Bob Carr defends his backflip on his promise to stay in office for many terms. It was an election promise. Much like that carbon tax thingy ALP are defending to their end. As issues go, it is certainly heating up in much the same way the world isn't. Gore sees a link between a cooler world and bush fires. It is just a piece of trivia, but fire fighters sometimes douse flames with carbon dioxide. So now AGW believers are trying to cure the world by taxing plant food and fire retardant. I would never call a disabled child retarded, but certainly those who claim to be scientists who spruik AGW hysteria are.
Mr Abbott is being criticised for being too slow. But every movement he has made is methodical, purposeful and effective. He hasn't been hysterical. For the ALP love media, this doesn't *look* like leadership. They yearn for the empty gestures and broken promises. The days when corruption could be excused as *doing something.* Will Soros sponsor Clinton for a presidential bid? It would be similar in nature to the backing of Rudd over Gillard, for much the same reasons, with much the same result.
Germany is upset the US was spying on them. Something allies don't do. Quite so.
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns to those born on this day, including
1102 – William Clito, English son of Sybilla of Conversano (d. 1128)
1811 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician (d. 1832)
1825 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer (d. 1899)
1838 – Georges Bizet, French composer (d. 1875)
1881 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1973)
1895 – Levi Eshkol, Israeli politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1969)
1941 – Helen Reddy, Australian singer and actress
1944 – Jon Anderson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Yes, Jon and Vangelis, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, and The Warriors)
2006 – Krista and Tatiana Hogan, Canadian conjoined twins
Matches
473 – Emperor Leo I acclaims his grandson Leo II as Caesar of the Byzantine Empire.
1147 – The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after afour-month siege.
1415 – The army of Henry V of England defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
1616 – Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog makes second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, at the later-named Dirk Hartog Island off the West Australian coast.
1854 – The Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).
1920 – After 74 days on Hunger Strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney died.
1924 – The forged Zinoviev Letter is published in the Daily Mail, wrecking the British Labour Party's hopes of re-election.
1938 – The Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces swing music as "a degenerated musical system... turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people", warning that it leads down a "primrose path to hell". His warning is widely ignored.
1940 – Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.
1944 – The USS Tang under Richard O'Kane (the top American submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship's own malfunctioning torpedo.
1962 – Cuban missile crisis: Adlai Stevenson shows photos at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council proving that Sovietmissiles are installed in Cuba.
1962 – Nelson Mandela is sentenced to five years in prison.
Despatches
625 – Pope Boniface V
1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet (b. 1343)
1415 – Killed in the Battle of Agincourt:
- Charles I of Albret
- Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont (b. 1371)
- Philip II, Count of Nevers (b. 1389)
- Jean I, Duke of Alençon (b. 1385)
- Anthony, Duke of Brabant (b. 1384)
- Michael de la Pole, 3rd Earl of Suffolk (b. 1394)
- Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (b. 1373)
1647 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
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Academia welcomes irrational decision
Piers Akerman – Thursday, October 24, 2013 (8:16pm)
FORMER Premier Bob Carr’s Ruddesque ramblings delivered as he quit his senate seat despite frequent avowals that he was in for the long haul should mitigate against him ever holding any public trust again.
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HOGWALSH
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (1:52pm)
Time magazine centigrade screamer Bryan Walsh joins the Great Global Warming Blame Frenzy with a piece headlined Climate Change Affects Australia’s Epic Wildfires – No Matter What Prime Minister Says. One or two corrections then follow:
An earlier version of this article misstated that New South Wales is in southwestern Australia. It is in southeastern Australia.An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. She is Christiana Figueres, not Christina.An earlier version of this article misstated the name of a former Prime Minister of Australia. She is Julia Gillard, not Gilliard.
Aside from those errors, and the entire idiotic premise, the piece is fine. Meanwhile, people with some local knowledge also have their say on the matter of climate and fires, including Tony Abbott:
“That is complete hogwash,” he told News Limited.“I suppose, you might say, that they are desperate to find anything that they think might pass as ammunition for their cause.”
And former CSIRO bushfire researcher David Packham:
Mr Packham says there is no link.“It’s an absolute nonsense,” he told AAP …“The very best interpretation is (it’s) misguided by them not understanding how bushfires actually do work in Australia.“If there is any global warming, the global warming is so slow and so small that the bushfire event is totally overrun by the fuel state.”
Quite so.
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GET ON WITH IT, TONY
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (5:42am)
Ability-limited cartoonist Andrew Marlton demands that the Prime Minister “do something about climate change.” He’ll get right on to it, scribbly! But why stop there? There are plenty of other things that Tony Abbott should do besides altering the planet’s temperature:
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AIR HELLAIR
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (5:53am)
Next Monday is International Talk Like Mike Carlton Day, during which you are invited to adopt the upper-class British vocal stylings of a middle-aged Sydney man briefly employed in London. Under the rules of International Talk Like Mike Carlton Day, participants must:
• Answer at least one phone call with the greeting: “Air hellair!”
• Pronounce “chance” as “charnce”, “hour” as “ahr”, and “Carlton” as “Brit-fakey Fairfax wanker”.
• Remain in Carltonian character as you tell people about all the interesting places you’ve visited.
• Subsequently reinvent yourself as a dismally sour Twitter presence who complains about Tories.
AUSTRALIA ABLAZE
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (5:03am)
Foreign types aren’t great at reporting Australian disasters. In 2011, the Daily Mail invented a whole new Australian state in its coverage of that year’s Queensland floods. And now NBC has set the entire country on fire:
The US TV network seems to have based this graphic on a Geoscience Australia fire map:
The US TV network seems to have based this graphic on a Geoscience Australia fire map:
At any given time, the map will show hazard reduction burns, bushfires which pose no threat to life or property, plus of course much more serious bushfires like the ones we’ve seen this week.That’s the mistake which NBC appears to have made. They’ve taken every fire on the Sentinel map and assumed they are all part of the current emergency.
As it happens, this is also the view of Australia held by local Greens.
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WILL POWERLESS
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (4:58am)
Just look at Will Steffen, the emo environmentalist.
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HELP THEM DOOM THEMSELVES
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (4:48am)
Everybody should sign this petition, which encourages the ALP to persist with the carbon tax.
(Via Fern)
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BILLION-DOLLAR BABIES
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (4:41am)
A breakthrough for the ABC:
The ABC has cost taxpayers more than a $1 billion for the first time.The public broadcaster made just $159 million from its commercial activities in the past year – its worst effort in at least a decade and a third less than just four years ago.
There’s a reason why the ABC is so resistant to privatisation. Even with $1 billion every year in funding, it can’t generate much cash. Imagine if this bunch were to lose that funding and be forced to compete with other media companies in the open market. Meanwhile, look at the salaries:
In 2012-13, 231 staff and managers (including 55 who left) were paid in excess of $180,000, up from 201 (including 65 who left) the year before.A year earlier the ABC had just 150 staff paid $150,000 or more. That figure was 138 in 2009-10.
Your taxes, friends.
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VINCE’S NEW NEIGHBOURS
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (4:15am)
Remember Vince Sorrenti? No? Anyway, he appeared on Q & A this week to solve our illegal maritime arrivals problem:
I think we should open the flood gates but that is my personal opinion. I think we should have 100,000 a year limit and let these people come in and use them to our advantage. Let them live where we tell them to live and do something for our country.
What happens to arrival number 100,001?
BRAND DAMAGED
Tim Blair – Friday, October 25, 2013 (4:03am)
Millionaire socialist Russell Brand, who believes that the planet is being destroyed, explains why he never votes:
“I am not that I am not voting out of apathy. I am not voting out of absolute indifference …”
Nice of him to clear that up. The former Mr Katy Perry, who ended his marriage via text, also claims that “profit is a filthy word” and “the Occupy movement made a difference.”
ABC refuses to call boatpeople what they are
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (9:31am)
The ABC bans its
journalists from thinking for themselves and insists they give illegal
arrivals a deliberately misleading descriptor: asylum seekers:
THE ABC has banned its journalists from using the term “illegal arrivals”, while acknowledging Scott Morrison’s preferred term for asylum-seekers who arrive by boat is factually correct...Not wrong, but not helpful to the ABC’s boat people agenda.
[Immigration Minister Scott] Morrison recently ordered his department to use the term “illegal arrival” when referring to asylum-seekers who arrived by boat. But Mr Sunderland said the term “asylum-seeker” would continue to be used by the taxpayer-funded broadcaster, as it is by The Australian. [Shame on the Oz for not standing up to the Press Council.]
