Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Tue Sep 3rd Todays News

On the issue of the coming Australian election, Rudd has stood up for what he believes in and declared he, like any Christian in his mind, loves the world. I note the Bible has this 
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:19
Also
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26
This is not to say there is no truth in what Rudd said, only that the point is finer than he seems capable of understanding or conveying to an audience. Christians are not to judge Gay peoples or anyone else. Marriage is religious and should, in my opinion, be in the domain of churches, not states. If a church wishes to marry gay peoples, let them. But don't force them. The state's sole duty as regards marriage is the property laws regarding civil union. 
Of course, none of this has much to do with the Australian election. Except Rudd brow beat a Christian Pastor on the issue on QandA. It might be cheering for Jason Clare who has told me as recently as 2007 that he was raised as an Atheist. Rudd has also said other things that are subsequently found to be wrong or stupid or simple lies. He said that he never called people, who are complex, as simplified diminutions as 'Good' or 'Bad' but Channel 9 followed that statement on the 6 pm news last night with 2003 footage of Rudd doing exactly that in parliament, referring to then Foreign Minister Downer on Darfur. It is as if the mentally ill Rudd who is Zelig like in addressing an audience off the cuff cannot tell the truth. 
The NYT has sprung to Rudd's aid, misinterpreting the election favourable, but inexplicably failing to account for why the allegedly negative and aggressive Mr Abbott would be more popular than Rudd. Apparently it is all Col Allen's fault. Maybe Col is making Rudd lie so he can report him? 
On the US/Middle East front, Obama is dithering. Russia has detected the launch of missiles from the Mediterranean to the Middle East. No report of any hits. 
We are entering the Jewish New Year. I wish the sweetest of blessings to all my friends celebrating it. 
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Jennifer Petterson. Born on the same day, across the years, as Emperor Go-Sanjō (1034), John Humphrey Noyes (1811), Ferdinand Porsche (1875), Alan Ladd (1913), Al Jardine (1942), Charlie Sheen (1965) and Rina Koike (1993). On your day, Flag Day in Australia; Armed Forces Day in Taiwan
863 – Byzantine–Arab Wars: The Byzantine Empire decisively defeated the Emirate of Melitene in the Battle of Lalakaon, beginning the era of Byzantine ascendancy.
1651 – English Parliamentarian forces under Oliver Cromwell won the Battle of Worcester, the final battle of the Third English Civil War.
1783 – Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War.
1941 – The Holocaust: SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch first used the pesticide Zyklon B to execute Soviet POWs en masse at Auschwitz; eventually it was used to kill about 1.2 million people.
1991 – A fire killed 25 people locked inside a burning chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina, US.
Your victory was decisive. The civil war is over. The peace treaty was signed in Paris. Don't misuse pesticide or burn chicken. Enjoy your day. And again, thank you for providing that fellowship when I embarked 28 years ago ..
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Kevin looks like a bit of a Muppet

Miranda Devine – Tuesday, September 03, 2013 (7:03pm)

THE battle for Kevin Rudd’s Brisbane seat of Griffith took an ominous turn three weeks ago. But he only has himself to blame.

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CONVERT KEVNI

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 03, 2013 (5:38am)

Kevin Rudd has supported gay marriage since May 20 this year – or less than two per cent of his federal political career. He voted against gay marriage as recently as September 2012. Now watch as the great opportunistrighteously denounces someone with whom he previously agreed:



Note how Christian Rudd personalises the exchange, demanding to know if his questioner believes “homosexuality is abnormal”. It’s bullying, but it plays well to a whooping Q & A crowd who don’t appreciate that Rudd and the targeted audience member were on the same side just 107 days ago.
(Incidentally, I’m a supporter myself, in case that is an issue.)
UPDATE.  Andrew Bolt notes that Rudd in 2007 “argued his own opposition to same-sex marriage was not based on a belief that homosexuality was abnormal”. Yet Rudd now slurs other opponents as bigots.
UPDATE II. The use of “staunch” in this report is mistaken. Rudd’s “firmness, steadfastness, or loyalty” on this subject goes back barely three months.

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THINK NO MORE ABOUT THEM

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 03, 2013 (3:25am)

Sydney Morning Herald snob Sam de Brito sneers at “the voting public’s moral indifference”: 
Of these plasticine people the poet Virgil said: “Let us think no more about them, but look once and pass on.”
Pity they’ll decide our next PM. 
They also decide newspaper sales, which is too bad for the SMH. But Sam’s disgust at his fellow Australians may be premature. There is still time for Australia’s artistic community to rise up and turn the election around. It worked for Paul Keating in 1993, as Roger Foley recalls: 
Two weeks before election day the Labor Party and Prime Minister Keating were very gloomy as all opinion polls pointed to a landslide victory for the Liberal Conservative party. Everyone, including all but two Labor supporters considered the election was ‘unwinnable’.
The idea for a concert, an event to show support for Paul Keating, was generated at The Screen Producers Conference in Canberra in December 1992 … Over dinner a mutual understanding was reached that the arts community should do something to help the Labor Party and Paul Keating. 
On February 28, 1993, the nation witnessed Arts For Labor’s great celebration. And history was changed: 
A re-invigorated Paul, knowing he was loved by the most important people in the country, the arts community, then went on to win the election 13 days later. 
(Via Geoffrey in Jakarta)

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INVOICE IN THE MAIL

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 03, 2013 (3:21am)

The Australian‘s Dennis Shanahan on Monday morning: 
Labor won power in 2007 on a Ruddslide, but looks like losing power in 2013 in a Ruddbath. 
The ABC’s Q & A host Tony Jones on Monday night: 
In 2007 he won in a Ruddslide. Now the polls say we’re heading for a Ruddbath. 
You’d think with $1 billion per year of taxpayer funding the ABC could afford its own Ruddpuns.

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DINER ARRESTED

Tim Blair – Tuesday, September 03, 2013 (3:12am)

“What is the charge? Eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?”



(Via Gawker, which describes this event as “the classiest, most gentlemanly arrest ever.”
UPDATE. Anyone reminded of Sideshow Mel?

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How can Labor block the Liberals from scrapping a carbon tax Labor promises to “terminate”?

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (12:51pm)

Kevin Rudd, July 16:

Today we’ve taken the decision to terminate the carbon tax.
Labor MPs today:
LABOR MPs say they will not accept a Coalition “mandate” to axe the carbon price, arguing doing so would betray their constituents and violate their party platform.
How can Labor block the Liberals from scrapping the carbon tax? Hasn’t Labor declared it’s decided to terminate it themselves? Or was it just tricking voters?
Well, yes, it was.
UPDATE
Labor broke its promise to never give us a carbon tax, and now says it will break its promise to get rid of it. 

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Kevin Rudd lies again to prove he’s more trustworthy

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (12:35pm)

What Tony Abbott actually said:
TONY ABBOTT: It seems that the Syrian opposition includes quite a number of elements that are highly influenced by al-Qaeda. That’s why I say frankly it’s a civil war between two pretty much equally unsavoury sides. That said, Leigh, the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime against its own people is an unspeakable abomination. It is an absolutely unspeakable abomination.
LEIGH SALES: So, do you mean specifically the Free Syrian Army of being the group that’s of concern or do you mean more the sort of political aspects of the Syrian opposition like the National Coalition and the Syrian National Council?
TONY ABBOTT: It’s a very disparate group, but some of the elements appear to be al-Qaeda influenced and we we’ve got to be very careful dealing in a powder keg like the Middle East that we don’t take action, well-intentioned action which could end up making a bad situation worse.
What Kevin Rudd, who I fear could be an instinctive liar, claims Abbott said:
But when you read the text of what he said in a formal interview on the 7.30 Report last night, describing the Assad regime, Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, as, to quote him “pretty much equally unsavoury as the Syrian National Coalition, which is the coalition which brings together opposition forces. This is a stunning error of judgement… To go out and describe the Syrian National Coalition, which represents opposition forces in Syria and excludes Islamist and Al Qaeda forces represented by groups such as Al Nusra and the Syrian Islamic Front - to equate the Syrian National Coalition with the Assad regime, is frankly such a complete misreading, misunderstanding and just downright ignorance of the realities of the crisis of the day.

Note: Rudd pretends Abbott said what he did not. He pretends Abbott raised doubts about the Syrian National Council specifically rather than the opposition forces generally, which include powerful groups linked to al-Qaeda.
On this deliberately false basis, Rudd then attacks Abbott’s judgment:
Why? Australia recognises the Syrian National Coalition. The United States recognises the Syrian National Coalition. The European Union recognises the Syrian National Coalition. Eighty countries around the world recognise the Syrian National Coalition.
If Mr Abbott’s on Sunday, is the prime minister on Sunday, and because we are president of the UN Security Council, is he going to send a direction to our ambassador in New York to derecognise the Syrian National Coalition, because they represent an equally unsavoury side?
This would set up such a reaction in Australian international relations and our standing across the world. People wouldn’t just scratch their head, they’d walk away in horror at this appalling error of foreign policy judgement.
I’d actually be more horrified by a national leader who lies and lies again. 

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How many seats?

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (12:29pm)

My guess: Coalition 95, Labor 52, KAP 1, Greens 1, Independent 1.
Yours?
(Oops. Post amended to include Bob Katter.)
UPDATE
Readers tend to think the Coalition may win a few more.
UPDATE
Reader the Village Idiot (Reformed) writes:
The Queensland Nielsen poll is extremely interesting, given the results for the Senate. The results of the poll were: 
ALP 31%
LNP 45%
GRN 8%
PUP 8%
KAP 4%
OTH 4%
I put those figures through Antony Green’s ”Senate Calculator” below. The results were amazing. There are 3 ALP senators and 3 LNP senators up for re-election. 
Now I don’t know the break-up of “Other Parties” (4%), but adjusted the prior 2010 figures already in the calculator as best I could. I don’t think they really make that big a difference. The results came out as follows:


LNP
ALP
LNP
ALP
LNP
PUP
Glenn Lazarus of the Palmer United Party becomes a Senator for Queensland come July 1, 2014, and the ALP loses a Senate seat.

The absolute irony is that the final seat came down to this:

PUP
KAP
GRN
The Greens’ preferences (the smallest quota of the three) flowed to the Palmer United Party. So Sen. Christine Milne and her merry band of little green munchkins have elected a candidate of the “billionaire” coal polluting and CO2 producing baron, Professor Clive Palmer.

I think the word I’m looking for is “irony”

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Did Rudd think gays were abnormal in May?

