It begins with a short listing of birthdays and 'on this day' postings, with well wishes and observations. Then blogs. Then various memes related to the day. Then letters from conservatives. Then items related to the day, then the devotionals. You might not read it all, but you might enjoy the things I enjoy collecting. - ed
Happy birthday and many happy returns Trevor Sobey, born on the same day as Philip II of France (1165), William Murdoch (1754), Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789), Count Basie (1904), Friz Freleng (1905), Christopher Robin Milne (1920), Melvin Van Peebles (1932), Kenny Rogers (1938), Endre Szemerédi (1940), Peter Weir (1944), Hayden Panettiere (1989) and Usain Bolt (1986). On your day, Raksha Bandhan (Hinduism, 2013); Ninoy Aquino Day in the Philippines
1831 – Nat Turner led a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia, US, but it was suppressed about 48 hours later.
1911 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by a museum employee and was not recovered until two years later.
1963 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces raided and vandalised Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
1969 – An Australian tourist set the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire, a major catalyst of the formation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
1993 – NASA lost contact with its Mars Observer spacecraft, three days before orbital insertion. It is a good day for Pooh. The slaves are revolting, but so are the owners. Mona Lisa's smile is more enigmatic. Mistakes are made, but you can correct them, if you are observant.
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At what point in this graphic did moronic abuse and self-projecting fabrications pass for wit at Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald?
Strange how the troubled and vicious Carlton gathers readers deluded by hate, and resorts under the slightest pressure to yet more abuse in defence of this infantile fantasy:
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We should welcome the additional atmospheric carbon dioxide - not falsely condemn it as "pollution."
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/getting-their-just-deserts.html
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At The Vine - garden cafe.
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How to make a cup holder on the train.
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Australian Federal Police
#TopTip – be on the lookout for an unsolicited email claiming to be from the ATO that claims you’re entitled to a tax refund. All you have to do is click on a link and complete a form...
SCAMwatch warns that the email is fake and is designed to steal your personal information or infect your computer with malware.
Go here for more information about this #scam:http://goo.gl/WzpUQE
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“Ocean Lullaby” by Evelyn Huang (Los Angeles) - PRESIDENTS AWARD at the 2012-2013 INTERNATIONAL PEARL DESIGN COMPETITION
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"Coupelle Piège" ring by Lorenz Bäumer
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Now that my computer is up and running, I took one of the storm pics from my monsoon chase with Mike Olbinski last week and processed it a little for showing here. It was during sunset and the clouds were looking dramatic when a bolt struck so close that there was an immediate clap of thunder. That's when we decided to get into our cars...
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New RT photo just in...check this out!
This was Brian's birthday gift to Roger... how cool?
(Photo: Justine Ellis)
Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones.
They're the modern stone age family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history.
Let's ride with the family down the street.
Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet.
When you're with the Flintstones
you'll have a yabba dabba doo time.
A dabba doo time.
You'll have a gay old time.
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Are you tired of having to come up with excuses?
Looking for help when you're in strife?
Then why not borrow one of Kevin Rudd's many excuses.
Check out Ruddymade.com.au and he'll show you how it's done. Don't forget to share with your friends! #thesameoldway #auspol
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Director Frank Capra Tells Hollywood About American Exceptionalism (Video)
http://
Capra was a Republican who was active in the anti-Communist cause and also donated funds to the Human Life Amendment PAC. There aren’t many directors we can say that about today!
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Gorgeous Halo Design Diamond Engagement Rings handmade by Diamond Imports http://
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"Indeed, his own agenda has resulted in untold bloodshed and a human rights meltdown in Syria, Iraq, North Africa, Afghanistan and Yemen.
The Egyptian military, acceding to the demands of some 33 million of its citizens to remove the Islamic and Sharia colluding Morsi regime, redeployed to end Mohammed Morsi’s Brotherhood supporters from their occupation of areas of the Egyptian capital. They were met by heavy gunfire and over 100 soldiers and police were killed in the first few hours of the confrontation.
Not surprisingly, Obama never mentioned this fact during his August 15th press conference; a long harangue during which, according to former UN Ambassador John Bolton, Obama predictably blamed not the Morsi rioters but the Egyptian military; again revealing this president’s egregious and systemic support for the Muslim extremists who wish to turn Egypt into an Islamic republic.
Nor did Obama castigate fully the pro-Morsi thugs who turned their savagery upon the hapless embattled Coptic Christian community. It is estimated that perhaps as many as 50 churches and Christian establishments were burned to the ground during the Muslim anti-Christian pogrom; this after Copts have been beheaded in the streets of Cairo. And still the Vatican and world Christendom remain in the main deathly silent." - Victor Sharpe, excerpt from article
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Tonight on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly debated New York’s controversial ‘stop-and-frisk’ policy. Last week, a federal judge ruled that it violates people’s civil rights. O’Reilly argued in his Talking Points Memo that while the policy is intrusive, it has helped save the lives of hundreds of New Yorkers.
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Rockin' the Mountain this Friday night starting at 7:00... plenty of food and an all-star lineup... see you there...
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"The Egyptian army....has demolished five tunnels so far in the past few days alone.
The army has reportedly been bringing tunnels down with explosives, and then filling them with water. The report also stated that the Egyptian army demolished some buildings along the border."
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Bristol Palin's blog
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Aprille Love
Mua: Mai Nguyen. Photography: Eric leung
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And these, my friends, are called FACTS! Share these so your friends get the TRUTH! viawww.Facebook.com/
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David Tennant says he loves Matt Smith 'like a brother' and that it was a 'real joy' working with him on the 50th anniversary special!
Plus: the TARDIS lands on Google Maps and get a glimpse of Karen Gillan as a 'Gadget Girl.' All that and more in Anglophenia's #DoctorWho's Day roundup: http://bit.ly/19GTvcV
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Get out on some country roads before the summer is over and be sure to bring these Peanut Butter Cup Rocky Road Squares! They're like a whole bunch of different perfect combinations rolled up in one! http://reeses.me/ZbRrRJ
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Everything is not as it seems with the phony Kevin Rudd. False promises, bussed in bowlers and shielded by school kids. What is our PM afraid of?
More at CoryBernardi.com
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All we’re asking for is TheBlaze to be a part of the conversation. We want TV providers to give their customers the CHOICE of watching TheBlaze, the same way many of them have given their audience the choice of watching Al Jazeera America, but we need YOU to act. Go HERE:http://gettheblaze.com/dayofaction and get involved. #GetTheBlaze
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Why don't you apologise for the people who have drowned, Mr. Rudd?
Well over 1000 people have died at sea since you wound down John Howard's very effective Pacific solution in 2007. At least five have just drowned in the latest disaster as authorities called off the search on Tuesday night, 20 August 2013..
They are attracted , as the Indonesians say, because you put the "sugar on the table".
But instead of doing what your government specialises in doing - apologising for events in the past - your government used this tragedy to claim it has reduced arrivals by 30% because of the Manus arrangement.
Not so, says is the left of centre Sydney Morning Herald - it's less than 20%.
Just apologise Mr. Rudd.
@profdavidflint
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/
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Graphic Quotes: John Wayne on Well-Educated Idiots
http://
“I’d like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.” John Wayne
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Lone Tree - GGrech ©2013
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I don't agree with it entirely, but respect the sentiment. I feel nothing works under bad administrations and much does under good ones .. which can surprise people. I never thought Saddam, Gaddaffi or any of the mad dictators would fall. The lawlessness which followed is not the fault of democracy or political machines but a reflection of the power of terrorist organisations that prospered under the tyrants. There will be an end to this power play .. but not while Obama feeds it. - ed
Reuven Kossover
My friend and buddy for over 40 years, Irwin Blank, wrote the following (I edited it slightly). It speaks for itself.
Estimates of the dead in Egypt range from 525-700 and countless others have been wounded in riots against the current government. These rioters, from the Moslem Brotherhood and their Islamist cohorts are the dregs of society. That is why since 1952, when the Free Officers, under Mohammed Neguib and Gamal Nasser seized power there, they drove these fanatics underground, arrested and executed their leadership by the thousands because even they knew the evil and malicious character of these fanatics and despots. It is no wonder that the Moslem Brotherhood gave rise to Hamas and a host of other Islamist terror organizations all over the Middle East.
Those who believe that a republican form of government, or a regime based on Western style democracy can exist in an Islamist nation are fooling themselves and being totally ignorant of the fact that democracy and Islam are antithetical and cannot exist in a nation whose only legal religion is Islam. Islam is not a religion as Westerners know one to be. It is a dictatorial, intolerant and murderous philosophy that unless restrained by modernistic leadership, often in the form of military rule, will result in a banal viciousness that begs be checked.
The Americans cannot bring democracy to the Arab world as the Arab world is far too diverse in its structure and tribal allegiances which, by nature, are jealous of the power that they possess. Syria is a prime example, where the minority Alawites rule over Sunni, Shi'a, Druse and Kurdish minorities with a bloody hand that has already slaughtered over 100,000 men, women and children and created a refugee crisis in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
The Middle East is breaking apart the imperialistic and artificial borders and tribal territories that were left over from the domination of the British and the French after World War I. Arab states and kingdoms were established without regard to tribal loyalties or religious sensitivities and this is breaking apart with bloodshed and grief.
The only stable and viable remnant of the old world imperialism is Israel, where ethnic and cultural differences brought by the Jews from over 70 lands have melded into a new identity where the differences have enhanced that new society rather than tore it asunder. Sure, there is conflict here, but one doesn't see Ashkenazi Jews murdering Sephardi Jews in the streets as Alawite Arabs are mowing down Sunni Arabs, all Moslems, in the sanguinary situation in Syria. Churches aren't put to the torch in Jerusalem as they are in Cairo and the Baha'i, Druse, Circassians and Christian Arabs in Israel, as well as the Moslem Arabs, aren't slicing each others throats.
The Christian world should be more worried about Churches being burned to the ground and people being beheaded and flogged for reading the Gospels, than it is over building kindergartens in Gilo or Pisgat Ze'ev or adding classrooms in Ma'ale Adumim and Teqo'a. Where Moslems are destroying, we, in Israel, are building for ALL our citizens.
I do not delight in anyone's death if that person doesn't seek mine, but the "Arab Spring" is not a spring of fresh water and blooming flowers, it is a river of blood and booming explosions that must keep us, in Israel, on guard and prepared.
Shabbat Shalom from Ma'ale Adumim in liberated Israeli Yehuda, guarding the eastern approaches to Jerusalem, the eternal, united and indivisible capital of the Jewish people.
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Are they game? Michelle Malkin willing to debate Jeb Bush, NYT’s Bill Keller on Common Core ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/08/20/
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Our name is the Israel Defense Forces. All that we do, everything we work for, and even die for, can be summed up in one simple word - defense.
http://www.idfblog.com/
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It’s hard to find anything the Greens won’t tax.
Help stop the fringe-dwelling Greens todayhttp://ow.ly/nCMYg
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If you have any information about missing 15-year-old Erica Lynn Parsons, please call the Rowan County Sheriff’s office at (704) 216-8700. Erica is 4 feet 5 inches tall, 85 to 90 pounds and may be in the Asheville, North Carolina area. | #DrPhil
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Rand Paul must be doing something right to have all these people against him. Wouldn't you agree?
Did you know you can find anyone's criminal record online? Access our exclusive database now and find out detailed information on anyone you could possibly want!
Click Here ►►► http://i-bitly.com/
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When your town votes to stand with a pedophile, your town has lost its soul.
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U.N.’s next major climate report
reportedly states that scientists are more certain than ever that man’s actions are warming the planet -- even as the report struggles to explain a slow-down in warming that climate skeptics have seized upon.> Political report struggles to sex up data===
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Lol, I saw an asian girl with a phone and I thought she was taking selfies .. looked around, saw the moon .. saw the pictures on the dash .. ed
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New movement targets Hamas rule in Gaza - IMRA
“It is time we rejected death forcibly under Hamas’ pretext of security. Our people regardless of their political and even religious affiliations have been targeted by their criminality,” the statement continued. It explicitly accused Hamas of murder, torture, sabotage, bribes, vandalism and smuggling."
http://paper.li/allysonchristy/1338794440
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Uong Nguyen and Jessica King.