He referred staff to the ABC’s style guide, which notes that “under international law anyone can apply for asylum”.
The guide also bans the term “boatpeople”, “unlawful asylum seeker” and “illegal refugees”.
While rejecting the now official terminology, Mr Sunderland endorsed Mr Morrison’s use…
“In September, ABC Fact Check pointed out that references to ‘illegal entry’ and ‘illegal arrival’ are not wrong....”
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Not great judges of racism
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (9:24am)
Race-based organisations are already suspect, but when they include future judges they become very suspicious indeed:
(Thanks to reader Stock Exchange.)
Justice Kyrou told lawyers at the launch of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association...And, really, some of the victimology such racial politcking encourages is just laughable:
The Supreme Court’s only Greek judge has drawn on his experiences with bullying to tell lawyers with migrant backgrounds how to overcome racism and succeed…Pardon? Had he not succeeded, he’d have failed? Had he not been praised, he’d have been vilified?
While he had not experienced any “overt racism” as a lawyer: ”I am sure that if I had not been awarded the Supreme Court Prize, my ethnic and working-class background would have limited my opportunities.”
(Thanks to reader Stock Exchange.)
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Is Turnbull stopping Abbott from reforming the ABC?
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (8:09am)
Here’s perhaps one
reason Tony Abbott is reluctant to sell or fundamentally reform the
ABC, which has a strong and near-uniform Leftist bias that is a breach
of its charter.
It’s his communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, yesterday celebrating triple J’s takeover of Dig Music:
(Thanks to reader Matt.)
It’s his communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, yesterday celebrating triple J’s takeover of Dig Music:
I am not only a staunch listener and viewer of the ABC, I’m a great supporter of the work you do. The work of the ABC has never been so important as it is today. As so many parts of the media are under economic stress and are unable to deliver as much as they were able to in years past when their business models were more robust.
Those of you here that work for the ABC are working for ajn immensely important national institution, one that is a vital part of our democracy.
(Thanks to reader Matt.)
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Head to head with Tony Abbott: order restored, but urgency forgotten?
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (7:21am)
I interviewed Tony Abbott this week and found a man determined to implement a calm, deliberate process after six years of flaky decision making. Abbott admits he considered hitting the ground running on day one by appointing him and one other minister but decided to take his time be more orderly. He was highly critical of the ABC coverage of the bushfires, linking them to climate change, but backs off a wholesale reform of the ABC. Maybe that’s a battle for later. He also seemed to be more leisurely about returning to a Budget surplus than I would like, and we disagree on MPs expenses and the constitutional recognition of Aborigines.AB: How does it feel to be Prime Minister?
PM: It’s exhilarating. It’s exciting. It’s a little daunting, though, because, obviously, as the Prime Minister of Australia, there are some great strengths that we have as a nation, but there are also some serious challenges, and the Government has to come to terms with them very quickly.
AB: Has it proved to be as difficult as you feared?
PM: Well, we don’t know, because these are still very early days … I think we’ve made a good start to repealing the carbon tax and the mining tax, to stopping the boats, to getting the Budget back under control, to getting our infrastructure under way. We’ve made a start, but that’s all it is, it’s just a start.
AB: It’s been a slow start in some respects. You only announced this week a commission of audit, for example.
PM: It’s been more important to get things right, rather than to rush them. If you are going to get something like the commissioner of audit, which was a one-off, you only get one go at it and you’ve got to get it right if you’re going to make the most of things. It’s important to get the right personnel.
AB: Isn’t that something you should have decided before the election?
PM: Yes, but due process is very important too, Andrew. You see, one of the things that the former government got badly wrong was the due process of government. Now, if you are going to avoid making unforced errors and gratuitous mistakes, you need a proper Cabinet process. A proper Cabinet process ... has got to be a meeting of 19 people who are well informed and well advised … All of that means that in order to get a proper Cabinet submission up takes a fortnight, maybe three weeks, so you can’t just leap into action on day one.
AB: So, not for you a Kevin Rudd four-man kitchen Cabinet?
PM: I thought about swearing in a kind of duumvirate (just two ministers, as Gough Whitlam did after the 1972 election) or quartet or something like that, and kicking off the day after the election, but then I thought, no, the best way to do it was to be steady, methodical, purposeful, calm.
AB: I was referring more to Rudd’s four-man team …
PM: The problem with both Rudd and Gillard was that everything was micromanaged. They thought they could confuse announcements with real action. They tried too much all at once and ending up doing nothing very well … The great thing with John Howard was that he picked the best people he could to be his ministers and he allowed them to get on with being ministers. He allowed them to be, if not quite CEOs, then certainly general managers in their portfolios. Obviously the important decisions were supposed to come back to him and to the Cabinet, and that’s as it should be. But the day-to-day management, even the strategic direction, was very much shaped and determined by the relevant ministers. And that’s how it will be in this government.
AB: It’s 50 days on Sunday since you were elected. You’ve done very little media management.
PM: One of the differences between the good government that I served and the poor government that I replaced, is that the good government didn’t feel that its main job was manipulating the media. It understood that its main job was getting on with government …
AB: Well, give me an example. You’ve had the expenses scandal running for a couple of weeks. Very little has been said to rebut some stuff. It was left to run. What is the strategy there?
PM: Well, the Prime Minister should not give a running commentary on every issue under the sun.
AB: Well, here’s something to say about it. Every MP claiming an expense saying it is business should in the statement say what that parliamentary business was.
(Read full interview here.)
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Abbott in control
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (7:19am)
LABOR has portrayed Tony Abbott as a mere thug. His media critics sneer he’s a throwback with slogans for brains.
A tip: the Abbott haters are going to get a terrible shock, and the country a nice surprise.
Just 48 days since his election win, Abbott is already showing he has the makings of a very good prime minister - better than even I once suspected.
I admit I like Abbott. I’d even call him a friend. He’s thoughtful, modest, kind, serious, practical and well-read.
But when he was first Opposition Leader, I criticised him for lacking authority and faith in himself.
The Abbott I interviewed this week was nothing like that. I have never seen him so sure of himself. Not cocky or arrogant; just quietly confident of his capabilities and authority.
More importantly, he has brought back the ordered government we have lacked for six years.
(Read full article here.)
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Attention Tim Flannery: the “proof” you want is the very opposite of the one you claim
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (6:56am)
In doing the post under this one, one further absurdity struck me.
Tim Flannery’s Climate Council links the NSW fires to a “long-term drying trend” caused by global warming.
This, then, is supposed to be evidence of global warming:
Tim Flannery’s Climate Council links the NSW fires to a “long-term drying trend” caused by global warming.
This, then, is supposed to be evidence of global warming:
But wait. Let’s now reverse that graphic. Wouldn’t the very opposite rainfall trend be the “proof” Flannery claims?:
Hmm. Seems global warming was a real problem a century ago.
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Flannery’s council beats up the NSW fires. Now read what it forgot to add
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (6:07am)
America’s NBC tops even the ABC for alarmism, setting the whole country on fire:
In a bizarre map produced by NBC News, pretty much the whole of Australia is depicted as being ablaze this week.That was just a mistake, although one only gullible journalists could make.
This, however, is a disgrace. Tim Flannery’s Climate Council gives Fairfax newspapers another excuse to link the NSW fires to global warming:
Climate change is increasing the probability of extreme bushfire conditions, a report by the nation’s leading climate change advisory body has found.Fairfax should know better than to trust a word Flannery’s council says. Let’s add the critical context that prove this latest story bogus.
The landmark study by the Climate Council ... will put further pressure on Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Environment Minister Greg Hunt, who are resisting international criticism and insisting the ferocious bushfires threatening lives and homes have no link to climate change…
‘’While Australia has always experienced bushfires, climate change is increasing the probability of extreme fire weather days,’’ the report found… “Last summer, Australia experienced the hottest summer on record, and now has just had the hottest September on record.
‘’South-eastern Australia is experiencing a long-term drying trend...”
First, the correct measure of global warming is global temperature, which has actually been flat for 15 years:
Second, the “long-term drying trend” in south-east Australia seems no more than a return to rainfall levels of the first half of last century:
Third, the rainfall levels in NSW, home of these fires, actually show no such drying trend:
Fourth, and most telling, is that the Climate Council two years ago denied what it now claims - that the alleged drying in south-east Australia is evidence of global warming:
Our capability to project future changes to rainfall patterns, apart from the drying trend in southwest Western Australia, remains uncertain… It is difficult from observations alone to unequivocally identify anything that is distinctly unusual about the post-1950 pattern [of rainfall].Fifth, there is nothing about the NSW fires that is unusual. They were not bigger, deadlier, fiercer or earlier than other big bushfires - and, indeed, were much smaller than our worst.
