Friday, September 27, 2013

Fri Sep 27th Todays News

ALP say they couldn't do it. ABC says it technically isn't the same. But a boat with 44 asylum seekers leaving the safety of Indonesia after the asylum seekers spent over $10k each has been returned to Indonesia .. no loss of life. It wouldn't have happened without Indonesian cooperation. Bad news for the ALP whose murderous but compassionate policy has claimed some 2000 lives drowned at the cost of many billions of dollars siphoned from aid, schools, hospitals, defence, roads .. taxpayers, the poor and dispossessed. More boats will follow, but it is certain that they will stop, as they had before under the Pacific Solution. I prefer the conservative policy to the left wing compassion. 
ALP are still in denial regarding their bad policy in all areas. While they were in government, able to siphon and divert money to mates, the world seemed ok to them. Political enemies were smeared. An economic problem, McGurk, was assassinated, a bogus training mine was established, pedophiles and rapists were given free passes. Prisoners given parole. And what has changed? A budget analysis by Hockey shows how inept the ALP have been .. they weren't hampered by falling tax receipts, the ALP had spent too big. Too big on desalination plants they can't use. Too much on dying industry props. Too much on ruining functioning industry. Too much on empty symbols. Meanwhile the ALP devalued family, the family home, the cradle. In 2008, the ALP legal advisers sought to end the NT intervention. Not for compassion .. for money and control. Meanwhile, new ALP leaders are promising to change nothing. 
Global warming believers struggle with the inconvenient truth the world hasn't warmed for 15 years. Obama struggles domestically with spending and internationally with decision making. Meanwhile it turns out that the only safe haven for Islamic peoples, Israel, was shortchanged by Australian ALP government keen to bow to anti semitic bigots that claim to represent Australian Islamic peoples. 
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Mikki DiepSam NovCameron Ngo , Elena Francioni  and Doan Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
823 – Ermentrude of Orléans (d. 869)
1271 – Wenceslaus II of Bohemia (d. 1305)
1601 – Louis XIII of France (d. 1643)
1677 – Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari, Italian composer (d. 1754)
1894 – Lothar von Richthofen German pilot (d. 1922)
1954 – Ray Hadley, Australian broadcaster
1958 – Shaun Cassidy, American actor, singer, screenwriter, and producer
1961 – Andy Lau, Hong Kong singer, actor, and producer
1984 – Avril Lavigne, Canadian singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer
1995 – Anderson Lim, Bruneian swimmer
Matches
1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme River, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.
1540 – The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) receives its charter from Pope Paul III.
1669 – The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21-year long Siege of Candia.
1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
1903 – Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
1908 – The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1940 – World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by GermanyJapan and Italy.
1968 – The stage musical Hair opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof collapsing inJuly 1973.
1988 – National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar
2005 – After 162 episodes, Tom and Jerry aired its final episode titled, The Karate Guard.
Despatches
855 – Lothair I, Emperor of the Romans (b. 795)
1660 – Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint (b. 1581)
1783 – Étienne Bézout, French mathematician (b. 1730)
1960 – Sylvia Pankhurst, English activist (b. 1882)
1975 – Jack Lang, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1876)
1991 – Oona O'Neill, English wife of Charlie Chaplin (b. 1926)
2011 – Johnny "Country" Mathis, American singer-songwriter (Jimmy & Johnny) (b. 1933)
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A flood of information left the ALP all at sea

Piers Akerman – Thursday, September 26, 2013 (6:25pm)

THE Labor Party has yet to learn that every appearance by its leadership contenders Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese, or its acting leader Chris Bowen, only serves to remind most Australians of the worst six years of governance in the nation’s history.

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Promise kept: navy brings boat people back to Indonesia

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (4:36pm)

Boat people policy
Well, well, well. Turns out you can turn back boat people after all, as the Abbott Government has proved after less than two weeks in office:
Forty four Pakistani asylum-seekers, including four children, and two crew were brought to Indah Kiat port at Banten in Java at about 8am today, according to Indonesian police and rescue officers.
They were rescued yesterday by HMAS Ballarat near the southern mouth of the Sunda Strait after the engine on their fishing boat failed and it began taking water.
Ballarat was met late last night by an Indonesian coast guard vessel in the strait, southwest of Indah Kiat and close to Indonesia’s 12 nautical mile territorial boundary.
It has been years since boat people picked up at sea by our navy were returned to Indonesia, and this could not have been done without Indonesian cooperation at the highest levels.
So I repeat what I said this morning: there may be much less to this Indonesian tiff with Australia than the media and Labor are furiously suggesting. Some Indonesian MPs may be just playing to their constituents and hiking the price for Indonesian cooperation. 

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The Bolt Report on Sunday

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (2:08pm)

image
On The Bolt Report on Sunday on Channel 10 at 10am and 4pm:
Time to hold the ABC’s climate alarmists to account.
New senator David Leyonhjelm on a change in the intellectual climate as sceptics move in on the Senate.
The panel: Michael Kroger and Bruce Hawker, Kevin Rudd’s former campaign advisor.
A little unspinning of Christine Milne’s spin.

The twitter feed.
The place the videos appear.  

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“Ethicist” Clive Hamilton scores zero from four as he ups the abuse

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (8:57am)

How many pejoratives can Professor Clive Hamilton, the Gaian who denounces ”highly personal attacks”, stuff in a single sentence?
Right-wing demagogues like Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones have taken up the denialist cause as a means of prosecuting their war against progressive trends in Australian society.
Wow.
Excuse me, Clive, I am a conservative, not “Right-wing”. I am actually an enemy of mobs, not a “demagogue”. I am a sceptic, not a “denialist” - a term you deliberately link to Holocaust denial like a real demagogue. And I am a sceptic of your kind of warming catastrophism not to fight “progressive trends” but to challenge untruths and false scares about global warming.
And by the way, I do not consider your alarming suggestion we have a ”suspension of democratic processes” to be very “progressive” at all.
Four pejoratives, four falsehoods.
And Hamilton’s stuff is actually published by a taxpayer-funded site purporting to be a ”fact-based and editorially independent forum” for academics which “promotes new thinking and evidence-based research”.

How do you qualify to be a professor of “public ethics” when you actually seem to lack some? 

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One last car grant would be like one last cigarette

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (8:32am)

Insisting a car maker accept the next grant is the last is a fantasy and unenforcable:

THE Federal Government will call on Holden to almost double its vehicle exports in return for further taxpayer assistance — and the company will not be allowed to ask for more money after an agreement is signed…
(T)he Coalition’s Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says he wants Holden to export “at least 30 per cent” of its annual production. Holden currently exports just 17 per cent of the cars its makes locally, compared to Toyota which exports 72 per cent of its Australian production…
Holden was pledged $275 million by state and federal governments in March 2012 but it has asked for further funding assistance because it says market conditions have “changed significantly since then”.
However the Coalition says it will make good on its pre-election promise to cut $500 million from the $5.4 billion set aside for car manufacturing industry assistance.
“We’re not giving back the $500 million, so I’ve got to come up with a solution there,” said Mr Macfarlane.
“And then we’ve got to have a long term plan which will be ‘The End’, in capital letters, in black, six feet high, ‘This is all we’re ever going to give you’. That’ll be the end. I won’t be seeing car companies after that.”
Nonsense. Labor has only to say that it, at least, will hand over more millions to keep Holden open and the bidding war will be on again. The only real end is now.
A politician who promises the next grant will be the last is like the smoker saying he’ll stop after one more cigarette.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 

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How dare Labor let this Grand Mufti blackball Howes

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (7:43am)

Most alarming is not that the Grand Mufti of Australia wrote this but that Labor officials leaked it, presumably to stop Paul Howes from running for a Sydney seat with a big Muslim minority:

Australia’s senior Islamic cleric threatened to withdraw community support for federal Labor in Western Sydney if union leader Paul Howes replaced Bob Carr in the Senate, a leaked email reveals.
The email, written on behalf of the Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, by his chief political adviser, accused Mr Howes of a “blind bias for Israel” and said that if he was appointed to the Senate, community support for Labor that was mustered for the federal election would be withdrawn…
Mr Howes, the national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, withdrew from the contest last week…
The email says that ... “Paul has had a repeated pattern of blind bias toward Israel. His appointment would not at all help the ­engagement effort between the ALP and the wider Muslim community,” it says.
“As you know we have worked very hard to marshal our community to ­support and successfully retain the majority of ALP seats in Western ­Sydney against all odds, and the choice of Paul will threaten our efforts to maintain this momentum, especially if new elections are called in the next year.
How much has Labor, thanks to people like Bob Carr and Sam Dastyari, prostituted Labor policy and the national interest to win the votes of the Muslim community - or at least those votes influenced by the likes of the Mufti?
That Labor would listen to the Mufti is a serious worry, given his links to extremists:
AUSTRALIAN Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed’s meeting with Hamas officials – including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh – in Gaza has been met with deep concern from Jewish community leaders.
TV footage from December 26, translated by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute), quotes the Grand Mufti as saying, “We came here in order to learn from Gaza.
“We will make the stones, trees and people of Gaza talk in order to learn steadfastness, sacrifice, and the defence of one’s rights from them,” he said.
“We feel like we are on cloud nine, we feel like we are on top of the world.”
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) executive director Colin Rubenstein said ... “Hamas is a terrorist organisation, subject to Australian financial sanctions, which is engaged in terrorism and war crimes, is rife with extreme anti-Semitism, and is dedicated, in word and deed, to the violent destruction of a friendly state,” he said.
“It is incomprehensible that anyone with pretensions of moral authority would hold up Hamas-led Gaza as a model from which Australians can learn."…
This comment from the Mufti was particularly disturbing:

Dr Mohamed ... expressed his happiness at being in Gaza, describing it as the land of pride and martyrdom.
I am pleased to stand on the land of jihad to learn from its sons and I have the honour to be among the people of Gaza where the weakness always becomes strength, the few becomes many and the humiliation turns into pride,” he told local news agencies.
Nor did I think it helpful to describe Australian soldiers in Afghanistan as agents of oppression who could inflame passions among Australian Muslims:

He also said Australian troops in Afghanistan had the potential to inflame passions in the community, adding: “It is a nature of mankind that if there is any oppression upon any nation that our emotions start to move and react.”
The linking of Australian foreign policy to reprisals by Muslims here may sound like an explanation to some but a threat to others - or a legitimisation:
Dr Mohamed suggested there was a relationship between Western foreign policy and the homegrown threat.
Referring to the Israel-Palestine dispute and the recent push by the Palestinian Authority for UN recognition of Palestinian sovereignty, he said justice must have “one face”.
And after so many years here, what does it say that even the well-educated Mufti has felt no need to learn more than the most basic English? What example is he setting? Are Muslims here immigrating or colonising?
Despite his remarkable contributions to Islamic communities in Australia since he moved to the country over 20 years ago, Dr Ibrahim’s English remains limited, causing some to question his ability to fulfil the role of mufti.
And this is the man Labor takes its tips from in deciding whether the talented Howes may stand for election - or actually not.
Something is very, very sick in NSW Labor. 

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The one faith Dawkins cannot criticise

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (7:29am)

Richard Dawkins is feted for his attacks on Christianity. On Islam less so:
The outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins was involved in an online Twitter row on Thursday after tweeting: ”All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.”
The usual you’re-a-bigot smearing from the Left rather than an engagement:

Owen Jones, the left-leaning commentator and author of Chavs, told Dawkins: “How dare you dress your bigotry up as atheism. You are now beyond an embarrassment.” Legal blogger Jack of Kent added: “Following @RichardDawkins tweet, Trinity Cambridge has presumably also produced more Soviet-supporting traitors to the UK than Islam.”
The row also drew in historian Tom Holland and Channel 4’s economics editor Faisal Islam who commented: “I thought scientists were meant to upbraid journalists for use of spurious data points to ‘prove’ existing prejudgements”.
The proper reaction should of course be to ask if Dawkins is right and to discuss what the evidence means:

Trinity College, Cambridge, has 32 Nobel laureates, as against 10 Muslims listed in Wikipedia.
Actually, there is a link between the lack of intellectual breakthroughs in the Muslim world and the danger in pointing out such stuff.
But in this Age of Seeming, truth so often is irrelevant in the great debates, whether on Islam, immigration, global warming or nuclear power. What matters more is how you seem. 

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Fairfax: Milne lost staff after Bandt leadership push

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (7:20am)

Greens leader Christine Milne lost six senior staff this week, but claimed that was normal after an election.
Also normal, of course, is that a party loses its leader after a bad result:

Fairfax Media can reveal the departure of Senator Milne’s most senior political aide, Ben Oquist, is linked to moves within the federal party to switch to Adam Bandt, her deputy.
A source close to the turmoil inside the leader’s office said Senator Milne had demanded the resignation of Mr Oquist, her chief of staff, after she became aware he had backed moves for Mr Bandt to mount a challenge at Monday’s party room meeting.
‘’This is about disloyalty. Ben was trying to get rid of Christine. Adam Bandt was going to make a run for the leadership, but they called it off about an hour before party room because they didn’t have the numbers,’’ the source said.
UPDATE
If you can’t say anything nice about someone ...
FORMER Greens leader Bob Brown has refused to defend his successor Christine Milne as tensions rise in the minor party following an exodus of staff…

“I have no comment on that,” he told News Corp Australia.
“Sorry I just have no comment,” he said when asked if he had spoken to Mr Oquist.
Asked if he thought Senator Milne was doing a good job he again said: “I have no comment”. 

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Too many already

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (7:05am)

Does this massive growth seem such a good idea when roads are full, trains are packed and assimilation of some minorities clearly not working?
Victoria’s population growth has surged to more than 100,000 a year for the first time since 2009, as net overseas migration swelled to a four-year high.
Do see the infrastructure being built at a rate to match?

At this rate, Australia would have 25 million people by the end of 2017 - with the last 5 million added in just 13 years.

Our high immigration level seems something that worries a lot of people who think it’s too irresistible or too dangerous to protest. But levels like this cannot possibly be in our interest. 

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Good things about Hawke’s joke

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (6:39am)

Things I like about the joke. Hawke is right - it defines something very Australian. The joke also defies the suffocating and foreign puritanism we have institutionalised to stop such “racism”.
Moreover, Hawke seems autumnal - not just in years but in temperament; he doesn’t care too much and is happy. In telling the joke, Hawke also lays a friendly hand on the shoulder of the bereaved Alan Bond, who served jail time, yes, but paid for his sins and still deserves to remembered for the good things he did, too.
And, of course, the joke is funny.  Hawke tells it particularly well because he has the supreme confidence that comes from someone who was much loved. 

