Claims about ABC lack credibility

 

In “ABC pays price for not being more wary” (AFR, February 4) Tim Wilson concludes: “My view is that the ABC should be scaled back to services that do not compete with commercial providers, especially because it is leading to a multi-platform concentration of media power funded by taxpayers”.
He says the ABC reporters “should have been more wary of the legitimacy of the claims” against the Navy. “Free speech comes with consequences and the ABC is now paying the reputational damage price for not being more wary. If people disagree, they should express a counter view.” But Wilson’s claims lack credibility given ABC government funding has not increased in real terms, but its news reporting has expanded. It has subjected political and commercial interests to scrutiny, to avoid the risks of bias when too much media power rests in commercial networks subject to sponsor and advertiser pressures.
There are many instances of investigative journalism by the ABC unlikely to have been undertaken by commercial networks.
Furthermore, the idea the ABC has blotted its copybook because it didn’t report both angles more thoroughly in relation to the alleged mistreatment of boat people by the Navy is due entirely to the enforced secrecy.
The absence of any detailed information or responses by authorities prevented alternative views being presented. In such circumstances the only way to remain patriotic would be to report nothing, which is not in the public nor the broadcaster’s best interest.

Reflections

Poetry I have written about the area in which I have lived for the last 32 years.

Warrandyte River Walk

Crunch of gravel underfoot

Dust baked on a river’s track

Yellow tree spray on display

Shimmer in the river’s eddies

the wind brings a haunting rhyme

Resounding chords of a lost dreaming

When sky turned black, when rains came

It washed away the old bush track

Camped by the river, on the plain or in the scrub

Tribes still remember a great flood

As their mother earth rebounds.
Game is plentiful-they dance again
To the tune of the great hunt.
 

Gone now like the first spring floods

Gone the nulla, the sling and the spear

Replaced by the gun

No longer
 

Yarra River & Eltham

Impressionists captured in scenes to behold

Of a river panned in the quest for gold

The valleys, streams, the eucalypt scent

In verses free flowing from our poets lips.

 The Bellbirds ring out in parks where we play

And the Magpies warble a carol each day

In gullies of wattle, under ghostly grey gums

From the tiny streams to the river beyond

As soil crumbles down the steep slopes

It joins the fast current, over sharp rocks

Down over rapids, flows upside down

Ever onwards over her sacred ground

Yarra Wattle

The river mirrors in the first spring rays

Wattle blooms in the morning haze

So Withers heeded nature’s spring call

In vibrant colours, captured natures fine lace

In rivers scenes that have stayed the course

Through war, through peace and all our strife

The colours, the refection’s endless seasons repeat

And now Withers pictures, just prints on the banks

Put spring in our steps, wattle pride in this place

Hollow victory

In “Australia crosses a thin blue line of credibility “(AFR 24^th January 2014) Laura Tingle poses the question, “ Is our Navy so utterly incompetent that it keeps accidentally going into someone else’s sovereign waters?. “

 

The government when in opposition emphatically stated sovereign borders would always be respected and that any boat returns would only be carried out in full co-operation with the local authorities. The navy confirmed it would take their authority from the government to operationally implement such a policy.

In the midst of these revelations of the Australian Navies repeated unauthorised entries into someone else’s sovereign waters it must have become apparent a less obvious presence was now necessary. Hence we have the incident of captured boat people escorted back to Indonesia in a modern navy supplied and operated life craft to further exasperate relations with our neighbour.

But as we already have a Cooperation Agreement between respective country agencies in preventing trafficking in people, surely it is still not too late to engage in future cooperative joint naval exercises and repair the relationship. This will add to costs as Indonesia cannot be expected to bear the additional impost but it is justified as a more rational future long term solution.

 It is a hollow victory to achieve the result of no boat arrival in the last 30 days if this is at the expense of a further deterioration in relations with one of our most important neighbours. For Further reading http://www.afr.com/p/national/jakarta_ready_for_clash_over_border_QLab8tN4m2fsrZe5CgBUZK

 

Early Christianity remains shrouded in Pauline mystery

What I think is that the letters of St Paul ultimately provided the certainties at the time of Nicea to finally unite Christianity. But in the intervening period the detailed practices of the first early Christian communities remain sketchy, except for what can be gleaned from the history of the Bible and other less fulsome historical references from Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Josephus, The Babylonian Talmud and Lucian. I have provided a link which has a comprehensive individual history for each at the end of this post.

