Rudd and the ALP are increasingly desperate. Rudd has released a youtube video thanking a polar bear and some muppets. Meanwhile Abbott is calmly working through various electorates. A mistake in a Liberal policy document was corrected (it had claimed the Libs were planning an internet filter). Abbott took responsibility. Meanwhile, Rudd is trying to threaten the voters with claims of cuts the Libs never announced. ALP have many outstanding un-costed policies. Liberal policies are all accounted for. The Age is alone in spruiking for ALP in paper editorials. Even their Fairfax Sister paper, the Sydney Morning Herald, acknowledges the Liberals deserve government.
An Islamic boy jailed for gang rape 13 years ago was paroled recently. The parole was revoked after he broke the conditions of his parole. He had been instructed not to meet with his brothers, or other gang members (a brotherhood). He had claimed when 16 he wasn't very bright and was easily led by others. He was apparently planning to live with them, and had met up with them while on day release. It isn't a political issue. But I note conservatives seem to govern well.
Obama is now claiming his minor attack on Syria will take out their army, airforce and navy. He keeps dithering .. will he attack? Why? What is he waiting for? What would he achieve? A symbolic hit?
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Graham Diggins, born on the same day as Emanuel van Meteren (1535), Moses Mendelssohn (1729), Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (1757) (cf Patrick Poulou), John Dalton (1766), Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (1888), Pippa Middleton (1983) and Prince Hisahito of Akishino (2006). On your day, 1901 – U.S. President William McKinley was fatally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
1943 – A group of businessmen in Monterrey, Mexico, founded the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, now one of the largest universities in Latin America.
1955 – A Turkish mob attacked ethnic Greeks in Istanbul, killing at least 13 people and damaging more than 5,000 Greek-owned homes and businesses.
1963 – Victor Krulak was sent on a mission by the Kennedy administration to assess the progress of the Vietnam War, and the viability of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem against the backdrop of the Buddhist crisis and Xa Loi Pagoda raids.
2000 – The Millennium Summit, a meeting of world leaders to discuss the role of the United Nations at the turn of the 21st century, opened in New York City. Anarchists are not your friends. In baseball, use the mitt to catch the ball .. otherwise the game become hit and MITHE. Greeks are not Armenians. Victor's advice may not be the best. The Millenium Summit was a once in a thousand year thing .. which is good. Enjoy your day.
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BRING ON THE ADULTS
Tim Blair – Friday, September 06, 2013 (5:41am)
Me in the Spectator. Includes a terrifying wager.
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JUST ANOTHER DAY IN MARGOVILLE
Tim Blair – Friday, September 06, 2013 (5:36am)
Unlike the rest of us, Margo Kingston doesn’t have a choice.
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KICK THIS MOB OUT II
Tim Blair – Friday, September 06, 2013 (5:34am)
One month late, the Sydney Morning Herald finally gets with the program:
Australia is crying out for a stable government that can be trusted to deliver what it promises. The Herald believes only the Coalition can achieve that …Labor under Kevin Rudd in 2013 is not offering a stable, trustworthy government on which Australians can depend. The Coalition under Tony Abbott deserves the opportunity to return trust to politics.
Note to protesters: the address you need is Darling Island Road, Pyrmont.
UPDATE. Previously Labor-leaning, Brisbane’s Courier-Mail now invokes the Doom Clown:
UPDATE II. The Age endorses Labor! It’s the doomed leading the doomed.
UPDATE II. The Age endorses Labor! It’s the doomed leading the doomed.
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BLAIRPOLL: PICK THE MOMENT
Tim Blair – Friday, September 06, 2013 (3:54am)
At some stage following the closing of polls on Saturday night, either Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott will deliver the toughest speech of their lives. All times AEST:
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Age learns truth about its sweet boat person
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (11:33am)
In May, she was the poster girl for The Age’s campaign for more “compassion” to boat people:
IT SHOULD have been cause for unbridled joy. Having fled the trauma and tragedy of life in Sri Lanka, Ranjini had been found to be a refugee, married the man who would be a father to her two boys and begun a new life in suburban Melbourne. Now she was pregnant.Today, however, The Age learns that maybe ASIO isn’t so stupid - and its poster girl not so innocent:
Instead, confirmation of the pregnancy last Saturday only compounded her feeling of complete and utter despair. It came two days after Ranjini was told, without warning, that she had been deemed a threat to Australia’s national security and whisked away with her sons to the Villawood detention centre in Sydney…
‘’I am in total shock,’’ says Nathalie Klapper, who struck up a friendship with Ranjini…
‘’There is nothing subversive or political or nasty about Ranjini whatsoever,’’ Klapper says. ‘’She’s the most positive, upbeat, strong person despite all the horrors that she has been through...’’
‘’I can’t speak highly enough of her,’’ says Jenny Sims, a minister at the Chermside-Kedron Community Church in Brisbane… ‘’She’s a loving, caring, gentle person who has been through a lot of trauma.’’…
Ranjini, 33, is the 47th asylum seeker in the current caseload to receive a negative ASIO assessment… Because she does not know what she is accused of doing, or saying, she cannot defend herself.
Tamil refugee Ranjini admitted to having trained child soldiers during Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war in a secret ASIO report used to justify her indefinite detention in Australia.
She also told immigration officials she rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the separatist Tamil Tigers and fought two battles in the late 1990s against Sri Lankan forces…
Ranjini insists she has given up the cause of Tamil independence in Sri Lanka and wants to focus on raising her children - including a boy born in January while in detention.
But a review of the case by retired federal court judge Margaret Stone, delivered in July but not made public until now, was scathing, finding Ranjini’s claims ‘’self-serving and implausible’’…
[Ranjini ] told officials her then husband - known as ‘’Akbar’’, killed in a 2006 battle - was a bodyguard for feared Tigers commander Prabhakaran and led fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades.
She admitted to using machineguns and AK-47s, being trained in karate, but not in the use of bombs or explosives.
An extensive investigation of her refugee claims found she was ‘’heavily indoctrinated’’ into the Tigers...
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New paper: climate is not warming as warmists said
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (11:04am)
A peer reviewed paper
from Nature Climate Change confirms what sceptics have said for some
time - that the climate isn’t warming as warmists predicted:
Remember how a Gillard Government minister blustered and bulldusted his way through an interview when I asked him to justify his false claim that warming hadn’t paused?
Recent observed global warming is significantly less than that simulated by climate models. This difference might be explained by some combination of errors in external forcing, model response and internal climate variability.The paper adds:
The inconsistency between observed and simulated global warming is even more striking for temperature trends computed over the past fifteen years (1998–2012).The authors are from the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis and Canada’s University of Victoria.
For this period, the observed trend of 0.05 ± 0.08 °C per decade is more than four times smaller than the average simulated trend of 0.21 ± 0.03 °C per decade… It is worth noting that the observed trend over this period — not significantly different from zero — suggests a temporary ‘hiatus’ in global warming.
Remember how a Gillard Government minister blustered and bulldusted his way through an interview when I asked him to justify his false claim that warming hadn’t paused?
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Baddies vs baddies
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (10:06am)
As the US prepares to attack the Syrian regime over a despicable chemical weapons attack, the New York Times describes a rebel opposition that is equally brutal:
The prisoners, seven in all, were captured Syrian soldiers.. They kept their faces pressed to the dirt as the rebels’ commander recited a bitter revolutionary verse…
The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as “the Uncle,” fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner’s head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet.
This scene, documented in a video smuggled out of Syria a few days ago by a former rebel who grew disgusted by the killings, offers a dark insight into how many rebels have adopted some of the same brutal and ruthless tactics as the regime they are trying to overthrow…
In the more than two years this civil war has carried on, a large part of the Syrian opposition has formed a loose command structure that has found support from several Arab nations, and, to a more limited degree, the West. Other elements of the opposition have assumed an extremist cast, and openly allied with Al Qaeda…
In Washington on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry addressed the issue of radicalized rebels in an exchange with Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican…
Mr. Kerry said that there were 70,000 to 100,000 “oppositionists.” Of these, he said, some 15 percent to 20 percent were “bad guys” or extremists.
Mr. McCaul responded by saying he had been told in briefings that half of the opposition fighters were extremists.
Much of the concern among American officials has focused on two groups that acknowledge ties to Al Qaeda. These groups — the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — have attracted foreign jihadis, used terrorist tactics and vowed to create a society in Syria ruled by their severe interpretation of Islamic law.
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Abbott has won the campaign. Next, the election
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (9:22am)
Tony Abbott has won the election campaign:
... the Coalition’s primary vote at the start of the campaign was 44 per cent, it had a two-party-preferred figure of 52 per cent, satisfaction with Abbott was at 34 per cent and he trailed Rudd as preferred prime minister by 14 points on 33. Last weekend the Coalition’s primary vote was 46 per cent, the two-party-preferred figure was 54 per cent, voter satisfaction with Abbott as Opposition Leader was 41 per cent and, for the first time, Abbott led Rudd as preferred prime minister by two points on 43 per cent. Dissatisfaction with Abbott had started at 56 per cent and dropped to 51 per cent last weekend.I agreed with Dennis Shanahan that Abbott in office will show Australians he is actually not the monster Labor has with some success described. He will in time probably prove more popular than he’s recently become:
Abbott knows that if he becomes prime minister he can start working on his appeal to all Australians, whether they voted for him or not. He told The Australian this week: “Parliament deteriorated. but it got really bad in the last term because everything became hyper-partisan. I was a member of the parliament and must take some responsibility, but the tone of every parliament is set by the prime minister - Hawke was matey, Howard was dignified, Rudd was aggressively long-winded and Gillard, well, the less said the better. I want to be someone who gives credit where it is due and appreciates the government has to govern for everyone. The prime minister has to maintain some credibility and respect even from people who didn’t support them.”
