Has our PM, Tony Abbott, lost his marbles?

It is now manifestly obvious that Tony Abbott has the tendency of making ridiculous decisions, without consulting his team. This is a worrying sign that Tony is suffering from “Foot in Mouth Disease.” I recall that this was the same affliction that Kevin Rudd was suffering from.

I have supported Tony Abbott, but since giving Prince Phillip, on our National Holiday, an Australian title, I’m no longer sure if I can. This was a monumental and embarrassing mistake. I think that knighthoods are not befitting anymore in a progressive modern Australia.  It is a blast from the past.  And where is the sense in bestowing a knighthood on a prince who already has more titles than he can remember?

We have to change our Prime Minister, because if he remains as PM – then Bill Shorten will be our PM in two years time, and the thought of this makes me shudder. There are quite a few people in the federal Liberal party who are very capable alternatives. Scott Morrison, Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull are just a few of them.

Australia needs more straight shooting politicians like Scott Morison, who don’t give a damn about political correctness.  He is the man who stopped the boats when everybody said that it couldn’t be done. Scott Morrison is a politician who isn’t going for the politically correct spin; he is unambiguously straight forward and to the point.  I have never seen Scott Morrison suffering from the foot in mouth syndrome.

Freedom of speech is very important to every true Australian. I’m not talking about the many pretend Australians, who get a citizenship paper after only two years, yet they know very little about this country and many of them have divided loyalties. This brings me to an interesting interview by the Australian Journalist Jason Morrison who gives Al Jazeera more than they bargained for in the discussion of Freedom of Speech – Werner
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Here is part of an interview of Jason Morrison, an Australian newspaper columnist on the "Daily Telegraph," about the Charlie Hebdo killings, aired on Al Jazeera. Date 9/1/2015

MORRISON: I’m sorry. I have to interrupt here. I’m sorry I am not going to sit here and listen to people stupidly suggest that the French or the magazine or anyone brought this on themselves. Are you for real? We have a dozen people dead, killed in the name of a religious belief and you are seriously going to even slightly justify this?

COMPERE: I don’t think anyone is justifying anything here.
MORRISON: Well that’s not what I am hearing. I’m hearing this vaguely worded defence that France shouldn’t have done this and Sarkozy said that two years ago, and if they didn’t draw Mohammed then this might not have happened or whatever. It is obscene and a gutless way of almost saying they all deserved this. Well, if you believe that you are about as bad as the idiot who thinks the pretty girl in the short skirt is asking to be raped so she better watch out.

COMPERE: That’s a ridiculous comparison.
MORRISON: Is it ridiculous? Tell me how? It’s the “you were asking for it” way of thinking. Your logic is those who drew the pictures should have known better and should have known what the response would be. Whereas I say, if you can’t accept that people have different views to you then maybe the problem is with you if your response is to pull out an AK and go nuts.

COMPERE: Well, the material was designed to offend.
MORRISON: And so what? A lot of what I’ve heard here today has offended me, but if you’re civilised, and I think that’s a major issue with some of the people we are talking about, if you are civilised you just get on with it. We shouldn’t have to have special rules for special people.

COMPERE: No-one is suggesting special rules just an understanding that some things are offensive.
MORRISON: So OK, we can have a bit of fun with the Pope, with Buddha, Jesus Christ on the Cross, The Dalai Lama, The Queen, Barack Obama. Want to add to the list? But not anything or anyone associated with Muslims. They’re special apparently. And that’s where all this free speech talk I’m hearing falls to bits. If you defend free speech then you defend offensive speech as well. It’s real easy to stand up for the nice stuff but sometime it gets ugly and if you are fair dinkum, as we say in Australia, you stand for all. Now, I’m not fond of Jesus Christ jokes but if you crack one you shouldn’t fear a few goons showing up with AK47s and shooting everyone in the office dead at their desks. So please, spare me the justification garbage for these terrorists being upset and just responding to provocation. If you think they are even slightly justified for killing people who drew some pictures then I’m afraid you are over in their column.

COMPERE: OK I take your point, but if you deliberately set out to offend there are consequences.
MORRISON: Yes there are. People might not buy your magazine or you get nasty letters in the mail from upset people but not a dozen of your workmates dead at their desks, and here we are again talking about consequences. It’s back to the same argument as the pretty girl in the bar example. If you think she’s asking to be raped you are, in my view, unfit for civilised society. You are uncivilised and maybe that’s something we should be spending a bit of energy on. Transcript produced by iSentia. Source of interview: Click here.
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This interview also supplements what I have written in my blog posting. Click here.
See also, “Wasted Dames and Wasted Knights” by  Stu of NT Click here
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My thought for today.
Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. - Joshua J. Marine
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Germany and Islam – not encouraging news.