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ARLINGTON CEMETERY
Jeopardy Question:
On Jeopardy the other night, the final question was:
"How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns" ----
All three contestants missed it! --
This is really an awesome sight to watch if you've never had the chance.
Very fascinating.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why? 21 steps:
It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.
2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his return walk and why?
21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1
3. Why are his gloves wet? His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.
4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time and, if not, why not? He
carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.
5. How often are the guards changed? Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.
6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to? For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30.
They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform or the tomb in any way.
After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.
The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.
There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.
The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone nor watch TV.
All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are:
President Taft,
Joe Lewis {the boxer}
Medal of Honor winner Audie L. Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII and of Hollywood fame.
Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty..
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington, DC, our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military
members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. They respectfully declined the offer, "No way,
Sir!" Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that
guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be
afforded to a service person. The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.
God Bless and keep them.
I'd be very proud if this post reaches as many as possible. We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.
God Bless America
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Are you tired of having to come up with excuses?
Looking for help when you're in strife?
Then why not borrow one of Kevin Rudd's many excuses.
Check out Ruddymade.com.au and use our handy app.
If you find yourself unable to generate excuses for everyday mistakes simply use Ruddymade Excuses from any smart phone, tablet or desktop computer.
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1 Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.
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1831 – Nat Turner led a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia, US, but it was suppressed about 48 hours later.
1911 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre by a museum employee and was not recovered until two years later.
1963 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces raided and vandalised Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
1969 – An Australian tourist set the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire, a major catalyst of the formation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
1993 – NASA lost contact with its Mars Observer spacecraft, three days before orbital insertion. It is a good day for Pooh. The slaves are revolting, but so are the owners. Mona Lisa's smile is more enigmatic. Mistakes are made, but you can correct them, if you are observant.
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WORLD CONTINUES
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (3:19pm)
Mike Carlton’s latest column attempted a satirical depiction of Tony Abbott as a leering perv:
‘’Great tits and a fantastic arse,’’ he says …‘’There’s not a red-blooded bloke out there who wouldn’t want to throw a leg over soon as look at her,’’ he says with a boyish grin.
Carlton’s a funny one. He professes to abhor “the cobwebbed Tory attitudes of Sydney’s North Shore circa 1950”, but here’s Mike just three years ago:
Having met every state premier from Bob Heffron (1959-64), I can reliably report that Kristina Keneally has by far the best legs of the lot.I saw her for the first time in the flesh, so to speak, at a press conference in Parliament House on Wednesday. Phwoar. Rising skywards from a pair of killer heels, her calves had a shapely elegance a supermodel would envy.Yes, I know this is outrageously sexist. Yes, I expect to be bombarded with emails from furious feminists complaining - quite rightly - that her looks are utterly irrelevant to her performance as Premier. My only defence is that the moment blokes stop noticing this sort of thing is the day the world ends.
Keep writing what you know, Mike.
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WOMAN THREATENED
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (12:59pm)
Labor speechwriter and groupie Bob Ellis:
I remember threatening in print to break Fran Kelly’s nose when she asked Paul Keating three days before his defeat if this was, in a sense, his ‘Last Supper’.I never did, but I am inclined to renew the threat this morning after she said ‘all the polls were going bad for Labor’ …She must stop doing this. I am beginning to hate her.
The original title of Ellis’s post:
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REAL vs FAKE
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (6:34am)
The Guardian‘s Sophie McNeill visits western Sydney to “find out if the asylum seeker debate is as a big a deal as the politicians are making it out to be.” Overwhelmingly, she discovers that the answer is “yes”:
Do hit that link, because – all politics aside – the Guardian‘s piece perfectly depicts Sydney’s sharp yet winning way of getting straight to the point. These are real people giving honest and informed opinions. By contrast, Labor government ads offer pure fakery:
Do hit that link, because – all politics aside – the Guardian‘s piece perfectly depicts Sydney’s sharp yet winning way of getting straight to the point. These are real people giving honest and informed opinions. By contrast, Labor government ads offer pure fakery:
Susannah Hardy is being paid by Labor to pretend she fears cutbacks from an Abbott government while, in real life, undertaking expensive renovations to her dream Sydney home, complete with a “stylish stainless steel dishwasher that only makes 42 decibels of noise”.
Her agent said yesterday Hardy, who also writes articles about kitchens and bathrooms for glossy home magazines, lives in Paddington, in Sydney’s leafy east.
Hardy previously lived in Paris.
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THROUGH THE LOOKING PAST
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (5:45am)
If ever you’re in need of an elegant way to avoid the phrase “eye-watering hypocrisy”, then Fairfax’s Heath Aston is your man:
The Greens have looked past the party’s anti-mining stance to go into a preference deal with minerals mogul Clive Palmer …
Bill Clinton may have looked past his marriage vows. I’ve once or twice looked past speed limits. During his first debate with Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd looked past the rules. It’s all a matter of looking. Not for the first time, Labor look like they’ve been bitch-slapped by the Greens:
Labor has accused the Greens of reneging on a national preference deal after the Greens handed out open tickets at pre-polling in key Victorian marginal electorates …An angry Victorian ALP secretary Noah Carroll said the parties had a national deal where the Greens would preference Labor ahead of conservative parties in marginal seats in exchange for Senate preferences …“The Greens really cannot be trusted to keep their word. There was a clear national deal the Greens party would preference Labor ahead of the conservatives in Victorian marginal seats,” Mr Carroll said.
Carroll looked past the Greens’ previous record on issues of trust.
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DAMPNESS AVERTED
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (5:04am)
Odd that we didn’t hear more about this at the time:
“For an 18-month period beginning in 2010, the oceans mysteriously dropped by about 7 millimetres, more than offsetting the annual rise,” the US National Science Foundation said …
Seems that an actual drop in ocean levels is less newsworthy than predicted increases.
(Via PaulW)
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SPOILER ALERT: THE HANDBAG DID IT
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (4:32am)
Rodd Liddle tells the sad story of Oprah, the handbag and the shop assistant.
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HE’S EVERYWHERE, HE’S EVERYWHERE
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (4:29am)
Forget Kevin 07. Reader John spots an updated figure in Brisbane:
Courtesy of Fairfax subeditors, the Prime Minister is also multiplying in other ways:
Courtesy of Fairfax subeditors, the Prime Minister is also multiplying in other ways:
Peter Carter, from Sherwood, said he had given Kevin Rudd a chance in 2007, but said he was changing his mind.“It is just horrible, everything they touch seems to turn to s--t,” he said.“They just can’t seem to get anything right.“Kevin Rudd is now so populous, he just seems to say something to keep a certain pocket of people happy.”
Something that won’t make anyone happy: more Kevins.
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VAN DYKE PARKS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (4:25am)
Late-model Jaguar for sale. Low miles. No rust. One elderly male owner.
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DO EVERYTHING HE SAYS
Tim Blair – Wednesday, August 21, 2013 (4:22am)
Political strategist John McTernan, who successfully strategised Julia Gillard into her political grave, is now offering advice to Kevin Rudd.
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The people’s forum: Rudd v Abbott
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (6:38pm)
Kevin Rudd opens. He is
nervous and fidgetty. He goes quickly to his main attack - that Abbott
will cut $70 billion from government spending but won’t say where the
cuts will full.
Tony Abbott opens more confidently. Goes through Rudd’s record as Prime Minister. Talks of the bills that have risen. Talks of future. Stronger than Rudd.
First question is from a student to Abbott: about what cuts he’d make
Rudd gets into Abbott’s face and accuses him of cutting $1 billion as Health Minister (a famous falsehood). It works in getting Abbott to protest about lies, He tries to explain. The subject suits Rudd.
Rudd wants this to get personal. He wants to rattle Abbott.
UPDATE
Abbott then challenges Rudd about Labor’s own cuts last year. Challenges him on his record. Better, but Abbott needs to regain cool and more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger.
UPDATE
Who chose the questioners? The second, wearing a green scarf, says handouts to business are “immoral”.
But Rudd, though, is on shaky ground. He has to defend his handouts to the car industry. For once a greens-type question will advantage the Liberal guy.
Abbott says he kind-of agrees with the questioner. A business must be profitable. But exceptions must be made (sigh). Accuses Rudd of misleading people about the depths of his own cuts. Abbott needs quickly to sound less defensive.
UPDATE
The third questioner is another student - attacking Abbott for his parental leave scheme, which she says is too generous. (She’s right.) He does make a good point, though - that some public servants get full wage on maternity leave, and says factory workers should get that, too.
Rudd is strong here - pointing out Abbott’s scheme costs more than $20 billion over four years and is unfair. It is not fully costed by the business levy. (Good points all, and Rudd is winning this debate so far.)
Abbott concedes the levy pays for only half his scheme.
Rudd demands to know whether the other half is coming from. “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Abbott snaps when Rudd tries to go on: “Does this guy every shut up?”
Rudd is now smirking. Abbott has lost his cool.
UPDATE
Reader jt:
Fourth question is on the low level of candidates from both sides - Slipper, Craig Thomson, Belinda Neal, the Liberal who quit yesterday.
Rudd says he agrees with him.
UPDATE
Who chose the audience? A question from a man demanding to know what Abbott will call his new “WorkChoices” is followed by one from yet another student (the fourth?) worried about tough laws against boat people - whether we would withdraw from the Refugees Convention.
Abbott runs with this one and attacks Rudd’s record (finally) and sketches his own. Back in the saddle.
UPDATE
For heaven’s sake. Now a question from a woman wanting tougher laws to protect the environment. Again: who selected the audience?
Abbott answers smoothly. Rudd goes straight to global warming and claims the Great Barrier Reef could die. (Shameless.) Boasts of the renewable energy target (which should actually go). Claims need a price on carbon (despote having recently claimed to “terminate” the carbon tax.)
Abbott butts in: but you did walk away from a carbon tax in 2010. Rudd jumps back in: you voted against it twice.
UPDATE
Yet another pro-Labor question. What will be done to stop foreign workers talking Australian jobs?
UPDATE
Finally. A builder wants to know what will be done to revive the building industry.
Tony Abbott opens more confidently. Goes through Rudd’s record as Prime Minister. Talks of the bills that have risen. Talks of future. Stronger than Rudd.
First question is from a student to Abbott: about what cuts he’d make
Rudd gets into Abbott’s face and accuses him of cutting $1 billion as Health Minister (a famous falsehood). It works in getting Abbott to protest about lies, He tries to explain. The subject suits Rudd.
Rudd wants this to get personal. He wants to rattle Abbott.
UPDATE
Abbott then challenges Rudd about Labor’s own cuts last year. Challenges him on his record. Better, but Abbott needs to regain cool and more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger.
UPDATE
Who chose the questioners? The second, wearing a green scarf, says handouts to business are “immoral”.
But Rudd, though, is on shaky ground. He has to defend his handouts to the car industry. For once a greens-type question will advantage the Liberal guy.
Abbott says he kind-of agrees with the questioner. A business must be profitable. But exceptions must be made (sigh). Accuses Rudd of misleading people about the depths of his own cuts. Abbott needs quickly to sound less defensive.
UPDATE
The third questioner is another student - attacking Abbott for his parental leave scheme, which she says is too generous. (She’s right.) He does make a good point, though - that some public servants get full wage on maternity leave, and says factory workers should get that, too.
Rudd is strong here - pointing out Abbott’s scheme costs more than $20 billion over four years and is unfair. It is not fully costed by the business levy. (Good points all, and Rudd is winning this debate so far.)
Abbott concedes the levy pays for only half his scheme.
Rudd demands to know whether the other half is coming from. “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Abbott snaps when Rudd tries to go on: “Does this guy every shut up?”
Rudd is now smirking. Abbott has lost his cool.
UPDATE
Reader jt:
“snaps”? I don’t think so, it was a bloody funny and pertinent comment. Wake up to yourself Andrew.UPDATE
Fourth question is on the low level of candidates from both sides - Slipper, Craig Thomson, Belinda Neal, the Liberal who quit yesterday.
Rudd says he agrees with him.
UPDATE
Who chose the audience? A question from a man demanding to know what Abbott will call his new “WorkChoices” is followed by one from yet another student (the fourth?) worried about tough laws against boat people - whether we would withdraw from the Refugees Convention.