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Rudd’s pretend friends
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (9:06am)
Kevin Rudd is so desperate to fake his popularity that he needs to bring in fake shoppers, fake bowlers, fake battling mothers, fake “not rusted on Labor” supporters, fake parents and now even fake constituents in his seat:
KEVIN Rudd has been accused of using phony endorsements in the campaign material designed to help him save his own seat.UPDATE
A glossy flyer handed out in his electorate features endorsements from constituents declaring “that’s why we’re voting for him”.
But some of those featured say they never said such a thing.
Paulla Millar is quoted in the brochure saying she backs Mr Rudd and will vote for him. But Mrs Millar doesn’t back Mr Rudd and couldn’t vote for him anyway - she’s a New Zealander…
Mrs Millar had only visited Mr Rudd’s office to find out about becoming a citizen. She is quoted in the pamphlet as saying, “Kevin has always stood up for us. That’s why we’re voting for him.” She said the quote was a fabrication…
Morningside dance teacher Ann Boon said she was surprised to see the brochure as she had given permission to use her family photograph but had not been asked her voting intentions.
Meanwhile, Labor’s candidate for Dobell dresses her volunteers in Liberal blue:
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Gallaxy: Labor gone at 47 to 53
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (8:22am)
Labor’s vote should be worse, with its record. But a loss of 20 seats would still be heavy:
UPDATE
Labor badly needs to lose that New Class sanctimony, with that instinct to censor and to praise symbols over substance. So here’s one seat it would help to lose:
The Northern Territory tips the election winner in the traditional manner:
The latest Galaxy polling ... shows ... a two-party-preferred outcome of Labor on 47 per cent and the Coalition on 53 per cent.All Rudd’s old weaknesses are back, with added abuse:
The 3 per cent swing against Labor since the last election means a loss of at least 14 seats on a national uniform basis but fluctuating support in seven or eight Labor seats could mean the loss extends beyond 20…
Even conservative estimates on the latest intelligence on a seat-by-seat basis suggests Labor will lose at least two seats in Tasmania, three or four in Victoria, seven in NSW and four in Queensland.
There is also the chance of Labor losing one or two seats in South Australia and one each in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
As well, some seats are considered “wild cards”, including Treasurer Chris Bowen’s seat of McMahon in Sydney and the Prime Minister’s seat of Griffith.
Despite Mr Rudd’s reputation from 2007 as a strong campaigner, supporters and detractors alike say he has been erratic and made up policy on the run…
“Rudd’s had no vision, no consistency and he hasn’t spoken the language of the people we needed to appeal to,” said one prominent backer in the coup that reinstalled Mr Rudd.
Sharp comments that Mr Rudd directed at a Christian pastor who opposed gay marriage during an appearance on ABC1’s Q & A on Monday were seen as symptomatic of his tendency to get sidetracked… One party insider said: “Why did he have to be a smart alec to that Christian pastor? You can’t win debates like that—you’ve got to be polite. What was the point of giving him a serve?”
UPDATE
Labor badly needs to lose that New Class sanctimony, with that instinct to censor and to praise symbols over substance. So here’s one seat it would help to lose:
It is part of a sharp shift towards Tony Abbott in the final week of the campaign in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs, with some Labor insiders concerned that nearby Isaacs, held by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus with a margin of 10.4 per cent, is also likely to be part of the trend.UPDATE
The Northern Territory tips the election winner in the traditional manner:
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Scrap the Human Rights Comission, a threat to our rights
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (8:20am)
The Australian Human Rights Commission should be scrapped. It is stacked with Labor mates. It has pushed damaging myths and false claims that have entrenched a dangerous and divisive victim culture, especially in Aboriginal policy. It has rejected evidence suggesting we’re less racist than it’s paid to denounce. It has pushed for draconian changes to the law, even for reversals of the onus of proof, to get more clients. It has pushed for restrictions on our freedom to speak so draconian that even Labor has backed off. It has launched on-line campaigns to punish employers for speaking against big-spending Labor policies.
In short, it is a menace and out of control, as Hedley Thomas today confirms:
In short, it is a menace and out of control, as Hedley Thomas today confirms:
THE head of the Australian Human Rights Commission has publicly rebuked one of her most experienced commissioners for launching an unauthorised, wrong and damaging social media attack on retailer Myer.An insight into the commission’s politics:
AHRC president Gillian Triggs has also been forced to fend off claims that the agency, facing potential changes under a Coalition government, is politically biased after documents revealed a senior adviser at the commission wished Kevin Rudd would “knock those mugs out” in a reference to the Liberal Party’s George Brandis.
A Freedom of Information request by The Australian has produced hundreds of documents, including sensitive emails showing Professor Triggs disagreed with the actions of commissioner Graeme Innes but was powerless to manage the fallout because her senior colleagues rejected her efforts to broker a truce with the heads of Myer.
The row began after Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes told a Macquarie Securities conference in May that a levy to fund the national disability insurance scheme was “not good for our customers” because the $300 they would be compelled to pay was $300 they might not spend at Myer. The comment prompted Mr Innes, the AHRC’s disability discrimination commissioner, to start an online petition that led to widespread criticism of Myer and a call by Mr Innes for the retailer to ensure that within two years, 10 per cent of its workforce comprised disabled employees.
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Liberals had better overdeliver on these weak cuts
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (8:05am)
I am hoping hard that the Liberals mean it when they claim they are underpromising and will overdeliver. These savings strike me as altogether too modest, even if they are politically prudent:
What needs changing is the culture of entitlement, so that government spending is not seen just as giving but as taking as well. Taking your money.
There needs to be a new language. No more saying “the government will spend”, but “the government will make taxpayer’s spend”.
Labor’s final costings forecast a deficit of $30.1bn this year that will fall to $24.1bn and then $4.7bn in the following two years before a $4.3bn surplus in 2016-17.Judith Sloan:
The Coalition costings lead to a $29bn deficit this year that will fall to $21.6bn and then $2.7bn in the following two years before a $4.8bn surplus in 2016-17. Mr Hockey rejected the idea that the budget improvement was “trivial” and insisted the opposition would do a better job than the government in repairing the nation’s finances.
An improvement of just $6bn in the budget bottom line over four years is really a rounding error. Total annual government spending is currently at about the $400bn mark.David Uren:
The Coalition has had little to say about how it would achieve a sustainable gain to the budget beyond the four year forward estimate period, when the cost of the disability insurance scheme starts to mount and big defence commitments are required.But here’s the problem. The media might now attack the Liberals for not cutting enough. But if the Liberals had cut harder, the media would have whipped up a storm of complaints and made an election win much harder.
As Labor has claimed, the Coalition has left the hard work to the post-election audit commission.
What needs changing is the culture of entitlement, so that government spending is not seen just as giving but as taking as well. Taking your money.
There needs to be a new language. No more saying “the government will spend”, but “the government will make taxpayer’s spend”.
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Either Rudd or Rein have put mum in the Forgettery
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (7:30am)
Therese Rein in 2009 said her mother had a cute habit in dealing with nasty things:
All that stuff goes straight to the Forgettery,.. My mother has one. I think her mother had one. Stuff that actually doesn’t matter goes in there. Stuff that’s not important, stuff that if you carried it with you would be a burden.Strangely, Kevin Rudd last night claimed he had a mother with a Forgettery, too:
I just stick it into what mum used to call the forgettery.Here’s another curious thing about Rudd seeming to present Rein’s family memories as his own. Both Rudd and Rein told this story of having mothers with Forgetteries to the ABC’s Annabel Crabb, who didn’t last night say, “Hang on, Kevin. Whose mother are you really talking about?”
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Here’s the picture of a French idiot that AFP tried to suppress
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (7:22am)
Cowards? Comprised? Or just biased?:
...when French news agency Agence France Presse made the decision to retract an unflattering photo of the country’s President, Francois Hollande, it only made the problem worse…
It began when photographer Dennis Charlet took a photograph of Hollande visiting the Michelet school in Denain, northern France.
The photo was published, but a few hours later the agency - which reportedly gets almost half of its income from government contracts - ordered a mandatory kill on the photograph, citing “editorial problems"…
As AFP’s global news director Philippe Massonnet later wrote in a blog post, “Immediately, AFP was accused of censorship and of having tried to suppress the photo on the direct order of the presidential office.”
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21,000 faulty NBN connections claimed
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (7:17am)
One of an Abbott Government’s toughest jobs will be to clean up the NBN mess and stop the bleeding of our billions:
THE company building Labor’s $37.4 billion National Broadband Network could be forced to repair tens of thousands of faulty connections after cutting corners in the construction processes to boost the number of homes passed by the massive infrastructure project.