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (11:37am)

Tim Blair notes the disgusting sanctimony of a Prime Minister who until as recently as May this year opposed gay marriage - but now abuses an opponent, Christian pastor, to the applause of a Q&A crowd:

Note how Christian Rudd personalises the exchange, demanding to know if his questioner believes “homosexuality is abnormal”. It’s bullying, but it plays well to a whooping Q & A crowd who don’t appreciate that Rudd and the targeted audience member were on the same side just 107 days ago.
Rudd once argued his own opposition to same-sex marriage was not based on a belief that homosexuality was abnormal:
“On the institution of marriage itself, our view is between a man and woman and it’s just been our traditional, continuing view,” Mr Rudd said…
Asked if he would change his mind if one of his three children were gay and wanted to marry, Mr Rudd said, “I would love them equally and that’s not the issue here, it’s just not…
“When it comes to respecting people in same-sex relationships I understand the absolute importance of that… I don’t have a view at all that people in such relationship are in any way second-class citizens, at all.”
But now Rudd the convert want to make a Christian pastor seem a gay-hating bigot for holding exactly the view that he once did.
Reader Thumbnail:

In my view only the hard left audience would think that Mr Rudd’s response was acceptable. Mr Rudd tried to humiliate the Pastor who was representing the sincere views of his Christian community. For Mr Rudd to deliberately verbal him, and misuse the authority of public office, and the megaphone of media is truly a new low, even for him. I hope that the good Pastor will come out and decry this sort of bullying.
UPDATE
Sandy Grant, senior minister at St Michael’s Anglican Cathedral in Wollongong, says Kevin Rudd, a professed Christian, misrepresented the Bible on Q&A:
Last night, on a serious Australian current affairs program, Q&A, our current serving Prime Minister, a self-professed Christian, grossly caricatured the Bible.
A pastor questioned the PM’s change of mind on same-sex marriage, pointing out that Jesus says, “A man shall leave his father and mother and be married"—summarising Matthew 19:4-6—and asked why someone calling himself a Christian does not believe the words of Jesus in the Bible.
The PM replied,

“Well if I was going to have that view, the Bible also says that slavery is a natural condition.”
This received the most enormous applause of the night, which incidentally seems to indicate both the depth of biblical illiteracy and the hostility to Christian morality…
I am appalled at how this national leader, publicly claiming “an informed conscience and a Christian conscience”, misrepresented the Holy Book of the faith he confesses, on its teaching on one matter (slavery) to avoid its teaching on another matter (of marriage), in order to justify his abandonment of that biblical teaching…
Let’s be clear. Even a cursory reading of the Bible would tell you it never says slavery is a “natural condition”. Never. Not once…
One of the paradigmatic episodes of the Old Testament is the Exodus. It involves God’s rescue of his people out of slavery! ...
In the New Testament, as in the Old, the slave trade is condemned out of hand with various other grievous sins. 1 Timothy 1:8-11 says,
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (NIV11)
How is any of that teaching that slavery is a natural condition?
But more than that, freedom is always a key goal of the Christian gospel… Slavery is never once taught in Scripture as the natural condition. Rather, if you can gain your freedom, do so.
I am deeply sorry to say it—and all the more in an election week—but our Prime Minister convicted the Bible on a trumped up charge. How sad for someone in high office, publicly professing the Christian faith.

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Utter insanity:  spending $160b to cut the temperature by 0.00005 degrees

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (9:06am)

Topher strikes again:

What is the TRUE cost of climate change? Is stopping it early really the cheapest plan in the long run? 50 to 1 explores the costs of stopping climate change vs adapting to it as and if it’s required, and uncovers a simple truth; it’s 50 times more expensive to try and STOP climate change than it is to simply ADAPT to it as and if required.
Topher works out that Labor’s global warming policy would after 10 years cut the world’s temperature by 0.00005 degrees at a cost of $160 billion.
The global warming faith has robbed our politicians of all reason. 

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Rudd used the “good guys, bad guys” talk he now mocks

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (8:53am)

Sanctimonious hypocrite:


As Kevin Rudd and others lined up to lambast Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for referring to the Syrian regime and opposition forces as “baddies verses baddies” similar simplistic references from Mr Rudd and world leaders emerged.
The Prime Minister said the last time he personally used such terminology was when he was “playing cowboys and Indians in the backyard ... I think I was about the age of 10”.
Mr Rudd, referring to former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, said in 2003: “And Downer says he will sift out the good guys in Kopassus from the bad guys - and will be dealing with the good guys.”
UPDATE
image
Is Rudd an instinctive liar?
Watch from 35:45 as Labor candidate Fiona McNamara gives Rudd frantic hints, even pointing to her hair, to try to stop him telling yet another untruth, this time claiming he’d never give a female candidate grooming tips.

Four Corners reporter Janine Cohen [said] Mr Rudd was happy to criticise Mr Abbott for the [sex appeal] comment about Ms Scott, but that he then went on to categorically deny he would ever tell one of his candidates how they should dress or wear their hair…
“But then we asked him would he ever give grooming tips or suggest how his candidates wear their hair and he said that he would never do that, that how his candidates dress and appear is entirely their own business…
“This contradicts an earlier interview I have done with a Brisbane Labor candidate Fiona McNamara… In fact she says that he does give her tips on how to wear her hair. That sometimes she wears her hair how Kevin likes it and sometimes she wears her hair how she likes it.
McNamara has since been banned by Labor from talking to the media. 
UPDATE
Samuel J picks up another bit of opportunistic moralising:

In his Q&A appearance last night, Kevin Rudd issued an uncosted promise to increase single parent welfare payments as a ‘top priority’ if re-elected on Saturday.
Rudd said

If we are returned, it will be the first thing we address. I mean it. As soon as the budget opens up that amount of space to deal with this challenge, we should act. I was very uncomfortable with it then. I am very uncomfortable with where we are now. I am being up-front about it. As soon as the budget allows us a bit of space to act on that, we will. (my bolding)
That seems to be another Rudd lie. In a news report from 10 October 2012, it was noted that 10 Labor Caucus members wanted to force a delay in the implementation of the policy until after a Senate inquiry had concluded.
The 10 were: Doug Cameron, Janelle Saffin, Claire Moore, Gavin Marshall, Louise Pratt, Jill Hall, Laura Smyth, Gai Brodtmann, Ed Husic and Stephen Jones
No Kevin Rudd there.

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But this dwarf was a white male

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (8:51am)

Under Andrew Demetriou, the AFL has adopted an indigenous round to promote respect for Aborigines and a women’s round to promote respect for women.
Time Demetriou held a dwarfism round:
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou has sparked anger by laughing when he was told a dwarf was allegedly set on fire during Mad Monday celebrations. 

Dwarf entertainer Blake Johnston, who goes by the stage name Mr Big, has claimed he was set alight with a cigarette lighter while talking to a group of players…

Mr Demetriou laughed, covered his face and slapped the desk as the panel laughed about the incident.

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The classiest arrest yet

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (8:48am)

Via Tim Blair, video of the arrest of a magnificent orator, declaiming on succulent Chinese food, the excellence of a headlock and the impropriety of contact with his penis. 

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Seeming is not doing, and is no way to run a government

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (7:52am)

Peter Costello:
Rudd has never understood what it means to govern. He has never understood that to accomplish something, a minister or a prime minister must design it, think of the risks and take measures to prevent them, assemble resources, map out a plan for implementation, follow through on it, and deliver results. He believes that governing mostly consists of making grand statements.
The highlight of Rudd’s career will be the apology to the stolen generation. It was a gesture, a declaration. After it was given, no one’s life improved. It wasn’t about that. It was about making the giver and the receivers feel better.
Rudd thought he could do the same on border protection.
He declared he would have a more humane policy. As far as he was concerned that was it. He didn’t think about how this would lure fifty thousand asylum seekers to Australia, how a thousand people would drown trying to get here.
He didn’t think about the consequences, let alone design a workable policy.
UPDATE
The price of another rash decision:

SALES of Fords and Holdens hit a wall in August and are on their way to 20-year lows as the record pace of the new-car market appears to have been slowed by the Rudd Government’s changes to Fringe Benefits Tax.
Ford sales slumped by a massive 20 per cent last month and Holden, which had enjoyed a resurgence a month earlier, dropped by 6 per cent, preliminary figures show. Even top-seller Toyota was not immune, dipping by 1 per cent—its second decline in a month—in a market that was up by 5 per cent in the first half of the year.
(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.) 

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Rudd claim:  4000 dead since he weakened border laws

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (7:22am)

Kevin Rudd on Q&A last night gave a shocking new estimate of the death toll among the boat people he helped lure to Australia:
One in 13 people who come to this country by boat end up drowning.
Since Rudd scrapped our tough border laws in 2008, more than 50,000 boat people have arrived. One thirteenth of that is 3846.
Is that the true price of Rudd’s ghastly mistake? If so, why have we not been told?
Or did Rudd misspeak?
UPDATE
Rudd repeated the one-in-thirteen figure on AM this morning.
UPDATE
Reader AP:

Actually, the 50,000 are the ones who made it, so therefore, the total who set to sea (including those who died at sea) is 50,000 x 13/12, and th number who died is 50,000/12. That is 4,166
(Thanks to reader Eric.) 

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Labor not dead in Queensland, but won’t be saved there

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (6:47am)

The latest Fairfax poll of Queenslanders shows more support for federal Labor than I would have expected - and more for millionaire buffoon “Professor” Clive Palmer than is healthy:

image
To think some voters really believe Palmer’s free-money schemes…
As for Newspoll:
Labor could be reduced to holding just two Queensland seats: Rankin and Oxley. According to a Newspoll survey, conducted exclusively for The Australian from last Tuesday to Sunday across Moreton, Petrie, Lilley, Capricornia, Blair, Rankin and Oxley, Labor’s primary vote was 38 per cent…
The Coalition’s primary vote in the seven Labor-held seats was 42 per cent… Based on preference flows at the last election, Labor’s support on a two-party-preferred basis was 49 per cent, down from 53.7 per cent in 2010, and the Coalition’s was 51 per cent, up 4.7 points from 46.3 per cent at the last election.
On a uniform swing of 4.7 per cent against Labor, the seats of Moreton (held by 1.2 per cent), Petrie (2.6 per cent), former treasurer Wayne Swan’s Lilley (3.2 per cent) and the central Queensland coastal seat of Capricornia (3.7 per cent) would all go to the Coalition. The seat of Blair (4.3 per cent) would also be at risk.

UPDATE
Queensland might have room for just one political flake, not two:
BOB Katter’s primary vote has collapsed in his north Queensland stronghold and he may need to rely on preferences to hold his own seat of Kennedy, according to leaked Liberal National Party polling.
Internal polling conducted last week in the north Queensland electorate shows Mr Katter’s primary vote has fallen from 47 per cent at the last election to 32 per cent - almost on par with the LNP at 31 per cent.
(Thanks to reader Peter.) 

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Magistrate says Thomson lawyer seems to admit what Thomson denies

Andrew Bolt September 03 2013 (6:12am)

Former Labor MP Craig Thomson denies what a magistrate says it seems his lawyer admitted:
CRAIG Thomson’s repeated denials that he used union credit cards to pay for prostitutes and pornographic movies have been undermined by a magistrate, who claims his lawyers have already “agreed” the former Labor MP was responsible. 

