Many socialist leaders around the world are rich and privileged. France nearly had a socialist PM who thought nothing of using hard working migrant women for sex. It doesn't represent core conservative values, but as a protest against conservative values it is offensive to good people in the community. One doesn't want a PM who exercises power in that way, indulging in pleasuring themselves at the expense of their nation. Like Obama playing golf on the US dime, as he tries to foist a health system that would include the poorest ten million people without actually hiring a single doctor, but by vastly enlarging a bureaucracy. The truth is that one cannot own what they cannot afford. The GOP might meekly pass the bad bill, as Democrats beg them to, but eventually the US would have to stop .. and many more than 10 million would miss out. Obama wants Obamacare as a legacy, but it will be debt and despair instead.
Want to hear a bad joke? Try the Uniting Church. They have embraced the poor by becoming poor themselves .. I read somewhere God rewards those who are good with the detail ..
===
Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Timmy Lingy, Kimmy Do and Sarina Jane Kowalin. Born on the same day, across the years, along with
1344 – Mary of Waltham (d. 1362)
1599 – Étienne Moulinié, French composer (d. 1676)
1669 – Johann Nicolaus Bach, German composer (d. 1753)
1731 – Henry Cavendish, French-English scientist and philosopher (d. 1810)
1780 – John Abercrombie, Scottish physician (d. 1844)
1813 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
1819 – Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger, German theologian and author (d. 1883)
1825 – Paul Kruger, South African politician, 5th President of the South African Republic (d. 1904)
1837 – Robert Gould Shaw, American army officer (d. 1863)
1895 – Wolfram von Richthofen, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1917 – Thelonious Monk, American pianist and composer (d. 1982)
1924 – James Clavell, Australian author (d. 1994)
1924 – Ed Wood, American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer (d. 1978)
1940 – Winston Churchill, English politician (d. 2010)
1954 – David Lee Roth, American singer-songwriter, and producer (Van Halen)
1964 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist (d. 2002)
1974 – Assi Cohen, Israeli comedian and actor
1998 – Nash Aguas, Filipino actor
Matches
19 AD – Roman general Germanicus suddenly dies in Antioch under mysterious circumstances. Roman historianTactius records that Germanicus was poisoned by Syrian Governor Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso under orders fromRoman emperor Tiberius.
680 – Battle of Karbala: Hussain bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated by forces underCaliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Muslims as Aashurah.
732 – Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, the leader of the Franks, Charles Martel and his men, defeat a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, is killed during the battle.
1580 – After a three-day siege, the English Army beheads over 600 Papal soldiers and civilians at Dún an Óir,Ireland.
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland,Portugal and Spain.
1846 – Triton, the largest moon of the planet Neptune, is discovered by English astronomer William Lassell.
1871 – The Great Chicago Fire: Chicago burns after a barn accident. The fire lasts from October 8 to October 10.
1928 – Chiang Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.
1933 – United Airlines Chesterton Crash: A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history ofcommercial aviation.
1944 – Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are murdered at Auschwitz concentration camp.
1957 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in aDover, Delaware restaurant.
1957 – The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident
1964 – The opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite.
Despatches
19 – Germanicus, Roman general (b. 15 BC)
644 – Paulinus, missionary and bishop of York
680 – Hussein ibn Ali, Islamic Shi'a Imam (b. 626)
1659 – Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (b. 1603)
1875 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1817)
1911 – Jack Daniel, American businessman, founded Jack Daniel's (b. 1849)
1985 – Yul Brynner, Russian-American actor (b. 1920)
1985 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, scriptwriter, and producer (b. 1915)
2004 – Christopher Reeve, American actor, director, producer, and author (b. 1952)
2010 – Joan Sutherland, Australian soprano (b. 1926)
===
Victoria Police no longer just a bikie escort
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (1:33pm)
A welcome change in policing styles under Chief Commissioner Ken Lay.
Melbourne, 2008:
Melbourne, 2008:
Traffic was ... diverted from surrounding streets to allow the smooth arrival of more than 200 members of the Bandidos bikie gang, who have descended on the city this afternoon in a bold show of defiance…Melbourne, 2013:
Police have been told to “facilitate” the bikies as they ride in convoy from Geelong to the CBD. The Bandidos will be given a police escort and traffic will be stopped so they can enjoy an uninterrupted run.
HEAVILY armed police have swooped on bikie clubhouses across Melbourne in one of the biggest co-ordinated raids for years.
Police stormed the Hells Angels headquarters in Heidelberg Road, Fairfield, early this morning with members of the Special Operations Group and Echo Taskforce on scene.
Special Operations Group officers also raided the Nomads, an Angels affiliate, on the Western Ring Rd in Thomastown, arresting a man.
And the Seaford chapter of the Hells Angels feeder club, the Red Devils, was searched just after 8am....
Guns, a large amount of ammunition, stolen vehicles and cash have been seized… The high-powered automatic weapons being sought by police today have not been found yet but more warrants will be issued as the day wears on… A large amount of ammunition, requiring the police use of a trailer, was seized at one location… Cannabis, powdered drugs and cash have been confiscated.
===
Budding socialists. Give us your money or we’ll throw things
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (1:22pm)
Leftist students are demanding taxpayers give them more money and plan some violence to get it:
We will be congregating at Parliament House at 12:30 and then heading to the Liberal Party HQ on Exhibition street to make some submissions to the inquiry being launched by the government into higher education.Are people allowed to throw things back at such juvenile thugs, or would they then cry “unfair”?
Please bring some spare shoes and any other appropriate ‘missiles’ you feel are necessary.
===
Jobless rate falls, but…
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (12:40pm)
The headline looks better than the underlying stats:
UPDATE
Reader AP:
ELECTION of the Abbott government in September might have lifted businesses’ spirits but it failed to spark a hiring spree, with unexpectedly weak jobs growth in September and a further drop in the number of people looking for work.The Government has done nothing yet to help business except get itself elected, so there’s been nothing but optimism to affect hirings.
The unemployment rate fell to 5.6 per cent in September from 5.8 per cent in August but only 9100 new jobs were created, not enough to keep the unemployment rate stable given population growth.
UPDATE
Reader AP:
This is the first time in ages that full time jobs have actually risen. In a long string of prior months all the employment growth has been part time jobs, while full time employment fell. This would be consistent with a renewed confidence.
===
Green church for sale
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (8:52am)
One of the most Left-wing of churches is now in debt:
The hammer is about to fall on 56 Uniting Church properties in Victoria as the church tries to raise $56 million to pay debts incurred in the calamitous collapse of Acacia College last year…Here’s how the Uniting Church now publicly presents itself - more as a kind of Green party than a church:
[S]tate secretary Mark Lawrence said the sales would affect at least 14 church complexes… Among the churches being sold are Brunswick West, Glenroy, Strathmore, Hawthorn West and Doncaster East…
Malcolm McIlvena, the secretary at St David’s Uniting Church in Brunswick West, said: ‘’They’ve told us we are out after 105 years...’’
He said the weekly congregation was down to about 20 - in the 1930s the Sunday School alone had 200 members - but the church hall was in use every night for tai chi, children’s drama and the like…
Dr Lawrence ... said the sales involved less than 1 per cent of the church’s properties - it has more than 600 congregations in Victoria and Tasmania and runs 32 welfare agencies - and no services would be cut.
The Uniting Church in Australia is committed to social justice, valuing the inherent dignity of all people. The statements and resolutions found here represent our interest in national and international issues of justice, peace and environmental sustainability.
Some of the issues addressed include: justice for refugees and asylum seekers; positive action to address climate change; peaceful solutions to terrorism and international conflict; international trade and industrial relations policies which support the most vulnerable people; active citizenship; and an end to violence, racism, discrimination and the abuse of human rights.
===
Shorten short of popularity
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (8:43am)
I’d prefer Albanese,
too, but personal popularity alone does not dictate how successful a
leader will be. Example A: Tony Abbott:
Bill Shorten is set to win today’s caucus room showdown in Canberra - but the public wants Anthony Albanese to lead the Labor Party in opposition.It’s largely on factional lines:
Polling conducted exclusively for Fairfax Media found Mr Albanese leads Mr Shorten 58-42 as preferred Labor leader among voters in Victoria and NSW.
The Right outnumbers the Left 48-38 in the new caucus but some on the Right believe Mr Shorten will attract 50 to 52 votes…
Fairfax understands three members of the Left, Laurie Ferguson, Warren Snowdon and Maria Vamvakinou, will vote with the Right. But Kevin Rudd, who made Mr Albanese his deputy during his doomed second stint as prime minister, is expected to cross factional lines to vote for ‘’Albo’’, according to two ALP sources…
NSW MP Justine Elliot is also expected to vote for Mr Albanese despite her membership of the Right.
===
The cruel price of apartheid justice
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (8:32am)
WE PAY $74 million a year for apartheid justice and Ernest Munda shows why we should not.
In 2010 Munda already had a long criminal record and had just finished a 12-month suspended sentence for bashing his wife and the mother of his four children with his fists, a rock and a spade.
Now he was drunk and stoned as he repeatedly punched his wife in the face, threw her around the room and rammed her head into the walls of their home.
The next morning, as she lay dying, he had sex with her and left the house for tea. She died soon after.
(Read full article here.)
In 2010 Munda already had a long criminal record and had just finished a 12-month suspended sentence for bashing his wife and the mother of his four children with his fists, a rock and a spade.
Now he was drunk and stoned as he repeatedly punched his wife in the face, threw her around the room and rammed her head into the walls of their home.
The next morning, as she lay dying, he had sex with her and left the house for tea. She died soon after.
(Read full article here.)
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The madness of the Abbott haters
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (8:14am)
IT’S NOT a month since the election, but there’s already an epidemic of Abbott Derangement Syndrome.
The symptoms: an unshakable belief Tony Abbott is evil or a buffoon, even if your lying eyes tell you different.
Oh, and he’s an expenses-rorting crook.
The most bizarre example of ADS occurred on the Sydney Morning Herald’s website only yesterday.
Under the headline “Vladimir Putin gives late Tony Abbott cold shoulder at APEC”, the Herald suggested “a new iron curtain dropped between Russia and Australia” when the Prime Minister turned up late to the opening of the APEC meeting in Bali.
(Read full column here.)
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I’d rather pay Abbott to run for a charity than pay Swan to “study” in New York
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (8:07am)
Labor suffers blowback from its attack on Tony Abbott’s expenses. Take Wayne Swan:
There was the Swanster defending his attendance at the NRL grand final and the use of the VIP jet. He was speaking from New York where he is on a study tour.Judith Sloan puts in context the Labor attack on Abbott’s claims for attending community sports events as a participant:
Tony Abbott likes physical activity (and these community events are no doubt boosted by his presence) and other politicians like slap-up corporate lunches with the best wines and expensive foods.
Why isn’t the media going crazy about politicians flying around the country to attend these slap-up lunches while claiming TA along the way? It is just a matter of different tastes – no difference in principle.
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The stresses beneath Abbott’s calm
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (7:56am)
Niki Savva says Tony Abbott is paddling calmly, but under the surface lies some snags that need clearing:
There’s also a lot of criticism of Abbott’s strategy to starve the media beast. Critics say the media will just feed at Labor’s table instead. I think saying less and letting actions speak for themselves is an attractive strategy and one the drama-weary public may well appreciate now, after what we’ve gone through and with three years before the next election. I know as someone who has to fill radio, TV and print space with commentary that there is less now to chat about politically, and more reason to talk about something else - which may well suit Abbott.