The Australian can reveal that as of last week, connections to as many as 21,000 - one in eight - of the 163,500 existing homes and businesses passed by the fibre network were considered to contain defects in the network construction… The defects mean that network connections to thousands of homes and businesses, which have been classified as “ready for service”, may require repairs before users can access the internet on the new network.
NBN Co last night disputed the figures, admitting there were significant defects but insisting the total number was lower than the [NBN internal] figures obtained by The Australian.
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Fairfax split: Age goes rogue
Andrew Bolt September 06 2013 (6:33am)
Fairfax newspapers are split between the rational and the fair-out whacko Left.
The Sydney Morning Herald pragmatically judges promises against performance:
Meanwhile, over at News Corp The Australian has an outstanding editorial well worth reading:
The Sydney Morning Herald pragmatically judges promises against performance:
Voters should not reward ... betrayals of trust that have marked the past six years. Labor under Kevin Rudd in 2013 is not offering a stable, trustworthy government on which Australians can depend. The Coalition under Tony Abbott deserves the opportunity to return trust to politics.The Financial Review wishes only that Tony Abbott was tougher:
Five weeks ago at the start of the election campaign, The Australian Financial Review declared that Labor had proven itself to be structurally unfit to govern but that Tony Abbott was some way short of winning the sort of mandate needed to lead the nation through its post-resources boom transition. On polling eve, Mr Abbott has met some – but not all – of that challenge… Australia’s prosperity would be better served by a Coalition government.But The Age confirms its reputation for being the most Left-wing of Australia’s daily newspapers, endorsing the most shambolic, deceitful. wasteful and profligate government in our history on the grounds that it promises to spend lots of borrowed money from who-cares-where to achieve who-cares-what on what merely looks good on paper:
As our readers know, we support Labor’s national broadband network strategy, its commitment to increasing the superannuation guarantee levy, its Gonski schools funding plan, and its shift from a carbon price to an emissions trading scheme. We also support the deal it forged between business and environmentalists that led to areas of Tasmania’s western wilderness being added to the World Heritage Area…You have to wonder exactly how bad and dishonest a Labor government must be for The Age to stop backing it.
The Age believes in economic and social progress, in liberty and justice, in equity and compassion, and openness of government. We believe the role of government is to build a strong, fair nation for future generations, and not to pander to sectional interests. It is with these values in mind that we endorse the Labor Party in this important election.
Meanwhile, over at News Corp The Australian has an outstanding editorial well worth reading:
Allowing the Labor Party time out from governing will be an act of kindness…The Courier Mail gets it said:
By contrast, Tony Abbott presents as an authentic leader possessed of personal and political integrity. He has proved to be the most patient and effective opposition leader since Gough Whitlam.... Mr Abbott has earned the respect of his own party with an open and consultative style that will serve him well in government.
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4 her
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<Unlike its deluded southern pinko sibling by the Yarra and its cesspol of smug green-left readers , The Sydney Morning Herald, has now been dragged kicking and screaming into supporting an Abbott government. It seems the sickening stench of corruption in NSW Labor exposed by the ICAC is too much for even it to bear.>
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He was 16 when he was jailed .. he wouldn't know how to be free. Certainly can't be trusted. - ed
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BELIEVE it or not, not all men want sex on tap. Actually, some hardly want it at all. And apparently that's normal.
It's widely believed that men are always up for it. But a sex researcher reckons that men just can't say 'no'.
Andrew Smiler, author of Challenging Casanova: Beyond the stereotype of promiscuous young male sexuality , says men don't realise they can actually refuse sex.
"One of the things I've learned is that most, or even all, guys don't know how to refuse sex," he said.
"When I've asked specifically about refusing sex, the guys tell me that part of why it's hard to say 'no' is that they're concerned about how she'll respond, including concerns that she'll think he's either some type of wimp or gay," he said.
"Those comments have always come from heterosexual men and almost always about a relationship in the early stages."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/newsflash-men-don8217t-always-want-sex/story-fnet0gt3-1226713208483#ixzz2e61BUpwI
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DESPERATE to lose weight and wondering why you just can't shed those kilos? It might not be your fault. And the thing holding you back might be a whole lot smaller than you think.
While the food you consume obviously plays a part, America's Associated Press reports that your level of obesity may all come down to bacteria living inside your gut.
Scientists at Washington University in the US state of Missouri took a bunch of fatties and a bunch of thinnies who happened to be twins. They used twins in order to rule out the old inheritance argument, otherwise known the "I'm just big-boned" excuse.
What they did next was transplant the gut bacteria of the fat and thin twins into young mice that had been raised germ-free.
Amazingly, the mice who received gut bacteria from the fat people got fatter even though they didn't eat more than the mice who received germs from the skinny twins.
So in other words, it was the little germs doing all the dirty work.
The study appeared in the journal Science. Its senior author Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, director of Washington University's Center of Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, was already well aware that obese people have less diverse gut bacteria, and this took the research to a whole new level.
So if you have the wrong bacteria, are you doomed to a lifetime of spare tyres?
Obviously not, because as mentioned, the right diet can still help. But this research may foreseeably lead to diet pills containing more of the right kind of bacteria, which would help people with the wrong type of bacteria lose weight.
Don't hold your breath, though. Dr Gordon said even the first attempt to make such a drug would take at least five more years of research.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/can8217t-lose-weight-it8217s-all-about-tiny-little-bacteria-in-your-gut/story-fneszs56-1226713008271#ixzz2e61ItfIT
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It is now officially a rumour. She look like his mom. - ed
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ALP deliver lower outcomes, less information to parents and teachers, more restrictions on good practice. - ed
Daniel Katz ... I really hope Tony Abbott hunts Rudd down over the Heiner Affair and Gillard over the AWU/Slater & Gordon scandal.
They should not be rewarded with life time pensions amounting to $180,000 per annum fully indexed plus benefits.
They deserve to be punished and made an example of.
Secondly pursue our education systems which have been infiltrated by left wing arse hole teachers brain washing the next generation with socialist garbage.
Thirdly make all unions held accountable for their members fees and how their money is being spent to stop the unfair cash injections that Labor exploits for their own selfish benefit.
Fourthly, investigate the Australian Electoral Commission, a government body, which displays a conflict of interest and permits unfair voting practices.
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I always felt that Rudd was no worse than Keating .. this election seems to demonstrate my point. Rudd is foolish, throws away tax payer money, hurts people, abuses people, has a depraved indifference to those who risk death. But he is better than Keating was. ed===
New Lamborghini Veneno Leaked, It's a $4.7 Million V12 Special
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A #Gemstones Guide to Recently Unveiled#PANTONE Spring 2014 Top #Colors! More:http://
I love this color palette! Being a jewelry designer and lover of all colors, I instantaneously connected to gorgeous gemstones these colors reminded me of. Check them out here!-#ReenaAhluwalia
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Did you know that my first book is coming out next month? If you haven’t already, please consider pre-ordering a copy. It makes a huge difference! =＾● ω ●＾= ♪
Pre-order at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/
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Obituary printed in the London Times.....Absolutely Brilliant !!
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense , who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- And maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death,
-by his parents, Truth and Trust,
-by his wife, Discretion,
-by his daughter, Responsibility,
-and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;
- I Know My Rights
- I Want It Now
- Someone Else Is To Blame
- I'm A Victim
- Pay me for Doing Nothing
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing
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Last year, one lucky Yankees fan won this room makeover from AT&T. This year, it could be you! Enter now for your chance to win athttp://atmlb.com/15y8TkE While you're there, check out the behind the scenes tour of Joe Girardi's new home turf!
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New IBD analysis shows more than 250 employers have cut workers' hours and jobs to avoid ObamaCare costs!
Check out www.ObamaCareCosts.org to discover what the law will cost you!#Obamacosts
http://news.investors.com/politics/090413-669682-obamacare-employer-mandate-spurs-work-hours-job-cuts.htm
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Israel has proposed leaving dozens of Jewish settlements and military bases in the West Bank as part of a package to establish a Palestinian state in provisional borders.
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“It’s not in the nature of a Dementor to be forgiving.” - Dumbledore
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Jon Stewart's tirade against Obama's Syria problem in his return to television...
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Kachin villagers are forced to flee into the forest after attacks by the Burmese military -- and the Obama Administration thinks this is a swell time to pick sides and resume US military ties with the Burmese military?
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Rather arrogant and undiplomatic refusing an offer to meet with a Russian delegation to discuss Syria, it would seem.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assertion that US Secretary of State John Kerry “lied” about the influence of al-Qaida in Syria is “preposterous” and a mischaracterization of what America’s top diplomat actually said, the US State Department said Thursday.
Kerry is “not losing sleep after such a preposterous comment that was based on an inaccurate quote and was completely mischaracterized,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing in Washington.
