762 – Al-Mansur, the Caliph of Islam, founded the city of Baghdad to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids.
1865 – Off the coast of Crescent City, California, US, the steamship Brother Jonathan, carrying a large shipment of gold coins that would not be retrieved until 1996, struck an uncharted rock and sank, killing 225 people.
1916 – German agents caused a major explosion when they sabotaged American ammunition supplies to prevent the materiel from being used by the Allies of World War I.
1930 – Uruguay defeated Argentina, 4–2, in front of their home crowd at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo to win the first Football World Cup.
2012 – The largest power outage in history occurred across 22 Indian states, affecting over 620 million people, or about 9% of the world's population. Come out of the dark. Stand proudly with Uruguay. Take care not to antagonise German insurgents. Steam home. Hold that bag for dad. You remind me of Reinhardt Sosin with that band name .. he was part of Rasta Wookie ..
===
Rogue nation Fiji slams Rudd plan
Piers Akerman – Tuesday, July 30, 2013 (12:18am)
ROGUE Pacific nation Fiji is the latest voice to condemn Kevin Rudd’s ill-prepared attempt to reconstruct the Pacific Solution which he wilfully destroyed.
In a stinging speech, the military dictatorship’s foreign minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, slammed Rudd’s PNG Asylum Seeker Solution at the first meeting of the Australia/Fiji Business Forum to be held since 2006.
Ratu Inoke Kubuabola said Australia was bullying PNG to accept thousands of people who were not Pacific Islanders.
“The Melanesian solution threatens to destabilise the already delicate social and economic balances in our societies,” he said in Brisbane yesterday.
The Australian Government has used its economic muscle to persu"de one of our Melanesian governments to accept thousands of people who are not Pacific Islanders - a great number of them permanently.
“This was done to solve a domestic political problem, and for short-term political gain without proper consideration of the long-term consequences.”
The criticism mirrored that sunk Julia Gillard’s equally lightweight East Timor Solution shortly after she took office.
“This deal, and those mooted with the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, clearly threatens our interests by altering the fundamental social fabric of any member country that accepts a deal with Australia,” the Fijian foreign minister said.
“We are deeply troubled by the consequent threat to the stability of these countries, and the white and Melanesian community, by the scale of what is being envisaged.”
The criticism follows similar condemnation from the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees who has warned that settling subsidised asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea under the deal could spark local resentment among a population already suffering significant disadvantage, thus leading to instability.
“History has shown us that such instability will have far-reaching ripple effects for not only Papua New Guinea, but for the rest of the region. So, ladies and gentlemen, it is our business, and before this goes any further, we want thorough regional consultation. We want not… no, no, we demand to have our voices heard,” Ratu Inoke Kubuabola said.
He said Fiji wasn’t concerned about the outcome of the election but was deeply concerned about the impact of Australian politics on Fiji’s own affairs.
“As Pacific Islanders we share the horror of many in the international community of the deaths of more than 1000 asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.
“It is a terrible human tragedy and our hearts go out to the families of those involved. But we cannot remain silent when the current Australian Government dumps this problem - which is arguably in its own making - on our doorstep.
“Regrettably, from Fiji’s perspective, this deal continues a pattern of behaviour on the part of the Australian Government, that is inconsiderate, prescriptive, high-handed and arrogant.”
Whoa. Could this “inconsiderate, prescriptive, high-handed and arrogant” government actually be led by a man who lays claim to some sort of foreign relations expertise?
You betcha.
And it has taken a nation which has demonstrated scant regard for the niceties of democracy and diplomacy to point out just how low Australia has fallen in the eyes of its immediate neighbours since Rudd announced this dubious scheme.
When even the rogues say Australia is not fit company, something is disastrously wrong.
===
NINA ISLAND
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 30, 2013 (10:50am)
A little-known fact – nearly everybody in Tasmania is named Nina Lyhne and works for the Department of Transport:
Brought to you by the ABC’s elite fact-checking unit and reader Maurie S. In other fact-checking developments, every Fairfax title in the land is now running this postscript:
Brought to you by the ABC’s elite fact-checking unit and reader Maurie S. In other fact-checking developments, every Fairfax title in the land is now running this postscript:
Correction: Therese Rein is not the first prime minister’s wife to accompany her husband to a war zone. John Gorton’s wife Bettina visited Australian troops in 1968 during the war in Vietnam.
===
DRUGS BLAMED
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 30, 2013 (10:36am)
Adelaide antics:
A bad batch of ecstasy has been linked to a series of bizarre incidents in Adelaide including one person licking the dance floor at a nightclub and another acting like a chicken in the back of a taxi.
===
FORCE FOR GOOD
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 30, 2013 (10:18am)
“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” writes Professor Bunyip. “That is the motto at the Billabong and always will be.”
===
LOW INTEREST RAKE
Tim Blair – Tuesday, July 30, 2013 (9:41am)
Fairfax’s Martin Gilmour meets Tony Abbott:
He doesn’t appear to change from public to private. He is happy to speak off the record and discuss any issue but he always seems to be holding something back – like the election is his to lose if he says something clumsy. Maybe that reserved exterior doesn’t gel with some voters.
Fair call. Gilmour has also lately encountered the Prime Minister:
Much has been written and said about Kevin Rudd when the camera is rolling and Kevin Rudd in private.Based on my experience on Thursday morning when the doors closed, he was about as engaged and charismatic as a silt rake.
At least Gilmour didn’t get the hands-on treatment.
===
DEAL SEALED
Tim Blair – Monday, July 29, 2013 (10:21pm)
===
Lured to their deaths
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (1:34pm)
These are only the deaths the ACC knows of:
In 2011 Labor’s then Immigration Minister estimated the death toll to be far higher than what the ACC now suggests:
IN a little over 10 years, almost 1000 asylum-seekers have died at sea while trying to reach Australia by boat, a new report says.Labor scrapped the tough border laws in 2008, and the dying resumed in early 2009, as I noted at the time.
The Australian Crime Commission’s biannual report into organised crime says 964 people died, or are presumed to have died, between October 2001 and June 2012.