But Labor will soon regroup and build narratives. Narratives take time to develop but then become hard to shift - and are potent come election time. That is one reason it is wrong to be too complacent even years from an election about the media messaging and the need to counter the Labor lines. There is also a dangerous temptation to confuse what is expedient (shutting up) with what is simply easy (not bothering with a media strategy).
Abbott is confident that in the end his achievements will speak volumes for him. Trouble is, achievements don’t speak. Politicians do.
Key staff appointments still await approval, others have been vetoed for obscure or ill-defined reasons, even the most junior appointments are given full star chamber treatment, and a requirement for senior staff to be Canberra based is needlessly eliminating good people.I’ve thought for some time that the key challenge for Abbott (and his team) will be managing the transition to real power after being dependent for so long in Opposition on the art of persuasion. Power is tempting, because it saves so much time. An order takes seconds; an argument can take days. But Abbott leads a team of equals: colleagues, not soldiers, and many of them with ambitions as great as his own. That said, the government now is at the time of maximum stress and least time: people are scrambling to get on top of their briefs and put the government on the right track. I expect things to settle down soon, and a more collegiate style to develop. You’d hope so.
Because of the overseas travel, cabinet has met only twice. The Commission of Audit has not yet been ticked off, but should be announced before parliament resumes, probably around November 12, for a four-week sitting…
Behind the scenes his chief of staff Peta Credlin has unfettered licence to roar at the most senior of his colleagues, an entitlement that they resent greatly and which could backfire spectacularly at some point down the track when he, or she who must be obeyed, becomes vulnerable.
People elected to office don’t take kindly to being tongue-lashed by unelected staff. Abbott has already been told by at least one senior cabinet minister he will not tolerate it.
There’s also a lot of criticism of Abbott’s strategy to starve the media beast. Critics say the media will just feed at Labor’s table instead. I think saying less and letting actions speak for themselves is an attractive strategy and one the drama-weary public may well appreciate now, after what we’ve gone through and with three years before the next election. I know as someone who has to fill radio, TV and print space with commentary that there is less now to chat about politically, and more reason to talk about something else - which may well suit Abbott.
But Labor will soon regroup and build narratives. Narratives take time to develop but then become hard to shift - and are potent come election time. That is one reason it is wrong to be too complacent even years from an election about the media messaging and the need to counter the Labor lines. There is also a dangerous temptation to confuse what is expedient (shutting up) with what is simply easy (not bothering with a media strategy).
Abbott is confident that in the end his achievements will speak volumes for him. Trouble is, achievements don’t speak. Politicians do.
===
Asia may not be such a meal ticket much longer
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (7:24am)
David Uren on signs of an even greater slowdown that should make us question our complacency about Asia:
The IMF ... had expected recovery would be taking root firmly by now, with world growth of 4.5 per cent. Instead, 2013 will be the weakest year since the crisis, with growth of just 2.9 per cent…
In April, it believed the slowing of China’s growth to just below 8 per cent this year would be a passing pang… But it now believes there has been a permanent reduction in China’s potential, and it sees growth slowing to 7.3 per cent next year and to just below 7 per cent beyond 2016…
Investment is increasingly generating useless excess capacity while China’s one-child policy means the population is ageing rapidly. The surplus labour that has fuelled the growth of cities will start to dry up from next year…
But the falling growth around the emerging world this year raises new doubts about the speed and inevitability with which their living standards will catch up with the advanced world. Brazil’s growth will be 2.5 per cent this year, down from 7.5 per cent in 2010, while India’s growth is down from 10.5 per cent to 3.8 per cent and Mexico down from 5.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent…
Julia Gillard’s Asian Century white paper ... foreshadowed that Asia would overtake the combined output of Europe and North America within the next decade. China and India would overtake the seven biggest advanced economies early in the 2020s.
If the region may be entering a rougher patch, Australia’s policy makers need to strengthen defences.
===
Emails show IRS swapping confidential taxpayer information with White House
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (6:39am)
There have been many such claims lately, particularly from Tea Party activists:
But hard evidence of a link between the White House and the IRS was missing:
Dr. Ben Carson, the former surgeon who criticized President Obama over his lack of leadership and health care plan earlier this year, now claims he was unfairly targeted by the IRS because of his comments against the administration…
Carson says the Internal Revenue Service started looking into his real estate holdings following his comments against the White House at the National Prayer Breakfast in February.
IRS employees were “acutely” aware in 2010 that President Obama wanted to crack down on conservative organizations and were egged into targeting tea party groups by press reports mocking the emerging movement, according to an interim report being circulated Tuesday by House investigators.But now this:
The report, by staffers for Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, quoted two Internal Revenue Service officials saying the tea party applications were singled out in the targeting program that has the agency under investigation…
In the report, the investigators do not find evidence that IRS employees received orders from politicians to target the tea party, and agency officials deny overt bias or political motives.
But the report says the IRS was at least taking cues from political leaders and designed special policies to review tea party applications, including dispatching some of them to Washington to be vetted by headquarters.
Top Internal Revenue Service Obamacare official Sarah Hall Ingram discussed confidential taxpayer information with senior Obama White House officials, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee…
Ingram attempted to counsel the White House on a lawsuit from religious organizations opposing Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Email exchanges involving Ingram and White House officials — including White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz and deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew — contained confidential taxpayer information, according to Oversight.
The emails provided to Oversight investigators by the IRS had numerous redactions with the signifier “6103.”
Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code forbids a federal employee from “disclos[ing] any return or return information obtained by him in any manner in connection with his service as such an officer or an employee.”
Federal employees who illegally disclose confidential taxpayer information could face five years in prison.
“Thanks, David. Thanks for the information on [6103],” White House official Lambrew wrote to IRS official David Fish in a July 20, 2012 exchange. “I am still hoping to understand whether the 50 percent rule is moot if the organization does not offer goods and services for sale to the general public. Do we assume that organizations like [6103] do offer goods and services for sale?”
===
How could Obama deceive the US public about something so serious?
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (6:26am)
President Barack Obama says the Republicans threaten the US with a debt default that could destroy the world economy:
A decision to actually permit default, according to many CEOs and economists, would be - and I’m quoting here - “insane, catastrophic, chaos”. These are some of the more polite words. Warren Buffett likened default to a nuclear bomb, a weapon too horrible to use.Not true, says Moody’s Investors Service:
“ We believe the government would continue to pay interest and principal on its debt even in the event that the debt limit is not raised, leaving its creditworthiness intact,” the memo says. “The debt limit restricts government expenditures to the amount of its incoming revenues; it does not prohibit the government from servicing its debt. There is no direct connection between the debt limit (actually the exhaustion of the Treasury’s extraordinary measures to raise funds) and a default...”
===
Our future in Palmer’s hands
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (6:19am)
Australia has a buffoon now controlling a critical parcel of votes in the Senate:
I hope Robert Gottliebsen’s optimism is not misplaced:
CLIVE Palmer is set to announce a partnership with the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party today, giving him the balance of power in the senate.UPDATE
It is understood Mr Palmer has also approached Family First to join his coalition but the party declined the offer, and he is said to be in talks with the DLP, and the Liberal Democratic Party about a similar arrangement.
Mr Palmer denied that he had entered into a coalition with Victorian AMEP senator Ricky Muir, but sources close to the arrangement say it is a done deal and the two parties would vote together.
I hope Robert Gottliebsen’s optimism is not misplaced:
Tony Abbott and the Coalition have won effective control of the Senate and the government will be able to pass all its major legislative program.
Australia is set to have its most stable government for a decade. The Coalition has 33 votes in the Senate but needs another six for a majority.
The backroom people in the Coalition ... are bubbling with confidence that the six non-major party senators elected in this year’s election will combine to back most of, if not all, the government’s legislative program that was forecast in the campaign…
There are two qualifications to this confident prediction. First, a number of people in the Coalition and the ALP want to change the electoral act so that the 2013 Senate outcome can never be repeated.
The Coalition is tempted but it has received the message that if the Prime Minister went down that track and tried to amend the electoral act, it would be a declaration of war with the new senators.
The Coalition now knows that it has to choose between new Senate rules and stable government for three years, with the clear implementation of its program.
The second qualification is that the Abbott government must not be captured by the “big end of town” and deviate from its 12-point plan.
===
Mark Latham is a fantasist. Why does the Fin employ him?
Andrew Bolt October 10 2013 (12:41am)
Former Labor leader Mark Latham has a long record of simply making stuff up about my beliefs. Is he stupid or barking irresponsible?
Now again, in the Financial Review:
Latham is just making stuff up again. He is entitled to his fantasies. I just wonder why the Financial Review thinks it should employ him to mislead its readers.
Now again, in the Financial Review:
Andrew Bolt is a case study in this contradiction. He has a habit of supporting free speech for himself but censorship for his opponents. Last week he called for journalists who write about climate change “scaremongers” to be sacked.Let me explain free speech to Latham in a way he might understand. Latham should be legally free to fantasise and even to abuse as meanly as he does. But newspapers should be free to choose not to hire a fantasist or those who recklessly promoted warming scares that have gone bust. Bad for their reputation - and not good for their long-term survival. The right to speak does not come with a right to attention. Latham is free to rant, but I should be free to throw him out of my house.
On his Herald Sun blog, Bolt censors his reader’s comments, falsely blaming the Australian Press Council for this practice.False. I ban comments on topics involving Aboriginal identity on instruction from my lawyers, who are wary about the absurdly and dangerously wide remit of the Racial Discrimination Act. I am also advised not to moderate comments blog myself because of lawfare by activists.
He has even called for this body to be abolished – a loss of freedom for anyone who wants to complain about newspapers.I called for the Press Council to be scrapped not to limit free speech but expand it. People wishing to complain about newspapers are perfectly free to keep complaining.
In the electronic media, Bolt is no less authoritarian. He has banned critics from his TV program.False. Name one, Mark. The opposite is true: my critics have banned my show, refusing repeated invitations to come on.
Last year, after condemning Alan Jones’s “died of shame” slur, the commentator David Penberthy was axed from the Steve Price/Andrew Bolt program on Sydney radio 2GB – censorship that Bolt readily endorsed.False again. Penberthy never appeared on my show - the one hour each weekday I have with Steve Price - and was never going to. Further, I believe in the right of a radio station to choose who to put on air, but have no opinion on whether Penberthy should or should not have been axed from 2GB. I did not endorse it and did not deplore it.
Latham is just making stuff up again. He is entitled to his fantasies. I just wonder why the Financial Review thinks it should employ him to mislead its readers.
===
Sarah Palin
Kudos to Sean Hannity for his hard hitting interview with Anthony Weiner. See video of it below.
Really, liberals, to think you supported this fine gent in Congress all those years with minions in the media propping him up? Hmmmmmm. I hope Weiner continues to be a spokesman for the liberal cause because his position pretty much says it all.
Just as interesting juxtaposition to show what average Americans think of members of Congress like Anthony Weiner and the permanent political class in D.C., I’m pasting below a letter that was posted online in various forums. It was apparently sent by a gentlemen in Washington state to his senators. I don’t know this gentleman and can’t verify the authenticity of the letter, but its words ring true with the sound wisdom of We the People.
Here’s the letter:
April 3, 2013
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Maria Cantwell
Washington, DC, 20510
Dear Senator:
I have tried to live by the rules my entire life. My father was a Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army, who died of combat related stresses shortly after his retirement. It was he who instilled in me those virtues he felt important - honesty, duty, patriotism and obeying the laws of God and of our various governments. I have served my country, paid my taxes, worked hard, volunteered and donated my fair share of money, time and artifacts.