Putin on Wednesday accused Kerry of intentionally lying about al-Qaida’s level of involvement in the Syrian conflict." RIA Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/world/20130905/183190564/Putin-Syria-Remark-on-Kerry-Preposterous-US.html
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HISTORY IN THE HEADLINES: Was Richard III Riddled with Roundworms? Scientists have discovered evidence that the medieval monarch suffered from a parasitic infection.http://histv.co/1efWZmf
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Well, this is awkward…will labor groups mention their outrage over ObamaCare when they're with Joe Biden today? www.ObamaCareCosts.org#Obamacosts
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What do bats and dolphins have in common? The fact they both evolved a type of sonar means they resemble each other genetically, researchers now find. http://oak.ctx.ly/r/bf53
Scientists found hints that convergent evolution, the independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages, caused species to resemble each other not just at the physical level, but also the genetic one.
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WARNING: Disturbing Video -- These are the murderers Barack Obama wants to back. Executing helpless people while reciting a poem ... these are the murderers John Kerry wants to back. PLEASE--right now--call your congressional representative and tell them that, if they dare vote to get us into this mess, forcing our soldiers to fight with murderers like this, you will hold them accountable in 2014 ... call 202-224-3121 and ask for your rep.
http://nyti.ms/14ufRXF
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Daria makes a big turn around at New York Fashion Week! See what other MTV stars got re-imagined: http://on.mtv.com/17ayRgV
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"Even though you are weak, He loves you David." -Prophet
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A bizarre-looking web structure has been found in the Peruvian Amazon, and apparently nobody knows what it is, not even scientists.http://oak.ctx.ly/r/beeh
The strange formation resembles a tiny spire surrounded by a webby picket fence and is about 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) wide. See more photos here: http://oak.ctx.ly/r/beei
.. spider has been chewing on cocaine? .. ed
Lapskin Lee answer is simple lol
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Picture this: You’ve been given a terminal diagnosis and have limited time left on earth. What would you do with your time? Would you have the emotional ability to think beyond yourself and your own mortality?
One woman in Aurburn, Maine, was reportedly faced with these very questions. And she made a stunning and monumentally-inspiring decision. And now shes’ being called the “back to school angel” after generously paying off 16 layaway orders for struggling families at a local Kmart store.
“She was here about 15 minutes. She paid off 16 the layaways in cash, about $3,000,” store manager Joyce Beane told WCSH-TV. “Then she said, ‘I’m not feeling well. I need to leave.’”
The mystery woman apparently told Kmart staff members that she was extremely ill. She appaently paid off the accounts in an effort to do something good with her life before she died. Considering that the families who had layaway accounts were behind in their payments, her kind gesture was much appreciated.
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Prskalo Waterfall, Serbia
Love our amazing world? Join the growing community
here ---> www.fb.com/
I feel that way, some mornings ed
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Dear friends - You want the perfect example of how elitism rots the brain? John Kerry is actually excited by the notion that the Arab State will pay for the --quoting Kerry--- "Invasion" of Syria!? So, in his mind, our brave soldiers are now mercenaries for Arab states? The Arab states will pay with money while our soldiers pay with their lives? Are you prepared to vote against any politician--of either party--who pushes us into this war where there are no goody guys to back?
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On Fox and Friends this morning, we heard a tragic story of a young Georgia woman who died after suffering an apparent asthma attack. Instead of helping 20-year-old Taylor Smith, cops say her friends left her unconscious on the side of the road in Jasper, Ga. Two people who were with Smith at the time have been arrested.
Read more: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/09/04/young-woman-taylor-smith-abandoned-friends-during-fatal-asthma-attack#ixzz2e6C3OlqE
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The Whole part was documented, video here :http://tmblr.co/
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Find out how much better Conservatives are at actually helping people by clicking the link below:
http://bit.ly/1fBXu81
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Take a survey -- click here! http://bit.ly/WeightSurvey
Your comments and photo may be used by Dr. Phil and Peteski Productions, including being published on the Web or on television.
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Dr. Phil
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‘Relieved of his duties’: MSU prof who raged against GOP gets the boot for the semester ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/
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4 her
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Morning breaks over Southern Utah — in Castle Valley, UT, United States.
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4 her
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On September the 5th ,1972. Eleven Israeli athletes and coaches, members of the Israeli team to the Munich Olympic Games, are taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian terrorists after the failure of the rescue attempt by the Germans.
For the next three days I gonna put their photos as a cover on my facebook page for their comemoration as the vicitms of the Palestinian terror, and I ask you my dear friends to do the same in order to show our support and solidarity with their families...
Rest In Peace the Heros of Israel...We will Never Forget You....!!!!
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This election is the most important in a generation.
It is a clear choice between the Coalition with a positive Plan for a better future or another three years of chaos, dishonesty and division from Labor.
We are a great country and a great people, but we can’t afford another three years like the last six.
We need a stronger government with a stable parliament, not another divided minority government.
The Coalition stands ready with our Real Solutions Plan to deliver more jobs, higher wages and better services.
We will do that by building a stronger, more productive and diverse economy, through lower taxes, more efficient government and more productive businesses.
I know that a stronger economy is not an end in itself – but is necessary to help pay for the better services, lower taxes, stronger borders, cleaner environment and modern infrastructure that we all want.
If you vote for the Coalition tomorrow, you'll get a new government that will:
- build a stronger, more diversified economy so everyone can get ahead;
- scrap the carbon tax saving the average family $550 next year alone;
- get the Budget back under control by ending Labor’s waste;
- stop the boats; and
- build the roads of the 21st century as well as deliver better services.
That’s our Contract with you.
I am confident in our plans because I am confident in my team.
For three years we have been a strong, united team with the same clear plans.
By contrast, a vote for Mr Rudd or the minor parties means more waste, higher deficits, even more debt and more boats.
If you vote for the Coalition tomorrow, your vote gets a competent, trustworthy government.
That's what my strong, united team want to deliver to the Australian people in the future.
At this election I need you to vote for change – so that we can achieve all the good things that we set out in our Contract with you.
I respectfully ask you to join us – and help us build a stronger Australia and a better future – for all Australians.
Regards
Tony Abbott
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- 1901 – U.S. President William McKinley was fatally wounded by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
- 1943 – A group of businessmen in Monterrey, Mexico, founded the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, now one of the largest universities in Latin America.
- 1955 – A Turkish mob attacked ethnic Greeks in Istanbul, killing at least 13 people and damaging more than 5,000 Greek-owned homes and businesses.
- 1963 – Victor Krulak (pictured) was sent on a mission by the Kennedy administration to assess the progress of the Vietnam War, and the viability of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem against the backdrop of the Buddhist crisis and Xa Loi Pagoda raids.
- 2000 – The Millennium Summit, a meeting of world leaders to discuss the role of the United Nations at the turn of the 21st century, opened inNew York City.
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Events
- 3114 BC – According to the proleptic Julian calendar the current era in the Maya Long Count Calendar started. (Non-standard interpretation)
- 394 – Battle of the Frigidus: The Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I defeats and kills the pagan usurper Eugenius and his Frankishmagister militum Arbogast.
- 1492 – Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic for the first time.
- 1522 – The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
- 1620 – The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America. (Old Style date; September 16 per New Styledate.)
- 1628 – Puritans settle Salem, which will later become part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- 1634 – Thirty Years' War: In the Battle of Nördlingen the Catholic Imperial army defeats Protestant armies of Sweden and Germany.
- 1781 – The Battle of Groton Heights takes place, resulting a British victory.
- 1803 – British scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.
- 1847 – Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond and moves in with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family in Concord, Massachusetts.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture Paducah, Kentucky, which gives the Unioncontrol of the mouth of the Tennessee River.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Confederates evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island in South Carolina.
- 1870 – Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
- 1885 – Eastern Rumelia declares its union with Bulgaria. The Unification of Bulgaria is accomplished.
- 1888 – Charles Turner becomes the first bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season – a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
- 1901 – Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
- 1930 – Democratically elected Argentine president Hipólito Yrigoyen is deposed in a military coup.
- 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The start of the Battle of El Mazuco.
- 1939 – World War II: The Battle of Barking Creek.
- 1939 – World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.
- 1940 – King Carol II of Romania abdicates and is succeeded by his son Michael.
- 1943 – The Monterrey Institute of Technology, one of the largest and most influential private universities in Latin America, is founded in Monterrey, Mexico.
- 1943 – The Pennsylvania Railroad's premier train derails at Frankford Junction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing 79 people and injuring 117 others.
- 1944 – World War II: The city of Ypres, Belgium is liberated by allied forces.
- 1944 – World War II: Soviet forces capture the city of Tartu, Estonia.
- 1946 – United States Secretary of State James F. Byrnes announces that the U.S. will follow a policy of economic reconstruction in postwar Germany.
- 1948 – Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands.
- 1949 – Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to German control.
- 1952 – Canada's first television station, CBFT-TV, opens in Montreal.
- 1952 – A prototype aircraft crashes at the Farnborough Airshow in Hampshire, England, killing 29 spectators and the two on board.
- 1955 – Istanbul's Greek and Armenian minority are the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
- 1962 – Archaeologist Peter Marsden discovers the first of the Blackfriars Ships dating back to the 2nd century AD in the Blackfriars area of the banks of the River Thamesin London.
- 1963 – The Centre for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI) is founded.
- 1965 – War of 1965: India retaliates following Pakistan's Operation Grand Slam which resulted in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 that ends in a stalemate and follows the signing of the Tashkent Declaration.
- 1966 – In Cape Town, South Africa, the architect of Apartheid, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, is stabbed to death during a parliamentary meeting.