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There may be less to this standoff than the screams suggest

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (6:09am)

For all the bluster, is this a hint that Indonesia may now take responsibility for Indonesian boats in Indonesian waters?
The Indonesian search and rescue service Basarnas was notified about 1am (AEST) of a fishing boat with 75 people on board about 45km south of West Java, well inside the Indonesian search and rescue zone.
A Basarnas official said that by 6.30pm an Australian navy vessel had located the boat, with a broken engine, and the Indonesians were waiting for a call from the Australians to collect the asylum-seekers to land them back in Indonesia.
Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer explains the matter exactly to Indonesian Minister Marty Natelagawa, who is loudly warning Australia not to infringe on Indonesia’s sovereignty:

Let me make this point for Mr Natalegawa’s benefit: Indonesian boats, Indonesian-flagged boats with Indonesian crews are breaking our laws, bringing people into our territorial waters.
But the fact is few concrete objections have been raised by Indonesia other than the obvious and perfectly reasonable one that Australia should not unilaterally pay Indonesian citizens for information or boats. That would indeed by a breach of Indonesian sovereignty. Other than that, Indonesia is making a noisy declaration of principle and a bland suggestion we talk:

The minutes reveal that Mr Natalegawa responded by underlining the importance of multilateral forums, saying he “suggested” that the “steps that will be taken by Australia be put under the Bali Process”.
“It’s feared that unilateral steps by Australia may constitute a risk to the close cooperation and trust that has been built within the Bali Process framework and therefore they should be avoided,” Mr Natalegawa said.
He said a multilateral approach would prevent “a shocking effect to the system that has been built so far”.
I wonder whether this “confrontation” is being beaten up. And how much of the posturing is for show?
UPDATE
Mind you, this won’t help us to sell our case to the Indonesian public:

A SENIOR military officer attached to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta has been suspended after being charged with possessing and producing child pornography in Indonesia and Australia…
The man, who appeared in this official government photo alongside former federal minister for defence materiel Jason Clare and defence minister Stephen Smith, has entered pleas of not guilty to all charges and he will be defending them.

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Note Dean’s new venue, thanks to massive interest

Andrew Bolt September 27 2013 (5:57am)

image
Order Rowan’s book here

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In case you missed the news earlier – extra tickets are now available to the #DoctorWho 50th Celebration in November via a public ballot (closing at 10am BST on 30 September). Get more info and apply for your tickets here:http://bit.ly/DWCballot
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http://www.news.com.au/national-news/treasurer-joe-hockey-and-finance-minister-matthias-cormann-release-budget-update/story-fncynjr2-1226728387873
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And yes, the irony of me writing this is not lost on me.>

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/meet-the-letter-writers-con-vaitsas-20130925-2ue20.html

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Abbott is being too diplomatic, understandably. I'd put it more bluntly as Alexander Downer so aptly did:

uldn't allow ''ourselves to be bullied by the Indonesians in this way''.

Mr Downer said the Indonesian government needed to accept some responsibility for the people-smuggling problem.

''They do have to understand that it's their boats with their crews, their flagged boats, which are breaking our sovereignty and are breaking our law by transgressing our national borders, our maritime borders,'' Mr Downer told Fairfax Radio.

''When we say we'd like to turn back the boats, they need to understand, and they need to understand very clearly, that it is ... their people who are breaking our law and I think they have to be told this very directly.

''There's no point in allowing ourselves to be bullied by the Indonesians in this way. I mean, we have to stand up for ourselves and stand up for our national interest and be prepared to call it as it is. I can understand the [Australian] government not doing that, but since I'm not part of the government, I'm quite happy to.''>

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-says-boats-issue-with-indonesia-a-passing-irritant-20130927-2uhzs.html

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani interviewed by CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

Iranian news agency Fars on Wednesday accused CNN of "fabricating" comments made by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about the Holocaust in an interview with Christiane Amanpour that was aired on Tuesday.
Rouhani who was speaking in Farsi was quoted by CNN as saying: "Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews we condemn," and he added according to CNN, "The taking of human life is contemptible. It makes no difference if that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim. For us it is the same."
Fars, who provided its own translation of Rouhani's remarks claimed that the above quotes were fabrications of the American news network.
According to Fars, CNN either added, completely altered, executed a "conceptual" or not a precise translation or completely changed what Rouhani said.
Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad often made inflammatory remarks denying the Holocaust. In Fars's translation of Rouhani's remarks to CNN there was an unequivocal condemnation of the Nazis' crimes both against Jews and non-Jews.
The Iranian news agency provided the Fars and the CNN translations side-by-side in order to demonstrate the alleged fabrications. The italicized words in the CNN text below are the remarks that Fars claimed were fabricated.
CNN translation of Rouhani remarks:
"I've said before that I am not a historian and then, when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust, it is the historians that should reflect on it. But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime that Nazis committed towards the Jews as well as non-Jews is reprehensible and condemnable.Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn, the taking of human life is contemptible, it makes no difference whether that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim, for us it is the same, but taking the human life is something our religion rejects but this doesn’t mean that on the other hand you can say Nazis committed crime against a group now therefore, they must usurp the land of another group and occupy it. This too is an act that should be condemned. There should be an even-handed discussion".
Fars translation of Rouhani remarks:
"I have said before that I am not a historian and historians should specify, state and explain the aspects of historical events, but generally we fully condemn any kind of crime committed against humanity throughout the history, including the crime committed by the Nazis both against the Jews and non-Jews, the same way that if today any crime is committed against any nation or any religion or any people or any belief, we condemn that crime and genocide. Therefore, what the Nazis did is condemned, (but) the aspects that you talk about, clarification of these aspects is a duty of the historians and researchers, I am not a history scholar."
Amanpour replied to the accusations on her Twitter feed, insisting that "CNN reported exactly what Rouhani said" and providing a link to a video of the full unedited interview.
She also responded to a report on The Wall Street Journal on the controversy, saying she was "stunned by willingness of @WSJ ed page and others to jump into bed with Iranian extremist mouthpiece like Fars."


Because they know he should have said that - ed
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Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and some of his aides have been telling Israelis, Americans and Europeans that they are opposed to violence and terror attacks against Israel, they continue to incite Palestinians against Israel on an almost daily basis
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will be allowed to sit in the UN General Assembly's heads-of-state chair, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Abbas, who is scheduled to speak at the UN on Thursday at noon EST, will be the first Palestinian leader to use the chair, reserved for heads of state waiting to take the podium to address the General Assembly.

In the past, Palestinian leaders, who were considered representatives of a stateless people, had to stand while waiting to address the meeting.

The new diplomatic honor bestowed on Abbas comes after the Palestinians' upgrade to an "observer state" at the UN last November.
The UN has a lot of ways of insulting those it harms - ed
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26 Sept 2013 Tehran’s Nuclear Cooperation? : Tehran calls IAEA Iranian Inspections & Findings "unfair, illegal" in 20-page condemnation document
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/26/us-iran-nuclear-iaea-idUSBRE98P0XN20130926
the logic which produces those statements .. beggars belief - ed===
Data shows global temperatures aren't rising the way climate scientists have predicted. Now the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change faces a problem: publicize these findings and encourage skeptics -- or hush up the figures.
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Aprille Love
Good morning! Life is all about perspective. Have a great friday!
I'm making a wish - ed===

We are all lab mice now: White House didn’t think this Obamacare promo through [pic] ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/09/26/we-are-all-lab-mice-now-white-house-didnt-think-this-obamacare-promo-through-pic/
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Glenn began the radio this show this morning in a bit of a bad mood. Since Senator Ted Cruz wrapped up his marathon anti-Obamacare speech yesterday around noon after 21 hours, the media wasted no time mocking the Senator. Considering how recently the media lionized Democratic Texas State Legislator Wendy Davis in the wake of her 11-hour filibuster against stricter abortion laws, Glenn found himself especially frustrated.
“Here’s my problem. My problem is I have no problem living in a world where we all have different opinions. I have no problem coexisting with people. I have no problem if I can’t convince you to come my way. I have no problem with your religion, I have no problem with whom you voted for,” Glenn said. “But there is something called the freedom of conscience. And what I believe is what I believe. What you believe is what you believe. And that’s good. That’s really good. That’s what makes the world go around. Here’s what I can’t take anymore. I can’t take people who won’t treat people and conditions the same.”
Consistency of opinion is an admirable trait in any person, but it should be seen as a necessary trait for the media. In theory, it is the job of the media to present both sides of a situation and let the audience decide. Or, in the case of cable news, be up front about the angle you are taking. But the media coverage of Sen. Cruz has proven that such a standard simply does not exist in the American media today.
“Now [Wendy Davis is] a woman who stood up for what she believed in and she made a cogent case. I disagree with her, but she made a cogent case and people heard her. And all of the newspapers reported it,” Glenn said. “Ted Cruz gets up and he makes a cogent case for 20 hours and nobody reports on what he’s really saying. They make it all into Green Eggs and Ham – like all he did for 20 hours was talk about Green Eggs and Ham, that all he did was talk about White Castle.”
One of the more egregious offenders was CNN

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Dai Le
http://t.co/pNPSxmIR0E
DAWN - creating our brand:Top Tips For Creating a Recognisable Brand | LinkedIn http://t.co/pNPSxmIR0E

=
Tried to post this great quote on LinkedIn but it cut it short! So here is the amazing quote. To my DAWNs....