Sixth, what added to the fire danger in NSW was not “long-term drying” but three years of good rains, which built up a dangerous fuel load. From the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre and the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council:
Above average rainfall for much of the preceding three years is likely to continue the trend of heavy grass fuel loads throughout the grassland areas of NSW.Seventh, real fire experts - as opposed to professional climate alarmists - deny any link between the fires and climate change. They include Phil Cheney and David Packham, both former CSIRO bushfire researchers:
Mr Packham says there is no link.Eighth, Seventh, Flannery’s record in predicting the effects of global warming is truly appalling:
“It’s an absolute nonsense,” he told AAP…
“The very best interpretation is (it’s) misguided by them not understanding how bushfires actually do work in Australia.
“If there is any global warming, the global warming is so slow and so small that the bushfire event is totally overrun by the fuel state.”
Flannery had warned the Arctic could be ice-free by 2013 (ice this year increased instead), “Australia is likely to lose its northern rainfall” (there’s actually been more rain) and “Perth will be the 21st century’s first ghost metropolis” (Perth is now headed for its wettest September in 40 years).And ninth, last summer might have been the hottest in Australia measured by the Bureau of Meteorology, but satellite measurements monitored by the UAH disagree:
More seriously, Flannery in 2007 said global warming had hit Australia so hard that without desalination plants Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane could be out of water by 2009.
“Even the rain that falls isn’t actually going to fill our dams and our river systems,” he warned.
Instead, floods filled dams in Sydney and Brisbane, and the expensive desalination plants hurriedly built in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are now all mothballed or scheduled to be.
The Fairfax papers and the ABC have been misleading their audience on the NSW fires. This is shameful.
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Swan, world’s “greatest treasurer”, accused of “economic vandalism”
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (5:43am)
Labor’s looting of the Reserve Bank’s contingency funds was a scandal:
===The new Treasurer, Joe Hockey, this week gave the bank an unprecedented $8.8 billion cash injection to replenish the fund, saying the ammunition was needed for the uncertain times ahead.Oh, really?
Until the global financial crisis the fund held $6 billion on average. After the GFC it was depleted to $1.3 billion before recovering to $2.5 billion…
The last two treasurers - Mr Swan and Chris Bowen - say the RBA never asked them to boost the bank’s reserve fund.
WARWICK MCKIBBIN, FORMER RBA MEMBER: This, to me, is really a very bizarre statement, because when I was on the board, 2011 - I finished July, 2011 - we made a very large loss because of the very high Australian dollar. The following year after I’d left, there was a small profit of over a billion. The Treasurer was requested not to extract that from the balance sheet of the bank. He ignored that request and took half a billion dollars so that he could reach the budget surplus in ‘12-’13. Now that, to me, is economic vandalism. It wasn’t that he may not have been asked to put more money in, but he was certainly asked not to take money out.And how does Swan answer the criticisms? With more Labor smears:
SABRA LANE: The bank’s governor, Glenn Stevens, appeared before an inquiry earlier this year ... [and] confirmed he wrote to Mr Swan asking that all the bank’s profits be retained to replenish the fund.
GLENN STEVENS (Feb. 22): My preference was, and this was expressed, that I’d like to retain the whole $1,096, I think it was, to build up the Reserve Bank reserve fund, but he did not agree with that.
Wayne Swan ... says he’s not surprised by [McKibben’s] criticism, as he didn’t reappoint him to the RBA board when his term expired in 2011. He says Mr Hockey’s decision to bolster the bank, blow out the deficit and raise the debt ceiling are all aimed at demonising him and the former Labor government.
That’s not Abbott’s debt, but it is now Abbott’s urgent problem
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (5:34am)
Graham Richardson is very wrong .... and also a bit right:
Second, Richardson is right. The Government needs to tackle the debt and spending with an urgency that is not yet apparent. Abbott wants to radiate calm and do things deliberately. It may well be that below the surface the legs are pumping furiously and action will become apparent. But economic conditions are more likely to become worse than better with doubts over China and little hope of solid growth in Europe and US. We need to prepare now for trouble to come. The cupboard cannot be this bare.
UPDATE
More signs of tough times to come:
===TONY Abbott and Joe Hockey are very good persuaders. Over the past three years, in particular, they convinced a majority of Australians that the country was in the midst of a crisis. Labor’s debt levels were unsustainable…First, Richardson is wrong. The fact that the debt ceiling has to be increased indeed proves Labor’s debt levels were unsustainable. That debt was created through unsustainable levels of spending that cannot easily and instantly be thrown into reverse. The debt is rocketing not because of decisions the Liberals took but because of Labor ones.
After this week’s announcement that the debt ceiling will be increased to $500 billion only one conclusion can be reasonably drawn - the Coalition’s rhetoric over the past three years was straight out of a screenplay and Hockey gave a performance worthy of an Oscar.
If our nation were in such dire straits and there had indeed been a Coalition frontbench committee studying options for all the tough, hard, brutal cuts to bring our budget back into the black, surely by now those cuts would be implemented or at least announced. That’s what you do when there is a crisis. You act quickly and decisively because time is at a premium.
Second, Richardson is right. The Government needs to tackle the debt and spending with an urgency that is not yet apparent. Abbott wants to radiate calm and do things deliberately. It may well be that below the surface the legs are pumping furiously and action will become apparent. But economic conditions are more likely to become worse than better with doubts over China and little hope of solid growth in Europe and US. We need to prepare now for trouble to come. The cupboard cannot be this bare.
UPDATE
More signs of tough times to come:
GROWING alarm over the resurgent dollar could lead to more resource projects being shelved or lost to rivals, including North America and Africa, adding further pressure to the federal budget.
With Joe Hockey this week moving to raise the debt ceiling and increase cash reserves at the Reserve Bank as insurance against a possible US-led economic downturn, The Australian can reveal that economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel will today downgrade forecasts of construction work.
BIS Shrapnel will forecast that engineering construction work will decline 7.6 per cent in 2013-14, compared with the 5.4 per cent decline it was predicting in March. It will cite weaker outlook for resource projects…
The Australian understands the government is concerned about the prospect of a drop in mining investments and its effect on budget revenues, already tracking below levels forecast before the election.
Now the BBC beats up the NSW fires
Andrew Bolt October 24 2013 (7:41pm)
The BBC is as manic as
the ABC about linking the NSW fires to global warming. Host Razia Iqbal
is particularly heated, badgering Environment Minister Greg Hunt. Listen here.
I really think the Abbott Government needs to get on the front foot with the ABC and with global warming hysteria.
I accept that selling the ABC will seem too dangerous and divisive for a new government - especially one with Malcolm Turnbull as Communications Minister. But it could insist that the ABC honor its charter to ensure a variety of views, replace the board to insist this be done, cut its funding and re-define its areas of responsibility to prevent it from direct competition with private media outlets.
On climate change, the government needs to consider a royal commission, properly constituted, to sort the hysteria from the facts.
UPDATE
Apologies. The link is now fixed.
I really think the Abbott Government needs to get on the front foot with the ABC and with global warming hysteria.
I accept that selling the ABC will seem too dangerous and divisive for a new government - especially one with Malcolm Turnbull as Communications Minister. But it could insist that the ABC honor its charter to ensure a variety of views, replace the board to insist this be done, cut its funding and re-define its areas of responsibility to prevent it from direct competition with private media outlets.
On climate change, the government needs to consider a royal commission, properly constituted, to sort the hysteria from the facts.
UPDATE
Apologies. The link is now fixed.
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Bigger, small, hotter, colder - it’s all global warming
Andrew Bolt October 24 2013 (7:39pm)
One ice cap melts, one grows. Either way it’s global warming to a warmist:
They are two completely different (climate) systems, responding to (global) warming in different ways.
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That is Irish
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What a disastrous Administration.
Report: White House working to stop Congress from siding with Netanyahu on Iran - Israel Hayom
More articles....http://paper.li/allysonchristy/1338794440
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Monica Crowley slams O-care site contractors, President Pass-the-buck with one question ==>http://twitchy.com/2013/
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She didn't know she could be seen?
http://rumorfix.com/photogallery/stephanie-seymour-in-lingerie/?pid=24024
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Zaya Toma
Happy weekend friends.