The figures do not include the recent spate of asylum-seeker deaths on boats that foundered in Australian waters or on their way here…
Of the 964 deaths cited in the report, 605 died since October 2009 - more than one every two days.
In 2011 Labor’s then Immigration Minister estimated the death toll to be far higher than what the ACC now suggests:
The ugly spat was prompted by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen’s admission on Tuesday that his department believed up to 4 per cent of boat people died on their way to Australia.Given 46,000 people boat people have arrived under Labor, that’s around 1840 deaths just since 2008, according to Bowen’s figures.
===
Nina-mania
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (1:32pm)
Tim Blair:
A little-known fact – nearly everybody in Tasmania is named Nina Lyhne and works for the Department of Transport:Blair has the video evidence to prove it.
===
You pay the carbon tax, D’Ath forgets how much
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (12:32pm)
Astonishing. The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, Yvette
D’Ath, does not know the level of the carbon tax her own government has
imposed on business.
===
Phillip Adams on how to be a moral bullsh…er
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (8:56am)
How to be a moral poseur - a mere Man of Seeming, blind to the Doing - as demonstrated by the ABC’s Phillip Adams.
First, link our attempts to control our own borders to some incomparable past horror by invoking even Godwin’s Law:
First, link our attempts to control our own borders to some incomparable past horror by invoking even Godwin’s Law:
PEOPLE have been seeking sanctuary in holy places from the dawn of history… . [including] the all-too-few Jews people-smuggled from the Nazis’ human abattoirs.Next, pretend the boat people are fleeing unimaginable horrors and killing fields, rather than Sri Lanka or Iran:
It takes a lot to force people to abandon their homes, villages, cultures. It takes “ethnic cleansing” and genocide. From an English decision to evict the Scots from their highlands to the machetes of Rwanda and butcheries of the Balkans. Or the simple crop failure of the Irish potato famine.Throw in some lurid climate porn inspired almost entirely by a heated imagination, not reality, for extra moral stature:
Soon their numbers will be drowned by the tidal movements of climate change refugees, as rising waters submerge Bangladesh and the Pacific islands, and by the dispossession caused by drought.Next, minimise the numbers arriving - actually at more than 100 a day, or enough to stock a Canberra every 10 years, even without family reunions. Don’t mention that most boat people will still be on benefits five years from now, and fewer than 10 per cent of Afghans, for instance, will have jobs:
For the past 20 years Australians, whose problems with refugees are minuscule in the scheme of things...See every attempt to regulate arrivals to this country as simply racist, even if that requires you overlook the obvious counterfactuals - our huge immigration program and one of the most generous refugee intakes in the world, now running a 20,000 a year:
For decades we’d kept people of the wrong colour out of this country with a pre-emptive form of ethnic cleansing known as White Australia. In the late 1960s and early 70s we decided we were tolerant - proclaimed that as our national virtue - and scrapped the poisonous policy. Only to bring it back in our incremental responses to “boatpeople”.Misrepresent the issue by again playing the racism card, this time by falsely assuming Jesus could come here only as a boat person and not, say, as a legal immigrant or approved refugee:
Two leaders who make much of their Christianity are advocating policies that would have Jesus, that brown-skinned Middle Eastern, behind the razor wire.Then pretend you’ve covered all the moral angles, while actually ignoring the greatest weakness in your own position - that weakening the border laws has meant luring some 1600 men, women and children to their deaths at sea - the horrific price of your superior “compassion”:
Every religious teaching, every ethical precept, every iota of common sense, tells us we’re behaving badly… [Our] approach to the boatpeople is brutal, bigoted and absolute bullshit.Adams’ moralising is vain, dishonest, evasive and blind to consequences. He is all posture, no responsibility. He is the perfect 21st Century bullshitter.
===
Decades to repay Labor debt, with nothing to show for the spending
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (8:52am)
Judith Sloan says it could take decades to pay back Labor’s debt:
But when [new Treasurer Chris] Bowen says he endorses Swan’s fiscal rule that budget surpluses must be returned on balance across the course of the cycle, he needs to demonstrate that this is possible.
He should define the period he is talking about - one newspaper commentator put 10 years as the length of the cycle - and to outline how it is even feasible to meet the rule, particularly given the out-year spending commitments for DisabilityCare and Better Schools.
On the basis of the government’s own figures, there will be accumulated deficits of more than $220bn across seven years. That gives the government three years to run surpluses that add up to this figure - or $73bn a year - to meet the stated fiscal rule. Even Peter Costello didn’t manage surpluses of that magnitude.
If we define the cycle as 15 years, annual surpluses will still need to exceed $27bn each year for eight years.
This looks like a bridge too far for this government.
At this stage, it will be decades before budget surpluses are returned on balance.
===
People smuggling model explained
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (8:28am)
Reader Albert sums up Labor’s people smuggling model:
1. Dismantle Pacific Solution
2. People smugglers dancing in the streets in Indonesia
3. Boats resume
4. Drownings resume
5. Rudd/Gillard refuse to restore Howard’s solution that worked
6. People smugglers extremely wealthy
7. Lure refugees from everywhere
8. Send them to Devil’s Island to win election
===
People smugglers calling Rudd’s bluff
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (7:38am)
The Manus deal may not fool people for long:
People smugglers in Indonesia are still selling their passengers the idea that the way to Australia is open, saying Papua New Guinea will be unable to handle the volume of people now arriving on boats.But Rudd could be “lucky”. The boat arrivals could slow after three sinkings in three weeks, and the typhoon season starting in just a month. No boats have arrived for the past three days, and after the recent deaths I’m not surprised.
A people smuggler source has revealed the marketing spiel that has already driven 1300 fresh asylum seekers to Christmas Island since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his tough new ‘’PNG solution’’ on July 19.
And an Iranian asylum seeker in Cisarua has said the smugglers are ‘’deceiving’’ their passengers by telling them that, after one year, ‘’they will be sent [from PNG] to another country, for example, Canada, New Zealand’’.
Ten days after Mr Rudd’s announcement, a people smuggler source said it was business as usual. ‘’In the first days it was a big panic. Now it is back to normal again - busier than normal.’’
