1270 – Yekuno Amlak deposed the last Zagwe king and seized the imperial throne of Ethiopia, beginning the reign of the Solomonic dynasty that would last for more than 700 years.
1793 – The Louvre officially opened in Paris with an exhibition of 537 paintings.
1861 – American Civil War: The first major battle west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, was fought.
1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central modern-day Vietnam.
1988 – Japanese American internment: The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 became law, authorizing US$20,000 in reparations to each surviving internee. Forget Zagwe .. yesteryear. The Louvre opened despite the depredations of revolution. It isn't our battles which define us before God, but our choices.
===
DUCK SEASON
Tim Blair – Saturday, August 10, 2013 (4:16pm)
Obsessive fan “Tobias Ziegler” – he’s been drooling over me for years – now joins the election race under his real name:
With only one month until the federal election, the Greens have announced a candidate for Calare.David Mallard, a former Charles Sturt University psychology lecturer in Bathurst and parliamentary adviser who has lived in Orange for the past five years, said he was pre-selected several weeks ago but due to work commitments could not announce his candidacy until yesterday.
Dr Mallard, a former PP Boy, is also an accomplished head tilter.
UPDATE. Grim news for Greens in Grayndler:
The Greens are losing support even in their inner-city strongholds, with a Guardian Lonergan poll in the Sydney seat of Grayndler dashing the minor party’s hopes that voters would switch in protest at the big parties’ hardline asylum policies.The poll, taken on Thursday night, shows the Greens candidate Hall Greenland on just 22% of the primary vote, losing 4 percentage points compared with his 2010 result, when the Greens came in second and reduced deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese’s margin to 4.2%.
I worked with Hall at the old Bulletin. Nice guy and a terrific subeditor, but politically he’s just Marxism for babies.
===
HE’S FROM ENGLAND AND HE’S HERE TO HELP
Tim Blair – Saturday, August 10, 2013 (4:47am)
“I’m coming out there to ask some serious questions about whether Rupert Murdoch has learned the lesson of the Leveson inquiry in the United Kingdom.“Looking at the headlines in some of his newspapers, it seems to me he has learned nothing from the scandal.”
The Leveson inquiry’s overwhelming focus was on illegal phone interceptions by British journalists. In Watson’s world, this means newspapers in Sydney should go soft on Labor during an Australian election. Considering his mass, Watson is capable of some astonishing leaps.
Watson plans to fly out some time in the next fortnight and said he did not have a schedule, although he has had offers and is hoping to give speeches and hold community meetings while in the country.
These should be the most exciting community meetings since Tim Flannery’s Travelling Carbon Tax Circus. Whatever happened to that, by the way?
Watson said he would meet with members of the ALP and, although he had not been in contact with Kevin Rudd’s office, he said he would be happy to meet him.
Watson’s hopes are as high as his expenses claims and daily calorie inhalation. A Labor campaign staffer I spoke with yesterday seemed underwhelmed and even slightly apprehensive about the Labour MP’s visit, stressing that the ALP wouldn’t be paying for it: “We have not invited him. We’re just being completely neutral.”
===
MAN IN A SUIT
Tim Blair – Saturday, August 10, 2013 (4:23am)
The Northern Daily Leader reviews this week’s diplomatic mission to the Wallabadah General Store, following a scandalous Tele-ban:
Just before lunchtime yesterday a man in a suit showed up to the store unannounced and proceeded to order a coffee.“We had no idea. He just fronted up while we were serving,” Mr Sheluchin said.“He said, ‘I’d like a flat white coffee and my name’s Tim, I’m from the Tele,” Mr Sheluchin said.“I was thinking, ‘here we go, we’re going to get cut off from the paper’.”
Well, that was always Plan B. Happily, peace reigned.
===
REASON TO LIVE
Tim Blair – Saturday, August 10, 2013 (4:18am)
Sad news: Based on global mortality rates, 60,738,155 people died in the meantime.
(Via Thon Brocket)
===
LANDSCAPE SCORCHED
Tim Blair – Saturday, August 10, 2013 (2:52am)
Monash University senior politics lecturer Nick Economou believes Kevin Rudd hasn’t changed:
“He’s not a changed man, it’s the party that has collapsed around him,” Dr Economou said …“What has changed is the disappearance of a number of names from the political landscape. Gillard, Combet, Emerson, Swan, Slipper, Oakeshott, Windsor, Thomson, they’ve vanished,” he said.“It’s like the last three years never happened …”Dr Economou said Mr Rudd’s leadership style was never a problem when he was campaigning – the problems came about when he was governing.“He’s a terrific campaigner. He’s perfect – the boundless energy, he’s all over the joint, freed from the burdens of responsibility. The problems arise when he’s in government,” Dr Economou said.
According to the latest Fairfax poll, that might not be an issue:
The Coalition has pulled ahead of Labor with 52 per cent support to Labor’s 48 per cent during the first week of an election campaign pitched by both sides as a referendum on economic management.Tony Abbott has also overtaken Kevin Rudd on the question of personal trustworthiness in the 1400-strong Fairfax-Nielsen poll taken from Tuesday to Thursday.In a major turnaround since July, 47 per cent of voters now rate Mr Abbott as more trust-worthy than Mr Rudd, who scored a 40 per cent rating …Labor’s primary vote support, which had climbed as high as 39 per cent after Mr Rudd replaced Ms Gillard, has dropped back again by 2 points to be 37 per cent.
It’s a gentle Ruddslide. So far.
===
CROCK OF ETHICS
Tim Blair – Saturday, August 10, 2013 (2:47am)
“A lecture from The Age on ethics,” notes The Australian, “is a rich and extraordinary thing.” Similar terms are used, on a similar topic, by an over-sharing Guardian correspondent.
UPDATE. Roger Franklin celebrates ex-Media Watch host Jonathan Holmes’s new Age gig:
That smirk and the death’s head grin don’t translate very well to the printed page, but the supercilious arrogance remains undiminished. This makes Holmes the perfect recruit for The Age …Holmes and The Age are made for each other, starting with the oh-so-precious assumption that a dim electorate is a given – outside the enlightened specimens to be found at the ABC and in Fairfax newsrooms, of course. The Age has done a wonderful job of shedding readers in this despised demographic, in part, perhaps, to honour its stated principles and shrink carbon emissions. With very few copies finding buyers outside suburbs where the family car is a bicycle, Age delivery trucks no longer need to be driven very far at all from the CBD.
Do read on.
===
FIRE LAKE
Tim Blair – Saturday, August 10, 2013 (2:45am)
Lawyer and Labor candidate Geoff Lake is endorsed by Kevin Rudd, Simon Crean, Stephen Conroy, Steve Bracks and Richard Marles – but misses out on any support from former council colleague Kathy Magee. And for good reason.
UPDATE. At the beginning of his first term, Kevin Rudd was said to have hit the ground reviewing. He’s still the same old Rudd:
Kevin Rudd has called in ALP chiefs to review two Labor candidates plunged into controversy after one admitted abusing a wheelchair-bound woman and another attacked Tony Abbott’s religion …Mr Rudd today said he would comment in due course.“I will get a report from the national secretary on that,” he said.“Once we’ve seen the report, we will speak to you further.”
===
5 of 26
Tim Blair – Friday, August 09, 2013 (4:33pm)
The gentle sound of leather on silicon returns tonight with the start of the Fourth Test. A draw in the last match cost us the Ashes, but avoided a catastrophic losing streak that would have matched our worst record since 1888.
So there’s that. Also, Australia has slashed our runs deficit in the 26-game Anglo-Australian super series. Lamentably, the victory deficit remains:
England: Three wins, 1974 runs
Australia: No wins, 1859 runs
===
Labor forgives worse in its own than it imagines in Abbott. UPDATE: Lake dumped
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (9:20pm)
Labor still vilifies Tony Abbott as a misogynist unfit for office for allegedly punching a wall next to a woman’s head when he was 19 - a suspect claim he denies.
Yet Labor pre-selects a man who abused a disabled woman when he was 22 - a claim he admits:
KEVIN Rudd’s political reform agenda has been undermined after Labor Party members released a dirt file on one of their own candidates to reveal he once called a disabled woman a “f...ing slut”.The issue for me isn’t so much whether Lake is remorseful:
Geoff Lake, a local Melbourne Mayor, was slapped with a sexual harassment claim by a Liberal councillor Kathy Magee in 2002, after calling her a “f...ing bitch” and a “f...ing slut” during a council meeting.
Mr Lake, who was 22 at the time and fighting a bitter reform war on the council, was also subject to court orders alleging he stalked and harassed two other councillors…
Mr Lake is fighting for former minister Simon Crean’s seat and was endorsed by Mr Crean, former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and Trade Minister Richard Marles…
Mr Lake was forced by the Equal Opportunities Commission to issue a written and public apology to Ms Magee in a secret settlement mediated by the tribunal…
Ms Magee has never forgotten Mr Lake’s expletive-laden tirade and admits she “wouldn’t vote for him”.
“He pushed me back in my wheelchair and told me I was a f...ing slut,” she said.
He said he was a “young and inexperienced 22-year-old mayor still driving around with P-plates on the car” at the time he made the comments. “I don’t excuse it. I made a mistake, I paid a price for it. I still pay a price for it,” he said.The issue is whether Labor is disgracefully hypocritical.
UPDATE
An example of the new “positive” Labor under Kevin Rudd:
JUST days after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called for a “positive” campaign, one of his Queensland Labor candidates has accused Tony Abbott of being a racist and secretly wanting to bring back the White Australia policy.Will Rudd make Robertson apologise for these slurs?
Repeatedly referring to the Opposition Leader as “rabbit”, Kennedy candidate Ken Robertson described him as a “very, very bigoted person” and said he hoped Australia “never has to suffer his Catholicism”.
Mr Robertson was recently announced as Labor’s candidate to take on Bob Katter after the seat failed to attract any other preselection nominations.
After all, Labor demanded Abbott apologise for a sexist menu written by a restaurant owner for the amusement of his son while they prepared dinner for Liberals. In this case the political responsibility is actually real and clear.