The Social Synapse
From: The Neuroscience of Human Relationships

“If you would like to establish a connection with people from another culture is it always good to offer a few gifts as a gesture of friendship. But, an even better way to forge a lasting bond is by creating something together. Whether it’s a meal, an art project, or just a spontaneous dance party, when you create with others, you build a connection that lasts a lifetime.”
From the social synapse by Nona Epinephrine and Sarah Tonin
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Bette Midler accuses Ted Cruz of not being a real Christian, beclowns herself in the process ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/09/25/bette-midler-accuses-ted-cruz-of-not-being-a-real-christian-beclowns-herself-in-the-process/
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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/experts-right-to-give-suzuki-a-hard-time/story-fni0ffxg-1226727156895
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Denis Napthine

Prime Minister Tony Abbott meets with the Premier in Melbourne for the first time since his election victory earlier this month.

Top of the agenda for discussion is the congestion busting East West Link project.

The Federal Coalition has committed $1.5 billion to fund Victoria’s top priority infrastructure project.

LIKE the State and Federal Coalition partnership building for Victoria's growth.


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A KENYAN doctor has told of finding eyes, ears and noses torn from the bodies of hostages recovered from Nairobi's Westgate Mall.
The doctor told Kenya's The Star newspaper that the hostages had been tortured before being killed.
"Those are not allegations. Those are f****ng truths," the emotional doctor is reported as saying.
"They removed (testicles), eyes, ears, nose. They get your hand and sharpen it like a pencil then they tell you to write your name with the blood. They drive knives inside a child's body. Actually if you look at all the bodies, unless those ones that were escaping, fingers are cut by pliers, the noses are ripped by pliers."
The doctor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the condition of the bodies was worse than those he had seen after a 2009 oil tanker explosion in Sachangwan claimed 139 lives.
Kenya The Terror Begins

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/nairobi-westgate-mall-survivor-tells-i-used-dead-teens-blood-to-fool-terrorists/story-fndir2ev-1226727931521#ixzz2g4H9z5UX

Further testimony at the link - ed
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Budget blow out .. Joe Hockey talks money. Picture: AFP

THE new Government today used a $20 billion blowout revealed in final Budget figures for 2012-13 to accuse Labor of a “Budget mess” only the Coalition could fix.
Treasurer Joe Hockey accused the Labor government of “over-promising and underdelivering” and falsely claiming there had been a fall in revenue caused by the easing of the mining boom which required spending cuts.
“The fact is it is a litany of failures and political promises,” Mr Hockey told reporters.
The figures had no substantial surprises and closely matched the estimates presented by Treasury just before the September 7 election.
And Treasurer Hockey denied he had promised a surplus in his first year in office, saying he was now dealing with “an entirely different set of numbers”.
Mr Hockey said there had been “a further deterioration’’ in the figures projected for subsequent years, and he was testing Labor’s forecasts to see how “robust” they were.
“But what Australia needed was an injection of confidence. And we have done that,” said Mr Hockey, declining to speculate on further forecasts.
He said the $1.8 billion Labor had claimed was being dodged on fringe benefits tax on vehicles had already been found to be untrue.
The Coalition in Opposition had argued the government was spending too much, not bringing in too little in tax returns.
“There has been no ‘fall in revenue and receipts’ as often asserted by Labor,” Mr Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Corman said in a statement.
“Receipts for 2012-13 alone increased by 6.4 per cent, or $21 billion, over the previous year, 2011-12.”
The final figures for the year showed that forecasts made in May 2012 for the 12 months to the end of June this year were well off the mark:
* GDP growth estimated to be five per cent came in at 2.5 per cent;
* The expected $1.5 billion Budget surplus became an $18.8 billion deficit — a $20.4 billion deterioration;
* Net debt estimated to be $143.3 billion ended at $153 billion;
* Interest payments on debt were expected to reach $7 billion but ended up at $8.3 billion


Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national-news/hockey-exposes-8220litany-of-failures8221-in-labor8217s-forecasts-but-stops-short-of-promising-a-surplus-in-its-first-year/story-fncynjr2-1226728442460#ixzz2g4KOjiPt

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THE Mars rover Curiosity has had a major breakthrough: It has found water after scraping the dusty surface of the red planet.
The fine-grained soil has revealed a water content of about 2 per cent - a level which could be useful for future human missions.
The water is not free flowing, but is bound to other molecules contained in the dirt.
The Curiosity rover has been scouring the surface of mars since August 2012.
NASA scientists formally published a series of papers last night detailing the results of experiments carried out by the robot's various scientific instruments.
"We tend to think of Mars as this dry place  to find water fairly easy to get out of the soil at the surface was exciting to me," said Laurie Leshin, lead author on the Science paper which confirmed the presence of water.
Mars rover Curiosity

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/mars-rove-curiosity-finds-water-contained-in-soil-on-the-surface-of-the-red-planet/story-e6frfro0-1226728319860#ixzz2g4LIbrId

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A GOLD Coast police officer shot in the face by an armed robbery suspect is being lauded for his bravery after returning fire to help capture his attackers.
On the same day Gold Coast detective Damian Leeding's killers were due to be sentenced, which also happened to be Police Remembrance Day, Sergeant Gary Hamrey could very well have been another fallen officer.
The crime scene at Arundel Tavern of a shooting

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/police-officer-shot-on-gold-coast/story-e6frfku9-1226728178860#ixzz2g4M5CNh9

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trade treaty.jpg
Secretary of State John Kerry signed an international treaty on arms regulation Wednesday, angering conservative lawmakers and rattling the National Rifle Association despite claims that the treaty won't infringe on gun rights. 
If it doesn't do anything, why sign it? - ed
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Bill Gates has confessed that it was a mistake to set "Control-Alt-Delete" as a way to log in to Windows.
During a talk at Harvard, Gates said that there was an option to make a single button for such a command, but the IBM keyboard designer didn’t want to give Microsoft one.
"You want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signaling to a very low level of the software -- actually hard-coded in the hardware -- that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect, instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like a log-in screen, and then it listens to your password and then it’s able to do that," Gates said. "It was a mistake."
David Bradley, a designer of the original IBM PC, invented the "Control-Alt-Delete" combo.
"I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous," Bradley said.
The command also effectively restarts the computer, but Bradley said "Why they used it for the log-in also, I don’t know."


They made lots of mistakes - ed
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A last-ditch effort to refute climate “skeptics”—people unconvinced that we need to spend trillions to reshape our economies to halt or slow  “climate change”-- has failed.
Last week, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) published a study by 13 prestigious atmospheric scientists that supposedly provides “clear evidence for a discernible human influence on the thermal structure of the atmosphere.”
The NAS researchers pointedly echo the famous declaration by the United Nation-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, that the “balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” With this new study, the authors claim to clinch the case. The IPCC, we’re supposed to believe, has been right all along.
With the IPCC now issuing the first segment of its latest mammoth study on the same topic, readers should take the NAS pronouncement with a large grain of salt—and the IPCC report too. This is an attempt to change the subject and ignore the elephant in the room: the crisis in “consensus” climate science arising from the growing mismatch between model-predicted warming and observed warming.