===
Run! The seas will rise 14cm in a century!
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (7:27am)
More climate alarmism from the ABC:
(Thanks to reader Aussieute.)
MARK COLVIN: Tiny atolls scattered across the Pacific, the Marshall Islands suffered one of the forgotten tragedies of the 20th century when US nuclear bomb testing made parts of the area unliveable for thousands of years.Just how much our emissions are contributing to the rebound from the Little Ice Age is debatable, but de Brum sure is making a metre out of a millimetre:
Now they fear the 21st century may be no kinder because climate change already appears to be affecting the islands terribly…
Senator Tony de Brum is the minister in assistance to the president of the Republic of the Marshalls, effectively the vice-president…
TONY DE BRUM: If the rains return it will take years before the crop, the food crop and the water supplies, underground water supplies, are restored and salt inundation is curbed…
MARK COLVIN: And you’ve also had huge storm surges?
TONY DE BRUM: In the south.
MARK COLVIN: Very, very high tides?
TONY DE BRUM: That’s correct. We have had to shut down our airport because of these tides - three large portions of the seawall that keeps the saltwater off of the runway in the main airport, there were three breaches, one as long as 100 feet.
MARK COLVIN: Has this happened before? I mean do you think this is about climate change? Is this new, all of this?
TONY DE BRUM: Absolutely. I’ve lived almost 70 years in the Marshalls and I’ve never seen it before…
We are having to tell our children that in a few years you won’t be able to stay where you are, we’re going to have to move you someplace else.
That trend, incidentally, looks more like a step.
(Thanks to reader Aussieute.)
===
Yet more handouts: another $118,000 per Holden job
Andrew Bolt July 30 2013 (7:05am)
Another handout to save union jobs - at the expense of others:
Note also: first Labor whacks Holden with FBT changes to save money. Now it hands Holden money to save jobs. That money comes in part from companies trying to stay in business themselves.
Very little of this pass-the-envelope makes sense. But it does make for a series of nice political headlines, however misleading: “Government scraps rort”, “Government cuts spending”, “Government saves jobs”.
UPDATE
Just repairing what they smashed:
HOLDEN is close to securing a new deal for a further $200 million in taxpayer money - a double dip that follows the $275 million pledged last year to maintain its manufacturing operations until 2022…Reader The Watcher:
Since then Holden has sacked 400 factory workers and 100 engineers ... and its manufacturing workforce has shrunk to 1700 from a peak of more than 7000 in 2004.
That works out at $117,647 per employee.
My small business employs only four people, but surely they have every right to expect a government bailout at the same ratio when our invoicing starts to get a bit tight each month, so we can keep the doors open?
Note also: first Labor whacks Holden with FBT changes to save money. Now it hands Holden money to save jobs. That money comes in part from companies trying to stay in business themselves.
Very little of this pass-the-envelope makes sense. But it does make for a series of nice political headlines, however misleading: “Government scraps rort”, “Government cuts spending”, “Government saves jobs”.
UPDATE
Just repairing what they smashed:
LOCAL carmakers claim their sales could fall 20 per cent and the total new car market will fall 10 per cent as a result of Labor’s fringe benefits tax changes to company and salary-sacrificed vehicles...(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said new car sales were expected to drop by 10 per cent or more annually - about 100,000 cars - if the Rudd government continued with its commitment to eliminate FBT statutory formula method for salary-sacrificed and employer-provided cars…
Australian Salary Packaging Industry Association president Leigh Penberthy has estimated that 3000 jobs were at stake after 10,000 vehicle orders were cancelled in the first week after the change was announced a fortnight ago.
===
Daddy had better be very good to mummy for a long time .. - ed
===
===
This was my best image from the 2013 short two days of chasing. It was a nice huge shelf cloud over Newcastle, Oklahoma. — at Newcastle Ok.
===
===
===
===
Lower backpain has always stopped me from training harder and running longer distances (I had a bad back injury in 2006 from over-training and it's never quite been the same) It started getting much worse lately which made me realise just how much I couldn't let it hold me back, I simply refuse to let it restrict me. Luckily I came across Rocktape recently and it's helped me train harder without feeling like my spine is gonna pop right out of my damn back. I still can't rely on it though, it only does a bit extra so the rest is still up to me to maintain a strong back and core through conditioning. Special thanks goes to my Mum for taping me up everytime! I learn more and more each day just how powerful the mind is, the only thing truly stopping us are our excuses.
#team9lives #warriortraining #hardenup#shapeyourworld
===
9 NEWS NOW CHATROOM | It looks like science is confirming what everyone has always known: shame doesn't inspire anyone to lose weight.
A research team in the United States has actually found that overweight people who are discriminated against are two to three times more likely to become obese.
What are your thoughts?
Join in the conversation in 9 News NOW at 3pm onChannel 9.
#obesity #discrimination #9News
===
John Wayne 1974 BBC Interview
http://
“Well, at the time, it seemed rather serious, and they (Communists in Hollywood) were getting themselves into a position where they could control who did the writing.” John Wayne
===
Some say "How heartless were the guards" but it was the world which lacks compassion. - ed
===
Craig Kelly.
THE GREENS CAN'T DEFY GRAVITY - THEY'RE FINISHED
Extract of Oped by Tim Montgommery.
No half-decent politician in any part of the developing world was ever going to delay economic progress by embracing expensive energy sources.
Any policies that prevent a clinic in India from being able to refrigerate medicines or a student in China from being able to read at night were always destined to fail ……..
The demands of millions of wealthy green campaigners will continue to be overwhelmed by the demand from billions of poor people for economic growth and the social justice that it affords them.
No half-decent politician in any part of the developing world was ever going to delay economic progress by embracing expensive energy sources.
Any policies that prevent a clinic in India from being able to refrigerate medicines or a student in China from being able to read at night were always destined to fail ……..
The demands of millions of wealthy green campaigners will continue to be overwhelmed by the demand from billions of poor people for economic growth and the social justice that it affords them.
===
This is what a water bottle looks like before it's expanded using compressed air.