UPDATE
Labor disendorses Geoff Lake as its candidate for Holt. Labor’s shambles continues.
===
ReachTEL: Coalition pulling head, Abbott beats Rudd
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (8:23pm)
===
Another boat?
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (6:44pm)
There is now almost a boat a day arriving or calling for help, despite Kevin Rudd’s threats:
PAN PANReader Jeff:
FM RCC AUSTRALIA 100659Z AUG 2013 AUSSAR 2013/5369
AUS 4070 INDIAN OCEAN SOUTHERN PART
A VESSEL WITH 50 POB HAS REPORTED THAT IT IS IN DISTRESS AND REQUIRES ASSISTANCE. VESSEL INDICATES IT’S POSITION AS 09-30.32S 104-36.82E AT 100621UTC AUG 2013.
VESSELS WITHIN 6 HOURS ARE REQUESTED TO CLOSE AND RENDER ASSISTANCE AS REQUIRED.
I calculated it’s about 153 km NW of Christmas Island.
===
And every word for the Liberals written by Labor
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (6:28pm)
A very simple but highly effective Liberal ad in the paper today that cuts through the spin:
===
Steer our own worm for tomorrow’s debate. I’m Worm One
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (4:29pm)
I’ll have a blog worm going during tomorrow’s debate between Tony Abbott
and Kevin Rudd. Blog readers can give the most sensible reaction you’ll
probably get to the debate. I may even drive my own worm. Instruction
on how to join in will be posted here shortly. It will involve
downloading free app. If I could do it - and I just did - then anyone
can manage it.
Let’s show what a conservative worm - sure, tormented by some trolls - thinks of the debate.
UPDATE
With Roy Morgan’s help, the instructions on how to join:
Let’s show what a conservative worm - sure, tormented by some trolls - thinks of the debate.
UPDATE
With Roy Morgan’s help, the instructions on how to join:
If you have iPhone or Android smartphone, you can react in real time to the Leaders’ Debate as it televised from 6.30 pm Sunday on ABC1.
Or just watch how Australians react, second-by-second to Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. You’ll be able to see the reactions of various audience segments, including Bolt Report Viewers and even a special ‘Worm’ of just my reactions - that is, when I’m not posting an update on the blog.
If you’d like to react, go to your Apple or Android App Store and download the free Reactor App (search for Roy Morgan Reactor).
At or about 6.20pm tomorrow, open the app and choose the ‘Election Debate – Sunday August 11’ program. (It’s best to put your device on WiFi if it’s available.)
Choose ‘Bolt Viewer’ and enter the code ‘’BV’ and then continuously score the debate with the Reactor slider-bar.
You can watch the Reactor results live right here.
===
Forgiveable error in The Age
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (3:07pm)
An understandable typo.
(Thanks to readers Michael of Brisbane and Michael.)
===
The Bolt Report tomorrow
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (10:52am)
On The Bolt Report tomorrow:
Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Julie Bishop, fresh from her most extraordinary interview. The panel - Michael Kroger and John McTernan, Julia Gillard’s former spin doctor. Who won week one?
And Rudd’s Latham moment?
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Julie Bishop, fresh from her most extraordinary interview. The panel - Michael Kroger and John McTernan, Julia Gillard’s former spin doctor. Who won week one?
And Rudd’s Latham moment?
On Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm.
The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.
===
Mundine to head Abbott’s drive to fix Aboriginal disadvantage
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (11:43am)
A good signing by Tony Abbott. An indictment of Labor:
Former ALP president Warren Mundine has agreed to head a new indigenous advisory board for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, should the Coalition be elected in September.I am worried about Abbott’s call for the constitution to be rewritten on racist grounds - acknowledging Indigenous Australians. But I do not doubt for a single second his passion for lifting Aboriginal communities out of poverty. I believe Mundine will give him advice that is practical, and less likely to be distorted by the Noble Savage romanticism of so many white Leftists. Mundine is a good, rational man.
Mr Abbott is flying to north-east Arnhem Land on Saturday to announce the election policy. The proposed board would have indigenous and non-indigenous representatives and would meet with the prime minister three times a year to drive improvements for indigenous people.
An absolute key, in my opinion, will be treat people as individuals, and not members of a tribe or “race”.
UPDATE
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, surely the most over-rated and least self-aware MP in Parliament, attacks Abbott’s move with a blindlngly stupid self-criticism:
He cited the Howard government’s refusal to apologise to indigenous people…What else was the apology but all talk and no action?
“All of this tells you that it’s all talk and it won’t be any action,” he said.
UPDATE
I think Mundine will drag Aboriginal policy closer to where it should be:
While Mr Mundine has been a critic of Labor’s approach to indigenous affairs, describing the long-standing attitudes as treating Aborigines as “sacred koalas” and promoting a “cargo cult” of “welfare poison”, he has been highly critical of the Howard government’s intervention in the Northern Territory communities, describing it as Mal Brough “sending in the tanks”.
Mr Mundine ... will today reveal a radical four-tiered plan to rewrite Aboriginal affairs by abolishing scores of statutory indigenous governance bodies, which he says hinder development, opening up communities to the outside world and excising townships from the communally owned land system to create private home ownership and business development. Mr Mundine, the executive chairman of the Australian Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, will deliver a keynote speech at the Garma Festival, in which he calls for dramatic changes to land ownership to create more economic opportunities.
Mr Mundine’s steadfast view that commercial development offered the only chance for indigenous communities to escape poverty has long stood in opposition to the rights-based agenda of the Labor Left.
===
New, democratic Labor installs old-style factional boss
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (10:50am)
Never mind the flim flam about a new Labor that gives more power to the grass roots supporters:
Labor’s high-profile NSW secretary Sam Dastyari has won the backing of the powerful right faction for a Senate seat.
The endorsement all but assures that Mr Dastyari, 30, will fill the casual vacancy left by Matt Thistlethwaite, who is retiring from the Senate to contest the Lower House seat of Kingsford-Smith in Sydney.
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Labor spending us into disaster
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (10:42am)
Henry Ergas on Labor’s mad spending spree:
UPDATE
Paul Kelly also worries about the lack of mandate for change - and believes Abbott will instead try to get one for the 2016 election instead, which may be three years too late:
LABOR’S policy decisions since 2007 increased commonwealth revenues across the 10 years to 2016-17 by $78 billion. At the same time, however, they increased spending by $138bn.The result, according to last week’s economic statement, is a cash deficit that in the next two years alone will exceed $54bn, while the structural deficit (which corrects the budget position for the level of economic activity) is about 9 per cent of gross domestic product.Mind you, we need to hear a lot more from the Coalition on how it will fix this. I fear it is not seeking a mandate for the changes we need.
The longer-term outlook is gloomier yet. Today’s structural deficit seems set to worsen by four percentage points of GDP (equivalent to more than $2500 a person annually) across the period to 2022-23, with rising outlays on healthcare and pension entitlements being substantial contributors.
Even that assessment does not reflect the full extent of spending commitments. For example, DisabilityCare Australia’s costs are still highly uncertain, as is the final bill for the Gonski package, but there are good grounds for thinking both will exceed initial projections. As for defence, announced plans for the Australian Defence Force are unaffordable within present funding projections. And published estimates of the structural deficit ignore likely multi-billion-dollar losses on Labor’s National Broadband Network.
In short, wherever one looks, we are making promises to each other that we cannot keep. Sure, to avoid facing that fact, we could continue borrowing, in an inter-generational Ponzi scheme ultimately doomed to collapse.
UPDATE
Paul Kelly also worries about the lack of mandate for change - and believes Abbott will instead try to get one for the 2016 election instead, which may be three years too late:
Abbott and Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey have another agenda - a big agenda for 2016.(Thanks to reader Peter.)
If elected, they promise the first outside audit of national government agencies and spending for 16 years, a white paper on full reform of the tax system, a review by the Productivity Commission of the industrial relations system, a white paper on reform of federal-state relations to revive the states and attack duplication, a root-and-branch competition policy review. There are many more.
What does this mean? It means Abbott will only advance a true reform agenda from office. He thinks doing this from opposition is political suicide. It means the main reforms will be put at the 2016 election…
Aware of the power of negative politics (given that Abbott ruined Julia Gillard on negatives), the Liberals want to implement these major changes without being destroyed in the process…
Hockey made clear that at the end of its spending/savings process the Coalition will show net savings to the bottom line… But that delivery is high-risk. It won’t be easy. Last Thursday The Australian published a table showing the Coalition still needs about $30 billion in savings to cover announced pledges. When and how will they arrive? Labor still hopes to catch and destroy the Coalition at this task.
===
Where is that warming? Is cooling next?
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (10:31am)
More questioning of the global warming faith, this time by scientists in a Danish paper:
This could mean that the temperature will not rise for the next 30 years or maybe begin to decrease.(Thanks to reader cynical1.)
===
Rudd tramples over the rules, using taxpayer money for Labor propaganda
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (10:26am)
What an outrageous breach of the caretaker conventions - and of taxpayer money:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
KEVIN Rudd has taken a controversial decision to continue advertising for the Papua New Guinea asylum seeker deal - and there maybe nothing Tony Abbott can do about it.Just shameless.
In a clear breach of election “caretaker” conventions, the Government ignored warnings from the Coalition to announce it will run advertisements in newspapers and on television and radio.
The campaign - which has a budget of $30 million - will run throughout the campaign.
The Coalition heavily criticised the decision as a “scandal” and an “unprecedented” breach of the caretaker rules, which require bipartisan support to continue taxpayer funded advertising…
Mr Dreyfus on Monday wrote to the Mr Abbott, asking for permission to continue the asylum seeker campaign - both overseas and domestically.