Melbourne magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg, who is hearing allegations that Mr Thomson rorted union funds, yesterday told the MP’s lawyers that it had been understood in court that the facts of the case would largely not be contested, and it was unacceptable for the defence to now adopt an ambiguous position.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Mr Rozencwajg said…
Mr Rozencwajg agreed that [Thomson’s lawyer] had indicated the defence would not fight the facts of the allegations. “That was clearly the impression that everybody had: that the facts by and large weren’t going to be an issue,” Mr Rozencwajg said. “Identity was not going to be in dispute ... it was going to be agreed it was him.”
UPDATE

Meanwhile, developments in another scandal:

VICTORIA Police Fraud Squad detectives have seized Julia Gillard’s confidential personnel files, invoices, travel records and all documents relating to legal advice she gave 20 years ago to help set up a union fund for her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson.
Documents obtained exclusively by The Australian confirm the former prime minister is a focus of the investigation surrounding Mr Wilson, the former Australian Workers Union secretary who was dating Ms Gillard while she was his lawyer at Slater & Gordon in the 1990s…
The documents have been kept in a sealed box at the Melbourne Magistrates Court pending claims of legal privilege, but Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell, who is leading the investigation, yesterday applied to have them returned to police… His application said he would argue that any claim of privilege by Mr Wilson “should be rejected on the grounds that the contents of the documents prepared by Mr Wilson or solicitor/s at Slater & Gordon (or both), were made in furtherance of the commission of a fraud or an offence”.
(Thanks to reader Peter.) 

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A Black Reporter Summarizes Barack

The below summarization of Barack and Michelle Obama’s 5 year reign in the White House is by far the best I’ve ever read as it squarely hits the nail on the head. And it took a black reporter writing it to make it as effective as it is. A white man’s account would be instantly criticized by the liberal media as pure racism. But, how can anyone scream Racist when an exacting description of the Obamas is penned by a well known journalist of color?

BEST SUMMATION OF BARACK AND MICHELLE EVER!
Mychal Massie is a respected writer and talk show host in Los Angeles.

The other evening on my twitter, a person asked me why I didn't like the Obama's? Specifically I was asked: "I have to ask, why do you hate the Obama's? It seems personal, not policy related. You even dissed (disrespect) their Christmas family picture."

The truth is I do not like the Obamas, what they represent, their ideology, and I certainly do not like his policies and legislation. I've made no secret of my contempt for the Obamas. As I responded to the person who asked me the aforementioned question, I don't like them because they are committed to the fundamental change of my/our country into what can only be regarded as a Communist state.

I don't hate them per definition, but I condemn them because they are the worst kind of racialists, they are elitist Leninists with contempt for traditional America. They display disrespect for the sanctity of the office he holds, and for those who are willing to admit same, Michelle Obama's raw contempt for white America is transpicuous. I don't like them because they comport themselves as emperor and empress.

I expect, no I demand respect, for the Office of President and a love of our country and her citizenry from the leader entrusted with the governance of same. President and Mrs. Reagan displayed an unparalleled love for the country and her people.

The Reagan's made Americans feel good about themselves and about what we could accomplish. Obama's arrogance by appointing 32 leftist czars and constantly bypassing congress is impeachable. Eric Holder is probably the MOST incompetent and arrogant DOJ head to ever hold the job. Could you envision President Reagan instructing his Justice Department to act like jack-booted thugs?

Presidents are politicians and all politicians are known and pretty much expected to manipulate the truth, if not outright lie, but even using that low standard, the Obama's have taken lies, dishonesty, deceit, mendacity, subterfuge and obfuscation to new depths. They are verbally abusive to the citizenry, and they display an animus for civility.

I do not like them, because they both display bigotry overtly, as in the case of Harvard Professor Louis Gates, when he accused the Cambridge Police of acting stupidly, and her code speak pursuant to not being able to be proud of America. I view that statement and that mindset as an insult to those who died to provide a country where a Kenyan, his illegal alien relatives, and his alleged progeny, could come and not only live freely, but rise to the highest, most powerful, position in the world.

Michelle Obama is free to hate and disparage whites because Americans of every description paid with their blood to ensure her right to do same. I have a saying, that "the only reason a person hides things, is because they have something to hide." No president in history has spent millions of dollars to keep his records and his past sealed.

And what the two of them have shared has been proved to be lies. He lied about when and how they met, he lied about his mother's death and problems with insurance, Michelle lied to a crowd pursuant to nearly $500,000 bank stocks they inherited from his family. He has lied about his father's military service, about the civil rights movement, ad nausea. He lied to the world about the Supreme Court in a State of the Union address. He berated and publicly insulted a sitting Congressman. He has surrounded himself with the most rabidly, radical, socialist academicians today.

He opposed rulings that protected women and children that even Planned Parenthood did not seek to support. He is openly hostile to business and aggressively hostile to Israel. His wife treats being the First Lady as her personal American Express Black Card (arguably the most prestigious credit card in the world). I condemn them because, as people are suffering, losing their homes, their jobs, their retirements, he and his family are arrogantly showing off their life of entitlement - as he goes about creating and fomenting class warfare.

I don't like them, and I neither apologize nor retreat from my public condemnation of them and of his policies. We should condemn them for the disrespect they show our people, for his willful and unconstitutional actions pursuant to obeying the Constitutional parameters he is bound by, and his willful disregard for Congressional authority.

Dislike for them has nothing to do with the color of their skin; it has everything to do with their behavior, attitudes, and policies. And I have open scorn for their constantly playing the race card.

I could go on, but let me conclude with this. I condemn in the strongest possible terms the media for refusing to investigate them, as they did President Bush and President Clinton, and for refusing to label them for what they truly are. There is no scenario known to man, whereby a white president and his wife could ignore laws, flaunt their position, and lord over the people, as these two are permitted out of fear for their color.

As I wrote in a syndicated column titled, "Nero In The White House" - "Never in my life, inside or outside of politics, have I witnessed such dishonesty in a political leader. He is the most mendacious political figure I have ever witnessed. Even by the low standards of his presidential predecessors, his narcissistic, contumacious arrogance is unequalled. Using Obama as the bar, Nero would have to be elevated to sainthood...

Many in America wanted to be proud when the first person of color was elected president, but instead, they have been witness to a congenital liar, a woman who has been ashamed of America her entire life, failed policies, intimidation, and a commonality hitherto not witnessed in political leaders. He and his wife view their life at our expense as an entitlement - while America's people go homeless, hungry and unemployed."
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Did you see Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s 3-word tweet that pissed off the Left? ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/09/02/did-you-see-wisconsin-gov-scott-walkers-3-word-tweet-that-pissed-off-the-left/
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Daniel Bogo
Guarda qui cosa ho trovato a Melbourne..!!! 
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Daniel Bogo
I have outplayed the match...:):)
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Kevin Rudd's much tweeted and Facebooked response to a pastor's challenge on his recent decision to support gay marriage bears a suspicious similarity to a line from a famous episode of the US television series The West Wing.
Mr Rudd won much applause and a storm of support across social media for his reply to Pastor Matt Prater, who demanded of the Prime Minister on ABC-TV's Q&A how he could call himself a Christian after chopping and changing his position on same-sex marriage.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/kevin-rudds-samesex-response-straight-from-the-west-wing-20130903-2t2ng.html#ixzz2dpM9T5jQ

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SYDNEY, Australia — A lot has happened since Col Allan, the editor in chief of The New York Post, returned to Sydney to provide “extra editorial leadership” for Rupert Murdoch’s Australian newspapers.
Fascinating to see how wrong the Grey Lady gets it the Hogans Heroes photo flattered Rudd, but the diminishment to calling it a Nazi uniform is only apparent to the most partisan .. interestingly, Fairfa got a photo op of Rudd with actual Nazis in the background on Euro Nazi Remembrance Day where they recall the holocaust. The allegation that Newscorp is partisan is at odds with similar articles coming from Fairfax, but I gather a balanced news source isn't allowed to criticise an incompetent leftwing government. 

At least the NYT got the 59% figure right .. the ALP keep claiming 70% ownership .. in fact it is 29% ownership, but circulation figures are high because people want balanced reporting .. something the NYT fails at. ed

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Fast food workers in Chicago, Detroit and Seattle went on strike before Labor Day weekend, demanding their wages be raised to $15 dollars an hour. 

Maybe these people need to talk to our soldiers fighting overseas for a little perspective...
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If your face gets magnified this big, it shows every flaw! (Rwanda National Stadium celebration. PEACE Plan)
Pastor Rick Warren
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So just how did the return of #DoctorWho in 2005 come about? Find out in this video featuring interviews with former showrunner Russell T Davies and former BBC Controller of Drama Jane Tranter: http://bit.ly/14cXPhK
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I suppose everything can go up except profit margin.
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Crystal and Megan were best friends, but they’re now battling for custody of Crystal’s 8-year-old daughter. Who should have custody?http://bit.ly/DRP0820
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"It won't be quiet, it won't be safe, and it won't be calm. But I'll tell you what it will be: The trip of a lifetime!"

Ninth month = Ninth Doctor. Join us this month as we celebrate him and his fantastic adventures. What's your favourite Ninth Doctor moment?
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"We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people." - Jackie
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4 her
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Change Of Our Lives for those who haven't seen it. BTShttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ja5CqE2yEY&list=PLsyDagbekPkssrCzsbnzvnTXe1h71PE01

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"Isn't it amazing that when Israel defends itself from Hamas terror and smuggling of weapons, it is violating the human rights of 1.6 million Gazans - but when Egypt does the exact same thing, it is simply defending itself?" - Elder of Ziyon
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I feel that it is for the best. Sometimes we can dig too deeply .. the bones aren't there ed===

IF the declining primary and two-party-preferred votes in yesterday's Newspoll weren't bad enough for the Labor Party, Kevin Rudd's net satisfaction rating spells disaster in the final week of campaigning.
The Prime Minister's rating dropped 10 points to -26, compared with Tony Abbott's rating of -10. It is by far the most unpopular Rudd has ever been with the electorate.

