Free Republic

The Islamic Society of Victoria is preparing to take legal action against ASIO for what it says is constant harassment and bullying. Members of the Preston Mosque in Melbourne's north claim intelligence operatives are approaching worshippers on a daily basis, offering them jobs and demanding personal information. The secretary of the Islamic Society of Victoria, Baha Yehia, believes sermons are being monitored and he wants the harassment to stop. "We will go to Canberra if we have to. We will go to Canberra and we will complain directly to the Prime Minister," he said. The Islamic group has sought the...

BLACK US troops mutinied in Townsville in 1942 and turned machineguns on their officers, in a secret chapter of the war in the Pacific that has come to light through the papers of the late US president Lyndon B. Johnson. The scandal was hushed up for nearly 70 years after being described in a report given to and apparently kept by Johnson as "one of the biggest stories of the war which can't be written, shouldn't be written". The subject of rumour and speculation for decades in the north Queensland city, it has now emerged that the mutiny was probably...

Aussies’ modest proposal: Sell us F-22s, mate For F-35 proponents, every sunrise brings new reasons for unease about the future of the program. It regularly gets bad headlines in the U.S. The Brits now say they’ll wait until 2015 before committing to buy any more jets. And as we’ve talked about before, there are rumblings Down Under that suggest the Australians may be losing their patience. But proponents in the U.S. and Australia can take heart about one thing — these are the guys they’re up against: Some of the most vehement critics of Australia’s involvement in the Joint Strike...

THE stealth qualities of the futuristic F-35 Joint Strike Fighter on order for the Royal Australian Air Force are overrated and the plane's combat performance greatly exaggerated, a defence lobby group has claimed. The complaints by Air Power Australia, longtime critics of the $16 billion JSF acquisition, were made last night before a public hearing of parliament's defence sub-committee. Latest-generation Russian fighters such as the Sukhoi T-50 would easily defeat the F-35 in air-to-air combat, Air Power's Peter Goon said, referring to recent modelling tests by his organisation. "The aircraft we are planning to buy is carrying over 2000 pounds...

For a long time, scientists had assumed a gradual expansion of African people through Sinai into both Europe and Asia. Then, bizarrely, it became clear from both genetics and archaeology that Europe was peopled later (after 40,000 years ago) than Australia (before 50,000 years ago). Meanwhile, the geneticists were beginning to insist that many Africans and all non-Africans shared closely related DNA sequences that originated only after about 70,000-60,000 years ago in Africa. So a new idea was born, sometimes called the "beachcomber express," in which the first ex-Africans were seashore dwellers who spread rapidly around the coast of the...

LABOR is now a rabble in a panic in what seems to be Julia Gillard’s last weeks - maybe even days - as Prime Minister. It has finally woken up to its deadly choice. It can either have a leader loathed by voters, or one loathed by its MPs. It can stick with the incompetent and scandal-ridden Gillard, and suffer humiliating defeat. Or it can surrender to the popular Kevin Rudd, and risk tearing itself apart again under a self-obsessed power freak. Labor can dream of other options - Regional Australia Minister Simon Crean, Workplace Minister Bill Shorten or Defence...

Explanation: Why would the sky glow red? Aurora. Last week's solar storms, emanating mostly from active sunspot region 1402, showered particles on the Earth that excited oxygen atoms high in the Earth's atmosphere. As the excited element's electrons fell back to their ground state, they emitted a red glow. Were oxygen atoms lower in Earth's atmosphere excited, the glow would be predominantly green. Pictured above, this high red aurora is visible just above the horizon last week near Flinders, Victoria, Australia. The sky that night, however, also glowed with more familiar but more distant objects, including the central disk of...

The arrest of a man in connection with a murder that happened nearly 20 years ago has reignited calls for the police cold case unit to be reopened. Stephen Roy Standage was arrested over the 1993 murder of Ronald Frederick Jarvis after an investigation into the commercial fisherman's death by Tasmania Police's Cold Case Unit. The unit was disbanded a month ago because of state budget cuts. The families of murder victims are now urging the State Government to reopen it. Paul Barker's brother Shane was shot at close range in his Campbell Town home in August 2009. Mr Barker...