The caretaker convention - which came into force on Monday - says that “bipartisan agreement is sought for campaigns to continue"… However, the Government has decided to ignore the Coalition’s opposition to the domestic campaign.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===
Failing the “fair dinkum” test
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (10:20am)
Chris Kenny on Labor’s problem with the “fair dinkum” test:
Kenny:
Is Rudd’s Twitter campaign making it harder for him to pass the “fair dinkum” test:
We should not forget that at the last election Gillard attempted to neutralise the border protection issue by promising the East Timor solution, to neutralise climate change by ruling out a carbon tax and by promising a gradual, consensual approach to a possible emissions trading scheme, and to neutralise economic concerns by guaranteeing a return to surplus by 2013…Add to that the 2007 campaign, when Rudd promised to stop the “reckless spending”, take a “meat axe” to the public service and turn back the boats - and did none of the above.
Now Rudd is attempting to neutralise the asylum-seeker issue with Papua New Guinea and Nauru solutions, neutralise the carbon tax by accelerating the switch to an emissions trading scheme and, again, is pledging a return to surplus in three years…
There is a pattern here.
Kenny:
On border protection, climate change policy and economic management, it has never carried out in government what it promised during the campaign...(T)his history identifies a core challenge for media scrutiny in this campaign - don’t focus on Labor’s promises, focus on its record…UPDATE
This will be the underlying doubt in the electorate: We hear what you are saying but will you do it? This is the hurdle Labor will have to get over with mainstream voters.
Is Rudd’s Twitter campaign making it harder for him to pass the “fair dinkum” test:
WHEN Kevin Rudd posted a “selfie” last month, complete with Norman Gunston-style shaving injury, 8141 people liked the image on Instagram, while several hundred followers on Twitter sent the picture forward into the social-media universe.(Thanks to reader Peter.)
The Prime Minister was no doubt pleased with the results and some of the approving comments it generated.
“Bloody legend, Tony shat himself when he saw thid (sic),” master-magic posted. “F . . k yeh kev,” wrote chelseapenkk.
The reality is we don’t know how these tweeters will vote or even if they are old enough to head to the polls on September 7. And it seems unlikely the image will have any cut-through in the marginal seats of western Sydney or southeast Queensland that Labor so desperately needs to win if it is to retain government.
ALP research based on focus groups suggest voters - rather than Twitter followers - don’t like Mr Rudd’s “selfie” obsession much at all.
===
PolitiFlack exposed
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (9:56am)
PolitiFact claims to be a ”non-partisan, independent journalistic venture”
But the Leftist leaning of this venture can be determined by a simple metric.
UPDATE
Reader Sherlock says the Fairfax Fact Checker is no better. It’s checked five Coalition statements to just one from Labor.
But the Leftist leaning of this venture can be determined by a simple metric.
Recent statements by Tony Abbott checked: six.And remember: Rudd is the leader falsely suggesting the Liberals will put a GST on food and disconnect the NBN from homes.
Recent statements by Kevin Rudd checked: two.
UPDATE
Reader Sherlock says the Fairfax Fact Checker is no better. It’s checked five Coalition statements to just one from Labor.
===
As good a panel as could be hoped for from the Press Gallery
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (8:27am)
I like Simon Benson, no
question. Tough and fair. Close to the NSW Right, and as a reporter was
right on top of the leadership plotting that toppled Julia Gillard.
But let’s not kid ourselves: the cast of journalists for the first debate is drawn entirely from the Left, unless Curtis is a closet conservative:
That said, none of those chosen is openly partisan, although Hartcher is still battling to shrug his reputation from having been Rudd’s favorite media outlet.
(Thanks to reader Gab.)
But let’s not kid ourselves: the cast of journalists for the first debate is drawn entirely from the Left, unless Curtis is a closet conservative:
Sky News political editor David Speers will moderate the event and a panel of three senior parliamentary journalists will grill the leaders. The panel will consist of Lyndal Curtis from the ABC, Simon Benson from News Corp Australia and Peter Hartcher from Fairfax.Hartcher, for instance, is a global warming believer.
That said, none of those chosen is openly partisan, although Hartcher is still battling to shrug his reputation from having been Rudd’s favorite media outlet.
(Thanks to reader Gab.)
===
The Guardian covers the big ones
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (8:16am)
Big things were promised:
British newspaper The Guardian has announced it is launching a new digital edition in Australia this year… Launch editor Katharine Viner says the operation aims to capitalise on the existing Australian readership.Big things are now delivered. Here’s The Guardian’s latest groundbreaking open journalism on issues that really matter to the nation:
“We already have a large number of Australian readers, who tell us they want more of our on-the-ground reporting, lively commentary and groundbreaking open journalism… We will build a small Australian team to cover the issues that really matter to the nation...”
Back to what The Guardian promised:
Guardian News and Media editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger said the Australian expansion comes as a “natural next step” for the publication…
“It will be of real benefit to our global audience, to see how dominant questions of our time - economics, geopolitics, climate change, immigration, media, democracy and more - are being grasped in such an important part of the world.”
===
A moral lecture from Tom Watson
Andrew Bolt August 10 2013 (8:05am)
Tom Watson is on a mission:
UPDATE
Can’t wait to hear Watson lecturing Murdoch journalists about abuses of power:
Watson seems a very well-fed moral crusader:
BRITISH anti-Murdoch campaigner Tom Watson says he is coming to Australia to take on the nation’s tabloid editors over their coverage of Kevin Rudd.No wonder Watson is cross. After all, the wicked Murdoch press caused him to walk out on his wife and children:
The Labour MP, who shot to prominence during the Leveson phone hacking inquiry, announced the move on Twitter last night.
“That @dailytelegraph front page did it,” he said, referring to yesterday’s Daily Telegraph splash featuring Mr Rudd as Colonel Klink, from Hogan’s Heroes.
MIDLAND MP Tom Watson has found new love - four months after announcing that his marriage had ended. Mr Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East, declared that he had separated from his wife, Siobhan, in April. The couple, who had been married for 11 years, have two children. Siobhan was also his constituency secretary ... Mr Watson said the “pressures” of taking on Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers were responsible for his marriage break-up.What a hero. Yet he’s back in the battle, risking God knows what damage this time to his relationships.
UPDATE
Can’t wait to hear Watson lecturing Murdoch journalists about abuses of power:
Tom Watson has resigned from his post as Labour’s campaign co-ordinator after finding himself at the heart of a row over claims a trade union was trying to fix the selection of candidates.UPDATE
Mr Watson (Lab West Bromwich East) came under fire over claims the union tried to install his Parliamentary aide Karie Murphy as the candidate in Falkirk, Scotland.
Labour was forced to suspend the selection process after it was alleged up to 150 Unite members signed up to the local party, with their membership fees paid with a single cheque from the union, as part of a campaign to decide the outcome.
Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey, is a former flatmate of Mr Watson.
Watson seems a very well-fed moral crusader:
Mr Watson also featured in the Telegraph’s MPs’ expenses scandal disclosures. Mr Watson … spent the maximum of £4,800 in a single year on food, and had his expenses cut after buying a set of dining room chairs that exceeded the limit set by the fees office.(Thanks to reader John.)
He was forced to defend the appearance of a receipt for a “pizza wheel” on a Marks & Spencer receipt he submitted, saying it was given as a free gift after he went on a £150 spending spree at the store.
He also used his parliamentary allowances, along with fellow Labour minister Iain Wright, to lavish more than £100,000 on a shared central London crash pad since the last general election.
===
Labor slips, Rudd slides - even in Queensland
Andrew Bolt August 09 2013 (8:27pm)
Kevin Rudd is on the
slide, according to the latest Nielsen poll, and Labor now looks fairly
sure to lose. Souffles do not rise twice:
More bad news for Labor. Kevin Rudd cannot even get the swing or the seats he needs in his home state:
UPDATE
Here’s one seat I’ve very happy for Labor to retain:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
The Coalition has pulled ahead of Labor with 52 per cent support to Labor’s 48 per cent...UPDATE
In a major turnaround since July, 47 per cent of voters now rate Mr Abbott as more trust-worthy than Mr Rudd, who scored a 40 per cent rating.
Mr Rudd had led Mr Abbott 45 to 40 on the same question in July, shortly after taking over from Julia Gillard.
More bad news for Labor. Kevin Rudd cannot even get the swing or the seats he needs in his home state:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has failed to deliver his promised boost in votes for Labor in his home state after the first week of the election campaign...No extra seats for Rudd in Queensland spells defeat, and possibly a substantial one. Labor will lose at least several seats in NSW, one in Tasmania and perhaps two in Victoria. That’s a bare minimum.
The Courier-Mail/Galaxy poll suggests the Government will struggle to pick up any extra seats…
The new poll found the party’s primary vote was 34 per cent - roughly in line with its result in the last election. This would see Labor’s two- party preferred vote in Queensland stuck at 44 per cent, based on preference flows from the last election and would see it just hold its current eight seats in the state.
UPDATE
Here’s one seat I’ve very happy for Labor to retain:
The Greens are losing support even in inner-city strongholds, with a Guardian Lonergan poll in the Sydney seat of Grayndler dashing the minor party’s hopes that voters would switch in protest at the big parties’ hard-line asylum policies.
The poll, taken on Thursday night, shows the Greens candidate Hall Greenland on just 22% of the primary vote, losing 4 percentage points compared with his 2010 result, when he came in second and reduced deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese’s margin to 4.2%.
The poll of 966 voters shows Greenland coming third, well behind the Liberal Cedric Spencer on 28% and Albanese on 47%.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
===
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Peter Beattie on Kevin Rudd……………
"For me, Rudd's lack of political judgment was demonstrated in the introduction of the mining tax without proper consultation, the backflip on timing of the emissions trading scheme and the bungled home insulation program.
"His failure to listen to a broad range of advice particularly on issues in which he had little expertise also demonstrated poor judgement. Sadly, Kevin self-destructed.''
"If you did make a return to the prime ministership by removing Julia it would be akin to Napoleon's 100 glory days after his return from exile, when he was defeated at Waterloo by Wellington.''
"Napoleon's return was short-lived but his exile to St Helena in the South Atlantic was permanent, and he finally died at the hands of a trusted lieutenant through arsenic poisoning.''
http://www.news.com.au/national-news/federal-election/kevin-rudd-admits-to-8216odd-stoush8217-with-forde-candidate-peter-beattie/story-fnho52ip-1226693837430#ixzz2bXpKxk97
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THE PRICE OF MORAL-VANITY: A CATALOGUE OF GREEN ECONOMIC DISASTERS UNFOLDS ACROSS EUROPE.