Today, as I approach my 79th birthday, I am heart-broken when I look at my country and my government. I shall only point out a very few things abysmally wrong which you can multiply by a thousand fold. I have calculated that all the money I have paid in income taxes my entire life cannot even keep the Senate barbershop open for one year! Only Heaven and a few tight-lipped actuarial types know what the Senate dining room costs the taxpayers. So please, enjoy your haircuts and meals on us.
Last year, the president spent an estimated $1.4 billion on himself and his family. The vice president spends $ millions on hotels. They have had 8 vacations so far this year! And our House of Representatives and Senate have become America's answer to the Saudi royal family. You have become the "perfumed princes and princesses" of our country.
In the middle of the night, you voted in the Affordable Health Care Act, a.k.a. "Obama Care," a bill which no more than a handful of senators or representatives read more than several paragraphs, crammed it down our throats, and then promptly exempted yourselves from it, substituting your own taxpayer-subsidized golden health care insurance.
Really, liberals, to think you supported this fine gent in Congress all those years with minions in the media propping him up? Hmmmmmm. I hope Weiner continues to be a spokesman for the liberal cause because his position pretty much says it all.
Just as interesting juxtaposition to show what average Americans think of members of Congress like Anthony Weiner and the permanent political class in D.C., I’m pasting below a letter that was posted online in various forums. It was apparently sent by a gentlemen in Washington state to his senators. I don’t know this gentleman and can’t verify the authenticity of the letter, but its words ring true with the sound wisdom of We the People.
Here’s the letter:
April 3, 2013
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Maria Cantwell
Washington, DC, 20510
Dear Senator:
I have tried to live by the rules my entire life. My father was a Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army, who died of combat related stresses shortly after his retirement. It was he who instilled in me those virtues he felt important - honesty, duty, patriotism and obeying the laws of God and of our various governments. I have served my country, paid my taxes, worked hard, volunteered and donated my fair share of money, time and artifacts.
Today, as I approach my 79th birthday, I am heart-broken when I look at my country and my government. I shall only point out a very few things abysmally wrong which you can multiply by a thousand fold. I have calculated that all the money I have paid in income taxes my entire life cannot even keep the Senate barbershop open for one year! Only Heaven and a few tight-lipped actuarial types know what the Senate dining room costs the taxpayers. So please, enjoy your haircuts and meals on us.
Last year, the president spent an estimated $1.4 billion on himself and his family. The vice president spends $ millions on hotels. They have had 8 vacations so far this year! And our House of Representatives and Senate have become America's answer to the Saudi royal family. You have become the "perfumed princes and princesses" of our country.
In the middle of the night, you voted in the Affordable Health Care Act, a.k.a. "Obama Care," a bill which no more than a handful of senators or representatives read more than several paragraphs, crammed it down our throats, and then promptly exempted yourselves from it, substituting your own taxpayer-subsidized golden health care insurance.
You live exceedingly well, eat and drink as well as the "one percenters," consistently vote yourselves perks and pay raises while making 3.5 times the average U.S. individual income, and give up nothing while you (as well as the president and veep) ask us to sacrifice due to sequestration (for which, of course, you plan to blame the Republicans, anyway).
You understand very well the only two rules you need to know - (1) How to get elected, and (2) How to get re-elected. And you do this with the aid of an eagerly willing and partisan press, speeches permeated with a certain economy of truth, and by buying the votes of the greedy, the ill-informed and under-educated citizens (and non-citizens, too, many of whom do vote) who are looking for a handout rather than a job. Your so-called "safety net" has become a hammock for the lazy. And, what is it now, about 49 or 50 million on food stamps - pretty much all Democratic voters - and the program is absolutely rife with fraud with absolutely no congressional oversight?
I would offer that you are not entirely to blame. What changed you is the seductive environment of power in which you have immersed yourselves. It is the nature of both houses of Congress which requires you to subordinate your virtue in order to get anything done until you have achieved a leadership role. To paraphrase President Reagan, it appears that the second oldest profession (politics), bears a remarkably strong resemblance to the oldest.
As the hirsute first Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834 - 1902), English historian and moralist, so aptly and accurately stated, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." I'm only guessing that this applies to the female sex as well. Tell me, is there a more corrupt entity in this country than Congress?
While we middle class people continue to struggle, our government becomes less and less transparent, more and more bureaucratic, and ever so much more dictatorial, using Czars and Secretaries to tell us (just to mention a very few) what kind of light bulbs we must purchase, how much soda or hamburgers we can eat, what cars we can drive, gasoline to use and what health care we must buy. Countless thousands of pages of regulations strangle our businesses costing the consumer more and more every day.
As I face my final year, or so, with cancer, my president and my government tell me "You'll just have to take a pill," while you, Senator, your colleagues, the president, and other exulted government officials and their families will get the best possible health care on our tax dollars until you are called home by your Creator, while also enjoying a retirement beyond my wildest dreams, which of course, you voted for yourselves and we pay for.
The chances of you reading this letter are practically zero as your staff will not pass it on, but with a little luck, a form letter response might be generated by them with an auto signature applied, hoping we will believe that you, our senator or representative, has heard us and actually cares. This letter will, however, go online where many others will have the chance to read one person's opinion, rightly or wrongly, about this government, its administration and its senators and representatives.
You understand very well the only two rules you need to know - (1) How to get elected, and (2) How to get re-elected. And you do this with the aid of an eagerly willing and partisan press, speeches permeated with a certain economy of truth, and by buying the votes of the greedy, the ill-informed and under-educated citizens (and non-citizens, too, many of whom do vote) who are looking for a handout rather than a job. Your so-called "safety net" has become a hammock for the lazy. And, what is it now, about 49 or 50 million on food stamps - pretty much all Democratic voters - and the program is absolutely rife with fraud with absolutely no congressional oversight?
I would offer that you are not entirely to blame. What changed you is the seductive environment of power in which you have immersed yourselves. It is the nature of both houses of Congress which requires you to subordinate your virtue in order to get anything done until you have achieved a leadership role. To paraphrase President Reagan, it appears that the second oldest profession (politics), bears a remarkably strong resemblance to the oldest.
As the hirsute first Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834 - 1902), English historian and moralist, so aptly and accurately stated, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." I'm only guessing that this applies to the female sex as well. Tell me, is there a more corrupt entity in this country than Congress?
While we middle class people continue to struggle, our government becomes less and less transparent, more and more bureaucratic, and ever so much more dictatorial, using Czars and Secretaries to tell us (just to mention a very few) what kind of light bulbs we must purchase, how much soda or hamburgers we can eat, what cars we can drive, gasoline to use and what health care we must buy. Countless thousands of pages of regulations strangle our businesses costing the consumer more and more every day.
As I face my final year, or so, with cancer, my president and my government tell me "You'll just have to take a pill," while you, Senator, your colleagues, the president, and other exulted government officials and their families will get the best possible health care on our tax dollars until you are called home by your Creator, while also enjoying a retirement beyond my wildest dreams, which of course, you voted for yourselves and we pay for.
The chances of you reading this letter are practically zero as your staff will not pass it on, but with a little luck, a form letter response might be generated by them with an auto signature applied, hoping we will believe that you, our senator or representative, has heard us and actually cares. This letter will, however, go online where many others will have the chance to read one person's opinion, rightly or wrongly, about this government, its administration and its senators and representatives.
I only hope that occasionally you might quietly thank the taxpayer for all the generous entitlements which you have voted yourselves, for which, by law, we must pay, unless, of course, it just goes on the $17 trillion national debt for which your children and ours, and your grandchildren and ours, ad infinitum, must eventually try to pick up the tab.
My final thoughts are that it must take a person who has either lost his or her soul, or conscience, or both, to seek re-election and continue to destroy this country I deeply love and put it so far in debt that we will never pay it off, while your lot improves by the minute, because of your power. For you, Senator, will never stand up to the rascals in your House who constantly deceive the American people. And that, my dear Senator, is how power has corrupted you and the entire Congress. The only answer to clean up this cesspool is term limits. This, of course, will kill the goose that lays your golden eggs. And woe be to him (or her) who would dare to bring it up.
Sincerely,
Bill Schoonover
Here’s the video of Hannity’s interview with Anthony Weiner:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/
My final thoughts are that it must take a person who has either lost his or her soul, or conscience, or both, to seek re-election and continue to destroy this country I deeply love and put it so far in debt that we will never pay it off, while your lot improves by the minute, because of your power. For you, Senator, will never stand up to the rascals in your House who constantly deceive the American people. And that, my dear Senator, is how power has corrupted you and the entire Congress. The only answer to clean up this cesspool is term limits. This, of course, will kill the goose that lays your golden eggs. And woe be to him (or her) who would dare to bring it up.
Sincerely,
Bill Schoonover
Here’s the video of Hannity’s interview with Anthony Weiner:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/
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This story is almost too awful to believe -- and it's taken a turn for the worse. First teenager Justin Carter was jailed for making a bad joke on Facebook. And now he's on SUICIDE WATCH.
Let's try to make things better, and be sure that Justin knows that thousands of us stand with him.
According to his dad, while Justin was playing a video game "[S]omeone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane, you're crazy, you're messed up in the head. To which [Justin] replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were 'lol and jk' [all sic]."
Even though it was a clear joke -- underscored by the shorthand for "laugh out loud" and "just kidding" -- a woman who saw the post reported Justin to the police. Now he's in jail for making "terroristic threats" and faces $500,000 for bail and up to 8 years in prison!
And this weekend his dad told CNN: "He's very depressed, very scared, and ... concerned that he's not going to get out.... He's pretty much lost all hope."Please sign our petition to Justin -- we'll deliver it to his family, and also to the people who are persecuting him.
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If you needed another reason to oppose government run health care here’s one to make your blood boil.
from Forbes:
The federal government wants to reduce the number of Americans diagnosed each year with cancer. But not by better preventive care or healthier living. Instead, the government wants to redefinethe term “cancer” so that fewer conditions qualify as a true cancer. What does this mean for ordinary Americans — and should we be concerned?
On July 29, 2013, a working group for the National Cancer Institute (the main government agency for cancer research) published a paper proposing that the term “cancer” be reserved for lesions with a reasonable likelihood of killing the patient if left untreated. Slower growing tumors would be called a different name such as “indolent lesions of epithelial origin” (IDLE). Their justification was that modern medical technology now allows doctors to detect small, slow-growing tumors that likely wouldn’t be fatal. Yet once patients are told they have a cancer, many become frightened and seek unnecessary further tests, chemotherapy, radiation, and/or surgery. By redefining the term “cancer,” the National Cancer Institute hopes to reduce patient anxiety and reduce the risks and expenses associated with supposedly unnecessary medical procedures. In technical terms, the government hopes to reduce “overdiagnosis” and “overtreatment” of cancer.
And why would the Obama administration want to re-define cancer? Because starting tomorrow, Obamacare will begin subsidizing millions of Americans’ health insurance, and cancer tests and treatments are expensive.
This is nothing more than a back-door, roundabout form of rationing. It has nothing to do with improving health care or saving lives and everything to do with bureaucrats picking and choosing who gets what tests and treatments.
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. Love the cynical putdown at the end.>===
Irishman Mark Boyle tried to live life with no income, no bank balance and no spending. Here’s how he finds it.