Within the synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew & Luke ) Jesus’s brief ministry of possibly 3 years, was no doubt revolutionary, aimed at reforming the rigidity of Judaism in favour of the golden rule, to choose his12 disciple’s to further that objective and to make references to the messianic kingdom yet to come. But in the aftermath of his crucifixion, in the immediate vacuum same scholars have suggested Judaism continued on with a small sect accepting Jesus as the messiah, known as Judaic Christians whilst others would begin without any link to Jewish customs and rituals. The fact that Paul devoted so much of his letters to the freedom from the law and ritualistic practice leads one to conclude such groups continued during his ministry. Some scholars contend the two existed as equal part of the whole for the first 300 years.

But today most of our theology has its roots in St Paul whose writings came from his revelation and not from any interaction with the apostles in Jerusalem. Paul is described in Acts as a Pharisee teacher, and is acknowledged as having a role in the martyrdom of Stephen. (Acts 7:58-60; 22:20).Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, from persecutor to apostle for Christ relied exclusively on this revelation to subsequently establish his authority and a following. Paul was not successful initially in Jewish conversions to Christianity if we are to rely on biblical references.

But it was his genius to spread the word to the gentiles that one could say it was Paul, more than anyone else, who was responsible for the spreading the Christian message. But we do have some inkling over the underlying tensions in the early Christian communities as gentiles joined the Jewish church. Paul provided extensive explanations about circumcision and that ritualistic observances were no longer necessities under the Law of Moses (Acts 10:10-16.). The conflict with Peter was resolved with Paul gaining the ascendancy without which the church today no doubt would barely be recognizable. Paul’s only talks about the resurrected Jesus and not the Jesus of the gospels with references to the miracles or parables or sayings, but his letters still make up over fifty percent of the New Testament.

What is also clearly evident is that St Paul’s teaching to champion the growth of the early church was based on eschatology, to prepare the way for the followers to soon enter into the messianic kingdom.

But one could well imagine over time the doubts that arose, but Paul’s explanation for the delay was evident in his 2 letters to the Thessalonians. In these apocalyptic and Hellenistic texts he depicts the angels, trumpeting the resurrection of “the Christ” for all creation, for both the living and those dead to be raised from the dead. The delay was to ensure sufficient time for all inhabitants to be saved, by being “In Christ” so that they may be raised up with him on the last Day of Judgment.

In the letter to the Corinthians it is evident such doubts were already evident in the early community. This is because Greek rationality would have rallied against such a proposition, so that over time between Paul's writing and 320 ad (Nicea) Paul’s view would have lost creditability.

In a stroke of genius however at Nicea, through consensus and careful orchestrated theological underpinnings in selected books the power of the church was regained by the adoption of faith rules to the immense relief of Constantine, who only wanted consistency.

I think that neither St Paul nor the original disciples would have ever imagined such a complex theology would have developed to day.
PAUL'S SECOND LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANSWith people, places, definitions, map  click below

http://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CPn14Thess2.htm

 St. Paul’s Eschatology=click below

http://www.kaldu.org/Diocesan_Theology_Course/2008/Nov26_08L9.html

Ancient Evidence for Jesus from Non-Christian Sources: click below http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.4223639/k.567/Ancient_Evidence_for_Jesus_from_NonChristian_Sources.htm The Forgotten Christian World http://www.historytoday.com/philip-jenkins/forgotten-christian-world

prelude to An Optinal Truth

Should it be of interest you can read the prelude of my intended novel at  http://lindsaysblogstory.blogspot.com.au/

Relationship with Indonesia on the brink

Prime Minister Tony Abbot’s idea Indonesia can be our most important friend whilst asserting Australia’ s right to gather information necessary for her security without specially excluding spying on the Indonesian President, his wife or high ranking elected representatives seems to me to be a oxymoron. This approach underlines the inability of successive leaders to make progress, by accepting spying under the guise of security whilst attempting closer co-operation explicitly based on trust and good faith at a personal level.

 

This does not mean you have a blind trust, as Indonesia was reported to be spying on Australia in 1999, or to compromise security, but rather to preclude specific wiretapping at a leaders level until such information or events would tell you any further trust is unwarranted. The latest revelations jeopardize trade and strategic security for the region, and Abbot should seek to be more conciliatory and rule out further episodes. 

 

What should be of more concern is the wisdom of continuing to trust in the integrity of current information sharing facilities with the USA, given the repeated leakages via Wiki leaks and now through Edward Snowden. 