Navy set to be more capable than ever 16:24 AEDT Tue Jan 31 2012 Max Blenkin, AAP Defence Correspondent New warships will give Australia's navy more capability than ever before, with some help from the US Marines, Defence Minister Stephen Smith says. Speaking at the navy's Sea Power Conference in Sydney, Mr Smith noted the navy was set to acquire two new landing helicopter dock (LHD) ships, their largest vessels ever, three advanced air warfare destroyers and 12 next generation submarines. As well, the navy's eight Anzac frigates were being upgraded with new radars and missile defences while 24 new...

A Coast Guard inspection of a freighter docked at the Port of Longview "didn't uncover or reveal anything," a Coast Guard spokesman said Saturday, but the crew members are not allowed off the ship and security will be maintained until the ship leaves. "We were not expecting to find anything," Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith, the Coast Guard's public affairs officer for the Pacific area, said Saturday by telephone from his office in Alameda, Calif. The search was routine, according to the Coast Guard, but Longview officials said the security crackdown is the most port activity since the Sept. 11, 2001,...

Newquay’s Blue Reef Aquarium is showcasing a bizarre apple-shaped sea cucumber from Australia in a new toxic display. The sea apple is a type of sea cucumber which is also related to urchins and starfish. It gets its name from its apple-shaped appearance and is brightly coloured to alert would-be predators to its deadly toxins. Blue Reef curator Matt Slater said: “It’s the first time we have been able to put sea apples on display and they really are extremely unusual creatures. “We’ve had to keep them in their own display away from the other fish as they are extremely...

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott were escorted by police and bodyguards from a Canberra restaurant after Aboriginal Tent Embassy protesters surrounded them. SO THIS is what reconciliation looks like on Australia Day, after so many concessions over so many useless years. Reconciliation means Prime Minister Julia Gillard being trapped by furious Aboriginal protesters inside a Canberra building yesterday for half an hour. It means Gillard and guests at the Australia Day function being heckled and abused as racists. It means Gillard, fear on her face, being monstered and falling in the melee as police rushed her...

HONOLULU: Canada, Mexico and at least two other countries have expressed interest in joining US-led talks for a pan-Pacific trade pact, a US Republican lawmaker said on Friday after Japan asked to take part. “There’s a good deal of momentum for the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership),” Representative Kevin Brady said after meetings with members of President Barack Obama’s administration at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. That momentum was evidenced by Japan’s announcement earlier on Friday that it was interested in joining the talks “and what seem to be very solid inquiries from Canada, Mexico and a few others,” Brady...

Battle for control of Asia's seas goes underwater YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — It's getting a bit more crowded under the sea in Asia, where Andrew Peterson commands one of the world's mightiest weapons: a $2 billion nuclear submarine with unrivaled stealth and missiles that can devastate targets hundreds of miles (kilometers) away. Super high-tech submarines like Cmdr. Peterson's USS Oklahoma City have long been the envy of navies all over the globe — and a key component of U.S. military strategy. "We really have no peer," Peterson told The Associated Press during a recent port call in Japan. But America's...

ISLAMIC communities in Perth’s south-eastern suburbs are looking forward to having a local place of worship. City of Gosnells councillors voted last month to approve a development company’s proposal to build a mosque in Southern River and it has gone to the WA Planning Commission for final approval. At the corner of Southern River Road and Leslie Street, it will have a prayer hall, conference room and car park. Islamic Association of Southern Districts secretary Matthew (Suleyman) Foster said it would be the only mosque between Welshpool and Rockingham. He said Muslims in Gosnells, Thornlie and Canning Vale were presently...

My love for you is tremendous so remember all you do in my name and for the purposes of my will alone , void of all your intentions shall be fulfilled in the timing of my kingdom in an eternal manner for I reign supreme and it is in the acceptance of this knowledge that you enter my gates and abide in my presence . And it is this that surrounds you as you abide in my will . Thus I shall never leave you or forsake you as you remain in me and my favor ! Joshua 15:23 (...

