Choices they make
One does not need to agree with everything that Caroline Glick writes, but her arguments are compelling. Obama is not stupid, but a virtuoso manager, she writes. But procedure and management do not make a good President or even a good manager. The examples show someone who is bigoted, obstructive and very nasty. Keep in mind that critics are quick to claim Obama is inept. His inability to reign in spending, his inability to address social issues in a Presidential, fair, manner, his poor policies that exacerbate inequity all suggest a poor manager, or something worse.
But when one examines Whitehouse activity one sees a different side. Glick gives two examples, the first being obstructing the Israel Defence Force in finding their soldier taken hostage and killed by Hamas. It would not have been hard or controversial for the US to allow the FBI to give information to Israel to allow them to save the captive, but the Whitehouse put in place managerial blocks. It was later revealed the soldier was dead and Hamas still have the remains and have accessed the soldier's FaceBook account. Secondly, there was an unofficial arms embargo placed on Israel as Hamas was escalating rocket attacks and Israel launched a short defensive insurgence to remove weapons and tunnels for Hamas. The embargo did not deny Israel supplies, but delayed them so that Israel did not have them. Compare that bureaucratic obstruction with the decision of Obama to allow Iran sufficient centrifuges to produce an atomic bomb within a year. These decisions are not the product of a mind devoid of organisation. They are purposeful, wrong and treasonous.
Another highly lauded person has died at a great age. Ben Bradlee was 93 years old, born in 1921, he served in WW2 before becoming a journalist. His time as editor for the Washington post saw the printing of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate story. He was aware of the identity of Felt who was Deep Throat, and wold have been aware of the conflict of interest for Felt which made the witch hunt into Nixon a travesty of justice. It is ok for a journalist to be biased, but they should be honest about it and Ben never was.
In Andrew McMicking's defence, he probably thought he was being jocular, before then deciding he had better temporarily lose his phone. His twitter account had a now deleted posting to someone that 'now their son was dead he had been a grub who deserved it.' McMicking is ALP. Had he been conservative there would be outrage from a lot of silent people who right now must be suspected of approving the depravity.
ALP vs LNP
Albrechtsen contrasts Plibersek and Bishop, noting ALP Plibersek has jumped on empty symbolic bandwagons calling out 'misogyny' and making empty claims for political purposes. Meanwhile Bishop quietly and effectively executes difficult political manoeuvres.
Scott Morrison personally intervenes on migrants by denying a visa, and any possible appeal, on security grounds. Remembering Gough by his achievements and the press are blinded by love. Hate media mourns the death of Whitlam. Miranda Devine, Greg Sheridan and Andrew Bolt separately reveal some of the appalling abuses of Whitlam long forgiven by his hagiographers.
Isolated issues
Pistorius is in jail for an inadequate set time of five years maximum. Possibly less than a year. His sentence is based on the erroneous finding he had not the intent to kill his girlfriend. Steenkamp's family have accepted the verdict, but the prosecutor has a few weeks with which they may lodge an appeal. One suspects Pistorius' sentence would have been longer had he actually shot an intruder and not his brilliant, talented girlfriend. South Africa with Pistorius and without Steenkamp is a much poorer, darker place.
Genius scientist Stephen Hawking has set up a trap with which he claims he can catch a time traveller. Typical of Hawking's thinking there are holes. The idea is to invite the time traveller after the event. If time travel is possible, then we should see them, or tourists. But we don't. The assumption being that they wish to be seen and look familiar. Another assumption is that the intent of wanting a time traveller to appear and the message they should is one and the same. However we all see time travellers all the time .. they just happen to be travelling with us at the same rate.
Royal commission into institutionalised responses to pedophilia has heard a harrowing account of how police returned the victim to abusers on numerous occasions. It sounds familiar. Some children are abused without being raped and have similar stories. The betrayal of a child is never acceptable and turning away is never a good thing, but how does a good person intervene? As the stolen generation myth shows, good intentions can harm everyone, including the child.