If someone told me seven years ago, in my final year of a business and economics degree, that I’d now be living without money, I’d have probably choked on my microwaved ready meal. The plan back then was to get a ‘good’ job, make as much money as possible, and buy the stuff that would show society I was successful.
For a while I did it – I had a fantastic job managing a big organic food company; had myself a yacht on the harbour. If it hadn’t been for the chance purchase of a video called Gandhi, I’d still be doing it today. Instead, for the last fifteen months, I haven’t spent or received a single penny. Zilch.
The change in life path came one evening on the yacht whilst philosophising with a friend over a glass of merlot. Whilst I had been significantly influenced by the Mahatma’s quote “be the change you want to see in the world”, I had no idea what that change was up until then. We began talking about all major issues in the world – environmental destruction, resource wars, factory farms, sweatshop labour – and wondering which of these we would be best devoting our time to. Not that we felt we could make any difference, being two small drops in a highly polluted ocean.
But that evening I had a realisation. These issues weren’t as unrelated as I had previously thought – they had a common root cause. I believe the fact that we no longer see the direct repercussions our purchases have on the people, environment and animals they affect is the factor that unites these problems.
It is nice that he is happy, but he is a selfish prick. The good things he enjoys is only possible because others have worked for him to show off his alternative lifestyle. If disaster happened and he couldn't feed himself he won't starve, because there are enough supporters for him to bail him out .. which isn't true if everyone did it. If everyone did it, there would be no caravan, not cookery items, nothing to barter for .. utterly selfish and entirely to salve his angst about society without contributing to it. - ed
<I would believe it more if he started from absolutely nothing. Its like scavenging after a zombie apocalypse.>
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IT'S NOT a month since the election, but there's already an epidemic of Abbott Derangement Syndrome.
The symptoms: an unshakable belief Tony Abbott is evil or a buffoon, even if your lying eyes tell you different.
Oh, and he's an expenses-rorting crook.
The most bizarre example of ADS occurred on the Sydney Morning Herald's website only today.
Under the headline "Vladimir Putin gives late Tony Abbott cold shoulder at APEC", theHerald suggested "a new iron curtain dropped between Russia and Australia" when the Prime Minister turned up late to the opening of the APEC meeting in Bali.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, seated next to Abbott, had been "frosty".
Yet directly under the headline was a video showing Putin and Abbott bantering and laughing.
It is now a sacred myth in Labor that no Prime Minister ever suffered more abuse and media misrepresentation than St Julia Gillard.
"Gillard has faced serial abuse as a woman on a scale I believe is unprecedented in modern politics," complained John McTernan, her communications director. But no one does hatred like the Left.
The same happened with Mr howard. Little Johnny .. Johnny say sorry .. and the bad rhetoric claimed scalps .. because Mr Howard had to demonstrate he was listening .. the current round of hypocrisy over expenses could claim scalps too .. over nothing .. hopefully sanity will prevail .. which is a more substantial hope under Howard than Gillard or Rudd. - ed===
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- Israel is the only country that ever revived an unspoken language and established it as its national tongue.
- You may know that the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. But did you know that is that it is 850 feet lower than the next lowest place, which is Lake Assal, in Djibouti, Africa? That’s about 2.5 times as long as a typical American football stadium!
- With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel boasts the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world, outside of Silicon Valley.
(More at the link)
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A charismatic drunk? Sometimes the detail lets down the message. But the nature of man is fallen. Redemption is possible for anyone. Allen died a drunk, but the glory of Him he served goes on. - ed
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Daniel Bogo
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Chemistry jokes. All the good ones argon.
(Subm. by Paris Reilley)
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One week after the attack on Kaman Muslims in southern Arakan State that left 6 people dead and hundreds homeless, President Thein Sein has made no effort to curb anti-Muslim sentiment.
The government and military have too much to gain from the coordinated "unrest," which can be used to justify dictatorial power and to give the military opportunity to reassert its draconian arm. Anti-Muslim sentiment has thus been freely allowed to spread throughout the country like an epidemic while Thein Sein points a weak & purposeless finger at "outsiders" plotting violence with impunity.
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Entries in a dog's journal:
8:00 am - OH BOY! MUM! MY FAVOURITE!
8:10AM – OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE
9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE!
9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVOURITE!
10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVOURITE!
11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE!
12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE!
1:00 PM - OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVOURITE!
1:30 PM - ooooooo. bath. bummer.
4:00 PM - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVOURITE!
5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVOURITE!
5:30 PM - OH BOY! DAD! MY FAVOURITE!
Entries in a cat's journal:
DAY 752 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture. Tomorrow I may eat another house plant.
DAY 761 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair...must try this on their bed.
DAY 765 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was...Hmmm. Not working according to plan.
DAY 768 - I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time, however, it included a burning foamy chemical called "shampoo." What sick minds could invent such a liquid? My only consolation is the piece of thumb still stuck between my teeth.
DAY 771 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise. More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.
DAY 774 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time......
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Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Marine combat veteran, said there's an easy solution. But will the government listen?
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‘My country first’: James Woods doesn’t ‘expect to work again’ after brutally honest criticism of Obama ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/
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To follow the rules of Trough, and not break the law, you need to be a member of the ALP, or own one. - ed
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Since 1949, elite Mossad commandos hunt down the enemies of Israel. In 1960, the Israeli secret services differ significantly by removing the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. He was exfiltré Israel to be tried and sentenced to death. In 1972, under the leadership of Prime Minister Golda Meir, Mossad found and executed members of the Black September terrorist group, responsible for the death of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. In 1988, Abu Jihad, right arm of Yasser Arafat, head of the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine, is deleted in Tunis in his house. Former employees and relatives of victims back on these events and give their testimony.
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So far Jews have made up 75% of the Noble Prize winners this year.
Now if only the Muslims could harness the same among themselves just imagine the benefits.
Islamist Jihad dogma is the real enemy of Muslims and is their biggest threat.>
2013 NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY has been awarded today to 3 Jewish scientists: Michael Levitt (Great Britain) , Martin Karplus (Austria) and Arieh Warshel (Israel).
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From Australiana .. definitely likes a cockatoo .. - ed
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(Reuters) - Russian investigators said on Wednesday they had found drugs aboard a Greenpeace ship used in a protest against offshore Arctic drilling and would press new charges against some of the 30 people being held for alleged piracy.
Greenpeace Russia mocked the accusation. "The Investigative Committee 'found' narcotics. We are waiting for it to find an atomic bomb and a striped elephant," it said on Twitter. "This is possible in Russia these days and can hardly surprise anybody."
In addition to drugs, the Investigative Committee said searches of the Arctic Sunrise, which was boarded by Russian coast guards after the September 18 protest at the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, had revealed equipment with potential military uses.
It also said investigators were trying to establish which of those being held were responsible for what it called attempts to ram coast guard boats, endangering the lives of their crew.
"In view of the data obtained while investigating the criminal case, charges ... are expected to be adjusted," the committee said. It said that "a number of detainees will be presented with charges of committing other grave crimes."
Russia arrested the 28 activists and two freelance journalists who were aboard the Dutch-registered Greenpeace vessel during the protest and has charged all of them with piracy, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The Investigative Committee said morphine and poppy straw, a ingredient for heroin and opiates, were found on the ship.
Greenpeace lawyer Alexander Mukhortov said that the vessel's American captain legally kept morphine in his safe for medical purposes and that the equipment cited by investigators was a sonar widely used for maritime expeditions.
CHARGES
The environmentalist group says the piracy charges are absurd and unfounded and that the conditions of detention for the detainees, who come for 18 countries, have in some cases violated their civil rights.
Kumi Naidoo, the head of Greenpeace, offered in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to move to Russia and stand as security
for the release on bail of the detainees.
for the release on bail of the detainees.
A Murmansk court refused to bail four Russians among those under arrest and appeals hearings against pre-trial detention of the 26 other detainees are due this week and next.
Putin has said the activists were clearly not pirates but that their protest did violate the law.
The group's lawyers say the charges might have been initially brought to justify forcibly boarding and seizing control of the ship and towing it to Murmansk.
The case has already upset Moscow's international ties, with the Netherlands launching legal proceedings against Russia, saying it had unlawfully detained the activists and others on the Dutch-registered icebreaker Arctic Sunrise.
Drugs are bad too .. like piracy .. ed
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Aprille Love
Outtakes from interviewing @rudimentaluk @locksmithrudimental #throwback #thursday #tbt#presenting #bestinterview #rudimentaluk#failingatnurseryrhymes hehe
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ORANGE CANDLE! So clever!
Just take an orange/lemon/grapefruit, cut in half, eat the middle portion, leave the center core-like stem intact. Pour a kitchen oil (veg oil,olive oil, etc) into orange just below the top of the stem. Light stem. It will burn for hours and smell amazing.
PLEASE SHARE To SAVE, be sure to click SHARE so it will store on your personal page (for more great ideas please join
Getting Healthy with Louise
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4 her
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Mo Gelber
happiness is just around the corner
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There are over 10,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs) that have been identified so far
— asteroids and comets of varying sizes that approach the Earth’s orbital distance to within about 28 million miles. Of the 10,000 discoveries, roughly 10 percent are larger than six-tenths of a mile in size — large enough to have disastrous global consequences should one impact the Earth.
— asteroids and comets of varying sizes that approach the Earth’s orbital distance to within about 28 million miles. Of the 10,000 discoveries, roughly 10 percent are larger than six-tenths of a mile in size — large enough to have disastrous global consequences should one impact the Earth.
This is one of them.
First discovered in February 1950, 1950 DA is a 1.1-kilometer-wide asteroid that was observed for 17 days and then disappeared from view. Then it was spotted again on Dec. 31, 2000 — literally on the eve of the 21st century. Coupled with radar observations made a few weeks later in March 2001 it was found that, along with a rather high rotation rate (2.1 hours), asteroid 1950 DA has a trajectory that will bring it very close to Earth on March 16, 2880. How close? Close enough that, within a specific 20-minute window, a collision can not be entirely ruled out.
The image above was made from radar observations by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in March 2001, when 1950 DA passed within 4.8 million miles of Earth. Is this the mug shot of a future continent-killer?
Radar analysis and research of 1950 DA performed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists J.D. Giorgini, S. J. Ostro, Don Yeomans and several others from JPL and other institutions revealed that the impact probability from 1950 DA in March 2880 is, at most, 1 in 300 based on what is known about the asteroid so far.
1 in 300 may sound like a slim chance, but actually this represents a risk 50% greater than that of the average hazard due to all other asteroids from now to then.
Let Obama nuke it .. work out his aggression .. ed
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LOS ANGELES – What’s the difference between Hollywood’s fall movie selection and what the adult industry has to offer? Maybe not so much.
Critics are dubbing the current Tinseltown movie season as perhaps the “porniest ever” given the amount of sexually-charged movies coming out, touching on everything from statutory rape and sex addiction, to incest and even a little bit of necrophilia thrown in there for good measure.
given the amount of sexually-charged movies coming out, touching on everything from statutory rape and sex addiction, to incest and even a little bit of necrophilia thrown in there for good measure.
“Too many current movies for this fall are tinged, or rather stained, by too many studios releasing meaningless, empty stories that seem to be more porn-like than film-like. Making movies that glorify porn addicts, child molesters, necrophiliacs who kill in order to have sex later only contributes to the decay of the moral compass of society,” filmmaker and media educator Nicole Clark told FOX411. “Too many people in our society have become desensitized.”
Some of the films make this year’s controversial “Spring Breakers” appear tame. So where to even start?