Oped by Jo Nova ………(and this is exactly where Labor wants to take Australia)
"The real cost of moral-vanity, of name-calling, poor reasoning, selecting one’s evidence, and the triumph of doing things because they “feel-good” rather than because of the cold hard numbers, is measured in the trillions.
This disaster was entirely foreseeable, totally predictable, and completely unnecessary.
Europe is beginning to realise that its green energy strategy is dying on the vine. Green dreams are giving way to hard economic realities.
Slowly but gradually, Europe is awakening to a green energy crisis, an economic and political debacle that is entirely self-inflicted.
The flagrantly wasted resources are simply obscene:
EU members states have spent about €600 billion ($882bn) on renewable energy projects since 2005, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Germany’s green energy transition alone may cost consumers up to €1 trillion by 2030, the German government recently warned.
That this kind of waste and mismanagement should have occurred under Western Governments when the financial nonsense of it was obvious long before the money was spent, stands as an argument against Big-Government and a warning of where gullible Green economics leads.
Real people have toiled fruitlessly across Europe to pay for these ridiculous schemes.
Their quality of life reduced by the failure of big-government, of mentally weak, ethically bankrupt academics, of poorly trained overconfident poseur journalists.
It’s a case of lose-lose all around, everyone — taxpayers, investors, renewables companies, gas companies — all lost.
Waste and stupidity on a colossal scale.
None of this even counts the flow-on effects of expensive energy — how much was lost from European manufacturing which could not compete? Investors are “pouring money into the US, where energy prices have fallen to one-third of those in the EU, thanks to the shale gas revolution.”
This is burning money on a scale that only Big-Government can manage, misdirected malinvestment so “successful” that we can only guess how many people have lost jobs, lost years of work, and in the case of homes without electricity, lost lives.
http://joannenova.com.au/2013/08/the-price-of-moral-vanity-a-catalogue-of-green-economic-disaster-unfolds-across-europe/
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30mins till show time!#team9lives#9livesparkour#9livesshows
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Attending Fairfield Relay for Life fundraising dinner at Smithfield RSL with @AndrewRohanMP @ZayaToma @Charbel_Saliba @nahraintoma.
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C. H. Spurgeon's status
Obedience rendered without delight in rendering it is only half obedience.
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Pastor Rick Warren
In you're future are many uncertainties, but God’s love for you isn't one of them.
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Pastor Rick Warren
Satan wants you to question God’s goodness, love,and His Word. In the first step of temptation he whispers “Did God REALLY say...?”
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Pastor Rick Warren
The reason we can trust God completely is that he worthy of it. He is good, loving, and flawless.
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Pastor Rick Warren
When you feel like giving up, remember #why you started. WHY always determines how long you do anything.
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When you feel like giving up, remember WHY you started. The WHY always determines HOW LONG you stick with anything.
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YOU'RE INVITED
We would like to invite you to join us for Catalyst One Day. One Day is a different type of Catalyst gathering designed to focus on answering the practical "how-to" and "what-about" questions we just aren't able to cover at a larger event.
In this brand new series we are excited to be focusing on Leadership Essentials. Andy and Craig will take their collective experiences in leading effective ministries and share with you what they've found to be the core elements of church leadership. These core elements include vision casting, decision making, team building, work/life balance, and much more.
One Day is a can’t-miss opportunity to unpack the nuts and bolts of leadership, up-close and personal with the two principal voices in leadership today.===
Pastor Rick Warren
The Bible plainly shows that righteous people don't get problem-free lives, but in reality, are usually refined by intense firey trials.
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Pastor Rick Warren
"If you stay pure and live with integrity, God will rise up and restore you. Though you started with little, you'll end with much." Job 8:6-7
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The Australian International Conservatorium of Music9 August 2013 16:34
AICM One Scholarship Competition
Top 20 Finalist - Susan Jon Rose
Performing: 'I Will Always Love You', Whitney Houston
After receiving hundreds of entries from across Australia, the top twenty were selected and recorded live at AICM. These are their videos.
It's now up to YOU to decide the Top 10! ‘Like’ and 'Share' this video to help Susan make the finals!
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Putin prospers by isolation? Fry makes a very well put point. What will Olympic committee do? - ed
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When Failure Carries No Cost August 9, 2013, 8:35 AM by Caroline Glick
Rather than define Hasan's attack as an enemy attack or a terrorist act, the administration has defined it as a case of "workplace violence." THE SAME is the case with regards to the September 11, 2012, attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi. N ISRAEL'S case, the first place where the lesson of this state of affairs needs to be internalized is in regards to Iran's nuclear weapons program. Obama's latest ploy for running the clock down is his embrace of the fiction that Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, is a moderate interested, (and perforce empowered), to cut a nuclear deal with the US that would see Iran voluntarily and credibly end its uranium enrichment activities.
http://
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4 her
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Believe it or not… Many people actually believe that Israel is trying to exterminate the Palestinians!
So please SHARE this excellent article:
ARE JEWS THE MOST INCOMPETENT “ETHNIC CLEANSERS” IN THE WORLD?
The Palestinian population in the West Bank increased from 462,000 in 1949 to more than 2.5 million today. In Gaza, the population increased from 82,000 in 1949 to 1.7 million today.
Additionally, to add further context: The number of Arabs killed (since 1920) in Arab-Israeli wars is less than the number of Arabs killed by Arabs in Syria alone since 2011.
As a point of reference, the Jewish population of Gaza and Palestinian controlled West Bank is practically zero (save a few pro-Palestinian “journalists” who reside there), while the Jewish population in the entire Arab Middle East has decreased from over 850,000 in 1949 to less than 5,000 today.
The broad charge that Jews are ethnically cleansing Arabs (Palestinians or otherwise) in the Middle East, based on the numbers, represents the opposite of the truth. In the territory where Jews rule or have ruled in some manner since 1948 the Arab population has increased dramatically, while territories in the region where Arabs rule (representing over 99% of the total land) have slowly become either nearly or completely Judenrein.
http://cifwatch.com/2013/
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4 her
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Quick Pix: Lucille Ball w/Video
http://
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American comedienne, model, film and television actress and studio executive. She was star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy and Life with Lucy, and was one of the most popular and influential stars in the United States during her lifetime. Ball had one of Hollywood’s longest careers, especially on television.
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This new infographic from the National Shooting Sports Foundation seemingly debunks one of the most crucial anti-gun claims. Details:http://bit.ly/16ExDuX
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Father,I thank You for Your goodness in my life. Thank You for filling me with Your strength and joy. I thank You for Your love and grace upon me.I praise and worship You. Right now, I let go of all the distractions of life and focus on You. I choose to be still, to get quiet before You and thank You for Your peace all the days of my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Being Quiet.
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This week, after a three-and-a-half-year delay, US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was finally placed on trial for massacring 13 and wounding 32 at Ft. Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009.
Hasan was a self-identified jihadist. His paper and electronic trail provided mountains of evidence that he committed the massacre to advance the cause of Islamic supremacy. Islamic supremacists like Hasan, and his early mentor al-Qaida operations chief Anwar al-Awlaki, view as enemies all people who oppose totalitarian Islam's quest for global domination.
Before, during and following his assault, Hasan made his jihadist motives obvious to the point of caricature in his statements about the US, the US military and the duties of pious Muslims. But rather than believe Hasan, and so do justice to his victims, the Obama administration, with the active collusion of senior US military commanders went to great lengths to cover up Hasan's ideological motivations and hence the nature of his crime.
On the day of the attack, Lt.-Gen. Robert Cone, then commander of III Corps at Ft. Hood, said preliminary evidence didn't suggest that the shooting was terrorism. Cone said this even though it was immediately known that before he began shooting Hasan called out "Allahu akhbar." He called himself a "Soldier of Allah" on his business cards.
In an interview with CNN three days after the attack, US Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said, "Our diversity, not only in our army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."
The intensity of the Obama administration's participation in this cover-up became clear in May 2012. At that time, Congress had placed a clause inside the Defense Appropriations Act requiring the Pentagon to award Purple Hearts to Ft. Hood's victims. Rather than accept this eminently reasonable demand, which simply required the administration to acknowledge reality, Obama's emissaries announced he would veto the appropriations bill and so leave the Pentagon without a budget unless the clause was removed.
Rather than define Hasan's attack as an enemy attack or a terrorist act, the administration has defined it as a case of "workplace violence." Following this determination, those wounded in the attack, as well as the families of the murdered, are denied the support conferred on soldiers killed or wounded by enemy fire.
At the first day of Hasan's trial this week, he admitted that he perpetrated the murderous attack because he is a jihadist who "switched sides" in the war. That is, he told the court that he conducted the attack as an act of war against the United States to advance the goals of the global jihad.
Hasan's statement made clear, once again, that in its efforts to describe his actions as "workplace violence," the administration is engaging in a cover-up. Its purpose is to deny the American people the truth about the nature of the jihadist threat to their country.
Outside the conservative media, and certain circles of the Republican Party, there has been no public outcry over the government's decision to cover up the nature of Hasan's actions. The public's passivity in the face of the government's mendacious, unjust behavior owes to the fact that the mainstream media have not castigated the administration for its decision to hide that Hasan was not a garden variety disgruntled employee but a traitor who acted in the service of declared enemies of the United States. In the absence of a media-induced public outcry, the administration has no reason to change its behavior. It has no impetus to acknowledge the truth and act accordingly.
THE SAME is the case with regards to the September 11, 2012, attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi. Already on the day of the attack, it was apparent that the US mission and the CIA annex had been targeted in a premeditated, preplanned attack. Footage of the attack broadcast in real time showed armed men attacking the consulate with rocket-propelled grenades. It was not an act of savage mob violence. Mobs do not carry RPGs or act in a coordinated manner. That is, already at the time of the attack it was apparent that it was not a spontaneous protest in response to an anti-Islamic video on YouTube.