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Just a reminder that The #DoctorWho Exhibition at the ABC Centre Ultimo, Sydney is open this weekend! You can check out costumes, monsters, a Dalek and more!
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Just days after dozens of innocent victims were massacred and hundreds more injured during Al-Shabaab’s attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, handmade flags resembling the black flag of Islamic jihad were spotted flying around New York City.
TheBlaze commissioned numerous translations of the flags. One could not make it out. Three others said they weren’t positive, but that the flags appeared to show the “shehadah,” one of the five pillars of Islam that’s also said by those converting to Islam and a staple on so called “black flags of jihad.” Similar looking flags have been used for numerous reasons, but more recently they have become to be associated with both Al Qaeda and Al-Shebaab — the group claiming responsibility for the massacre at the Kenyan shopping mall.
The event where these flags were spotted? The annual Muslim Day Parade in New York City.
Both black and white versions of the flags were spotted:

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When Jestin Anthony Joseph walked into a McDonald’s and asked for a cup of water, that’s not all he was after.
Witnesses say the 24-year-old soon pulled out a gun and pointed it at employees and customers — who were with children — demanding their possessions.
Prayer Credited After Gun Inexplicably Misfires During Attempted Robbery by Jestin Anthony Joseph at Texas McDonalds

Prayer works - ed
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Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
In this clip, author Guy Kawasaki explains how crowdsourcing editing could help you get early readers and reviews.

Have you tried reaching out to peers while writing?





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not everything need be taught at school .. I'm for smaller government - ed===

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New Video! Helpful/Hurtful >> http://youtu.be/8iPAK8NmMvg << On when you just want sympathetic ears
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Last week, Glenn purchased the microphone of Iva Toguri – aka Tokyo Rose – used during her World War II radio broadcasts. And this morning on radio, Glenn decided to broadcast with the mic, which had not been used in nearly 70 years.
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Holly Sarah Nguyen
My faith, my heart, my marriage, my home, my family, my friends, my life...are ALL under the watchful eye of my protective God!
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If you haven't already read the latest Creature Feature, learn about the ghosts that are said to haunt UTB and its environs:

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Are you in debt? Click here to start on your path toward financial freedom: http://bit.ly/Top5FinancialMistakes #DrPhil

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Speaking last night at a conference on Egypt at Canterbury Leagues Club.

Also on the panel; Laurie Ferguson member for Werrriwa - The Hon. David Clarke MLC - The Rev Fred Nile MLC - Mrs Fatma Naoot , Egyptian journalist and poet - The Hon. Justice Amir Ramzy - Dr Ihab Ramzy, Professor of Criminal Law/Human Rights.

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to what extent is our behaviour ‘determined’ by our biology

It comes down to choice. I made the choice to stand up for the dead school child Hamidur Rahman when no one else would. Maybe I really am a southpaw .. but my powers of caring only extend to one thing, and not the other. I thank God that not every choice I make matters. And I beg God to strengthen me to make the ones that do. - ed===





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ROUHANI: "No nation should possess nuclear weapons. As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persist. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination."

Guess which country he means?
Iranian President Hasan Rouhani speaks at the UN General Assembly in New York, on Tuesday (photo credit: @nycjim via Twitter)

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Grant Line Road 

on January 23rd, 2010 I was still moving in to our new residence on the east side of Mount Diablo, still learning the area, when the TV announced early this morning that we were under a tornado warning... very unusual to say the least! I was sick with a cold, but still jumped into our Saturn Vue and sped off towards Brentwood where the reports of a funnel cloud were being proclaimed. Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn and wound up near the Altamont Pass... I shot this as I realize I was losing the chase. The rest of the year was an incredible experience.
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"Obama and Kerry insisted nothing the US would do would have any impact on the outcome of the Syrian civil war. This was supposed to be the strikes' selling point. But by launching worthless strikes, Obama was poised to wreck America's deterrent posture, transforming the world's superpower into an international joke.http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=327188

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Strawberries: "Stop! We've got you surrounded!"
Chocolate: "Okay FINE, jump in."
 
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Friend, 
Yesterday while we were all watching Ted Cruz valiantly fight ObamaCare on the Senate floor, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.
The Obama Administration thought we were not paying attention. 
Well, they were wrong. Conservatives are able to multi-task.
As we continue to fight ObamaCare, we are also going to immediately fight this U.N. Treaty that threatens our 2nd Amendment rights!
There are elite, powerful forces in America today that are spending millions of dollars and using everything at their disposal to take away our 2nd Amendment rights.
Fortunately, Main Street America is even more powerful - but only if they are energized and engaged! That is where Patriot Voices comes in. We have a pretty good track record -- having played a key role in stopping the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Remember how some said ObamaCare could never pass? We must ignore those who say the same thing about this U.N. Treaty.
We have to fight for our Constitutional rights immediately when they are challenged - or we may permanently lose that right.
John Kerry said yesterday "this treaty will not diminish anyone's freedom."
But he also claimed the administration "would never think about supporting a treaty that is inconsistent with the rights of Americans..."  
Really?
The Obama Administration believes they are actually doing us a favor because they are convinced they know what is best.
From ObamaCare to guns, it is clear they have an agenda. And it includes making decisions for us, for our families, for our country!
The Constitution guarantees our right to bear arms. It also makes it clear that any treaty confirmed by the Senate is the supreme law of the land.  That is why we must rally now and fight this treaty.
Let's also keep our U.S. Senators in prayer as they deal with these monumental issues that will affect the future of our exceptional country.
Fighting alongside you,
Rick Santorum signature 
Rick Santorum

Donate Today button

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New Release! Halloween: harmless or harmful?
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Reaching your community takes a strategy. It won't happen automatically. Let's talk about that strategy.
September 25, 2013
View this email in your browser
7 Strategies for Taking Your Community By Storm
Taking Your Community By StormFellow Pastors and church leaders, we are in a battle for souls. The Bible encourages us to “endure hardship as a soldier.” This is not to say that we are at war with people, and we need to be very careful to realize that the war we are involved in is spiritual in nature. In fact, the war we are engaged in is far more important than any earthly one. The implications of our war are eternal. Victory is not a matter of who will be in charge politically or who will control natural resources. It’s a battle that will determine how many people we can rescue from sin forever. We’re talking about souls for eternity.
In any war, in any battle, there absolutely must be a strategy before the engagement starts. I want to share with you seven aspects of the strategy that any local church needs to adopt to take their communities by storm.
  
Reflections on the 100 Fastest Growing Churches in the US
By Ed Stetzer
ValuesI love to learn. I have spent a significant portion of my adult life in the classroom, either as a student or as a professor. These lists feed our hunger to learn as we evaluate the temperature of the churches we study in an effort to learn more about the ways God is working. I hope these lists encourage you and challenge you. I hope, like me, you read them and celebrate the ways God is working. I hope they challenge you to think through your own strategy to reach your community with the gospel.
  

Two Conferences at Saddleback on Finances!

Next week, two great conferences will be offered back-to-back at Saddleback. The first is Kingdom Advisors West Coast Regional Conference. This is a great opportunity to get any financial professionals you know (financial planners, estate attorneys, tax accountants, realtors, mortgage brokers, etc.) growing in their faith and excited about serving in the church. Invite them to go with you! Pastors attend for only $29. And the second is the CSN Stewardship Impact Workshop. Are you or someone you know trying to grow a stewardship ministry in your church? This is the place to be! Bring a team from your church and catapult your ministry forward!

Read More About These Events

6 Keys to Accelerating Small Group Growth and Impact

By Mark Howell
How to Get Through What Your Going Through

By Rick and Kay Warren
"I don't have to know all the answers. I just have to know that God knows, that he is good, and that he loves me."