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Zaya Toma, a public safety issue raised with me by the strata secretary of my block of units, 168 Sandal Crescent. Also, 170 Sandal Crescent. In the morning for school, Veiola picks up students for Bass Hill HS out the front. Not close to the fairlfield bus service stop at 162-166 but outside this block of units. The difference is a few metres, but it means the kids are graffitting and taking bricks from a place not designed for that use .. as opposed to a fenced area where the kids are visible and where vandalism is harder. The strata secretary has been given the run around, contacting school, bus company and council. Council has told her it will take 9 months to address (She asked if a baby would be involved). Could you advise us as to how to be proactive in getting this sorted? A kid could be killed at that crossing .. it seems a public health issue .. ed
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http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/19545779/man-wants-to-date-woman-using-stolen-phone/
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Pastor Rick Warren
Every frustration is an opportunity for innovation. Great ministries and companies arise out of unmet needs.
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And...he's out.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/brandis-asks-cassidy-to-quit-old-parliament-advisory-council/5044882
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/brandis-asks-cassidy-to-quit-old-parliament-advisory-council/5044882
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How to fill in a hole in a cracked window.
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Aprille Love
Done for the day #wakeboarding #fun#summerdays
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<I am not sure I agree with the translation.
Does anyone else feel the same ?>===
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Daniel Greenfield & Frank Gaffney talk about Grover Norquist and his support for Bad Ideas from the Wrong Side of reality: http://
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http://www.meforum.org/3625/remembering-the-1973-war
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10/24/2013
Column one: Israel’s European challenge
By CAROLINE B. GLICK :::::::::::: " Only be exposing the truth behind the lies will we strengthen our European friends and so increase the possibility that our relations with Europe may improve one day. "http://www.jpost.com/
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<OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WHITEWASHES IRAN'S ROLE IN THE KILLING OF 241 AMERICANS>
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HAS ISRAEL'S LEADERSHIP LOST FOCUS ?
http://www.carolineglick.com/===
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Israel is a jewel, viewed by envious, jealous eyes by her neighbours who may be better endowed with resources, but for people. It is wrong to misuse this boon to make terrorists wealthier. But the cost of security and development may well mean that criminals like Obama may direct Israel to fund terrorists .. that is what is happening right now. - ed===
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- 1760 – George III became King of Great Britain and Ireland.
- 1875 – The first performance ofTchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, one of his most popular compositions, was given in Boston with Hans von Bülow(pictured) as soloist.
- 1920 – Irish playwright and politician Terence MacSwiney died after 74 days on hunger strike inBrixton Prison, bringing the Irish struggle for independence to international attention.
- 1944 – USS Tang, the United States Navy submarine credited with sinking more ships than any other American submarine, sank when it was struck by its own torpedo.
- 1971 – The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758, replacing the Republic of China with the People's Republic of China as China's representative at theUnited Nations.
- 1983 – The United States and Caribbean allies invadedGrenada, six days after Bernard Coard seized power in a violent coup d'état.
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Events[edit]
- 473 – Emperor Leo I acclaims his grandson Leo II as Caesar of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1147 – The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after afour-month siege.
- 1147 – Seljuk Turks completely annihilate German crusaders under Conrad III at the Battle of Dorylaeum.
- 1154 – Henry II of England becomes King of England.
- 1415 – The army of Henry V of England defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
- 1616 – Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog makes second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, at the later-named Dirk Hartog Island off the West Australian coast.
- 1747 – British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke defeats the French at the second battle of Cape Finisterre.
- 1760 – George III becomes King of Great Britain.
- 1812 – War of 1812: The American frigate, USS United States, commanded by Stephen Decatur, capturesthe British frigate HMS Macedonian.
- 1828 – The St Katharine Docks opened in London.
- 1854 – The Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).
- 1861 – The Toronto Stock Exchange is created.
- 1900 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
- 1917 – Traditionally understood date of the October Revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia. The date refers to the Julian Calendar date, and corresponds with November 7 in the Gregorian calendar.
- 1920 – After 74 days on Hunger Strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney died.
- 1924 – The forged Zinoviev Letter is published in the Daily Mail, wrecking the British Labour Party's hopes of re-election.
- 1938 – The Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces swing music as "a degenerated musical system... turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people", warning that it leads down a "primrose path to hell". His warning is widely ignored.
- 1940 – Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.
- 1944 – Heinrich Himmler orders a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organized youth culture in Nazi Germany that had assisted army deserters and others to hide from the Third Reich.
- 1944 – The USS Tang under Richard O'Kane (the top American submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship's own malfunctioning torpedo.
- 1944 – The Romanian Army liberates Carei, the last Romanian city under Nazi-Hungarian occupation.
- 1944 – Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history, takes place in and around the Philippines between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the U.S. Third and U.S. Seventh Fleets. Afterward is the first Kamikaze attack of World War 2.
- 1945 – The Republic of China takes over administration of Taiwan following Japan's surrender to the Allies.
- 1962 – Cuban missile crisis: Adlai Stevenson shows photos at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council proving that Sovietmissiles are installed in Cuba.
- 1962 – Uganda joins the United Nations.
- 1962 – Nelson Mandela is sentenced to five years in prison.
- 1971 – The United Nations seated the People's Republic of China and expelled the Republic of China (see political status of Taiwan andChina and the United Nations)
- 1977 – Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.
- 1980 – Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.
- 1983 – Operation Urgent Fury: The United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishopand several of his supporters are executed in a coup d'état.
- 1991 – History of Slovenia: Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.
- 1995 – A commuter train slams into a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, killing seven students.
- 1997 – After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.
- 2004 – Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned.
- 2009 – The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings kills 155 and wounds at least 721.
Births[edit]
- 1102 – William Clito, English son of Sybilla of Conversano (d. 1128)
- 1330 – Louis II, Count of Flanders (d. 1384)
- 1510 – Renée of France (d. 1574)
- 1683 – Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, English-Irish politician (d. 1757)
- 1709 – Georg Gebel, German organist and composer (d. 1753)
- 1759 – Maria Feodorovna, Russian wife of Paul I of Russia (d. 1828)
- 1759 – William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1834)
- 1767 – Benjamin Constant, Swiss-French politician and author (d. 1830)
- 1772 – Geraud Duroc, French general (d. 1813)
- 1782 – Levi Lincoln, Jr., American politician, 13th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1868)
- 1800 – Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, English poet, historian, and politician (d. 1859)
- 1802 – Joseph Montferrand, Canadian logger and strongman (d. 1864)
- 1806 – Max Stirner, German philosopher (d. 1856)
- 1811 – Évariste Galois, French mathematician (d. 1832)
- 1825 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer (d. 1899)
- 1838 – Georges Bizet, French composer (d. 1875)
- 1856 – Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger, Croatian geologist, paleontologist, and archeologist (d. 1936)
- 1864 – John Francis Dodge, American businessman, co-founded the Dodge Company (d. 1920)