Airlines paying more for fuel because waistlines are expanding by: Anne Wright From: Herald Sun January 12, 2012 12:00AM PEOPLE weighing more than average should pay more for their airfares than slimmer passengers, a former Qantas executive says. Tony Webber said airlines were paying more for fuel because the average weight of the population had increased. The extra fuel needed cost about $472 a plane, he said, and additional weight of passengers affected airlines' profits. "It's just a fact, and the thing is airlines consider these things when deciding how much fuel to put on the plane," said Mr Webber,...

The former chief economist of Quantas Airlines believes the super-sized set is costing airlines way too much. He claims heavier passengers are costing an additional $472 per flight, in added fuel costs. His solution, charge passengers by the pound. If you're above average in weight, you pay a price for each additional pound. Not that he's going to give supermodels discounts even though they're "saving" the airlines a fortune. After all, that lower BMI is money in the bank for every greedy airline industry. The nickel and diming that the flying public is continually subjected to isn't addressed either. From...

A 500-year-old Portuguese gun has been found on an NT beach, and may suggest Europeans arrived earlier than thought. A DARWIN BOY may help re-write Australia's history after unearthing what he believes is a 500-year-old Portuguese swivel gun on a Northern Territory beach. Portugal occupied Timor from 1515 until 1975, although it is hotly debated whether Portuguese explorers made it to Australia, about 700km away. Christopher Doukas made the discovery at Dundee Beach, about two hours' drive from Darwin. He found the gun when tides dipped to exceptional lows in January 2010, and he could walk out a long way...

Picture Emerges of Teen Suicide Pilot CHARLES BISHOP: To some, he was a smart, humorous student, which makes his suicide flight all the more incomprehensible. By CURTIS KRUEGER, KATHERINE GAZELLA and ED QUIOCO © St. Petersburg Times published January 8, 2002 ----------- Charles Bishop was a teacher's dream. He read Shakespeare in class, pulled together a middle school literary magazine and enjoyed a good game of flag football. Friends and family members who knew him best described Charles as a patriot. The teen who flew an airplane into the Bank of America building, carrying a note sympathizing with Osama bin...

I always kind of liked the Aussies, more like us Americans than our close British cousins, really. Big V-8 cars... Christian... wide open spaces... surfing, beautiful blondes... good people down there! Especially this one... No bad 'biggs' or 'down undah' jokes in a  Crocodile Dundee accent, please... respect the young (20) lady- she's a guest here! Video/more at Reaganite Republican

The giant Black Tiger shrimp that Ron Pockrus caught off the Texas coast might be the biggest threat to the $700 million Gulf shrimp industry to come along in years, marine biologists said. Pockrus, the owner of a 13-vessel shrimp fleet operating out of Brownsville, caught the 12-inch, 13-ounce specimen last week. Pockrus said he’s been aware of the species for about three years but hadn’t seen one. Now, he has turned in two to marine and wildlife officials this season. “I have another boat coming in with one on it now,” Pockrus said. “That makes the third one we’ve...

SNIPPET - quote: Dissemination *_is_* collection I always get a kick out of people who tell me I give away intelligence for free. What I do is watch how information moves. Keep in mind that the subject covered on this site are pretty darn esoteric by most standards. What kind of people, for example, even know who Oussama Salhab is? Answers include: Oussama Salhab, his family, friends, associates in and out of Hizballah, people he does business with, spies of various nations, etc. Yep. The barn is free, and so is the food.

The Pacific island nation of Samoa and its even tinier neighbor Tokelau are skipping Friday this week, jumping westward in time across the international date line and into the shifting economic balance of the 21st century. The time change, officially decided in June, is meant to align Samoa with its Asian trading partners; it moves the islands’ work days further from the United States, which dominated its economy in the past. ..the island’s 186,000 citizens, and the 1,500 who live in Tokelau, will go to sleep on Thursday and wake up on Saturday ..The prime minister of Samoa, Tuila’epa Sailele...