Via @RickWarren on Twitter

More Stories
from Pastors.com

Eating Men Alive - Powerful Men, Common Fears
By Kenny Luck
How to Stop Copying and Start Innovating
via The Resurgence
10 Things People Want Before They Will Give to Your Church
via TonyMorganLive.com
9 Things You Need to Know About Human Trafficking
Via Flourish.me
Until Someone Asks "Why?"
By Greg Stier
Leadership: I Wonder If We Got It Wrong?
By Derwin L. Gray
Books: Pull, by Bob Franquiz
By Pastors.com Staff

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Thanks for opting into Rick Warren's Pastor's Toolbox at pastors.com. 

Our mailing address is: 
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September 27World Tourism DayMeskel in Eritrea and Ethiopia
Aung San Suu Kyi

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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]


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“For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”Hebrews 10:30-31 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"The myrtle trees that were in the bottom."
Zechariah 1:8
The vision in this chapter describes the condition of Israel in Zechariah's day; but being interpreted in its aspect towards us, it describes the Church of God as we find it now in the world. The Church is compared to a myrtle grove flourishing in a valley. It is hidden, unobserved, secreted; courting no honour and attracting no observation from the careless gazer. The Church, like her head, has a glory, but it is concealed from carnal eyes, for the time of her breaking forth in all her splendour is not yet come. The idea of tranquil security is also suggested to us: for the myrtle grove in the valley is still and calm, while the storm sweeps over the mountain summits. Tempests spend their force upon the craggy peaks of the Alps, but down yonder where flows the stream which maketh glad the city of our God, the myrtles flourish by the still waters, all unshaken by the impetuous wind. How great is the inward tranquility of God's Church! Even when opposed and persecuted, she has a peace which the world gives not, and which, therefore, it cannot take away: the peace of God which passeth all understanding keeps the hearts and minds of God's people. Does not the metaphor forcibly picture the peaceful, perpetual growth of the saints? The myrtle sheds not her leaves, she is always green; and the Church in her worst time still hath a blessed verdure of grace about her; nay, she has sometimes exhibited most verdure when her winter has been sharpest. She has prospered most when her adversities have been most severe. Hence the text hints at victory. The myrtle is the emblem of peace, and a significant token of triumph. The brows of conquerors were bound with myrtle and with laurel; and is not the Church ever victorious? Is not every Christian more than a conqueror through him that loved him? Living in peace, do not the saints fall asleep in the arms of victory?

Evening

"Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen."
Zechariah 11:2
When in the forest there is heard the crash of a falling oak, it is a sign that the woodman is abroad, and every tree in the whole company may tremble lest to-morrow the sharp edge of the axe should find it out. We are all like trees marked for the axe, and the fall of one should remind us that for every one, whether great as the cedar, or humble as the fir, the appointed hour is stealing on apace. I trust we do not, by often hearing of death, become callous to it. May we never be like the birds in the steeple, which build their nests when the bells are tolling, and sleep quietly when the solemn funeral peals are startling the air. May we regard death as the most weighty of all events, and be sobered by its approach. It ill behoves us to sport while our eternal destiny hangs on a thread. The sword is out of its scabbard--let us not trifle; it is furbished, and the edge is sharp--let us not play with it. He who does not prepare for death is more than an ordinary fool, he is a madman. When the voice of God is heard among the trees of the garden, let fig tree and sycamore, and elm and cedar, alike hear the sound thereof.
Be ready, servant of Christ, for thy Master comes on a sudden, when an ungodly world least expects him. See to it that thou be faithful in his work, for the grave shall soon be digged for thee. Be ready, parents, see that your children are brought up in the fear of God, for they must soon be orphans; be ready, men of business, take care that your affairs are correct, and that you serve God with all your hearts, for the days of your terrestrial service will soon be ended, and you will be called to give account for the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil. May we all prepare for the tribunal of the great King with a care which shall be rewarded with the gracious commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant"
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Today's reading: Isaiah 1-2, Galatians 5 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Isaiah 1-2

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
4 Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.

Today's New Testament reading: Galatians 5

Freedom in Christ
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love....
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Bathsheba

The Woman Whose Beauty Resulted in Adultery and Murder
Scripture References - 2 Samuel 11:2312:241 Kings 1:11-31; 2:13-19; 1 Chronicles 3:5
Name Meaning - The Seventh Daughter, or The Daughter of an Oath. "Bath" means "daughter." A kindred name is Bath Shua, a Canaanite name which implies, "the daughter of opulence." The wife of Judah is referred to as "Shua's daughter" (Genesis 38:2;1 Chronicles 2:3). Bath Shua was also the name of the daughter of Ammiel and wife of David ( 1 Chronicles 3:5).
Family Connections - Bathsheba came of a God-fearing family. She was the daughter of Eliam or Ammiah, who was the son of Ahithophel. Eliam, whose name means "God is gracious," was one of David's gallant officers. Bathsheba became the wife of Uriah, the most loyal of David's men. After the murder of Uriah, she became the wife of David, and mother of five sons by him. The first died in infancy. The others were Solomon, Shimea, Shobub and Nathan. She is mentioned in our Lord's genealogy as "her that had been the wife of Uriah" ( Matthew 1:6).
The sacred record informs us that David's association with Bathsheba was the only stain upon the escutcheon of David. "David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah" (1 Kings 15:5). If this was the only blot on his page, it was a heavily engrained one, and one that could not be erased, as far as the effects of his treatment of Uriah was concerned. While God freely pardons a sinner, often the effects of committed sin remain. The tragic lapse in the life of the man after God's own heart is built up with consummate art, from David's first sight of Bathsheba to the climax of his unutterable remorse when realizing the enormity of his most grievous sin, he flung himself upon the mercy of God.
The sad story begins with the significant phrase, "But David tarried still at Jerusalem" ( 2 Samuel 11:1 ). The Israelites were at war with the Ammonites, and the king who had shown himself brave and victorious in battle should have been with his army. But now a mature man, and veteran of many wars, and ruler over Israel for some twelve years now David had become somewhat soft and self-indulgent. He had had his day of hard campaigning and war weariness. Now it was time to leave the rigors and risks of battle to his officers, and sit back and take things easy. But no longer fighting the battle of the Lord, David was open to attack and so found himself involved in the triangle drama of passion, intrigue and murder.
Lazing around on the flat roof of his palace, David saw a woman on the roof of a nearby house undressing and bathing herself, and his passions were excited. Bathsheba, the woman exposing herself nudely, was "very beautiful to look upon," and David, ever attracted by lovely women, coveted her, and became guilty of an outrageous disgrace. Although David was to confess that his foul sin was his, and his alone, one wonders how far Bathsheba was the accomplice in such a sin, as well as its provocation. Had she been a careful, modest woman, surely she would have looked around the easily seen adjacent roofs, and if others had been looking her way, she would have been more appropriately modest in bathing herself.
Further, when sent for by David, had she been a true wife and a woman of principle she should have refused to obey the king's summons. As she saw David feasting his eyes upon her, did she have a presentiment of what would happen? If not, then, when before the king, she should have bravely refused to yield to adultery. Later on in the sacred record, a heathen woman - a queen - brave Vashti, stoutly refused to expose herself before wine-in-flamed men, and was expelled from court. Had Bathsheba shown the same determination to preserve her dignity, David, the anointed of Israel, would never have sinned as he did. After the adulterous act in the king's bedchamber, Bathsheba manifested no sense of guilt, but after her husband's murder almost immediately went to the palace to supplement David's many wives.
Bathsheba only added insult to the injury by indulging in her illicit affair with another man, while her lawful husband was risking his life in the service of her seducer. Learning of Bathsheba's pregnant condition, David hurried Uriah home to allay suspicion, but returning, the devoted soldier, a man of highest principle, refused any physical contact with his wife. David's clever plan failed, and the plot thickens. Uriah must be gotten rid of, so he was sent back to the battlefield with a letter to Joab to put Uriah in a foremost place where he was bound to be killed. Godly, gallant Uriah had no ideas that that sealed letter carried his death warrant. Thus, for David lust, adultery, deceit, treachery and murder followed in quick succession.
After the accustomed period of mourning Bathsheba became the wife of David, and their child of an adulterous union was born without disgrace, only to die within a week of his birth. "The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bare David." The deep grief of David over the sickness and death of the child, while not relieving the king of his murderous crime, gives us a glimpse of his better nature and of his faith in reunion beyond the grave. Perhaps no other passage of the Bible has been used to comfort sorrowing hearts in the hour of death as that in which David assures us of immortality. Mourning over his dead child he said, "Can I bring him back again?" No, he could not. Then came words binding up the cruel wound death causes, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." Both David and Bathsheba must have had much agony of soul as they became deeply conscious that the death of their son, conceived out of wedlock, was a divine judgment upon their dark sin.
Divinely instructed, Nathan the prophet brought David to a realization of his terrible evil, and sincere in his confession of his iniquity, he received from Nathan the assuring word, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin." Much has been written about David's repentance preserved for us in Psalm 51 - a Psalm saturated with penitential tears - and of Psalm 32, expressing David's gratitude to God for His pardoning grace and mercy. But graciously forgiven, even God could not avert the natural consequences of David's transgression, and he came to prove its inevitable subsequent sorrow. Evil rose up against him in his own house ( 2 Samuel 12:11). David found himself disgraced by one son (13:4), banished by another (15:19), revolted against by a third (1 Kings 2), bearded by his servant, betrayed by his friends, deserted by his people, bereaved of his children.
What about Bathsheba? With David, was she made conscious of her share in the iniquitous transaction of the past? Coresponsible in David's sin, did her tears of repentance mingle with those of her husband's? It would seem so, because God blessed them with another son whom they called Solomon, meaning, "Beloved of the Lord." Why was not such a son given to one of David's other wives? Given to David and Bathsheba was not Solomon an evidence and expression of God's pardoning love for both? Then, is not Bathsheba's inclusion in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1) another token that God had put her sins behind His back? Restored to divine favor, and now virtuous and wise as well as beautiful, Bathsheba brought up her son Solomon in all godly diligence and care. Solomon himself came to write, "Train up a child in the way he should go" (Proverbs 22:6), which counsel reflected his own godly upbringing. Tradition says that it was Bathsheba who composed Proverbs 31, as an admonition to Solomon on his marriage to Pharaoh's daughter. If this be so, we can understand all the warnings against the flatteries of strange women with which Proverbs abounds.
After her lapse, recovery and the birth of Solomon the rest of Bathsheba's life is veiled in silence. We can imagine how noble calmness, gentle dignity and queenly courage became hers. That she retained her influence over David until his death is proven by the way she reminded the king of his promise to make their son, Solomon, his successor. The veil of silence is lifted again when Solomon became king, and Bathsheba, whom Solomon revered, came into his presence to ask that Abishag, who cared for David in his last days, be given in marriage to Adonijah, the son of Haggith, one of David's other wives.
A lesson we can learn from Bathsheba is that being assured of God's forgiveness she did not let her one sin ruin her entire life. Repentant, she used her mistake as a guide to future, better conduct. When we brood over sins God has said He will remember no more against us, we actually doubt His mercy, and rob ourselves of spiritual power and progress. Read again Psalm 51 and then Psalm 32.
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Demetrius