Games people play
Giants win first WSB game 7 to 1. San Francisco got three runs in the first innings, and had compiled five before the fifth innings, taking out the Kansas City starting pitcher at a seventy pitch count by the end of the fourth innings. The game was lost early and the second, with a new set of starter pitchers will characterise the series. Kansas City need to tie it up or give a very challenging lead away.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle...
David Daniel Ball calls himself the Conservative Voice.
I'm a teacher with three decades experience teaching math to high school kids.I also work with first graders and kids in between first grade and high school. I know the legends of why Hypatia's dad is remembered through his contribution to Math theory. And I know the legend of why followers of Godel had thought he had disproved God's existence.
I'm not a preacher, but I am a Christian who has written over 28 books all of which include some reference to my faith. Twelve blog books on world history and current affairs, detailing world events , births and marriages on each day of the year, organised by month. Twelve books on the background to and history of Bible Quotes. One Bible quote per day for a year. An intro to a science fiction series I'm planning, post apocalyptic cyber punk. An autobiography with short story collections.
I'm known in Australia for my failure as a whistleblower over the negligence death of a school boy. ...
In Tanami’s red sands where spinifex grows,
Where waterholes gleam ‘neath the sun’s golden glare,
Lived Yaparla, sweet maid, with a heart pure as snow,
Her kindness a light in the desert so bare.
Her father, a wise man, kept songs for the land,
To guard the soak’s waters where life held its sway.
But drought gripped the earth with a merciless hand,
And he sought a new spring to ease their dismay.
Deep in a gorge where the rocks hid the sky,
He found a clear pool with fish dancing free.
But a voice shook the stones with a thunderous cry,
“Who steals my sweet water without leave of me?”
Out slid the Wanyarra, half-man, half a snake,
His scales flashed like opals, his eyes cold with pain.
“For your kin’s life,” he hissed, “one price I must take—
Send Yaparla to me, or your land drinks no rain.”
The father returned, his heart heavy with woe,
And told his dear daughter the serpent’s demand.
“I’ll go,” said Yaparla, her voice soft and low,
“For my people, my country, I’ll walk that red sand.”
She came to the gorge with her digging stick strong,
Singing songs of her kin ‘neath ...
AI adapted
To adapt the story of Bambi to the Dreamtime of Warlpiri culture in the Tanami Desert, we’ll reimagine the tale with respect for Warlpiri storytelling traditions, cosmology, and the desert environment. The Dreamtime (Jukurrpa) is a sacred framework where ancestral beings shape the land, law, and life, so Bambi’s journey will reflect Warlpiri values like kinship, connection to country, and survival in harmony with nature. I’ll keep the essence of Bambi—a young creature’s growth amid loss and discovery—while grounding it in the Tanami’s ecology and Warlpiri worldview. Since Bambi is a specific narrative, I’ll translate its core themes rather than reproduce the original text verbatim, ensuring cultural sensitivity. The story will be concise yet vivid, as requested.
Bambi in the Jukurrpa of the Tanami
In the Jukurrpa, when the Tanami Desert glowed under the first stars, the ancestral beings shaped the land. From the spinifex and red sand, they formed Jampijinpa, a young red ...
Created with Grok, Pictory, And Topmediai
Content from listening to podcasters Hunley and Groubert of America's Untold Stories. They tell it better than me
Folk Song: "The Ballad of Lee Harvey Oswald"
Verse 1
Oh, Lee Harvey Oswald, a man they did frame,
The deep state and CIA, they tarnished his name.
They said he went to Mexico, a lie they did spin,
While he fought for his service, his honor within.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 2
On that dark day in Dallas, they said he shot Tippit,
Left a wallet behind, but the tale didn’t fit.
Arrested with his own in hand, the proof was right there,
But the deep state kept spinnin’ their web of despair.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 3
They trained him in Russian, sent him off to the East,
A ...