I would rather write about other things than Islam, but this so-called “religion of peace” is constantly making headlines around the world, but for all the wrong reasons and, certainly not about peace. It amazes me that the true blue Australians are so silent on this subject – it is really deafening. Is it the Aussie attitude; “Don’t worry it’ll be alright”? Wake up; it won’t be alright. Our way of life is in danger. See what is happening in Europe, and see what Angela Merkel said. And, if that doesn’t worry you then nothing will.

Watching the 7.30 Report (Wednesday 21 January) about a protest in Dresden Germany against the progressive Islamization in Germany, it was said that the traditional “Christmas Market” in Dresden had to be changed to “Winter Market” because of Muslim demands. I have always thought that if somebody migrates to another country, they should integrate and adapt.  But what we see now is; they want to change the culture of their respective adopted countries to their own.

If you have read the Al Fadi interview in my previous posting, you will see that Islam, according to the Koran is radical and brutal and stipulates that non-Muslims are infidels and consequently are their enemies. Some of our world leaders constantly appeal to “moderate Islam”, to do something to prevent young Muslims from becoming radicalised.  Haven’t they realised yet that there is no such a thing as “moderate Islam”? According to Turkey’s president, Tayyip Erdogan, “The term moderate Islam is ugly and highly offensive. There is no moderate Islam. Islam is Islam”.

However, what German Chancellor Angela Merkel said recently, should send shivers down the spine of every true blue Australian. We have to wonder now how long it will be before an Australian Prime Minister will make a similar statement about Australia. Are we going to make the same mistakes as the Europeans? Then we’d better learn Arabic and get ourselves acquainted with Sharia Law. - Werner
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German Chancellor Merkel says: “Germany will become Islamic State”.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germans have failed to grasp how Muslim immigration has transformed their country and will have to come to terms with more mosques than churches throughout the countryside, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

“Our country is going to carry on changing, and integration is also a task for the society taking up the task of dealing with immigrants”, Ms. Merkel told the daily newspaper. “For years we’ve been deceiving ourselves about this. Mosques, for example, are going to be a more prominent part of our cities than they were before.” Germany, with a population of 4-5 million Muslims, has been divided in recent weeks by a debate over remarks by the Bundesbank’s Thilo Sarrazin, who argued Turkish and Arab immigrants were failing to integrate and were swamping Germany with a higher birth rate. The Chancellor’s remarks represent the first official acknowledgement that Germany, like other European countries, is destined to become a stronghold of Islam. She has admitted that the country will soon become a stronghold.

In France, 30% of children age 20 years and below are Muslims. The ratio in Paris and Marseille has soared to 45%. In southern France, there are more mosques than churches.

The situation within the United Kingdom is not much different. In the last 30 years, the Muslim population there has climbed from 82,000 to 2.5 million. Presently, there are over 1000 mosques throughout Great Britain – many of which were converted from churches.

In Belgium, 50% of the newborns are Muslims and reportedly its Islamic population hovers around 25%. A similar statistic holds true for The Netherlands. It’s the same story in Russia where one in five inhabitants is a Muslim.

Muammar Gaddafi once stated that “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without sword, without gun, without conquest. We don’t need terrorists; we don’t need homicide bombers. The 50 plus million Muslims (in Europe) will turn it into the Muslim Continent within a few decades.” (It is abundantly obvious that this is already a work in progress. – Werner)
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You should also have a look at: Holy War Erupts in Hamburg. (link)  Will this be something we will see in Australia soon?
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My thought for today:
Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear. - Catherine of Siena
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Islam – a growing threat to peace and freedom

The cowardly attacks this week in Paris and late last year in Sydney are an affront to the values of all Australians and demonstrate the significant threat posed by terrorism and lone wolf extremists. The attack in Paris was not merely an exercise of barbarism; it was an assault on freedom of expression, which is the lifeblood of free societies. Senator George Brandis

I was absolutely flabbergasted listening to an interview with the French ambassador to Australia on the 7.30 Report. He said among other things: “France has failed in the past to integrate their Muslim population into the French society.  We just have to try harder.” How often would he want to try and fail in every attempt to integrate them?  Other European countries tried as well and failed - to try to integrate them is an exercise in futility. One has to wonder what planet he is from. Islam is a way of life and it is their way or no way.