And yet, from the outset, the administration covered up what happened. And the media colluded. Fox News was the only major network that pursued the story. A US ambassador was raped and murdered on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. US personnel were under multi-pronged attack for hours. Their desperate pleas for assistance were denied by the administration. And the US media went along with the fiction that the attack was a spontaneous outburst of rage over a YouTube video no one had ever seen.
The media's collusion was so great that CNN anchor Candy Crowley threw a US presidential debate when she defended Barack Obama's handling of the attack by inserting false information in the middle of the debate that she was moderating.
The Benghazi story keeps getting more and more outrageous. Last week we learned that some two dozen CIA personnel were on the ground during the attack. The administration has reportedly scattered these operatives throughout the US and forced them to adopt new identities. They have reportedly been prohibited from speaking to the media or congressional investigators, and subjected to monthly polygraph tests.
US personnel wounded in the attack have been hidden from investigators since the attack took place.
This behavior is scandalous, and unprecedented. Yet, outside of the "usual suspects" in the conservative media and the Republican Party, there is no outrage. The media coverage of this shocking revelation is nearly nonexistent, and where it exists, the reportage is laconic, indifferent.
Here, too, the administration feels comfortable perpetuating its cover-up. As in the case of Ft. Hood, why come clean if there is no price to pay for lying and covering up?
Speaking of the frequent US failures in understanding events in faraway lands, Winston Churchill famously quipped, "We can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities."
But what if the other possibilities are never exhausted? The media's collusion with the Obama administration's false portrayal of jihadist attacks on US targets gives foreign leaders concerned about the US's lackadaisical attitude toward jihadist threats no reason for confidence. In the absence of public pressure, the Obama administration has no reason to change course when its policies fail.
IN ISRAEL'S case, the first place where the lesson of this state of affairs needs to be internalized is in regards to Iran's nuclear weapons program. Since taking office, Obama has repeatedly claimed that he will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. But in practice, his actions have enabled Iran to vastly expand its nuclear weapons program. Due to his malfeasance, today Iran has arrived at the cusp of a nuclear arsenal. More than his words, Obama's actions have made clear that he has no intention whatsoever of conducting military strikes against Iran's nuclear installations to prevent the regime from developing nuclear weapons.
Obama's latest ploy for running the clock down is his embrace of the fiction that Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, is a moderate interested, (and perforce empowered), to cut a nuclear deal with the US that would see Iran voluntarily and credibly end its uranium enrichment activities.
Speaking of Rouhani this week, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu referred to him as "a wolf in sheep's clothing," and warned US and European officials not to be taken in by his act. Netanyahu also noted that Iran has expanded its nuclear activities since Rouhani was elected two months ago.
But he might as well save his breath.
Rouhani's act - like that of his supposedly moderate predecessors Mohammad Khatami and Ahkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - is so thin that it can only work on people who will be taken in by anyone. And indeed, the Obama administration was taken in by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For five years Obama insisted on conducting self-evidently futile negotiations with Iran while Ahmadinejad - the anti-moderate - was serving as president.
The US and Europe are not taken in by Iran because Iran is good at hiding its true intentions. They are taken in by Iran because they want to be taken in. They want to believe that they don't have to attack Iran and overthrow the regime to prevent it from becoming a nuclear power. They want to believe they can appease Iran by pretending it isn't a danger, just as they believe they can end the threat of terror by jihadists in the US military and Benghazi by pretending they don't exist.
They want to believe these threats can be ignored, or appeased away. And just as Obama and his followers are willing to pretend away Hasan's actions to protect "diversity," and to pretend away the September 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi to protect the myth of the Arab Spring, so they are willing to permit Iran to go nuclear to protect the sanctity of appeasement.
The only thing they are willing to put their foot down about is the prospect of an Israeli strike. And they have put their foot down on this issue for the past decade. It isn't that the US is deliberately enabling Iran to acquire a nuclear arsenal. It is just that the US elite in government and the media care more about protecting their faith in diversity and appeasement than they do about preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
They have convinced themselves that the prospect of appeasing Iran will evaporate if Israel attacks Iran's nuclear installations. And so we have seen a parade of senior US defense officials descending on Israel every time it appears that Israel is planning to attack Iran. We have seen a parade of former Israeli military and security chiefs with close ties to the US defense establishment declaring before every available microphone that Israel must not strike Iran and that we can count on Obama to protect us.
But we mustn't believe their assurances or succumb to their pressure. Obama will not change course. He doesn't have to. So long as he maintains faith with the god of appeasement, the US media will protect him. And so long as they protect him, he will pay no price for his failures. So he will repeat them.
Israel cannot countenance a nuclear Iran. So Israel needs to attack Iran's nuclear installations.
No more needs to be said.
Originally published in the Jerusalem Post.
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Me and Nahrain Toma are on a date tonight putting up corflutes for Ray King. HONK if you see us! Zaya Toma
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Why this Christian Supports Israel By: Gary Bauer
The people of Israel love what we Americans love and honor what we Americans honor. Israel is built on the rule of law. Its Declaration of Independence is modeled after ours. We are joined at the heart. The only memorial in the Middle East to honor the three thousand innocent Americans brutally murdered on the morning of 9/11 is in Israel. As crowds in the West Bank and Gaza rushed into the streets to celebrate the murderous attack on America, Israelis mourned with us, lowered their flag as we lowered ours, and wept with us. If you want to pay your respects at a memorial to John F. Kennedy, you can do it in Arlington National Cemetery – or you can go to the JFK memorial outside of Jerusalem. You can go to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell – or you can visit not one but two replicas of it in Israel. You can honor Martin Luther King Jr. on Martin Luther King Day in January here in the U.S. – and you can honor him in Israel, the only country outside the U.S. that officially commemorates Martin Luther King Day, by visiting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Forest in the Southern Galilee region. (Israel also has a Coretta Scott King Forest). Christians who support Israel are walking a trail blazed by great American heroes who also supported Israel. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin wanted the symbol of our new republic to be Moses leading the Jewish people to the Promised Land. The founders of our great country, to a man, were restorationists; they wanted Jews around the world to be restored to their ancient homeland. Abraham Lincoln told his friends he wanted to visit the home of the Jews after he left the presidency, but an assassin’s bullet ended his life before he could. Closer to our own time, Harry Truman told the State Department to go to hell and recognized modern Israel almost immediately after its rebirth as a modern nation. Ronald Reagan said we had no greater ally. Bobby Kennedy defended Israel and was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist, Sirhan Sirhan. From Israel came the patriarchs, including Abraham, who saw God in a burning furnace. Israel gave us Moses, who chose suffering with his own people over the riches of Pharaoh’s house; Moses, who led his people across the Red Sea to the land promised them by God. I choose Israel because I want to stand with Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel and the prophets who conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, survived the mouths of lions, felled giants, and put foreign armies to flight. I stand with Israel because of the biblical General Barak, who defeated the Canaanite oppressors and united the tribes, and because of Gideon, who did not seek self-glorification but rather the glorification of God. I choose Israel because I remember the millions who perished at Auschwitz and Buchenwald and some fifteen thousand other Nazi labor, death and concentration camps. I stand with Israel because the Jews who live there are surrounded by millions of fanatics who lust for their blood and want a second Holocaust. I support Israel because I don’t want murderous Islamists dancing on the Via Delarosa. I don’t want to see Jewish graves desecrated, the Western Wall defiled and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher turned into a garbage dump. Israel guarantees religious freedom, the Palestinian extremists do not. Why do I support Israel? You may as well ask me why I choose good over evil. On one side of the divide are Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic jihad, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and mothers who strap bombs on their innocent children and send them to kill Jews. There is intolerance, injustice, sharia law, and crowds chanting death to America. There are Holocaust deniers and Hitler wannabes, UN bureaucrats and EU appeasers. Their culture worships death, where women are treated like cattle and terrorists are heroes. On the other side is the only Jewish nation in the world – the apple of God’s eye; one of the pillars of Judeo-Christian civilization; our most reliable ally in the Middle East; a people who tell their children to love life, not death; the land where the patriarchs lived; a country that believes in freedom and tolerance, whose people have turned a desert into an oasis of progress and achievement. It may be a tough call for the UN and for State Department bureaucrats, for Jimmy Carter and for the religious left, and for the legions of the ignorant and confused, but it is not a tough call for me. I choose Israel – yesterday, today and tomorrow
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LABOR/GREENS CAN STOP THE BOATS
There are six States and two Territories in Australia. (Let’s leave the ACT out of this because it has always had blind Labor allegiance supporting half of Australia’s union membership.)
Of the six States only two are dire basket cases and those two are Labor States. The remaining four States are burdened with repairing the economic damage of Labor, after a period of all six States having endured Labor/Green annihilation.
Gillard governed in "coalition" with the Greens, yet there is just one Green member (Adam Bandt) in a House of 150 members, so to suggest the Greens are an over represented rabble is a gross understatement!
Lara Giddings, Labor Premier of Tasmania, rules with 23% of the vote compared to the Liberals 30%. But with the Greens’ vote at 20% (twice the national average) Giddings can comfortably govern with their assistance.
Jay Weatherill, Labor Premier of South Australia and ex-partner of Penny Wong, (say no more) rules the State of South Australia in his own right with a very influential Greens’ representation of 14% of the vote. (National polling is currently diminishing at 9%.)
Both Labor States have successfully fought off the Conservatives and proceeded to economically raze the landscape under the influence of gangrenous Greens.
As is usual, they have driven up unprecedented debt and unemployment with crazy feel-good policies that have failed miserably. They aim to destroy mineral mining, the coal industry and Israel. They want an egalitarian socialised society financed with borrowed funds.
The parlous economic failings of both South Australia and Tasmania is mirrored almost exactly in Canberra under Rudd/Gillard/Rudd/Greens.
So, where am I going with this?
Okay, so why did Rudd need to pay billions to Nauru and PNG in exchange for internationally advertising their countries as backward shitboxes?
Why couldn’t he have said, “Anyone arriving by boat from now on will be confined to one of two Labor/Green States”?
Now, anyone wanting to build a new life, get a job or start a new business would be devastated at that prospect?
