===
Happy birthday and many happy returns Tan Nguyen. Born on the same day, across the years, with
1427 – Sigismund, Archduke of Austria (d. 1496)
1803 – Joseph Hansom, English architect, designed Birmingham Town Hall and invented the Hansom cab (d. 1882)
1865 – Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (d. 1912)
1874 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American philanthropist (d. 1948)
1941 – Steven Kellogg, American children's author and illustrator
1942 – Bob Hoskins, English actor
1962 – Cary Elwes, English actor
1967 – Keith Urban, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Ranch)
1981 – Guy Sebastian, Australian singer-songwriter and producer
2000 – Ellery Sprayberry, American actress
Matches
306 – Martyrdom of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki
1597 – Imjin War: Admiral Yi Sun-sin routs the Japanese Navy of 300 ships with only 13 ships at theBattle of Myeongnyang.
1689 – General Piccolomini of Austria burned down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera. He died of cholera himself soon after.
1860 – Meeting of Teano. Giuseppe Garibaldi, conqueror of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, gives it to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.
1861 – The Pony Express officially ceases operations.
1863 – The Football Association, the oldest football association in the world, is formed in London.
1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona.
1909 – Itō Hirobumi, four time Prime Minister of Japan (the 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th) and Resident-General of Korea, was shot to death byKorean nationalist assassin Ahn Jung-geun at the Harbin train station in Manchuria.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany. The young unknown Oberleutnant Erwin Rommel captures Mount Matajur with only 100 Germans against a force of over 7000 Italians.
1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.
1940 – The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
1955 – Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.
1984 – "Baby Fae" receives a heart transplant from a baboon.
1995 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
Despatches
664 – Cedd, English Anglo-Saxon monk and Bishop of London (c.654 - 664) (b. c.620)
899 – Alfred the Great, English king (b. 849)
1764 – William Hogarth, English painter (b. 1697)
===
TREES ARE BORING
Tim Blair – Saturday, October 26, 2013 (4:43pm)
Canberra academic and climate activist Matthew Rimmer believes that this “disgraceful” ad “tells kids to ignore nature, and embrace consumer capitalism.”
Which is why it’s so good:
===
HISTORY CHICKS
Tim Blair – Saturday, October 26, 2013 (4:40pm)
Fragile Fairfax feminist Clementine Ford asks her followers:
What are your favourite little known stories of women in history?
Let’s help a sister out. I nominate Ilse Koch, Maria Swanenburg and “mother of the struggle” Mariam Farahat.
===
LEFTIST DETECTS CONSERVATISM
Tim Blair – Saturday, October 26, 2013 (3:57pm)
Surprised (and pleased) by Time‘s warmist hysteria, the ABC’s Mark Colvin describes the US weekly as a ”staid oldsmall-c conservative mag.”
===
SOMETHING’S CHANGED
Tim Blair – Saturday, October 26, 2013 (3:29pm)
Former Sunday Age editor Gay Alcorn discovers the joy of expenses coverage:
As an editor, I always found scandals around politicians’ expenses such as travelling to exotic places for meetings or spending hundreds on restaurant meals reliably dull. Usually, they are tabloid fodder, designed to foster outrage about those greedy bastards living it up on taxpayers’ dollars. Often, the stories encourage cynicism about politics at a time when trust is already fragile.But the recent flurry of expenses revelations has a different flavour …
===
AUSTRALIA’S TICKLIEST ANIMAL
Tim Blair – Saturday, October 26, 2013 (3:25pm)
The platypus is an intriguing creature.
===
HAL NEEDHAM
Tim Blair – Saturday, October 26, 2013 (2:16pm)
Stuntman and director Hal Needham has died at 82 following a colourful life that sometimes offended fancy types:
Critics weren’t crazy about the films, which included “Hooper” and “Stroker Ace.” In 1981, Roger Ebert called “The Cannonball Run” the story of a wild, cross-country car race, “an abdication of artistic responsibility at the lowest possible level of ambition …”Needham didn’t take such criticism too seriously. “Cannonball Run” earned more than $72 million.
Click for Needham’s six greatest movie stunts.
===
Jews bashed in Sydney
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (1:20pm)
I’m afraid this sounds an attack of our times:
A GROUP of five people were violently attacked on the street in Sydney’s east early this morning in what witnesses have called a racially motivated attack.Police have given no description of the attackers.
Police said the group of four men, aged 66, 48, 39 and 27 and a 62-year-old woman were walking along Blair Street when they passed a group of eight males about 12.30am.
Police ... arrested two 16-year-old males and a 23-year-old man and are questioning them over the alleged anit-Semitic attack.
All five adults were injured suffering concussion, a fractured cheekbone, a possible broken nose, lacerations and bruising…
Adam, 18, who didn’t wish to give his surname, said the fight was unprovoked and the teens were yelling anti-Semitic slurs at the group.
===
No, Aborigines are not some special species. Must this really be said now?
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (10:25am)
Academic Anthony Dillon has Aboriginal ancestry, so I hope he, at least, may be forgiven for stating an obvious truth:
Early in last week’s article, reference was made to “our own mental health strategies, within our terms of cultural reference and understandings of mental health”. Such phrases can imply that Aboriginal people have a need for services different from that of other Australians.(Thanks to reader Correllio.)
Later they refer to Aboriginal Australians, describing their mental and physical health in terms of connections to “traditional lands” and a “spiritual dimension of existence”.
While such ideas may please those who embrace a romanticised view of Aboriginal culture, the majority of Australians indentifying as Aboriginal are very similar to Calma, Dudgeon and myself. That is, while having some Aboriginal ancestry, many are virtually indistinguishable from non-Aboriginal Australians in how they think and act.
Most importantly, they have the same fundamental needs and aspirations as other Australians.
===
Abbott back on the attack - on “Electricity Bill”
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (10:00am)
Tony Abbott has decided
to get back to some public politicking. He today unleashed on Labor
leader Bill Shorten’s refusal to back the axing of the carbon tax,
calling him “Electricity Bill” and “Bill Shock Shorten”.
You may hear that a fair few times.
And this jibe at the man who helped to bring down both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, and now should ditch the carbon tax that killed both:
You may hear that a fair few times.
And this jibe at the man who helped to bring down both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, and now should ditch the carbon tax that killed both:
We know that he’s capable of changing his mind.
===
Global warming faith is worse than cholesterol
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (9:54am)
Reader Rod is one of many to make the point:
The recent Catalyst show had a piece on scientific fraud, manipulated graphs, hidden contrary data, malfeasance, political manipulation, denigration of opponents, dismissal of contrary evidence, dismissal of research that did not prove the theory, and the evidence of people who worked in the real world and saw that the theory was untrue.From the show:
The subject was saturated fat and cholesterol in diets and it all seems to have been a con. If they had substituted “man-made climate change” for saturated fat and cholesterol they would not have needed to change another word.
Dr Jonny Bowden
When you look at the data, it’s very clear - everything that we have been told about saturated fat and cholesterol is a bold-faced lie. It’s just not so.Dr Maryanne Demasi
But isn’t there good science behind this?…Dr Jonny Bowden
Dr Ernest Curtis
The classic study by Ancel Keys is a textbook example of fudging the data to get the result that you want out of a study. And, unfortunately, there’s a lot of that that goes on.
If you look at the ‘science’ that actually the dietary guidelines were based on, the early stuff was so badly done, so filled with confirmation bias, it would never even pass muster today. And unfortunately most doctors don’t know this.
===
NSW changes position. Global warming blamed
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (9:32am)
Like Time really cares about the basis for its warmist claims:
UPDATE
Jennifer Marohasy says, no, the Blue Mountains have not got hotter:
Time magazine headline on Wednesday:The author is, of course, a warming hysteric.
CLIMATE change affects Australia’s epic wildfires - no matter what Prime Minister says.A few corrections added to the Time article the following day:
AN earlier version of this article misstated that NSW is in southwestern Australia. It is in southeastern Australia. An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the executive secretary of the UN 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.
UPDATE
Jennifer Marohasy says, no, the Blue Mountains have not got hotter:
This last week bushfires have been raging in the Blue Mountains. Just to the west of the Blue Mountains is the town of Bathurst. Bathurst has one of the longest temperature records of any locality in Australia, with daily maximum and minimum temperature measurements recorded at the jail from 1858, and from the agricultural research station since 1909. This temperature record shows that contrary to popular perceptions, it has not been getting hotter at Bathurst.(Thanks to reader James.)
If we consider the longest temperature record, which is the daily mean maximum temperatures for Bathurst jail from 1858 to 1983, the hottest day was January 12, 1878, see Chart 1. On that day, 135 years ago, a mean maximum temperature of 44.7 degree C was recorded.