- 1968 – Swaziland becomes independent.
- 1970 – Two passenger jets bound from Europe to New York are simultaneously hijacked by Palestinian terrorist members of PFLP and taken to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
- 1972 – Munich Massacre: 9 Israel athletes taken hostage at the Munich Olympic Games by the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group died (as did a German policeman) at the hands of the kidnappers during a failed rescue attempt. 2 other Israeli athletes are slain in the initial attack the previous day.
- 1976 – Cold War: Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan and requests political asylum in theUnited States.
- 1983 – The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Flight KAL-007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace.
- 1985 – Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9 crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31.
- 1986 – In Istanbul, two terrorists from Abu Nidal's organization kill 22 and wound six inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Shabbat services.
- 1991 – The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
- 1991 – The name Saint Petersburg is restored to Russia's second largest city, which had been renamed Leningrad in 1924.
- 1992 – Hunters discover the emaciated body of Christopher Johnson McCandless at his camp 20 miles (32 km) west of the town of Healy, Alaska.
- 1995 – Cal Ripken Jr of the Baltimore Orioles plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking a record that stood for 56 years.
- 1997 – Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Over a million people lined the streets and 2.5 billion watched around the world on television.
- 2008 – Turkish President Abdullah Gül attends an association football match in Armenia after an invitation by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan; he is the first Turkish head of state to visit the country.
- 2009 – The ro-ro ferry SuperFerry 9 sinks off the Zamboanga Peninsula in the Philippines with 971 persons aboard; all but ten are rescued.
Births
- 1535 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian (d. 1612)
- 1620 – Isabella Leonarda, Italian composer (d. 1704)
- 1633 – Sebastian Knüpfer, German composer (d. 1676)
- 1656 – Guillaume Dubois, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1723)
- 1666 – Ivan V of Russia (d. 1696)
- 1711 – Henry Muhlenberg, German-American missionary and pastor (d. 1787)
- 1732 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist (d. 1796)
- 1729 – Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher (d. 1786)
- 1757 – Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, French military officer (d. 1834)
- 1766 – John Dalton, English chemist and physicist (d. 1844)
- 1795 – Frances Wright, English writer and activist (d. 1852)
- 1800 – Catharine Beecher, American educator (d. 1878)
- 1802 – Alcide d'Orbigny, French naturalist (d. 1857)
- 1808 – Abdelkader El Djezairi, Algerian scholar, politician, and military leader (d. 1883)
- 1814 – George-Étienne Cartier, Canadian politician (d. 1873)
- 1815 – St. John Richardson Liddell, American general (d. 1870)
- 1817 – Alexander Tilloch Galt, Canadian politician (d. 1893)
- 1819 – William Rosecrans, American general and diplomat (d. 1898)
- 1829 – Marie Zakrzewska, Polish physician (d. 1902)
- 1838 – Samuel Arnold, American conspirator (d. 1906)
- 1852 – Schalk Willem Burger, South African politician and military leader, 6th President of the South African Republic (d. 1918)
- 1855 – Ferdinand Hummel, German pianist, conductor and composer (d. 1928)
- 1857 – Zelia Nuttall, American archeologist and historian (d. 1933)
- 1859 – Macpherson Robertson, Australian businessman and philanthropist, founded MacRobertson's (d. 1945)
- 1860 – Jane Addams, American social worker, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1861 – William Lane, Australian journalist, founder of New Australia (d. 1917)
- 1868 – Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss politician (d. 1947)
- 1869 – Walford Davies, English composer (d. 1941)
- 1869 – Felix Salten, Austrian author (d. 1945)
- 1876 – John James Rickard Macleod, Scottish physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
- 1877 – Buddy Bolden, American cornet player (d. 1930)
- 1879 – Max Schreck, German actor (d. 1936)
- 1879 – Joseph Wirth, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1956)
- 1888 – Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American businessman and diplomat (d. 1969)
- 1890 – Clara Kimball Young, American actress (d. 1960)
- 1891 – John Charles Thomas, American opera singer (d. 1960)
- 1892 – Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- 1893 – Claire Chennault, American pilot (d. 1958)
- 1899 – Billy Rose, American composer (d. 1966)
- 1900 – W. A. C. Bennett, Canadian politician, 25th Premier of British Columbia (d. 1979)
- 1900 – Julien Green, French-American novelist (d. 1998)
- 1906 – Luis Federico Leloir, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
- 1908 – Anthony Wagner, English officer of arms (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Korczak Ziolkowski, American sculptor, designed the Crazy Horse Memorial (d. 1982)
- 1909 – Michael Gordon, American actor and director (d. 1993)
- 1910 – Walter Giesler, American soccer player and coach (d. 1976)
- 1911 – Harry Danning, American baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Wayne Barlow, American composer, organist, and director (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Julie Gibson, American actress and singer
- 1915 – Franz Josef Strauss, German politician (d. 1988)
- 1917 – John Berry, American director (d. 1999)
- 1917 – George Mann, English cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1917 – Philipp von Boeselager, German Wehrmacht officer, member of the July 20 plot (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Hugh Gillis, American politician (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Wilson Greatbatch, American engineer and inventor (d. 2011)
- 1919 – Louise LaPlanche, American actress (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Carmen Laforet, Spanish author (d. 2004)
- 1921 – Norman Joseph Woodland, American inventor, co-created the bar code (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Peter II of Yugoslavia (d. 1970)
- 1924 – John Melcher, American politician
- 1925 – Jimmy Reed, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
- 1926 – Prince Claus of the Netherlands (d. 2002)
- 1926 – Arthur Oldham, English composer and conductor (d. 2003)
- 1926 – Maurice Prather, American photographer and director (d. 2001)
- 1928 – Fumihiko Maki, Japanese architect, designed the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and Makuhari Messe
- 1928 – Robert M. Pirsig, American philosopher and author
- 1928 – Evgeny Svetlanov, Russian conductor and composer (d. 2002)
- 1928 – Sid Watkins, English neurosurgeon (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Yash Johar, Indian film producer, founded Dharma Productions (d. 2005)
- 1930 – Charles Foley, American game designer, co-created Twister (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Akiji Kobayashi, Japanese actor (d. 1996)
- 1931 – Bud Shrake, American writer
- 1932 – Gilles Tremblay, Canadian composer
- 1932 – Hiroyuki Iwaki, Japanese conductor (d. 2006)
- 1932 – Bernie Winters, English comedian (d. 1991)
- 1937 – Sergio Aragonés, Spanish illustrator and writer
- 1937 – Janusz Kurczab, Polish mountaineer
- 1937 – Jo Anne Worley, American actress
- 1938 – Joan Tower, American composer, pianist, and conductor
- 1939 – Brigid Berlin, American actress
- 1939 – Errol Black, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2012)
- 1939 – David Allan Coe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1939 – Dan Cragg, American soldier and author
- 1939 – Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1940 – Elizabeth Murray, American painter (d. 2007)
- 1940 – Jackie Trent, English singer-songwriter, and actress
- 1942 – Dave Bargeron, American trombonist and tuba player (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
- 1942 – Richard Anthony Hutton, English cricketer
- 1942 – Mel McDaniel, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
- 1942 – Carol Wayne, American actress (d. 1985)
- 1943 – Richard J. Roberts, English biochemist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1943 – Roger Waters, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and composer (Pink Floyd and The Bleeding Heart Band)
- 1944 – Donna Haraway, American educator, activist, and author
- 1944 – Swoosie Kurtz, American actress
- 1945 – Larry Lucchino, American businessman
- 1945 – Go Nagai, Japanese illustrator and author
- 1947 – Sylvester, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1988)
- 1947 – Jane Curtin, American actress
- 1947 – Bruce Rioch, Scottish footballer and coach
- 1947 – Jacob Rubinovitz, Israeli Roboticist
- 1948 – Claydes Charles Smith, American guitarist (Kool & the Gang) (d. 2006)
- 1952 – Buddy Miller, American singer-songwriter
- 1953 – Anne Lockhart, American actress
- 1954 – Carly Fiorina, American businesswoman and politician
- 1954 – Demetris Kizas, Greek-Cypriot footballer
- 1954 – Ève Luquet, French designer and engraver
- 1954 – Patrick O'Hearn, American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer (Missing Persons)
- 1955 – Raymond Benson, American author
- 1956 – Bill Ritter, American politician, 41st Governor of Colorado
- 1957 – Ali Divandari, Iranian painter, sculptor, and journalist
- 1957 – Michaëlle Jean, Canadian politician, 27th Governor-General of Canada
- 1957 – José Sócrates, Portuguese politician, 119th Prime Minister of Portugal
- 1957 – Tim Whitnall, English actor and screenwriter
- 1958 – Buster Bloodvessel, English singer-songwriter (Bad Manners)
- 1958 – Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian, actor, and author
- 1958 – Arsinée Khanjian, Armenian-Canadian actress
- 1958 – Nigel Westlake, Australian composer and conductor
- 1958 – Michael Winslow, American actor and comedian
- 1959 – Bill Root, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961 – Simon Reeve, Australian journalist
- 1961 – Scott Travis, American drummer (Judas Priest, Racer X, The Scream, Fight, and Animetal USA)
- 1961 – Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (a-ha and Savoy)