===
AUNTY IS A CLOSED, LEFT-WING WORKSHOP
Don’t worry about Fairfax, that irrelevant organisation is slowly pulling its own plug. But the ABC is government-funded and its charter is to cater for a range of views.
If the ABC was a private enterprise venture it would be insolvent within a week. It has no interest in ratings (as ratings clearly show) but its programming has been excellent and many, butnot enough, enjoy its non-commercial basis.
Those who wish to see the abolition of “Aunty” will be disappointed. Those who wish to see its reformation have reason to be hopeful because it has clearly overstepped the mark of late.
There is no doubting its proclivity for Left-wing bias, but that’s not unusual, all developed nations have their “government” media outlets and all are bereft of a conservative view.
Commercial stations are forced, via advertising, to cater for a broad audience.
The ABC’s annual budget of $1.2 billion in taxpayer funds should rightly be used to appeal to a cross section of its paying supporters.
Of course the ABC doesn’t even aspire to that, and the reason is that it simply doesn’t have to.
SBS’s charter was to cater for the ethnic viewer and that seems to have got lost along the way, except for its addiction to soccer.
SBS has a modicum of commercials and many see the answer to the ABC’s far Left self-indulgence is to convert it to a commercial licence or combine it with SBS. This won’t happen.
As daily newspapers rapidly disintegrate into on-line news services, so too will free-to-air channels eventually succumb to pay TV.
It would be intolerable to further split diminishing advertising dollars available to the free-to-air channels by creating more commercial licences.
So, how can the people’s ABC be reformed? It clearly can’t be allowed to continue as it has been.
It can only be reformed from the top.
Jim Spigelman, the current ABC Chairman, is an ALP appointment and a former Senior Advisor and Principal Private Secretary to Gough Whitlam. He is of the Left.
These sort of blatantly political appointments from either side of politics are damaging Aunty in the long run.
When Abbott is elected he will no doubt make some changes but the effects will be generational as the acolyte appointees of Spigelman are already firmly ensconced in a middle management system that has employed those who choose what we see and those who present it to us.
The ABC is in dire need of jolting back to the centre and if Abbott could he would take the knife to middle management too. But he can't do that.
So, we will need to endure the rabid Left until those changes take effect.
Unfortunately, by the time the ABC behemoth is restored to a political centre it will be time to vote in another Labor Government.
It's time to rid government from our government station.
Don’t worry about Fairfax, that irrelevant organisation is slowly pulling its own plug. But the ABC is government-funded and its charter is to cater for a range of views.
If the ABC was a private enterprise venture it would be insolvent within a week. It has no interest in ratings (as ratings clearly show) but its programming has been excellent and many, butnot enough, enjoy its non-commercial basis.
Those who wish to see the abolition of “Aunty” will be disappointed. Those who wish to see its reformation have reason to be hopeful because it has clearly overstepped the mark of late.
There is no doubting its proclivity for Left-wing bias, but that’s not unusual, all developed nations have their “government” media outlets and all are bereft of a conservative view.
Commercial stations are forced, via advertising, to cater for a broad audience.
The ABC’s annual budget of $1.2 billion in taxpayer funds should rightly be used to appeal to a cross section of its paying supporters.
Of course the ABC doesn’t even aspire to that, and the reason is that it simply doesn’t have to.
SBS’s charter was to cater for the ethnic viewer and that seems to have got lost along the way, except for its addiction to soccer.
SBS has a modicum of commercials and many see the answer to the ABC’s far Left self-indulgence is to convert it to a commercial licence or combine it with SBS. This won’t happen.
As daily newspapers rapidly disintegrate into on-line news services, so too will free-to-air channels eventually succumb to pay TV.
It would be intolerable to further split diminishing advertising dollars available to the free-to-air channels by creating more commercial licences.
So, how can the people’s ABC be reformed? It clearly can’t be allowed to continue as it has been.
It can only be reformed from the top.
Jim Spigelman, the current ABC Chairman, is an ALP appointment and a former Senior Advisor and Principal Private Secretary to Gough Whitlam. He is of the Left.
These sort of blatantly political appointments from either side of politics are damaging Aunty in the long run.
When Abbott is elected he will no doubt make some changes but the effects will be generational as the acolyte appointees of Spigelman are already firmly ensconced in a middle management system that has employed those who choose what we see and those who present it to us.
The ABC is in dire need of jolting back to the centre and if Abbott could he would take the knife to middle management too. But he can't do that.
So, we will need to endure the rabid Left until those changes take effect.
Unfortunately, by the time the ABC behemoth is restored to a political centre it will be time to vote in another Labor Government.
It's time to rid government from our government station.
===
Tony Abbott
Earlier today I committed the Coalition to providing for the fair indexation of military superannuation pensions.
The Coalition will keep faith with the 57,000 recipients of military superannuation pensions by providing fair indexation.
You can read our policy here: http://lbr.al/defsup
===
Caroline Glick
Bibi - Shame on you!
Below is a link to an oped written by Adi Moses, a victim of terror. Her pregnant mother and little brother were murdered. She was critically wounded. And to make Obama and Kerry happy, Bibi decided to release their murderers, along with another 103 murderers. Just to make Obama and Kerry happy.
You think they'll bomb Iran now?
Bibi, you are a disgrace to your people, and to the memory of your brother. Shame on you.
I'm following this post, not 'liking' it. I am reminded of how JFK was paired with a 'partner in peace' with Khrushchev. Khrushchev negotiated with JFK and backed down over the Cuban Missile crisis. Thing was, Khrushchev also negotiated missiles out of Turkey. Not being able to discuss about Turkey, Khrushchev looked weak and was rolled by the monster Breshnev. I don't know why Netanyahu has done what he has done, it cannot have a good excuse. But I know it is Obama's fault and there is none to replace Netanyahu that is better for Israel atm. - ed
===
Craig Kelly.
not only in the UK
===
4 her
===
Institute of Public Affairs
IPA like to excuse their historical preference for the ALP with such empty rhetoric. The fact is that policy influences industry profoundly, and can, as the ALP have demonstrated time and again, wreck a lot. - ed
===
Australia should be competitive .. with the qualifiers .. - ed
===
4 her
===
This is what a Russian Caucasian Mountain Dog looks like
===
Sunrise at Jannali railway station earlier today.
