Old Blighty

Fancy a holiday in the UK? If so, one international tour company has a deal for you. You could be enjoying a coach holiday in Britian. Is that near Britain? 

Top weekend

The Marxism conference is an annual fixture on the radical left's calendar in Australia. It's a pity that they always choose to hold this conference over the Easter weekend. Presumably they won't be spending the weekend reflecting on the death and resurrection of Jesus, or taking short family holidays.

From its website, I see that the conference theme is "Tear Down the Walls." The irony of this appears to be lost on the conference organisers. History shows that far from tearing down walls, Marxism usually builds them. This year is also the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, a despised symbol of Communist oppression and tyranny.

The slightly highbrow post

On this day in 1706, German composer Johann Pachelbel died. Just off the top of my head, all I know about him is that he was the composer of Pachelbel's Canon. In my lifetime, it has become popular as background music in shopping malls, cunningly used as mood music to make customers feel relaxed, and therefore likely to spend more money there, and also for wedding processionals.

I wonder if he would have approved of his musical legacy being used in such ways? 

Making sense out of nothing at all

At the risk of subjecting myself to mockery, I wish to state that I am a fan of the soft rock duo, Air Supply. Furthermore, I plan to go to their concert when they tour my city later in the year. This will be the third time that I have seen them in concert, but this time, I won't be going alone. 

Here is a screen capture from an online event ticket reseller. Sounds like a great concert, doesn't it? The band will be accompanied by a full orchestra, reproducing the sound of the studio versions of their biggest hits.

The first sentence of the second paragraph reads, "Russell Hitchcock met Graham Russell have been thrilling audiences for over 40 years." Clearly, there are words, or perhaps a whole sentence missing from this paragraph, because this makes no sense at all.

Erratum

This sounds like a good job for a suitable candidate, but the employer needs to pay more attention to their spelling. Spelling errors irritate me at the best of times; even more so when there appear in job advertisements.

I'll be bkac

Since the Academy Awards will be presented this coming Sunday night in the United States, it is apt to write something about the film industry. A film industry columnist wrote in Forbes about the domestic and international box office performance of Alita: Battle Angel. Its gross in China could be large enough to almost make it profitable. I'm not planning to see it in cinemas. I'll wait for its home media release. 

Alas, it may not make enough money to become profitable for Fox, the studio that released it. The article also mentions Terminator: Genisys, the unsuccessful 2015 sequel and reboot of the Terminator franchise. Look at the above screen capture, and the title of this film has been misspelled as Termiantor. 

Boss cocky

Edmund Barton

When you're Australian, you know things are awry when broadly speaking, you know more about Presidents of the United States than your own country's Prime Ministers. To correct this imbalance, I'm taking on a personal project of reading a biography of every Australian Prime Minister since 1901, starting with Edmund Barton (1849-1920). One of several Prime Ministerial biographies published to commemorate the centenary of Australian federation in 2001, I just finished reading Geoffrey Bolton's Edmund Barton: The One Man for the Job.

Barton was educated at the Fort Street Model School, Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney. Whilst a student at the University of Sydney, Barton was secretary of the University cricket club. Before entering the New South Wales Parliament, he worked in the legal profession, and continued to work sporadically as a barrister and solicitor during his political career. He was also a leading campaigner for Australian federation during the 1890s, rising to become Australia's first Prime Minister in January 1901.

He resigned from office in September 1903, to take up a position as a judge in the first High Court of Australia, remaining in this position until his death in 1920.

Just think, if you are secretary of your cricket club, you too could one day become Prime Minister of Australia. Then again, you might have more job security at the cricket club than as Prime Minister.

Screwed over

A future Australian Labor government is committing itself to a $100 million funding boost to the TAFE sector, the lynchpin of Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system. This promise is outlined in a slightly outdated website. While it mentions the problem of widespread rorts in the VET system by poorly regulated private VET providers, who can charge their students as much as they like at the expense of the taxpayer, as far as I can see, it doesn't say anything about eradicating this rorting. Surely this is as serious a problem as the TAFE funding problems.

Not always the best medicine

When I saw this very amusing meme, I knew I had to repost it on my blog. I am not a Liberal voter, but I am a conservative. Whether it's in their live performances, or on their television shows, most of the Australian comedians I know almost incessantly mock conservatives and conservative values. It seems that the Australian comedy scene is largely a conservative free zone.

Leftists often like to make themselves out to be nicer, more tolerant people than conservatives, or right wingers, as they often call them, in pejorative terms. That is why I don't go to many live comedy gigs, and I have more or less stopped watching these television shows. I grew tired of the constant ridicule, to see something I actually found funny. More's the pity.

Why the ABC needs more funding

For years, it has been blatantly obvious that political campaign finance in Australia is hopelessly corrupt. Today,  the ABC reported on an ongoing investigation by the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) into alleged illegal donations from a Sydney restaurateur family to the New South Wales Labor Party. 

This is an important story, but that isn't what this post is about. Whoever wrote it made a small typographic error. New South Wales is a proper noun, so it must always be capitalised. 