Daniel Radcliffe has shed his “Harry Potter” persona for the upcoming “Kill Your Darlings” with an exploration of homosexuality, masturbation and picking up older men in bar, and“Blue is the Warmest Color” continues to stir controversy in the U.S. as it is released in more and more film festivals. The French lesbian movie, which won the Cannes Film Festival, is being hailed for its artistic elements and passionate love story, but has been slapped with a NC-17 rating and includes a very graphic, lengthy sex scene. Technically in America, the relationship would be considered statutory rape.
But according to human behavior expert Patrick Wanis, sexually explicit content is everywhere – and it is simply a logical progression that the business of Hollywood would cash in by taking the cultural movement to the next level.
Only now? Anyone heard of Herod the Great? It ain't only movies or fiction - ed
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A 4,000-year-old human brain, preserved by a combination of mineral-rich soil, fire and something known as "corpse wax," has been found in Turkey.
The brain looks more like a piece of burned log, notes New Scientist, but it could unlock clues to the prehistoric mind. Found in the Bronze Age settlement of Seyitömer Höyük, western Turkey, the tissue was amid four skeletons dug up there between 2006 and 2011. Scientists from Haliç University, in Istanbul, who have been analyzing the brain, say special circumstances led to its preservation. The skeletons were found burned in a layer of sediment that also contained charred wood. It appears that an earthquake struck the region, flattened the settlement and buried the people before fire spread through the rubble, according to investigators.
, but it could unlock clues to the prehistoric mind. Found in the Bronze Age settlement of Seyitömer Höyük, western Turkey, the tissue was amid four skeletons dug up there between 2006 and 2011. Scientists from Haliç University, in Istanbul, who have been analyzing the brain, say special circumstances led to its preservation. The skeletons were found burned in a layer of sediment that also contained charred wood. It appears that an earthquake struck the region, flattened the settlement and buried the people before fire spread through the rubble, according to investigators.
"The level of preservation in combination with the age is remarkable," says Frank Rühli at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, who has examined medieval brain tissue. Rühli says that most archaeologists don't bother looking for the remains of brain tissue because they assume it is seldom preserved.
at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, who has examined medieval brain tissue. Rühli says that most archaeologists don't bother looking for the remains of brain tissue because they assume it is seldom preserved.
The flames likely consumed all the oxygen in the rubble and literally boiled the brains in their own fluids. With no moisture and no oxygen, the brains, though boiled and burned, were remarkably preserved for millennia. One other factor helped preserve the shape of the boiled soft tissue: The local soil is rich in potassium, magnesium and aluminum, which reacted with fatty acids from the human tissue to form a substance called adipocere, known to coroners as corpse wax.
It's not the first brain to survive thousands of years, but it may be the oldest. Two years ago, scientists found a 2,600-year-old brain in a bog, where oxygen-depleted water stopped it from breaking down. Another brain that outlived its host by a long, long time was that of an Inca child sacrificed 500 years ago. In that case, freezing temperatures atop an Andean mountain preserved the brain.
. Another brain that outlived its host by a long, long time was that of an Inca child sacrificed 500 years ago. In that case, freezing temperatures atop an Andean mountain preserved the brain.How thoughtful - ed
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IF found guilty, Chadi Jomaa should be considered the world's stupidest arsonist.
Police will allege in court that a man caught on CCTV skulking around the front of a Wentworthville shop moments before it spectacularly exploded on Tuesday morning was the shop's owner, Mr Jomaa, a person eight people risked their lives to save.
The 36-year-old, who broke both his legs, injured his pelvis and neck, and received burns to his face in the explosion, was refused bail at a bedside hearing at Royal North Shore Hospital yesterday.
The Pendle Hill man is accused of causing the explosion that devastated his Jomaa Market shop and a flat above - the blast blowing the resident out of the building and onto the footpath.
Police will allege Mr Jomaa bought 10 litres of petrol in a red plastic jerry can from the BP Service Station across the road from his shop at 4.10pm on Monday.
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BRITISH police will issue a computer-generated image of a new suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
Sky News reports the was man seen near the Portuguese holiday apartment from where the then three-year-old British girl vanished in 2007.
As part of an appeal for fresh information, police are expected next week to release the picture and give details of the suspect's movements around the resort of Praia da Luz.
Scotland Yard would neither confirm nor deny the claims.
Police said in a statement that they wouldn't discuss the content on an upcoming appeal.
They said the appeal had been weeks in the planning.
"We will be asking for help from the public in a number of countries, delivered through a series of public appeals," the statement said.
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NATURE is a cruel storyteller. All too often, the cutest animals are the tastiest - and the easiest prey for predators. That spritely springbok, gambolling over an African savanna? That's a leopard's lunch. That turtle hatchling, struggling down to the shoreline? A seagull's snack.
But every so often, nature throws away its own cruel script, for something you could otherwise imagine being dreamt up around a Disney Corp roundtable.
It happened recently in South Africa.
Irish photographer David Jenkins was on board a shark-spotting boat tour off the coast of Cape Town when he spotted a young seal making a miraculous escape from the jaws of a Great White shark.
The seal was lifted out of the water by the attacking shark but landed on the predator's nose, before swimming off to safety.
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Just a couple of our little babies .... 3.00ct Marquise Cut Diamond & 4.23ct Princess Cut Diamond #diamonds #diamond#princesscutdiamond #marquisecutdiamond#diamondimports http://
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War usually conjures up images of bloodshed, violence and death.
Rarely do we see the softer side of the life on the front line - and these stirring images give a glimpse of soldiers chatting with children, cleaning their weapons and caring for their animals.
The remarkable pictures in the annual Army Photographic Competition show Britain's soldiers at work and play.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2450971/Jamie-Peters-Armys-Combat-Camera-Team-photographer-captures-unseen-world.html#ixzz2hIh5jMS1
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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Azerbaijan's big presidential election, held on Wednesday, was anticipated to be neither free nor fair. President Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father 10 years ago, has stepped up intimidation of activists and journalists. Rights groups are complaining about free speech restrictions and one-sided state media coverage. The BBC's headline for its story on the election reads "The Pre-Determined President." So expectations were pretty low.
Even still, one expects a certain ritual in these sorts of authoritarian elections, a fealty to at least the appearance of democracy, if not democracy itself. So it was a bit awkward when Azerbaijan's election authorities released vote results – a full daybefore voting had even started.
The vote counts – spoiler alert: Aliyev was shown as winning by a landslide – were pushed out on an official smartphone app run by the Central Election Commission. It showed Aliyev as "winning" with 72.76 percent of the vote. That's on track with his official vote counts in previous elections: he won ("won"?) 76.84 percent of the vote in 2003 and 87 percent in 2008.
<The awkward moment election results are made available - a day before voting starts.>
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If you get into an argument about press regulation this week, as the Privy Council unilaterally decides on the fate of the British press, I guarantee you this: it will be the Lefties among your acquaintances who will most vociferously champion state intrusion into the press, while the voices criticising such intrusion are far more likely to come from your Right-leaning mates.
It’s been like this since the Leveson Inquiry was first set up in 2011. The Left not only cheered this modern-day Star Chamber stuffed with the great and the good dictating to the press what its “culture and ethics” should be; they actually worked for it and on it. In his role as Hacked Off’s chief propagandist, Brian Cathcart, former New Statesman man,pretty much ghost-wrote Leveson’s 2,000-page screed against the wicked press. Lib Dem MP turned roving campaigner for censorship Evan Harris is another Leftie begging the state to rap the red-tops’ knuckles. Shami Chakrabarti, heroine of every Leftie with a conscience, actually sat on Leveson’s press-judging panel. The Guardian is, like a turkey marching for more Christmases, in favour of state meddling in the press. Radical Leftists, meanwhile, clog up Twitter with shrill demands that evil Uncle Rupert and his foul newspapers be taken down a peg or two by state officials.
Why are Leftists so spectacularly hostile to the principle of press freedom, which, very simply put, means having no state interference in the press? It wasn’t always like this. The radical folk that the modern Left claims to be descended from – from the Levellers to Karl Marx to the intellectual Leftists of the 20th century – were so in favour of press freedom that they were willing to sacrifice their lives for it.
The Levellers, the most radical political movement of the English Civil War, who demanded greater suffrage and religious tolerance, were implacably opposed to state licensing of the press. Only full press freedom would allow ordinary people to exercise their sovereign power against “Tyrannie”, these brilliant rabble-rousers declared. They argued that liberty of the press is “so essential unto freedom, as that without it, it’s impossible to preserve any nation from being liable to the worst of bondage”. Those words should ring in the ears of every Leftist currently giving an enthusiastic nod to the medieval Privy Council’s deliberations on the press’s freedoms.
Later, Thomas Paine, my personal hero, the corset-maker turned revolutionary pamphleteer who did so much to stir up the tradition-trampling revolutions in both America and France in the late 18th century, also argued for complete press freedom. He said state interference in the press was always more a “sentence on the public [than] the author”, because it effectively tells the public “they shall not think, they shall not read”. It’s the same today, where snooty officials’ desire to rein in red-top papers in particular is really about preventing the readers of those papers from seeing saucy or offensive things – Page 3 girls, anti-immigrant stories, so-called “Islamophobia” – and potentially acting on them. Paine knew very well how tyrannical state meddling in the freedom to press one’s ideas could be: in the 1790s an English court sentenced him to death in absentia for the “crime” of writing Rights of Man.
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Rukia_
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
PRAY ALONG.
Abba Father,I thank You for giving me power, love and a sound mind. I open my heart to You and receive Your perfect love. Fill me with Your confidence and assurance to embrace everything You have for me. I come into agreement with You. I choose to align my words, my thoughts and my actions with Your Word which is a lamp to my feet and light to my path. I will hide Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Abba Father,I thank You for giving me power, love and a sound mind. I open my heart to You and receive Your perfect love. Fill me with Your confidence and assurance to embrace everything You have for me. I come into agreement with You. I choose to align my words, my thoughts and my actions with Your Word which is a lamp to my feet and light to my path. I will hide Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 18:19, NIV)
The Scripture talks about how when any two of us agree, it shall be done. That’s a promise that when we stand in faith with another believer, God will do what He said. Well, I believe that principle is true even in the negative. When the enemy puts a thought in your mind, if you agree, then your agreement is what gives it the power to come to pass. But if you don’t agree, you turn it around.
The thought says, “Your children are going to get into trouble.” “No, I don’t agree. My children will be mighty in the land. My children will fulfill their destiny.” You’ve just stopped that fear from coming to pass. The thought says, “You’d better not go out today. You’re going to have an accident.” “No, I don’t agree. God has a hedge of protection around me; a bloodline that the enemy cannot cross.”
Here’s the key: don’t come into agreement with the fear. If you don’t agree, the only way it can come to pass is if God gives it permission. Today, pay attention to what you’re coming into agreement with and don’t agree with fear.God bless you.
(Matthew 18:19, NIV)
The Scripture talks about how when any two of us agree, it shall be done. That’s a promise that when we stand in faith with another believer, God will do what He said. Well, I believe that principle is true even in the negative. When the enemy puts a thought in your mind, if you agree, then your agreement is what gives it the power to come to pass. But if you don’t agree, you turn it around.
The thought says, “Your children are going to get into trouble.” “No, I don’t agree. My children will be mighty in the land. My children will fulfill their destiny.” You’ve just stopped that fear from coming to pass. The thought says, “You’d better not go out today. You’re going to have an accident.” “No, I don’t agree. God has a hedge of protection around me; a bloodline that the enemy cannot cross.”