Gillard supporters have not weighed in yet .. ed
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#whateverittakes

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/fact-checker/have-parties-won-elections-when-so-far-behind-in-the-polls-20130903-2t2b8.html
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ALL around Australia men's arms are thickening and women are comparing their ab muscles.
Your Facebook feed is filled with former colleagues whose body fat is plummeting and friends from school who are perennially dressed in exercise gear.
These people all belong to the same cult. And if you haven't heard of it yet, you're well behind the curve.
You could say CrossFit is sweeping the world, but really it has swept, mopped and put on a load of washing before you've even hit the snooze button for the first time.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health-fitness/the-five-crossfit-moves-you-can-do-at-home/story-fneuzle5-1226709704051#ixzz2dpa29aVx

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It’s the science story that many gyms may not want to hear. What if you could reap the benefits of running and weight-bearing exercise without any expensive runners or contracts and do it all in, say, seven minutes?
Exercise science is a fine and intellectually fascinating thing. But sometimes you just want someone to lay out guidelines for how to put the latest fitness research into practice.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/plenty-to-gain-with-just-seven-minutes-of-pain-20130830-2sw2i.html#ixzz2dpaBeSfz

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The winner of this year’s $2000 Blankfeld Award for Media Critique has been chosen and comes from a most unlikely source. Sri Lankan-born Timon Dias was adopted in the Netherlands at the age of three months and is a Clinical Psychology Masters degree student at Leiden University.
His winning articles were all published in the Jerusalem Post and impressed the staff of HonestReporting above all of the other candidates.
In “The lack of Western disgust for Hamas,” Timon sought to explain why many Western college students and mainstream opinion makers tend not to loathe or despise Hamas in the way it deserves.
The EU shows it doesn’t understand the conflict” explains how the anti-Israel bias within the EU can be traced back to its founding principle of undoing the concept of nation states, of which Israel is a demonstrably successful one.
In “Whose taxpayers fund UNRWA?” Timon asks why Western nations pay 71% of the annual UNRWA budget while Muslim countries pay next to nothing while addressing the role of UNRWA in keeping Palestinians dependent and incapable of making peace.
But what drives a non-Jewish student with no familial ties to Israel to defend what is an increasingly difficult cause on campuses worldwide ? We asked Timon:

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Two schoolgirls have spoken about their sexual abuse at the hands of their former teacher. Picture: Supplied

A SCHOOLGIRL seduced at the age of 14 by a paedophile teacher who groomed her on Facebook, says she still "has feelings" for the man, who has been jailed for having sex with underage girls.
Sam Bradley, 23, groomed three girls from the same school whom he approached through Facebook. He then asked them to send him photographs of themselves in their underwear, the Daily Mail and other UK news sites have reported.
He lured one of the girls to his house where she drank alcohol and Bradley touched her outside and inside her clothes.
"I can't help how I feel about him," said the girl, who is now 16 years old.
"I was just so happy he'd chosen me above all the other girls who fancied him."
Bradley told the girl she was "the prettiest by far" in her class and he would give her his phone number, although he was worried about losing his job.
The girl promised not to tell anyone and the man began texting her.
He later convinced her to send a video of herself performing a sex act.
A second girl who went to the same school in South Yorkshire, UK, also received Mr Bradley's number and after texting each other, went to his house where she woke up the next morning next to him.
Mr Bradley was wearing only a pair of boxer shorts.
The girl said all her schoolfriends thought Mr Bradley, who worked as a teacher's assistant, was good looking and "a real joker".
It was only when a friend she claimed she was staying with called her house and spoke with her mother that the girl's relationship with Bradley was exposed.
Investigating police officers who examined Bradley's phone discovered he had also been having a sexual relationship with a third girl, a former pupil of the school who described him as "sex obsessed".
Bradley is now serving a three-year sentence.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/schoolgirl-still-8216has-feelings8217-for-paedophile-teacher/story-fndir2ev-1226709520958#ixzz2dpbCdI9g

.. he apparently drugged them too? ed
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Anti-Israel students and activists showed their “true colors” last Wednesday night, Jewishstudents at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa said.
Moving quickly from “anti-Zionism” to classic anti-Semitism, a melange of studentsand BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activists began screaming “Shoot the Jews” at a concert featuring religious Jewish jazz saxophonist Daniel Zamir.
Zamir, who is Israeli, had been invited to perform by several Jewish organizations. Zamir is world-renowned as a klezmer and jazz musician, having played with jazz luminaries such as John Zorn.
The anti-Israel protest was sponsored by BDS South Africa. Operating since 2010, the group claims that it “facilitated numerous campaigns, including: the University of Johannesburg (UJ) academic boycott, the South African Artists Against Apartheid cultural boycott campaign, and the annual Israeli Apartheid Week.”
Dozens of South African Muslims and BDS supporters gathered outside Wits' Great Hall, with security personnel keeping them outside. Several scuffles were reported, and concert-goers were subject to a great deal of verbal abuse.
At that point, said witnesses, the protesters broke into a sing-song chant of “kill the Jews,” (“Dubula e Juda” in Zulu), a take-off on a protest song sung in the 80s against whites. When questioned, Muhammed Desai, coordinator of the protest and leader of "BDS South Africa," said that the protesters did not mean the term “kill the Jews” literally.
“Just like you would say 'kill the Boer' at funeral during the eighties it wasn’t about killing white people, it was used as a way of identifying with the [opposition to the] apartheid regime,” he said, adding that “the whole idea anti-Semitism is blown out of proportion,” and that if anyone in BDS had committed anti-Semitic acts, the group would not tolerate it.
But concert goers and Jewish students at Wits said that this time the BDS group had gone too far. Many said that they no longer felt safe at the university, with others saying that actual shooting of Jews or other violence against them was just a matter of time.
“How is ‘shoot the Jew’ not racist rhetoric?,” asked one student. “It is blatant anti-Semitism. If people are blowing anti-Semitism out of proportion then they are blowing apartheid out of proportion too. Have people forgotten about the Holocaust?”

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As Israeli leaders continue toreact to American prevarication on Syria, one former IDF commander has summed up the general mood.
"We have no one to rely upon except for God and our veteran troops," said former IDF General Uzi Dayan, attacking US President Barack Obama’sdecision to postpone actionon Syria until an official approval from Congress. 
Dayan’s comments were featured on his Facebook page on Sunday, opening with a statement saying that the Israeli government should “continue with its sensible policies” of refraining from a Syrian intervention unless the conflict were to spill in Israel’s direction.  
Regarding Israel's relationship with the United States, Dayan pointed out that Israel should “strengthen the unity of values, strategic coordination, and mutual respect for one another, and to not divide the American and Zionist common mission.”
Yet Dayan echoed many other Israeli politicians' concerns that Iran is closely lurking and waiting for any signs of weakness in Israeli and American. 
Summing up, Dayan asserted that Israel can only rely on itself for security.
“The strategic conclusion is not surprising, that is: ‘if I am not for myself, who will be for me’?" he said, paraphrasing the well-known Jewish proverb. 
“And to my fellow brothers in Israel [I say]: return the gas masks to storage, regain our senses, and rebuild our society and our country. Let us prepare for the upcoming Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year] which should be a blessed one upon us.

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After nearly two-and-a-half years of dithering, President Barack Obama finally seems poised to take action against the thuggish regime of Bashar Assad.
When the Syrian military attacked rebel-held suburbs of Damascus last week with chemical weapons, killing hundreds of innocent people in what US Secretary of State John Kerry labeled a "moral obscenity," Washington could no longer ignore calls that it intervene.
Not since Saddam Hussein rained poison gas down on the Kurds of Halabja in northern Iraq in March 1988, has a Middle Eastern leader made such brazen use of chemical weapons against civilians.
Allowing such an incident to go unpunished would clearly set a dangerous precedent, paving the way for rogue regimes around the world to employ fearful weapons with impunity. Hence, if and when the US and its allies do strike Syria, they deserve our full backing and support.
But while international wrath has justifiably been aimed at Assad and his minions for their malevolent and indiscriminate slaughter, there is a troubling question related to this latest turn of events which few seem prepared to tackle: just how much responsibility does Obama himself bear for what happened? After all, by ignoring Assad's previous atrocities, and even his use of chemical weapons earlier this year, didn't the president's inaction serve to encourage further escalation? Since March 2011, the dictator of Damascus has been waging a deliberate campaign of homicide against his opponents, be they real or imagined.
Upholding his father's lethal legacy, young Bashar has shown no compunction about slaughtering his own people in his attempt to crush the uprising against him.
As a result, more than 100,000 Syrians have been killed and another two million have been turned into refugees since fighting flared between loyalists and opponents of the regime. This carnage was greeted with little more than hand-wringing by Washington, which found itself unwilling to become involved in another foreign entanglement, particularly one which pitted bad guys (Assad & co.) versus other bad guys (al-Qaida-dominated rebel groups).
But it was Obama himself who then drew a line in the sand, clearly demarcating the ostensible limits of American patience.
Recall that at a news conference back on August 20, 2012, Obama told reporters, "We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized."
That, the president insisted, "would change my calculus. That would change my equation."
Sure enough, eight months later, in April 2013, reports surfaced that Assad had used Sarin nerve gas against the rebels. The White House even issued a statement on April 25 saying that US intelligence believed "with varying degrees of confidence" that Syria had deployed chemical weapons on a "small scale." The British Foreign Office went even further, declaring that, "Material from inside Syria tested positive for sarin."
Despite this unabashed crossing of his "red line," Obama did nothing. He hemmed and hawed until the issue faded from public view. But Assad clearly got the message. He saw that his atrocious actions were met by American inaction. And clearly the Damascene despot understood that he could literally get away with mass murder.
As Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain noted this week, "Assad was able to use chemical weapons before and there was no response, and so why not do it again?" "This should surprise no one," McCain said, adding, "They viewed that not as a red line but as a green light, and they acted accordingly."
McCain has a point. In a world where many countries still look to the United States for leadership, what Washington chooses not to do is often as important as what it does. By electing to sit on the sidelines for months on end and failing to uphold his own "red line," Obama projected weakness and a lack of will, which Assad interpreted as a license to pull the trigger. The inescapable conclusion to be drawn is that the current crisis is a direct result both of Assad's action and Obama's impotence.
At this point, the question of whether to strike Damascus is no longer just about Syrian chemicals. It is about American credibility and whether the sole remaining superpower still has the moxie to stand by its word and maintain and preserve global order.
I don't envy the position in which Obama now finds himself or the choices he is being forced to make. But as the leader of the free world grapples with how to react, he should take a moment to consider just how much it was his own failings which gave rise to our present predicament.