There are no temperature recordings for the jail after 1983, but recording started at Bathurst airport in 1990. The airport data indicates that the hottest day during recent times was on February 15, 2004 with a mean maximum of 40.7 degree C…
The adjusted and homogenized data for Bathurst indicates that the hottest days on record are January 11, 1939, followed by January 14, 1939 at 40.7 and 40.6 degree C, respectively. January 12, 2013 was also hot, with a mean maximum of 40.2 degree C recorded at the Research Station…
In summary, even using the adjusted and official data for Bathurst, Chart 3, temperatures are not exceptionally or unusually hot now. If we consider the longer record and the ‘unadjusted’ data, it was much hotter in the late 1870s and then again in late 1930s than it is now, Charts 1 and 2. This is consistent with what we know about natural climate cycles.
===
Teachers asked to link NSW fires to global warming
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (9:03am)
A reader is appalled by the indoctrination:
The article is nothing more than a summary of the opinions of some firefighters, many of them activists from a Left-wing union. It is, essentially, worthless in determining the effect of global warming on the fires.
The minister for education in NSW is Adrian Piccoli. Does he really think schools should be used to promote green activism and the global warming scare?
The following email is one that originates from a professor high up in the NSW education system that was sent to all the Department of Education and Training principals in NSW. It was then forwarded to [a teacher by her principal] with the suggestion that it be used in class to teach the children about the consequences of climate change.The email:
From: Brock, PaulNote the title I have put in bold.
Sent: Thursday, 24 October 2013 10:14 AM
To: @DET-Principals
Subject: The NSW bushfires
Hi colleagues,
In the light of what quite a number of our Principals, teachers, students, parents and everybody else affected by the catastrophic bushfires have been facing – and no doubt will continue to face in coming months - with such courage, commitment and resilience, I found this article in today’s edition of The Conversation very interesting.
It is the first time that I have come across research investigating what fire fighters believe about global warming. As I assume that this topic would come up in teaching and learning within various KLAs, your teachers may be interested to read it. You can access it at:
http://theconversation.com/what-firefighters-say-about-climate-change-19381?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+24+October+2013&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+24+October+2013+CID_ec56af03136c60451488183c48ec1cca&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=What%20firefighters%20say%20about%20climate%20change
Cheers,
Paul
Dr Paul Brock AM FACE FACEL
Director, Learning and Development Research, Office of the Director-General, NSW Department of Education and Communities
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Sydney
Honorary Research Fellow, University of New England
Honorary Associate, The Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Sydney
Vice Patron, Motor Neurone Disease Association NSW
The article is nothing more than a summary of the opinions of some firefighters, many of them activists from a Left-wing union. It is, essentially, worthless in determining the effect of global warming on the fires.
The minister for education in NSW is Adrian Piccoli. Does he really think schools should be used to promote green activism and the global warming scare?
===
ABC interviews a sceptic for 35 minutes on the fires and rejects all but 69 words
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (8:37am)
Liberal Senator Christopher Back was CEO of the Bush Fires Board of
Western Australia and says bushfires are best prevented not with a
carbon tax but a fuel-reduction burn:
Long-experienced forestry managers would regard 5 to 8 tonnes/hectare of flammable fuel as the upper, safe limit to send in crews to suppress fires.But here is what happened to top bushfire researcher David Packham when he tried to say this to the ABC’s 7:30:
In the Black Saturday fires of 2009 in Victoria, fuel loadings of 50 to 80 tonnes per hectare and even higher were recorded – up to ten times the recommended load. It will be interesting to learn what they were in the Blue Mountains…
Green groups and others opposing fuel reduction strategies need to reflect on the perverse impact of their position and the influence they have had on governments’ policies in recent years. Their efforts to ‘save the environment’ have resulted in the decimation of this very asset… The 2013 fires could contribute more than a third of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions this year…
In eucalypt dominated bush, management of the South West Australian forests is the international benchmark for control of fuel loadings… In WA, the aim is to cool burn around 10% of the jarrah forests annually.
In many Eastern Australian forests it is estimated the figure achieved is around 2% or less. It is simply not enough.
Bushfire expert David Packham tried to tell 7.30 we had to burn our bush every 10 years to cut the leaf litter that turns our fires into infernos, a level of burning NSW doesn’t come close to reaching.Packham has told me what actually happened:
But after just 69 words, 7.30 handed back his microphone to chatterers whose living depends on the warming scare - two green activists and a scientist from Climate System Science.
Briefly, at 7.30 request I came into Melbourne a three hour drive and spent 50 minutes with the 7.30 folk. I estimate about 35 minutes was in interview.
I was asked to confirm that the fires in NSW were unprecedented in being so early in the season. I said no, they were not and offered information from Luke and Mc Arthur “Bushfires in Australia -1976” (Aust Govt Publishing Service) which was not accepted.
When the question was put as to the role of global warming, again I said “not involved”.
That was not an acceptable answer and it was clear that it did not fit with the predetermined agenda.
My sadness at the termination of my life-long love of the ABC because of this very unethical journalism - at least of the news division - is not only sadness but also a touch of fear for our democracy.
===
On Katharine Murphy’s simplistic view of conservatives
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (6:46am)
Guardian writer Katharine Murphy is a more thoughtful Leftist - albeit too often too partisan to see straight or credit the better judgment of her ideological foes.
I also appreciate that Murphy has with each column referencing me progressively stripped away a horn here and a devil’s tail there, although there’s still some way to go before I’m to be acknowledged as fully human.
Take Murphy’s latest column, in which some thoughtful analysis is still marred by tribalist stereotypes and a terrible simplifying . You see, Murphy still can’t believe that nuance and compromise with reality is precisely what good conservatives actually do - and Leftists generally don’t. She is, in fact, the reductionist she imagines she sees:
I think Murphy has confused the alternative meanings of the word “unspeakable”. She suggests I am most happy saying things unspeakably shocking or disgusting, when it would be more accurate to say my notoriety among her circle comes from me speaking truths which many in the Left would prefer not spoken - and which must be punished, denounced, censored.
She also misuses the word “reductionist”. It seems what she really means is simplistic, and there is indeed a problem if we reduce complexity to cartoonish simplicities. But there is a greater problem if we build massive empires of thought in defiance of a plain and simple truth. That the world hasn’t warmed significantly in 15 years is indeed a challenge to the great global warming juggernaut. That Labor’s carbon tax policy will at best cut the world’s temperature by 0.0038 degrees over a century does indeed make the entire climate change bureaucracy seem a massive act of folly and delusion. That someone has only one great-grandparent in eight with Aboriginal ancestry does indeed make strained their insistence on demanding special recognition, laws and preferment on the grounds of their Aboriginal “race”. That a child was actually rescued from rape or starvation does indeed not make them “stolen”.
You see, some things are indeed simple, and cannot be disguised or overcome with complexity. A knife still cuts the Gordian knot. The emperor still has no clothes, no matter how many Tim Flannerys he appoints to praise the embroidery.
If Murphy does truly mean “reductionist”, I can only say her own article is an example of the genre, overlooking a complexity of motives, ambitions and considerations to produce a caricature of a my-way-or-highway lectern-banging conservative with a three-slogan agenda, driven more by ideology than reason.
But to Murphy’s column, in which she seems to project the reductionism she denounces:
In order: I actually believe man’s emissions are likely to affect climate, but am not convinced that effect is great, negative or worth the present pain of reducing.
I am not convinced the ABC should be privatised, and did not ask Abbott to commit to it. I simply want the ABC to provide the pluralist service its charter promises and which would justify its taxpayer support. I am also concerned that the ABC is killing off private media outlets, and I’m worried that government controls such an expanding and dominant media presence. If the ABC proves incapable of reform, maybe privatisation will indeed be necessary. But let’s see, shall we? Let’s take a more nuanced position.
And, yes I do indeed believe the country should not be divided by race, but that is not “code for opposing special rights for Aborigines”. It is no more than what I say it is: a belief that the country should not be divided by race. Or more accurately, that we should not divide ourselves from others on the basis of some trivial or even imagined distinction of “race”. This is no more a “code for opposing special rights for Aborigines” that it is a “code for opposing special rights for Dutchmen”. It is a statement of a principle that many in the Left once subscribed to.