Interesting to note that Jannali station has become substantially busier since it was upgraded by the NSW Liberals.
===
Debt.So easy to get in to, so hard to get out of.
===
You can tell the size of our God by looking at the size of our worry list. The longer our list, the smaller our God
===
Pastor Rick Warren
When life doesn't make sense, an explanation doesn't ease your pain; the presence of God does.
===
===
===
I would hope next time Pope Francis offers to meet with the press, they would take to heart his message about fearless service and report to their readers what he actually said, rather than what they wish they had heard.
===
Essentially, nobody likes being lectured about how racist they are. That quaint notion of national sovereignty, however unfashionable among the inner-city set, still holds sway in many parts of the country.>===
Desert Shadows. This is one of the very first images I ever took with a DSLR back on June 30th, 2006. My brother Randy let me borrow his girlfriends' Canon and get a feel. I was too broke to afford one of my own at the time, and it was absolute torture waiting for the day when I would finally be able to give up the point and click camera I had been using and abusing. I was hooked, but without a quick fix to be seen in the near future. This picture was taken as a desert monsoon storm was forming above us. Soon there would be lightning and high winds. I was in heaven! I continue with my obsession of the DSLR and desert storms to this day. I also get to teach others how to shoot these darned contraptions, which is pretty cool.
===
===
AT&T Offers $250,000 Reward for Fiber Vandalism 17 Apr 2013
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/
===
Terrorism has led to sad and inglorious appeasement. And because the Palestinian leadership has always used terrorism as the tactic of first resort, their cause has received worldwide recognition.
===
4 her
===
===
G Dan Mitchell
In reply to (yet another) example of asking the false question about so-called post-processing, I wrote:
"It is time to stop being defensive about so-called "processing" of photographs. It is simply a bizarre and unsupportable myth that great photographs reflect reality (in fact, every photograph lies!) or are produced simply by making brilliant decisions about what to point that camera at and when. To suggest that great photography comes only from careful capture - without denying the importance of that part of the process - is akin to suggesting that great cooking is purely the result of great farming."
===
I said He would make me younger .. BP 120 over 70 .. not bad for 46 .. but still drug enhanced .. Eric Kalemen
===
Iron oxide isn't rare either - ed
===
|
===
|
===
- 762 – Al-Mansur, the Caliph of Islam,founded the city of Baghdad to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids.
- 1865 – Off the coast of Crescent City, California, US, the steamship Brother Jonathan (pictured), carrying a large shipment of gold coins that would not be retrieved until 1996, struck an uncharted rock and sank, killing 225 people.
- 1916 – German agents caused a major explosion when they sabotaged American ammunition supplies to prevent themateriel from being used by the Allies of World War I.
- 1930 – Uruguay defeated Argentina, 4–2, in front of their home crowd at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo to win the first Football World Cup.
- 2012 – The largest power outage in history occurred across 22 Indian states, affecting over 620 million people, or about 9% of the world's population.
===
Events[edit]
- 634 – Battle of Ajnadayn: Byzantine forces under Theodore are defeated by the Rashidun Caliphate near Beit Shemesh (modernIsrael).
- 762 – Baghdad is founded by caliph Al-Mansur.
- 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: a crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.
- 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
- 1608 – At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs. This was to set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next one hundred years.
- 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
- 1629 – An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.
- 1635 – Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army.
- 1656 – Swedish forces under the command of King Charles X Gustav defeat the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthat the Battle of Warsaw.
- 1729 – Foundation of Baltimore, Maryland.
- 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.
- 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly-built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.
- 1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.
- 1825 – Malden Island is discovered by captain George Byron, 7th Baron Byron.
- 1859 – First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps.
- 1863 – American Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, agreeing to stop the harassment of emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of the Crater – Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
- 1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time.
- 1866 – New Orleans, Louisiana's Democratic government orders police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting, killing 40 people and injuring 150.
- 1871 – The Staten Island Ferry Westfield's boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.
- 1912 – Japan's Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō.
- 1916 – Black Tom Island explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey.
- 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup.
- 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
- 1945 – World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen.
- 1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God we trust as the U.S. national motto.
- 1962 – The Trans-Canada Highway, the largest national highway in the world, is officially opened.
- 1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
- 1969 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu and U.S. military commanders.
- 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission – David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
- 1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Iwate, Japan killing 162.
- 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 1974 – Six Royal Canadian Army Cadets are killed and fifty-four are injured in an accidental grenade blast at CFB Valcartier Cadet Camp.
- 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again, and will be declared legally dead on this date in 1982.
- 1978 – The 730 (transport), Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side.
- 1980 – Vanuatu gains independence.
- 1980 – Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law
- 1990 – George Steinbrenner is forced by Commissioner Fay Vincent to resign as principal partner of New York Yankees for hiring Howie Spira to "get dirt" on Dave Winfield.
- 2003 – In Mexico, the last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
- 2006 – The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
- 2006 – Lebanon War: At least 28 civilians, including 16 children are killed by the Israeli Air Force in what Lebanese call the Second Qana massacre and what Israel considers to be an attempt to stop rockets' being fired, from Lebanon, at Israeli civilian targets.
- 2012 – A power grid failure leaves seven states in northern India without power, affecting 360 million people.
