich uranium on an unlimited basis. And it will be able to make the fissile core for dozens of bombs–indeed, hundreds of bombs–which it can then put on the hundreds of ICBMs it already has.
Under this deal Iran is going to get $100 billion to $300 billion, which it will be able to use to fund its terrorism and its aggression in the region–its aim being to destroy Israel. Given Iran’s history of aggression, I’d say that this double bonanza of a guaranteed pathway to a nuclear arsenal and a jackpot of money to continue its aggression actually makes the danger of war, even nuclear war, a lot greater.
SF: You make a very important point. Even if Iran sticks to the deal, which is highly problematical, in a decade it will be a major global nuclear power, and it will have ballistic missiles.
BN: Iran is producing them, and guess what? Within a few years they will be able to reach the Eastern seaboard of the United States. And then every point in the United States. But this deal will also enable Iran to tip those missiles with nuclear weapons, with atomic bombs. And I think it’s a huge mistake to allow the foremost sponsor of terrorism in the world, Iran, to have nuclear weapons, as well as the capacity to give such weapons to its terrorist surrogates. This is a big, big mistake. Not only endangering Israel and the entire Middle East but the entire world, specifically the United States. The mullahs, the dictators in Tehran, they call us the little Satan; they call America the big Satan. You are their ultimate target, and you should not give such a terrorist regime the weapons of mass destruction. Because I think the greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. Here you have a militant Islamic state, Iran, arming itself with nuclear weapons and receiving a huge cash bonanza in the bargain. That’s a mistake.
SF: The prospect of Iran becoming a nuclear power is going to set off a nuclear arms race in this part of the world, is it not?
Continue reading this critically important interview here.
This was the scene on the streets of Tehran 7 days ago after Friday prayers.
Published on Jul 10, 2015
Millions of people marched through the streets of Tehran to commemorate Al-Quds Day, Friday.
The protesters chanted "Down with America" and "Death to Israel" and held placards bearing the photo of the first Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. According to reports, some protesters burned Israeli and US flags. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also attended Friday's demonstration.
Video ID: 20150710-074
Video on Demand: http://www.ruptly.tv
Contact: [email protected]
Friday arvo - it's a boy thing
Friday, 17 July 2015
I know this has been around for a while, but reader JW sent it to me this afternoon - captivating as ever.
The ALP reckons there's an early election because Peta Credlin says a few Libs got their photos updated
Friday, 17 July 2015
The email below went out to the ALP faithful this afternoon.
I love this line about Tony Abbott
What should be obvious is this is a man who is driven by ideology.
Yes I'd agree with that. Now run the line and make it fit Bill Shorten.
What should be obvious is this is a man who is driven by
a. sniffing the breeze
b. what Bill Ludwig tells him
c. the opinion polls,
d. his secret financial backers, or
d. ComCar
What we know is that Tony Abbott doesn’t want to fight Labor on the policies that matter to Australians.
Tony Abbott doesn’t want to fight an election on:
- The prospect of $100,000 University degrees
- The $2 Billion he has cut out of TAFE
- The proposed $25 Billion that Chris Pyne wants to be cut from education
- The proposed surcharge of $1,000 to attend a public school.
- The Medicare Co-payment
- The 330,000 pensioners will lose up to $8,000 for single pensioners and $14,000 for couples
- The 35% increase in gross government debt under Joe Hockey.
- The vicious attacks on Australia’s favourite public broadcaster the ABC.
What should be obvious is this is a man who is driven by ideology. Even when that ideology is not in the best interest of the average Australian; he will continue to cut basic services.
We have begun to receive donations from across NSW from people sick of Tony Abbott’s radical agenda, but we need your help. Click here to donate $5,$15,$35 every dollar helps.
We need to take the fight to Tony Abbott and the only way we can do that is with your support.
*Donations by individuals to registered political parties of between $2 and $1,500 in a financial year are tax deductible.
Bronnie should have held a press conference for something- anything - that will be delivered within the next 18 months
Friday, 17 July 2015
Unless it's your own money, you'd have to have a pretty high opinion of the value of your time to justify a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong. I think The Speaker was wrong to use the chopper, wrong to use taxpayer money (if it's the case) for a party fundraiser and if she's falsely signed any paperwork she's history.