Here’s the key: don’t come into agreement with the fear. If you don’t agree, the only way it can come to pass is if God gives it permission. Today, pay attention to what you’re coming into agreement with and don’t agree with fear.God bless you.
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Father, I choose to honor You in all that I do.I thank You for Your Word which fills my heart with faith. I believe that You are good and You are a rewarder of those who seek after You.I acknowledge You and thank You for revealing Yourself to me. I choose to set the standard and do my very best. Thank You for the privilege to be Your representative. I love You and bless You in Jesus’ name! Amen.
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FORGIVENESS.
Forgiveness is a word we both love and hate. It's a tremendous grace as it regards what God does with our confessed sins. When God forgives our sins it's like He presses the delete button on His Heavenly computer. And when He forgives us He doesn't send our sins to a temporary recycle bin just in case He needs to remind us of them. They're totally removed from the hard drive. That's what we love about the word forgiveness.It is more powerful than revenge.
But there's a facet of forgiveness that's more difficult for us to deal with. And that facet arises when God asks us to forgive those that trespass against us.The reason we struggle so much with forgiving others is because it runs contrary to our human nature. When someone offends us there's a natural tendency to resent it and often retaliate.Shakespeare said "to err is human but to forgive is divine.
But there's a communicable side to God that we can share. God is love and we can allow this virtue to flow through us. He is merciful, longsuffering, and kind and He wants us to exhibit these qualities. And then God is forgiving and He certainly wants us to emulate that.There are reasons God commanded us to extend forgiveness. Believe it or not, God isn't trying to persecute us; He's trying to bless us.Jesus said: "if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Think over it.God bless you.
Forgiveness is a word we both love and hate. It's a tremendous grace as it regards what God does with our confessed sins. When God forgives our sins it's like He presses the delete button on His Heavenly computer. And when He forgives us He doesn't send our sins to a temporary recycle bin just in case He needs to remind us of them. They're totally removed from the hard drive. That's what we love about the word forgiveness.It is more powerful than revenge.
But there's a facet of forgiveness that's more difficult for us to deal with. And that facet arises when God asks us to forgive those that trespass against us.The reason we struggle so much with forgiving others is because it runs contrary to our human nature. When someone offends us there's a natural tendency to resent it and often retaliate.Shakespeare said "to err is human but to forgive is divine.
But there's a communicable side to God that we can share. God is love and we can allow this virtue to flow through us. He is merciful, longsuffering, and kind and He wants us to exhibit these qualities. And then God is forgiving and He certainly wants us to emulate that.There are reasons God commanded us to extend forgiveness. Believe it or not, God isn't trying to persecute us; He's trying to bless us.Jesus said: "if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." Think over it.God bless you.
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My life is in shambles.
My family has gone to the dogs.
I can’t see how I’m going to pass that final.
I don’t know about my future.
WILL THEY EVER BE A VICTORY FOR ME?
The answer is YES.Why? BECAUSE OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD. SAY THAT WITH ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT. He is CREATOR and SUSTAINOR.You are blessed.
My family has gone to the dogs.
I can’t see how I’m going to pass that final.
I don’t know about my future.
WILL THEY EVER BE A VICTORY FOR ME?
The answer is YES.Why? BECAUSE OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD. SAY THAT WITH ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT. He is CREATOR and SUSTAINOR.You are blessed.
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The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?(Psalm 27:1, NKJV)
With God on your side, there is nothing to be afraid of. Our attitude should always be, “The Lord protects me from danger. Why should I be afraid? Though an army surrounds me, though they attack me from every side, I may feel trapped. I don’t see a way out. Medical report doesn’t look good. My bank statement tells me I’m not going to make it. But that’s okay, God is still on the throne. Nothing I’m facing is a surprise to Him.”
Remember, the enemy doesn’t have the final say; God has the final say. And when you put your faith and trust in Him, He says, “I will always cause you to triumph.” Be strong and be of good courage. Keep God first place in your life and move forward in confidence knowing that He is working things out for your good.God bless you.
With God on your side, there is nothing to be afraid of. Our attitude should always be, “The Lord protects me from danger. Why should I be afraid? Though an army surrounds me, though they attack me from every side, I may feel trapped. I don’t see a way out. Medical report doesn’t look good. My bank statement tells me I’m not going to make it. But that’s okay, God is still on the throne. Nothing I’m facing is a surprise to Him.”
Remember, the enemy doesn’t have the final say; God has the final say. And when you put your faith and trust in Him, He says, “I will always cause you to triumph.” Be strong and be of good courage. Keep God first place in your life and move forward in confidence knowing that He is working things out for your good.God bless you.
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Pastor Rick Warren
You can watch my LIVE morning Bible Studies at the#Exponential Conference both Wednesday and Thursday at 7:25 am (Pacific Standard Time) via this FREE webcast:http://bit.ly/Westwebcast
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Even though over 27,000 people have been baptized at Saddleback the past 10 years, I'm still deeply moved by EVERY single changed life. I laugh with some, and cry with others.
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"Stupid people spend their money as fast as they get it." Proverbs 21:20 (TEV)
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United with Israel is proud to introduce 'Gateway to Zion' - a very unique, Jewish heritage tour of Israel, designed for people of all faiths. We welcome our non-Jewish friends to join for an authentic "Jewish experience", visiting the beautiful, biblical Land of Israel. Led by an Orthodox Rabbi, biblical Israel will come to life, as the meaning behind Jewish beliefs and practice will be fully explained. The tour takes place March 17-27, 2014. Gateway to Zion is a journey to discover the roots of the Jewish faith in the place where it all began - the Holy Land of Israel. CLICK BELOW TO DISCOVER MORE www.gatewaytozion.com Walk in the footsteps of our ancestors and experience the wonders and miracles of the Land of Israel, as the Jewish People have done for 4000 years. This trip will be a life-changing journey, as biblical prophesy unfolds before your very eyes. You'll be truly inspired as you witness God's chosen people survive and thrive in its ancient, eternal homeland! Click here to visit the website --> www.gatewaytozion.com The tour includes: - Round-trip airfare and luxury accommodations - Fabulous sightseeing itinerary of biblical and modern sites - Private meetings with Israeli soldiers & commanders - Solidarity visits with victims of terror - Home hospitality with Israeli families - Debriefings with Knesset members and government officials - Learning to read the Bible in the original Hebrew - A traditional Jewish Shabbat in the Old City of Jerusalem You can save $500 if you reserve your spot by November 1st. Start packing your bags for the most exciting and inspiring trip of your entire life! JUST CLICK BELOW TO LEARN HOW TO JOIN www.gatewaytozion.com With Blessings from Israel, The 'Gateway to Zion' family Download brochure --> http://gatewaytozion.com/Gateway_to_Zion_Brochure.pdf Phone: +1-646-213-4003 Email: tour@gatewaytozion.com Website: www.gatewaytozion.com
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- 680 – Hussein ibn Ali, grandson ofMuhammad, was killed in the Battle of Karbala by the forces of Yazid I, whom Hussein had refused to recognise as caliph.
- 1846 – English astronomer William Lasselldiscovered Triton, the largest moon of the planet Neptune.
- 1933 – In the first proven act of air sabotage in the history ofcommercial aviation, a United Airlines Boeing 247 exploded in mid-air near Chesterton, Indiana, US, killing all seven people aboard.
- 1943 – World War II: The Kempeitai, the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured over 50 civilians and civilian internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on Singapore Harbour during Operation Jaywick.
- 1973 – United States Vice President Spiro Agnew (pictured)resigned after being charged with tax evasion.
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Events[edit]
- 19 AD – Roman general Germanicus suddenly dies in Antioch under mysterious circumstances. Roman historian Tactius records that Germanicus was poisoned by Syrian Governor Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso under orders from Roman emperor Tiberius.
- 680 – Battle of Karbala: Hussain bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Muslims as Aashurah.
- 732 – Battle of Tours: Near Poitiers, France, the leader of the Franks, Charles Martel and his men, defeat a large army of Moors, stopping the Muslims from spreading into Western Europe. The governor of Cordoba,Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, is killed during the battle.
- 1471 – Battle of Brunkeberg in Stockholm: Sten Sture the Elder, the Regent of Sweden, with the help offarmers and miners, repels an attack by Christian I, King of Denmark.
- 1575 – Battle of Dormans: Roman Catholic forces under Duke Henry of Guise defeat the Protestants, capturing Philippe de Mornay among others.
- 1580 – After a three-day siege, the English Army beheads over 600 Papal soldiers and civilians at Dún an Óir,Ireland.
- 1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy,Poland, Portugal and Spain.
- 1631 – An Electorate of Saxony army takes over Prague.
- 1760 – In a treaty with the Dutch colonial authorities, the Ndyuka people of Suriname - descended from escaped slaves - gain territorial autonomy.
- 1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000–30,000 in the Caribbean.
- 1845 – In Annapolis, Maryland, the Naval School (later renamed the United States Naval Academy) opens with 50 midshipman students and seven professors.
- 1846 – Triton, the largest moon of the planet Neptune, is discovered by English astronomer William Lassell.
- 1860 – The original cornerstone of the University of the South is laid in Sewanee, Tennessee.
- 1868 – Carlos Céspedes issues the Grito de Yara from his plantation, La Demajagua, proclaiming Cuba's independence
- 1871 – The Great Chicago Fire: Chicago burns after a barn accident. The fire lasts from October 8 to October 10.
- 1911 – The Wuchang Uprising leads to the demise of Qing Dynasty, the last Imperial court in China, and the founding of the Republic of China.
- 1913 – President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal.
- 1920 – The Carinthian Plebiscite determines that the larger part of Carinthia should remain part of Austria.
- 1928 – Chiang Kai-Shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.
- 1933 – United Airlines Chesterton Crash: A United Airlines Boeing 247 is destroyed by sabotage, the first such proven case in the history ofcommercial aviation.
- 1935 – A coup d'état by the royalist leadership of the Greek Armed Forces takes place in Athens. It overthrows the government of Panagis Tsaldaris and establishes a regency under Georgios Kondylis, effectively ending the Second Hellenic Republic.
- 1938 – The Munich Agreement cedes the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany.
- 1942 – The Soviet Union establishes diplomatic relations with Australia.
- 1943 – Double Tenth Incident in Japanese-controlled Singapore
- 1944 – Holocaust: 800 Gypsy children are murdered at Auschwitz concentration camp.
- 1945 – The Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang signed a principle agreement in Chongqing about the future of post-war China. Later, the pact is commonly referred to as the Double-Ten Agreement.
- 1953 – Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea is concluded in Washington D.C.
- 1957 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
- 1957 – The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident.
- 1963 – France cedes control of the Bizerte naval base to Tunisia.
- 1964 – The opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite.
- 1967 – The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force.
- 1970 – Fiji becomes independent.
- 1970 – In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
- 1971 – Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
- 1973 – Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with federal income tax evasion.
- 1975 – Papua New Guinea joins the United Nations.
- 1980 – A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs in the Algerian town of El Asnam. 3,500 die and 300,000 are left homeless.
- 1985 – United States Navy F-14 fighter jets intercept an Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers of the Achille Lauro cruise ship, and force it to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily where they are arrested.
- 1986 – An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
- 1997 – An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
- 1998 – A Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people.
- 2008 – The 10 October 2008 Orakzai bombing kills 110 and injures 200 more.
- 2009 – Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich, Switzerland to open their borders.
- 2010 – The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved as a country.