- 1864 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (d. 1956)
- 1867 – Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, Polish general (d. 1937)
- 1868 – Dan Burke, American baseball player (d. 1933)
- 1868 – Oskar Kallas, Estonian diplomat, linguist and folklorist (d. 1946)
- 1875 – Carolyn Sherwin Bailey, American children's author (d. 1961)
- 1877 – Adolf Möller, German rower (d. 1968)
- 1881 – Julius Frey, German swimmer (d. 1960)
- 1881 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1973)
- 1882 – John T. Flynn, American journalist and author (d. 1964)
- 1882 – Tony Jackson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1921)
- 1886 – Leo G. Carroll, English actor (d. 1972)
- 1888 – Richard E. Byrd, American navy officer (d. 1957)
- 1888 – Nils von Dardel, Swedish painter (d. 1943)
- 1889 – Abel Gance, French director (d. 1981)
- 1889 – Smoky Joe Wood, American baseball player (d. 1985)
- 1891 – Charles Coughlin, Canadian-American priest and broadcaster (d. 1979)
- 1892 – Nell Shipman, Canadian actress, screenwriter, and producer (d. 1970)
- 1894 – Âşık Veysel Şatıroğlu, Turkish poet (d. 1973)
- 1895 – Levi Eshkol, Israeli politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1969)
- 1900 – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian activist (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Henry Steele Commager, American historian (d. 1998)
- 1902 – Eddie Lang, American guitarist (d. 1933)
- 1903 – Katharine Byron, American politician (d. 1976)
- 1903 – Harry Shoulberg, American painter (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (d. 2004)
- 1910 – William Higinbotham, American physicist (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Minnie Pearl, American comedian and singer (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Jack Kent Cooke, Canadian businessman (d. 1997)
- 1913 – Klaus Barbie, German SS captain (d. 1991)
- 1914 – John Berryman, American poet (d. 1972)
- 1915 – Ivan M. Niven, Canadian mathematician (d. 1999)
- 1917 – Lee MacPhail, American baseball manager and executive (d. 2012)
- 1918 – Chubby Jackson, American bassist and bandleader (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Michael of Romania
- 1923 – Jean Duceppe, Canadian actor (d. 1990)
- 1923 – Beate Sirota Gordon, Austrian-American director and producer (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Bobby Thomson, Scottish-American baseball player (d. 2010)
- 1924 – Billy Barty, American actor (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Earl Palmer, American drummer (The Wrecking Crew) (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Clancy Lyall, American soldier (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Ismail Gulgee, Pakistani painter (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Jimmy Heath, American saxophonist and composer (Heath Brothers)
- 1926 – Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Barbara Cook, American singer and actress
- 1927 – Jorge Batlle Ibáñez, Uruguayan politician, President of Uruguay
- 1927 – Lawrence Kohlberg, American psychologist (d. 1987)
- 1928 – Jeanne Cooper, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Anthony Franciosa, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Marion Ross, American actress
- 1931 – Annie Girardot, French actress (d. 2011)
- 1931 – Jimmy McIlroy, Irish footballer and manager
- 1933 – Eugene Gordon Lee, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1935 – Rusty Schweickart, American astronaut
- 1935 – Sam Taylor, American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
- 1936 – Martin Gilbert, English historian and author
- 1936 – Masako Nozawa, Japanese actress
- 1937 – Roberto Menescal, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1939 – Zelmo Beaty, American basketball player
- 1939 – Fred Marcellino, American illustrator (d. 2001)
- 1939 – Nikos Nikolaidis, Greek director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
- 1939 – Robin Spry, Canadian director and producer (d. 2005)
- 1940 – Bob Knight, American basketball player and coach
- 1941 – Helen Reddy, Australian singer and actress
- 1941 – Anne Tyler, American author
- 1944 – Jon Anderson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Yes, Jon and Vangelis, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, and The Warriors)
- 1944 – James Carville, American lawyer and political consultant
- 1944 – Kati Kovács, Hungarian singer and actress
- 1945 – Peter Ledger, Australian illustrator (d. 1994)
- 1947 – Coco Robicheaux, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
- 1947 – Glenn Tipton, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Judas Priest and The Flying Hat Band)
- 1948 – Dave Cowens, American basketball player and coach
- 1948 – Daniel Mark Epstein, American poet and biographer
- 1948 – Dan Gable, American wrestler and coach
- 1948 – Dan Issel, American basketball player
- 1949 – Réjean Houle, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1949 – Walter Hyatt, American singer-songwriter, (Uncle Walt's Band) (d. 1996)
- 1949 – Hans-Georg Kraus, German footballer
- 1950 – Chris Norman, English singer-songwriter (Smokie)
- 1951 – Richard Lloyd, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Television and Rocket from the Tombs)
- 1952 – Samir Geagea, Lebanese politician
- 1952 – Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager (d. 2004)
- 1952 – Mollie O'Brien, American singer
- 1954 – Mike Eruzione, American ice hockey player
- 1954 – David Worrall, Australian composer
- 1955 – Glynis Barber, English actress
- 1955 – Danny Darwin, American baseball player
- 1955 – Robin Eubanks, American trombonist
- 1955 – Matthias Jabs, German guitarist and songwriter (Scorpions)
- 1956 – Paul Regina, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1957 – Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress
- 1957 – Bernard Hogan-Howe, English police officer
- 1958 – Phil Daniels, English actor
- 1958 – Kornelia Ender, German swimmer
- 1959 – Chrissy Amphlett, Australian singer-songwriter and actress (Divinyls) (d. 2013)
- 1960 – June Brigman, American illustrator
- 1961 – Ward Burton, American race car driver
- 1961 – Chad Smith, American drummer (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chickenfoot, and Chad Smith's Bombastic Meatbats)
- 1961 – Janice Tanton, Canadian illustrator
- 1961 – Willie Walsh, Irish businessman
- 1962 – Nick Hancock, English actor
- 1962 – Darlene Vogel, American actress
- 1963 – Tracy Nelson, American actress
- 1964 – Nicole, German singer
- 1964 – Michael Boatman, American actor
- 1964 – Kevin Michael Richardson, American actor
- 1965 – Þorsteinn Bachmann, Icelandic actor
- 1965 – 2 Cold Scorpio, American wrestler
- 1966 – Wendel Clark, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1966 – Perry Saturn, American wrestler
- 1968 – Sean Sasser, American activist (d. 2013)
- 1969 – Josef Beranek, Czech ice hockey player
- 1969 – Nika Futterman, American voice actress and singer
- 1969 – Oleg Salenko, Russian footballer
- 1970 – J. A. Adande, American columnist
- 1970 – Peter Aerts, Dutch kick boxer
- 1970 – Adam Goldberg, American actor
- 1970 – Adam Pascal, American actor
- 1970 – Ed Robertson, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Barenaked Ladies and Yukon Kornelius)
- 1970 – Daniel Scheinhardt, German footballer
- 1970 – Chely Wright, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1971 – Simon Charlton, English footballer
- 1971 – Athena Chu, Hong Kong actress and singer
- 1971 – Neil Fallon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Clutch, The Company Band, and The Bakerton Group)
- 1971 – Midori Gotō, Japanese-American violinist
- 1971 – Rosie Ledet, American singer-songwriter and accordion player
- 1971 – Pedro Martínez, Dominican baseball player
- 1972 – Jonathan Torrens, Canadian actor
- 1973 – Lamont Bentley, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1974 – Lee Byung-Kyu, South Korean baseball player
- 1974 – Goya Jaekel, German footballer
- 1975 – Eirik Glambek Bøe, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Kings of Convenience and Skog)
- 1975 – Ryan Clement, American football player
- 1975 – Zadie Smith, English author
- 1976 – Steve Jones, Irish footballer
- 1976 – Brett Kirk, Australian footballer
- 1977 – Yehonathan Gatro, Israeli singer and actor
- 1977 – Birgit Prinz, German footballer
- 1977 – The Alchemist, American rapper &nd hip-hop producer
- 1978 – Russell Anderson, Scottish footballer
- 1978 – Markus Pöyhönen, Finnish sprinter
- 1979 – Rob Hulse, English footballer
- 1979 – Bat for Lashes, English singer-songwriter
- 1979 – Rosa Mendes, Canadian wrestler
- 1979 – Sarah Thompson, American actress
- 1979 – Tony Torcato, American baseball player
- 1979 – Eddie Argos, English singer-songwriter (Art Brut)
- 1979 – Ivana Sert, Serbian-Turkish television personality, model, and fashion designer
- 1980 – Mehcad Brooks, American actor and model
- 1980 – Hubert Radke, Polish basketball player
- 1981 – Josh Henderson, American actor and singer
- 1981 – Young Rome, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (IMx)
- 1981 – Jon Wood, American race car driver
- 1981 – Shaun Wright-Phillips, English footballer
- 1982 – Jerome Carter, American football player
- 1982 – Eman Lam, Hong Kong singer (at17)
- 1983 – Gyptian, Jamaican singer
- 1983 – Tim McGarigle, American football player
- 1983 – Taylor Vixen, American porn actress
- 1983 – Han Yeo-reum, South Korean actress
- 1984 – Sara Lumholdt, Swedish singer and dancer (A-Teens)