Births[edit]
- 1511 – Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter, writer, historian, and architect (d. 1574)
- 1549 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1609)
- 1641 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1673)
- 1751 – Maria Anna Mozart, Austrian pianist (d. 1829)
- 1763 – Samuel Rogers, English poet (d. 1855)
- 1809 – Charles Chiniquy, Canadian priest (d. 1899)
- 1818 – Emily Brontë, British novelist and poet (d. 1848)
- 1818 – Jan Heemskerk, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1897)
- 1825 – Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian engineer and writer (d. 1893)
- 1855 – Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, German businessman (d. 1919)
- 1857 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist and sociologist (d. 1929)
- 1859 – Henry Simpson Lunn, English humanitarian and minister, founded Lunn Poly (d. 1939)
- 1863 – Henry Ford, American businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (d. 1947)
- 1864 – Dirk Boest Gips, Dutch target shooter (d. 1920)
- 1872 – Princess Clémentine of Belgium (d. 1955)
- 1881 – Smedley Butler, American marine general (d. 1940)
- 1885 – Russell van Horn, American lightweight boxer (d. 1970)
- 1887 – Marquard Schwarz, American swimmer (d. 1968)
- 1889 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian physicist (d. 1982)
- 1890 – Casey Stengel, American baseball player and manager (d. 1975)
- 1893 – Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani dentist and stateswoman, Leader of the Opposition (d. 1967)
- 1895 – Wanda Hawley, American actress (d. 1963)
- 1898 – Henry Moore, English sculptor (d. 1986)
- 1899 – Gerald Moore, English pianist (d. 1987)
- 1901 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1955)
- 1904 – Salvador Novo, Mexican writer (d. 1974)
- 1909 – C. Northcote Parkinson, British naval historian (d. 1993)
- 1909 – Magda Schneider German actress (d. 1996).
- 1910 – Edgar de Evia, American photographer (d. 2003)
- 1913 – Lou Darvas, American cartoonist (d. 1987)
- 1914 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author, 6th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1999)
- 1916 – Dick Wilson, American actor (d. 2007)
- 1919 – Berniece Baker Miracle, American author, half-sister of Marilyn Monroe
- 1921 – Grant Johannesen, American pianist (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Henry W. Bloch, American banker and businessman, co-founder of H&R Block
- 1924 – George Savitsky, American football player (d. 2012)
- 1925 – Jacques Sernas, Lithuanian-French actor
- 1925 – Alexander Trocchi, Scottish writer (d. 1984)
- 1927 – Pete Schoening, American mountaineer (d. 2004)
- 1927 – Victor Wong, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1928 – Eunice Muñoz, Portuguese actress
- 1928 – Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2007)
- 1929 – Sid Krofft, Canadian puppeteer and producer
- 1931 – Dominique Lapierre, French author
- 1933 – Edd Byrnes, American actor
- 1934 – Bud Selig, American businessman, 9th Commissioner of Baseball
- 1936 – Buddy Guy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1936 – Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz
- 1936 – Ralph Taeger, American actor
- 1938 – Hervé de Charette, French politician
- 1939 – Peter Bogdanovich, American director
- 1939 – Eleanor Smeal, American activist, founded the Feminist Majority Foundation
- 1940 – Patricia Schroeder, American politician
- 1940 – Clive Sinclair, English inventor and businessman, founded Sinclair Radionics and Sinclair Research
- 1941 – Paul Anka, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1943 – Henri-François Gautrin, Canadian politician
- 1945 – Patrick Modiano, French novelist
- 1945 – David Sanborn, American saxophonist and composer
- 1946 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (d. 1994)
- 1947 – William Atherton, American actor
- 1947 – Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French virologist, discovered HIV, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1947 – Jonathan Mann, American activist (d. 1998)
- 1947 – Anna Panayiotopoulou, Greek actress and writer
- 1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California
- 1948 – Jean Reno, Moroccan-French actor
- 1948 – Otis Taylor, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer
- 1948 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian composer and pianist (d. 2010)
- 1948 – Billy Paultz, American basketball player
- 1949 – Duck Baker, American guitarist
- 1950 – Frank Stallone, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1950 – Simón Trinidad, Colombian guerrilla group leader
- 1951 – Alan Kourie, South African cricketer
- 1954 – Ken Olin, American actor
- 1955 – Rat Scabies, English drummer (The Damned)
- 1956 – Delta Burke, American actress
- 1956 – Réal Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1956 – Anita Hill, American attorney and academic, witness at the sexual harassment trial against Clarence Thomas
- 1956 – Soraida Martinez, American painter, creator of Verdadism
- 1957 – Bill Cartwright, American basketball player
- 1957 – Clint Hurdle, American baseball player and manager
- 1957 – Nery Pumpido, Argentine footballer
- 1958 – Richard Burgi, American actor
- 1958 – Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1958 – Neal McCoy, American singer-songwriter and humanitarian
- 1958 – Daley Thompson, British Olympic athlete
- 1960 – Richard Linklater, American director and screenwriter
- 1960 – Jeff Rudom, American basketball player and actor (d. 2011)
- 1961 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor
- 1962 – Alton Brown, American chef, author, and producer
- 1962 – Jay Feaster, American ice hockey manager and executive
- 1963 – Lisa Kudrow, American actress, writer, and producer
- 1963 – Chris Mullin, American basketball player
- 1964 – Vivica A. Fox, American actress and producer
- 1964 – Alek Keshishian, Lebanese-American director
- 1964 – Jürgen Klinsmann, German footballer and manager
- 1965 – Tim Munton, England cricketer
- 1966 – Allan Langer, Australian rugby player
- 1968 – Terry Crews, American football player and actor
- 1968 – Robert Korzeniowski, Polish race walker
- 1968 – Sean Moore, Welsh drummer (Manic Street Preachers)
- 1969 – Simon Baker, Australian actor
- 1969 – Errol Stewart, South African cricketer and lawyer
- 1970 – Dean Edwards, American comedian and actor
- 1970 – Christopher Nolan, English-American director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1971 – Elvis Crespo, Puerto Rican singer
- 1971 – Tom Green, Canadian comedian and actor
- 1971 – Sagi Kalev, Israeli-American bodybuilder and model
- 1971 – Christine Taylor, American actress
- 1972 – GloZell Green, YouTube personality
- 1972 – Jim McIlvaine, American basketball player
- 1973 – Anastasios Katsabis, Greek footballer
- 1973 – Markus Näslund, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1973 – Sonu Nigam, Indian singer and actor
- 1974 – Sandra Diaz-Twine, American reality contestant, winner of Survivor: Pearl Islands and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