Births[edit]
- 1344 – Mary of Waltham (d. 1362)
- 1567 – Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain (d. 1597)
- 1599 – Étienne Moulinié, French composer (d. 1676)
- 1669 – Johann Nicolaus Bach, German composer (d. 1753)
- 1678 – John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (d. 1743)
- 1684 – Antoine Watteau, French painter (d. 1721)
- 1700 – Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, French sculptor (d. 1759)
- 1731 – Henry Cavendish, French-English scientist and philosopher (d. 1810)
- 1780 – John Abercrombie, Scottish physician (d. 1844)
- 1794 – William Whiting Boardman, American politician (d. 1871)
- 1813 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (d. 1901)
- 1819 – Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger, German theologian and author (d. 1883)
- 1825 – Paul Kruger, South African politician, 5th President of the South African Republic (d. 1904)
- 1828 – Samuel J. Randall, American soldier, lawyer and politician (d. 1890)
- 1830 – Isabella II of Spain (d. 1904)
- 1834 – Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (d. 1872)
- 1837 – Robert Gould Shaw, American army officer (d. 1863)
- 1861 – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930)
- 1863 – Louis Cyr, Canadian strongman (d. 1912)
- 1863 – Helen Dunbar, American actress (d. 1933)
- 1864 – T. Frank Appleby, American politician (d. 1924)
- 1870 – Louise Mack, Australian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1935)
- 1884 – Ida Wüst, German actress (d. 1958)
- 1885 – Walter Anderson, German ethnologist (d. 1962)
- 1889 – Han van Meegeren, Dutch painter (d. 1947)
- 1895 – Fridolf Rhudin Swedish actor and comedian (d. 1935)
- 1895 – Wolfram von Richthofen, German field marshal (d. 1945)
- 1898 – Lilly Daché, French-American fashion designer (d. 1989)
- 1900 – Helen Hayes, American actress (d. 1993)
- 1901 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor and painter (d. 1966)
- 1902 – K.Shivaram Karanth,Indian Kannada writer(d.1997)
- 1903 – Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (d. 1983)
- 1903 – Vernon Duke, Russian-American composer (d. 1969)
- 1903 – Bei Shizhang, Chinese biologist and educator (d. 2009)
- 1906 – Paul Creston, American composer (d. 1985)
- 1906 – R. K. Narayan, Indian author (d. 2001)
- 1908 – Johnny Green, American conductor and composer (d. 1989)
- 1908 – Mercè Rodoreda, Catalan author (d. 1983)
- 1909 – Robert F. Boyle, American production designer and art director (d. 2010)
- 1910 – Julius Shulman, American photographer (d. 2009)
- 1911 – Clare Hollingworth, English journalist and author
- 1912 – Ram Vilas Sharma, Indian poet and critic (d. 2000)
- 1913 – Claude Simon, Malagasy-French author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
- 1914 – Tommy Fine, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1914 – Ivory Joe Hunter, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1974)
- 1915 – Sweets Edison, American trumpet player (Count Basie Orchestra) (d. 1999)
- 1917 – Thelonious Monk, American pianist and composer (d. 1982)
- 1919 – Willard Estey, Canadian jurist (d. 2002)
- 1922 – Merv Pregulman, American football player (d. 2012)
- 1923 – Louis Gottlieb, American bass player (The Limeliters) (d. 1996)
- 1923 – Nicholas Parsons, English actor
- 1923 – Murray Walker, English sportscaster
- 1924 – James Clavell, Australian author (d. 1994)
- 1924 – Ludmilla Tchérina, French actress and dancer (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Ed Wood, American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer (d. 1978)
- 1925 – Great Antonio, Croatian-Canadian strongman (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Johnny Stompanato, American bodyguard (d. 1958)
- 1926 – Oscar Brown, American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor (d. 2005)
- 1926 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1927 – Dana Elcar, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1927 – Thomas Wilson, Scottish composer (d. 2001)
- 1928 – Sheila F. Walsh, English author (d. 2009)
- 1929 – Herb Levinson, American actor
- 1930 – Eugenio Castellotti, Italian race car driver (d. 1957)
- 1930 – Yves Chauvin, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 – Harold Pinter, English playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Al Ulbrickson, American rower (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Konstantin Vyrupayev, Soviet wrestler (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Mustafa Zaidi, Pakistani poet (d. 1970)
- 1932 – Harry Smith, English footballer
- 1933 – Jay Sebring, American hair stylist, founded Sebring International (d. 1969)
- 1933 – Jim Temp, American football player (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian military leader, founder of Fatah (d. 1988)
- 1935 – André Bureau, Canadian lawyer and businessman
- 1936 – Gerhard Ertl, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1938 – Gloria Coates, American composer
- 1938 – Moriyama Daido, Japanese photographer
- 1938 – Lily Tuck, American novelist
- 1939 – Joseph R. Pitts, American politician
- 1939 – Goli Taraqqi, Iranian author
- 1940 – Pouri Banai, Iranian actress
- 1940 – Winston Churchill, English politician (d. 2010)
- 1941 – Peter Coyote, American actor
- 1942 – Radu Vasile, Romanian politician, 57th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 2013)
- 1943 – Frederick Barthelme, American author
- 1946 – Charles Dance, English actor
- 1946 – Naoto Kan, Japanese politician, 61st Prime Minister of Japan
- 1946 – Peter Mahovlich, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1946 – Anne Mather, English author
- 1946 – John Prine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1946 – Martin Ruane, English wrestler (d. 1998)
- 1946 – Chris Tarrant, English television host
- 1946 – Ben Vereen, American actor, singer, and dancer
- 1947 – Gary Beach, American actor
- 1948 – Séverine, French singer
- 1948 – Ed Volker, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (The Radiators)
- 1949 – Ioannis Gklavakis, Greek politician
- 1949 – Wang Wanxing, Chinese activist
- 1950 – Nora Roberts, American author
- 1951 – Epeli Ganilau, Fijian soldier and politician
- 1953 – Midge Ure, Scottish singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Slik, Rich Kids, Thin Lizzy, Visage, and Ultravox)
- 1953 – Gus Williams, American basketball player
- 1954 – Rekha, Indian actress
- 1954 – Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian singer and actor
- 1954 – David Lee Roth, American singer-songwriter, and producer (Van Halen)
- 1954 – Patric Zimmerman, American voice actor
- 1954 – Fernando Santos, Portuguese football manager
- 1956 – Amanda Burton, Irish actress
- 1956 – Mark Gordon, American television and film producer
- 1957 – Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese writer and illustrator
- 1958 – J. Eddie Peck, American actor
- 1958 – Tanya Tucker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1959 – Michael Cobley, English-Scottish author
- 1959 – Kirsty MacColl, English singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
- 1959 – Julia Sweeney, American actress, comedian, and author
- 1959 – Bradley Whitford, American actor
- 1960 – Ron Flockhart, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1960 – Eric Martin, American singer-songwriter (Mr. Big and Tak Matsumoto Group)
- 1960 – Simon Townshend, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Casbah Club)
- 1961 – Jodi Benson, American actress and singer
- 1961 – Henrik Jørgensen, Danish runner
- 1961 – Martin Kemp, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (Spandau Ballet)
- 1961 – Scott Hoffman, American rock drummer for Southern rock band 38 Special, from 1992 - 1997
- 1963 – Jolanda de Rover, Dutch swimmer
- 1963 – Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer and actress (d. 2003)
- 1963 – Vegard Ulvang, Norwegian skier
- 1964 – Quinton Flynn, American voice actor
- 1964 – Sarah Lancashire, English actress
- 1964 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist (d. 2002)
- 1964 – Crystal Waters, American singer-songwriter
- 1965 – Toshi, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer (X Japan)
- 1965 – Chris Penn, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1965 – Rebecca Pidgeon, American actress
- 1966 – Tony Adams, English footballer
- 1966 – Mohamed Elmoutaoikil, Moroccan activist
- 1966 – Bai Ling, Chinese-American actress
- 1966 – Derrick McKey, American basketball player
- 1967 – Michael Giacchino, American composer
- 1967 – Jonathan Littell, American-French author
- 1967 – Mike Malinin, American drummer (Goo Goo Dolls)
- 1967 – Gavin Newsom, American politician, 49th Lieutenant Governor of California
- 1968 – Bart Brentjens, Dutch cyclist
- 1968 – Marinos Ouzounidis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1968 – DJ Skribble, American DJ, producer, and actor (Young Black Teenagers)
- 1969 – Francis Escudero, Filipino politician
- 1969 – Brett Favre, American football player
- 1969 – Shawn Jamison, American basketball player and coach
- 1969 – Wendi McLendon-Covey, American actress
- 1969 – Dilsa Demirbag Sten, Swedish author and journalist
- 1970 – Dean Kiely, Irish footballer
- 1970 – Silke Kraushaar-Pielach, German luger
- 1970 – Corinna May, German singer
- 1970 – Mohammed Mourhit, Belgian runner
- 1970 – Matthew Pinsent, English rower
- 1971 – Ian Bennett, English footballer
- 1971 – Evgeny Kissin, Russian pianist
- 1972 – Jun Lana, Filipino playwright and screenwriter
- 1972 – Dean Roland, American guitarist (Collective Soul and Magnets and Ghosts)
- 1972 – Alexei Zhitnik, Russian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Mario Lopez, American actor
- 1973 – Scott Morriss, English bass player and songwriter (The Bluetones)
- 1973 – Semmy Schilt, Dutch kick-boxer
- 1973 – Zach Thornton, American soccer player
- 1974 – Assi Cohen, Israeli comedian and actor
- 1974 – Julio Ricardo Cruz, Argentinian footballer
- 1974 – Lucy Powell, English politician
- 1974 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr., American race car driver
- 1974 – Chris Pronger, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Ihsahn, Norwegian singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Emperor band, Thou Shalt Suffer, and Peccatum)
- 1975 – Ramón Morales, Mexican footballer
- 1975 – Plácido Polanco, Dominican baseball player
- 1976 – Bob Burnquist, Brazilian-American skateboarder
- 1976 – Pat Burrell, American baseball player
- 1976 – Shane Doan, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Scott Dobie, Scottish footballer
- 1978 – Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, American actress
- 1979 – Mýa, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actress
- 1979 – Wu Chun, Brunei-Taiwanese actor and singer (Fahrenheit)
- 1979 – Nicolás Massú, Chilean tennis player
- 1979 – Joel Przybilla, American basketball player
- 1979 – Kangta, South Korean singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (H.O.T., S, and Kangta & Vanness)
- 1980 – Sherine, Egyptian singer and actress
- 1980 – Blaž Emeršič, Slovenian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Casey FitzSimmons, American football player
- 1980 – Elvis Hammond, Ghanaian footballer
- 1980 – Tim Maurer, American singer-songwriter (Suburban Legends)
- 1981 – Una Healy, Irish singer-songwriter and dancer (The Saturdays)
- 1981 – Michael Oliver, American actor
- 1981 – Francisco Javier Rodríguez, Mexican footballer
- 1982 – Yasser Al-Qahtani, Saudi Arabian footballer
- 1982 – Amon Buchanan, Australian footballer
- 1982 – Hideki Mutoh, Japanese race car driver
- 1983 – Vusimuzi Sibanda, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1983 – Nikos Spyropoulos, Greek footballer
- 1983 – Sherab Zam, Bhutanese archer
- 1983 – Tolga Zengin, Turkish footballer
- 1984 – Stephanie Cheng, Hong Kong singer
- 1984 – Chiaki Kuriyama, Japanese actress
- 1984 – Paul Posluszny, American football player
- 1984 – Troy Tulowitzki, American baseball player
- 1985 – Yoenis Céspedes, Cuban baseball player
- 1985 – Dominique Cornu, Belgian cyclist
- 1985 – Marina Diamandis, Welsh singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1985 – Sandra Záhlavová, Czech tennis player
- 1986 – Ezequiel Garay, Argentine footballer
- 1986 – Nathan Jawai, Australian basketball player
- 1986 – Andrew McCutchen, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ryan Mathews, American football player
- 1987 – Colin Slade, New Zealand rugby player
- 1988 – Brown Ideye, Nigerian footballer
- 1989 – Aimee Teegarden, American actress
- 1990 – Geno Smith, New York Jets Quarterback
- 1991 – Gabriella Cilmi, Australian singer-songwriter and producer
- 1991 – Kim Seul-gie, South Korean actress
- 1991 – Mariana Espósito, Argentine actress and singer (Teen Angels)
- 1991 – Manuel Giandonato, Italian footballer
- 1991 – Xherdan Shaqiri, Swiss footballer
- 1993 – Jayden Stockley, English footballer