[Dēmē'trĭŭs] - belonging to demeter. Demeter was the goddess of agriculture and rural life.
  1. The silversmith at Ephesuswho made silver models of the celebrated Temple of Diana, and who opposed Paul and incited the mob against him (Acts 19:24, 38).
  2. A believer, well-commended by the Apostle John (3 John 12 ). This man of God had the testimony of all men of the truth and of John also. It is one of the finest recommendations of the Gospel when a Christian impresses and attracts those around him by the reality of his or her life.
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P31Header
Luann Prater
September 26, 2011
The Valve
Luann Prater
"Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark." James 3:5 (NIV)
My husband needed some diesel fuel for the tractor so he asked me to pick up some on the way home. He had put the gas can in a box in the back of his truck. Now, I'm 5'2", so things that taller-than-me folks can do become a bit more of an issue for this vertically challenged gal. I pumped the gas into the can then tried to lift it, not only up to the bed of the truck, but over the top edge of the box. It was then I discovered the little valve cover was open.
At least a cup's worth of gas escaped through that tiny opening and strategically ran from the top of my t-shirt to the top of my pants. When I got home I scrubbed and scrubbed in the shower hoping to get rid of the smell, but the stench of gas remained in my nostrils.
My lips are like that little valve. It is such a small opening, yet the fuel that escapes can be unpleasant, caustic and even deadly. Loose lips have snapped at my family. Harsh tones have left friends feeling poisoned. Careless words have killed the spirit of a vulnerable child.
The book of James tells us that our tongue is like a restless evil full of deadly poison. Ouch! My husband didn't want me to spill that gas; we wanted to use it for good. God doesn't want our tongues to open unless they are going to encourage and spur one another on.
Several years ago I made a very small, but very life-changing decision. When a hurtful thought comes into my head, I tighten my lips and force a pause button to appear in my brain. When I allow myself to have just a second to think about the potential hazard that could come from 'speaking my mind' it gives the Holy Spirit time to check my heart and motives. In that pause moment I say, "Lord, take control of this tongue." And He does.
Do I get it right every time? No. But I can see fewer wrecks in my life, fewer wounds, fewer poison-tipped darts flying out of this mouth. And I no longer reek of gasoline I added to the fire.
Want to join me? Pause. Seal up the valve and allow the Holy Spirit to work for good through the words you speak.
Dear Lord, thank You for reminding us that our tongue can rip a heart apart, or seal it back together. Teach us to pause long enough to give Your Spirit time to work in and through us. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Chat more with Luann on her blog or hear her onEncouragement Café every Saturday!
For more daily encouragement, follow us on Facebook!
Application Steps:
Before anything negative slips past your lips today, hit the pause button. Pray that the Holy Spirit take control. Ask God to make you a peacemaker.
Reflections:
Why do I say things I regret later?
When will I surrender my tongue to Jesus?
How can I allow my words to encourage instead of destroy?
Power Verses:
James 3:17, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." (NIV)
Proverbs 27:15, "A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day." (NIV)
© 2011 by Luann Prater. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
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September 26, 2011
Never Forget
Today's Truth
"I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago" (Psalm 77:11 NIV).
Friend to Friend
Sometimes it is easy to read about Adam and Eve's failure in the garden and think to ourselves, How could they have been so disobedient? But in reality, this is not Adam and Eve's story alone. It is our story as well. We make decisions daily that dishonor God or honor God. We disobey, take charge of our own lives, and become Lord of our own ring. Then like Eve, we try to cover up our shame and even attempt to hide from God.
Do you know the first question God asked in the Bible? After Adam and Eve cowered in the bushes, hiding from God, He asked - Where are you? God knew exactly where they were, what they had done, and how the enemy had tricked them. However, He decided to remain in relationship with them and begin the process of restoration which was completed on Calvary's cross. He asks the same question of us today when we attempt to hide...Where are you?
I think "but God" are two of most beautiful words in Scripture. The Bible says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 ). When did we become sinners? The first time we sinned? No, we were born sinners and that sin is what separated us from God. While we were yet sinners, He became the perfect sacrifice for us, not to cover our sin, but to cleanse us forever - once and for all. Salvation Army Officer, John Allen once said, "I deserved to be damned in hell, but God interfered." God interfered, intervened, and intercepted our death sentence. He sent His Son, who paid the penalty for our sin and all we have to do to receive the pardon is to accept His wonderful gift.
How do we receive the gift? "If you confess with your mouth 'Jesus as Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). When you accept Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior, you are freed from the penalty of sin (spiritual death and eternal separation from God) and He gives you a new living spirit. Someone once said, "Salvation is moving from living death to deathless life."
"All this is from God who reconciled us [joined us back together] to himself through Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:18 AMP). Once there was a Christian group who sang a song with a line that said, "There's a bridge to cross the great divide." However, when they were recording, someone sang, "There's a cross to bridge the great divide." Suddenly, they realized that they had not made a mistake at all. We were separated from God because of sin, but He sent His Son to die on Calvary's cross to bridge the great divide.
Why did God do this for us? "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16 NIV). The Greeks had three words for life: bios (life of the body),psyche(life of the soul), and zoe (life of the spirit). Guess which word for life is in John 3:16 ? Zoe - life of the spirit! When you become a Christian, your spirit is reborn and you become a brand new creation. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV). We were crucified with Christ and now we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (Galatians 5:20 NIV).
What about those glaring needs that cropped up as a result of Adam and Eve's sin in the garden? What about feelings of inferiority, insecurity, and inadequacy that so many struggle with today? Here's what the Bible says: "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so, through one act of righteousness, there resulted justification of life to all men" (Romans 5:18,19 NASB). All were condemned because of Adam's disobedience and all who accept Jesus are freed because of Christ's obedience. At the moment of your salvation, everything mankind lost when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden was returned to you in Jesus Christ. Once again you have:
Significance because of who you are in Christ.
Safety and Security because of what you have in Christ.
A sense of belonging because of where you are in Christ.
Your glaring needs have been fulfilled and transformed into your glowing attributes. The question is, why don't we act like our needs have been fulfilled? Why do we continue to struggle with feelings of shame, fear, loneliness, and rejection? Why do we continue to try to get our needs met by our own means? Because even though our spirits are changed in an instant, our minds must be renewed, our wills must come under the control of the Holy Spirit, and our emotions must be reprogrammed.
It's a process...and that's why Girlfriends in God even exists. We are learning, growing, and reprogramming our minds together. And as we do, we grow more and more spiritually beautiful every day.
Let's Pray
Dear LORD, all through the Old Testament, the patriarchs told the Israelites to "remember." Today I stop and remember all that You have done for me. I remember what I was like before I came to Christ and I remember all that You have done to bring me to Yourself. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. May the remembrance of Your mercies be new every morning.
In Jesus' mame,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn
Sometimes, when you have been a Christian for many years, you forget just how amazing the gift of salvation really is. Today, I'm not going to ask you any questions, but I do want you to go back and reflect on the verses in this devotion. Write out your own prayer of gratitude for all that God has done to bridge the great divide that separated you from Him.
As always, I love to hear from my Girlfriends in God. You can visit my blog (www.sharonjaynes.com/blog ) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes.com ) to share your comments.
More from the Girlfriends
Have you ever felt this way: "If I'm a new creation, then why don't I feel like one and why don't I act like one?" If so, then perhaps you need to read Sharon's book, Becoming Spiritually Beautiful - Seeing Yourself as God Sees You. In this book you'll discover the secrets to spiritual beauty and to becoming a radiant Christian woman. It also comes with a Bible Study guide for those who want to spend extra time at God's spa!
Seeking God?
Click here to find out more about
how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Girlfriends in God
P.O. Box 725
Matthews, NC 28106
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LeadershipBible-Header-550