Surely that would have sent a message to those pesky, enterprising, illegal immigrants? And in the process saved us billions?
Or he could wait until September 8!
If he wins Office then the whole country will become a backward shitbox!
Boat problem solved!
Larry Pickering
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I want a new engagement with Aboriginal people to be one of the hallmarks of a Coalition government.
If elected, this will start from week one with the establishment of a Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council.
The establishment of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council will focus on practical changes to improve the lives of Aboriginal people.
Preserving Aboriginal cultures, as well as building reconciliation, means doing more to ensure that children go to schools, adults go to work and the ordinary rule of the land operates in Aboriginal communities.
I am honoured that Mr Warren Mundine has agreed to chair the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council.
I hope to be a Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and am delighted that Warren Mundine has taken up the call to be part of this journey.
There is so much goodwill. The challenge is to convert this into change for the better. In this area, the problem is not so much under-investment as under-engagement. I am confident that this will change with someone of Warren’s standing at my side.
Click here to read more about our announcement.
Regards,
Tony Abbott
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We need your help.
Yesterday we discovered that Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party intend to continue spending more than 30 million dollars of taxpayer’s money to advertise their hastily put together boats policy to Australian voters, in the middle of the election campaign.
These Government ads are not about stopping the boats. They're just about using taxpayers money to try and get votes.
What the government claims in the ads about their PNG deal is not even true.
Using your money in this way just doesn't pass the fair dinkum test, just like everything else with Kevin Rudd.
This is a new low for Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party.
Click here to sign the petition to Stop The Ads: http://stoptheads.com.au
Kevin Rudd’s double standards are beyond belief. In 2007 on ABC’s 7:30 Report, he made his position on Government advertising very clear stating it “is a sick cancer within our system, It’s a cancer on democracy”.
Kevin Rudd is trying to con the Australian public, again.
We cannot allow this to happen, help us send a strong message, help us stop the ads by signing our petition.
Thanks for your help,
Yesterday we discovered that Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party intend to continue spending more than 30 million dollars of taxpayer’s money to advertise their hastily put together boats policy to Australian voters, in the middle of the election campaign.
These Government ads are not about stopping the boats. They're just about using taxpayers money to try and get votes.
What the government claims in the ads about their PNG deal is not even true.
Using your money in this way just doesn't pass the fair dinkum test, just like everything else with Kevin Rudd.
This is a new low for Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party.
Click here to sign the petition to Stop The Ads: http://stoptheads.com.au
Kevin Rudd’s double standards are beyond belief. In 2007 on ABC’s 7:30 Report, he made his position on Government advertising very clear stating it “is a sick cancer within our system, It’s a cancer on democracy”.
Kevin Rudd is trying to con the Australian public, again.
We cannot allow this to happen, help us send a strong message, help us stop the ads by signing our petition.
Thanks for your help,
Scott Morrison MP
Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
Shadow Minister for Productivity and Population
Coalition Campaign Spokesman
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- 1270 – Yekuno Amlak deposed the last Zagwe kingand seized the imperial throne of Ethiopia, beginning the reign of the Solomonic dynasty that would last for more than 700 years.
- 1793 – The Louvre (pictured) officially opened in Paris with an exhibition of 537 paintings.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The first major battle west of theMississippi River, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, was fought.
- 1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central modern-day Vietnam.
- 1988 – Japanese American internment: The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 became law, authorizing US$20,000 in reparations to each surviving internee.
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Events
- 955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
- 991 – Battle of Maldon: the English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings nearMaldon, Essex.
- 1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagweinterregnum.
- 1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
- 1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during the War of the League of Cambrai, sees the simultaneous destruction of the Breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent.
- 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The Basque second in command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death in the Philippines.
- 1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Habsburg-Valois Wars.
- 1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage.
- 1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England is laid.
- 1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
- 1755 – Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
- 1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace – Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
- 1793 – The Musée du Louvre is officially opened in Paris, France.
- 1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain. This rebellion will be crushed on August 2, 1810.
- 1813 – Instituto Nacional, is founded by the Chilean patriot José Miguel Carrera. It is Chile's oldest and most prestigious school. Its motto is Labor Omnia Vincit, which means "Work conquers all things".
- 1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
- 1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the United States Congress after James Smithson donates $500,000.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's Creek – the war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
- 1901 – The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
- 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.
- 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
- 1913 – Second Balkan War: delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
- 1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
- 1932 – A 5.1 kilograms (11 lb) chondrite-type meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.
- 1944 – World War II: American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Narva ends with a combined German–Estonian force successfully defending Narva, Estonia, from invading Soviet troops.
- 1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.
- 1949 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment, streamlining the defense agencies of the United States government, and replacing the Department of War with the United States Department of Defense.
- 1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
- 1961 – First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the U.S. Army.
- 1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
- 1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York.
- 1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") is arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over the period of one year.
- 1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford Pinto litigation.
- 1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: the head of John Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation of the television series America's Most Wanted.
- 1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americanswho were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
- 1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
- 1990 – More than 127 Muslims are killed in North East Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops.
- 1993 – An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale hits the South Island of New Zealand.
- 1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.
- 1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
- 2001 – 2001 Angola train attack, 252 deaths.
- 2003 – The highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom – 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent, England. It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C).
- 2003 – Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space.
- 2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia's history.
Births
- 941 – Le Hoan, emperor of Vietnam (d. 1005)
- 1267 – James II of Aragon (d. 1327)
- 1296 – John of Bohemia (d. 1346)
- 1360 – Francesco Zabarella, Italian jurist (d. 1417)
- 1397 – Albert II of Germany (d. 1439)
- 1489 – Jacob Sturm von Sturmeck, German statesman and reformer (d. 1553)
- 1520 – Madeleine of Valois (d. 1537)
- 1560 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (d. 1629)
- 1602 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (d. 1675)
- 1645 – Eusebio Kino, Italian missionary (d. 1711)
- 1737 – Anton Losenko, Russian painter (d. 1773)
- 1740 – Samuel Arnold, English composer and organist (d. 1802)
- 1744 – Alexandrine Le Normant d'Étiolles, French daughter of Madame de Pompadour (d. 1754)
- 1805 – Ferenc Toldy, German-Hungarian critic (d. 1875)
- 1809 – John Kirk Townsend, American naturalist (d. 1851)
- 1810 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian diplomat and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1861)
- 1814 – Henri Nestlé, German businessman, founded Nestlé (d. 1890)
- 1821 – Jay Cooke, American financier, founded Jay Cooke & Company (d. 1905)
- 1823 – Hugh Stowell Brown, English minister (d. 1886)
- 1827 – Lovro Toman, Slovenian politician (d. 1870)
- 1839 – Aleksandr Stoletov, Russian physicist (d. 1896)
- 1845 – Abai Qunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet, composer, and philosopher (d. 1904)
- 1856 – William Willett, British builder and daylight saving time advocate (d. 1915)
- 1860 – Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, Indian singer and composer (d. 1936)
- 1865 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer (d. 1936)
- 1868 – Hugo Eckener, German pilot and businessman (d. 1954)
- 1869 – Laurence Binyon, English poet (d. 1943)
- 1872 – Bill Johnson, American bassist (d. 1972)
- 1874 – Herbert Hoover, American politician, 31st President of the United States (d. 1964)
- 1877 – Frank Marshall, American chess player (d. 1944)
- 1878 – Alfred Döblin, German writer (d. 1957)
- 1880 – Robert L. Thornton, American businessman, philanthropist, and politician (d. 1964)
- 1884 – Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (d. 1935)
- 1889 – Charles Darrow, American game designer, created Monopoly (d. 1967)
- 1891 – Henry O'Neill, American actor (d. 1961)
- 1890 – Angus Lewis Macdonald, Canadian politician (d. 1954)
- 1894 – V. V. Giri, Indian politician (d. 1980)
- 1895 – Hammy Love, Australian cricketer (d. 1969)
- 1897 – John W. Galbreath, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Darby Dan Farm (d. 1988)
- 1898 – Jack Haley, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1900 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1994)
- 1902 – Norma Shearer, Canadian actress (d. 1983)
- 1902 – Curt Siodmak, German-English novelist and screenwriter (d. 2000)
- 1902 – Arne Tiselius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- 1903 – Ward Moore, American novelist (d. 1978)
- 1905 – Era Bell Thompson, American journalist (d. 1986)
- 1907 – Su Yu, Chinese military leader (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Rica Erickson, Australian artist, historian, and author (d. 2009)
- 1908 – Billy Gonsalves, American soccer player (d. 1977)
- 1909 – Leo Fender, American businessman, founded Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (d. 1991)
- 1911 – A. N. Sherwin-White, British historian of ancient Rome (d. 1993)
- 1911 – Leonidas Andrianopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2011)
- 1912 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian novelist (d. 2001)
- 1913 – Noah Beery, Jr., American actor (d. 1994)
- 1913 – Wolfgang Paul, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
- 1914 – Jeff Corey, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1914 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentine race car driver (d. 1973)
- 1919 – Sacha Vierny, French cinematographer (d. 2001)
- 1920 – Red Holzman, American basketball player and coach (d. 1998)
- 1923 – Rhonda Fleming, American actress
- 1923 – Fred Ridgway, English cricketer
- 1923 – SM Sultan, Bangladeshi painter (d. 1994)