- 1994 – Tereza Smitková, Czech tennis player
- 1994 – Bae Suzy, South Korean singer and actress (Miss A)
- 1998 – Nash Aguas, Filipino actor
Deaths[edit]
- 19 – Germanicus, Roman general (b. 15 BC)
- 644 – Paulinus, missionary and bishop of York
- 680 – Hussein ibn Ali, Islamic Shi'a Imam (b. 626)
- 732 – Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Yemeni general
- 1359 – Hugh IV of Cyprus (b. 1295)
- 1459 – Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, Italian scholar (b. 1380)
- 1659 – Abel Tasman, Dutch explorer (b. 1603)
- 1691 – Isaac de Benserade, French poet (b. 1613)
- 1708 – David Gregory, Scottish mathematician (b. 1659)
- 1714 – Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert, French economist (b. 1646)
- 1720 – Antoine Coysevox, French sculptor (b. 1640)
- 1723 – William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper, English politician (b. 1665)
- 1725 – Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, French politician, Governor of New France (b. 1643)
- 1747 – John Potter, English archbishop (b. 1674)
- 1759 – Granville Elliott, English military officer (b. 1713)
- 1765 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, English politician (b. 1688)
- 1795 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian and historian (b. 1714)
- 1800 – Gabriel, American slave rebellion leader (b. 1776)
- 1806 – Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (b. 1772)
- 1827 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian author and poet (b. 1778)
- 1837 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher (b. 1772)
- 1857 – George Washington Parke Custis, American orator and playwright (b. 1781)
- 1872 – William H. Seward, American politician, 24th United States Secretary of State (b. 1801)
- 1875 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1817)
- 1876 – Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville, French geologist (b. 1814)
- 1893 – Lip Pike, American baseball player (b. 1845)
- 1901 – Lorenzo Snow, American religious leader, 5th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1814)
- 1911 – Jack Daniel, American businessman, founded Jack Daniel's (b. 1849)
- 1913 – Adolphus Busch, German-American brewer and businessman, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (b. 1839)
- 1913 – Katsura Tarō, Japanese politician, 6th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1848)
- 1914 – Carol I of Romania (b. 1839)
- 1922 – Andreas Karkavitsas, Greek author (b. 1866)
- 1927 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American aviator (b. 1874)
- 1930 – Adolf Engler, German botanist (b. 1844)
- 1940 – Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
- 1948 – Ted Horn, American race car driver (b. 1910)
- 1953 – Erima Harvey Northcroft, New Zealand judge (b. 1884)
- 1957 – Karl Genzken, German nazi physician (b. 1885)
- 1962 – Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect (b. 1891)
- 1963 – Roy Cazaly, Australian footballer (b. 1893)
- 1964 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1892)
- 1964 – Heinrich Neuhaus, Soviet pianist (b. 1888)
- 1966 – Charlotte Cooper, English tennis player (b. 1870)
- 1970 – Édouard Daladier, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1884)
- 1971 – John Cawte Beaglehole, New Zealand historian (b. 1901)
- 1973 – Ludwig von Mises, Austrian economist (b. 1881)
- 1976 – Silvana Armenulić, Bosnian singer and actress (b. 1939)
- 1976 – Mirsada Mirjana Bajraktarević, Bosnian singer (b. 1951)
- 1977 – Angelo Muscat, Maltese actor (b. 1930)
- 1978 – Ralph Marterie, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1914)
- 1978 – Ralph Metcalfe, American runner and politician (b. 1910)
- 1979 – Christopher Evans, English psychologist, computer scientist, and author (b. 1931)
- 1979 – Paul Paray, French conductor, organist, and composer (b. 1886)
- 1982 – Jean Effel, French painter and journalist (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Ralph Richardson, English actor (b. 1902)
- 1985 – Yul Brynner, Russian-American actor (b. 1920)
- 1985 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, scriptwriter, and producer (b. 1915)
- 1986 – Gleb Wataghin, Ukrainian-Italian physicist (b. 1899)
- 1990 – Tom Murton, American penologist (b. 1928)
- 1990 – Nikolaos Pavlopoulos, Greek sculptor (b. 1909)
- 1991 – Nickolaus Hirschl, Austrian wrestler (b. 1906)
- 1998 – Clark Clifford, American lawyer, 9th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1906)
- 1998 – Tommy Quaid, Irish hurler (b. 1957)
- 2000 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan politician, 6th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1916)
- 2001 – Eddie Futch, American boxing trainer (b. 1911)
- 2001 – Vasily Mishin, Soviet engineer (b. 1917)
- 2002 – Teresa Graves, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
- 2003 – Eugene Istomin, American pianist (b. 1925)
- 2004 – Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (b. 1963)
- 2004 – Christopher Reeve, American actor, director, producer, and author (b. 1952)
- 2004 – Arthur H. Robinson, American geographer (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand author and playwright (b. 1932)
- 2005 – Wayne C. Booth, American critic (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Milton Obote, Ugandan politician, President of Uganda (b. 1925)
- 2006 – Michael John Rogers, English ornithologist (b. 1932)
- 2006 – Ian Scott, Canadian politician (b. 1934)
- 2007 – Mehmed Uzun, Turkish author (b. 1953)
- 2008 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese businessman (b. 1947)
- 2009 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor (Boyzone) (b. 1976)
- 2010 – Solomon Burke, American singer-songwriter and preacher (b. 1940)
- 2010 – Joan Sutherland, Australian soprano (b. 1926)
- 2011 – Jagjit Singh, Indian singer-songwriter and activist (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Beano Cook, American sportscaster (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Kevin Curran, Zimbabwean cricketer (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Sam Gibbons, American politician (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Marina Golub, Russian actress (b. 1957)
- 2012 – Jos Huysmans, Belgian cyclist (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Alex Karras, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Piotr Lenartowicz, Polish philosopher (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Carla Porta Musa, Italian poet (b. 1902)
- 2012 – Leo O'Brien, American actor (b. 1970)
- 2012 – Basil L. Plumley, American soldier (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Mark Poster, American philosopher (b. 1941)
- 2012 – Malcolm Sampson, English rugby player (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Amanda Todd, Canadian suicide victim (b. 1996)
- 2012 – Kyaw Zaw, Burmese military officer and politician (b. 1919)
Holidays and observances[edit]
- Christian Feast Day:
- Thomas Traherne (commemoration, Anglicanism)
- Arbor Day (Poland)
- Double Ten Day (The National Day of Taiwan), celebrates outbreak of the Wuchang Uprising in 1911 that led to founding of the Republic of China in 1912
- Fiji Day, celebrates the independence of Fiji from United Kingdom in 1970
- Finnish Literature Day (Finland)
- Independence Day, commemorates the proclamation of Cuba's independence from Spain and the beginning of the Ten Years' War in 1868.
- Party Foundation Day (North Korea)
- World Day Against Death Penalty (International)
- World Mental Health Day (International)
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“It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.” Deuteronomy 13:4NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
Morning
"Able to keep you from falling."
Jude 24
Jude 24
In some sense the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go. What a slippery path is that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim with the Psalmist, "My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped." If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but in ourselves, how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter, in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. These feeble knees of ours can scarcely support our tottering weight. A straw may throw us, and a pebble can wound us; we are mere children tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk of faith, our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we should soon be down. Oh, if we are kept from falling, how must we bless the patient power which watches over us day by day! Think, how prone we are to sin, how apt to choose danger, how strong our tendency to cast ourselves down, and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than we have ever done, "Glory be to him, who is able to keep us from falling." We have many foes who try to push us down. The road is rough and we are weak, but in addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush, who rush out when we least expect them, and labour to trip us up, or hurl us down the nearest precipice. Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is engaged for our defence. He is faithful that hath promised, and he is able to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say, with joyful confidence,
"Against me earth and hell combine,
But on my side is power divine;
Jesus is all, and he is mine!"
Evening
"But he answered her not a word."
Matthew 15:23
Matthew 15:23
Genuine seekers who as yet have not obtained the blessing, may take comfort from the story before us. The Saviour did not at once bestow the blessing, even though the woman had great faith in him. He intended to give it, but he waited awhile. "He answered her not a word." Were not her prayers good? Never better in the world. Was not her case needy? Sorrowfully needy. Did she not feel her need sufficiently? She felt it overwhelmingly. Was she not earnest enough? She was intensely so. Had she no faith? She had such a high degree of it that even Jesus wondered, and said, "O woman, great is thy faith." See then, although it is true that faith brings peace, yet it does not always bring it instantaneously. There may be certain reasons calling for the trial of faith, rather than the reward of faith. Genuine faith may be in the soul like a hidden seed, but as yet it may not have budded and blossomed into joy and peace. A painful silence from the Saviour is the grievous trial of many a seeking soul, but heavier still is the affliction of a harsh cutting reply such as this, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." Many in waiting upon the Lord find immediate delight, but this is not the case with all. Some, like the jailer, are in a moment turned from darkness to light, but others are plants of slower growth. A deeper sense of sin may be given to you instead of a sense of pardon, and in such a case you will have need of patience to bear the heavy blow. Ah! poor heart, though Christ beat and bruise thee, or even slay thee, trust him; though he should give thee an angry word, believe in the love of his heart. Do not, I beseech thee, give up seeking or trusting my Master, because thou hast not yet obtained the conscious joy which thou longest for. Cast thyself on him, and perseveringly depend even where thou canst not rejoicingly hope.
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Today's reading: Isaiah 32-33, Colossians 1 (NIV)
View today's reading on Bible GatewayToday's Old Testament reading: Isaiah 30-31
The Kingdom of Righteousness
1 See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 The fearful heart will know and understand,
and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
5 No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6 For fools speak folly,
their hearts are bent on evil:
They practice ungodliness
and spread error concerning the LORD;
the hungry they leave empty
and from the thirsty they withhold water.
7 Scoundrels use wicked methods,
they make up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
8 But the noble make noble plans,
and by noble deeds they stand.
and rulers will rule with justice.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 The fearful heart will know and understand,
and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
5 No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6 For fools speak folly,
their hearts are bent on evil:
They practice ungodliness
and spread error concerning the LORD;
the hungry they leave empty
and from the thirsty they withhold water.
7 Scoundrels use wicked methods,
they make up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
8 But the noble make noble plans,
and by noble deeds they stand.
Today's New Testament reading: Philippians 4
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel 6 that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit....
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