- 1962 – Chris Christie, American politician, 55th Governor of New Jersey
- 1962 – Elizabeth Vargas, American journalist
- 1962 – Kevin Willis, American basketball player
- 1963 – Mark Chesnutt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1963 – Skye Gyngell, Australian chef
- 1963 – Pat Nevin, Scottish footballer
- 1963 – Alice Sebold, American novelist
- 1963 – Bryan Simonaire, American politician
- 1963 – Geert Wilders, Dutch politician
- 1964 – Rosie Perez, American actress
- 1965 – Terry Bickers, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The House of Love and Levitation)
- 1965 – Darren Clark, Australian sprinter
- 1965 – Christopher Nolan, Irish author (d. 2009)
- 1965 – John Polson, Australian actor and director
- 1965 – Van Tiffin, American football player
- 1967 – William DuVall, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Alice In Chains, Comes with the Fall, Madfly, Neon Christ, and No Walls)
- 1967 – Macy Gray, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1968 – Saeed Anwar, Pakistani cricketer
- 1968 – Paddy Boom, Singaporean-American drummer and songwriter (Scissor Sisters)
- 1968 – Christopher Brookmyre, Scottish author
- 1968 – Paul Rea, American journalist
- 1969 – Tony DiTerlizzi, American author
- 1969 – Ben Finegold, American chess player
- 1969 – Michellie Jones, Australian triathlete
- 1969 – CeCe Peniston, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1970 – Cheyne Coates, Australian singer-songwriter and producer (Madison Avenue)
- 1971 – Devang Gandhi, Indian cricketer
- 1971 – Dolores O'Riordan, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Cranberries)
- 1972 – Dylan Bruno, American actor and model
- 1972 – Idris Elba, English-American actor
- 1972 – Eugene Hütz, Ukrainian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Gogol Bordello)
- 1972 – Justina Machado, Puerto Rican-American actress
- 1972 – China Miéville, English author
- 1972 – Anika Noni Rose, American actress and singer
- 1973 – Carlo Cudicini, Italian footballer
- 1973 – Greg Rusedski, Canadian-English tennis player
- 1973 – Alessandro Troncon, Italian rugby player
- 1974 – Tim Henman, English tennis player
- 1974 – Sarah Danielle Madison, American actress
- 1974 – Nina Persson, Swedish singer-songwriter (The Cardigans and A Camp)
- 1974 – Sarah Strange, Canadian actress
- 1974 – Justin Whalin, American actor
- 1975 – Derrek Lee, American baseball player
- 1976 – N.O.R.E., American rapper (Capone-N-Noreaga)
- 1976 – Rodrigo Amarante, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Little Joy and Los Hermanos)
- 1976 – Naomie Harris, English actress
- 1976 – Jon Ander López, Spanish footballer (d. 2013)
- 1976 – Tom Pappas, American decathlete
- 1976 – Hyun Young, South Korean actress and singer
- 1977 – Kiyoshi Hikawa, Japanese singer
- 1978 – Cisco Adler, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Whitestarr)
- 1978 – Marlen Angelidou, Greek singer-songwriter and actress
- 1978 – Simon Barjie, Italian-Gambian footballer
- 1978 – Natalia Cigliuti, American actress
- 1978 – Alex Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1978 – Mathew Horne, English actor
- 1978 – Homare Sawa, Japanese footballer
- 1978 – Tony Thaxton, American drummer (Motion City Soundtrack)
- 1979 – Mike Arnaoutis, Greek boxer
- 1979 – Foxy Brown, American rapper (The Firm)
- 1979 – Low Ki, American wrestler
- 1979 – Massimo Maccarone, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Carlos Adrián Morales, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Jillian Hall, American wrestler
- 1980 – Yuji Hamano, Japanese archer
- 1980 – Kerry Katona, English singer, actress, and author (Atomic Kitten)
- 1980 – Samuel Peter, Nigerian boxer
- 1980 – Joseph Yobo, Nigerian footballer
- 1981 – Yuki Abe, Japanese footballer
- 1981 – Yumiko Cheng, Hong Kong singer and actress
- 1981 – Mark Teahen, American baseball player
- 1983 – Dimitri Champion, French cyclist
- 1983 – Pippa Middleton, English party planner, sister of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
- 1984 – Helena Ekholm, Swedish skier
- 1984 – Orsi Kocsis, Hungarian model
- 1985 – Webbie, American rapper
- 1985 – Ali Ashfaq, Maldivian footballer
- 1985 – Alberto Valerio, Brazilian race car driver
- 1986 – Raven Riley, American porn actress
- 1987 – Ramiele Malubay, American singer
- 1988 – Denis Tonucci, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Max George, English singer (The Wanted)
- 1989 – Nikos Boutzikos, Greek footballer
- 1989 – Kim So-eun, South Korean actress
- 1990 – John Wall, American basketball player
- 1991 – Ashli Amari Adams, American actress
- 1991 – Lauren Froderman, American dancer
- 1992 – Fabiola Rodas, Guatemalan singer
- 1993 – Mattia Valoti, Italian footballer
- 1994 – Theo Trebs, German actor
- 1998 – Jay Ruckley, Welsh actor
- 2006 – Prince Hisahito of Akishino
Deaths
- 394 – Eugenius, Roman usurper
- 957 – Liudolf, Duke of Swabia (b. 930)
- 972 – Pope John XIII
- 1276 – Vicedomino de Vicedominis, Italian cardinal (b. 1215)
- 1431 – Demetrios Laskaris Leontares, Byzantine soldier and statesman
- 1511 – Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shogun (b. 1481)
- 1625 – Thomas Dempster, Scottish historian (b. 1579)
- 1635 – Metius, Dutch mathematician and astronomer (b. 1571)
- 1649 – Robert Dudley, English explorer and geographer (b. 1574)
- 1683 – Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French politician (b. 1619)
- 1708 – Sir John Morden, 1st Baronet, English merchant and philanthropist, founded Morden College (b. 1623)
- 1724 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (b. 1640)
- 1748 – Edmund Gibson, English jurist and scholar (b. 1669)
- 1782 – Martha Jefferson, American wife of Thomas Jefferson (b. 1748)
- 1783 – Bertinazzi, Italian actor and author (b. 1710)
- 1808 – Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (b. 1723)
- 1833 – Antoine le Blanc, French-American murderer (b. 1800)
- 1868 – Pierre Adolphe Rost, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1797)
- 1885 – Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol, Catalan engineer, designed the Ictineo I and Ictineo II (b. 1819)
- 1902 – Frederick Abel, English chemist (b. 1827)
- 1907 – Sully Prudhomme, French poet and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1839)
- 1919 – Lord Charles Beresford, English admiral and politician (b. 1846)
- 1927 – Charles Woodruff, American archer (b. 1846)
- 1938 – John Stuart Hindmarsh, English race car driver and aviator (b. 1907)
- 1939 – Arthur Rackham, English illustrator (b. 1867)
- 1945 – John S. McCain, Sr., American admiral (b. 1884)
- 1949 – Walter Widdop, English tenor (b. 1892)
- 1950 – Olaf Stapledon, English philosopher and author (b. 1886)
- 1951 – James W. Gerard, American jurist and diplomat (b. 1867)
- 1952 – Gertrude Lawrence, English actress (b. 1898)
- 1956 – Lee Jung Seob, Korean painter (b. 1916)
- 1959 – Edmund Gwenn, English-American actor (b. 1877)
- 1959 – Kay Kendall, English actress (b. 1926)
- 1962 – Hanns Eisler, German-Austrian composer (b. 1898)
- 1962 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (b. 1892)
- 1963 – Wladimir Aïtoff, French rugby player (b. 1879)
- 1966 – Margaret Sanger, American nurse, educator, and activist (b. 1879)
- 1966 – Hendrik Verwoerd, Dutch-South African politician, 7th Prime Minister of South Africa (b. 1901)
- 1969 – Arthur Friedenreich, Brazilian football player (b. 1892)
- 1972 – Victims of the Munich Massacre
- Luttif Afif, Palestinian terrorist (b. 1945)
- David Mark Berger, American-Israeli weightlifter (b. 1944)
- Ze'ev Friedman, Polish-Israeli weightlifter (b. 1944)
- Yossef Gutfreund, Israeli wrestling judge (b. 1931)
- Eliezer Halfin, Russian-Israeli wrestler (b. 1948)
- Amitzur Shapira, Russian-Israeli runner and coach (b. 1932)
- Kehat Shorr, Romanian shooting coach (b. 1919)
- Mark Slavin, Israeli wrestler (b. 1954)
- Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (b. 1945)
- Yakov Springer, Polish-Israeli wrestler and weightlifting coach (b. 1921)
- 1972 – Allauddin Khan.Indian Sarod Maestro(b.1862)
- 1974 – Olga Baclanova, Russian actress (b. 1896)
- 1978 – Max Decugis, French tennis player (b. 1882)
- 1978 – Tom Wilson, American record producer (b. 1931)
- 1979 – Ronald Binge, English composer (b. 1910)
- 1981 – Christy Brown, Irish author (b. 1932)
- 1984 – Ernest Tubb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
- 1985 – Johnny Desmond, American singer (b. 1919)
- 1985 – Franco Ferrara, Italian conductor (b. 1911)
- 1986 – Blanche Sweet, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1987 – Quinn Martin, American television producer (b. 1922)
- 1988 – Roland Daniels, American wrestler (b. 1950)
- 1988 – Bill Northam, Australian businessman and sailor (b. 1905)
- 1990 – Tom Fogerty, American singer (b. 1941)
- 1990 – Len Hutton, English cricketer (b. 1916)
- 1991 – Bob Goldham, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1922)
- 1992 – Henry Ephron, American playwright, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1912)
- 1994 – James Clavell, American author (b. 1924)
- 1994 – Nicky Hopkins, English pianist (The Jeff Beck Group, The Kinks, Jerry Garcia Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Sweet Thursday, (b. 1944)
- 1994 – Max Kaminsky, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1908)
- 1996 – Ester Soré, Chilean musician (b. 1915)
- 1997 – P. H. Newby, English author (b. 1918)
- 1998 – Ernst-Hugo Järegård, Swedish actor (b. 1928)
- 1998 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director (b. 1910)
- 1998 – Ric Segreto, American singer-songwriter, actor, and journalist (b. 1952)
- 1999 – Lagumot Harris, Nauruan politician, 3rd President of Nauru (b. 1938)
- 1999 – René Lecavalier, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1918)
- 2001 – Carl Crack, German rapper and DJ (Atari Teenage Riot) (b. 1971)
- 2002 – Ilya Livykou, Greek actress (b. 1919)
- 2003 – Harry Goz, American actor (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Mohammad Oraz, Iranian mountaineer (b. 1969)
- 2005 – Hasan Abidi, Pakistani journalist and poet (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Eugenia Charles, Dominican politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Madeleine L'Engle, American author (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Luciano Pavarotti, Italian tenor (b. 1935)