Abbott runs with this one and attacks Rudd’s record (finally) and sketches his own. Back in the saddle.
UPDATE
For heaven’s sake. Now a question from a woman wanting tougher laws to protect the environment. Again: who selected the audience?
Abbott answers smoothly. Rudd goes straight to global warming and claims the Great Barrier Reef could die. (Shameless.) Boasts of the renewable energy target (which should actually go). Claims need a price on carbon (despote having recently claimed to “terminate” the carbon tax.)
Abbott butts in: but you did walk away from a carbon tax in 2010. Rudd jumps back in: you voted against it twice.
UPDATE
Yet another pro-Labor question. What will be done to stop foreign workers talking Australian jobs?
UPDATE
Finally. A builder wants to know what will be done to revive the building industry.
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PNG solution now overwhelmed
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (11:03am)
Suddenly Kevin Rudd’s boat solution seems not like one at all:
PNG thought its deal with Kevin Rudd meant it would take just 3000 people, even though Rudd said they’d take everyone from now on:
The Left-wing Guardian goes to the marginal Sydney seat of Greenway to check whether boat people policy really is the election issue the big parties claim.
The answer is remarkably clear.
With the boats that arrived in the past week, the total number of boatpeople arrivals in Australia in the month after Rudd announced the PNG solution is 2764. The Rudd government has sent a few hundred to Manus Island.Since then another boat:
FIVE asylum-seekers are believed to have drowned after a boat carrying more than 100 asylum-seekers sank north of Christmas Island.Which makes nearly 3000 arrivals in just one month since Rudd announced his Papua New Guinea deal. Which is an ominous figure…
PNG thought its deal with Kevin Rudd meant it would take just 3000 people, even though Rudd said they’d take everyone from now on:
LEIGH SALES: What will be the capacity at Manus by the end of this year?PNG really did think it would stop at 3000:
PETER O’NEILL: Listen, I can’t give you precise numbers, but we know it’ll be certainly more than 600 and less than 3,000, and that’s the sort of numbers that has been - has been thrown around and we will manage it through that process.
Mr O’Neill said “a concerted effort” was under way to build permanent structures to house the asylum-seekers. He said that he did not believe the numbers in the Manus centre would reach the 3000 long-range capacity planned by the Rudd government…”Again, PNG isn’t keen on more than 3000:
PNG leader Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has indicated that the country could take in some 3,000 asylum seekers for processing, although no firm ceiling has been put on the ultimate number. O’Neill has only indicated that the numbers of asylum seekers that PNG is prepared to take will depend on the country’s capacity to do so. Although temporary tent shelters can be built within weeks to accommodate around 600 people, PNG officials have also indicated that permanent facilities to accommodate the 3,000 people will take two years to construct.UPDATE
The Left-wing Guardian goes to the marginal Sydney seat of Greenway to check whether boat people policy really is the election issue the big parties claim.
The answer is remarkably clear.
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Labor at war: Bob Ellis threatens to break Fran Kelly’s nose
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (10:25am)
Labor speechwriter Bob
Ellis, friend of Labor foreign minister Bob Carr, expresses some of the
Labor values which has made Labor what it is - a smoking ruin:
I remember threatening in print to break Fran Kelly’s nose when she asked Paul Keating three days before his defeat if this was, in a sense, his ‘Last Supper’.
I never did, but I am inclined to renew the threat this morning after she said ‘all the polls were going bad for Labor’.
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Murdoch media forces Liberal to quit. Cue ABC outrage
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (9:33am)
After so much talk
about the Murdoch media’s bias, it’s time not just to point out the
ABC’s Leftist bias but to acknowledge that it was the Daily Telegraph that yesterday forced the resignation of a Liberal candidate.
And Channel 10, headed by Lachlan Murdoch, has its own political coverage helmed by Paul Bongiorno.
And Channel 10, headed by Lachlan Murdoch, has its own political coverage helmed by Paul Bongiorno.
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Labor’s western front: not a disaster but still a big loss
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (9:14am)
Troy Bramston on the new front lines of a war Labor is losing:
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
Recognising that its hopes of victory are fading, [Labor] has all but written off holding the seat of Lindsay and is now deploying a targeted ground war aimed at stemming losses…Summing up: Labor expects its losses in NSW to be less than it feared under Gillard and perhaps not as many as some recent polls suggest, but still far too many for victory - especially with Queensland now unlikely to produce many, or any, Labor gains.
Labor is desperately defending its western Sydney stronghold, including Daryl Melham in Banks (1.4 per cent), John Murphy in Reid (2.7 per cent), Julie Owens (Parramatta, 4.4 per cent) and Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, 6.7 per cent). It is also concerned about the airport seat of Kingsford Smith (5.2 per cent) and is watching neighbouring Barton (6.9 per cent), where MPs are retiring.
The YouTube fame of Liberal candidate Jaymes Diaz - who could not explain in a television interview the Coalition’s asylum-seeker policy - means Labor may hold Michelle Rowland’s western Sydney seat of Greenway (0.9 per cent). A weekend poll showed it ahead there.
The party has not ruled out snatching the lower Blue Mountains seat of Macquarie (1.3 per cent) from the Liberals, but Labor has little hope of winning Bennelong (3.1 per cent), despite recruiting star candidate Jason Yat-Sen Li…
While on a defensive footing, Labor has not shifted resources back into seats its polling showed were at risk under Julia Gillard: Ed Husic’s Chifley (12.3 per cent), Jason Clare’s Blaxland (12.2 per cent), Tony Burke’s Watson (9.1 per cent), Chris Bowen’s McMahon (7.8 per cent) and Chris Hayes’s Fowler (8.8 per cent)…
The southern NSW electorate of Eden-Monaro (4.2 per cent), a bellwether seat since 1972, could remain in Labor’s column despite a loss of government.
On the central coast, the outlook for Deborah O’Neill in Robertson (1 per cent) and former Labor MP Craig Thomson’s seat of Dobell (5.1 per cent) is complicated by high-profile independents.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
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Labor’s new face of the working class, with her Spanish tiles
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (9:06am)
Suzannah Hardy is really, really worried that Tony Abbott might hurt Labor battlers like her:
UPDATE
More Labor fakery with ads:
So Rudd lied. I’m shocked. But this suggests the Liberals still have a bit extra left in the kitty for the last two weeks.
(Thanks to readers Ozzi, Peter and others,)
THE actress mother hired to bag Tony Abbott in a negative Labor TV ad campaign actually lives with her parents, enjoying their gourmet food and wines, while whingeing about the price of Spanish handmade tiles.Why is it that Labor supporters, like Labor’s leader himself, are in truth nothing like they seem?
Susannah Hardy is being paid by Labor to pretend she fears cutbacks from an Abbott government while, in real life, undertaking expensive renovations to her dream Sydney home, complete with a “stylish stainless steel dishwasher that only makes 42 decibels of noise"…
Her agent said yesterday Hardy, who also writes articles about kitchens and bathrooms for glossy home magazines, lives in Paddington, in Sydney’s leafy east.
Her posts on her blog reveal a woman who loves to live with style - rather than fretting about the number of nurses and teachers employed by governments like the hard-working mother she portrays in the attack ad. The 44-year-old boasted on her blog last weekend that her lawyer husband and their two daughters, aged 5 and 2, had been living with her parents for the past 10 weeks while undertaking renovations.
UPDATE
More Labor fakery with ads:
KEVIN Rudd’s claim that Labor’s negative advertising campaign is justified because the Liberal Party is outspending the government in advertising has been rejected by leading industry figures…
Leading media analysts and media buyers...(say) that while Labor spending compared with Liberal would still be in Labor’s favour, a combined figure taking in union campaigns and current government ads supporting initiatives such as the asylum-seeker policy were overwhelmingly in Labor’s favour.
Fusion Strategy chief executive Steve Allen...estimates that, based on industry data, the campaign is generating between $7 million and $8m in advertising each week across both parties, unions and government campaigns.He estimates ads in favour of Labor and its policies comprise about 70 to 75 per cent.
His comments were supported by GroupM Media chairman and chief executive John Steedman, one of the largest media buyers in the country, who said Mr Rudd’s claim was an “exaggeration”.
So Rudd lied. I’m shocked. But this suggests the Liberals still have a bit extra left in the kitty for the last two weeks.
(Thanks to readers Ozzi, Peter and others,)
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O’Farrell has every right to suggest Burney profits from her “race” - even if he’s wrong
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (8:18am)
The NSW Premier is the
latest to be accused of racism for apparently suggesting someone with
some Aboriginal ancestry may have enjoyed some professional advantage:
And is Burney really suggesting her Aboriginal ancestry had nothing to do with some of the positions she’d held?
UPDATE
Reader Steve wonders if I’ve made a false assumption:
Barry O’Farrell has been called on to apologise for a perceived racial slur against the Labor frontbencher Linda Burney after he declared she hadn’t achieved her career success on merit.I agree that O’Farrell insulted Burney and apparently on the grounds of her Aboriginality - in so far as it affected her career. This, under our absurdly restrictive laws against free speech, is arguably unlawful. But given Burney herself has cited her Aboriginality in applying for Labor positions, should O’Farrell’s comments really be unlawful or damned as racist? Isn’t is appropriate to discuss, even if some assumptions prove as false as Burney claims?
Ms Burney, the first Aborigine elected to the NSW parliament and a former national ALP president, served as minister for community services in the former Labor government and is deputy leader of the opposition.
During a heated exchange in question time on Tuesday over whether the current community services minister, Pru Goward, had misled parliament over caseworker numbers, Ms Burney said Ms Goward had ‘’lost the confidence of every caseworker in this state’’.
The Premier responded that Ms Goward ‘’has achieved every position in her life on merit’’, before turning to Ms Burney and declaring: ‘’You can’t say that.’’
And is Burney really suggesting her Aboriginal ancestry had nothing to do with some of the positions she’d held?
Ms Burney, the member for Canterbury, is a former school teacher who holds an honorary doctorate in education from Charles Sturt University.Demanding we observe trivial distinctions of “race” - rather than stress our common humanity - is itself racist. I just wish some people claiming to hate racism didn’t actually insist on it.
She has served on the boards of SBS, the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board and the NSW Board of Studies.
UPDATE
Reader Steve wonders if I’ve made a false assumption:
When I heard O’Farrell’s comment yesterday, I did not realise Ms Burney was indigenous ... I assumed he was referring to the Labor quota system of selecting females.
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When did Fairfax columnists like Mike Carlton start to mistake abuse for wit?
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (7:51am)
At what point in this graphic did moronic abuse and self-projecting fabrications pass for wit at Fairfax’s Sydney Morning Herald?
Strange how the troubled and vicious Carlton gathers readers deluded by hate, and resorts under the slightest pressure to yet more abuse in defence of this infantile fantasy:
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The dying of the green scare
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (7:18am)
I’ve always considered
2007 the high point of global warmism in Australia. That’s the year, for
instance, that Tim Flannery was appointed Australian of the Year and
warned that rains ”isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems”. It then started raining. The scare is now in terminal decline.
But Jo Nova has a fascinating collection of graphs suggesting the world-wide scare actually peaked a bit later. For instance:
But Jo Nova has a fascinating collection of graphs suggesting the world-wide scare actually peaked a bit later. For instance:
The Carbon Capture Report, based in Illinois, tallies up the media stories from the English speaking media on “climate change” daily. Thanks to the tip from Peter Lang, we can see the terminal trend below. The big peak in late 2009 was the double-whammy of Climategate and Copenhagen (aka Hopenhagen). It’s all been downhill since then…Nova has a theory:
It may have taken 18 months, but the Great Global Warming Scare was tested for real for the first time in Copenhagen and it failed. The collision with decades of dismal EU monetary policy, and a couple of cold winters help seal its fate. How much of that was due to FOIA and Climategate, we’ll probably never know.Mind you, the warmist industry is still churning out wild scares to a public that’s not buying - which is what you’d expect from any government-funded enterprise. Take this, from frequent-flying warmist scientists:
The study, which is published in the journal Nature Climate Change, showed that by the middle of this century, the amount of airspace containing significant clear air turblence is most likely to double.(Thanks to readers Jim and Andrew.)