More reductionism. I do not believe the ABC is in the grip of “closet socialism”, but of a Left-leaning, green-tinged, anti-conservative groupthink of exactly the kind Murphy generally exhibits. Can Murphy dispute it? Even former ABC chairman Maurice Newman has conceded the point. Nor do I believe recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution is a “fundamental injustice”. I simply believe it divides people by race and is wrong in principle. We are individuals, not representatives of a “race”. Such a division is also artificial and grotesquely simplistic. To which “race” does someone with both European and Aboriginal ancestry belong?
This is an example of what I described earlier: a core truth that no amount of intellectualising and bureaucratisation can disguise or overcome. When you treat people differently on the grounds of their “race” you are indeed dividing them by “race”. How could that be otherwise?
I know that is an “unspeakable” truth in Murphy’s circles. But again: it is “unspeakable” not because it is shocking and degrading, but because the Left finds it a truth more conveniently let unspoken. In the reductionist world of the Left, we are all just representatives of a race, our complexities reduced to stereotypes.
I think things are much more complex than that. Richer.
UPDATE
Reader Turtle of WA:
I also appreciate that Murphy has with each column referencing me progressively stripped away a horn here and a devil’s tail there, although there’s still some way to go before I’m to be acknowledged as fully human.
Take Murphy’s latest column, in which some thoughtful analysis is still marred by tribalist stereotypes and a terrible simplifying . You see, Murphy still can’t believe that nuance and compromise with reality is precisely what good conservatives actually do - and Leftists generally don’t. She is, in fact, the reductionist she imagines she sees:
Bolt is not so much commentator as professional reductionist and self-styled prophet of simple, clarion “truths” – the more unspeakable the better.I have never styled myself as a “prophet” of anything. Nor do I believe that “the more unspeakable” my truths “the better”. Is pointing out that the world hasn’t warmed as climate models predicted truly an “unspeakable” truth? Is warning that weak border laws were luring people to their deaths an “unspeakable” truth? Is arguing against race-based discrimination and the insistence on “racial” identity truly “unspeakable”? Is denouncing state censorship of political opinion really “unspeakable”? Is pointing out the monstrous waste and growing debt of the past Labor governments now “unspeakable”?
I think Murphy has confused the alternative meanings of the word “unspeakable”. She suggests I am most happy saying things unspeakably shocking or disgusting, when it would be more accurate to say my notoriety among her circle comes from me speaking truths which many in the Left would prefer not spoken - and which must be punished, denounced, censored.
She also misuses the word “reductionist”. It seems what she really means is simplistic, and there is indeed a problem if we reduce complexity to cartoonish simplicities. But there is a greater problem if we build massive empires of thought in defiance of a plain and simple truth. That the world hasn’t warmed significantly in 15 years is indeed a challenge to the great global warming juggernaut. That Labor’s carbon tax policy will at best cut the world’s temperature by 0.0038 degrees over a century does indeed make the entire climate change bureaucracy seem a massive act of folly and delusion. That someone has only one great-grandparent in eight with Aboriginal ancestry does indeed make strained their insistence on demanding special recognition, laws and preferment on the grounds of their Aboriginal “race”. That a child was actually rescued from rape or starvation does indeed not make them “stolen”.
You see, some things are indeed simple, and cannot be disguised or overcome with complexity. A knife still cuts the Gordian knot. The emperor still has no clothes, no matter how many Tim Flannerys he appoints to praise the embroidery.
If Murphy does truly mean “reductionist”, I can only say her own article is an example of the genre, overlooking a complexity of motives, ambitions and considerations to produce a caricature of a my-way-or-highway lectern-banging conservative with a three-slogan agenda, driven more by ideology than reason.
But to Murphy’s column, in which she seems to project the reductionism she denounces:
Proselytising from the bully pulpit of the culture war generally works best when you go easy on the nuance.Actually, proselytising ultimately works best when you go hard on the facts. Let me demonstrate.
Age warmist, going easy on the nuance: “The planet is heating fast and human civilisation will be wiped out by century’s end.”See? Facts will in the end beat the lack of nuance.
A conservative, going hard on the facts: “But there’s been no significant warming for 15 years, the warming we’ve had so far has proved beneficial for crops, the predicted weather disasters have not come and advances in technology and wealth suggest we will be more than capable of adapting.”
Governing exclusively for Andrew Bolt is not an option open to Tony Abbott, and he has the good sense to know it.Er, and so do I, Katharine.
... if we are traversing the world according to Bolt, it will be, in no particular order, the myth of anthropogenic climate change, why the ABC should be privatised, and why the country should not be divided by race (which is code for giving Indigenous Australians “special rights").Talk about reductionist, Katherine.
In order: I actually believe man’s emissions are likely to affect climate, but am not convinced that effect is great, negative or worth the present pain of reducing.
I am not convinced the ABC should be privatised, and did not ask Abbott to commit to it. I simply want the ABC to provide the pluralist service its charter promises and which would justify its taxpayer support. I am also concerned that the ABC is killing off private media outlets, and I’m worried that government controls such an expanding and dominant media presence. If the ABC proves incapable of reform, maybe privatisation will indeed be necessary. But let’s see, shall we? Let’s take a more nuanced position.
And, yes I do indeed believe the country should not be divided by race, but that is not “code for opposing special rights for Aborigines”. It is no more than what I say it is: a belief that the country should not be divided by race. Or more accurately, that we should not divide ourselves from others on the basis of some trivial or even imagined distinction of “race”. This is no more a “code for opposing special rights for Aborigines” that it is a “code for opposing special rights for Dutchmen”. It is a statement of a principle that many in the Left once subscribed to.
The prime minister was not inclined to engage on either the dastardly closet socialism of the ABC, or the supposed fundamental injustice inherent in recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution.
More reductionism. I do not believe the ABC is in the grip of “closet socialism”, but of a Left-leaning, green-tinged, anti-conservative groupthink of exactly the kind Murphy generally exhibits. Can Murphy dispute it? Even former ABC chairman Maurice Newman has conceded the point. Nor do I believe recognising Indigenous Australians in the constitution is a “fundamental injustice”. I simply believe it divides people by race and is wrong in principle. We are individuals, not representatives of a “race”. Such a division is also artificial and grotesquely simplistic. To which “race” does someone with both European and Aboriginal ancestry belong?
But that said, my own view is Abbott is, at the heart level at least, a genuine pluralist.He is indeed. But so am I. Both Abbott and I are at one in wanting the ABC to encourage a plurality of views, not least by having presenters a plurality of presenters - conservatives and the Left, and even an anarchist for pepper. It is the ABC that is not genuinely pluralist, having people of the Left host every single one of its main current affairs shows.
He might have ambitions to keep the ABC in check through a more rigorous application of false balance...“False balance”? Now who is the opponent of pluralism, Katharine?
Bolt’s question to Abbott could not have been more loaded: “Why do you then want the constitution rewritten so that some Australians are given different status on the grounds of their racial ancestry?”That isn’t “loaded”. It is a simple statement of how the proposal will breach a very important principle.
This is an example of what I described earlier: a core truth that no amount of intellectualising and bureaucratisation can disguise or overcome. When you treat people differently on the grounds of their “race” you are indeed dividing them by “race”. How could that be otherwise?
I know that is an “unspeakable” truth in Murphy’s circles. But again: it is “unspeakable” not because it is shocking and degrading, but because the Left finds it a truth more conveniently let unspoken. In the reductionist world of the Left, we are all just representatives of a race, our complexities reduced to stereotypes.
I think things are much more complex than that. Richer.
UPDATE
Reader Turtle of WA:
‘Unspeakable’ is anything you can’t say a lefty dinner party.
===
Abbott’s challenge: deliberate, measured but fast
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (6:38am)
Deliberate must not mean slow. And Terry McCrann is right - Tony Abbott does not have the luxury of time:
UPDATE
I’m hoping Abbott means to promise little but achieve much; to seem calm but act with speed. Treasurer Joe Hockey, at least, seems to realise much needs doing:
Better start now.
As prime minister he has to find a mechanism to deliver the reform, vital to building a globally competitive economy, which can maximise our opportunities while also insulating us from any cold winds. And deliver it now.Sure, steady, deliberate ... and fast.
But to do so, without breaching his core promises: there will be no Work Choices or increased GST under a government I lead… On the other hand, they are arguably precisely what he has to embrace as a matter of urgency.
The first to build in the workplace flexibility fundamental to delivering jobs-friendly growth, especially outside the resources sector; the second as part of real tax reform that could produce cuts in both personal and especially corporate tax rates…
It could simply be too late to try to move to [such reforms] in 2016, the probable date of the next election… The worst case, and by no means unlikely scenario, is an economy that’s turned seriously negative by then; and a government, battered in the polls, finding it even harder to commit itself to tough reform…
The US recovery is looking increasingly uncertain and fragile… China is a completely unknowable curve-ball… A weak China would rip the guts out of the economy…
Abbott can’t afford to wait to find out. Sweeping reform is vital to enabling swaths of Australian business to survive high-Aussie prosperity and a low dollar delivered by any Chinese implosion.