U-boats may be on navy's shopping list BY DAVID ELLERY DEFENCE REPORTER 29 Dec, 2011 01:00 AM Australia's ''future submarine'' could be a super U-boat built by a German company that made many of the submarines that nearly brought Britain to its knees in World War II. HDW has released details of a concept design, designated the Type 216, for a long-range conventional submarine. Experts say the design, based on the successful Type 214, is specifically targeted at Sea 1000 - Defence's future submarine program. Rex Patrick, a former submariner and the director of Acoustic Force, said yesterday the information...

Defence hunting foreign troops with citizenship for service THE Australian Defence Force is exploiting forced cutbacks in military spending in Britain and other Western countries, embarking on an unprecedented drive to recruit laid-off soldiers, sailors and air crew. Defence, which has struggled to fill recruitment quotas in the face of increasing competition from the lucrative private sector, is seeking highly skilled specialists such as fighter pilots, special forces officers and submarine crews. And as an incentive, it is prepared to offer a fast track to Australian citizenship for so-called "lateral recruits" after just three months' service. The Australian has learned...

Half-price super subs tempt navy by: Cameron Stewart From:The Australian AUSTRALIA can build a new fleet of 12 state-of-the-art submarines in Adelaide for $18 billion, less than half the cost of initial estimates, according to a major report to be released next month. The report, by strategic think tank the Kokoda Foundation, will be embraced by the Gillard government, which has been under pressure from critics to opt for smaller, cheaper, ready-made submarines from Europe rather than pursue Navy's more expensive but preferred option of building a next generation of the Collins-class boats. The report - Australia's Future Submarine, obtained...

For several months a stream of mostly young men and women, fresh off the plane from Greece, has been knocking at the doors of a large building on Lonsdale Street in the heart of Melbourne. The 1940s block houses the headquarters of Australia's biggest Greek community. In scenes reminiscent of the great gold rush at the turn of the 20th century, the men and women have travelled to the other side of the world in search of a better life. Unlike Greeks of old, however, these new émigrés are noticeably accomplished, with hard-earned degrees won in some of the toughest...

The father of a baby who infamously vanished in the Australian Outback more than 30 years said Monday that he was confident a new inquiry into the tragedy will officially rule that a dingo took his daughter. The disappearance of 9-week-old Azaria Chamberlain on Aug. 17, 1980, from a campsite near Ayers Rock, the red monolith in the Australian desert now known by its Aboriginal name Uluru, divided Australians between those who believed a native dog known as a dingo killed her and those who believed she was murdered by her mother, Lindy Chamberlain

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his British counterpart David Cameron both stood up for their respective national interests last week and stared down a host of unelected (and unaccountable) bureaucratic rule makers. In doing so, they confirmed their position in the vanguard of conservative political leadership slowly gathering momentum in the anglophone world. How did they do this? They just said “no.” In Harper’s case, it was the rent seekers and incorrigible do-gooders behind the Kyoto protocols who were given their comeuppance. Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent told Kyoto cheerleaders in Durban that Canada is counting itself out of...

Explanation: Like most other sungrazing comets, Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) was not expected to survive its close encounter with the Sun. But it did. This image from a coronograph onboard the sun-staring SOHO spacecraft identifies the still inbound remnants of the tail, with the brilliant head or coma emerging from the solar glare on December 16. The Sun's position, behind an occulting disk to block the overwhelming glare, is indicated by the white circle. Separated from its tail, Comet Lovejoy's coma is so bright it saturates the camera's pixels creating the horizontal streaks. Based on their orbits, sungrazer comets are...

A recent multi think-tank publication entitled “Shared Goals, Converging Interests: A Plan for U.S.–Australia–India Cooperation in the Indo–Pacific,” has apparently been the source of an about-face by Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. Co-published by Australia’s Lowy Institute, India’s Observer Research Foundation, and the U.S. Heritage Institute, the authors called for a tripartite defense pact between the United States, Australia, and India in a world where “the rise of China…is posing the first serious challenge to U.S. military preeminence in Asia in half a century.” While there have been no official intergovernmental talks about this particular defense pact, on November 30,...