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Is Abbott the Coalition’s Whitlam?
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (7:00am)
Paul Kelly on Tony Abbott’s recklessly expensive paid parent leave scheme, offering working mothers up to $75,000 each for their maternity leave:
Abbott’s PPL cannot be justified on economic or fiscal grounds… No inquiry, no report and no independent analysis offers a basis for Abbott’s scheme…
This reveals the remarkable nature of Abbott as a big-spending non-means testing social justice reformer. It is Whitlamism pure and simple.
This is affirmed by his crusade to implement Labor’s disability scheme (with the recent budget projecting a $14bn spend)…
Abbott, if he wins, will take office pledged to implement these historic social agendas yet he will face a financial collision of potentially lethal dimensions.
At the exact time the resources boom is slowing, revenues have taken a structural hit, growth is below trend and the budget faces long-run defects, Abbott is pledged to signature Whitlam style policies founded in better society idealism.
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Rudd and the traits of a psychopath
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (6:50am)
Janet Albrechtsen on the curious Kevin Rudd:
Wayne Swan was correct when he fingered Rudd as a “man with no Labor values"… As PM, he treated Labor traditions with contempt, choosing to visit Cate Blanchett and her new baby rather than attend the funeral of Labor icon John Button…
Rudd’s only political conviction is doing whatever it takes to get and keep power… Rudd calls for more positive politics only to launch a campaign of negativity. He calls for more civil politics after his three years of treachery to destabilise Julia Gillard. He attacks Tony Abbott for sexism despite his own tawdry history of demeaning behaviour towards a flight attendant and behaving badly at a strip club.
Rudd’s history is based on shameless political shifts. In 1994, Rudd said his personal religious faith was a private affair - until Family First arrived on the scene in 2004, and Rudd embraced Sunday doorstops outside church and 5000-word tomes about his religious beliefs… Climate change was the great moral issue of our time until the politics changed…
In 2010, Labor MP Steve Gibbons called Rudd a psychopath… A psychopath relies on superficial charm, makes great first impressions, is glib and grandiose, callous and manipulative, adept at conning people, refuses to accept responsibility for mistakes, is armed with an impressive supply of excuses, hates monotony preferring constant stimulation, and - most critically - has no empathy.
They never feel bad about anything they do. They are shameless. That’s what psychologists Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare set out in their book, Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work.
And this: a person with psychopathic traits often will use language “larded with jargon, cliches and flowery phrases” to make up for their lack of sincerity, becoming social chameleons to hide who they really are.
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Join the free speech tour
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (6:33am)
Tony Abbott’s election
victory give us the chance to push for the repeal of laws stifling our
right to free speech, which came under such sinister attack from Labor.
Hear what needs to be done from some of the people who did most to defend this most fundamental of our rights:
Hear what needs to be done from some of the people who did most to defend this most fundamental of our rights:
High profile court cases like Andrew Bolt’s, crazy proposed laws like Nicola Roxon’s and outrageous plans to stifle dissent like Stephen Conroy’s prove that freedom of speech is under threat in Australia.
Over the last year the Institute of Public Affairs has been conducting a nationwide Freedom of Speech Tour. So far we’ve visited Hobart, Launceston and Brisbane.
Next month we’re continuing the tour to Adelaide, Perth and Sydney.
Come along and hear what you can do to help defend free speech. IPA staff Chris Berg, Simon Breheny and John Roskam will be joined by very special guest speakers in each city. And every attendee gets a free copy of Chris Berg’s book, In Defence of Freedom of Speech: From Ancient Greece to Andrew Bolt.
The details of the events are:
Perth: Wednesday 11 September, 5.00pm for 5.30pm – 7.00pm, Mercure Perth, 10 Irwin Street. Featuring special guest Nick Cater, author of The Lucky Culture and columnist with The Australian. RSVP here.Attendance is free for IPA members (if you’re not yet a member, join here) and $20 for non-members.
Adelaide: Thursday 12 September, 5.00pm for 5.30pm – 7.00pm Mercure Grosvenor, 125 North Terrace, Adelaide. Featuring special guest Nick Cater, author of The Lucky Culture and columnist with The Australian. RSVP here.
Sydney: Tuesday 24 September, 5.00pm for 5.30pm – 7.00pm, Mercure Sydney, 818-820 George Street. Featuring special guest Janet Albrechtsen, columnist with The Australian. RSVP here.
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AFL must explain when it knew this drug was cleared
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (6:29am)
The case against
Essendon looks even more shambolic - and I’m astonished such a critical
fact comes out only now, more than six months after the announcement of
“the blackest day in Australian sport”:
I agree the program of injections of supplements at Essendon may have been too experimental and ill-documented to be considered responsible. But that is not what the main allegations against the club has been for so long.
This is one scandal where the authorities may have more to answer for than the accused.
A member of the AFL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal says ASADA had told him that the AOD-9604 anti-obesity drug, central to the supplements saga at AFL club Essendon, was not a banned substance.How many AFL officials knew ASADA was giving such advice? Why was this not revealed much, much sooner? Why has the AFL sought instead to engage in what seems to be almost blackmail of Essendon to make officials confess to something, anything?
The Bombers are under investigation from ASADA regarding their use of supplements in 2012 and skipper Jobe Watson has admitted in a television interview he took what he believed to be AOD-9604, but he felt he had not broken any anti-doping rules.
Sports medicine specialist Andrew Garnham said on Tuesday he had asked ASADA in February 2013 about the status of AOD-9604 in his capacity as a member of the AFL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal…
“The advice that I had at that time was that AOD-9604 was considered under section S2 of the anti-doping code and was regarded as not prohibited.
“I’m aware that other people within the AFL had been in contact with ASADA. I’m not sure exactly what time period.”
Asked if AOD-9604 was a prohibited substance according to ASADA when he inquired in February 2013, Dr Garnham said: “At that point in time, no.”
“There was some discussion with people in the AFL and also at that stage I’d been in contact with members of the Essendon Football Club,” Dr Garnham added.
I agree the program of injections of supplements at Essendon may have been too experimental and ill-documented to be considered responsible. But that is not what the main allegations against the club has been for so long.
This is one scandal where the authorities may have more to answer for than the accused.
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Ho hum. More papers challenge the great warmist scare
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (6:24am)
A new study says the
warming in the last quarter of the 20th century may been caused by
clean-air policies, which led to more solar radiation getting through:
Another study challenges the claims of warming preachers that global warming would slow coral growth by making the oceans less alkaline:
Remember how Penny Wong, then the Climate Change Minister, used a drought in 2009 to frighten people into believing the government’s global warming scare?
Clean-air policies in developing countries have resulted in reduced levels of anthropogenic atmospheric aerosol pollution. Reductions in aerosol pollution is thought to result in a reduction in haze and cloud layers, leading to an increase in the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface, and ultimately, an increase in surface temperatures. There have been many studies illustrating coherent relationships between surface solar radiation and temperature however, a direct link between aerosol emissions, concentrations, and surface radiation has not been demonstrated to date. Here, we illustrate a coherence between the trends of reducing anthropogenic aerosol emissions and concentrations, at the interface between the North-East Atlantic and western-Europe, leading to a staggering increase in surface solar radiation of the order of ?20% over the last decade.This suggests not much more warming may come, other than the long-term bounce-back from the Little Ice Age.
Another study challenges the claims of warming preachers that global warming would slow coral growth by making the oceans less alkaline:
Takahashi, A.; Kurihara, H.UPDATE
Coral Reefs, Volume 32, Issue 1, pp.305-314
The increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration, which has resulted from the burning of fossil fuels, is being absorbed by the oceans and is causing ocean acidification. Ocean acidification involves the decrease of both the pH and the calcium carbonate saturation state. Ocean acidification is predicted to impact the physiology of marine organisms and reduce the calcification rates of corals. In the present study, we measured the rates of calcification, respiration, photosynthesis, and zooxanthellae density of the tropical coral Acropora digitifera under near-natural summertime temperature and sunlight for a 5-week period. We found that these key physiological parameters were not affected by both mid-CO2 (pCO2 = 744 ± 38, pH = 7.97 ± 0.02, ?arag = 2.6 ± 0.1) and high-CO2 conditions (pCO2 = 2,142 ± 205, pH = 7.56 ± 0.04, ?arag = 1.1 ± 0.2) throughout the 35 days experimental period. Additionally, there was no significant correlation between calcification rate and seawater aragonite saturation (?arag). These results suggest that the impacts of ocean acidification on corals physiology may be more complex than have been previously proposed.
Remember how Penny Wong, then the Climate Change Minister, used a drought in 2009 to frighten people into believing the government’s global warming scare?
Research shows that this severe, extended drought is clearly linked with global warming… There is nowhere that this challenge is more serious than the Murray Darling Basin.The latest Bureau of Meteorology data suggests it’s high time Wong apologised for that baseless and irresponsible scare:
(Thanks to readers Adrian, Steve, Robber and others.)
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Bagging Oprah
Andrew Bolt August 21 2013 (6:19am)
Rod Liddle on the shocking persecution of Oprah Winfrey by some shop assistant at a ritzy Zurich boutique:
According to Oprah, she saw a nice handbag behind the shop assistant’s head and asked to look it. ‘No, you don’t want that one,’ the shop girl allegedly replied, ‘you want this one, because that one will cost too much.’ And she showed her a cheaper handbag than the one above her head, the one that cost 22,000 quid. According to Oprah.(Via Tim Blair.)
Oprah was wounded. She caught the scent of magnolia and heard the ghostly clanking of leg irons from long, long ago. So she left the shop and went straight onto Twitter, and then the Larry King show, and then an interview outside some Hollywood bash, and then some more Twitter, to rail against this act of blatant racism and to castigate the shop girl. Racists these days don’t come right up and call you something horrible to your face, she explained, it doesn’t happen like that any more. Instead, you get the kind of thing I suffered in that Swiss shop… The assistant didn’t know Oprah makes 50 million quid a year; she just saw a black lady and thought she couldn’t afford the handbag as a consequence. It’s exactly what the KKK would do if they became involved in selling accessories. Racism…
And what of the racist shop assistant? She says it didn’t happen like that at all. She says Oprah inquired about the expensive bag and she showed her the cheaper ones which looked the same, just to be kind. She also claims that she offered to get the expensive bag down for Oprah but that the star did not want to see it. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, the racist shop assistant pleaded, it must have been a misunderstanding, I would never wish to offend Oprah Winfrey in any way. And why, she asked, would a woman so rich and powerful and famous as Oprah persecute a simple shop assistant through the world’s media? Ah, shut up, racist — we know who the real victim is here.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
Last week i lost my wallet with all my important cards in it, i wasn't panicking but was happy instead because thru prayer i felt God's peace. This man named Julian drove out of his way about an hour just to return it to me at my sister's address but she wasn't home so he left it with a note saying that he had put it in the letterbox for me. Today i was in the bank waiting then suddenly a woman ran into the counter in front of me, she huffed n puffed in panicked, wept. and acted like it was the end of the world, because she had lost her wallet. The teller sent her to sit next to me then she went to get the poor lady a drink. I said to her ''it's alright i lost my wallet the other day too'', she started crying cause she was late for work and had no time to catch a train cause this had happened..''not to worry i can drive u to work if that's fine with u'' i asked, she looked at me thankfully as we began to share how our purses got lost. Afterwards she seemed much calmer, she must've caught the peace off me. There is power in recognizing that we are the children of God, the one who filled me up with Love Joy Peace for Missions. Glory to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, only through Him may we put our minds at ease through tough trying times when things are hard.
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PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd is under pressure to sack one of his Queensland frontbenchers after revelations that she's been living with her de-facto partner in Canberra for more than a year while claiming travel allowance payments of $13,000 tax free.
Senator Jan McLucas, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing, lists her home base as Cairns but official records show that in the six months between January 1 last year and June 30 last year she spent 144 nights out of 180 in Canberra.
That's compared to only 24 nights in Cairns, according to the latest available figures. During that time she claimed 68 nights travel allowance for official duties at a cost to taxpayers of $13,192 – more than $26,000 worth of taxable benefits.
Senator McLucas' air fares for the same period totalled almost $28,000.