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UNRWA is the special “refugee agency” set up to deal ONLY with Palestinians because the UN’s main refugee agency, UNHCR, actually does useful stuff like, you know, turning refugees into citizens of other places.
As we reported, one of the 3 Arabs killed during a massive violent riot happened to work for the UNHCR. This is not surprising: UNHCR is one of the largest “employers” of Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. It’s just a massive make work program and vehicle for the Palestinian Authority to suck funds out of anyone fool enough to help them.
So the following, particularly pointed, statement from Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is rather welcome.
While omitting to mention any context or reason for the Israeli operation, it was quick to cite “credible reports” in determining that its employee had been shot “…on his way to work, and was not involved in any violent activity.”
Israel regrets the fatalities that resulted from yesterday’s military operation to arrest a Palestinian terrorist suspect. A formal investigation has been launched by the IDF, as part of a standard procedure in any case involving civilian casualties.
Without prejudice to the outcome of the investigation, we were disappointed (but not surprised) at UNRWA’s press statement from yesterday. While omitting to mention any context or reason for the Israeli operation, it was quick to cite “credible reports” in determining that its employee had been shot “…on his way to work, and was not involved in any violent activity.” Quite aside from the fact that UNRWA did not even bother to approach any official Israeli sources for comment, its statement was rushed to the press while the violent riots were still raging on in Qalandiya. Hence, it begs the question of how it was possible for the Agency to collect forensic evidence, cross reference personal eye-witness reports and reach peremptory conclusions – all of that in the space of just a few hours.
It is regrettable that UNRWA has consistently failed to display similar zeal and enthusiasm when asked to investigate its own cases of alleged wrongdoing. Earlier this month, for example, the Agency was forced to admit that it had negligently allowed a third party to use some of its installations in order to organize ‘summer camps’ where anti-Semitism and incitement to violence were preached to Palestinian youth. Needless to say, UNRWA’s half-hearted admission was released only after “a lengthy and detailed investigation”, as opposed to the rushed superficial procedure it adopted yesterday.
We therefore call upon UNRWA to return to its original humanitarian agenda of assisting Palestinian refugees, while refraining from any one-sided political advocacy activities. Only thus can it hope to be taken seriously – both by Israel and the international donor community.
Update: if you don’t know much about UNRWA, here’s a video by Pierre Rehov to tell you more. (h/t Facebook comments)


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This proverb is apparently lost on the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. The faction, which controls the Gaza Strip, has been under intense fire from the Egyptian military since the toppling of Mohammed Morsi last month. The Egyptian army has largely shut down the Egypt-Gaza border while destroying hundreds of subterranean tunnels connecting Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula, which serve as Hamas's financial lifeline for a wide array of goods, not to mention hard currency, through the practice of bulk cash smuggling.
The Egyptian military has made it clear that it views Hamas as an enemy because it is an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, which lately has been the target of unprecedented army violence. More than 600 were killed in clashes across the country in recent days.
Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, went on record as saying, "Hamas condemns the terrible massacre in Nahda square and at Rabaa al-Adawiyya, and we call for an end to the bloodshed and to excesses against peaceful demonstrators." This statement echoed a piece on Hamas' Arabic website two days ago, calling upon the military to halt the violence.
The faction's website this morning cites prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as saying that Hamas has "no role" in the recent bloodshed, and lamenting the loss of Muslim lives. However, at the same time, Hamas supporters staged an anti-military protest at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Invoking the ire of the Egyptian military is the latest misstep among many that has left Hamas isolated and desperate for regional patronage and protection. Admittedly, there is little that Hamas could say to mitigate the animus of the Egyptian military, which clashed with the Muslim Brotherhood over its Hamas policy during the last year. But condemnations will be viewed as provocations. And we have seen how the military responds to provocations.
Jonathan Schanzer is vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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By Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Do you really want to know what is highest on God's agenda in doing His work?
The answer is simple - He wants YOU. He wants to spend time with you and have moments away with you.Working for the Lord is like getting married to the person that you love. Sure it is important to take care of the home and the kids, but what was the reason you got married? Was it not to just spend time together? To share every moment, both good and bad together? This is what the Lord wants from you also.

He appreciates the work that you do and He is very proud of you. But without that intimate time in His presence. you will become like a well that runs dry.Make out time to be in His presence.Study His word always ans pray without ceasing.He will give you the strength to complete the race you are running.He should be your first love.God bless you.

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By Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
DO NOT BE DECEIVED!
Maybe we think we have pulled the wool over God’s eyes, that God doesn’t see what we are doing, or know what is going on inside our hearts & minds.I think a lot of people misunderstood what Jesus was doing when He prayed, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." As we focus on those things that are eternal, and put on the new self, we will experience freedom from those things that have shackled us in the past.
Heavenly Father, today I commit every area of my life to You. I trust that You will make up the difference and supply everything I need to fulfill Your purposes in my life in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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“If Damascus is attacked, Tel Aviv will burn,” a Syrian higher-up bristled this week. Israel, therefore, cannot watch the escalating cliffhanger with detached equanimity from the sidelines.
There can be no passivity when potent threats are hurled at Israel from a coterie of evil powers in the context of a struggle in which Israel is uninvolved.  In a fairer existence, this very fact alone ought to have acutely unsettled the international community. But it’s almost futile to expect a modicum of fair-mindedness where Israel is concerned.
So far the anti-Israel bluster from Damascus, Tehran and Hizbullah strongholds in Lebanon appear to have disturbed none of the foreign statesmen or opinion-molders, whose alacrity to condemn Israel for any perceived transgression is nothing short of remarkable. Moreover, the veiled hints from Moscow about dire repercussions for the entire region in the event of an American attack, might also imply warnings about impending punishment for Israel.
All the while, Israeli commentators strive to outdo each other with educated guesses about whether or not we are vulnerable, whether it would serve Bashar Assad’s interests to fire at us, whether we should retaliate and how.
Much of the babble is superfluous. Regardless of what eventually transpires, all Israelis should be deeply troubled by the profound indifference abroad to our lot – blameless as we are in the internecine Syrian strife. The very fact, that a neighboring state could be presumed to be held to ransom for occurrences entirely out of its control, should shock world opinion. But it does not.
Israelis might be forgiven for suspecting that the reaction would be radically different had any other country been similarly threatened for no fault of its own. Sadly we must come to terms with the likelihood that different criteria are applied to the Jewish state.
This is disconcertingly reminiscent of our extremely traumatic experience during the First Gulf War. Events then were also played out beyond the Israeli context. Nonetheless, Israel suffered repeated heavy missile attacks, including 40 Scud hits. The deadly warheads were aimed directly and unmistakably at civilian population centers.
Saddam Hussein’s raison d’être was that by targeting Israel he was hurting the US. In the view of all too many Mideastern despots and potentates Israel is nothing but an American underling. At the time there was no audible international indignation. The only American response was to advocate Israeli restraint. Indeed Israel avoided retaliation, thereby compromising its deterrence and underscoring its vulnerabilities for the sake of American interests.
But there was no gratitude for Israel’s sacrifices. Washington only pressured Israel for territorial concessions, never counted Saddam’s anti-Israeli aggression among his sins and treated Israel largely like a mistress whose favors are required but must never be publicly acknowledged.
This might well be the role which the Obama administration now wants Israel to reprise.  This is precisely the behavior which Israel must under no circumstances repeat.
This time indeed Israel has made it clear – through pronouncements by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.Gen. Benny Gantz – that this country and its inhabitants will not be pawns in the wars that others wage.
Thus notice had duly been served on friend and foe alike and all shades in between that Israel won’t consent again to humbly become a whipping boy for others. If anything can daunt the Shiite axis that buttresses Assad, along with his more distant supporters in Russia and China, it is such an unequivocal advance cautionary message from Israel.
Some Assad-watchers in Israel maintain that he understands quite well that Israel of 2013 isn’t Israel of 1990. They note that it would make no sense for him to strike out against Israel because he knows that vigorous Israeli retribution would seal his fate.
The experts are right – rationally that is just so. However, we had likewise heard precisely such learned estimations immediately prior to the first American invasion of Iraq and they too sounded eminently reasonable… to us. The problem is that this region does not operate according to our logic.

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Last night during a tour of Israeli soldiers they identified a arab boy who was wounded in the leg by nail He received medical treatment by Israeli soldiers.
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Israelis sneaking into Jordan to help Syrian refugees

Sometimes we Israelis are addicted to good deeds. This time, Israelis aresneaking into Jordan to help Syrian refugees
Quote from the article at link below:
"... the Arab countries offer condolences... but the best role is provided by the Israelis because they are crossing the border to provide assistance to the refugees who fled deprived of everything, risking their lives without a word of thank you..."

http://www.alwatanvo.../25/290509.html

The organisation is an NGO called IL4Syrians - front page of website has some pics:

http://il4syrians.org/

Website also describes themselves, their mission and their projects (they do work elsewhere as well).
 Let's go to the videotape.  

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Facebook is the world’s largest social media website, one with hundreds of millions of users in well over a hundred countries. Despite its size, however, Facebook is not an entirely public forum on which “anything goes.” Rather, it is a worldwide gathering place where certain forms of speech and certain kinds of images are not allowed.
On its community standardspage, the site lists a variety of types of speech that are not allowed, including threats of violence, pornography, and spam. Among those prohibited is “hate speech,” about which the policy is as follows:
“Hate Speech: Facebook does not permit hate speech, but distinguishes between serious and humorous speech. While we encourage you to challenge ideas, institutions, events, and practices, we do not permit individuals or groups to attack others based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition.” [Emphasis added.]
This has nothing to do with censorship (which is a government activity, and cannot be engaged in by a private individual or organization), but with maintaining a civil space for the exchange of ideas. Granted, that isn’t always the case, but that’s why Facebook makes provision for hate speech to be reported. One can disagree with the policy, but it is clear what sorts of speech are being curtailed.
Click photo to download. Caption: An anti-Semitic illustration on “The Untold History” Facebook page. Credit: Facebook.
I was recently pointed in the direction of a Facebook page entitled The Untold History, run by a group out of Sweden that calls itself the European Knights Project, a partner of the Institute for Historical Review. On its masthead, it proclaims in all-caps that it is a “HISTORICAL SITE NON-POLITICAL,” but this is a sham. It is, in fact, a Holocaust denial site that not only presents bogus and falsified history, but also traffics in the vilest sort of anti-Semitism.
Presented primarily in the form of graphics with messages, Photoshopped pictures, and cartoons, the page offers all of the anti-Semitic greatest hits: Jews control America and want to control the world; the Holocaust never happened; Jews exploit the Holocaust myth for money; the Allies did far worse to the Germans, Japanese, and Japanese-Americans than the Nazis did to the Jews; Hitler was a great guy who was just standing up for Christian civilization; Communism is a Jewish tool; Israel is the source of all evil in the world; 9/11 was a Mossad job; etc. In one graphic, a “quote” fabricated by the American evangelist Texe Marrs is put in the mouth of Menachem Begin:
“Our race is the ‘Master Race.’ We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects…. other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves.”
Once I had examined “The Untold History” for myself, I reported it to Facebook, and expected it to be quickly removed. Instead, I received this response from administrators:
“Thank you for taking the time to report something that you feel may violate our Community Standards. Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment. We reviewed the page you reported for containing hate speech or symbols and found it doesn’t violate our community standard on hate speech.”
Flabbergasted by this response, I began contacting my Facebook friends, and urging them to report “The Untold History” for violating site standards. Dozens have done so, and all have received the same response. For some reason that is impossible to fathom, the administrators of Facebook seem completely incapable of recognizing anti-Semitism when it is staring them in the face, or see how it constitutes a violation of terms of use that ban hate speech.
In an effort to put pressure on Facebook to act, I have set up a page called Protest “The Untold History” and Other Anti-Semitic Pages. Oddly enough, this page seems to have a problem with disappearing posts. But you can still “like” it to send a message. I have also contacted the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Anti-Defamation League to look into Facebook’s non-disapproval of hate speech directed at Jews. As the word gets out, hopefully the company will do some serious self-examination, and ask itself why it has such a difficult time seeing what is obvious to all but the most bigoted observer.
David Fischler is an Evangelical Presbyterian pastor and writer who blogs issues of religious and moral import, including anti-Semitism in the mainline churches, at www.standfirminfath.com.