- 1974 – Radostin Kishishev, Bulgarian footballer
- 1974 – Jason Robinson, English rugby player
- 1974 – Hilary Swank, American actress
- 1975 – Graham Nicholls, English author and artist
- 1975 – Cherie Priest, American author
- 1977 – Diana Bolocco, Chilean model and journalist Miss Universe 1987
- 1977 – Misty May-Treanor, American volleyball player
- 1977 – Bootsy Thornton, American basketball player
- 1977 – Jaime Pressly, American actress
- 1977 – Ian Watkins, Welsh singer-songwriter (Lostprophets and Public Disturbance)
- 1979 – Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rican basketball player
- 1979 – Show Luo, Taiwanese singer, dancer, and actor
- 1979 – Graeme McDowell, Irish golfer
- 1979 – Maya Nasser, Syrian journalist (d. 2012)
- 1980 – Diam's, French-Greek rapper
- 1980 – Sara Anzanello, Italian volleyball player
- 1980 – Justin Rose, English golfer
- 1981 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer
- 1981 – Juan Smith, South African rugby player
- 1982 – Khaliah Adams, American actress
- 1982 – James Anderson, English cricketer
- 1982 – Jehad Al-Hussain, Syrian footballer
- 1982 – Yvonne Strahovski, Australian actress
- 1983 – Nathan Carter, Canadian actor
- 1983 – Seán Dillon, Irish footballer
- 1984 – Gabrielle Christian, American actress and singer
- 1984 – Kevin Pittsnogle, American basketball player
- 1985 – Aml Ameen, English actor
- 1985 – Daniel Fredheim Holm, Norwegian footballer
- 1986 – Tiago Alencar, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Anton Fink, German footballer
- 1987 – Sam Saunders, American golfer
- 1988 – Lara Jean Marshall, English-Australian actress
- 1989 – Aleix Espargaró, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1989 – Johannes Halbig, German musician (Killerpilze)
- 1989 – Wayne Parnell, South African cricketer
- 1990 – Martin Stosch, German singer
- 1990 – Coco Sumner, Italian-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1991 – Diana Vickers, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1992 – Hannah Cockroft, British paralympic athlete
- 1993 – Katie Cecil, American singer, guitarist, and actress (KSM)
- 1993 – Miho Miyazaki, Japanese singer (AKB48)
- 1993 – Margarida Moura, Portuguese tennis player
- 1998 – Johnny Bennett, English-Irish actor
- 1999 – Joey King, American actress
- 2002 – Prince Hridayendra of Nepal
Deaths[edit]
- 578 – Jacob Baradaeus, Mesopotamian Bishop of Edessa
- 579 – Pope Benedict I
- 1540 – Thomas Abel, English priest (b. 1497)
- 1540 – Robert Barnes, English reformer and martyr (b. 1495)
- 1550 – Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician (b. 1505)
- 1652 – Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours, French soldier (b. 1624)
- 1680 – Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, Irish naval commander (b. 1634)
- 1683 – Maria Theresa of Spain (b. 1638)
- 1691 – Daniel Georg Morhof, German writer and scholar (b. 1639)
- 1718 – William Penn, English businessman and philosopher, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania (b. 1644)
- 1771 – Thomas Gray, English poet and scholar (b. 1716)
- 1789 – Giovanna Bonanno, Italian poisoner and alleged witch (b. c. 1713)
- 1811 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and independence leader (b. 1753)
- 1875 – George Pickett, American general (b. 1825)
- 1889 – Charlie Absolom, England cricketer (b. 1846)
- 1898 – Otto von Bismarck, German politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1815)
- 1900 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)
- 1912 – Emperor Meiji of Japan (b. 1852)
- 1918 – Joyce Kilmer, American poet (b. 1886)
- 1920 – Albert Gustaf Dahlman, Swedish executioner (b. 1848)
- 1930 – Joan Gamper, Swiss-Spanish footballer and businessman, founder of FC Barcelona (b. 1877)
- 1938 – John Derbyshire, English swimmer and water polo player (b. 1878)
- 1947 – Joseph Cook, Australian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)
- 1965 – Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese novelist (b. 1886)
- 1970 – Walter Murdoch, Australian academic and essayist (b. 1874)
- 1970 – George Szell, Hungarian conductor (b. 1897)
- 1972 – K. S. Arulnandhy, Ceylon Tamil teacher and academic (b. 1899)
- 1975 – James Blish, American author (b. 1921)
- 1977 – Emory Holloway, American author (b. 1885)
- 1983 – Howard Dietz, American songwriter and publicist (b. 1896)
- 1983 – Lynn Fontanne, British-born American actress (b. 1887)
- 1985 – Julia Robinson, American mathematician (b. 1919)
- 1989 – Lane Frost, American bull rider (b. 1963)
- 1992 – Brenda Marshall, American actress (b. 1915)
- 1992 – Joe Shuster, Canadian writer and illustrator (b. 1914)
- 1994 – Ryszard Riedel, Polish singer-songwriter (Dżem) (b. 1956)
- 1996 – Claudette Colbert, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1997 – Bao Dai, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1913)
- 1998 – Jorge Russek, Mexican actor (b. 1932)
- 1998 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American television host (b. 1917)
- 2001 – Anton Schwarzkopf, German engineer (b. 1924)
- 2003 – Sam Phillips, American record producer (b. 1923)
- 2004 – Andre Noble, Canadian actor (b. 1979)
- 2005 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (b. 1905)
- 2005 – John Garang, Sudanese politician, 11th Vice President of Sudan (b. 1945)
- 2005 – Anthony Walker, British student and murder victim (b. 1987)
- 2006 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Murray Bookchin, American philosopher and author (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordionist, composer, and author (b. 1904)
- 2006 – Akbar Mohammadi, Iranian activist (b. 1972)
- 2007 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Teoctist Arăpaşu, Romanian patriarch (b. 1915)
- 2007 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Bill Walsh, American football coach (b. 1931)
- 2008 – Anne Armstrong American diplomat and politician (b. 1927)
- 2009 – Peter Zadek, German director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Bob Peterson, American basketball player (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Maeve Binchy, Irish author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Les Green, English footballer and manager (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Jonathan Hardy, New Zealand actor and screenwriter (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Chris Marker, French writer, photographer, and journalist (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Héctor Tizón, Argentinian writer and diplomat (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Feast of the Throne (Morocco)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Vanuatu from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
===
“I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.” Psalm 119:93 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"Nevertheless I am continually with thee."Psalm 73:23