The move to lift the debt ceiling to $500 billion and the announcement of targeting a budget surplus in 10 years added to the sense of lack of urgency.
UPDATE
I’m hoping Abbott means to promise little but achieve much; to seem calm but act with speed. Treasurer Joe Hockey, at least, seems to realise much needs doing:
Hockey, busy in waking hours, is beset by three nightmares: a US financial “event” that sends the Australian dollar into the stratosphere with lethal consequences across a range of industries; a cliff-like decline in mining investments that cannot be replaced, leading to lower growth, weaker revenues and rising unemployment; and the need for a Keatingesque pre-budget shock that prepares the public for the Commission of Audit reforms…Have Abbott or Hockey actually announced any of this? The challenges they now face, and the urgency of change?
The daunting strategic task facing Abbott and Hockey now emerges: they seek to impose off the Audit Commission a vast fiscal and public sector efficiency reform on an economy that is fragile and facing great investment uncertainties…
Hockey is pessimistic about the US. He believes a financial “event” is likely to happen. The worst-case scenario with US tribulations is the Australian dollar going to $US1.20 - the opposite of what is needed to boost the economy.
Better start now.
===
For the union makes (its officials) strong
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (6:22am)
Former union official Grace Collier:
Back in 1975, 2000 officials were employed by unions with 3 million members whose membership dues provided a tax-free income stream.
Now 4000 officials are employed, while union membership is down to 1.8 million. So twice as many union officials now live off less than two-thirds of the membership revenue. Where is the extra money coming from?
===
Sydney Morning Herald can’t take no, no, no, no, no, no for an answer
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (4:58am)
I told Sydney Morning Herald writer Peter Munro six times I was not going to a dinner with Tony Abbott tonight, yet he still writes this:
UPDATE
Reader HillsHoist thinks Munro has mistaken me for Jim Trott:
Columnist and broadcaster Andrew Bolt this week was effusive in his praise of Mr Abbott: ‘’Thoughtful, modest, kind, serious, practical and well-read’’. But he declined to confirm his attendance at the dinner.In fact, it apears tonight’s dinner has already happened:
Piers Akerman, top, and Andrew Bolt, were among the guests.Wouldn’t be a conspiracy without me.
UPDATE
Reader HillsHoist thinks Munro has mistaken me for Jim Trott:
===
The Barrie Cassidy affair: it’s only political if nasty Liberals do it
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (4:40am)
Chris Kenny on why Labor - the day after it called the election - quietly smuggled ABC host Barrie Cassidy onto the Old Parliament House Advisory Council:
It works:
In government, the Labor Party has always paid attention to boosting its long-term stocks - stacking out boards with like-minded individuals, funding organisations that support its causes, and even creating institutions to nurture its agenda.
It works:
On my last visit to the National Museum of Australia I made a mental note never to take overseas visitors - it seemed more interested in our failures than our unequalled story of democratic and multicultural success....But Labor, having secretly sneaked the friendly Cassidy onto the board as chairman the day after calling an election is was sure to lose, now complains when the Abbott Government gets him to resign:
Canberra’s Old Parliament House Advisory Council oversees the Museum of Australian Democracy, which is housed in the building… [The] current council includes from the progressive side of politics former Labor minister Susan Ryan, former Labor MP Graham Edwards, former Labor senator Susan Mackay and former Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja. It also includes academics Kate Darian-Smith and Janette Griffin, and one former Liberal senator, Paul Calvert.
The Cassidy appointment added a prominent ABC political commentator and former adviser to Labor PM Bob Hawke.
If we take the academic appointments as neutral [ha!] , the council lines up with five left-of-centre members and a solitary right-of-centre representative. It is nonsense to suggest this couldn’t influence how political history - particularly recent political events - might be interpreted.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has suggested moves to oust ABC broadcaster Barrie Cassidy as chairman of an advisory board amount to a political witch-hunt…A question for those now complaining:
“We think that processes that are gone through should be respected. We don’t believe in political witch-hunts,” he said.
Imagine a similar secret deal involving, say, Andrew Bolt and the last days of the Howard government. Ponder the level of interest from Labor and the ABC.Enough said.
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Sell what we have to buy what we need
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (4:29am)
Now we’re talking. Let’s move, move, move:
STATES could be offered incentives to free billions of dollars to build new motorways and ease the nation’s traffic congestion, under federal plans to speed up work on big projects.
The Abbott government is considering the support to unlock up to $130 billion in state assets that could be sold on condition the cash would go to badly needed roads or other public works…
The Weekend Australian can reveal that Joe Hockey has opened talks with the states about offsetting the losses they could incur from the privatisations, such as giving up the dividends they receive from the utilities…
A key player in that deal, IFM Investors, a global fund manager owned by about 30 Australian superannuation funds, told The Weekend Australian it had another $3bn to spend on infrastructure immediately if state governments could overcome the obstacles to further sales.
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Only conservatives can be dehumanised
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (12:52am)
Michael Kile on the Greens’ Newspeak:
In (Greens Leader Christine) Milne’s Greenland, calling asylum-seekers “illegals” apparently dehumanises them; yet paradoxically, one’s political opponents can be described publicly as climate criminals and worse.(Thanks to reader Peter of Bellevue Hill.)
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Time Palmer put up or shut up
Andrew Bolt October 26 2013 (12:23am)
The buffoon may have to admit he’s not nothing but wind. Hedley Thomas:
THE Crime and Misconduct Commission in Queensland is being formally urged by the Newman government to examine Clive Palmer’s claims that he has documentary evidence of corruption and “illegal payments” being made to cabinet ministers.(Thanks to reader Peter.)
The request by Queensland Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to the anti-corruption agency’s head, Ken Levy, is likely to lead to Mr Palmer being asked to produce the evidence he has claimed exists, senior sources say…
Under the Criminal Code of Queensland, it is an indictable offence, carrying a penalty of up to three years’ jail, to withhold evidence of a criminal act in exchange for a benefit.
When asked by The Weekend Australian if he was withholding evidence of a serious crime, Mr Palmer has stated: “Wait to the state election. I (am) not withholding anything...”
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Cassidy quits
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (7:54pm)
Inevitable:
ABC presenter Barrie Cassidy has resigned from a government board at the insistence of Attorney-General George Brandis, following his appointment by Labor the day after the election was called.Cassidy is a good man. The process was not. I blame Labor, not him.
Cassidy said he believed remaining as chairman of the Old Parliament House Advisory Committee would “would shroud the board and the institution in ongoing controversy"…
Tony Abbott criticised the appointment earlier this week, when it was revealed by The Australian, saying Labor had “rushed to appoint its friends to all sorts of positions in the dying days”.
Cassidy {said] ... “The minister explained to me that he has a high regard for me personally, but nevertheless has (a) concerns about the process leading up to the appointment; and (b) a strong view that it is not appropriate to have anybody currently involved in the political process, whether they be politicians or journalists, sitting on boards such as these...”
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Fairfax on a purge of conservatives
Andrew Bolt October 25 2013 (7:40pm)
The conservative purge
is on at Fairfax’s radio network. At 2UE Paul Murray is off to work at
Sky News, where he’s now the star, and Jason Morrison has not had his
contract renewed. Lots of talent lost as the station rejigs to become
more a commercial version of the ABC - an aim that explains why The Age is in the toilet. At Brisbane’s 4BC, former Liberal Minister Gary Hardgrave and Greg Cary are also gone.
How easy it is for a Fairfax executive to decide not to go conservative.
How easy it is for a Fairfax executive to decide not to go conservative.
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That is not right - ed
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Is there really deficit wherever there is profit?
Russell Brand doesn't understand what profit is or where it comes from, but he has a very strong opinion on using force to "redistribute" wealth.
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"Relations between our two countries have never been stronger." Clr Zaya Toma said.
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Andy Trieu
The Beauchamp hotel 265-267 oxford st darlinghurst
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Well our Aunty is again flying her transparent bloomers high on the mast of Anthropological Climate Change theory again. What is to most thinking people, nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme, thats main agenda is to redistribute the wealth of the world and level out first world standards with that of third world ones & is pure Marxism 101, is to the vast majority of ABC Journo's, Presenters & Producers alike, a new religion that in their minds makes Christianity look lie a fad !!!