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“We don’t accept for any Arabic country to be attacked and we condemn the use of chemical weapons by any group. The solution to the Syrian crisis must be political and there is no military solution. We want a peaceful solution for Syria,” Abbas said in a speech to Fatah’s revolutionary council, according to Ma’an News Agency.
Asserting that the U.S. is likely to attack Syria, Abbas was unequivocal in stating the PA’s “position towards it is fixed, we are against a military attack.”
Abbas said the PA had drafted a paper with suggestions for ending the Syria conflict, which it submitted to international bodies, but he provided no further details, Ma’an reported.
A military solution would leave Syria divided along sectarian and ethnic lines, and lead to civil war Abbas said.
“The other solution is the political one, for everyone to sit around the table and make suggestions and recommendations. We are against the attack on Syria and this is our position and policy,” he concluded.

===

As the first drops of a cool afternoon rain begin to fall from the sky, the administration that has been described as the most ruthlessly zealous in pursuit of whistleblowers is showering down its own rain of leaks about the upcoming attack on Syria.
Stand outside the New York Times building with a bucket in one hand and a thick wad of wood pulp in the other, and you may even be able to figure out whether we’re going to war or, as one official told the Los Angeles Times, the air strikes will be “just muscular enough not to get mocked”… but not sinewy enough to really upset Tehran and Moscow.

===

Those who are wondering why Al Gore chose to publicly resurface in a Washington Post interview last Thursday with that paper’s ever-pliable Journolist founder Ezra Klein only need to look in three places.
First, there’s the recently revealed empirical evidence that the “global warming” movement’s claim that climate change is causing increased extreme weather events isn’t true. Second, there’s a new summary of historical research which blows up the movement’s infamous core “hockey stick” chart forecasting unprecedented, accelerating warming. Finally, there’s a new report due to arrive in a month from an increasingly desperate United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

===
It is not Russia and China that disgrace the international community. It is the Free World that for dozens of years now has been sliding toward hypocrisy, double standards and appeasement, while getting much more violence in return. It is the Free World whose “human rights activists” sympathize with the apparatus of evil and get much more violence in return. Should the Free World not get to the apparatus of evil, this instrument of evil shall reach the Free World. It’s already getting there.
===

THE academics at the centre of the Sydney University boycott, sanctions and divestment row will be left to cover their own legal costs as campus controversy over the anti-Israeli movement blazes.
Protesters gathered at the university yesterday to protest action lodged against Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies director Jake Lynch and council member Stuart Rees by the Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin Israel Law Centre.
Shurat HaDin alleges the support of Associate Professor Lynch and Emeritus Professor Rees for the BDS movement violates the Racial Discrimination Act.
The complaint is before the Australian Human Rights Commission, but Akiva Hamilton, the Australian lawyer with Shurat HaDin, says it is unlikely to be resolved in that jurisdiction.
"Based on Associate Professor Lynch's response to the Australian Human Rights Commission, Shurat HaDin expects that the AHRC will be unable to conciliate the racial discrimination claim," he said.
Sydney University will not indemnify professors Lynch and Rees if the matter proceeds.
"The university does not provide legal support for staff in relation to complaints or proceedings against them in respect of their activities in a personal capacity," a spokeswoman said.
Professor Rees, who is also the director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, was asked at the rally about reports Jewish students felt offended and intimidated by the tenor of the BDS debate towards Israel.
Professor Rees said it was "absolute nonsense". "You should see the hate mail I get as a result of taking a stand. They call me anti-Semitic," he said.
He said the Greens were genuflecting to political survival instincts by pretending the party did not support the BDS campaign. "Well, they're making political calculations because they know the mainstream media and they know that most of the people in Canberra are cowards, irrespective of party," he said.
NSW Greens Legislative Council member David Shoebridge defied federal leader Christine Milne -- who says party policy is not to support any BDS campaign -- to attend the rally.
The Australian understands other NSW parliamentary Greens were angry at Mr Shoebridge. "With the attacks on the Centre for Peace Studies here we've seen attacks on two academics who have stood up, we've seen a response," he told about 35 people.
"And it's effectively a slap-suit; litigation raised against them to silence their voice of dissent and to stop them speaking truth to power."
Alon Tal, a 22-year-old commerce/law student, was offended by the framing of the campaign.
"As a Jew, my Zionism is inextricably linked with my Jewish identity so the fact that these people are calling for a boycott on Israel which is, essentially, calling for the destruction of Israel, it's really an affront to me," he said.
Professor Rees claimed he had "silks" lining up to offer pro bono legal support.
"It is a Rupert Murdoch nonsense, actually worse than nonsense, portraying that this is a movement to do with the abolition of Israel or that it is racist or anti-Semitic," he said.
"It only gets treated as some kind of extremist leftie plot in this country because the general public are effectively anaesthetised by the front page of the Daily Telegraph or by the editorial or frequently the front pages of The Australian. That's not journalism, that's the campaign."
If the complaint is not resolved in the AHRC, Shurat HaDin will apply to the Federal Court.
"Shurat HaDin expects the AHRC to terminate the matter on the basis that the complaint involves an issue of public importance that should be considered by the Federal Court and that there is no reasonable prospect of the matter being settled by conciliation," Mr Hamilton said.
If the AHRC terminates the complaint, Shurat HaDin will have 60 days to lodge Federal Court action.
The issue has spilt over into Israeli media, with Professor Lynch telling The Jerusalem Post the complaint was "nonsense".

===


Dachau — the original concentration camp, established in March 1933 — radiates a constant reminder about the bottomless human capacity to commit evil, or to look away when evil is committed. "How could Germans go so far as to deny people human dignity and the right to live?" Merkel asked. "Places such as this warn each one of us to help ensure that such things never happen again."
Never?
As Merkel spoke, Copts and other Christians in Egypt were reeling from a wave of attacks more savage than any in modern Egyptian history. Islamist mobs across the country torched scores of churches — some more than 1,000 years old — along with convents, monasteries, and Christian-owned homes and businesses. A Franciscan school near Cairo was looted and burned, said Sister Manal, the principal; then she and other nuns were paraded through the streets "like prisoners of war" to the jeers and abuse of the mob.
Merkel's speech also coincided with the latest evidence of a chemical-weapons attack by the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Graphic video clips posted online by anti-Assad rebels east of Damascus showed rows of corpses, including those of women, children, and babies. Hospitals in the area described a sudden influx of patients gasping for breath and suffering from convulsions, nausea, and vomiting — symptoms consistent with chemical-weapons poisoning. The humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders put the death toll at 355; other estimates ranged far higher. The massacre took place one year to the week after President Obama's warning that any use of chemical weapons by Assad would be a red line. In fact, as even the Obama administration has conceded, Assad crossed that line months ago. Last week's attack was not the first, only the most brazen.

===
PA promotes religious hatred against Jews
"Those who planned the burning of Al-Aqsa
were senior Jews of high position"

PA Minister: Al-Aqsa was burnt "by criminal hands...
in collusion with the criminal occupation"


Israeli Arab MP: "Israel set fire to Al-Aqsa"
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In 1969 a non-Jewish Australian started a fire in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. He was arrested and tried in Israel. The Israeli court found him to be mentally ill and ordered him hospitalized. He was later sent back to Australia.

As part of its promotion of religious hatred against Jews, the Palestinian Authority disseminates the libel that Israel and Jews were behind the 1969 arson. Since the Al-Aqsa Mosque is an important holy site for Muslims, accusing "senior Jews of high position" of trying to destroy it is clearly an attempt by the PA to promote religious hatred against Jews. This particular accusation appeared in a documentary film about the arson, and was shown at an event under the auspices of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that this libel has been propagated by the PAfor years.
Joining the PA in spreading the libel this year:
  • The Muslim Israeli Arab MP Ibrahim Sarsur, who told a Palestinian news service that he "demands" an annual Muslim commemoration of the day that "Israel set fire to Al-Aqsa."
  • The PA Minister of Religious Affairs, who stated that the Al-Aqsa Mosque "was set on fire 44 years ago by criminal hands... in collusion with the criminal occupation."
  • The Palestinian National Council (PNC), the legislative body of the PLO, which referred to "the crime committed by the occupation in setting fire to [the] Al-Aqsa [Mosque]."
  • The official PA daily, which accused "Israeli authorities" of the arson and of attempting "to the present day... to harm the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
  • Official PA TV, which claimed that "one of the Jews set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque so that it would go up in flames."
(See longer excerpts and sources below.) 

Using events at the Al-Aqsa Mosque to promote religious hatred has been an effective PA weapon in the past. In September 2000, Yasser Arafat sparked the five year PA terror campaign (the second Intifada) by claiming that then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount was an affront to Islam that desecrated the Mosque. Throughvideo clips and sermons, the PA's controlled media sent out a call to respond with terror and violence. That violence lasted five years and left over 5,000 Palestinians and Israelis dead. The PA named the terror campaign the "Al-Aqsa Intifada" because the killing of 1,200 Israelis and Jews, primarily in suicide bombings, was said to be the response for the defilement of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For this reason, the ongoing libel that "senior Jews of high position" were behind the 1969 arson and the claim that Israel plans to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque are dangerous accusations.