- 1984 – Katy Perry, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Iván Ramis, Spanish footballer
- 1985 – Ciara, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1985 – Kara Lynn Joyce, American swimmer
- 1985 – Daniele Padelli, Italian footballer
- 1985 – Ayahi Takagaki, Japanese voice actress
- 1985 – Gillian Zinser, American actress
- 1986 – DJ Webstar, American DJ and producer
- 1986 – Eddie Gaven, American soccer player
- 1987 – Bill Amis, American basketball player
- 1987 – Darron Gibson, Irish footballer
- 1987 – Fabian Hambüchen, German gymnast
- 1987 – Black Angelika, Romanian pornographic actress
- 1988 – Shane Edwards, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Mandi Lampi, Finnish actress and singer (d. 2008)
- 1989 – Ivan Marconi, Italian footballer
- 1990 – Filipe Galvão, Brazilian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1990 – Austin Peralta, American pianist and composer (d. 2012)
- 1992 – Kamie Crawford, American model, Miss Teen USA 2010
- 1993 – Kelley Missal, American actress
- 2001 – Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Princess of Belgium, Heiress Apparent to the Belgian Throne
- 2006 – Krista and Tatiana Hogan, Canadian conjoined twins
Deaths[edit]
- 625 – Pope Boniface V
- 1047 – Magnus the Good, Norwegian king (b. 1024)
- 1154 – Stephen, King of England (b. 1096)
- 1200 – Conrad of Wittelsbach, German archbishop (b. 1125)
- 1230 – Gilbert de Clare, 5th Earl of Gloucester, English soldier (b. 1180)
- 1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet (b. 1343)
- 1415 – Killed in the Battle of Agincourt:
- Charles I of Albret
- Frederick I, Count of Vaudémont (b. 1371)
- Philip II, Count of Nevers (b. 1389)
- Jean I, Duke of Alençon (b. 1385)
- Anthony, Duke of Brabant (b. 1384)
- Michael de la Pole, 3rd Earl of Suffolk (b. 1394)
- Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (b. 1373)
- 1478 – Catherine of Bosnia (b. 1425)
- 1492 – Thaddeus McCarthy, Irish bishop (b. 1455)
- 1495 – John II of Portugal (b. 1455)
- 1514 – William Elphinstone, Scottish bishop and politician, founded University of Aberdeen (b. 1431)
- 1555 – Olympia Fulvia Morata, Italian scholar (b. 1526)
- 1557 – William Cavendish, English politician (b. 1505)
- 1633 – Jean Titelouze, French organist and composer (b. 1563)
- 1647 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
- 1683 – William Scroggs, English politician (b. 1623)
- 1733 – Giovanni Gerolamo Saccheri, Italian mathematician (b. 1667)
- 1757 – Antoine Augustine Calmet, French theologian (b. 1672)
- 1760 – George II of Great Britain (b. 1683)
- 1773 – Johann Georg Estor, German theorist and historian (b. 1699)
- 1806 – Henry Knox, American general and politician (b. 1750)
- 1826 – Philippe Pinel, French psychiatrist (b. 1745)
- 1833 – Abbas Mirza, Persian prince (b. 1789)
- 1836 – Antonios Miaoulis, Greek politician and navy officer (b. 1800)
- 1852 – John C. Clark, American politician (b. 1793)
- 1889 – Émile Augier, French playwright (b. 1820)
- 1895 – Charles Hallé, German-English pianist and conductor (b. 1819)
- 1902 – Frank Norris, American novelist (b. 1870)
- 1905 – Dimosthenis Dogkas, Greek politician
- 1910 – Willie Anderson, Scottish-American golfer (b. 1878)
- 1920 – Alexander of Greece (b. 1893)
- 1920 – Terence MacSwiney, Irish playwright and activist (b. 1879)
- 1921 – Bat Masterson, American journalist and sheriff (b. 1853)
- 1938 – Alfonsina Storni, Argentine poet (b. 1892)
- 1941 – Franz von Werra, German fighter pilot (b. 1914)
- 1945 – Robert Ley, German politician (b. 1890)
- 1953 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (b. 1867)
- 1955 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese victim of the atomic bomb (b. 1943)
- 1957 – Albert Anastasia, Italian-American mobster (b. 1902)
- 1957 – Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, Irish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1878)
- 1960 – Harry Ferguson, Irish engineer, founded the Ferguson Company (b. 1884)
- 1962 – Louis Abell, American rower (b. 1884)
- 1963 – Roger Désormière, French conductor (b. 1898)
- 1963 – Karl von Terzaghi, Austrian-American engineer and geologist (b. 1883)
- 1965 – Eduard Einstein, Swiss son of Albert Einstein (b. 1910)
- 1967 – Margaret Ayer Barnes, American writer (b. 1886)
- 1973 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian runner (b. 1932)
- 1973 – Cleo Moore, American actress (b. 1928)
- 1973 – Robert Scholl, German politician (b. 1891)
- 1975 – Vladimir Herzog, Brazilian journalist and activist (b. 1937)
- 1976 – Raymond Queneau, French poet and author (b. 1903)
- 1979 – Gerald Templer, English military commander (b. 1898)
- 1980 – Virgil Fox, American organist (b. 1912)
- 1980 – Sahir Ludhianvi, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1921)
- 1985 – Gary Holton, English actor (b. 1952)
- 1986 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1989 – Mary McCarthy, American author (b. 1912)
- 1991 – Bill Graham, German-American concert promoter (b. 1931)
- 1992 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
- 1993 – Danny Chan, Hong Kong singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (b. 1958)
- 1993 – Vincent Price, American actor (b. 1911)
- 1994 – Kara Hultgreen, American pilot (b. 1965)
- 1994 – Mildred Natwick, American actress (b. 1905)
- 1995 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (b. 1918)
- 1995 – Viveca Lindfors, Swedish actress (b. 1920)
- 1995 – Te Ata Fisher, Native American (Chickasaw) actress and storyteller (b. 1895)
- 1998 – Warren Wiebe, American singer (b. 1953)
- 1999 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (b. 1957)
- 2002 – Richard Harris, Irish actor (b. 1930)
- 2002 – René Thom, French mathematician (b. 1923)
- 2002 – Paul Wellstone, American politician (b. 1944)
- 2003 – Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher and spiritual leader (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish skier (b. 1925)
- 2003 – Robert Strassburg, American conductor and composer (b. 1915)
- 2004 – John Peel, English DJ and radio presenter (b. 1939)
- 2005 – Wellington Mara, American businessman (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Danny Rolling, American serial killer (b. 1954)
- 2007 – Martín Caballero, Colombian guerrilla leader
- 2008 – Anne Pressly, American journalist (b. 1982)
- 2010 – Lisa Blount, American actress and producer (b. 1957)
- 2010 – Gregory Isaacs, Jamaican singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
- 2010 – Vesna Parun, Croatian poet (b. 1922)
- 2012 – Jacques Barzun, French-American historian and author (b. 1907)
- 2012 – Dimitris Beis, Greek politician, 68th Mayor of Athens (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Jaspal Bhatti, Indian actor (b. 1955)
- 2012 – John Connelly, English footballer (b. 1938)
- 2012 – Aung Gyi, Burmese politician (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Les Mueller, American baseball player (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Emanuel Steward, American boxing trainer and sportscaster (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Armed Forces Day (Romania)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Constitution Day (Lithuania)
- Day of the Basque Country (Basque Country)
- Earliest day on which Nevada Day can fall, while October 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Friday in October. (Nevada)
- Republic Day (Kazakhstan)
- Retrocession Day (Taiwan)
- Thanksgiving Day (Grenada)
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“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"The trees of the Lord are full of sap."
Psalm 104:16
Psalm 104:16
Without sap the tree cannot flourish or even exist. Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life--a vital principle infused into us by God the Holy Ghost, or we cannot be trees of the Lord. The mere name of being a Christian is but a dead thing, we must be filled with the spirit of divine life. This life is mysterious. We do not understand the circulation of the sap, by what force it rises, and by what power it descends again. So the life within us is a sacred mystery. Regeneration is wrought by the Holy Ghost entering into man and becoming man's life; and this divine life in a believer afterwards feeds upon the flesh and blood of Christ and is thus sustained by divine food, but whence it cometh and whither it goeth who shall explain to us? What a secret thing the sap is! The roots go searching through the soil with their little spongioles, but we cannot see them suck out the various gases, or transmute the mineral into the vegetable; this work is done down in the dark. Our root is Christ Jesus, and our life is hid in him; this is the secret of the Lord. The radix of the Christian life is as secret as the life itself. How permanently active is the sap in the cedar! In the Christian the divine life is always full of energy--not always in fruit- bearing, but in inward operations. The believer's graces are not every one of them in constant motion, but his life never ceases to palpitate within. He is not always working for God, but his heart is always living upon him. As the sap manifests itself in producing the foliage and fruit of the tree, so with a truly healthy Christian, his grace is externally manifested in his walk and conversation. If you talk with him, he cannot help speaking about Jesus. If you notice his actions you will see that he has been with Jesus. He has so much sap within, that it must fill his conduct and conversation with life.
Evening
"He began to wash the disciples' feet."