- 2007 – Percy Rodriguez, Canadian actor (b. 1918)
- 2008 – Sören Nordin, Swedish harness racer and trainer (b. 1917)
- 2008 – Anita Page, American actress (b. 1910)
- 2009 – Catherine Gaskin, Irish-Australian novelist (b. 1929)
- 2010 – Clive Donner, English director (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Michael S. Hart, Gutenberg Project founder (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Lawrie Dring, English scout leader, founded World Federation of Independent Scouts (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Jake Eberts, Canadian film producer (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Art Modell, American businessman (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Bertil Norström, Swedish actor (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Terry Nutkins, English television host and author (b. 1946)
- 2012 – Herbert O. Sparrow, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances
- Armed Forces Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
- Christian Feast Days:
- Defence Day or Army Day (Pakistan)
- Flag Day (Bonaire)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Swaziland from the United Kingdom in 1968
- Stillbirth Remembrance Day (several U.S. states and Canadian provinces)
- Unification Day (Bulgaria)
- The earliest date on which the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is performed
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“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””Matthew 28:18-20 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar."
Psalm 120:5
Psalm 120:5
As a Christian you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry "Woe is me." Jesus did not pray that you should be taken out of the world, and what he did not pray for, you need not desire. Better far in the Lord's strength to meet the difficulty, and glorify him in it. The enemy is ever on the watch to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be therefore very holy. Remember that the eyes of all are upon you, and that more is expected from you than from other men. Strive to give no occasion for blame. Let your goodness be the only fault they can discover in you. Like Daniel, compel them to say of you, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God." Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, "If I were in a more favourable position I might serve the Lord's cause, but I cannot do any good where I am"; but the worse the people are among whom you live, the more need have they of your exertions; if they be crooked, the more necessity that you should set them straight; and if they be perverse, the more need have you to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but where there are many sick? Where is honour to be won by the soldier but in the hottest fire of the battle? And when weary of the strife and sin that meets you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial. They were not carried on beds of down to heaven, and you must not expect to travel more easily than they. They had to hazard their lives unto the death in the high places of the field, and you will not be crowned till you also have endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, "stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."
Evening
"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?"
Job 38:16
Job 38:16
Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has bounds beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this be so in the things which are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it is even more so in matters spiritual and eternal. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations as to destiny and will, fixed fate, and human responsibility? These deep and dark truths I am no more able to comprehend than to find out the depth which coucheth beneath, from which old ocean draws her watery stores. Why am I so curious to know the reason of my Lord's providences, the motive of his actions, the design of his visitations? Shall I ever be able to clasp the sun in my fist, and hold the universe in my palm? yet these are as a drop of a bucket compared with the Lord my God. Let me not strive to understand the infinite, but spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by intellect I can possess by affection, and let that suffice me. I cannot penetrate the heart of the sea, but I can enjoy the healthful breezes which sweep over its bosom, and I can sail over its blue waves with propitious winds. If I could enter the springs of the sea, the feat would serve no useful purpose either to myself or to others, it would not save the sinking bark, or give back the drowned mariner to his weeping wife and children; neither would my solving deep mysteries avail me a single whit, for the least love to God, and the simplest act of obedience to him, are better than the profoundest knowledge. My Lord, I leave the infinite to thee, and pray thee to put far from me such a love for the tree of knowledge as might keep me from the tree of life.
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Today's reading: Psalm 146-147, 1 Corinthians 15:1-28 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Psalm 146-147
Praise the LORD, my soul.
2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
the sea, and everything in them-
he remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry....
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-28
The Resurrection of Christ
1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born....
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Dorcas
The Woman Whose Dressmaking Made Her Famous
Scripture Reference - Acts 9:36-43
Name Meaning - Dorcas implies "the female of a roebuck," "a gazelle" - an emblem of beauty. Dorcas is the first Greek name of a female in the New Testament, its Hebrew equivalent being Tabitha which is the Syro-Chaldaic form of the Hebrew Zibiah, or Tsibiah , the name of a princess of Judah, the mother of King Joash. Wilkinson says that "the Greek equivalent for her Syriac name may be accounted for by her residence at Joppa, a seaport much frequented, and no doubt partially inhabited by foreigners speaking chiefly the Greek language."
Family Connections - The Bible is silent concerning the parentage and genealogy of Dorcas. In the seaport town of Joppa she became known for her acts of charity and is the namesake for a charitable group named the Dorcas Society. Here was a woman "who with her needle embroidered her name ineffaceably into the beneficence of the world." Where did she learn to sew, make garments for the poor and become notable for her charitable works? It could possibly have been in a godly home that she was taught how to use her fingers and her funds for the comfort and relief of the needy. Dorcas must have been a woman of means to serve humanity as freely as she did. We have five glimpses of her witness and work in the historical account Luke gives us.
She Was a Christian
She is called, "a certain disciple," and is thus included among the numerous disciples mentioned in the New Testament. Through the Spirit-empowered ministry of Philip the evangelist, a Christian Church was established at Joppa - now known as Jaffa - and from an early date the church was not only a center of fervent evangelism but also of a well-organized social service. Possibly Dorcas came to know Christ as her Saviour in this church, and there caught the vision of how she could serve Christ with her money and her needle. Dorcas knew what it was to have a regenerated heart and this was the source of her unselfish life and charitable acts. Behind her sewing of garments was a saved soul. Giving of alms, and the making of garments in themselves gain no merit with God who, first of all, claims our hearts before our talents. It was only when Mary Magdalene was recovered from her stained past, that Christ accepted her desire to minister to His wants.
In our churches and also in commendable societies there are many public-spirited women who, with humanitarian ideals, are engaged in various relief activities, and whose sole object is to do good. But they are not actuated by Christ. Trying to emulate Dorcas, they lack her Christian discipleship, forgetting that caring for widows and others in need springs from "pure religion" which also reveals itself in keeping oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:26, 27 ). When Luke says that Dorcas was fullof good works, he meant the word "full" to refer primarily to her inward grace, which prompted the outward deeds. "Good works are only genuine and Christian when the soul of the performer is imbued with them." The cup of cold water to be acceptable must be given in His name. With Dorcas, then, being good meant doing good. Her manifold good works flowed from a heart grateful to God for His saving grace.
Lange the commentator says that "The gazelle is distinguished for its slender and beautiful form, its graceful movements and its soft but brilliant eyes; it is frequently introduced by the Hebrews and other Oriental nations as an image of female loveliness, and the name was often employed as a proper name, in the case of females." Whether Dorcas, whose name means "gazelle," was a beautiful woman or not we are not told. She certainly lived a lovely life, and had eyes reflecting the compassion of the Master whom she so faithfully served. All whom she influenced and helped saw in her the beauty of Jesus. As a disciple she certainly had faith in the One who had called her, but she came to see that faith without works is dead. She also knew that works without faith gained no merit with God, and so the hands that dispensed alms and made garments were inwardly inspired by Him whose hands were nailed to a tree.
She Was a Philanthropist
Dorcas the believer was likewise Dorcas the benefactress. "This woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did." How significant are these last three words! Too many well-meaning people sit around and talk about charitable works they never do. Sometimes they propose these works and leave others to execute them. Dorcas not only thought up ways of relieving the needy, but she also carried out her plans. Which she did! She knew what she could do, and did it. Studying the female characters of Scripture it is interesting to discover how several of them are conspicuous for one grace or work of mercy, or for another.