Like the Lemmings they are, this non objective public broadcaster were very clever to strategically line up AL GORE, (the greatest empty suit political loser and US mouth piece for this scam, a man who's own home electricity bill is 14 times higher than that of the average American consumer) on a day when a life has been lost and over 200 livelihoods and homes lost in what is typical bushfire in a country historically known for bush fires at this time of the year. Andrew Bolt once again to the rescue , he is an island of logic in a sea of liberal progressive slime:
http://blogs.news.com.au/
The day they gave a Nobel Prize to this fraud for his work in this AGW scheme was the day that all Nobel Prizes that day and after mean nothing more to me than the 2007 Australian of the Year gong they gave to our homegrown version of Al Gore, Prof. Tim Flannery. A Logie or an Emmy has more scientific cred than the Nobel Prize since Gore scored one.
Here is the link of shame :
http://www.abc.net.au/
Godspeed
Zeg
Editorial Cartoonist/Caricaturist>
0414 293 765
www.facebook.com/zegtoons
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Have a good weekend everyone. Stay safe.
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Arabesque pendant Jewels by Design
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The View from Moro Rock — at Sequoia National Forest.
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http://www.smh.com.au/travel/a-hunger-for-travel-top-20-foodie-experiences-20131023-2w0sl.html
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http://www.news.com.au/national/laurie-oakes-looks-at-the-rise-of-tony-abbott-in-remarkable-times/story-fncynjr2-1226747215088
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I regret to inform the Prime Minister that I am unable to attend tonight because I am washing my hair tonight, followed by extended political ranting on the internet. Thanks for the invite though.>
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbotts-soiree-has-the-right-stuff-20131025-2w7cz.html#ixzz2il31wp13
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Daniel Bogo
Il gelato più grande della storia... Francesco Piccin
I will get three. I might have a friend visit .. better make that four. - ed
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition].(Colossians 1:10, AMP)
Too many people suffer from “destination disease.” In other words, they’ve reached a certain level or obtained a goal, now they’re coasting in life off of what they’ve already learned. Studies tell us that 50% of people, after they graduate from high school, will never read an entire book the rest of their life. One reason is that people see learning as a period of life instead of a way of life. They think, “I’m out of school. I’m done with my training. I’ve got my job.” But, God never created us to reach one level and stop. Whether you’re 90 years old or 9 years old, you should be constantly learning, improving your skills, and getting better at what you do.
The key is that you have to take responsibility for your growth. Growth is not automatic. What steps are you taking to get better? Are you reading books? Listening to teaching CD’s? Are you taking any courses on the internet? Going to any seminars? Do you have any mentors? Don’t just coast through life relying on what you’ve already learned. You have treasure on the inside. Develop your talent and become all that God created you to be.God bless you.
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Father,I thank You for making all things new. Thank You for renewing me, restoring me and setting me on the road to victory. Show me Your ways and give me the strength to embrace every opportunity that comes from You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.(Romans 11:29, KJV)
What could be worse than to come to the end of life filled with regrets? “If only I had pursued that dream. If only I had been more disciplined. If only I had taken that step of faith. If only I had forgiven.” Don’t let that be you. You may have put things off a lot longer than you should have, but the good news is that it’s not too late to get started. You can still become everything God has created you to be.
Today, make the decision to stop making excuses. If you always make excuses, you’ll always have one. Don’t wait for a more convenient time. It says in Ecclesiastes, “If we wait for all the conditions to be just right, we’ll never move off of dead center.” Make a decision to just do it! Be a now person. Your destiny is calling out, and it’s never too late to be all that God has created you to be.God bless you.
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"Whoever believes in me shall never die." -Jesus
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Tell Secretary Sebelius she works for US! Our tax dollars pay her salary!
SHARE and SIGN our petition and tell Obama it’s time to #FireSeblius for the ObamaCare trainwreck! http://bit.ly/168xwKL
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.. students going to university study their courses designated 101 .. first year first semester .. it isn't LoL ..
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Pastor Rick Warren
ARTISTS! Saddleback's #ExCreatisArtsInitiative has opened an Art Gallery at our Lake Forest campus! Check out their FACEBOOK page here:http://on.fb.me/1eQomCI
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I've seen
Growth comes from suffering
Blessing comes from giving
Joy comes from obeying
Honor comes from serving
Victory comes from surrendering
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Faith, not feelings, is what pleases God. Doing the right thing even when I don't feel like it.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."Hebrews 11:6
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Money CAN buy happiness IF you use it to help others."There's more happiness in giving than in receiving" Jesus, Acts 20:25
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.. no need to poke it with a chop stick .. it is dead - ed
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Larry Pickering
NO NEED TO CHANGE THE MARRIAGE ACT, JUST CHANGE YOUR SEX!
The New South Wales Appeals Court ruled on May 31 of this year that Australians need not tick either "male" or "female" on official documents requesting their gender. Oh really?
So I checked my marriage certificate document and guess what? I found no reference to “male”, “female” or any other gender, only a reference to “bride” and “bridegroom” and nowhere does it state the bridegroom needs to be a bloke.
Therefore, if I was a woman and wanted to marry another woman, I could! Is all this marriage equality stuff just grandstanding?
The terms “lesbian” and “gay” don’t seem to even warrant a box to tick, so who says I’m legally a bloke?
If I wake up tomorrow with an insatiable urge to slip into my wife’s underwear and tramp around the house in high heels why can’t I? I can inform my golf mates I’ll be hitting off from the red markers tomorrow.
My assessment of my own gender is legally my own business.
I mean I sort of know I’m really a bloke because I always need to borrow a cup of sugar when the woman next door bathes topless and I get a woodie when someone wearing lipstick grabs my donger, but that’s really all I’ve got to go on.
But I could be getting all sweaty over the wrong sex.
So what is wrong with, “Do you Carla take this lesbian to be your...?” Nothing! Except that it won’t be a legal marriage because the Marriage Act states clearly that the proposed union must be between a “man” and a “woman”!
And whether you’re a man or a woman is clearly noted on your birth certificate. A legal document on which you were never asked to tick any damned box. Someone else ticked it for you. Bugger!
But all’s not lost!
Lesbian relationships seem to have one blokey partner and one not so blokey partner, so the blokey partner can simply change her gender to a “him”? And the effeminate gay bloke can simply change his gender to a “her”? All legal!
Surely that would be much easier and much less costly than trying to change the Commonwealth Marriage Act through the High Court.
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4 her
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Similar imbecilic sentiment initiatives, and in comparison to the current White House....
Ashton Meets Abbas, Urges Reconciliation with Hamas - Israel National News
More.......http://paper.li/
http://paper.li/allysonchristy/1338794440
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<...If these leftist Jews despise Israel so much then exile them all to Gaza. Then let's sit back and watch how long they last.>
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<...That chinless bitch EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is both as fugly on the outside as well as the inside. A blatant unashamed anti Semite that would look better with a hole in a head to allow some fresh air in her infected head.>
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George Jones (1896–1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. During World War I, Jones fought as an infantryman atGallipoli before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps. Posted to a fighter squadron in France, he achieved seven victories to become an ace, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a short spell in civilian life, he joined the newly formed RAAF in 1921, and rose steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II. Jones was a surprise appointee as Chief of the Air Staff, and his achievements were coloured by a divisive relationship with the head ofRAAF operations in the Pacific, Air Vice Marshal William Bostock. This was partly the result of a divided command structure, which neither man had any direct role in shaping. After World War II, Jones had overall responsibility for transforming what was then the world's fourth largest air force into a peacetime service that was also able to meet overseas commitments in Malaya and Korea. He was promoted to air marshal in 1948, and knighted in 1953. (Full article...)
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A Bangladeshi child infected with smallpox, 1973. In ordinary type smallpox the bumps are filled with a thick, opaque fluid and often have a depression or dimple in the center. This is a major distinguishing characteristic of smallpox. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was diagnosed on 26 October 1977, and in 1979 the World Health Organization declared the disease eradicated.
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- 1708 – The final stone of St Paul's Cathedral (pictured), rebuilt after the original burned down in the 1666 Great Fire of London, was laid by the son of its architect, Christopher Wren.
- 1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, one of the most famous gunfights in the history of the American Old West, took place in Tombstone, Arizona, between the faction of Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton's gang.
- 1944 – World War II: In one of the largest naval battles in modern history, Allied forces defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the seas surrounding the Philippine island of Leyte.
- 1979 – President of South Korea Park Chung-hee was assassinated by the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and a long-time friend, Kim Jae-kyu.
- 1985 – The Australian government returned ownership of Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, to the localPitjantjatjara people.