John 13:5
John 13:5
The Lord Jesus loves his people so much, that every day he is still doing for them much that is analogous to washing their soiled feet. Their poorest actions he accepts; their deepest sorrow he feels; their slenderest wish he hears, and their every transgression he forgives. He is still their servant as well as their Friend and Master. He not only performs majestic deeds for them, as wearing the mitre on his brow, and the precious jewels glittering on his breastplate, and standing up to plead for them, but humbly, patiently, he yet goes about among his people with the basin and the towel. He does this when he puts away from us day by day our constant infirmities and sins. Last night, when you bowed the knee, you mournfully confessed that much of your conduct was not worthy of your profession; and even tonight, you must mourn afresh that you have fallen again into the selfsame folly and sin from which special grace delivered you long ago; and yet Jesus will have great patience with you; he will hear your confession of sin; he will say, "I will, be thou clean"; he will again apply the blood of sprinkling, and speak peace to your conscience, and remove every spot. It is a great act of eternal love when Christ once for all absolves the sinner, and puts him into the family of God; but what condescending patience there is when the Saviour with much long-suffering bears the oft recurring follies of his wayward disciple; day by day, and hour by hour, washing away the multiplied transgressions of his erring but yet beloved child! To dry up a flood of rebellion is something marvellous, but to endure the constant dropping of repeated offences--to bear with a perpetual trying of patience, this is divine indeed! While we find comfort and peace in our Lord's daily cleansing, its legitimate influence upon us will be to increase our watchfulness, and quicken our desire for holiness. Is it so?
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Today's reading: Jeremiah 3-5, 1 Timothy 4 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 3-5
1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
Would not the land be completely defiled?
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—
would you now return to me?” declares the LORD.
2 “Look up to the barren heights and see.
Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,
sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.
4 Have you not just called to me:
‘My Father, my friend from my youth,
5 will you always be angry?
Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
but you do all the evil you can.”
and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
Would not the land be completely defiled?
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—
would you now return to me?” declares the LORD.
2 “Look up to the barren heights and see.
Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,
sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to blush with shame.
4 Have you not just called to me:
‘My Father, my friend from my youth,
5 will you always be angry?
Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
but you do all the evil you can.”
Unfaithful Israel
6 During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD....
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Timothy 4
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
6 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe....
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Miriam
The Woman Whose Jealousy Brought Judgment
Name Meaning - As a name Miriam belongs to a family of words having different root-form, all of which suggest "bitterness," Mary, Maria, Mariamne. Miriam, then, the same as Mary, meaning "bitterness," "rebellion" was apropos, for because of her jealousy, Miriam's fate was one of extreme bitterness.
Family Connections - Miriam was the eldest child of Amram and Jochebed, and the sister of Aaron and Moses. Says Bulwer, "I honour birth and ancestry when they are regarded as incentives to exertion, not title deeds to sloth." Miriam owed much to her ancestry. She was the daughter of godly parents and the sister of two of Israel's greatest figures. Josephus in his Antiquities informs us that Miriam became the wife of another well-known leader in Israel namely, Hur, one of the judges of the people when Moses was on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:14 ). This would make Miriam to be the grandmother of Bezaleel, the famous artist in the construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 31:2 ). The Biblical narrative, however, suggests that Miriam remained in single blessedness all her days. "Miriam stands before us in an absolutely unsexual relation," says George Matheson: "there is neither marriage nor courtship. Her interests are not matrimonial! they are national. Her mission is not domestic, it is patriotic.... Miriam the unmarried is a heroine in an age when female celibacy was not a consecrated thing, in a Book where the nuptial tie is counted the glory of womanhood."
Some of the grandest women to benefit mankind were content to remain unmarried. Was there ever such a ministering angel in human form as Florence Nightingale, "The Lady of the Lamp," whose sacrificial work among the suffering soldiers during the Crimean War laid the foundation for the great reformation that took place in the hospitals of the world? Many noble women do not marry from sheer choice, as the biographies of some female missionaries and nurses testify. We see Miriam -
As a Clever Girl on the Banks of the River Nile
In dealing with Miriam's mother, Jochebed , we saw how Pharaoh had commanded all the male babies of the Israelites to be drowned in the Nile and how Jochebed took every possible precaution for her beautiful baby's safety. Out of the common reeds grown along the banks of the river she fashioned a small basket-boat, and making it watertight by an inside covering of clay and an outside protection of bitumen, laid the baby in its boat by the edge of the stream which she knew was frequented by the princess and her female court.
The anxious mother took the wise precaution of leaving the baby's sister, Miriam, nearby to mount guard over his safety (Exodus 2:4 ). Whether Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe in the stream or wash her clothes in it, we are not told. Among the reeds the little boat with its precious cargo was spotted and brought to the princess who, seeing the child, loved him. As he was lifted up, he cried. He wanted feeding. But who was to nurse the mite? Then came young Miriam's opportunity. Out of the shadows she stepped forth so innocently, and appearing to be curious at the screaming baby and puzzled princess, ask if she would like her to try and find a Hebrew nurse. Miriam kept her silence and did not reveal her relation to the baby and the nurse she secured. Thus the ready wit of Miriam, a girl of ten to twelve years old, saved her brother whom the Princess calledMoses. When he became the great hero, how Miriam must have been grateful for her share in preserving her baby brother from the cruel fate of other Hebrew infants.
As a Gifted Poetess and Prophetess at the Red Sea
Miriam appears for the first time by name when she is called a "prophetess," and is identified as the sister of Aaron. Both her words and work were full of the inspiration of God and she is brought as a leader and pattern to the women of Israel. Prophets and prophetesses are those raised up by God and inspired by His Spirit to proclaim the will and purpose of God. It is at the Red Sea that we see Miriam standing out so prominently, proclaiming and singing the power and faithfulness of God. She, it was, who led the Israelite women in dancing and instrumental accompaniment as she sang the ode of praise and victory ( Exodus 15:20, 21). By this time Miriam was well past middle life. If she was about 12 years of age when Moses was born, and he spent 40 years in Egypt, then another 40 in the land of Midian before the dramatic episode of the Red Sea, then Miriam was an aging woman in that time when longevity was normal.
After the plague that fell upon Egypt, Pharaoh let God's people go. Moses, leader of the almost two million people, with his brother Aaron as high priest, and his sister Miriam as his chief singer, set out for the land of promise. God caused the waters to roll back and the Israelites passed through on dry ground, but as soon as they were through the waters rushed back and drowned the pursuing Egyptians. Miriam, the first poetess in the Bible, led the joyous acclamations of the multitude, and using her timbrel, sang, "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." The Song of Moses and Miriam has been referred to as one of the oldest and most splendid natural anthems in the world. Whether Miriam composed the poem or not, we cannot tell. What we do know is that she wove the matchless, mighty ode of victory into the conscious life of the people.
Henry Van Dyke reminds us that, "The spirit and movement of the song are well expressed in the English verse of Thomas Moore's paraphrase:"
Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!
Jehovah has triumphed, - His people are free!
Sing - for the pride of the tyrant is broken;
His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave, -
How vain was their boasting! the Lord hath but spoken,
And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave.
Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!
Jehovah has triumphed, - His people are free!
Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord!
His word was our arrow, His breath was our sword.
Who shall return to tell Egypt the story
Of those she sent forth in the shew of her pride?
For the Lord hath looked out from His pillar of glory,
And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide.
Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!
Jehovah has triumphed - His people are free!
This is a powerful verse. But there is even greater majesty and force in the form of the ode as it stands in the Book of Exodus. How grandly the antiphonal ascriptions of praise to Jehovah come into the description of the overthrow of Egypt's pride and power!
Jehovah is a man of war:
Jehovah is his name!
Thou didst blow with thy wind:
The sea covered them:
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like unto thee among the gods, Jehovah?
Who is like unto thee?
Glorious in holiness!
Fearful in praises!
Doing wonders!
As the first of the sweet singers of Israel, Miriam sang for God, using her gift for the elevation of human souls into a higher life. A dreary wilderness faced the children of Israel, and Miriam knew that they would march better if they sang. So her song was one of cheer and full of the memory of all God had accomplished for His people. "The greatest stimulus for the crossing of Jordan is the fact that we have already crossed the Red Sea," wrote George Matheson. "It was wise in Miriam to begin with that Sea and over its prostrate waves to sound her first timbrel."