The following are longer excerpts of the PA media reports repeating the libel:

PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash: "Where is the Al-Aqsa Mosque? ... It is lost. It was set on fire 44 years ago by criminal hands, in the shadow of a criminal occupation, and acting in collusion with the criminal occupation."
[Official PA TV, Aug. 23, 2013]

Documentary narrator: "From investigations conducted by the Islamic Council it became clear that there was more than one perpetrator [of the Al-Aqsa Mosque arson in 1969] and that the fire was planned by senior Jews of high position, and that the fire was planned by senior Jews of high position, especially since the roof can only be reached from a wooden spiral staircase located outside the Al-Aqsa building. This proves that careful, premeditated measures were taken to completely destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The proof is that the occupation authorities were slow to extinguish [the fire] and that the water supply to the Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) had been cut off during those hours."
[Official PA TV Live, Aug. 21, 2013]

"Head of the Islamic Movement [and Israeli MP for the United Arab List], Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur has demanded that the day on which the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque was set on fire, every year on Aug. 21, be declared a global day for aiding the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He said: 'The time has come for Muslims, free people and those who desire peace and stability in the world to take a brave step forward in the project of the liberation of Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, by announcing the day Israel set fire to Al-Aqsa as a global day of supporting the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. This would mean announcing an entire project for rescuing it from the Israeli occupation and its crimes.'
He added: '...Several people lit this ominous fire, not only Michael Denis Rohan who was exposed and arrested and said to hold Australian citizenship. Since that day, he has disappeared without a trace and the case was closed in order to hide the facts. He was claimed to be deranged, since the plots against the Al-Aqsa Mosque come one after the other since that day and to the present day.'"
[Ma'an (Palestinian news agency), Aug. 21, 2013]

"The Palestinian National Council (PNC, i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) warned of the consequences of the continuation of the Judaization of Arab-Palestinian Jerusalem by the occupation's authorities.
In an announcement [published] today, Tuesday, on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the crime committed by the occupation in setting fire to [the] Al-Aqsa [Mosque], the [Palestinian] National Council emphasized that every day, the occupation continues the crime of setting fire to Al-Aqsa and to Jerusalem, capital of the State of Palestine, by continuing the settlement, the Judaization and the expulsion of its residents.
The Council emphasized that the occupation is determined to ignite flames on Palestinian land specifically, and in the region in general and to destroy any chance of peace."
[WAFA (the official Palestinian Authority news agency), Aug. 20, 2013]

"Today, Wednesday, Aug. 21, is the 44th anniversary of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque fire of 1969, after the radical Jew Michael Denis [Rohan] set fire to the Mosque... Israel arrested the criminal and the Israeli authorities transferred him to a psychiatric hospital... after a short period of time he was deported to Australia. At the time he said that he did what he did 'according to divine instruction'... Prior to setting fire to Al-Aqsa and to the present day, the Israeli authorities have attempted in various ways and [by various] means to harm the Al-Aqsa Mosque by continuing excavations beneath it and building interconnecting tunnels. This has led to the destruction of the Mosque's foundations at the Sanctuary of Jerusalem (i.e., the Temple Mount). The Israeli authorities still attempt to Judaize Arab Jerusalem and constantly try to hide [from view] the Dome of the Rock, a symbol of Arab Jerusalem in the eyes of the world, in a pathetic attempt to convince the world that Jerusalem is not Arab but Jewish. Likewise, they continue to incite against Muslims, and no one has ruled out the possibility that another 'deranged' Jew will set the Mosque on fire again."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 21, 2013]

PA TV program Houses of God showed footage of a fire in the Al-Aqsa Mosque:
PA TV narrator: "On August 21, 1969 AD, after East Jerusalem was occupied, one of the Jews set fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque so that it would go up in flames. The fire completely destroyed its wooden platform, ornaments and southern sections."
[Official PA TV, Aug. 21 and June 28, 2013]

Sheikh Ishaq Feleifel, regular columnist in the religion section of the official PA daily, also repeated the false statement that a Jew set fire to the Mosque in 1969:
"The 21st of Ramadan is the day that saddens the heart of every Muslim and that is the anniversary of the day the Al-Aqsa Mosque was set on fire by a Jew who was accused of insanity."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 2, 2013]

===

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Lennies...

The sky over Mt. Diablo burst into lenticular madness today and I was lucky enough to be with my friend Mike Oria and document some of it.

This shot was taken between the wires of an electrical fence. I touched it and didn't get shocked, so I thought it was turned off. What I didn't know was that it was a pulse based electrical fence, and now I know very well what that feels like. It was worth it.
===

I foresee a future camping trip with my family at this incredible place. — at Valley Of The Fire State Park, Nv.
===

===
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===

With the Jewish New Year approaching, now is the time to reflect upon the accomplishments of United with Israel and what we can look forward to next year.

As the world's largest grassroots, global, pro-Israel community, our focus has always been to connect people from around the world to the great miracles and blessings of the People, Country and Land of Israel.

Many of you have already been part of the Miracle of Israel!

Together, we have been successful in combating anti-Israel media bias and promoting pro-Israel advocacy through dozens of Action Initiatives with hundreds of thousands of participants. We've spread positive news about Israel to millions each and every day. On Facebook, we've grown to nearly 2 million strong. And we're approaching 400 million 'friends of fans' who have been exposed to pro-Israel messages... all because of YOU!

We've turned our 'Likes' into real action items. Together we have:
- Built 8 Portable Bomb Shelters for Israeli children (with 2 more on the way)
- Planted over 3000 Fruit Trees throughout the Land of Israel
- Provided thousands of IDF soldiers with fleece jackets and other essentials
- Sent gifts, toys and personal notes to victims of terror and their families

Click below to become part of the Miracle of Israel!
https://donate.unitedwithisrael.org/

Our plan for next year is to keep growing! We are committed to reaching millions more and 'speak their language'. That means translating all of our websites, Facebook pages and emails into a variety of foreign languages.

We will mobilize the masses in more in 150 countries to stand United with Israel. Our 'friends reach' on Facebook will approach one billion. The sky is the limit and when it comes to helping Israel we will reach for the stars.

Please join us by become a Monthly Partner. Together, let's spread the miracles of Israel to the corners of the earth and bring Israel to it's rightful place in the world. We need your help to make it happen!

Click here (check the 'monthly' box) --> https://donate.unitedwithisrael.org/

UPDATE ON SYRIA:
Due to the Syrian threat of attack, the people of Israel find themselves in danger. Although war is nothing new, Syria's recent chemical attack - gassing its own citizens - has Israelis very concerned. As many scrambled to receive their gas masks, IDF reserves have been called up to report to their bases.

Last week we informed you about the need for a kindergarten bomb shelters in the north. Thanks to the power of the "grassroots" and the generosity of friends like you, two bomb shelters have been ordered and are on their way!

However, the need for portable shelters is still great. With your help, we can supply more needy children in exposed communities with the protection they need.

CLICK BELOW TO HELP BUILD MORE BOMB SHELTERS
https://donate.unitedwithisrael.org/donate/s1

We are privileged to have friends like you all around the world. The People of Israel thank you for your generous support and pray for the day when 'swords will turned into plowshares' and peace will dominate the ends of the earth. 

We wish you a wonderful New Year full of blessing, hope, happiness and peace. And we thank you for being an essential part of the Miracle of Israel.

With Blessings from Israel,

The 'United with Israel' Family

PS - We ask you to please forward this email to your family and friends. Give them the opportunity to stand united with Israel and become part of the miracle! 

CLICK BELOW TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE ONLINE DONATION:
https://donate.unitedwithisrael.org/

Checks can be sent to our US address:
United with Israel
PO Box 151 
Lawrence, NY 11559
United States

Checks can be mailed directly to Israel:
United with Israel
8/19 Nachal Maor St.
Box 71530
Bet Shemesh 99623
ISRAEL

To donate by phone please call:
+1-646-213-4003 (USA) 
+972-2-533-7841 (Israel)

===



Last night on the news Kevin Rudd said 15% of people have still to make up their minds who to vote for.

I agree with him.

This election remains in the balance. Thanks to local Labor MPs who are hiding their Labor connections, the contest is closer than the national polls suggest. There is a real risk Labor could slip back into office on Green and Independent preferences, giving our country another three years of chaos in Canberra.

Tony Abbott and the Team have campaigned well, outlining our positive Plan to build a strong, prosperous economy and a safe, secure Australia.

This is not the time to risk rewarding Labor’s disastrous record, nor the time to reward the Labor Members who have been part of it.

This time it is critical you vote directly for your local Liberal candidate in the House of Representatives and directly for the Liberal Senate team.

There is too much at stake to risk it.

And again I ask for your personal support to help us finish the campaign strongly. Please consider donating and please let your family and friends know just how important their direct Liberal vote is at this election.

Thank you
Brian Loughnane signature
Brian Loughnane
Authorised by Brian Loughnane, Cnr Blackall and Macquarie Streets, Barton  ACT 2604. 
Copyright © Liberal Party of Australia.

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September 3Flag Day in Australia; Armed Forces Day in Taiwan
Oliver Cromwell

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Events[edit source | editbeta]

Births[edit source | editbeta]

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Holidays and observances[edit source | editbeta]


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“The earth is filled with your love, LORD; teach me your decrees.” Psalm 119:64 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

"But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her."
Mark 1:30
Very interesting is this little peep into the house of the Apostolic Fisherman. We see at once that household joys and cares are no hindrance to the full exercise of ministry, nay, that since they furnish an opportunity for personally witnessing the Lord's gracious work upon one's own flesh and blood, they may even instruct the teacher better than any other earthly discipline. Papists and other sectaries may decry marriage, but true Christianity and household life agree well together. Peter's house was probably a poor fisherman's hut, but the Lord of Glory entered it, lodged in it, and wrought a miracle in it. Should our little book be read this morning in some very humble cottage, let this fact encourage the inmates to seek the company of King Jesus. God is oftener in little huts than in rich palaces. Jesus is looking round your room now, and is waiting to be gracious to you. Into Simon's house sickness had entered, fever in a deadly form had prostrated his mother-in-law, and as soon as Jesus came they told him of the sad affliction, and he hastened to the patient's bed. Have you any sickness in the house this morning? You will find Jesus by far the best physician, go to him at once and tell him all about the matter. Immediately lay the case before him. It concerns one of his people, and therefore will not be trivial to him. Observe, that at once the Saviour restored the sick woman; none can heal as he does. We may not make sure that the Lord will at once remove all disease from those we love, but we may know that believing prayer for the sick is far more likely to be followed by restoration than anything else in the world; and where this avails not, we must meekly bow to his will by whom life and death are determined. The tender heart of Jesus waits to hear our griefs, let us pour them into his patient ear.

Evening

"Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."
John 4:48
A craving after marvels was a symptom of the sickly state of men's minds in our Lord's day; they refused solid nourishment, and pined after mere wonder. The gospel which they so greatly needed they would not have; the miracles which Jesus did not always choose to give they eagerly demanded. Many nowadays must see signs and wonders, or they will not believe. Some have said in their heart, "I must feel deep horror of soul, or I never will believe in Jesus." But what if you never should feel it, as probably you never may? Will you go to hell out of spite against God, because he will not treat you like another? One has said to himself, "If I had a dream, or if I could feel a sudden shock of I know not what, then I would believe." Thus you undeserving mortals dream that my Lord is to be dictated to by you! You are beggars at his gate, asking for mercy, and you must needs draw up rules and regulations as to how he shall give that mercy. Think you that he will submit to this? My Master is of a generous spirit, but he has a right royal heart, he spurns all dictation, and maintains his sovereignty of action. Why, dear reader, if such be your case, do you crave for signs and wonders? Is not the gospel its own sign and wonder? Is not this a miracle of miracles, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish"? Surely that precious word, "Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely" and that solemn promise, "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out," are better than signs and wonders! A truthful Saviour ought to be believed. He is truth itself. Why will you ask proof of the veracity of One who cannot lie? The devils themselves declared him to be the Son of God; will you mistrust him?
===

Today's reading: Psalm 137-139, 1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 137-139

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand forget its skill.
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem
my highest joy....