THE OFFICE OF PROPHET IS ABOUT TO RETURN TO THE CHURCH BODY WORLDWIDE ! The Office of Prophet is about to return , This is not from a person but from a yearn , From the calling of many for my voice to speak out , True guidance directly into My House , For many confusion has been the stage , But now I will speak both in grace and in rage , For judgement is here in My house , Holiness received and strange fire cast out , The true and faithful shall remain and be renewed , But...

Australia seeks European designs on $36 bln submarine fleet Dec 13 (Reuters) - Australia has asked three European companies to submit designs to replace its submarine fleet at a cost of up to A$36 billion ($36 billion) in a defence buildup aimed at protecting resource exports and countering an accelerating arms race in Asia. French naval builder DCNS, part owned by Thales, Germany's Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH and Spanish state shipbuilder Navantia had been asked for information on conventional submarine designs, Australia's Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare said on Tuesday. "The Future Submarines Project is the biggest and most complex...

“I’d rather go to war in a Typhoon than in a F-18 (Super) Hornet” an Aussie exchange pilot says December 5, 2011 “I’d rather go to war in a Typhoon than in a F-18 Hornet”. This alleged Australian exchange pilot’s statement is one of the most interesting outcomes (and marketing slogans) of BERSAMA LIMA 11 an exercise marking the 40th Anniversary of the Five Powers Defence Agreement (FPDA) the only multilateral defence agreement in South East Asia with an operational element commitment undertaken by five nations (UK, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia) to consult in the event of an...

US offered F-16s ‘to anticipate rising China’ Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The United States has reportedly asked for Indonesia’s help to counter the increasing influence of China, particularly in the South China Sea, which some foreign policy analysts say reflects the US’ strategy of “proxy by war”. An Indonesian source, who closely followed the contacts between the two countries, recently told The Jakarta Post that the US had asked Indonesia to receive 24 used F-16 fighter jets from the US, rather than purchasing new ones that would come in a fourth number of the granted units. The Indonesian...

SYDNEY: A self-styled Muslim cleric accused of sending hate mail to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday lost a bid to have his case dropped on free speech grounds. Iranian-born Man Haron Monis, also known as Sheikh Haron, is facing 13 offensive and harassing conduct charges relating to letters he sent to the widows and other bereaved relatives of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. The letters referred to the fallen troops as criminals, murderers and killers who were fighting a war of invasion, describing one as “1,000 times worse than a pig”. A number were also sent...

SYDNEY (AP) — An Australian man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in a Saudi Arabian jail after being convicted of blasphemy, officials said Wednesday. The 45-year-old man, identified by family members as Mansor Almaribe of southern Victoria state, was detained in the holy city of Medina last month while making the Muslim pilgrimage of hajj. Family members told Australian media that Saudi officials accused him of insulting the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, a violation of Saudi Arabia's strict blasphemy laws.

Green activists, take note – for Australia fully to embrace solar power, Canberra would have to spend $100 billion, with photovoltaic cells to generate the electricity covering an area twice the size of Sydney in order to replace Australia’s indigenous inexpensive coal-fired power plants with renewable energy sources. This is not an insignificant figure, as Australian coal currently generates 80 percent of Australia's electrical energy output. The grim statistic was contained in the recent report, “Keeping the Home Fires Burning,” issued by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. So, who is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute? Tree-hugging, wallaby and kangaroo friendly...

MUSLIMS are being urged to report hate crimes under a special disaster plan to deal with the fallout from terrorist attacks. Under the Muslim Emergency Management Plan, backed by the state and federal governments, Victorians will be given advice on how to react to anti-Muslim incidents, even if they are considered minor. Muslim victims of abuse are encouraged to save evidence, take photos and report any incident to police and their local mosque or Islamic organisation. And in another initiative, Victoria Police is introducing new strategy to deal with violence and threats motivated by prejudice. It comes amid growing concern...

TOY guns called Nerfs are creating a storm in Australia, with experts warning families to be cautious. The plastic toys Nerf stands for non-exploding recreational foam are so popular, some families are holding Nerf parties. Ingrid Heffernan, of Seven Mile Beach in Tasmania, said her family had grown accustomed to living with Nerfs, which shoot foam darts with suction cups. Sons Jacob, 11, and Luke, 8, collect them. "They love them. I'm very used to being shot with them. I have a go too," Mrs Heffernan said. She did not feel they had any negative impact. "I really don't think...