A Sunday Mail investigation has revealed that Senator McLucas lists 33George St, Earlville, as her Cairns home and she is registered on the electoral roll at that address. But she has rented out that home to a long-time staffer, Sally Berger, who lists that address as her home.
Ms Berger is listed in the confidential directory of Labor MPs staff as Senator McLucas' electorate office manager.
According to the Australian Electoral Commission guidelines a person must spend at least 30 consecutive nights at the one address in order to nominate it as their home base.
It is understood that when Senator McLucas returns to Cairns, she stays in a room under the Earlville house.
While senators are allowed to list their home base in any electorate, it must be in the state which they represent.
The Sunday Mail understands Senator McLucas has been in these arrangements for a number of years. Her daughter moved to Canberra to finish school after Senator McLucas bought a property there.
She is now likely to face questions over whether she has properly declared her Cairns "home" as an investment property, and if the rent was been listed on her parliamentary pecuniary interests register.
In Opposition, Senator McLucas said she spent so much time in Canberra and owned a house there because she was a single mother wanting to be with her daughter.
But yesterday her reasons had changed.
A statement issued by her office said: "Senator McLucas has absolutely conformed with all parliamentary guidelines, and strenuously rejects any inference otherwise. Every dollar claimed for travel is strictly in accordance with the parliamentary entitlements, which all parliamentarians receive.
"The period you refer to was the first six months after the election of the Rudd Government, and the first six months in her role as Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing. Senator McLucas was spending time familiarising herself with the portfolio, meeting stakeholders, most of whom are based in Canberra, and working with her new department, also based in Canberra.
"This necessitated a heavy travel schedule to Canberra. This was on top of her responsibilities to be in Canberra for parliamentary sitting."
Her behavior is in clear breach of ministerial guidelines issued by Mr Rudd after the last election.
The guidelines state that: "Ministers must ensure that they act (with regard to) the appropriate use of the resources available to their office for public purposes, in a manner which is appropriate to the responsibilities of the Minister."
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We should welcome the additional atmospheric carbon dioxide - not falsely condemn it as "pollution."
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/08/getting-their-just-deserts.html
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At The Vine - garden cafe.
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How to make a cup holder on the train.
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4 her
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Legal protection for unborn babies will be enshrined if a Private Member's Bill expected to be tabled in State Parliament tomorrow gets support.
Dubbed Zoe's Law, it will mean criminal proceedings for grevious bodily harm to a foetus 20 weeks and over will be brought against the offender.
Liberal state MP for The Entrance Chris Spence is expected to introduce the Crimes Amendment (Zoe's Law) Bill 2013 on Wednesday after spending 12 months drafting it with Brodie Donegan who was struck by a car on Christmas Day 2009, just metres from her Ourimbah home.
Mrs Donegan, eight months pregnant, suffered multiple injuries and her daughter Zoe was stillborn as a result.
The driver was jailed for two years and three months with a non-parole period of nine months, but was not charged over Zoe's death because the law does not recognise Zoe as a person.
That chain of events led Mrs Donegan on a three-year mission to get the law changed.
The draft Bill recognises the separate existence of a fetus of a pregnant woman that is at least 20 weeks and over as a living person allowing proceedings for certain offences relating to grevious bodily harm to brought against the offender.
As far Mrs Donegan is concerned, the draft Bill ticks all the boxes and aligns with existing government regulations including Births Deaths and Marriages which requires a funeral and the naming of a fetus 20 weeks and over. It even means mothers still get the baby bonus.
``To lose a child and then legally be told that she didn't count was heartbreaking,'' she said.
Drafting and wording the Bill was a delicate operation because neither Mr Spence or Mrs Donegan wanted it to come from an anti-pro-choice point of view.
``I was not happy with Fred Nile's Bill and wary of its intention, nor was I consulted'' Mrs Donegan said.
``I wanted it to come from a pro-choice point of view because I am pro-choice.
``This is a very good draft and true to what we wanted which recognition of the baby.
``The lack of recognition under the law was hard to reconcile, especially when the baby is recognised in other parts of the law and under other government requirements.
``This is hugely important for closure.
``This will only apply in certain cases and at certain levels, it's not murder or manslaughter, it's not an eye for an eye, it's about recognition about what happened to the other person, not just you.
``Zoe had a heart beat, she was still alive, but I was the priority and after an emergency Caesarian they were unable to revive her, but it could have been different.
``I could not reconcil that one breath was the difference between a charge or no charge, she deserved to be treated separately to my injuries.''
Mr Spence said the proposed changes would allow a separate grevious bodily harm charge to be applied recognising the harm done to a foetus.
``The proposed change do not apply to anything done in the course of a medical procedure, or to anything done by or with consent of the mother,'' Mr Spence said.
``When Mrs Donegan approached me about having her experience and interest in fighting for the recognition of an unborn child when they are a victim of a serious criminal or violent act, I was happy to look at the possibility of making amendments to the current laws to reflect those circumstances.''
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Australian Federal Police
#TopTip – be on the lookout for an unsolicited email claiming to be from the ATO that claims you’re entitled to a tax refund. All you have to do is click on a link and complete a form...
SCAMwatch warns that the email is fake and is designed to steal your personal information or infect your computer with malware.
Go here for more information about this #scam:http://goo.gl/WzpUQE
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“Ocean Lullaby” by Evelyn Huang (Los Angeles) - PRESIDENTS AWARD at the 2012-2013 INTERNATIONAL PEARL DESIGN COMPETITION
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"Coupelle Piège" ring by Lorenz Bäumer
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Now that my computer is up and running, I took one of the storm pics from my monsoon chase with Mike Olbinski last week and processed it a little for showing here. It was during sunset and the clouds were looking dramatic when a bolt struck so close that there was an immediate clap of thunder. That's when we decided to get into our cars...
Matt Granz'
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New RT photo just in...check this out!
This was Brian's birthday gift to Roger... how cool?
(Photo: Justine Ellis)
Flintstones. Meet the Flintstones.
They're the modern stone age family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history.
Let's ride with the family down the street.
Through the courtesy of Fred's two feet.
When you're with the Flintstones
you'll have a yabba dabba doo time.
A dabba doo time.
You'll have a gay old time.
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IMAGINE being forced to kill your own baby.
That sort of horror is a daily occurrence in North Korea's prison camps, former inmates have told a United Nations inquiry.
The inquiry, chaired by former Australian High Court Justice Michael Kirby, is the first to expertly examine North Korea's human rights record, ABC News reports.
There is no shortage of testimony.
One ex-prisoner, 34-year-old Jee Heon-a, told the hearing about a mother who was forced to drown her own child.
"It was the first time I had seen a newborn baby and I felt happy," she said.
"But suddenly there were footsteps and a security guard came in and told the mother to turn the baby upside down into a bowl of water.
"The mother begged the guard to spare her, but he kept beating her. So the mother, her hands shaking, put the baby face down in the water. The crying stopped and a bubble rose up as it died."
Jee was incarcerated in 1999. Her fellow inmates were barely fed.
"Everyone's eyes were sunken. They all looked like animals, she said.
"Frogs were hung from the buttons of their cloths, put in a plastic bag and their skins peeled off. They ate salted frogs and so did I."
Another defector, Shin Dong-hyuk, was forced to watch the execution of his mother and brother. Shin, who was born in the prison camp, overheard his family members planning an escape attempt and turned them in.
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Are you tired of having to come up with excuses?
Looking for help when you're in strife?
Then why not borrow one of Kevin Rudd's many excuses.
Check out Ruddymade.com.au and he'll show you how it's done. Don't forget to share with your friends! #thesameoldway #auspol
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Director Frank Capra Tells Hollywood About American Exceptionalism (Video)
http://
Capra was a Republican who was active in the anti-Communist cause and also donated funds to the Human Life Amendment PAC. There aren’t many directors we can say that about today!
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Gorgeous Halo Design Diamond Engagement Rings handmade by Diamond Imports http://
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Allyson Christy.
"Indeed, his own agenda has resulted in untold bloodshed and a human rights meltdown in Syria, Iraq, North Africa, Afghanistan and Yemen.
The Egyptian military, acceding to the demands of some 33 million of its citizens to remove the Islamic and Sharia colluding Morsi regime, redeployed to end Mohammed Morsi’s Brotherhood supporters from their occupation of areas of the Egyptian capital. They were met by heavy gunfire and over 100 soldiers and police were killed in the first few hours of the confrontation.
Not surprisingly, Obama never mentioned this fact during his August 15th press conference; a long harangue during which, according to former UN Ambassador John Bolton, Obama predictably blamed not the Morsi rioters but the Egyptian military; again revealing this president’s egregious and systemic support for the Muslim extremists who wish to turn Egypt into an Islamic republic.
Nor did Obama castigate fully the pro-Morsi thugs who turned their savagery upon the hapless embattled Coptic Christian community. It is estimated that perhaps as many as 50 churches and Christian establishments were burned to the ground during the Muslim anti-Christian pogrom; this after Copts have been beheaded in the streets of Cairo. And still the Vatican and world Christendom remain in the main deathly silent." - Victor Sharpe, excerpt from article
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Tonight on The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly debated New York’s controversial ‘stop-and-frisk’ policy. Last week, a federal judge ruled that it violates people’s civil rights. O’Reilly argued in his Talking Points Memo that while the policy is intrusive, it has helped save the lives of hundreds of New Yorkers.
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Rockin' the Mountain this Friday night starting at 7:00... plenty of food and an all-star lineup... see you there...
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Allyson Christy.
"The Egyptian army....has demolished five tunnels so far in the past few days alone.
The army has reportedly been bringing tunnels down with explosives, and then filling them with water. The report also stated that the Egyptian army demolished some buildings along the border."
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Bristol Palin's blog
I love what Ashton Kutcher said at the Teen’s Choice Awards! Did you see his emotional speech about work?
He was saying something important under all that screaming – work is the key to success!
Since I was a kid, my parents taught me the value of work. Mom, of course, was our town’s mayor, then our state’s governor. She worked for a newspaper and tv station when I was very small. Dad has always been a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay, plus, for years he had a great job in the oil fields up on the North Slope. Through some of those years he also owned an outdoor recreation shop selling and fixing snowmachines, watercraft, boats, ATVs, etc. (He always had Willow on his hip there, because she wasn’t in school yet and she loved hanging out in the mechanic shop!)
Mom and Dad worked hard. We weren’t wealthy, but they took care of our needs.
Here was my problem – mom sometimes didn’t realize I “needed” more jeans.
“If you want designer jeans, that’s fine,” Mom told me, “but you’re gonna work for them.”
That’s why I got my first “real” job (besides babysitting) that summer at an out-of-the-way café in Nordstrom’s in Anchorage – which gave me the company’s discount on clothes. Of course, by the time I’d pay for the gas to get to Anchorage, plus parking, and then take advantage of that discount, I was barely breaking even.
There were several coffee stands with little drive-throughs where customers pull up to order fancy hot coffees, and—hopefully—leave me a tip. I worked in many of them, serving lattes, espressos, cappuccinos, etc. I’d happily be grinding and brewing coffee at the Sunrise Coffee Shack, then after my shift I’d drive down the road to Café Croissant and pour more coffee in the afternoons during a second shift there. Then, about a year later, I got a job working at the Espresso Café about fifty feet down the road. (Alaska seems to have coffee shacks on every corner!) Since it was all basically just the same job – smile, take orders, make their caffeine-infused drinks – I don’t think my bosses were ever concerned about me sharing company secrets.
Beginning in 7th grade, I also worked at my grandparent’s L&M Ace Hardware store in Dillingham, about four hundred air miles southwest of Anchorage. It’s owned by my dad’s mom, who’s like a mom to everyone in that fishing town. One day, I was cleaning the glass shelves that held the guns and knives. Willow was on one side of the glass and would not stop bugging me. I took the Windex and merely sprayed it in her general direction. I was a mile away from her, but she immediately started screaming, “My eyes! My eyes!” My Nana, sick of listening to us, grabbed us both by the arm and said, “That’s it! You’re going home!”
After I got fired by my own grandmother, Dad wasn’t going to let me get away with being a bad worker. The next night, he hauled us all out to work in his open-air commercial fishing skiff. This was harder – and so much colder – than cleaning the gun cases, but I look back on these times of employment when I really learned how hard people have to work to make money.