"Nevertheless,"--As if, notwithstanding all the foolishness and ignorance which David had just been confessing to God, not one atom the less was it true and certain that David was saved and accepted, and that the blessing of being constantly in God's presence was undoubtedly his. Fully conscious of his own lost estate, and of the deceitfulness and vileness of his nature, yet, by a glorious outburst of faith, he sings "nevertheless I am continually with thee." Believer, you are forced to enter into Asaph's confession and acknowledgment, endeavour in like spirit to say "nevertheless, since I belong to Christ I am continually with God!" By this is meant continually upon his mind, he is always thinking of me for my good. Continually before his eye;--the eye of the Lord never sleepeth, but is perpetually watching over my welfare. Continually in his hand, so that none shall be able to pluck me thence. Continually on his heart, worn there as a memorial, even as the high priest bore the names of the twelve tribes upon his heart forever. Thou always thinkest of me, O God. The bowels of thy love continually yearn towards me. Thou art always making providence work for my good. Thou hast set me as a signet upon thine arm; thy love is strong as death, many waters cannot quench it; neither can the floods drown it. Surprising grace! Thou seest me in Christ, and though in myself abhorred, thou beholdest me as wearing Christ's garments, and washed in his blood, and thus I stand accepted in thy presence. I am thus continually in thy favour--"continually with thee." Here is comfort for the tried and afflicted soul; vexed with the tempest within--look at the calm without. "Nevertheless"--O say it in thy heart, and take the peace it gives. "Nevertheless I am continually with thee."
Evening
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."John 6:37
This declaration involves the doctrine of election: there are some whom the Father gave to Christ. It involves the doctrine of effectual calling: these who are given must and shall come; however stoutly they may set themselves against it, yet they shall be brought out of darkness into God's marvellous light. It teaches us the indispensable necessity of faith; for even those who are given to Christ are not saved except they come to Jesus. Even they must come, for there is no other way to heaven but by the door, Christ Jesus. All that the Father gives to our Redeemer must come to him, therefore none can come to heaven except they come to Christ.
Oh! the power and majesty which rest in the words "shall come." He does not say they have power to come, nor they may come if they will, but they "shall come." The Lord Jesus doth by his messengers, his word, and his Spirit, sweetly and graciously compel men to come in that they may eat of his marriage supper; and this he does, not by any violation of the free agency of man, but by the power of his grace. I may exercise power over another man's will, and yet that other man's will may be perfectly free, because the constraint is exercised in a manner accordant with the laws of the human mind. Jehovah Jesus knows how, by irresistible arguments addressed to the understanding, by mighty reasons appealing to the affections, and by the mysterious influence of his Holy Spirit operating upon all the powers and passions of the soul, so to subdue the whole man, that whereas he was once rebellious, he yields cheerfully to his government, subdued by sovereign love. But how shall those be known whom God hath chosen? By this result: that they do willingly and joyfully accept Christ, and come to him with simple and unfeigned faith, resting upon him as all their salvation and all their desire. Reader, have you thus come to Jesus?
===
Today's reading: Psalm 49-50, Romans 1 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 49-50
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
listen, all who live in this world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor alike:
3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:
5 Why should I fear when evil days come,listen, all who live in this world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor alike:
3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;
with the harp I will expound my riddle:
when wicked deceivers surround me--
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of their great riches?
Today's New Testament reading: Romans 1
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-- 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name's sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ....
===
Esau
[Ē'sôu] - hairy. The eldest son of Isaac and twin brother of Jacob by Rebekah. His name is associated with his appearance at birth (Gen. 25:25).
[Ē'sôu] - hairy. The eldest son of Isaac and twin brother of Jacob by Rebekah. His name is associated with his appearance at birth (Gen. 25:25).
The Man Who Bartered His Birthright
This cunning hunter and man of the field (Gen. 25:27 ) supplies us with one of the tragic biographies among the men of the Bible. He is prominent in God's portrait gallery as the man rejected of God because he had sold his birthright. Let us briefly sketch what Scripture records of "Esau, who is Edom." Had he retained his birthright we might have read "Esau, who is Israel." The wrong act, however, left a black mark upon his future history.
He was a profane person. What a terrible epitome! It is like a label fastened to Esau as he disappears from Bible history (Heb. 12:16 ). The work "profane" does not mean that he delighted in profanity, but that he was a man of the earth who lived for worldly things and nothing else. With many good qualities, Esau was of the earth, earthy.
He sold his birthright . As the elder son of his father, even although he came from the womb only a half-hour before his twin brother, Jacob, he was entitled by law and custom to receive twice as much as a younger son's portion, and to be regarded in due time as the head of the family. But we all know the story of how, for a mess of pottage, he bartered away his spiritual and temporal rights. The record says that Esau sold his birthright because he "despised" it. How easily some men part with the rich blessings they are heirs to!
His was a fruitless repentance . Esau lifted up his voice and cried, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!" But his repentant prayer was directed, not to God, but to Isaac. In the whole of Genesis Esau does not mention the name of God. Had Esau's repentance been Godward, what a different story we would have had! Esau only repented of his bargain, not ofhis sin. Such a bargain turned out to be a bad one, and he was sorry for it. Further, all Esau sought was restitution, not pardon. He had lost one blessing, and sought another.
Under grace the penitent sinner who has wasted his substance has a Saviour to turn to, and repenting of his sin, finds mercy. Esau, even with his tears, found no mercy. God was not in his thoughts, and he had therefore to abide by the consequences of what he had brought upon himself. Yet he learned his lesson, for Esau called his firstborn Eliphaz, "strength of God," and his second son Reuel, "joy of God."
===
| ||||||
|
===
| ||||||||
|
===
No comments:
Post a Comment