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Events[edit]
- 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki
- 1341 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 formally begins with the proclamation of John VI Kantakouzenos as Byzantine Emperor at Didymoteicho.
- 1597 – Imjin War: Admiral Yi Sun-sin routs the Japanese Navy of 300 ships with only 13 ships at theBattle of Myeongnyang.
- 1640 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England.
- 1689 – General Piccolomini of Austria burned down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera. He died of cholera himself soon after.
- 1774 – The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1775 – King George III of Great Britain goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorized a military response to quell the American Revolution.
- 1776 – Benjamin Franklin departs from America for France on a mission to seek French support for theAmerican Revolution.
- 1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.
- 1811 – The Argentine government declare the freedom of expression for the press by decree.
- 1813 – War of 1812: A combined force of British regulars, Canadian militia, and Mohawks defeat the Americans in the Battle of Chateauguay.
- 1825 – The Erie Canal opens – passage from Albany, New York to Lake Erie.
- 1859 – The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead.
- 1860 – Meeting of Teano. Giuseppe Garibaldi, conqueror of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, gives it to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.
- 1861 – The Pony Express officially ceases operations.
- 1863 – The Football Association, the oldest football association in the world, is formed in London.
- 1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona.
- 1905 – Norway becomes independent from Sweden.
- 1909 – Itō Hirobumi, four time Prime Minister of Japan (the 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th) and Resident-General of Korea, was shot to death byKorean nationalist assassin Ahn Jung-geun at the Harbin train station in Manchuria.
- 1912 – First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.
- 1917 – World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany. The young unknown Oberleutnant Erwin Rommel captures Mount Matajur with only 100 Germans against a force of over 7000 Italians.
- 1917 – World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.
- 1918 – Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.
- 1921 – The Chicago Theatre opens.
- 1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.
- 1940 – The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
- 1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, is sunk and another aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser are heavily damaged.
- 1943 – World War II: First flight of the Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil".
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory.
- 1947 – The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.
- 1955 – After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares permanent neutrality.
- 1955 – Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.
- 1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France.
- 1964 – Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.
- 1967 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran and then crowns his wife Farah Empress of Iran.
- 1968 – Soviet cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy pilots Soyuz 3 into space for a four-day mission.
- 1977 – Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, develops rash in Merca district, Somalia. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
- 1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by Korean Central Intelligence Agency head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
- 1984 – "Baby Fae" receives a heart transplant from a baboon.
- 1985 – The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines.
- 1992 – The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.
- 1992 – The London Ambulance Service is thrown into chaos after the implementation of a new CAD, or Computer Aided Dispatch, system which failed.
- 1994 – Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty
- 1995 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
- 1999 – Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
- 2000 – Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d'Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï.
- 2001 – The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
- 2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
- 2003 – The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km2), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.
Births[edit]
- 1427 – Sigismund, Archduke of Austria (d. 1496)
- 1473 – Friedrich of Saxony (d. 1510)
- 1491 – Zhengde Emperor of China (d. 1521)
- 1564 – Hans Leo Hassler German composer and organist (d. 1612)
- 1609 – William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1675)
- 1673 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Moldavian philosopher, historian, and geographer (d. 1723)
- 1684 – Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (d. 1757)
- 1685 – Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1757)
- 1694 – Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (d. 1758)
- 1747 – Ivan Mane Jarnović, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1804)
- 1757 – Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher (d. 1823)
- 1759 – Georges Danton, French politician (d. 1794)
- 1768 – Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (d. 1844)
- 1794 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect, designed the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (d. 1881)
- 1795 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer (d. 1872)
- 1797 – Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (d. 1865)
- 1800 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (d. 1891)
- 1802 – Miguel I of Portugal (d. 1866)
- 1803 – Joseph Hansom, English architect, designed Birmingham Town Hall and invented the Hansom cab (d. 1882)
- 1842 – Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, Russian painter (d. 1904)
- 1849 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (d. 1917)
- 1850 – Grigore Tocilescu, Romanian historian and archaeologist (d. 1909)
- 1854 – C. W. Post, American businessman, founded Post Foods (d. 1914)
- 1865 – Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (d. 1912)
- 1869 – Washington Luís, Brazilian politician, 13th President of Brazil (d. 1957)
- 1871 – Guillermo Kahlo, German-Mexican photographer (d. 1941)
- 1872 – Harold Fraser, American golfer (d. 1945)
- 1873 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Pakistani politician (d. 1962)
- 1873 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1942)
- 1874 – Martin Lowry, English chemist (d. 1936)
- 1874 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American philanthropist (d. 1948)
- 1880 – Andrei Bely, Russian author, poet, and critic (d. 1934)
- 1881 – Louis Bastien, French cyclist (d. 1963)
- 1883 – Napoleon Hill, American author and philosopher (d. 1970)
- 1883 – Paul Pilgrim, American runner (d. 1958)
- 1884 – William Hogenson, American sprinter (d. 1965)
- 1888 – Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian military commander (d. 1934)
- 1890 – Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Indian journalist and activist (d. 1931)
- 1893 – Miloš Crnjanski, Serbian poet and author (d. 1977)
- 1899 – Judy Johnson, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- 1902 – Beryl Markham, Kenyan horse trainer and author (d. 1986)
- 1902 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer (d. 1994)
- 1905 – George Bernard Flahiff, Canadian archbishop (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (d. 1967)
- 1909 – Ignace Lepp, French writer, psychologist and priest (d. 1966)
- 1909 – Dante Quinterno, Argentine writer and illustrator (d. 2003)
- 1910 – John Krol, American Roman Catholic Cardinal (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Sid Gillman, American football player (d. 2003)
- 1911 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (d. 1972)
- 1911 – Sorley MacLean, Scottish poet (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Don Siegel, American film director (d. 1991)
- 1913 – Charlie Barnet, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1991)
- 1914 – Jackie Coogan, American actor (d. 1984)
- 1915 – Joe Fry, English race car driver (d. 1950)
- 1916 – François Mitterrand, French politician, 21st President of France (d. 1996)
- 1916 – Boyd Wagner, American pilot (d. 1942)
- 1918 – Baby Peggy, American actress
- 1919 – Frank Bourgholtzer, American journalist (d. 2010)
- 1919 – Edward Brooke, American politician
- 1919 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (d. 1980)
- 1921 – George Forrest, Irish politician (d. 1968)
- 1922 – Madelyn Dunham, American grandmother of Barack Obama (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Jan Wolkers, Dutch author (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Panos Gavalas, Greek singer (d. 1988)
- 1927 – Warne Marsh, American saxophonist (Supersax) (d. 1987)
- 1928 – Francisco Solano López, Argentine illustrator (d. 2011)
- 1929 – Neal Matthews, Jr., American singer (The Jordanaires) (d. 2000)
- 1933 – Takis Kanellopoulos, Greek director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
- 1933 – Andrew P. O'Rourke, American judge and politician (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Hans-Joachim Roedelius, German musician and producer (Cluster, Harmonia, and Aquarello)
- 1935 – Mike Gray, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Shelley Morrison, American actress
- 1940 – Eddie Henderson, American trumpet player
- 1940 – John Horgan, Irish academic and politician
- 1941 – Steven Kellogg, American children's author and illustrator
- 1941 – Charlie Landsborough, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1942 – Bob Hoskins, English actor
- 1942 – Milton Nascimento, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Clube da Esquina)
- 1942 – Zdenko Runjić, Croatian songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
- 1942 – Jonathan Williams, English Grand Prix racing driver
- 1945 – Pat Conroy, American author
- 1945 – Demetris Th. Gotsis, Greek poet and author
- 1945 – Jaclyn Smith, American actress
- 1946 – Keith Hopwood, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Herman's Hermits)
- 1946 – Pat Sajak, American game show host
- 1946 – Holly Woodlawn, Puerto Rican actress
- 1947 – Ricardo Asch, Argentine physician
- 1947 – Ian Ashley, German-English race car driver
- 1947 – Hillary Clinton, American politician, 67th United States Secretary of State and 44th First Lady of the United States
- 1947 – Trevor Joyce, Irish poet