Now, as an adult, I still carry those lessons with me. No, I don’t fish every Bristol Bay season opener anymore (at least not putting in enough time on the water slaying salmon to make much money!). I’ve been working for four years now in a dermatology office – with the best coworkers ever, I’d add!
My parents have said they are so proud of their kids’ work ethic, and that adds to the pride we can take in working hard every single day. I hope you all have that confirmation from your family and friends that reminds you how important work is. And like Ashton suggested from the awards show stage, don’t feel like any job is beneath you. And don’t wait for that “perfect” job to come along before getting off the couch to make a paycheck. Better jobs will come along after you put in the grinding hours today, believe me, I know. I’m glad for my work lessons through these years.
And now, thankfully, I can buy my own jeans, Mom!
Read more on the (new and improved) Patheos Faith and Family Channel!
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Aprille Love
Mua: Mai Nguyen. Photography: Eric leung
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And these, my friends, are called FACTS! Share these so your friends get the TRUTH! viawww.Facebook.com/
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David Tennant says he loves Matt Smith 'like a brother' and that it was a 'real joy' working with him on the 50th anniversary special!
Plus: the TARDIS lands on Google Maps and get a glimpse of Karen Gillan as a 'Gadget Girl.' All that and more in Anglophenia's #DoctorWho's Day roundup: http://bit.ly/19GTvcV
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Get out on some country roads before the summer is over and be sure to bring these Peanut Butter Cup Rocky Road Squares! They're like a whole bunch of different perfect combinations rolled up in one! http://reeses.me/ZbRrRJ
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According to a newly-released study, a New York mother of two is eligible for in excess of $38,000 in annual welfare benefits – more than the starting salary of a New York entry-level school teacher.
Think that’s bad? In Hawaii, that same mother would receive $60,590 per year.
The study, conducted by the CATO Institute, found that in addition to New York and Hawaii, welfare pays better than work in many states. While Hawaii tops the list at $60,590, Idaho brings up the rear at $11,150, as reported by Breitbart. [I assume the beaches aren't as nice in Idaho.]
Indeed, the CATO study claims:
In 11 states, welfare pays more than the average pre-tax first-year salary for a teacher. In 39 states, it pays more than the starting wage for a secretary. And, in the 3 most generous states, a person on welfare can take home more money than an entry-level computer programmer.The study found that 33 states and the District of Columbia offer welfare benefits that pay recipients more than they would earn from an $8-an-hour job. Twelve states and the District of Columbia offer welfare packages that pay better than does a $15-an-hour job.
Add in Obama’s suspension of welfare-to-work requirements, and life on welfare can be a pretty good gig these days, as evidenced by the now somewhat infamous Cali surf bum.
“There is no evidence that people on welfare are lazy,” writes CATO senior fellow Michael Tanner. “But they’re also not stupid. If you pay them more not to work than they can earn by working, many will choose not to work.”
Therein lies the quintessential problem with the nanny state. Since LBJ declared “war on poverty,” U.S. taxpayers have spent over $15 trillion on anti-poverty programs – a total nearly equal to the national debt. And where has it gotten us? Look around. Start with the surf bum.
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Everything is not as it seems with the phony Kevin Rudd. False promises, bussed in bowlers and shielded by school kids. What is our PM afraid of?
More at CoryBernardi.com
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All we’re asking for is TheBlaze to be a part of the conversation. We want TV providers to give their customers the CHOICE of watching TheBlaze, the same way many of them have given their audience the choice of watching Al Jazeera America, but we need YOU to act. Go HERE:http://gettheblaze.com/dayofaction and get involved. #GetTheBlaze
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Why don't you apologise for the people who have drowned, Mr. Rudd?
Well over 1000 people have died at sea since you wound down John Howard's very effective Pacific solution in 2007. At least five have just drowned in the latest disaster as authorities called off the search on Tuesday night, 20 August 2013..
They are attracted , as the Indonesians say, because you put the "sugar on the table".
But instead of doing what your government specialises in doing - apologising for events in the past - your government used this tragedy to claim it has reduced arrivals by 30% because of the Manus arrangement.
Not so, says is the left of centre Sydney Morning Herald - it's less than 20%.
Just apologise Mr. Rudd.
@profdavidflint
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/
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Graphic Quotes: John Wayne on Well-Educated Idiots
http://
“I’d like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.” John Wayne
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Lone Tree - GGrech ©2013
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I don't agree with it entirely, but respect the sentiment. I feel nothing works under bad administrations and much does under good ones .. which can surprise people. I never thought Saddam, Gaddaffi or any of the mad dictators would fall. The lawlessness which followed is not the fault of democracy or political machines but a reflection of the power of terrorist organisations that prospered under the tyrants. There will be an end to this power play .. but not while Obama feeds it. - ed
Reuven Kossover
My friend and buddy for over 40 years, Irwin Blank, wrote the following (I edited it slightly). It speaks for itself.
Estimates of the dead in Egypt range from 525-700 and countless others have been wounded in riots against the current government. These rioters, from the Moslem Brotherhood and their Islamist cohorts are the dregs of society. That is why since 1952, when the Free Officers, under Mohammed Neguib and Gamal Nasser seized power there, they drove these fanatics underground, arrested and executed their leadership by the thousands because even they knew the evil and malicious character of these fanatics and despots. It is no wonder that the Moslem Brotherhood gave rise to Hamas and a host of other Islamist terror organizations all over the Middle East.
Those who believe that a republican form of government, or a regime based on Western style democracy can exist in an Islamist nation are fooling themselves and being totally ignorant of the fact that democracy and Islam are antithetical and cannot exist in a nation whose only legal religion is Islam. Islam is not a religion as Westerners know one to be. It is a dictatorial, intolerant and murderous philosophy that unless restrained by modernistic leadership, often in the form of military rule, will result in a banal viciousness that begs be checked.
The Americans cannot bring democracy to the Arab world as the Arab world is far too diverse in its structure and tribal allegiances which, by nature, are jealous of the power that they possess. Syria is a prime example, where the minority Alawites rule over Sunni, Shi'a, Druse and Kurdish minorities with a bloody hand that has already slaughtered over 100,000 men, women and children and created a refugee crisis in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
The Middle East is breaking apart the imperialistic and artificial borders and tribal territories that were left over from the domination of the British and the French after World War I. Arab states and kingdoms were established without regard to tribal loyalties or religious sensitivities and this is breaking apart with bloodshed and grief.
The only stable and viable remnant of the old world imperialism is Israel, where ethnic and cultural differences brought by the Jews from over 70 lands have melded into a new identity where the differences have enhanced that new society rather than tore it asunder. Sure, there is conflict here, but one doesn't see Ashkenazi Jews murdering Sephardi Jews in the streets as Alawite Arabs are mowing down Sunni Arabs, all Moslems, in the sanguinary situation in Syria. Churches aren't put to the torch in Jerusalem as they are in Cairo and the Baha'i, Druse, Circassians and Christian Arabs in Israel, as well as the Moslem Arabs, aren't slicing each others throats.
The Christian world should be more worried about Churches being burned to the ground and people being beheaded and flogged for reading the Gospels, than it is over building kindergartens in Gilo or Pisgat Ze'ev or adding classrooms in Ma'ale Adumim and Teqo'a. Where Moslems are destroying, we, in Israel, are building for ALL our citizens.
I do not delight in anyone's death if that person doesn't seek mine, but the "Arab Spring" is not a spring of fresh water and blooming flowers, it is a river of blood and booming explosions that must keep us, in Israel, on guard and prepared.
Shabbat Shalom from Ma'ale Adumim in liberated Israeli Yehuda, guarding the eastern approaches to Jerusalem, the eternal, united and indivisible capital of the Jewish people.
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Are they game? Michelle Malkin willing to debate Jeb Bush, NYT’s Bill Keller on Common Core ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/08/20/
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Our name is the Israel Defense Forces. All that we do, everything we work for, and even die for, can be summed up in one simple word - defense.
http://www.idfblog.com/
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C. H. Spurgeon
When you desire to be most alive to God, you will generally find sin most alive to repel you.
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It’s hard to find anything the Greens won’t tax.
Help stop the fringe-dwelling Greens todayhttp://ow.ly/nCMYg
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If you have any information about missing 15-year-old Erica Lynn Parsons, please call the Rowan County Sheriff’s office at (704) 216-8700. Erica is 4 feet 5 inches tall, 85 to 90 pounds and may be in the Asheville, North Carolina area. | #DrPhil
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Rand Paul must be doing something right to have all these people against him. Wouldn't you agree?
Did you know you can find anyone's criminal record online? Access our exclusive database now and find out detailed information on anyone you could possibly want!
Click Here ►►► http://i-bitly.com/
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Glenn Beck.
When your town votes to stand with a pedophile, your town has lost its soul.
MI school votes to keep teachers who defended colleague convicted of rape
On yesterday’s Glenn Beck Radio Program, Glenn spoke to John Janczewski, a resident of Rose City, Michigan whose son was molested by a teacher, Neal Erickson, at Rose City Middle School. The sexual abuse happened on several occasions when Janczewski’s son was in 8th grade. The boy is now a sophomore in college. On July 10, Erickson was convicted of statutory rape on and sentenced to 15-30 years in prison. Six educators and one school board member, however, came out in support of the teacher and wrote the judge letters asking for leniency.
This morning, Glenn spoke to John’s wife, Lori Janczewski. Lori explained what happened last night during the meeting held at a local high school that would decide the fate of the educators who stood by Erickson. While the resident’s have demanded the teachers be fired, the town has expressed concern about the cost of litigation. Ultimately, the teachers did not lose their jobs. Meanwhile, the family has been threatened and had their property vandalized as a result of speaking out.
“I told you yesterday about the Janczewski family in Michigan that had their eighth grader son raped by a teacher… And then six teachers, spoke out against the sentence for this molester: ‘Neal has pleaded guilty to this one criminal offense, and he’s not a predator,’” Glenn said. “Last night I thought we had a chance of living in America again. Last night there was a school board meeting… All the neighbors and everybody showed up to vote: Are we going to fire these teachers? And the guy who was supporting the pedophile on the school board, he said, ‘Well, you don’t support the teachers. The town is going bankrupt.’ Good. Stand in line on the bankruptcy window. Everybody seems to be doing it nowadays. I thought it was a popular thing to do.”
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Pastor Rick Warren
3 causes pastors fall: Personal worship dries up. No boundaries-meets with women alone. Pride-believed it couldn't happen.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
GOD gives, gives, gives and Forgives ... HUMAN gets, gets, gets and Forgets.
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reportedly states that scientists are more certain than ever that man’s actions are warming the planet -- even as the report struggles to explain a slow-down in warming that climate skeptics have seized upon.> Political report struggles to sex up data===
4 her
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Lol, I saw an asian girl with a phone and I thought she was taking selfies .. looked around, saw the moon .. saw the pictures on the dash .. ed
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Allyson Christy.
New movement targets Hamas rule in Gaza - IMRA
“It is time we rejected death forcibly under Hamas’ pretext of security. Our people regardless of their political and even religious affiliations have been targeted by their criminality,” the statement continued. It explicitly accused Hamas of murder, torture, sabotage, bribes, vandalism and smuggling."
http://paper.li/allysonchristy/1338794440
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Uong Nguyen and Jessica King.
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ARLINGTON CEMETERY
Jeopardy Question:
On Jeopardy the other night, the final question was:
"How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns" ----
All three contestants missed it! --
This is really an awesome sight to watch if you've never had the chance.
Very fascinating.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
1. How many steps does the guard take during his walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why? 21 steps:
It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.
2. How long does he hesitate after his about face to begin his return walk and why?
21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1
3. Why are his gloves wet? His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his grip on the rifle.
4. Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all the time and, if not, why not? He
carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle to the outside shoulder.
5. How often are the guards changed? Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.
6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to? For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and his waist size cannot exceed 30.
They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of their lives. They cannot swear in public for the rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the uniform or the tomb in any way.
After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only 400 presently worn. The guard must obey these rules for the rest of their lives or give up the wreath pin.
The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.
There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.