- 1924 – Nancy Buckingham, British novelist
- 1924 – Martha Hyer, American actress
- 1926 – Marie-Claire Alain, French organist
- 1927 – Eivind Eckbo, Norwegian lawyer and politician
- 1927 – Vernon Washington, American actor (d. 1988)
- 1927 – Jimmy Martin, American blugrass vocalist and guitarist (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Jimmy Dean, American singer, actor, and businessman, founded the Jimmy Dean Food Company (d. 2010)
- 1928 – Eddie Fisher, American singer and actor (d. 2010)
- 1928 – Gus Mercurio, American-Australian actor (d. 2010)
- 1930 – Barry Unsworth, British author (d. 2012)
- 1932 – Gaudencio Rosales, Filipino cardinal and Archbishop of Manila
- 1933 – Doyle Brunson, American poker player
- 1933 – Rocky Colavito, American baseball player
- 1933 – Keith Duckworth, English engineer, founded Cosworth (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Ad van Luyn, Dutch bishop
- 1936 – P. R. Selvanayagam, Sri Lankan Tamil politician
- 1937 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician (d. 2000)
- 1939 – Charlie Rose, American politician (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Kate O'Mara, English actress
- 1940 – Bobby Hatfield, American singer-songwriter (The Righteous Brothers) (d. 2003)
- 1940 – Sid Waddell, English sportscaster (d. 2012)
- 1941 – Kees van Kooten, Dutch comedian, actor, and author
- 1941 – Susan Dorothea White, Australian painter and sculptor
- 1942 – Betsey Johnson, American fashion designer
- 1943 – Louise Forestier, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
- 1943 – Jimmy Griffin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bread, Black Tie, and The Remingtons) (d. 2005)
- 1943 – Michael Mantler, American trumpeter and composer (Jazz Composer's Orchestra)
- 1943 – Shafqat Rana, Pakistani cricketer
- 1943 – Ronnie Spector, American singer-songwriter (The Ronettes)
- 1945 – Harriet Miers, American lawyer, 31st White House Counsel
- 1945 – Laura Spurr, American nurse and tribal leader (d. 2010)
- 1947 – Ian Anderson, Scottish singer-songwriter and flautist (Jethro Tull)
- 1947 – Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
- 1947 – Alan Ward, English cricketer
- 1950 – Patti Austin, American singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Rémy Girard, Canadian actor
- 1951 – Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian politician, 59th President of Colombia
- 1952 – Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor
- 1952 – Diane Venora, American actress
- 1953 – Mark Doty, American poet and writer
- 1954 – Peter Endrulat, German footballer
- 1955 – Jim Mees, American set designer (d. 2013)
- 1955 – Mel Tiangco, Filipino journalist
- 1956 – Fred Ottman, American wrestler
- 1956 – Charlie Peacock, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1956 – Peter Robbins, American actor
- 1958 – Michael Dokes, American boxer (d. 2012)
- 1958 – Jack Richards, English cricketer
- 1959 – Rosanna Arquette, American actress
- 1959 – Mark Price, English drummer (All About Eve and Del Amitri)
- 1959 – Florent Vollant, Canadian singer-songwriter (Kashtin)
- 1960 – Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor
- 1960 – Kenny Perry, American golfer
- 1961 – Jon Farriss, Australian drummer (INXS)
- 1962 – Suzanne Collins, American screenwriter and author
- 1962 – Julia Fordham, British singer-songwriter
- 1962 – Alan Muraoka, American actor
- 1963 – Phoolan Devi, Indian criminal and politician (d. 2001)
- 1963 – Anton Janssen, Dutch footballer and coach
- 1963 – Andrew Sullivan, English-American journalist
- 1964 – Aaron Hall, American singer-songwriter (Guy)
- 1965 – Claudia Christian, American actress
- 1965 – Toumani Diabaté, Malian kora player
- 1965 – Mike E. Smith, American jockey
- 1965 – John Starks, American basketball player
- 1966 – Charlie Dimmock, English gardener and television host
- 1966 – Hansi Kürsch, German singer-songwriter and bass player (Blind Guardian and Demons and Wizards)
- 1967 – Philippe Albert, Belgian footballer
- 1967 – Riddick Bowe, American boxer
- 1967 – Gus Johnson, American sportscaster
- 1967 – Lorraine Pearson, English singer and author (Five Star)
- 1967 – Mart Sander, Estonian actor, singer, director, and author
- 1967 – Reinout Scholte, Dutch cricketer
- 1968 – Michael Bivins, American singer, producer, and actor (New Edition and Bell Biv DeVoe)
- 1968 – Pete Docter, American director
- 1968 – Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Emily Symons, Australian actress
- 1970 – Bret Hedican, American ice hockey player
- 1970 – Brendon Julian, Australian cricketer
- 1970 – Steve Mautone, Australian footballer
- 1971 – Sal Fasano, American baseball player
- 1971 – Stephan Groth, Danish singer-songwriter (Apoptygma Berzerk and Bruderschaft)
- 1971 – Roy Keane, Irish footballer
- 1971 – Mario Kindelán, Cuban boxer
- 1971 – Kevin Randleman, American mixed martial artist
- 1971 – Justin Theroux, American actor
- 1972 – Dilana, American singer-songwriter
- 1972 – Lawrence Dallaglio, English rugby player
- 1972 – Angie Harmon, American model and actress
- 1972 – Christofer Johnsson, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Therion, Carbonized, Messiah, and Demonoid)
- 1972 – Jake Adam York, American poet (d. 2012)
- 1973 – Lisa Raymond, American tennis player
- 1973 – Javier Zanetti, Argentinian footballer
- 1974 – Luis Marín, Costa Rican footballer
- 1974 – Rachel Simmons, American activist and author
- 1974 – David Sommeil, French footballer
- 1975 – İlhan Mansız, Turkish footballer
- 1976 – Michael Depoli, American wrestler
- 1977 – Danny Griffin, Irish footballer
- 1977 – Aaron Kamin, American guitarist and songwriter (The Calling)
- 1977 – Matt Morgan, English comedian, actor, and radio host
- 1978 – Danny Allsopp, Australian footballer
- 1978 – Marcus Fizer, American basketball player
- 1978 – Chris Read, English cricketer
- 1978 – Claire Yiu, Hong Kong actress
- 1979 – Dinusha Fernando, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1979 – Joanna García, American actress
- 1979 – Ted Geoghegan, American author, screenwriter, and producer
- 1979 – Brandon Lyon, American baseball player
- 1979 – Rémy Martin, French rugby player
- 1979 – Yannick Schroeder, French race car driver
- 1980 – Wade Barrett, English wrestler
- 1980 – Pua Magasiva, Samoan-New Zealand actor
- 1980 – Roxanne McKee, English model and actress
- 1981 – Natsumi Abe, Japanese singer and actress (Morning Musume and Dream Morning Musume)
- 1981 – Katherine Boecher, American actress
- 1981 – Guillaume Elmont, Dutch judoka
- 1981 – Taufik Hidayat, Indonesian badminton player
- 1981 – Yaani King, American actress
- 1981 – Malek Mouath, Saudi Arabian footballer
- 1981 – Jon Prescott, American actor
- 1982 – John Alvbåge, Swedish footballer
- 1982 – Josh Anderson, American baseball player
- 1982 – Devon Aoki, American model and actress
- 1982 – Katrina Begin, American actress
- 1982 – Nicole O'Brian, American model, Miss Texas USA 2003
- 1983 – Mark Bautista, Filipino singer and actor
- 1983 – Chrisna Bootha, South African netball player
- 1983 – Kyle Brown, American soccer player
- 1983 – C.B. Dollaway, American mixed martial artist
- 1983 – Héctor Faubel, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1983 – Alexander Perezhogin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Spencer Redford, American actress and singer
- 1983 – Mathieu Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Ryan Eggold, American actor
- 1984 – Mokomichi Hayami, Japanese actor
- 1984 – Manila Luzon, American drag queen performer
- 1984 – Mariel Rodriguez, Filipino actress
- 1985 – Melissa Barrera, American television host
- 1985 – Enrico Cortese, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Julia Matojan, Estonian tennis player
- 1985 – Julia Melim, Brazilian actress and producer
- 1985 – Jared Nathan, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1985 – Roy O'Donovan, Irish footballer
- 1986 – Andrea Hlaváčková, Czech tennis player
- 1987 – Jim Bakkum, Dutch singer and actor
- 1987 – Ari Boyland, New Zealand actor
- 1988 – Francesco Acerbi, Italian footballer
- 1989 – Sam Gagner, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Ben Sahar, Israeli footballer
- 1990 – Tyler Steelman, American actor
- 1990 – Lucas Till, American actor
- 1992 – Go Ah-sung, South Korean actress
- 1992 – Chanel Simmonds, South African tennis player
- 1993 – Yuto Nakajima, Japanese singer, dancer, and actor (Hey! Say! JUMP)
- 1993 – Andre Drummond, American Basketball player
- 1996 – Jacob Latimore, American singer and actor
- 1997 – Kylie Jenner, American model
Deaths
- 258 – Lawrence of Rome, Spanish-Italian deacon and saint (b. 225)
- 1535 – Ippolito de' Medici, Florence ruler (b. 1509)
- 1637 – Johann Gerhard, German church leader and theologian (b. 1582)
- 1653 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1598)
- 1655 – Alfonso de la Cueva, 1st Marquis of Bedmar, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572)
- 1723 – Guillaume Dubois, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1656)
- 1759 – Ferdinand VI of Spain (b. 1713)
- 1784 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish painter (b. 1713)
- 1802 – Franz Aepinus, German philosopher (b. 1724)
- 1806 – Michael Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1737)
- 1839 – Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, British politician (b. 1758)
- 1862 – Honinbo Shusaku, Japanese Go player (b. 1829)
- 1875 – Karl Andree, German geographer (b. 1808)
- 1889 – Arthur Böttcher, Baltic German pathologist and anatomist (b. 1831)
- 1896 – Otto Lilienthal, German engineer and aviation pioneer (b. 1848)
- 1904 – Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau, French politician, 68th Prime Minister of France (b. 1846)
- 1915 – Henry Moseley, British physicist (b. 1887)
- 1918 – Erich Löwenhardt, German pilot (b. 1897)
- 1920 – Ádám Politzer, Hungarian-Austrian physician (b. 1835)
- 1928 – Rex Cherryman, American actor (b. 1897)
- 1929 – Pierre Fatou, French mathematician (b. 1878)
- 1929 – Aletta Jacobs, Dutch physician (b. 1854)
- 1932 – Rin Tin Tin, American acting dog (b. 1918)
- 1945 – Robert H. Goddard, American physicist and inventor (b. 1882)
- 1948 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian (b. 1873)
- 1948 – Andrew Brown, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1870)
- 1948 – Montague Summers, English writer (b. 1880)
- 1958 – Frank Demaree, American baseball player (b. 1910)
- 1961 – Julia Peterkin, American writer (b. 1880)
- 1963 – Estes Kefauver, American politician (b. 1903)
- 1963 – Ernst Wetter, Swiss jurist (b. 1877)
- 1969 – János Kodolányi, Hungarian writer (b. 1899)
- 1976 – Bert Oldfield, Australian cricketer (b. 1894)
- 1979 – Dick Foran, American actor (b. 1910)
- 1979 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist (b. 1889)
- 1980 – Yahya Khan, Pakistani politician (b. 1917)
- 1982 – Anderson Bigode Herzer, Brazilian writer and poet (b. 1962)
- 1985 – Nate Barragar, American football player (b. 1906)
- 1986 – Alan Rouse, English mountaineer (b. 1951)
- 1987 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Greek lawyer and politician (b. 1893)
- 1993 – Euronymous, Norwegian singer, guitarist, and producer (Mayhem) (b. 1968)
- 1997 – Jean-Claude Lauzon, Canadian director (b. 1953)
- 1997 – Conlon Nancarrow, American composer (b. 1912)
- 1999 – Jennifer Paterson, British celebrity chef (b. 1928)
- 1999 – Acharya Baldev Upadhyaya, Indian scholar, historian, and critic (b. 1899)
- 2000 – Gilbert Parkhouse, English cricketer (b. 1925)
- 2001 – Lou Boudreau, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
- 2002 – Michael Houser, American guitarist (Widespread Panic) (b. 1962)
- 2002 – Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian computer scientist and politician (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Carmita Jiménez, Puerto Rican singer (b. 1944)
- 2007 – Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, American pilot and activist (b. 1925)
- 2007 – James E. Faust, American religious leader and lawyer (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Tony Wilson, English journalist (b. 1950)
- 2008 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1942)
- 2010 – Markus Liebherr, German-Swiss businessman (b. 1948)
- 2010 – Adam Stansfield, English footballer (b. 1978)
- 2011 – Billy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Philippe Bugalski, French race car driver (b. 1963)
- 2012 – Suresh Dalal, Indian poet and writer (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Ioan Dicezare, Romanian fighter pilot (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Irving Fein, American film and television producer and manager (b. 1911)
- 2012 – Carlo Rambaldi, Italian special effects artist (b. 1925)
Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Declaration of Independence of Quito, proclaimed independence from Spain on August 10, 1809. Independence finally occurred on May 24, 1822 at the Battle of Pichincha. (Ecuador)
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“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6-7 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it."