A Jealous Sister in the Wilderness
What a faithful mirror the Bible is of the characters it portrays! Blemishes, as well as beauties, are revealed. It tells the naked truth of those it describes. There is a blot upon almost all its portraits, and "its blots are as much a bit of the art as its beauties." A double feature of the failure of the Bible's heroes and heroines is that they are usually associated with middle life after the morning inspired with hope and courage unbounded is past, as in the case of Miriam. Further, such failures come where we should not expect them to overtake the otherwise true and noble. Miriam, for instance, rebelled against the mission of her life, namely, to protect and labor in partnership with Moses whom she had been the means of saving for his country. Miriam was, above all things, a faithful patriot, with a love for her country greater than the love for her renowned brother. It was because he was the chosen emissary of God to lead Israel out of bondage into freedom that she rebelled against him in a twofold way. Jealousy led Miriam to reject both the position of Moses as the leader of the host, and his partner in the wife he took unto himself. She found the management and marriage of Moses most irksome.
Miriam's greatest offense was her sarcastic rejection of the leadership of Moses. Hitherto, she had been a symbol of unity as she shared in the triumphs and hopes of Israel. Now, unfortunately, she is prominent as a leader of discord, division and discontent. It will be noted that Aaron is paired with his sister in the outburst against the acquisition and the authority of Moses. But by the order of the names it is evident that Miriam was the instigator and the spokeswoman in the revolt. "Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses" (Numbers 12:1 ). This is understandable because of the close bond of friendship between two who had never been parted. After Miriam as a young girl saved Moses' life, she scarcely saw him for almost 80 years, but with Aaron she had lived quietly at home. Now she takes the initiative in opposition against the younger brother, and uses his Cushite wife as a pretext to rebel against the superior authority of Moses. Her jealous heart led her to reject God's discrimination in favor of Moses against her and Aaron.
Thus personal jealousy and fear of their own respective leadership are mingled in their question, "Hath God indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?" Miriam and Aaron aspired to a joint partnership in state power and in the government of Israel, and they failed. If Moses had erred in marrying his bride, it was a personal mistake and not a public crime. Miriam's chief error consisted in her effort to break down the God-given authority of Moses, and thereby imperil the unity and hope of the nation. Her fault then was greater than that of Moses, because it was an offense against the commonwealth.
It is true that Miriam had functioned as a prophetess and used Aaron as a prophet, but God had distinctly said, "My servant Moses is not so. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches." Such was God's elective sovereignty, and Miriam's sin was grievous in that she rebelled against what God had spoken. That such a sister should be jealous of her brother is beyond conception, but human nature even at it best is very frail. How true it is that "jealousy is the apprehension of superiority and the towering character of Moses doubtless disturbed the peace of Miriam." George Eliot has the phrase, "One of the torments of jealousy is that it can never turn away its eyes from the thing that pains it." Paul places "evil speaking" among the cardinal sins.
Moses, meekest of all men, acted as a deaf man who heard not, and as a dumb man who opened not his mouth. God had heard the complaints Miriam had voiced and He called the trio of leaders to meet Him at the tabernacle of the congregation. Taking up the defense of Moses, God spoke directly to Miriam and Aaron in no uncertain terms that they had not only hurt Moses but that they had failed in their duty toward Him. Moses received divine vindication as God's servant who had been faithful, and as the one whom He had chosen as the medium of a divine revelation. Then the rebellious sister and brother were reprimanded by God for speaking against His honored servant. How silenced the three must have been when, standing at the door of the tabernacle, they were silenced by the austerity and authority of the divine voice! In righteous wrath God withdrew from the holy place.
A Repentant Leper Outside the Camp
As the divine cloud left the tabernacle, the eyes of Aaron sought his beloved and forceful sister, and to his horror she had been smitten with leprosy - the foul disease that made the victim look like death, white as snow, a living corpse (Numbers 12:12 ). The proud, jealous prophetess was condemned to endure the most humiliating of diseases. While Aaron was united with Miriam in rebellion against Moses, judgment only fell upon Miriam which indicated that she had been the instigator, and had influenced her pliable brother. "Look at her in her rapture, like one out of the body with the joy of the Lord, at the Red Sea," says Alexander Whyte, "and now see to what her wicked heart and her wicked tongue have brought her. Look at her with her hand upon her throat, and with a linen cloth upon her lip, and with her hoarse, sepulchral noisome voice wandering far from the camp, and compelled to cry Unclean! Unclean! when any one came in sight."
How humiliating it must have been for Miriam to see people fleeing from her - the one who had before led them so triumphantly. Her judgment was swift and signal, even though hers was a temporary disgrace. Aaron and Moses, overcome with pity for their condemned sister and filled with brotherly love, prayed for Miriam that the punishment might pass from her. Prayer was heard on her behalf, and after her separation from the camp for seven days, she was healed of her leprosy. Evidently Miriam had the sympathy of the whole nation during her week of purification. Although she held up the progress of the host for those seven days, such was her popularity that "the people journeyed not [from Hazeroth] till Miriam was brought in again." When Moses came to write out the law in respect to leprosy, he mentioned his sister Miriam as an example (Deuteronomy 24:9). Thus her presumptuous effort to change the leadership of Israel ended in her humiliation and in the divine vindication of Moses as the undisputed leader of the people.
What happened to Miriam during her seven days without the camp as she bore the sorrow of seeing Israel's march to the Promised Land arrested because of her jealousy we are not told. Doubtless she was repentant, but her strength was broken and the gift of prophecy had left her. One also wonders what the thoughts of Moses' wife were during that lonely week as she thought of her sister-in-law punished and excluded because she condemned Moses for making her his wife. Further, had the confidence of Moses in Aaron and Miriam been so shaken as to make him walk alone? Restored to divine favor we would fain believe Miriam was noble and submissive through the rest of her days, even though we do not hear again of her until her death.
A Dying Saint at Kadesh
Alexander Whyte reckons that Miriam did not live long after that dread week, that she died not because of her old age, or the dregs of the leprosy, but of a broken heart. The Bible is silent as to any further service she rendered once the camp moved on. Had her sorrow crushed her song, and her presumption silenced her prophetic voice? This we do know, that as Moses was not permitted to enter the Land of Promise because "he spoke unadvisedly with his lips" at the rock, so Miriam because of her sin died before the entrance to Canaan, and was buried at Kadesh-barnea, where Israel mourned for her. She passed away at the eleventh hour of the completion of Israel's journey of forty years (Numbers 20:1). Tradition has it that she was given a costly funeral and buried on the mountain of Zin, and mourned for some 30 days. But her last resting place, like that of her great brother, Moses, is one of the secrets of God. As an epitaph for her grave, wherever she sleeps, we can inscribe "She sang the song of Moses: but it was also the song of the Lamb."
What are some of the lessons to be learned from the jealousy and ambition which were the drawbacks in Miriam's otherwise commanding character? First of all, we should learn to avoid the temptation to wield power at the expense of losing influence. Miriam had great influence in her sphere as prophetess and leader of the praises of Israel, but she was not content. She coveted equal power with Moses. Then is it not folly in trying to add to our prestige and dictating to others, as Miriam and Aaron when they gave vent to their feelings against Moses? The most impressive lesson to learn from Miriam is that it is injurious to our character to be discontented with our own distinction, and to jealously desire the higher place of honor which another holds. My soul, never forget that it was envy that crucified the Lord who personified humility!
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Ahithophel
[Ăhĭth'ophĕl] - brother of folly. One of David's privy counselors and father of one of David's heroes, a Gilonite (2 Sam. 15:12-34; 16:15-23; 17).
[Ăhĭth'ophĕl] - brother of folly. One of David's privy counselors and father of one of David's heroes, a Gilonite (2 Sam. 15:12-34; 16:15-23; 17).
The Man Who Was Noted for His Advice
There was no one who could hold a candle to Ahithophel in his day as an able and famous politician. His counsel "was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God" (2 Sam. 16:23 ). Such counsel was a proverb in Israel in David's time. Matthew Henry speaks of him as "a politic, thinking man and one that had a clear head, and a great compass of thought." Perhaps David and Ahithophel had been friends from their boyhood up and are before us in Psalms such as Pss 41:9; 55:13, 14.
Ahithophel, the wise and trusted counselor, however, was found unfaithful because he also thought of himself, and not of David. Ahithophel joined Absalom and advised the prince to take his father's harem (2 Sam. 15:12; 16:21 ). He advised pursuit of the fugitive monarch, but Hushai, another counselor, thwarted this move (2 Sam. 17:11)). Ahithophel was so disgusted over the collapse of his influence, for he could foresee that the insurrection against David was doomed to failure, that he went home a crestfallen man and set his affairs in order and hanged himself (2 Sam. 17:23).
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