The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone nor watch TV.
All off duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are:
President Taft,
Joe Lewis {the boxer}
Medal of Honor winner Audie L. Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII and of Hollywood fame.
Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty..
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington, DC, our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military
members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. They respectfully declined the offer, "No way,
Sir!" Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that
guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be
afforded to a service person. The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.
God Bless and keep them.
I'd be very proud if this post reaches as many as possible. We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.
God Bless America
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Are you tired of having to come up with excuses?
Looking for help when you're in strife?
Then why not borrow one of Kevin Rudd's many excuses.
Check out Ruddymade.com.au and use our handy app.
If you find yourself unable to generate excuses for everyday mistakes simply use Ruddymade Excuses from any smart phone, tablet or desktop computer.
These are not just any old excuses. These are timeless classics developed by the world's leader in passing the buck, Kevin Rudd. Don't forget to tune in to tonight's debate to see many of these excuses live.
Enjoy,
Brian Loughnane
P.S. Excuse the brevity of this email, I've "gotta zip"
Enjoy,
Brian Loughnane
P.S. Excuse the brevity of this email, I've "gotta zip"
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| Dear Fellow Patriot, Are we witnessing the end of Israel? While President Obama vacations in Martha's Vineyard, Egypt is descending into apocalyptic chaos and taking the Middle East with it. As you read this, the violence is escalating in the Sinai Peninsula. Islamic terrorists are attacking Egyptian security forces – news sources are reporting that 25 policemen were killed just hours ago – and firing missiles at the Israeli resort city of Eilat. Mr. President: is it truly wise to "pivot" America's foreign policy away from the Middle East? Absolutely not! If Egypt falls to radical Islam, Israel will be besieged by enemies from all sides. Obama's completely incoherent foreign policy is putting our strongest allies in grave danger. His extreme ambivalence is simply unacceptable. Fellow Patriot, America can do better. Your immediate contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more to the Allen West Guardian Fund will help elect leaders with integrity, a strong work ethic, and conservative principles in 2014. I'm not going to settle for second-rate leadership and you shouldn't either. America stands by her friends – Israel most of all – and we honor that commitment by our actions and not empty Obama-style rhetoric. What is the world left to think when the same nation that is leading the War on Terror now abandons its own diplomats to be murdered at the hands of a terrorist mob in Libya? Fellow Patriot, America desperately needs new leadership. Can I count on your support today? Before the President tees off another round of golf he should consider this – his Jimmy Carter-style foreign policy has turned us into the laughing stock of the world. Our enemies oppose us and threaten our friends because Obama's leadership lacks true American courage. America can do better! Let's get started today. Steadfast and Loyal,  Lt. Col. Allen B. West, USA (ret) U.S. Congressman (2011-2013) | |||
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Contributions to the Allen West Guardian Fund are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Allen West Guardian Fund PO Box 9383 | Coral Springs, FL 33075 allenwestguardianfund.com  | |||
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- 1831 – Nat Turner led a slave revolt inSouthampton County, Virginia, US, but it was suppressed about 48 hours later.
- 1911 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (pictured)was stolen from the Louvre by a museum employee and was not recovered until two years later.
- 1963 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forcesraided and vandalised Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
- 1969 – An Australian tourist set the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire, a major catalyst of the formation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
- 1993 – NASA lost contact with its Mars Observer spacecraft, three days before orbital insertion.
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Events
- 1192 – Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan (12th day of the 7th month on theJapanese calendar)
- 1331 – King Stephen Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stephen Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia.
- 1680 – Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
- 1689 – The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.
- 1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
- 1772 – King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule inSweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.
- 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.
- 1808 – Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.
- 1810 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
- 1821 – Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.
- 1831 – Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion.
- 1852 – Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.
- 1863 – Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by Confederate guerrillas Quantrill's Raiders in the Lawrence Massacre.
- 1879 – The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, reportedly appears at Knock Shrine in Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.
- 1883 – An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.
- 1888 – The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
- 1897 – Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles was founded.
- 1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.
- 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
- 1942 – World War II: The flag of Nazi Germany is installed atop the Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus mountain range.
- 1942 – World War II: the Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
- 1944 – Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.
- 1944 – World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.
- 1945 – Physicist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
- 1957 – The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
- 1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day
- 1961 – Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.
- 1963 – Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizesBuddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
- 1968 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging theRomanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.
- 1968 – James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
- 1969 – An Australian, Denis Michael Rohan, sets the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire, a major catalyst of the formation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
- 1971 – A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
- 1976 – Operation Paul Bunyan at Panmunjom, South Korea.
- 1979 – Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
- 1982 – Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal fromLebanon.
- 1983 – Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. is assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport).
- 1986 – Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.
- 1991 – Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.
- 1991 – Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
- 1992 – Ruby Ridge Standoff in Idaho
- 1993 – NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
- 2001 – NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
- 2001 – The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Births
- 1165 – Philip II of France (d. 1223)
- 1535 – Shimazu Yoshihiro, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1619)
- 1567 – Francis de Sales, Swiss bishop and saint (d. 1622)
- 1597 – Roger Twysden, English historian and politician (d. 1672)
- 1643 – Afonso VI of Portugal (d. 1683)
- 1660 – Hubert Gautier, French scientist and engineer (d. 1737)
- 1665 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (d. 1729)
- 1670 – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, French military leader (d. 1734)
- 1725 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (d. 1805)
- 1754 – William Murdoch, Scottish engineer and inventor, created gas lighting (d. 1839)
- 1754 – Banastre Tarleton, British soldier and politician (d. 1833)
- 1765 – William IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1837)
- 1789 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (d. 1857)
- 1798 – Jules Michelet, French historian (d. 1874)
- 1800 – Hiram Walden, American politician (d. 1880)
- 1801 – Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch politician (d. 1876)
- 1813 – Jean Stas, Belgian chemist (d. 1891)
- 1816 – Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist (d. 1856)
- 1826 – Karl Gegenbaur, German anatomist (d. 1903)
- 1840 – Ferdinand Hamer, Dutch missionary and bishop (d. 1900)
- 1845 – William Healey Dall, American naturalist, malacologist, and explorer (d. 1927)
- 1858 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria (d. 1889)
- 1862 – Emilio Salgari, Italian writer (d. 1911)
- 1869 – William Henry Ogilvie, Scottish-Australian poet (d. 1963)
- 1872 – Aubrey Beardsley, English illustrator and author (d. 1898)
- 1878 – Richard Girulatis, German footballer and manager (d. 1963)
- 1879 – Claude Grahame-White, British aviator (d. 1959)
- 1884 – Chandler Egan, American golfer (d. 1936)
- 1885 – Édouard Fabre, Canadian runner (d. 1939)
- 1886 – Ruth Manning-Sanders, British author (d. 1988)
- 1887 – James Paul Moody, English 6th Officer of the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
- 1891 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, Puerto Rican super-centenarian (d. 2007)
- 1892 – Charles Vanel, French actor and director (d. 1989)
- 1897 – Constance McLaughlin Green, American historian and author (d. 1975)
- 1902 – Angel Karaliychev, Bulgarian writer (d. 1972)
- 1904 – Count Basie, American pianist, bandleader, and composer (Count Basie Orchestra) (d. 1984)
- 1905 – Friz Freleng, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1995)
- 1908 – M. M. Kaye, British author (d. 2004)
- 1909 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Toe Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1995)
- 1915 – Raquel Rastenni, Danish singer (d. 1998)
- 1918 – Billy Reay, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Don E. Fehrenbacher, American historian (d. 1997)
- 1920 – Christopher Robin Milne, British soldier and bookseller (d. 1996)
- 1924 – Jack Buck, American sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1924 – Chris Schenkel, American sportscaster (d. 2005)
- 1924 – Jack Weston, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1925 – Toma Caragiu, Romanian actor (d. 1977)
- 1925 – Judy Grable, American wrestler (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (d. 2003)
- 1926 – Eduardo Koaik, Brazilian bishop (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader and author, 16th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 1928 – Addison Farmer, American bassist (d. 1963)
- 1928 – Art Farmer, American trumpet player (d. 1999)
- 1928 – Bud McFadin, American football player (d. 2006)
- 1929 – X. J. Kennedy, American poet and author
- 1929 – Marie Severin, American illustrator
- 1930 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (d. 2002)
- 1930 – Frank Perry, American director (d. 1995)
- 1932 – Melvin Van Peebles, American actor and screenwriter
- 1933 – Janet Baker, English soprano
- 1933 – Michael Dacher, German mountaineer (d. 1994)
- 1934 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician (d. 2001)
- 1934 – Paul Panhuysen, Dutch composer
- 1936 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (d. 1999)
- 1936 – Radish Tordia, Georgian painter
- 1937 – Donald Dewar, Scottish politician, First Minister of Scotland (d. 2000)
- 1937 – Gustavo Noboa, Ecuadorian politician, 51st President of Ecuador
- 1937 – Robert Stone, American novelist
- 1938 – Kenny Rogers, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (The New Christy Minstrels and The First Edition)
- 1939 – James Burton, American guitarist (TCB Band)
- 1939 – Festus Mogae, Botswana politician, 3rd President of Botswana
- 1939 – Harold Reid, American singer-songwriter (The Statler Brothers)
- 1939 – Clarence Williams III, American actor
- 1940 – Endre Szemerédi, Hungarian mathematician
- 1943 – Hugh Wilson, American director, writer, and actor
- 1944 – Perry Christie, Bahamian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Bahamas
- 1944 – Jackie DeShannon, American singer-songwriter
- 1944 – Peter Weir, Australian director
- 1945 – Jerry DaVanon, American baseball player
- 1945 – Patty McCormack, American actress
- 1945 – Basil Poledouris, American composer (d. 2006)
- 1947 – Sándor Erdős, Hungarian fencer
- 1947 – Carl Giammarese, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (The Buckinghams)
- 1949 – Loretta Devine, American actress
- 1950 – Arthur Bremer, American attempted murderer
- 1950 – Patrick Juvet, Swiss singer-songwriter and model
- 1951 – Eric Goles, Chilean mathematician and computer scientist
- 1951 – Glenn Hughes, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Finders Keepers, Trapeze, Deep Purple, and Black Country Communion)
- 1951 – Margo Kane, Canadian actress and playwright
- 1951 – Char Margolis, American psychic medium
- 1951 – Harry Smith, American journalist
- 1952 – Keith Hart, Canadian wrestler
- 1952 – Jiří Paroubek, Czech politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
- 1952 – Joe Strummer, British musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (The Clash, The Mescaleros, and The Pogues) (d. 2002)
- 1953 – Ivan Stang, American author, publisher, and director
- 1954 – Chip Coffey, American psychic medium
- 1954 – Archie Griffin, American football player
- 1956 – Kim Cattrall, British-born Canadian actress
- 1956 – Jon Tester, American politician
- 1957 – Steve Smith, American drummer (Journey and Montrose)
- 1959 – Jim McMahon, American football player
- 1961 – V. B. Chandrasekhar, Indian cricketer
- 1961 – Stephen Hillenburg, American animator, writer, director, and producer
- 1961 – David Morales, American DJ and producer
- 1962 – John Korfas, Greek basketball player
- 1962 – Tsutomu Miyazaki Japanese serial killer (d. 2008)