That said, she could have fixed it all up by holding a press conference on the side of a road or a easement where the NBN might come through in the next few years. Doesn't matter if it's finished or not - Ms Gillard spoke about something that was 18 months away so she could take the VIP jet to a staffer's wedding:
Julia Gillard flew to norther NSW on a taxpayer funded VIP jet for a staffer's wedding
Here's News Limited with this report from 23 March 2013
Julia jets off to a VIP wedding
- GEMMA JONES
- THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
- MARCH 23, 2013 12:00AM
FRESH from being returned in a farcical leadership spill, Julia Gillard yesterday flew to northern NSW on a taxpayer funded VIP jet for a staffer's wedding and several low key announcements.
Ms Gillard, along with Treasurer Wayne Swan and Finance Minister Penny Wong, will today attend the Byron Bay wedding of her press secretary Laura Anderson and Mr Swan's chief-of-staff Jim Chalmers.
Her office confirmed the PM flew to northern NSW on a RAAF VIP Challenger aircraft.
MPs are only entitled to use the RAAF special purpose flights for "commitments associated with their official responsibilities and other purposes including parliamentary business".
They cannot be used by any member of parliament for purely personal business, Ms Gillard's spokesman said. He said Ms Gillard's attendance at the wedding was sandwiched between official duties scheduled for the weekend in northern NSW, Melbourne and Sydney.
Mr Swan made his own way to the wedding and did not use a VIP jet. Yesterday, Ms Gillard and local MP Justine Elliot - a Kevin Rudd loyalist - held a press conference at Titenbar at the side of a new stage of the Pacific Highway duplication, which started in October and is not due to be completed until the end of next year. The federal government contributed $560 million to the 17km upgrade.
Ms Gillard was asked how long she had been planning her visit.
"I've been talking to Justine for quite some time about coming up locally. So it fitted into the program and we wanted to get it done," she said.
Ms Gillard was asked about campaigning with a known Rudd supporter in Ms Elliot.
"Justine is a great Labor member, a great local representative of these communities in the parliament and I've always enjoyed travelling here and spending time with Justine," she said.
ALP Conference next week - no change to union stranglehold on power. What about Bill's speech from last year?????
Friday, 17 July 2015
Sid Maher and Sarah Martin of The Australian with this important report on the ALP's National Conference due next week.
Union power in Labor Party to remain
Labor’s Right faction is poised to defeat a change to party rules that would strip power from the unions, amid a split within the Left over handing greater influence to rank-and-file members.
A push for party “democratisation” coming from Labor’s Left is understood to have divided the faction among the states.
NSW is backing the populist change to attract sub-branch support, while the Victorian, South Australian and West Australian sections of the Left are unlikely to back the NSW proposal, which would give members 50 per cent of the votes in Senate preselections.
The West Australian and South Australian Left are proposing different proportions of rank-and-file representation.
The Left’s apparent failure to form a united position on the rules means a similar change to give greater power to members to elect delegates to the national conference is also set to be lost. The Left’s formal position is not expected to be decided until next Thursday, on the eve of the conference.
The method of electing the federal leader is expected to be left to the federal caucus to set but facilitated under the ALP constitution.
Now compare and contrast with Bill Shorten's empty, impotent worthless speech from 12 months ago.
Together, Labor and the union movement created one of the most successful social-democratic countries in the world.
But our world and our workforce are changing.
As a party we can’t remain anchored in the past – we need to rise with the modern tide.
I believe it should no longer be compulsory for prospective members of the Labor party to join a union.
And I have instructed our National Secretary to have this requirement removed from Labor party rules.
People have said that this a symbolic change – it is.
And it is more than that.
It is a change that makes it clear that Labor is not exclusively for one group of Australians.
We are for an economy where everyone prospers, a society where everyone benefits, an Australia where the fair go is for everyone.
Union and non-union employees.
The self-employed, small business and wage earners.
This change makes it plain that in 2014 Labor is not the political arm of anything but the Australian people.
ENDS
Good luck with that Bill - this from the Labor Conference as reported today by The Australian.
The proposed organisational policies for this year’s conference also include maintaining the influence of unions at a grassroots level.
Under the heading “strengthen the party’s connections to the union movement”, Labor’s proposed party rules suggest that state branches should work actively to “engage, activate and recruit union members”.
Addressing the issue of increasing the representation of rank-and-file members, the party says it accepts the move by some states to increase its rank-and-file representation, but affirms the party’s “principles of organisation”.
Muslim father who married off his 12 year old girl gaoled until at least November 2020
Friday, 17 July 2015
Here's The Australian's report
Child bride father jailed for six years
A NSW father found guilty of procuring his 12-year-old daughter for sex by facilitating her “marriage” has been sentenced to at least six years in prison.