- 1948 – Toby Harrah, American baseball player
- 1949 – Antonio Carpio, Filipino jurist
- 1949 – Steve Rogers, American baseball player
- 1949 – Kevin Sullivan, American wrestler
- 1951 – Bootsy Collins, American singer-songwriter and bass player (Parliament-Funkadelic)
- 1951 – Tommy Mars, American keyboard player
- 1951 – Julian Schnabel, American director
- 1952 – Andrew Motion, English poet
- 1952 – David Was, American singer-songwriter and musician (Was (Not Was))
- 1953 – Keith Strickland, American guitarist and songwriter (The B-52's)
- 1953 – Maureen Teefy, American actress
- 1953 – Lauren Tewes, American actress
- 1954 – Vassilis Hatzipanagis, Greek footballer
- 1956 – Stephen Gumley, Australian businessman
- 1956 – Rita Wilson, American actress, singer, and producer
- 1957 – Julie Dawn Cole, English actress
- 1957 – Bob Golic, American football player
- 1959 – Brian Bovell, English actor
- 1959 – François Chau, Cambodian actor
- 1959 – Paul Farmer, American anthropologist
- 1959 – Andreas Hinze, German footballer
- 1959 – Evo Morales, Bolivian politician, 80th President of Bolivia
- 1960 – Patrick Breen, American actor
- 1961 – Gerald Malloy, American politician
- 1961 – Dylan McDermott, American actor
- 1961 – Stacy Schiff, American author
- 1962 – Cary Elwes, English actor
- 1963 – Ted Demme, American film director and producer (d. 2002)
- 1963 – Natalie Merchant, American singer-songwriter and pianist (10,000 Maniacs)
- 1964 – Thomas Cavanagh, Canadian actor
- 1965 – Aaron Kwok, Hong Kong singer and actor
- 1965 – Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress
- 1966 – Jane Hajduk, American actress
- 1966 – Masaharu Iwata, Japanese composer
- 1966 – Steve Valentine, Scottish actor and singer
- 1966 – Jeanne Zelasko, American sportscaster
- 1967 – Keith Urban, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Ranch)
- 1970 – Lisa Ryder, Canadian actress
- 1970 – Dian Bachar, American actor
- 1971 – Jim Butcher, American author
- 1971 – Anthony Rapp, American actor and singer
- 1973 – Austin Healey, English rugby union footballer
- 1973 – Seth MacFarlane, American animator, voice actor, and singer
- 1973 – Taka Michinoku, Japanese wrestler
- 1974 – Lisa, Japanese-Colombian singer and producer (M-Flo)
- 1974 – Raveena Tandon, Indian actress
- 1975 – Ivo Posti, Estonian opera singer
- 1976 – Miikka Kiprusoff, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1977 – Jon Heder, American actor
- 1978 – Jimmy Aggrey, English footballer
- 1978 – Eva Kaili, Greek journalist and politician
- 1978 – CM Punk, American professional wrestler
- 1978 – Dave Zastudil, American football player
- 1979 – Movsar Barayev, Chechen militia leader (d. 2002)
- 1979 – Josh Portman, American guitarist (Near Miss and Yellowcard)
- 1980 – Cristian Chivu, Romanian footballer
- 1981 – Sam Brown, American comedian and actor
- 1981 – Girl Talk, American producer and DJ
- 1981 – Martina Schild, Swiss skier
- 1981 – Guy Sebastian, Australian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1981 – Chou Ssu-Chi, Taiwanese baseball player
- 1982 – Adam Carroll, Irish race car driver
- 1982 – Nicola Adams, English boxer
- 1983 – Francisco Liriano, Dominican baseball player
- 1983 – Dmitri Sychev, Russian footballer
- 1983 – Luke Watson, South African rugby union footballer
- 1984 – Sasha Cohen, American figure skater
- 1984 – Adriano Correia, Brazilian footballer
- 1984 – Jefferson Farfán, Peruvian footballer
- 1984 – Amanda Overmyer, American singer-songwriter
- 1985 – Asin, Indian actress
- 1985 – Andrea Bargnani, Italian basketball player
- 1985 – Kafoumba Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer
- 1985 – Monta Ellis, American basketball player
- 1985 – Kieran Read, New Zealand rugby union footballer
- 1986 – Ibor Bakar, French footballer
- 1986 – Marco Ruben, Argentine footballer
- 1987 – Abudramae Bamba, Ivorian footballer
- 1987 – Shawn Lauvao, American football player
- 1988 – Greg Zuerlein, American ice dancer
- 1989 – Emil Sayfutdinov, Russian Speedway Rider
- 1991 – Amala Paul, Indian actress
- 1994 – Allie DeBerry, American actress
- 2000 – Ellery Sprayberry, American actress
Deaths[edit]
- 664 – Cedd, English Anglo-Saxon monk and Bishop of London (c.654 - 664) (b. c.620)
- 899 – Alfred the Great, English king (b. 849)
- 1440 – Gilles de Rais, French knight (b. 1404)
- 1633 – Horio Tadaharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1596)
- 1671 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician (b. 1593)
- 1675 – William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (b. 1609)
- 1686 – John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (b. 1623)
- 1717 – Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester (b. 1657)
- 1751 – Philip Doddridge, English religious reformer and educator (b. 1702)
- 1764 – William Hogarth, English painter (b. 1697)
- 1773 – Amédée-François Frézier, French engineer, mathematician, and explorer (b. 1682)
- 1803 – Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (b. 1721)
- 1806 – John Graves Simcoe, English army officer and politician (b. 1752)
- 1817 – Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian scientist (b. 1727)
- 1864 – William T. Anderson, American guerrilla leader (b. 1838)
- 1866 – John Kinder Labatt, Irish-Canadian brewer, founded the Labatt Brewing Company (b. 1803)
- 1890 – Carlo Collodi, Italian author (b. 1826)
- 1896 – Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French politician (b. 1827)
- 1902 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American activist (b. 1815)
- 1909 – Itō Hirobumi, Japanese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1841)
- 1930 – Waldemar Haffkine, Russian scientist (b. 1860)
- 1930 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman and horse breeder (b. 1872)
- 1931 – Charles Comiskey, American baseball player and manager (b. 1859)
- 1932 – Margaret Brown, American philanthropist and activist (b. 1867)
- 1937 – Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, Polish general (b. 1867)
- 1941 – Arkady Gaidar, Russian author (b. 1904)
- 1943 – Aurel Stein, Hungarian-English archaeologist (b. 1862)
- 1944 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (b. 1857)
- 1944 – William Temple, English archbishop (b. 1881)
- 1945 – Aleksey Krylov, Russian engineer and mathematician (b. 1863)
- 1945 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (b. 1878)
- 1946 – Ioannis Rallis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1878)
- 1947 – Edwin Sidney Savage, English clergyman (b. 1862)
- 1949 – Lionel Halsey, English navy officer (b. 1872)
- 1952 – Hattie McDaniel, American actress and singer (b. 1895)
- 1956 – Walter Gieseking, French-German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
- 1957 – Gerty Cori, Czech-American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
- 1957 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek author and philosopher (b. 1883)
- 1962 – Louise Beavers, American actress (b. 1902)
- 1963 – Elizabeth Gunn, New Zealand paediatrician (b. 1879)
- 1965 – Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (b. 1949)
- 1966 – Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)
- 1971 – Vincent Coleman, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1972 – Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American aircraft designer, founded Sikorsky Aircraft (b. 1889)
- 1974 – Bidia Dandaron, Russian author and educator (b. 1914)
- 1978 – Alexander Gerschenkron, Russian-American historian (b. 1904)
- 1979 – Park Chung-hee, Korean general and politician, 3rd President of South Korea (b. 1917)
- 1984 – Gus Mancuso, American baseball player and coach (b. 1905)
- 1986 – Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)
- 1989 – Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- 1993 – Oro, Mexican wrestler (b. 1971)
- 1994 – Wilbert Harrison, American singer (b. 1929)
- 1995 – Wilhelm Freddie, Danish painter (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Gorni Kramer, Italian musician, songwriter, and bandleader (b. 1913)
- 1999 – Hoyt Axton, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1938)
- 1999 – Eknath Easwaran, Indian and American spiritual teacher and writer (b. 1910)
- 2002 – Movsar Barayev, Chechen militia leader (b. 1979)
- 2002 – Jacques Massu, French general (b. 1908)
- 2004 – Bobby Avila, Mexican-American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 2005 – Keith Parkinson, American illustrator (b. 1958)
- 2005 – George Swindin, English footballer and manager (b. 1914)
- 2006 – Tillman Franks, American songwriter (b. 1920)
- 2006 – Pontus Hultén, Swedish art collector and museum director (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Nicolae Dobrin, Romanian footballer (b. 1947)
- 2007 – Friedman Paul Erhardt, German-American chef (b. 1943)
- 2007 – Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist, Nobel Prize (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Khun Sa, Burmese warlord (b. 1934)
- 2008 – Tony Hillerman, American author (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Delmar Watson, American actor (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Teel Bivins, American politician (b. 1947)
- 2009 – George Naʻope, American singer (b. 1928)
- 2009 – Troy Smith, American businessman, founded Sonic Drive-In (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Glen Little, American clown (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Mbah Maridjan, Indonesian spiritual leader (b. 1927)
- 2010 – Paul the Octopus, English octopus (b. 2008)
- 2010 – Romeu Tuma, Brazilian politician (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Mac Ahlberg, Swedish director and cinematographer (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Arnold Greenberg, American businessman, co-founded Snapple (b. 1932)
- 2012 – Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, Cuban army officer (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Joža Horvat, Croatian author (b. 1915)
- 2012 – John M. Johansen American architect, designed the Morris A. Mechanic Theatre (b. 1916)
- 2012 – Alan Kirschenbaum, American scriptwriter and producer (b. 1961)
- 2012 – Natina Reed, American rapper and actress (Blaque) (b. 1979)
- 2012 – Alan Stretton, Australian general (b. 1922)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Angam Day (Nauru)
- Armed Forces Day (Benin)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Day of Mourning (Libya)
- National Day, celebrates the anniversary of the Declaration of Neutrality in 1955. (Austria)
- The first day of Ludi Victoriae Sullanae, celebrated until November 1. (Roman Empire)
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“speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:19-20NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"For the truths sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever."