As Australia's national broadcaster, millions of people rely on it as their main source of trustworthy news and information. Pardon the sarcasm, but it seems that they cannot rely on it for error-free articles on their website. 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-04/chinese-donations-to-nsw-labor-examined-icac/10636610

Like a tonne of bricks

The other day, during a television debate on Channel 10's Studio 10 programme, on changing the date of Australia Day, Kerri Anne Kennerley was accused of being racist for mentioning entrenched disadvantage and appalling social problems in many indigenous communities in Australia. Joe Hildebrand, who also regularly appears on Studio 10, cuts through the social media hysteria to show that Kennerley is actually correct. 

Not long after, Hildebrand himself was also attacked for defending Kennerley against the accusations of racism levelled against her. I'm glad to see that he is sticking up for himself. So he should. He studied history at one of the best university history departments in Australia, so his grasp of history should not be questioned. 

At a personal level, it breaks my heart to hear about these problems. On many key indicators, indigenous Australians are disadvantaged compared to non-indigenous Australia. Governments, the education system, the health system, and industry are working to close the gap. 

I write these words with a heavy heart. By all means, let's keep discussing these problems, do what we can to alleviate them, and correct past injustices. It will make Australia a better and more just society. Changing the date of Australia Day will merely be a symbolic gesture, and won't actually tangibly improve the situation. 

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/joe-hildebrands-take-on-the-australia-day-date-debate/news-story/1bd2fce2810645eadb263e2c1f37314c

My name used to be Matt, but people kept walking all over me, so I changed it

The Western world is gradually stripping away the last vestiges of its Judeo-Christian heritage, including Christian influence in the legal system. Christians who hold to the classical definition of marriage, family, gender, and other contentious issues are frequently facing legal action from other parties who find these views objectionable, and out of step with modern societal norms. In a recent debate on social media, we were discussing the question of whether or not Christians have a right to recourse through the legal system in these situations.

One person replied to me by quoting Romans 13, claiming that this passage commands Christians to unquestionably obey all the laws of the land.

A superficial reading of the text supports this interpretation. This is a quote directly from the ESV Study Bible text notes on Romans 13:1-7. "This passage addresses the responsibility of Christians to the governing authorities. They are to "be subject to" (which generally means to obey, cf 1 Peter 3: 5-6) the government because it has been ordained by God. Paul is speaking here of the general principle of submission to government. Several other passages show that God approves of Christians disobeying government, but only when obedience to government would mean disobeying God (see Exodus 1:17, 21; 1 Kings 18:4-16, Esther 4:16, Daniel 3:12-18; 6:10, Matthew 2:12, Acts 5:29, Hebrews 11:23). There were even times when God raised up leader to rebel against the government and deliver his people from evil rulers (Exodus 1-14, Judges 2:16, Hebrews 11:32-24).

You can see this principle in action in the lives of people such as the 19th century abolitionists, Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church movement in Nazi Germany, as well as the Scholl siblings and the White Rose resistance movement, Martin Luther King in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States, Archbishop Romero in San Salvador during the 1979-1982 military dictatorship, and plenty of Christian groups who support asylum seekers.

Not to mention the millions of Christians in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East whose governments persecute them just because of their religious faith.

https://www.commongrace.org.au/organisations_supporting_asylum_seekers

Barmy

Tim Vine, wearing a hat made of empty milk bottles and packing tape

I have had the pleasure of seeing Tim Vine perform live a couple of times. He's back, with his new show, Sunset Milk Idiot. The show promises, amongst other things, "telling lots of silly new jokes, showing off new homemade props, singing some new daft ditties, and all with the appearance of confidence. The following subjects will be touched upon briefly: pixie football, ice cream and nibble feeders. Come along, sit down, and laugh. The quantity won’t let up. This is comedy without a message. What an odd person. What a lot of nonsense. What else is he going to do? ‘Sunsets are in the sky, milk’s nice, and I’m an idiot.’"

When he tours overseas, I wonder how he gets all of his props through customs. How does he describe them when he fills out his customs declaration form? Do customs officers examine each prop individually before they stamp his passport? What sort of questions do they ask him? Am I overthinking all this?

You have stepped out of your place

"Come in. Take a seat. We're here for your performance review. I have to tell you that you failed on the second key performance indicator."

"Did I? With respect, you can hardly expect your employees to produce accurate work when you misspell the word "accuracy" in the advertisement when I first applied for this position."

"Oh, really? Can you provide evidence of that?"

"Yes, I have the document right here."

"Point taken."

"You will be given a written warning. Not for your job performance, but for being uppity."

It's in the script

Today is Margaret Thatcher Day. Named for the former British Prime Minister, it is commemorated in the Falkland Islands. Until today, I had no idea that this holiday existed. It commemorates the 1982 Falklands War, which was one of the defining events of the Thatcher years.

Pictured at left is a front page headline from The Sun, evocative of the patriotic, gung-ho fervour for the war that was whipped up by British tabloid newspapers.