The 63-year-old, who can’t be named, held an Islamic ceremony at his NSW home in January last year in which his daughter “married” a 26-year-old man.
The couple later had sex at a motel and twice at his home. “(The man) failed in his duty to his daughter,” Judge Deborah Sweeney told the Downing Centre District Court today.
Following a judge-alone trial, the father was in April found guilty of procuring a child aged under 14 for unlawful sexual activity and being an accessory before the fact to a serious indictable offence.
The father wanted to stop his daughter from committing a sin and believed she had to be married before being sexually active. Concerned his daughter was developing a sexual interest in boys, and particularly the man she later married, the father arranged for the pair to meet and exchange phone numbers.
The ‘wedding’ was held at the father’s home soon after.
Following the Islamic ceremony they went to a hotel and had sex. A week later a room was prepared at the father’s home and the couple had sex there twice.
Statement from CFMEU after the arrest of former offiicial Fihi Kivalu
Friday, 17 July 2015
A couple of great comments from our readers after this morning's evidence from buider Mr Daish,
Wendy Garcia said:
Well the evidence that Mr Daish gave where he found himself in a situation of having to go along with 12 ghost members for the CFMEU, shoots down in flames within a matter of hours, the Dave Noonan statement that the CFMEU does not accept bribes. The money exceeding $3,000 for the bogus workers was paid to the CFMEU, not to Fihi.
Kathryn.E said:
Hi Michael, this statement contradicts what we heard from Mr Daish this morning. Didn't we just hear that he was told in a meeting with the CFMEU that they were investigating Kivalu a few years back, or did I get it wrong here?
Fihi Kivalu pleads not guilty to blackmail, remanded in custody to 22 July 2015
Friday, 17 July 2015
Kivalu pleaded NOT GUILTY to blackmail charges. He's locked up to re-appear at court on 22 July. #TURC @PRIME7CanNews pic.twitter.com/V2QGmXDxPO
— Michael Hammond (@mhammond7) July 17, 2015
More detail from a Canberra Tines reporter on the sceene
His lawyer, Uelenitoni Tu'ulakitau, indicated he could make a bail application when he faces court again next week.
In a statement outside court, Mr Tu'ulakitau said his client maintained his innocence and would fight the allegations.
"We'll just wait until we're provided with paperwork by police in respect to those charges and will go from there," Mr Tu'ulakitau said.
"It's all over the media, so … we'll do the best we can to ensure he gets a fair trial."
Mr Tu'ulakitau said the accused's family were staying positive in the face of adversity.
Day 5, week 1 - CFMEU ACT corruption hearing at Trade Union Royal Commission - cliick here to watch and comment
Friday, 17 July 2015
CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE - THE HEARING WILL COMMENCE AT 10.45 AM
#TURoyalComm will commence today's CFMEU ACT hearing at a delayed time of 11am due to a fire drill in the building #turc #auspol
— TU Royal Commission (@TURoyalComm) July 17, 2015
a
It's now 11.15AM. The TURC cash-burn rate would be pretty impressive by the sitting hour, this is one very costly fire drill.
At 11.30 the Commission commenced its hearing.
The first and only witness is Clyde Daish.
Mr Daish is a director and owner of HD Projects, a building company.
He appears today after the evidence of a colleagues of his Mr McInnes, given on 14 July 2015, here's the transcript:
Mr Daish has made a witness statement, it's been adopted and tendered into evidence.
HD Projects is involved in the installation of wall systems.
Mr Daish has given evidence that he was involved in a project in Canberra some years ago. One of his supervisors "Chas" reported to him that a CFMEU official name Fihi had attended unannounced at the Canberra worksite and disrupted work on the site for half a day, with flow-on that resulted in a total of one lost project day on site.
Mr Daish states that his employees were members of the CFMEU in NSW. He felt he had no choice but to pay again for 12 CFMEU memberships in the ACT Branch - he felt it didn't matter what names went on the forms, the CFMEU (i.e. Fihi) sent him an invoice for 12 memberships rather than 12 individual workers paying on their menbership forms.
Mr Stoljar has taken Mr Daish through his witness statement and attachments - Mr Stoljar almost allowed himself a moment of levity when Mr Daish said he was "workng on the Manhattan Project". Turns out it was the name of a building in Canberra, not an A Bomb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project
Mr Daish brought with him a page of his diary related to his dealings with the CFMEU, it was received into evidence.
And that's it for the week.
At midday the witness was excused.
THE COMMISSION'S PUBLIC HEARING IS ADJOURNED UNTIL 10AM MONDAY