Skills: Stress Management

In his book Shoulder to Shoulder, Dr. Rodney L. Cooper defines stress as "The response of the sympathetic nervous system to a perceived or actual threat." He adds, "This technical definition probably won't mean much to you. Basically it says that stress is the way our body responds to perceived or actual danger. Our blood pressure skyrockets and our muscle strength increases. We're ready to fight or fly. Stress isn't the cause but the effect"* In essence, stress is a reaction to danger real or imagined.
Dr. Cooper's definition of stress certainly describes what happened to King Saul after David had killed Goliath. Sensing that David was a threat to his position, the king's blood pressure skyrocketed, his heart rate increased, and his muscles tightened. Overcome with rage he hurled a spear at David, who barely escaped.
In that instance, Saul's response was to a perceived rather than an actual danger. David had no intention of overthrowing the king, nor would he have used his newfound popularity to ease Saul out of power. Unfortunately, one of Saul's shortcomings as a leader was his inability to deal constructively with his perceptions of danger. That weakness undermined his mental health as well as the stability of his throne. Effective leaders learn how to manage stress-both their own and that of the team which they lead.
What would have been a more constructive way for Saul to have dealt with the perceived danger? How do you deal with stress?
*Taken from Shoulder to Shoulder by Rodney L. Cooper. Copyright © 1997 by Rodney L. Cooper. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Stress Management and Who God Is
Through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, our God experienced stress on a firsthand basis. Our Lord faced stressful circumstances on numerous occasions, but all of these were minor in comparison to the stress he endured from Gethsemane to the cross. To what resources did Jesus turn during this ordeal? Turn to 1 Peter 2:21-24 and its accompanying study note to observe Christ's response to stress and suffering-truly a model for us to emulate!
This Week's Verse to Memorize

Passage to memorize this week:Phillipians 4:12-13
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Stress Management and Who I Am
Some people associate work with creativity, productivity, positive challenges, significance, pride of accomplishment, enjoyable relationships and stimulating challenges. Others associate it with dreary toil, futility, injustice and joyless malaise. Turn to Ecclesiastes 2:17-26 to reflect on the ambiguous nature of work.
Stress Management and How It Works
We all need techniques to manage stress. This need is intrinsic to the human condition. Hans Selye, the great stress researcher, differentiated between helpful, neutral and debilitating stress. In Philippians 4:4-9 Paul teaches us how to turn pressure to our advantage. This passage is essential reading for any leader under pressure; turn to it and its study note for today's reading.
Stress Management and What I Do
If you're a leader, you may assume that stress is simply an unavoidable component of your job. Fortunately, both King David in Psalm 23:1-6 and Fred Smith of fer some insights intended to help leaders manage their stress.

handbookleadership

Handbook to Leadership: Leadership in the Image of God

by Kenneth Boa
Buy the Handbook!
All the features of The Leadership Bible created by Kenneth Boa, Sid Buzzell, and Bill Perkins have been combined in this attractive and compact black leather volume. Handbook to Leadership has four parts: 52-Week Leadership Guide, Topical Leadership Guide, Leadership Character Studies, and Books of the Bible Leadership Guide.


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There ARE Christians tortured for their faith
The true story of a pastor, imprisoned and tortured for his faith in Christ
...it will ABSOLUTELY shock you!
And now, the Voice of the Martyrs invites you to request acomplimentary copy of the international bestseller, Tortured for Christ.
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NIV Devotions for Moms

Laughing Matters

This week's reading: Genesis 21:1-7
Sarah learned to laugh at the unexpected turns of her days. At first she laughed rather inappropriately at God when she heard she would bear a child in her nineties. She laughed with the pain of unbelief and doubt. Later she laughed with God out of pure joy when she held Isaac, whose name means, "he laughs." She laughed out of pure joy at God's power and provision.
There are so many heavy challenges in life! Will my toddler ever be potty-trained? How will I survive the years of puberty with an eye-rolling preteen? What about becoming a mom-again-at age forty-six? Try Sarah's approach. The next time you lack perspective on the chaos of your days, consider the lighter side of life. Find something to laugh about!
Additional Scripture Readings: Psalm 126:2; Proverbs 31:25
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Today's reading is from the
Mom's Devotional Bible
by Zondervan


Mom, you don't have to go it alone! The Mom's Devotional Bible is a trusted source of wisdom to help you along the path of mothering.


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