Following are three interesting reads. 1. As the title states. – 2. What a Dutch politician said to the Dutch parliament. 3. Is an interesting insight, into the writings of the Koran, straight from the horse's mouth!  You will see here that Islam is not a religion of peace. - Werner

1. NORWAY DEPORTS MUSLIMS, CRIME RATE DROPS 31 per cent. Read more, click here. Here’s one European country that has woken up to the dangers of Islamic immigration.  Perhaps the Australian government could learn something from this or emulate it. Is anybody surprised? Oslo, Norway: "The world's largest gang of thugs, murderers, and rapists is masquerading as a religion of peace," says Adrian Stavig, a resident of Oslo. Beginning this past January, the New Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg began a program which targets and deports Muslims who have ties to radical groups. While many in America would say this is racist, it worked in dramatic fashion. Violent crimes are down more than 31% in Norway.

2. Dutch politician Machiel de Graaf with the PVV party to the Dutch Parliament. “Without Islam, the Netherlands would be a wonderful country. Who can disagree? In country after country people say the same thing. Without Islam, the Netherlands would not be losing 7.2 billion per year on mass (Muslim) immigration. Without Islam there would be no mosques in the Netherlands and people would not be confronted every day by Islamic headscarves, “hate beards”, and minarets; a country without all the symbols of Islamic domination, wonderful. What a country the Netherlands would be!” (This is one of many European countries  who want to shut the gate after the horse has bolted. – Werner)
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3. An interesting insight into Islam: "The Koran Dilemma" by Al Fadi, as told By Erick Stakelbeck, CBN News Correspondent, Friday, May 11, 2012. CBN News correspondent and terrorism analyst, Erick Stakelbeck, is a sought after authority on terrorism and national security issues with extensive experience in television, radio, and print media.

 
It's been 10 years since Muslim terrorists carried out the 9/11 attacks. Yet polls show that most Americans still have very little understanding of Islam. CBN News recently spoke with one former Muslim who is looking to change that by revealing the politically incorrect truth about the Koran.  Al Fadi, a Saudi native, said it's no coincidence that a majority of the 9/11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia. "When I lived in Saudi Arabia, not only did I look at non-Muslims as second class, you would look at non-devout Muslims as second class citizens," Fadi told CBN News. "If Islam has to prosper, be the superior religion, then certain steps must be taken by its followers, including spreading Islam at any cost, including the sword and killing any opposition," he said.

Real Life under Islam.
These days Al Fadi, which is a pseudonym, lives in the West. He also left Islam for Christianity, a move that would bring a death sentence in his native country. "The Koran will emphatically say in chapter 4, verse 157 that the crucifixion never took place, that someone else was made to look like Jesus and was put in his place," Fadi explained.

"So you learn all of these things and then of course you learn that the Koran tells you to hate the Christians and the Jews," he said. Fadi wants to bring these bitter truths about Islam's holiest book to a Western audience. Like other former Muslims, he's written a book called 'The Qur'an Dilemma.'The book analyzes the teachings of the Koran from the perspective of someone who actually lived under them. According to Fadi, life under Islam is much different than the white-washed version often presented by the Western media and Muslim pressure groups. 

That includes the Koran's call to jihad, or "holy" war, against non-believers. "It is basically a proscriptive demand found in the Koran when it comes to jihad - killing the infidels, spreading Islam until there is no other religion on earth except the religion of Allah," Fadi explained. "The West does not know many, if not all, of these things because they're basically oblivious to what the Koran teaches as a whole. They're only fed portions of the Koran," he said.
 
Violent Turns
Those peaceful portions, Fadi says, came during the early stages in the career of Islam's prophet, Mohammed.  During these years, Mohammed lived in the Saudi city of Mecca with only a handful of followers. His message changed dramatically once he moved to Medina and gained converts and political power. Many of the Koranic verses from that later Medina period include calls to violence and intolerance.
Like chapter 8, verse 12: "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them." Then there is the infamous verse of the sword in chapter 9, verse 5: "Slay the idolaters wherever you find them and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush. Meanwhile, chapter 5, verse 51 warns Muslims not to befriend Jews and Christians.

Loving Your Enemies
Fadi said these later verses represent Mohammed's final say on the matter. Any older, more peaceful verses were cancelled out--or abrogated--by the later "revelations."  "You cannot stand against the religion, you cannot critique the prophet or the teaching of the Koran and you cannot leave the religion because you're not free to do so," Fadi said. "There is no equality between genders; there is no equality between people of other faiths."

Fadi experienced this belief system firsthand growing up in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed's birthplace. He was a radical Wahhabi Muslim who knew members of the bin Laden family. As a young man, Fadi wanted to follow in Osama bin Laden's footsteps and take on Soviets in Afghanistan."I was willing to go fight and die. And then that opportunity didn't take place," Fadi recalled.