Rizpah we remember because of her loving care of the dead.
The widow of Zarephath for giving bread to the hungry.
Anna the prophetess for her fastings and prayers day and night.
Martha, as the queen of gracious hospitality.
Mary for her box of fragrant ointment.
Joanna, and her ministering unto Jesus.
Dorcas, for her care of widows and clothing the poor.
Further, a few Bible characters have inspired profitable institutions for the welfare of human society -
Mary Magdalene - home for wayward and lost girls.
Lazarus - whose name has been given to hospitals caring for the sick and poor.
Dorcas - source and inspiration of Dorcas Societies all over the world.
Among her good works was that of fashioning coats and garments for widows and the needy of her church and community with her own loving hands. The practical, unselfish service of this Christian philanthropist has filled the world with fragrance, for there flowed out of that little city of Joppa a multitude of benevolent and charitable organizations in which women have been prominent. The question came to Dorcas as it did to Moses when he felt he was not the man to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage, "What is that in thine hand?" And Moses answered, "A rod" (Exodus 4:2 ). And that rod became the symbol of delegated divine power. "What is that in thine hand?" the Lord asked Dorcas. She said, "A needle," and He took what she had and she stitched for Christ's sake. All praise, then, to the needle that represented practical benevolence among the needy. The garments Dorcas cut out and sewed represented Christian faith in action. "I was naked and ye clothed me," said Jesus of those who clothed His poor and destitute children.
She Was Mourned and Missed
It was a sad day for the church at Joppa when one of its most beloved and devoted members died in the midst of her works of charity. "Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow," and death certainly found such a mark in the bountiful Dorcas whose passing was a blow to the community. The vessel containing the costly ointment was broken, and the odor filled the house as never before. Kind hands washed the corpse and placed it in the upper chamber, with feelings expressed by the poet -
Sister, thou wast mild and lovely,
Gentle as the summer breeze,
Pleasant as the air of morning
When it floats among the trees.
While Dorcas doubtless owned her home, she seemed to have no relatives to mourn her going. The widows she had clothed and to whom she had been a friend laid her out; and great grief prevailed. Although so diligent on behalf of others, Dorcas died in the midst of a useful life. The writer had a preacher-friend who always said that he would like to die with his boots on - and he did, one Sunday morning, while preaching the Gospel. Is it possible that Dorcas had a sudden call with her needle in hand? What a grand way to go!
She Was Raised From the Dead
Her fellow disciples at the church where she had worshiped, learning that Peter was nearby, sent two members to beseech the apostle to visit the grief-stricken company. They knew that he had exercised supernatural power, and doubtless entertained the hope that their greatly-loved benefactress might live again. Like the faithful minister that he was, Peter did not delay in accompanying the two men to the death chamber at Joppa where the weeping widows were assembled. The apostle must have been moved as they reverently exhibited the coats and garments Dorcas had made for them. Then after Christ's example at the raising of Jairus' daughter, "Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed" (see John 11:41, 42). When he felt his request had been received, Peter spake the word of power and authority, "Tabitha, arise," and life returned. Dorcas sat up, and Peter presented her alive to the saints and widows (compare Matthew 9:25; Mark 5:40, 41).
What a moving scene that must have been! What joy must have prevailed among her fellow-saints and the widows, now that their much-loved Dorcas was alive again, and in her resurrected life, with fuller dedication to the service of the Master, was willing to take up her needle again. Her return from death must have been a great gain to her church. Her only pang was that she would have to sicken again and for the second time enter the gates of death.
She Was the Cause of Revival
The resurrection of Dorcas had a twofold effect. First of all, the miracle comforted the mourners for she had returned to her life of good works and almsdeeds. This miracle was thus like our Lord's miracles - one of mercy. The second effect was to convince all of the truth of the Christian faith attested as it was by miraculous power. Throughout Joppa the message rang, "Dorcas is alive again," and "many believed in the Lord." The miracle in that upper chamber, then, was not a miracle for the sake of a miracle. Dorcas raised from physical death became the cause of the resurrection of many from their graves of sin and unbelief. How the church at Joppa must have increased its membership through the many who were saved as the result of the return of Dorcas from the realm of death. After the resurrection of Lazarus we read that many of the Jews believed on Jesus. Is not the same true in a spiritual resurrection? A transformed life attracts others to the Saviour. We read that after the miracle, Peter stayed in Joppa for many days, and we can assume that his ministry greatly helped the church there in the establishment of the new converts. Peter stayed with Simon the tanner, a saint who prepared skins for leather to the glory of God, just as Dorcas made up her garments with consecrated hands.
A lesson to bear in mind as we part with our saintly benefactress is that she was unconscious of the magnificent work she was doing and of its far-reaching consequences. Dorcas did not aspire to be a leader, but was content to stay in her own home and try to do all she could in all the ways she could. Thus, in spite of herself, she became a great leader in an almost universal philanthropic cause, just as "The Lady of the Lamp," Florence Nightingale, did when she went to Crimea to care for the wounded, dying soldiers on the field of battle. May grace be ours to do whatever our hands find to do, as unto the Lord!
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Rehoboam, Roboam
[Rēhōbō'am,Rōbō'am] - freer of the people or the people is enlarged. The son of Solomon by Naamah, an Ammonitess (1 Kings 11:43; 14:21).
[Rēhōbō'am,Rōbō'am] - freer of the people or the people is enlarged. The son of Solomon by Naamah, an Ammonitess (1 Kings 11:43; 14:21).
At the revolt he was left with only two tribes.
The Man Who Scorned Good Advice
Although Rehoboam was the son of a wise father, he himself had a small mind. From the fifty references to this man, who scorned wise counsel, we can learn a great many facts. Although named as an ancestor of Christ (Matt. 1:7), he was unworthy of such an honor for three reasons.
I. He was dominated by a false principle. Rehoboam entertained an erroneous idea of the relation between a sovereign and his subjects. He was obsessed with the false premise that the subjects existed for the sovereign and not the sovereign for the subjects. Daily surrounded by unscrupulous flatterers who fed his self-importance, Rehoboam came to accept the nonsensical fiction of "the divine right of kings," that led him to treat his subjects as mere puppets to be manipulated for the benefit of his reigning house.
Whether this outlook was the result of a perverse disposition or wrong training may be hard to decide. Rehoboam had been brought up under the autocratic rule of his father, Solomon, to whom subjects were synonymous to slaves. When the people appealed, it was more against Solomon than Rehoboam, who had not had the opportunity of proving his quality as a king. So the first appeal to Rehoboam was, "Thy father made our yoke grievous," and the son sought to copy the defect of his father. Lamentable failure, however, overtook this feeble son of an illustrious father.
II. He followed the wrong advice. Alexander Whyte introduces his homily on Rehoboam with the sentence: "Just by one insolent and swaggering word, King Rehoboam lost for ever the ten tribes of Israel. And all Rehoboam's insane and suicidal history is written in our Bible for the admonition and instruction of all hot-blooded, ill-natured, and insolent-spoken men among ourselves."
What a different history of the Jews would have been written had Rehoboam not followed the advice of reckless counselors. When he went to Shechem, the rallying center of the northern tribes, to be formally crowned as king in succession to Solomon, the people were willing to accept Rehoboam on one condition, namely that he should lighten the burdens imposed upon them by Solomon. This reasonable request, which should have been acceded to without any hesitation, was met with the cautious reply: "Come again to me after three days." But Rehoboam lost a golden opportunity of healing the sores of fears and of preserving the unity of God's ancient people.
First of all, the king sought the advice of the old men who had been counselors of his father and whose ripe experience qualified them to guide Rehoboam. They urged the king to be kind and considerate. "Speak good words unto them, and they will be thy servants forever." But with his mind already made up, he rejected the counsel of the old men, and consulting the opinion of his young, rash companions who had always fed his vanity, he followed their advice and, assuming a haughty attitude, announced that he would add to the yoke of the people. "My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."
The effect was instantaneous, and a long-suffering people, smarting for so long under a sense of wrong, refused to be cowed, like the brave Hungarian people, by empty boastings. Thus the slumbering embers of revolt burst into a flame, and the kingdom was rent in twain and Israel's greatness destroyed.
III. He failed to give God the first place. If Rehoboam had consulted the Supreme King of Nations before seeking the advice of old and young men, how beneficial the monarchy would have been. While at the first he posed as the defender of the faith of his fathers and maintained the Temple services with signal fidelity, he failed to render God an undivided homage. The last years of Solomon's brilliant reign were darkened by the recognition of heathen gods and their degrading cults which, along with the fact that Rehoboam was the son of a heathen woman, helped to explain his apostasy. So attempting the impossible, he sought to please God and worship idols at the same time. But said Rehoboam's perfect Descendant: "No man can serve two masters."
At first pious (2 Chron. 12:1) Rehoboam fell into such iniquity that an Egyptian scourge came upon the king and the two tribes he ruled. Brief penitence stayed vengeance, but the rot had set in (2 Chron. 12:5, 8). So we leave Rehoboam, who went astray in a threefold direction, ruining himself and the people he sought to govern. He lost the best part of his kingdom and reduced Israel as a whole to a subordinate rank among nations.
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