Today's New Testament reading: 1 Corinthians 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
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Matthias

[Măt'thī'as] - gift of godA disciple chosen by lot to succeed Judas Iscariot as an apostle. He had been a follower of Jesus from the beginning of His ministry and was a witness of His resurrection (Acts 1:23, 26). Tradition says Matthias was one of the seventy (Luke 10:1).
David Smith feels that the choice of Matthias was not of God. The disciples prayed for guidance but instead of trusting for divine direction, had recourse to the superstitious practice of casting lots. The election of Matthias was set aside, Paul becoming the true successor to the vacant office. We have no record of him after his election. Tradition says that he went to Ethiopia and labored there where ultimately he was martyred.
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P31Header
Tracie Miles
September 2, 2011
Faith over Feelings
Tracie Miles
"...for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:5b (NIV)
I spent months working on it, with big expectations and high hopes. In the blink of an eye it was crushed. This reality tore into my heart like a jagged knife, ripping my dream into tiny little shreds. Disappointment was so great it was difficult to process my feelings. I had worked tirelessly on this project and now I felt disappointment and rejection.
Disappointment soon turned to irritation which morphed into resentment. I didn't FEEL it was fair.
Why didn't God answer my prayers? Why had He placed a dream in my heart only to allow it to crumble? Why had He let this happen? Why me?
I knew I needed to have a good attitude and not give up, but I did not FEEL like doing that at all!
Questions pummeled my brain. What is the use? Why try again? If God didn't answer my prayer after all this time, why bother keep trying?
I allowed my FEELings to overtake my FAITH.
All I could think about was how this disappointment made me feel, instead of what God may be doing that my faith could not see. I felt things weren't fair, without remembering God's ways are best. I felt a longing for immediate results, instead of trusting God's timing is perfect.
My feelings had gotten in the way of my faith, so I turned to Psalm 25 (NIV) for perspective. The following verses washed over my spirit.
Verse 1, "In you, LORD my God, I put my trust."
I felt discouraged, unworthy, hopeless, rejected. So I poured my feelings and my soul out to God. And He listened.
Verse 2, "I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me."
God reminded me to trust Him, not a desire or a dream. Not the world's view. Not my abilities. Not my timeframe. Not my ideas. Trust Him alone. I prayed about my enemies-intangible feelings such as self doubt, insecurity, frustration, and discouragement.
Verse 3, "No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause."
Regardless of whether or not my desires become a reality, I will not be put to shame, because God is my God. If His plans coincide with my dreams, I know He will keep His eternal promises.
Verses 4-5a, "Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me,"
These words stopped me in my tracks. I began to think more rationally. Why did I beat my head against a wall? Why was I consumed with anxiety and frustration? Was I allowing God to direct my paths? God gently reminded me He is the teacher, I am the student.
Verse 5b, "...for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."
If I put my hope in my own desires and abilities, I set myself up for failure. My only hope for joy and fulfillment comes from Christ alone. Hope is found in Him, not people, a career, your husband or children, church, financial success, a carefree life, or dreams that come true.
Disappointments will happen. With God, however, we can turn those disappointments into God's appointments to trust Him. The first step is to exercise faith over feelings.
Dear Lord, You know the hurt in my heart and the sting of disappointments I have experienced. Please help me trust You, instead of being consumed by feelings. Empower me with a faith that is stronger than my emotions. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Related Resources:
Compassion International helps turn children's disappointments into God's appointments to trust Him. You can too! Sponsor a child today.
Reinventing Your Rainbow by Tracie Miles
Visit Tracie's blog for more encouragement in trusting God.
When you purchase resources through Proverbs 31 Ministries, you touch eternity because your purchase supports the many areas of hope-giving ministry we provide at no cost. We wish we could, but we simply can't compete with prices offered by huge online warehouses. Therefore, we are extremely grateful for each and every purchase you make with us. Thank you!
Application Steps:
Consider the disappointments you have experienced recently. Ask God to help your faith be more powerful than your feelings.
Unpack Psalm 25:1-5 verse by verse and apply it to your situation, with open ears to hear God's voice.
Reflections:
Am I allowing my feelings to guide my actions, or relying on my faith to help me move forward?
Have I asked God how He can use my disappointments to strengthen my faith in Him?
Have I sought God's direction in my situation?
Power Verses:
Psalm 78:7, "That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments..." (KJV)
© 2011 by Tracie Miles. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
www.Proverbs31.org
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September 2, 2011
God Confidence
Today's Truth
Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5NIV).
Friend to Friend
Paul said that he "put no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). In other words, he didn't think that he was good enough because of any particular talent or ability that he had on his own. But his confidence came from his understanding of who he was as a child of God. Someone once said, "A man wrapped up in himself makes a pretty small package." But a man, or woman, wrapped up in God is an amazing sight to behold.
I believe we can change our inferiority, insecurity, and inadequacy into unshakable confidence by understanding who we are, what we have, and where we are as a child of God. I am not advocating confidence in self, but confidence in God - confidence in who you are because of what Jesus has done for you and what the Holy Spirit can do through you. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:56 TNIV). Connected to the vine you can do everything God calls you to do (Philippians 4:13).
Paul knew what he could accomplish on his own...nothing. Oh, he could be busy. We all can do that. But bearing "fruit that will remain" is another story. This paraphrase shows how he viewed his own personal weaknesses:
I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
'My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.'
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now that I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size-abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
(2 Corinthians 12:7-10 The Message)
Paul had great confidence. The prefix, "con" means "with" and the root "fid" means faith." So a confident person is one who walks in faith. We walk in faith that we are holy, chosen, redeemed, dearly loved children of God who are empowered by the Holy Spirit, equipped by our Maker, and enveloped by Jesus Christ. Now that's real God-confidence.
Let's Pray
Dear God, I know that I can do nothing of any true lasting value apart from You. However, when I abide in Christ and He works through me, I can accomplish anything You have called me to do. Help me to understand the power that is within me and to have unshakable confidence in Christ today.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Now It's Your Turn
Take a look at what you have been trying to accomplish in your own life. Are you working in your own strength, or are you depending on Jesus working through you?
What do you think Jesus meant when He said, "Apart from me you can do nothing?"
I'd love to hear your thoughts about that! Log ontowww.facebook.com/sharonjaynes and let's chat.
More from the Girlfriends
Today's devotion was taken from Sharon's book, I'm Not Good Enough and Other Lies Women Tell Themselves. If you need a confidence booster, then this book is for you! Begin seeing yourself as God sees you and discover the amazing potential you have to live the victorious Christian life!
Seeking God?
Click here to find out more about
how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Girlfriends in God
P.O. Box 725
Matthews, NC 28106
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LeadershipBible-Header

Benedict of Nursia: Father of Western Monasticism

art_05_05_benedict-250
Verse: John 12:35
Quote: "To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may be, who are renouncing your own will to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King, and are taking up the strong, bright armor of obedience." (The Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue)
Born into a prosperous family in northern Italy, Benedict (480 - 550) grew up with his twin sister, Scholastica, who later founded a sister order of Benedictines. As a young man, Benedict traveled to Rome seeking education and spiritual development, but all he found was worldliness. Disgusted with the increasing wealth of the church, he soon left town, seeking solitude. Setting out for a remote mountainous region, he told no one but a family servant who insisted on joining him and caring for his needs. So the young man, not yet twenty, trudged north with an old woman. Along the way, the old woman broke a clay jar and then spread the word that Benedict miraculously restored it.
Not wanting to gain fame as a miracle worker, he left the garrulous servant behind and set out alone to live a life of solitude. On his way he met Romanus, a monk in a small monastery who agreed to show him the way of a hermit. The monk supplied him with a warm hooded robe and helped him find a cave overhanging a cliff. Each day for the next three years Romanus brought a portion of his own meal and lowered it by basket from above. Benedict was left entirely alone to his solitary thoughts.
Later, as Benedict ventured out of his cave, shepherds spotted him. News of the hermit sighting quickly spread, and pilgrims made their way to the cave offering food and seeking counsel. Among those who climb the cliffs were a band of monks begging Benedict to become their abbot. He agreed, only to realize that his strict asceticism did not agree with their careless ways. In fact, so repugnant was his discipline that they poison his wine. But as he made the sign of the cross over his glass, it miraculously broke. Forgiving them, he asked: "Why have you plotted this wicked thing against me? Did I not tell you beforehand that my ways would not accord with yours? Go and find an abbot to your taste." With those words he left and returned to his cave.
Hearing of this fiasco - and miracle - more pilgrims arrived, many wishing to follow him in strict discipline. For Benedict this was an answered prayer. He realized that solitude is not the way of discipleship. In the succeeding years he established monastic houses of twelve monks each.
But troubles were never far away. His success caused animosities with a local priest who, according to Gregory, sent him a gift of poisoned bread and induced lewd women to tempt his monks. Convinced that he must move on, Benedict abandoned his twelve monastic houses and traveled with a small group of disciples to an even more remote area that lay in ruins from the devastation of the marauding Goths, its inhabitants having reverted to paganism. Soon Benedict and his disciples were preaching the wrath of God and tearing down the pagan altars. Again pilgrims arrived, pleading to join the brotherhood and the movement rapidly expands.
In the years that follow, the one-time cave-dweller amassed large tracts of land, villas, and churches, as wealthy benefactors donated their property. His popularity and reputation as a holy man of miracles swelled. Travelers came from great distances just to be in his presence.
More significant than money and land and increasing numbers of disciples was Benedict's Rule. Having previously borrowed guidelines from other monastic leaders, he determined to write a rule that mirrored his own principles. The Rule, which is still used today, requires that followers relinquish their wills in submission to authority - that being "the strong armor of obedience, to fight under our Lord Christ." But overall, the rule is judicious in its way of monastic living. The first sentence of the document promises that "we shall ordain nothing severe and nothing burdensome."
The monk's daily life is a combination of solitude and community living. Times of prayer and liturgy are balanced with manual labor, study, and communal activities. The Rule of Benedict has continued to serve as the primary monastic guide for some five hundred years.

If you enjoyed the above article, please take a minute to read about the book that it was adapted from:
ParadeofFaith-Bookcover

Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church

by Ruth A. Tucker
Buy the book!
The story of Christianity centers on people whose lives have been transformed by the resurrected Lord. Tucker puts this front and center in a lively overview peppered with sidebars; historical "what if?" questions; sections on everyday life; drawings and illustrations; bibliographies for further reading.

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