2 John 2
2 John 2
Once let the truth of God obtain an entrance into the human heart and subdue the whole man unto itself, no power human or infernal can dislodge it. We entertain it not as a guest but as the master of the house--this is a Christian necessity, he is no Christian who doth not thus believe. Those who feel the vital power of the gospel, and know the might of the Holy Ghost as he opens, applies, and seals the Lord's Word, would sooner be torn to pieces than be rent away from the gospel of their salvation. What a thousand mercies are wrapped up in the assurance that the truth will be with us forever; will be our living support, our dying comfort, our rising song, our eternal glory; this is Christian privilege, without it our faith were little worth. Some truths we outgrow and leave behind, for they are but rudiments and lessons for beginners, but we cannot thus deal with Divine truth, for though it is sweet food for babes, it is in the highest sense strong meat for men. The truth that we are sinners is painfully with us to humble and make us watchful; the more blessed truth that whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus shall be saved, abides with us as our hope and joy. Experience, so far from loosening our hold of the doctrines of grace, has knit us to them more and more firmly; our grounds and motives for believing are now more strong, more numerous than ever, and we have reason to expect that it will be so till in death we clasp the Saviour in our arms.
Wherever this abiding love of truth can be discovered, we are bound to exercise our love. No narrow circle can contain our gracious sympathies, wide as the election of grace must be our communion of heart. Much of error may be mingled with truth received, let us war with the error but still love the brother for the measure of truth which we see in him; above all let us love and spread the truth ourselves.
Evening
"She gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech."
Ruth 2:3
Ruth 2:3
Her hap was. Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but how divinely was it overruled! Ruth had gone forth with her mother's blessing, under the care of her mother's God, to humble but honourable toil, and the providence of God was guiding her every step. Little did she know that amid the sheaves she would find a husband, that he should make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and that she a poor foreigner should become one of the progenitors of the great Messiah. God is very good to those who trust in him, and often surprises them with unlooked for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us to-morrow, but this sweet fact may cheer us, that no good thing shall be withheld. Chance is banished from the faith of Christians, for they see the hand of God in everything. The trivial events of today or to-morrow may involve consequences of the highest importance. O Lord, deal as graciously with thy servants as thou didst with Ruth.
How blessed would it be, if, in wandering in the field of meditation tonight, our hap should be to light upon the place where our next Kinsman will reveal himself to us! O Spirit of God, guide us to him. We would sooner glean in his field than bear away the whole harvest from any other. O for the footsteps of his flock, which may conduct us to the green pastures where he dwells! This is a weary world when Jesus is away--we could better do without sun and moon than without him--but how divinely fair all things become in the glory of his presence! Our souls know the virtue which dwells in Jesus, and can never be content without him. We will wait in prayer this night until our hap shall be to light on a part of the field belonging to Jesus wherein he will manifest himself to us.
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Today's reading: Jeremiah 6-8, 1 Timothy 5 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Jeremiah 6-8
Jerusalem Under Siege
1 “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin!
Flee from Jerusalem!
Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!
Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster looms out of the north,
even terrible destruction.
2 I will destroy Daughter Zion,
so beautiful and delicate.
3 Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;
they will pitch their tents around her,
each tending his own portion.”
Flee from Jerusalem!
Sound the trumpet in Tekoa!
Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem!
For disaster looms out of the north,
even terrible destruction.
2 I will destroy Daughter Zion,
so beautiful and delicate.
3 Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;
they will pitch their tents around her,
each tending his own portion.”
4 “Prepare for battle against her!
Arise, let us attack at noon!
But, alas, the daylight is fading,
and the shadows of evening grow long.
5 So arise, let us attack at night
and destroy her fortresses!”
Arise, let us attack at noon!
But, alas, the daylight is fading,
and the shadows of evening grow long.
5 So arise, let us attack at night
and destroy her fortresses!”
6 This is what the LORD Almighty says:
“Cut down the treesand build siege ramps against Jerusalem.
This city must be punished;
it is filled with oppression....
Today's New Testament reading: 1 Timothy 5
Widows, Elders and Slaves
1 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds....
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Amaziah
[Ămazī'ah] - jehovah has strength.
[Ămazī'ah] - jehovah has strength.
- Son of Joash or Jehoash, king of Judah. Amaziah came to the throne after the assassination of his father. The writer of 2 Kings gives him unqualified praise for his religious acts (2 Kings 14), but in Chronicles he is accused of gross apostasy (2 Chron. 25:14).
- The priest at Bethel who opposed the prophet Amos in the matter of idol-worship ( Amos 7:10).
- A man of the tribe of Simeon (1 Chron. 4:34).
- A Levite descended from Merari (1 Chron. 6:45).
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GOD’S ATTRIBUTES: HE IS INFINITE
Have you found that the longer you live, the more you realize your own finitude? Perhaps you used to think you could accomplish anything, but you've grown to realize you can do what God has enabled you to do and what your own fragile mind and body will allow you to do. You can't be in two places at once. You can't make everybody happy. You can't get treatment for every disease, and you can't be twenty years old again if you've passed that mark. These are not bad things. They are just that quality that we properly and wisely accept: finitude.
We live in bodies that keep us located in one spot at one time. They break; they disintegrate; they fall to pieces. We only know so much, and the more we learn the more we realize how much we do not know. Our knowledge leaks out of these buckets full of holes we call minds. We can build impressive machines, but we are virtually powerless before a tornado or the surges of the ocean.
In every way that we are finite, God is infinite. God is all-knowing (omniscient). He doesn't grow older, doesn't become mentally limited, doesn't show emotional fragility. His power (omnipotence) exceeds that massive energy that holds all matter together. God is present at all times in all places (omnipresence). "'Am I only a God nearby... and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?' declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:23-24 ). When the Hebrews built a spectacular temple in honor of God, wise king Solomon dedicated it by confessing that even that divinely-initiated place would not "locate" God. "The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built" (1 Kings 8:27).
So what does it mean for us that God is present at all times and in all places? It means...
... we don't need to convince God to come and be with us; he is already here;
... we can't hide from God, so we should give up trying;
... even when we are in some dark place, we can call out to God;
... God is at work every place in this troubled world, even though we may not see it;
...in our prayers we don't need to shout, God is not far away;
... being close to God is not limited to Sunday morning;
... our relationship with God is a reality of every moment of our days.
How does that seem to you, today?
Omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence. God is God in ways that only could be true of an absolute God. The implications for prayer and our dependence in faith are enormous. Our prayers do not inform God of facts he is ignorant of. Rather, our prayers are an engaging conversation in which we wait to learn something we didn't know before, or to simply receive the comfort of talking to the God who knows our needs before we even ask him (as Jesus put it in the Sermon on the Mount). Because we pray to an all-powerful God, it is not the prayer itself that has power, but God. So we should be careful in talking about the "power of prayer." It is not our vocalizations that accomplish anything, and certainly we should never see prayer as some kind of incantation. The power comes when we open ourselves to the all-powerful God, when we become more fully aware of how God stands in the midst of our circumstances, a giant who cannot be ignored, who is never afraid, and who elicits proper fear in people. Omnipresence means that prayer is as effective when offered in your car as in your church, in garbled words or moaning or crying. Prayer requires no antenna pointed in just the right direction at the right time.
Because God is great, something powerful is already at work the moment we say, "Dear God..." Even if the only thing we can say is "Dear God."
Excerpt from Putting the Pieces Back Together: How Real Life and Real Faith Connect. Click for more.
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