There was an element of this in the 1997 James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, in which the villain, Elliot Carver, a global media tycoon, attempted to start a war between China and Britain to further his business interests. I dare say this was intentional. That's certainly the first thing I thought of when I watched this scene in the film. In the customary Bond film scene in which the villain explains his evil plot to James Bond, he shows him this headline from one of his own newspapers.

When Carver dies aboard his stealth boat at the end of the movie, M and Moneypenny put out a cover story saying that he was missing at sea, presumed drowned. It's left up to the audience to work out for themselves whether or not this was based on actual events. More astute viewers should have no trouble making these connections.

Mao's legacy

With China rising as a world power, its internal affairs and poor human rights record are coming under media scrutiny from democratic countries. Over the past few years, millions of Chinese citizens have been the victims of arbitrary and secret detentions. Government persecution of Christians has intensified, with Pastor Wang Yi and approximately 100 members of his church also detained.

Photojournalist Lu Guang has also disappeared. His photographs expose social, environmental, and economic issues. Disappearing him will hardly suppress his work. It is readily available online. Is he considered to be a threat because his work challenges the image of itself that China wishes to present to the world?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-06/the-people-who-china-disappeared-in-2018-and-where-they-are-now/10676016

https://www.google.com/search?q=lu+guang&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig7qi3p9vfAhWWOnAKHcy0B2EQ_AUIDigB&biw=1366&bih=626

The coathanger

Happy New Year to my reader. This happened last night in Sydney. During the midnight fireworks display, the message, "Happy New Year 2018!" was projected onto one of the Harbour Bridge pylons. With months of work going into planning these events, you could be forgiven when minor details, such as correct spelling of projected messages are overlooked.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-01/sydney-new-year-even-2018-typo-projected-onto-harbour-bridge/10676974

The consequences of anti-Semitism

Until today, the only major historical event that I knew of in 1066 was the Battle of Hastings. That was until I learned about the Grenada Massacre. On December 30 of that year:

"A Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in Granada, Spain on this date in 1066, crucified Joseph ibn Naghrela, the Jewish vizier to the Berber king, and massacred more than a thousand Jewish families. According to the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, "Arabic chroniclers relate that [the vizier] believed neither in the faith of his fathers nor in any other faith," and that he "controlled" the King and "surrounded him with spies." The most bitter of his enemies was Abu Ishaq of Elvira, who wrote a maliciously anti-Semitic poem that helped spark the pogrom..."

The exact number of deaths is unknown, but it is possible that up to 4000 people were killed. 

https://jewishcurrents.org/jewdayo-grid/december-30-the-grenada-massacre/

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6855-granada

http://jspacenews.com/december-30-1066-granada-massacre/

More spiritual snakeoil

Via Facebook, a past acquaintance of mine invited me to an event with American televangelist, Jesse Duplantis. I strongly but politely declined the invitation. There's no way known I'm going to see him. Let me explain why.

Firstly, I have a big problem with his hyper spirituality. These evangelists who claim to have special teaching or extra-biblical revelations trouble me. Duplantis claims that he was caught up in the Spirit and visited heaven, where he met Abraham, King David, Jesus himself, and the apostle Paul. It's interesting that he should meet Paul, because Paul also had a vision of heaven. Does Duplantis see himself as being a modern day version of Paul? Unlike Duplantis, Paul didn't share his vision of heaven to make himself look good. When he described his apostolic credentials in his letters, it wasn't to impress people, but to defend himself against his opponents, the so called super apostles, who undermined him.

Secondly, Duplantis is a well known prosperity preacher. He lives in a lavish mansion, and earlier in the year, made headlines when he allegedly asked his supporters to help him buy a private jet, to be used for ministry purposes. Again, he says that God wanted him to have it, but on the face of it, it looks like he's manipulating people, and that he thinks that travelling around on commercial flights is beneath him.

That Duplantis has such a huge following shows a lack of discernment amongst Christians. I'm disappointed that an Australian church is directly supporting his work. Count me out. So many of these celebrity pastors eventually fall off the pedestals their followers put them on.

Linguistic totalitarianism

PETA, the well known animal rights activist group, wants to stop people from using what it terms as "anti-animal language." It has prepared a helpful chart to give examples of phrases that it deems to be offensive.

The whole thing is ridiculous. Why should it stop there. Using the same logic, you could argue that saying, "That takes the cake" is offensive to diabetics, or "Don't cry over spilt milk" is offensive to people who are lactose intolerant.

I am a Christian. I could quite easily start a campaign to eradicate the use of the name of Jesus as a swear word. Just yesterday, hundreds of frustrated train commuters were left stranded by a signal fault. It was a hot day. Replacement buses were organised, but it took hours for the crowds to dissipate. At least one of these passengers used that phrase to express his frustration.

If I was a theocratic dictator, my first act would be to enact a decree to outlaw the use of swear words, and all forms of blasphemy. I am being facetious, but it's not that far removed from what PETA is proposing.