Revelation 21:23
Revelation 21:23
Yonder in the better world, the inhabitants are independent of all creature comforts. They have no need of raiment; their white robes never wear out, neither shall they ever be defiled. They need no medicine to heal diseases, "for the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick." They need no sleep to recruit their frames--they rest not day nor night, but unweariedly praise him in his temple. They need no social relationship to minister comfort, and whatever happiness they may derive from association with their fellows is not essential to their bliss, for their Lord's society is enough for their largest desires. They need no teachers there; they doubtless commune with one another concerning the things of God, but they do not require this by way of instruction; they shall all be taught of the Lord. Ours are the alms at the king's gate, but they feast at the table itself. Here we lean upon the friendly arm, but there they lean upon their Beloved and upon him alone. Here we must have the help of our companions, but there they find all they want in Christ Jesus. Here we look to the meat which perisheth, and to the raiment which decays before the moth, but there they find everything in God. We use the bucket to fetch us water from the well, but there they drink from the fountain head, and put their lips down to the living water. Here the angels bring us blessings, but we shall want no messengers from heaven then. They shall need no Gabriels there to bring their love-notes from God, for there they shall see him face to face. Oh! what a blessed time shall that be when we shall have mounted above every second cause and shall rest upon the bare arm of God! What a glorious hour when God, and not his creatures; the Lord, and not his works, shall be our daily joy! Our souls shall then have attained the perfection of bliss.
Evening
"He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils."
Mark 16:9
Mark 16:9
Mary of Magdala was the victim of a fearful evil. She was possessed by not one devil only, but seven. These dreadful inmates caused much pain and pollution to the poor frame in which they had found a lodging. Hers was a hopeless, horrible case. She could not help herself, neither could any human succour avail. But Jesus passed that way, and unsought, and probably even resisted by the poor demoniac, he uttered the word of power, and Mary of Magdala became a trophy of the healing power of Jesus. All the seven demons left her, left her never to return, forcibly ejected by the Lord of all. What a blessed deliverance! What a happy change! From delirium to delight, from despair to peace, from hell to heaven! Straightway she became a constant follower of Jesus, catching his every word, following his devious steps, sharing his toilsome life; and withal she became his generous helper, first among that band of healed and grateful women who ministered unto him of their substance. When Jesus was lifted up in crucifixion, Mary remained the sharer of his shame: we find her first beholding from afar, and then drawing near to the foot of the cross. She could not die on the cross with Jesus, but she stood as near it as she could, and when his blessed body was taken down, she watched to see how and where it was laid. She was the faithful and watchful believer, last at the sepulchre where Jesus slept, first at the grave whence he arose. Her holy fidelity made her a favoured beholder of her beloved Rabboni, who deigned to call her by her name, and to make her his messenger of good news to the trembling disciples and Peter. Thus grace found her a maniac and made her a minister, cast out devils and gave her to behold angels, delivered her from Satan, and united her forever to the Lord Jesus. May I also be such a miracle of grace!
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Today's reading: Psalm 77-78, Romans 10 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 77-78
1 I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands,
and I would not be comforted.
I cried out to God to hear me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands,
and I would not be comforted.
3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned;
I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
4 You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.
5 I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;
6 I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
7 "Will the Lord reject forever?I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.
4 You kept my eyes from closing;
I was too troubled to speak.
5 I thought about the former days,
the years of long ago;
6 I remembered my songs in the night.
My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
Will he never show his favor again?
Today's New Testament reading: Romans 10
1 Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: "The person who does these things will live by them." 6But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7"or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, "Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
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Terah, Tarah, Thara
[Tē'rah,Tā'ra, Thā'ră] - wild goat orturning, wandering. A son of Nahorand father of Abraham and ancestor of Christ (Gen. 11:24-32; Josh. 24:2; 1 Chron. 1:26; Luke 3:34). SeeNumbers 33:27, 28.
[Tē'rah,Tā'ra, Thā'ră] - wild goat orturning, wandering. A son of Nahorand father of Abraham and ancestor of Christ (Gen. 11:24-32; Josh. 24:2; 1 Chron. 1:26; Luke 3:34). SeeNumbers 33:27, 28.
The Man Who Died Half Way
Along with his three sons, Abraham, Nahor and Haran, Terah migrated from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran, where he died. The reference to him serving other gods led some of the Jewish Fathers to think of Terah as a maker of idols (Josh. 24:2). Why did Terah die at Haran? Was it not his intention to go to Canaan (Gen. 11:31, 32)?
It was God's purpose to separate Abraham from his kindred (Gen. 12:1 ), but Terah and Lot left with him, an exodus, perhaps, Abraham could not prevent. Lot, although he reached Canaan, was a constant grief to his uncle. The death of Terah seems to suggest that complete separation unto God often means the severance of some of earth's dearest ties. Terah is also a type of many who step out for Christ but whose hopes of discipleship die half way. Beginning in the Spirit they end in the flesh. Halfway converts never make wholehearted saints. Are you at Haran, or is yours the joy of living in Canaan?
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THE INVISIBLE YOU
If someone were to ask you, “Who are you, really?” a complete answer would have to include something about the invisible you, the part within and apart from the body. One of the truest things you can say about human beings is that there is so much more than meets the eye.
Yet we play to the eye.
Think of someone you know who, by most people’s standards, is extraordinarily handsome or beautiful, a picture of health, possessing a vivacity that turns people’s heads-but someone empty on the inside.
At 36 years old, Marilyn Monroe, one of the best-known female icons of the 20th century, who was sought for the best movie roles and the most popular magazine covers, took an overdose of pills to end her life. By becoming larger than life, almost revered as a goddess, she lost her inner self, and she put the icon in the grave.
The outward self can profoundly contradict the inward self.
The belief that we as human beings are nothing more than chemical factories changing oxygen and food into energy day by day until the factory breaks down and we die, is extraordinarily hard to maintain. It is not for lack of trying.
Many philosophies and religions limit themselves to the certainties of what we can touch and measure–things such as fingers and eyeballs and the amazing network of nerve fibers in the body. Proponents of this idea say, listen to common sense; what you can see is all there is. It’s all there ever will be. The sum total of a man or a woman is what can be placed on a scale or in a coffin. And yet, like a great hot air balloon that refuses to do anything but ascend, this idea that we are more than our bodies, that there is soul, that we’re not done when we’re dead, keeps rising in most people’s convictions.
We are body and soul, which throughout our lives are inseparable. One person, with two major aspects: the external (visible, fleshy, sensory), and the internal (thoughtful, moral, volitional). Your spiritual reactions come from the experiences you have with what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. A husband loves his wife well when he does it with devoted thoughtfulness, emotional understanding, and physical touch. God’s greatest command is that we love him with heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Our visible and invisible selves are like the relationship between house and home. “House” especially notes the physical thing, whereas “home,” though not separate from the house, points to the greater spiritual reality, a living thing. You repair a house, but you live at home.
Now there is that unique moment when the spiritual self is separated from the bodily self–when the last breath is exhaled and, like Jesus, we can pray, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” It is that time when our “earthly tent” is destroyed, when we go from being “at home in the body” to being “away from it” (2 Corinthians 5:1,9 ). How will we ever comprehend this as long as we are creatures of the earth? None of the stories of spirits haunting houses and ships or even having friendly exchanges are truthful or helpful. What the Gospels teach is that Jesus told the thief on the cross “today you will be with me in Paradise,” and Paul said that he knew that if he had to be “away from the body,” he would be “at home with the Lord.”
Next time: what does the Bible mean by body, soul, spirit, mind, etc.?
Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect. Complimentary DVDavailable now.
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