An Optional Truth.

Synopsis of a intended novel by Lindsay Byrnes –“An Optional Truth”.  

Out of the war of 1914-1918 comes this story, of an event that temporarily halted the war, and of a soldier executed for his complicity in the event, but about whom nothing much was known until a few rudimentary facts were discovered by another generation.

The story traces the journey, nearly a century later, and two generations further on, of descendants seeking to discover their great grandfather, who was reported as shot as a traitor. The quest to discover his story is frustrated by the authorities and only snippets from what has been handed down with the family history.

In the end each of the four siblings decide to collaborate to write their own story of events from their perspective, from what they know and can imagine, as a cathartic experience, as the sense of helplessness and the cruelty of war  becomes an unexpected burden.

This fascinating account has a common thread with each sibling evoking dark days and soaring sprits in an emotive narrative that captures a hero, an idealist, a loner or the sacrificial lamb to wars brutality with the spilling of innocent blood in the name of king and country. It belongs to a different era, where there were many such stories that can never be fully told, but must forever remain unknown except for what can be imagined in the minds of those who come after, to finally pay tribute to those who still lie falsely accused in the graveyards of our inglorious past.

It begins with prelude as the sibling’s enthusiasm to discover their great grandfather ends in the realization he must remain unknown, followed by their contributions which make up the story.

 

Brinkmanship the issue, not debt, in US.

Below is my published letter in the " Letters to the Editor "  section  of the  Australian Financial Review,

Brinkmanship the issue, not debt, in US

PUBLISHED: 23 Oct 2013

  

     

In the letter “US debt default inevitable in the long term” (AFR, October 18), Tim Walshaw contends a default will eventuate, based on the current trends.
But any such default would be as a result of political ineptitude to preclude any sensible compromise incorporating taxation reform. US federal tax revenues (excluding local and state tax regimes) will be only 17.4 per cent of GDP in 2014. The massive deficits and debt explosion are the product of previously enacted, unsustainable tax cuts legislated at the height of the global financial crisis and, to a lesser extent, the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined with increased funding for unemployment and food stamps, whose recipients now number 48 million. 
Further tax revenue problems are due to the action of large multinational companies adding to their non-US holdings abroad to ensure their increased earnings remain in low company tax rate countries. Having an unsustainable tax base has been conveniently ignored by Congressional members who contend the budget deficit should only be eliminated by cuts to government spending. This intransigency to accommodate a mixture of tax increases and a scaling back of future benefits, opposed vigorously by civil libertarians and a radicalised Tea Party, ensures the current stalemate is likely to continue.
Hence the looming sovereign debt problem is due entirely to political brinkmanship and dismissal of any alternative that may provide fairer and more ethical outcomes.

Lindsay Byrnes

US confidence index falls

http://www.gallup.com/poll/122840/gallup-daily-economic-indexes.aspx


Americans' confidence in the economy has deteriorated more in the past week during the partial government shutdown than in any week since Lehman Brothers collapsed on Sept. 15, 2008, which triggered a global economic crisis. Gallup's Economic Confidence Index tumbled 12 points to -34 last week, the second-largest weekly decline since Gallup began tracking economic confidence daily in January 2008.”

US Deadlock puzzle

If anyone thought bizarre political outcomes are a feature of Australian politics spare a thought for the 800,000 workers now on unpaid leave at the mercy of a powerful tea party force within the Republican Party, shamelessly opposing funding for the universal health care entitlement called Obacare.

Although benefits under the scheme don’t begin until next year, enabling time to explore funding options, opponents to the scheme consider it so wasteful and an affront to liberty they feel impelled to make a stand now. Any talk of a levy or funding tax increase causes tea party die- hards to a point of apoplexy from a meltdown of the frontal lobes since they are elected on a platform the only good government is the one smaller than its predecessor.

But the reality is, once fully implemented, the amended scheme passed as law will already hold down spiraling heath care costs whilst reducing the deficit and increase productivity and jobs which mirror so called conservative values.

But on the ground insurance Agencies and websites were overwhelmed with new registrations, from an estimated 48 million uninsured Americans as the scheme gets underway. Paradoxically the early teething problems have been overshadowed by the publicity afforded to the scheme by the Republican funding rejection, unwittingly contributing to its success as millions seek to register.

One should not rule out a similar stalemate on the 17th October when the debt ceiling is reached, so investors need to brace themselves for dislocation to equity markets, should the unthinkable of a government debt default also become a possibility.