- 1962 – Jeff Stryker, American porn actor
- 1963 – Mohammed VI of Morocco
- 1963 – Richmond Arquette, American actor
- 1964 – Trinity Loren, American porn actress and model (d. 1998)
- 1965 – Jim Bullinger, American baseball player
- 1965 – Caryn Mower, American wrestler, actress, and stuntwoman
- 1966 – John Wetteland, American baseball player
- 1967 – Darren Bewick, Australian footballer
- 1967 – Carrie-Anne Moss, Canadian actress
- 1967 – Serj Tankian, Armenian-American singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (System of a Down and Axis of Justice)
- 1968 – Dina Carroll, English singer-songwriter
- 1968 – Goran Ćurko, Serbian footballer
- 1969 – Josée Chouinard, Canadian figure skater
- 1970 – Craig Counsell, American baseball player
- 1970 – Erik Dekker, Dutch cyclist
- 1970 – Nathan Jones, Australian wrestler and actor
- 1971 – Mamadou Diallo, Senegalese footballer
- 1971 – Robert Harvey, Australian footballer
- 1971 – Liam Howlett, English musician, DJ, and producer (The Prodigy)
- 1973 – Sergey Brin, Russian-American computer scientist and businessman, co-founded of Google
- 1973 – Steve McKenna, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Nikolai Valuev, Russian boxer
- 1974 – Johnny Reid, Scottish-Canadian singer
- 1974 – Martin Andanar, Filipino broadcast journalist
- 1975 – Simon Katich, Australian cricketer
- 1975 – Alicia Witt, American actress
- 1976 – Alex Brooks, American ice hockey player
- 1976 – Jeff Cunningham, Jamaican-American soccer player
- 1976 – Ramón Vázquez, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1976 – Nikos Vertis, Dutch-Greek singer
- 1978 – Peter Buxton, English rugby player
- 1978 – Bhumika Chawla, Indian actress
- 1978 – Reuben Droughns, American football player
- 1978 – Lee Gronkiewicz, American baseball player
- 1978 – Alan Lee, Irish footballer
- 1978 – Jason Marquis, American baseball player
- 1978 – Annie Wu, Taiwanese actress
- 1978 – Fay Wolf, American actress, singer-songwriter, pianist, and professional organizer
- 1979 – Kelis, American singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Burney Lamar, American race car driver
- 1980 – Paul Menard, American race car driver
- 1980 – Jasmin Wöhr, German tennis player
- 1980 – Joanne Froggatt, English Actress
- 1981 – Collie Buddz, Bermudian rapper
- 1981 – Jarrod Lyle, Australian golfer
- 1981 – Cameron Winklevoss, American rower and businessman, co-founded ConnectU
- 1981 – Tyler Winklevoss, American rower and businessman, co-founded ConnectU
- 1982 – Jason Eaton, New Zealand rugby player
- 1983 – Josh Harrington, American bicycle motocross racer
- 1983 – Chantelle Houghton, English model
- 1983 – Brody Jenner, American model and actor
- 1983 – Scott McDonald, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Alizée, French singer
- 1984 – Barun Sobti, Indian actor
- 1984 – Neil Dexter, South African cricketer
- 1984 – Melissa Schuman, American actress
- 1984 – Eve Torres, American wrestler, model, and dancer
- 1984 – B. J. Upton, American baseball player
- 1985 – Nicolás Almagro, Spanish tennis player
- 1985 – Aleksandra Kiryashova, Russian pole vaulter
- 1985 – Melissa M, French singer
- 1985 – Kevin Nee, American strongman
- 1986 – Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
- 1986 – Wout Brama, Dutch footballer
- 1986 – Kiami Davael, American actress
- 1986 – Daniel Dickey, American comedian and writer
- 1986 – Koki Sakamoto, Japanese gymnast
- 1987 – Natalia Dzyublo, Russian actress
- 1987 – Cody Kasch, American actor
- 1987 – Jodie Meeks, American basketball player
- 1987 – Kim Kibum, South Korean singer and actor (Super Junior)
- 1988 – Paris Bennett, American singer
- 1988 – Robert Lewandowski, Polish footballer
- 1988 – Louise Setara, English singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Whitney Sloan, British actress
- 1989 – Elarica Gallacher, English actress
- 1989 – Rob Knox, English actor (d. 2008)
- 1989 – Hayden Panettiere, American actress and singer
- 1989 – Judd Trump, English snooker player
- 1989 – Matteo Gentili, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Bo Burnham, American comedian, singer-songwriter, and actor
- 1990 – Big Chocolate, American singer-songwriter, and producer (Burning the Masses)
- 1990 – Fabian Heimpel, German rugby player
- 1990 – Omar El Kaddouri, Belgian footballer
- 1991 – Tess Gaerthé, Dutch singer
- 1992 – Brad Kavanagh, English actor and singer
- 1994 – Jacqueline Emerson, American actress and singer (Devo 2.0)
- 1996 – Jamia Simone Nash, American singer and actress
- 1999 – Maxim Knight, American actor
Deaths
- 1131 – Baldwin II of Jerusalem (b. 1060)
- 1157 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile (b. 1105)
- 1271 – Alphonse, Count of Poitiers (b. 1220)
- 1581 – Sakuma Nobumori, Japanese samurai (b. 1527)
- 1614 – Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian serial killer (b. 1560)
- 1627 – Jacques Mauduit, French composer (b. 1557)
- 1673 – Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford, English soldier (b. 1599)
- 1689 – William Cleland, Scottish poet and soldier (b. 1661)
- 1762 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (b. 1689)
- 1763 – Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, British politician (b. 1710)
- 1775 – Daher el-Omar, Arab ruler of Galilee (b. 1690)
- 1796 – John McKinly, American physician and politician, 1st Governor of Delaware (b. 1721)
- 1814 – Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (b. 1753)
- 1836 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist (b. 1785)
- 1838 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German writer (b. 1781)
- 1854 – Thomas Clayton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1777)
- 1870 – Ma Xinyi, Chinese military leader and statesman (b. 1821)
- 1910 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter (b. 1835)
- 1919 – Laurence Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1875)
- 1926 – Ugyen Wangchuck, Bhutanese king (b. 1862)
- 1935 – John Hartley, English tennis player (b. 1849)
- 1940 – Hermann Obrecht, Swiss jurist (b. 1882)
- 1940 – Ernest Thayer, American poet (b. 1863)
- 1940 – Leon Trotsky, Russian politician and theorist (b. 1879)
- 1943 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
- 1947 – Ettore Bugatti, Italian-French engineer and businessman, founded Bugatti (b. 1881)
- 1951 – Constant Lambert, British composer and conductor (b. 1905)
- 1957 – Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer (b. 1888)
- 1957 – Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
- 1960 – David B. Steinman, American engineer and author, designed the Mackinac Bridge (b. 1886)
- 1964 – Palmiro Togliatti, Italian politician (b. 1893)
- 1966 – Martin Dooling, American soccer player (b. 1886)
- 1971 – George Jackson, American activist and author, co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family (b. 1941)
- 1974 – Buford Pusser, American police officer (b. 1937)
- 1978 – Charles Eames, American designer and architect, co-designed the Eames House (b. 1907)
- 1979 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer (b. 1910)
- 1981 – Michael Devine, Irish hunger striker (b. 1954)
- 1982 – Sobhuza II, Swiss king (b. 1899)
- 1983 – Benigno Aquino, Jr., Filipino politician (b. 1932)
- 1988 – Teodoro de Villa Diaz, Filipino guitarist and songwriter (The Dawn) (b. 1963)
- 1988 – Ray Eames, American designer and architect, co-designed the Eames House (b. 1912)
- 1989 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer (b. 1945)
- 1992 – Dai Vernon, Canadian magician (b. 1894)
- 1993 – Tatiana Troyanos, American soprano (b. 1938)
- 1995 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1997 – Yuri Nikulin, Russian clown and actor (b. 1921)
- 2000 – Daniel Lisulo, Zambian politician, Prime Minister of Zambia (b. 1930)
- 2000 – Tomata du Plenty, American singer (The Screamers) (b. 1948)
- 2000 – Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer (b. 1928)
- 2001 – Calum MacKay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1927)
- 2003 – Kathy Wilkes, British philosopher and academic (b. 1946)
- 2003 – Wesley Willis, American singer and keyboard player (Wesley Willis Fiasco) (b. 1963)
- 2005 – Martin Dillon, American tenor (b. 1957)
- 2005 – Robert Moog, American businessman and inventor, founded Moog Music (b. 1934)
- 2005 – Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet (b. 1936)
- 2005 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1925)
- 2006 – Bismillah Khan, Indian shehnai player (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, Dutch businessman and philanthropist (b. 1941)
- 2006 – S. Yizhar, Israeli author and politician (b. 1916)
- 2007 – Siobhan Dowd, British author and activist (b. 1960)
- 2007 – Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American army officer (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Haley Paige, American porn actress (b. 1981)
- 2008 – Jerry Finn, American record producer (b. 1969)
- 2009 – Rex Shelley, Singaporean author (b. 1930)
- 2009 – Dean Turner, Australian singer, bass player, and producer (Magic Dirt) (b. 1972)
- 2010 – Nancy Dolman, Canadian actress and singer (b. 1952)
- 2010 – Rodolfo Enrique Fogwill, Argentinean sociologist and author (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Paul Bassim, Lebanese prelate (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Georg Leber, German politician (b. 1920)
- 2012 – J. Frank Raley, American politician (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Don Raleigh, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Guy Spitaels, Belgian politician, 7th Minister-President of the Walloon Region (b. 1931)
- 2012 – William Thurston, American mathematician (b. 1946)
Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Consualia, in honor of Consus. (Roman Empire)
- Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)
- Youth Day/King Mohammed VI's Birthday (Morocco)
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“I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”Psalm 16:8 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"The sweet psalmist of Israel."
2 Samuel 23:1
2 Samuel 23:1
Among all the saints whose lives are recorded in Holy Writ, David possesses an experience of the most striking, varied, and instructive character. In his history we meet with trials and temptations not to be discovered, as a whole, in other saints of ancient times, and hence he is all the more suggestive a type of our Lord. David knew the trials of all ranks and conditions of men. Kings have their troubles, and David wore a crown: the peasant has his cares, and David handled a shepherd's crook: the wanderer has many hardships, and David abode in the caves of Engedi: the captain has his difficulties, and David found the sons of Zeruiah too hard for him. The psalmist was also tried in his friends, his counsellor Ahithophel forsook him, "He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me." His worst foes were they of his own household: his children were his greatest affliction. The temptations of poverty and wealth, of honour and reproach, of health and weakness, all tried their power upon him. He had temptations from without to disturb his peace, and from within to mar his joy. David no sooner escaped from one trial than he fell into another; no sooner emerged from one season of despondency and alarm, than he was again brought into the lowest depths, and all God's waves and billows rolled over him. It is probably from this cause that David's psalms are so universally the delight of experienced Christians. Whatever our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has exactly described our emotions. He was an able master of the human heart, because he had been tutored in the best of all schools--the school of heart-felt, personal experience. As we are instructed in the same school, as we grow matured in grace and in years, we increasingly appreciate David's psalms, and find them to be "green pastures." My soul, let David's experience cheer and counsel thee this day.
Evening
"And they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall."
Nehemiah 3:8
Nehemiah 3:8
Cities well fortified have broad walls, and so had Jerusalem in her glory. The New Jerusalem must, in like manner, be surrounded and preserved by a broad wall of nonconformity to the world, and separation from its customs and spirit. The tendency of these days break down the holy barrier, and make the distinction between the church and the world merely nominal. Professors are no longer strict and Puritanical, questionable literature is read on all hands, frivolous pastimes are currently indulged, and a general laxity threatens to deprive the Lord's peculiar people of those sacred singularities which separate them from sinners. It will be an ill day for the church and the world when the proposed amalgamation shall be complete, and the sons of God and the daughters of men shall be as one: then shall another deluge of wrath be ushered in. Beloved reader, be it your aim in heart, in word, in dress, in action to maintain the broad wall, remembering that the friendship of this world is enmity against God.
The broad wall afforded a pleasant place of resort for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, from which they could command prospects of the surrounding country. This reminds us of the Lord's exceeding broad commandments, in which we walk at liberty in communion with Jesus, overlooking the scenes of earth, and looking out towards the glories of heaven. Separated from the world, and denying ourselves all ungodliness and fleshly lusts, we are nevertheless not in prison, nor restricted within narrow bounds; nay, we walk at liberty, because we keep his precepts. Come, reader, this evening walk with God in his statutes. As friend met friend upon the city wall, so meet thou thy God in the way of holy prayer and meditation. The bulwarks of salvation thou hast a right to traverse, for thou art a freeman of the royal burgh, a citizen of the metropolis of the universe.
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Today's reading: Psalm 105-106, 1 Corinthians 3 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 105-106
make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Look to the LORD and his strength;
seek his face always.
5 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
7 He is the LORD our God;
his judgments are in all the earth....
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
7 He is the LORD our God;
his judgments are in all the earth....
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 3
The Church and Its Leaders
1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly-mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere human beings?
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God's service; you are God's field, God's building....
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