That's when he decided to attend college in the West - in the very backyard of his sworn enemies. Fadi planned to promote Islam to anyone who would listen. But a funny thing happened along the way. For the first time in his life, Fadi actually met and spent time with Christians. "Basically, the more I met people who follow Christ, the more I realized that they are distinct and unique in their character. They're kind, they're patient, they're loving, they have moral values, they don't look at others with hatred," he recalled "At some point I heard the teaching of Christ to love your enemies. Technically speaking, I am their enemy, and they didn't hate me, they actually loved me," he said.

Leaving Islam
Before long, Fadi was ready to do what had once been unthinkable: to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. But the decision was not an easy one. "For you to leave Islam, you are leaving your identity, your culture, your community, your family, everything that you grew up to believe to be true," he said. "There is no separation between state and mosque, state and religion."Fadi's family in Saudi Arabia eventually came to grips with his leaving Islam. One of his brothers, however, still threatens his life on a regular basis. But he said the threats won't stop him from telling the truth about his former religion.

Infiltrating the Infidels
"Muslims know very well that the best way to conquer is not by the sword anymore," Fadi said. "It's by infiltrating the societies, the political systems, and by basically taking their time to grow, to become a majority that at some point, they will have a voice that they can topple things basically to their advantage," he said. With The Qur'an Dilemma, Fadi hopes to ensure that never happens.*Originally aired September 13, 2011.
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My thought for today: The best time to make friends is before you need them. Ethel Barrymore
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Toothpaste – not just for the teeth.

“One is never too old to learn new things”. I always thought that toothpaste was just for cleaning our teeth, but I just discovered that there are 24 other uses for toothpaste. - Werner

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1.    Cleans diamond rings: Just squeeze a little on a toothbrush, wet the ring, scrub gently, rinse and your diamond ring should be looking sparkling new.
2.    Even out scratches on CD/DVD –If the screen freezes, take out the disc, put some toothpaste on it; scrub und clean it off.
3.    Put it on burns, right after you have been burned. It will relive the sting.
4.    Cleans silver. Toothpaste can be uses to clean any kind of silver. It really does bring out the shine of any silverware.
5.    Removes crayon from painted wall: Rub the marks with a damp rag with toothpaste. Wipe with water to get rid of the residue.
6.    Remove carpet stains: Squeeze some on the carpet stain; scrub and rinse and let it dry.
7.    Relief for insect bites. Spread some over the mosquito, flea and ant bites and you’ll feel “smoothed” and no itches.
8.    Clean your nails: Teeth and nails are made from the same material. To clean your nails squeeze some on top of a toothbrush, wet your nails and brush them thoroughly – and be amazes by the sparkle.
9.    Clean shoes: Scrubbing toothpaste with a wet toothbrush over boots, working shoes, and rubber parts of sneakers will work. It can also be used to remove scuffs.
10.    Put up posters:  You can put up posters without damaging the wall. However, avoid using it on collectors poster as it can damage the ink over time.
11.    Use to temporary seal holes: Can be used as a spackle to fill nail holes. This may sound sneaky, but you can use it before you move out of a rented apartment.
12.    Clean around the bathroom: Use it to clean shower doors and rings around bathtubs. It has abrasive so that is why it works so good.
13.    Clean you vehicle’s headlight.  Put some toothpaste in a bowel with some water. Use a buffer pad and clean off fog causes by dirt and bugs hitting them.
14.    Clean model cars. Hobbyists who collect model cars, robots and action figures can certainly use toothpaste to make them nice and shiny.
15.    Remove scratches on your watch crystal. Dab some on your watch and scrub it with tissue.
16.    Treat acne: Be very careful with this, use only once a week. Just dab a small amount on a pimple before bed, in the morning it will be dried up.
17.    Prevent fog on your swimming goggles. Just dab some on and then clean it off.
18.    Clean piano key tops.  A dab of toothpaste, a soft cloth and some rubbing  will usually clean piano key tops and turn them white again.
19.    Deodorize smelly hands. Wash your hands with a dab of toothpaste and it will remove smells like onion and other unpleasant odours.
20.    Remove scratches on glassware. Polish with a squeeze of toothpaste and your glassware will be shining in no time.
21.    Remove beach tar. Getting that black beach tar on your feet can put a crimp in your vacation, but it is easy enough to remove. Just rub it with some non-gel toothpaste and rinse.
22.    Deodorise baby bottles. Works for sour smelling baby bottles. Scrub with toothpaste and a bottlebrush and the bottle will end up clean and fresh.
23.    Cleans clothes iron. The mild abrasive in non-gel toothpaste is just the ticket to scrub the gunk of the bottom plate of your iron. Apply the toothpaste to the cold iron, scrub with a cloth and then rinse off.
24.    Remove water marks from furniture. To get rid of those telltale watermarks rings from sweating beverages. Gently rub some non-gel toothpaste on the wood with a soft cloth.
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My thought for today.
Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning. - William Arthur Ward***