In an unusual move an Italian magistrate has publicly announced a wide-ranging investigation to target public officials who have become dirty tools for the country's Mafia groups as reported by Michael Day for The Independent: "organised crime was continuing to spread through Italy 'like a cancer' thanks to the 'white-collar mafia' of acquiescent public officials and politicians." Magistrate Ilda Boccassini's bold announcement follows the arrests earlier this week of a cop, a judge and a politician for allegedly servicing the 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia. * * * The 'Ndrangheta has become Italy's most powerful Mafia group due to its obscene...

Situations may be precarious at times but truly this is merely a lack of prayer as preparation for you are my houses of preparation of my will. So know my will by the preparation of your hearts before me for I AM The LIGHT of your path and way in Me ! John 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 8:12 New International Version (NIV) Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk...

America your portion has been measured in full and the time of true shaking has come ! Now watch as I touch your pocketbooks , watch as I annihilate the sin in your lives and watch as All this occurs I set the captives free and destroy the rebellious as korah for I shall swallow up sin and it's roots . I shall cleanse this nation as never before . There shall be crevasses where there has been great rivers allowing the ocean in , Deserts where there has been pools of great waters , Mountains where there has been...

Marshal law is about to be exposed , From its head to its toes , What seems to you as a beginning is actually the end , The toes exposed not revealing the head , For what has already begun is hidden and veiled , But soon the truth shall hit you like a nail ! For what has been held back shall now come together as one , And it shall go off with the shot of a gun , An ending ? Perhaps , yet can it be so ?! , For such a short time one causing...

SURRENDER COMPLETELY AND RECEIVE MY LOVE FOR YOU ! My surrender to you is eternal , for as My Sacrifice was a promise and a statement of My Love coming down through the Father ! It is Now time for You to SURRENDER wholeheartedly to Me . I need to see a heart opened forth right and true ; to discern My Presence ! That you make " ALL " Known to Me ~ free for release and in this surrender as you raise your hands and lower your defenses and pride I WILL COME ! And My SPIRIT ,...

Australian Navy submarine crew's sacrifices go deep SOMEWHERE beneath the wild seas of the Great Australian Bight, 50 Australian Navy submariners are heading home to their HMAS Stirling base in Western Australia after seven weeks in eastern waters. Under the command of 22-year submarine veteran Commander Jason Cupples, the Collins-class boat HMAS Dechaineux will spend about 10 days cruising hundreds of metres below the surface before it sees the sun again off the WA coast near Rockingham. The Courier-Mail spent a day on board Dechaineux off Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast last Friday to witness the capability of...

MONASH University prides itself on its "multicultural learning environment" and yet it produces a handbook for one certain class of students, and not for others. Salaam Monash is the title of the glossy 50-page "handbook for Muslim students". "At Monash we understand that Muslim students have specific social, religious and cultural needs," writes Professor Stephanie Fahey, deputy vice-chancellor, in a foreword to the handbook. The booklet lists Islamic banking and financial institutions, Muslim publications, women's groups and schools. It also lists Muslim medical and dental practitioners, which splits up doctors into male and female groups. There is also a halal...

Parents who do not have their children fully immunised will be stripped of family tax benefits under a scheme announced by the Federal Government. The Government says 11 per cent of five-year-olds are not immunised and has announced a shake-up of the system which will take effect from July 1 next year. Under the changes, families who refuse vaccinations face losing up to $2,100 per child in benefits. Families will need to have their children fully immunised to receive the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A end-of-year supplement. A new immunisation check will be introduced for one-year-olds to supplement the...

Ordinary measures are not warranted anymore for I have overcome for you and in Me you reside in the heavenlies. So cast off your flesh when it distracts you from My Will of virtue and Righteousness and "Remain" in "MY" Loyalty for I AM all you need to KNOW! John 15:9 (AMP) 9I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [[a]continue in His love with Me]. Acts 17:28 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his...